Justice League of America #209

Issue Details

Synopsis

CRISIS ON EARTH-PRIME! BOOK 5 - LET OLD ACQUAINTANCES BE FORGOT At the White House, in Washington, D.C., January 1942, on Earth-Two, nine mystery men and women (Aquaman, Doctor Fate, Hawkman, the Huntress, Johnny Quick, Liberty Belle, Robotman, Starman, and Superman) arrive at the White House, and recap their encounters with the members of the Crime Syndicate, for FDR and Harry Hopkins. So far: 24 of the 27 Russian-made ICBMs, stolen from Cuba in 1962 on Earth-Prime by the Crime Syndicate, are now accounted for. Hawkman reattaches Robotman's severed arm, while describing the nightmarish version of New York in 1982 on Earth-Two, that his JLA team witnessed first-hand. Then Doctor Fate mystically displays the even-more-nightmarish version of 1982 on Earth-Prime that his JSA team had traversed.   In Geneva, Switzerland, Commander Steel, Firestorm, and Power Girl fly onto the scene, searching for the missiles, with Firestorm providing a large radiation detector along with Power Girl's super senses. No dice, the warheads must be well-shielded. They land, and the local Mayor flips out, there's suddenly machinegun fire bouncing off Steel, knocking him backwards through a shop window. A 1982-tech heat-seeking missile is fired at Power Girl, who disdainfully intercepts it with a flying punch. Firestorm demolishes the concealment from which (at least 5) Degaton commandos are shooting at the good guys, with futuristic weapons, then he evaporates their bullets right out of the air. Power Girl from Earth Two figures the main missiles to be in a nearby clock tower, goes there, and gets ambushed by Johnny Quick from Earth Three. They fight, and Quick wins, at least well enough to escape. Meanwhile Steel from Earth-Two trounces most of the troopers, while Firestorm from Earth-One flies into the clock tower, and into the launch control room, arriving just as Johnny Quick from Earth-Three is turning against his erstwhile Degaton allies. Accidentally or on purpose, one Degaton trooper hits the launch switch.   Quick attempts to flee the continent, but Firestorm catches him in a big vise and squeezes him unconscious. That's when the missiles take off. Commander Steel has already grabbed one rocket before it even launched, and is already prying apart its outer skin. Power Girl is doing a faster and more extreme version of the same thing to her missile, and Firestorm destroys the third. They soon join all the others at the White House. From tracing the microwave signals controlling Degaton's satellite, Superman pinpoints P.D.'s HQ at the future site of the Pentagon building. Doctor Fate states his misgivings about creating time paradoxes.   Meanwhile and elsewhere, Professors Zee and Everson are meeting with Firebrand, Green Lantern, and Zatanna. Lantern tells Zee, in 1942, that in 1947 his assistant Per Degaton will "somehow" get his hands on Zee's Time Machine, and use it to kill millions. Zee plays along and shows them his very unfinished prototype Time Ray, which Green Lantern and Zatanna are able to get working with no trouble at all. With the push of a button, three time-displaced super heroes are sent from New York City-1942-Earth-Two to Cuba-1962-Earth-Prime. There and then, they observe that, so far, the ICBMs are being dismantled and shipped to the waiting freighters at Havana harbor, which is how it happened in the history that Alan and Zee remember. So whether or not it's a good idea to change history from one altered state to another, they're ready to take action when the Crime Syndicate arrives on the scene in a Time Vortex. Green Lantern stuns Ultraman and Super Woman; Zatanna crashes Johnny Quick into Owl Man, then Green Lantern out-power-rings Power Ring in a willpower contest.   Not meanwhile but elsewhere, in northern Virginia in 1942 on Earth-Two, all twelve superheroes from the White House briefing are flying in to attack Degaton's secret headquarters. They completely rout all of Degaton's troops and capture Degaton himself. Off to one side, unseen, Owl Man from Earth Three observes this and quietly gloats, until he abruptly encounters the Huntress, who is a far better fighter than himself; down he goes. Degaton almost escapes, but Zatanna intercepts him at the Time Machine, and depletes his oxygen, for a knockout. Firebrand does and says almost nothing. Green Lantern and Zatanna then combine their powers to send these six villains back to their proper times and places. History reshapes itself into a more familiar pattern. Zatanna notices that her memory is fading, then forgets about that. In 1942 on Earth-Two, Degaton also disappears, along with his troopers. Then all of the good guys disappear also, and are already forgetting that they were even there, because as things stand "now," they weren't there at all.   In New York City in 1942 on Earth-Two, Commander Steel, Firebrand, Johnny Quick, Liberty Belle, and Robotman are at the front door of the Justice Society's HQ. In New York in 1947 on Earth-Two, Per Degaton and Malachi Zee have a familiar conversation. In Limbo, outside of time and space, between dimensions, the Crime Syndicate sit very quietly in their green sphere. In the JLA Satellite in 1982 over Earth-One, the Transmatter Cube activates and brings in Dr. Fate, Green Lantern, the Huntress, Power Girl, and Starman from Earth-Two. None of them remembers any part of this multiversal crisis.