The Key!

The physically unintimidating but brilliant being known as the Key entered and looked at his handiwork with a satisfied grin. The Gang was funded by a criminal organization known as the Council. Long ago, when the Key was just a normal man, he worked as a member of the Council's think tank, building weapons. But the more he learned, the more he realized that there was so much he didn't know. So the brilliant chemist used a formula to utilize the parts of the brain that are usually dormant. He became a super-genius. He called himself the "Key" and became a master criminal. He fought the old Avengers League, and was soundly defeated on each occasion. So he realized that to beat the AL, he needed to be smarter.

Thus, he made his most powerful brain enhancing formula. It was so powerful it put him into a coma for six months. He lay in a hospital as a John Doe until the day his mind had evolved. His whole body had, in fact, changed, into something not quite human. His forehead and eyes were larger. His body was very thin and frail but it functioned perfectly. And his brain was a marvel, using over ninety percent of its capacity. He was the man of the future. He thought things that no one else had ever thought. He moved beyond five senses. He had twelve and more were developing. He knew things no one else knew. He wanted to know everything. After a while, he felt that he knew all the secrets of the universe. How it came together, how it works - Everything! And so, he wanted to challenge himself with the ultimate task - To create a universe.

Upon waking up, the first thing he did was to track down the Council. He killed the rich criminals who comprised the group and looked over their records. He found that they had funded an advanced lab designed by a female scientist and fugitive called the Brain. The Key made a deal with Shakedown to make his takeover of the Gang's HQ easier. And now, he had the materials of the Gang and the money of the Council to support his purpose - To become God!

"So what now?" Shakedown asked.

The Key smiled. "Now, my dear Shakedown, we create!"

"Create what?"

"Everything, my boy, everything. Because a man of my brilliance deserves to have it all. Soon I will be God!"

"That's right, winghead," Gyrich replied. "The government figured that since the Avengers League saves the world quite often and is very well known, it would be a good idea to have a base where you can watch over the entire world."

Cap groaned lightly, enough where Gyrich couldn't hear him. He didn't like being called "winghead." Since Gyrich was their government liaison, however, Cap had to deal with it. "You know the League doesn't like getting involved in politics . . . "

"You aren't."

"This sounds like a basis for a hundred different treaties."

"If something positive comes out of this, then all the better."

Cap sighed. "Well, it would be nice to have several bases. Especially one that's not on Earth. Even superheroes need a break from things every once in a while."

"Whatever. Look, I gotta go. Pressing government issues. We'll talk later."

"I'm sure we will," Cap replied as the screen went blank.

Wonder Woman barely managed to turn the plane just in time. Meanwhile, Iron Man was using a combination of magnetism and armored strength to keep two more from smashing into each other.

How could something like this have happened? he wondered.

In New York City, six supervillains tried to kill the mayor in the same day. Batman was running the facts through his computer. Alfred looked over his shoulder. "What do you make of it?" the butler asked.

"It defies the laws of probabilities," Batman said. "Nothing like this has ever happened before and I don't believe it's happening by accident. Something, or someone, is causing it. But why? What's the purpose?"

"Asteroids?!" Shakedown asked, shocked. "We'll all be killed!"

"Don't panic, my boy," the Key said. "The Avengers League will save us. In the meantime, I'm satisfied with my experiment."

"I don't get the point of any of this," Shakedown said."How does this lead to creating a universe?"

"Then I shall explain," the Key replied. "In recent years, some quantum physicists, who were quite inferior to me, divided a photon, a light particle. They then found that alterations made to one half happened simultaneously to the other. It proved a heretofore unseen interdependence between sub atomic particles. A synchronicity of the building blocks of life. I built upon their discovery. I discovered the Ghost particle."

"Ghost particle?"

"Yes," the Key said. "You assemble an apparatus with two focal points. A particle on one focal point causes a ‘ghost' to appear at the other. If that's true on the micro level of particles, it could be true on the macro level of planets. I just need enough power to boost up my apparatus."

"How much power do you need?" Shakedown asked.

"Quite a formidable amount," the Key answered. "I believe that I shall have to tap into the awesome power of quasars to do this."

"Wow?" Shakedown said, "And you can do that?"

"Not exactly. But I know someone who can."

"Who are you? Where am I?" Quasar asked.

"You are my prisoner," the Key said. "And there's nothing you can do about it."

"We'll see about that," Quasar muttered.

He utilized his incredible power and unleashed it. He didn't realize that he was helping the Key tap into the power of quasars.

"Excellent!" the Key exclaimed.

Eventually, Quasar realized that his energy was being stolen. He stopped his attempt to break free.

"He's on to us," Shakedown said.

"Yes," the Key answered. "But it doesn't matter. He's served his purpose."

Quasar began to feel dizzy. He passed out.

"What happened to him?" Shakedown asked.

"I was letting a gas into the container. He wasn't prepared for it."

"Do we kill him?"

"No, no, no," the Key said. "That's no way to thank the man who has made my ascension possible. I want him to live to see what he has helped bring about. Dump him somewhere. I don't care where. I have a universe to create!"

"It's getting bigger!" one of them said, "Our experts seem to believe that it's some sort of warp between universes. They think that another universe is intruding on our own! The portal is near Jupiter right now! If that planet wasn't so big, the gravitational forces from the rift would have destroyed it. But the rift is getting bigger. Eventually it'll destroy everything in our universe!"

"Thank you," Martian Manhunter replied, as the call was disconnected.

"Call the others," Cap said. "We need the entire league here."

"How will you do that, sir?" Shakedown inquired. "Wouldn't you have to lure them into deep space?"

The Key laughed. "Surely you jest. It will take but a fraction of the power at my command to create a smaller portal in their mansion. But how shall I proceed . . . oh, yes! A mirror, which shows a dark reflection into another universe . . . "

The Key laughed again. Shakedown tried to find what was so funny, but he failed. So, he found contentment in his employer's amusement.

"Glad to see you," Cap said.

Batman nodded and took his seat. "I assume this has to do with rather strange occurrences?" he asked.

"Like what?"

"Just today, six people tried to kill the mayor of New York."

"That's weird," Wonder Woman said. "Iron Man and I had to stop six planes from converging on the same landing strip."

"And did you hear about the six tsunamis around the world?" Wasp added.

Cap raised his hand for silence. "Well, if my guess is right, you all have figured out part of the reason why we called this meeting." He paused as he looked around the table. "Where's Quasar?"

"You know him, always disappearing in big crises," Flash commented.

Captain America glared at Flash for a second, and then turned back to the League. "He'll have to catch up later, I suppose. Anyway, J'Onn and I were informed of a large rift forming in outer space, causing some sort of disturbance. It's large enough to have its own field of gravity."

"Any idea what is causing it?" Iron Man asked.

Cap shook his head. "No one has been able to figure it out."

Just then, Jarvis came in the room. "Excuse, ladies and gentlemen . . . " He faced Cap. "Sir, there is something rather unusual with the mirror in the main hall."

Flash and Hawkeye looked at each other, wondering why Jarvis would mention something so mundane in light of the latest crisis.

"Um, Jarvis," Hawkeye began, "could it just be dirt?"

"I don't think so," Iron Man said. "Jarvis has been with us long enough. If he feels that it is important enough to inform us, in the middle of a meeting, no less, then I think it's worth checking out."

"I agree," Martian Manhunter added.

"Hey, Jarvis was right!" Hawkeye said.

Iron Man and Batman leaned in for a closer look. "It appears to be fluxuating," the Dark Knight observed.

"It must be magic!" Wonder Woman exclaimed.

"No, I don't think so . . . " Iron Man said.

The mirror flashed, and the Avengers League saw themselves . . . sort of. In the mirror, instead of seeing their reflections, they saw twisted versions of themselves.

"What in the world?" Captain America asked.

Then, without warning, the Leaguers felt themselves being pulled closer to the mirror. Iron Man put his hand up to touch the surface, and all eight of them were pulled in.

The Avengers League stood, looking at the strange new world they had been transported to. Iron Man turned around to look at where they had come from. But, he saw no trace of his world, nothing looked like the mansion they had just left.

"I don't like this," he said.

"I don't either," Cap added. "J'Onn, can you do a mental scan of the area?"

"I will try," J'Onn said, putting his hands to his head. He reached out with his mind, but something was too much for him. He screamed and fell to the ground.

Images flashed before his eyes. He saw familiar figures, but he couldn't identify them clearly. He also saw a lot of red.

"J'Onn, are you okay," Cap asked, getting down on his knees.

Martian Manhunter sat up. "Surprisingly, I feel fine."

"Does this have anything to do with those headaches you've been having?" Wonder Woman asked.

"I . . . don't know. But that is a mystery for another time. Right now, we must learn where we are, and why we are here."

"Not to mention how to get home . . . " Hawkeye muttered.

Before the Avengers League could do anything further, a blindingly fast form raced out of nowhere and whacked Hawkeye across the head.

The force of the below was enough to knock Hawkeye unconscious, and the bewildered Leaguers tended to their teammate and tried to figure out what was going on.

"Who??" Cap asked.

"A speedster, like me . . . " Flash said. "Let me see if I can spot him, he's going at the top speed that I can usually reach . . . "

Wonder Woman stood at the ready, her Amazon reflexes tuned to protect herself and her teammates. J'Onn tried to clear his head long enough to spot their assailant.

The air began to ripple with heat and vibration, as if an invisible supersonic plane was about to smash right into the Leaguers.

"Here he comes!" J'Onn said, spotting the swift attacker with his Martian vision.

Flash put his arm out straight at the right moment, vibrating it at super-speed to absorb the shock of impact.

The Speedster ran right into him and was clotheslined. He kept on speeding right through the side of a building.

"Let's go check him out," said Batman. Wonder Woman and J'Onn stood watch while the other Leaguers walked through the rubble of the building to see their foe.

Flash got there first, of course.

"Whoa . . . " he said, with a look of bafflement on his face. "I know who our enemy is."

"You do?" Batman responded.

"Yeah. He's me."

The group saw before them the fallen shape of what seemed to be the Flash.