Z-mage stood in an abandonded warehouse. To his side stood a weakened Captain Pollution. Though Captain had not told Z-mage this, in the future, Z-mage had merged his body with Captain Planet's in an attempt to kill the elemental hero, as well as dispose of Captain Pollution, one of his minions who was destined to abandon him. Captain Pollution had traveled back in time to kill Z-mage before the elemental powers of Captain Planet ravaged his body, and killed him too. And now, as Z-Mage used his powers to tap into the dimensional corridor, and determine the best way to annihlate all of Khazan, Captain Pollution was begining to regret not having killed Z-Mage earlier. He was growing weaker a lot faster than he had originally expected and was unsure of whether or not he had the power anymore to kill his future boss.

Outside the warehouse, Officer Hart's sensors were running wild. Having abandoned the young group of heroes he encountered earlier, his sensors had begun detecting high mystical energy levels on a bandwidth simillair to the one he had followed to track Z-mage here to Khazan. Z-mage was up to something and if Officer Hart knew Z-mage half as well as he was begining to, it was no good.

Back inside the warehouse, Captain Pollution was taken completely by surprise when the wall behind him exploded, knocking him away from where he was standing. Pollution readied himself, believing the explosion to be no more than the result of another patrol of alien soldiers that they had had to fight their way past for hours to find a quite place for Z-mage to work. Captain Pollution was instead taken quite by surprise to see Officer Hart, standing in his uniform and body suit, his wrist weapons charged, his personnal shield ready, and a grin on his face.

"Z-mage, you never write, you never call, I was begining to think you had forgotten about me." Hart said with a grin on his face.

Z-mage was daunted to say the least. He was certain that he had managed to mystically block himself from Hart's sensors. "Why Officer Hart. How pleasent to see you again. Tell me, is it the current crisis of War World that has brought you to Khazan, or is simply just another stopping point in your futil quest to bring me to justice?"

"Like always, you are the reason that I can't go home. Now understand this, regardless of what happens to Khazan as a result of the invasion, you are going down."

Meanwhile, Captain Pollution had been watching the two talk from the side. Hart seemed completely oblivious to Pollution, which was what encouraged Pollution to charge and attack Hart. However, Hart knew better than to drop his guard around Z-mage, and this was no exception. As Pollution drove forward to try and tackle Hart, Hart activated a device on his left arm that made his left wrist begin to glow with power. As Captian Pollution rushed him, Hart landed an uppercut which, having been augmented by the yellow glow currently surrounding his fist, was enough to knock Pollution out of the building and right into the street, where he landed smach dab in the middle of a skirmish between alien soldiers, and Mobile Infantry, who had been trying to drive out alien soldiers.

Back in the warehouse, Z-mage reacted with instinct, mystically unleashing a wave of force which deactivated all electronic devices in the area. However, as Hart's suit seemed to shut down, the suit quickly adjusted, drawing power from Hart's body heat to power itself. Hart drove forwar, his strength enhancers working all over his suit, he tackled Z-mage to the ground. His blasters charged to full, Hart fired his wrist cannons at full power directly into Z-mage's skull at point blank range. Z-mage's skull exploded, and for a moment Hart believed to have defeated Z-mage. However, as Hart got up and walked away from Z-mage's seemingly dead body, he noticed a strange energy surrounding Z-mage's body. hart could not have known it, but it was the energy of the Phoenix Gate. Through the gate, Z-mage ad been transported to the future, where he killed his older self, a fate he had spent his entire life as a mystic trying to avoid. The energy of the Phoenix gate was now ensuring his fate, retrieving his soul and repairing his body, restoring him to life so that Z-mage might live, until an unknown date in the future when he will be killed by a younger version of himself.

As the Phoenix gate restored Z-mage, the mystic stood up and faced Hart.

"As you can see Officer Hart, it is pointless to try and kill me. And as it is, we face a far more lethal threat than I could ever become."

Hart seemed taken aback by this.

"What do you mean 'we'. I am taking you in and then I am going home to my wife and son."

"You might be able to take me back, but do so and your wife and son will not live long enough for you to be reunited with him. Behold."

Z-mage gestured with his hands as a purple energy began to fill the room and take the form of a tall, red fured being with a face that implied cruelity combined with intelligence.

"Behold, Officer Hart, this is DeMonStar, a being as great a threat to this universe as War World. Though I know not his long term goals, he has already allied himself with Khazan's heroes, who believe him to be the soal solution to ending the invasion launched by War World. He must be stopped and despite the impressive technology of your suit and your determination, you cannot stop him alone."

"Why should believe a word you say. Even if he is as bad as you say, I shouls just drag you back to the nearest jail capable of holding you and warn Khazan's heroes myself. Why exactly should I trust you?"

"Because I have no interest in betraying you simply so that I can prevent myself from dying in the future as opposed to dying right now. Understand, DeMonStar's power is great. He could unhinge the fabric of reallity, and if he accomplishes this within Khazan, it could mean the end of all existence in every dimensional plane. I seek only to prevent my own death, which is ensured if DeMonStar is not stopped."

Hart was forced to think twice about this. Hart was an accomplished observer and could always tell when someone was lying. With Z-mage, it was a bit harder. DeMonStar was definatly a threat, but it seemed that Z-mage was embellishing the true extent of the danger he possed to exsistence.

"No deals Z-mage, you are going down."

"Not this time." With that, Z-mage raised his hands and filled the room with an almost pallable energy. Hart felt as if his body was no longer reacting to his own will. The energy was making his body loss heat, which was not only causing his suit to power down but to make Hart pass out.

As Officer Hart's body collapsed to the floor, Z-mage contemplated killing him. But he decided otherwise. By the time Hart would awake, he would be long gone. And wit no clue as to where he had gone, Hart would the obviously patriotic thing that any hero in his position would and would set out to try and stop DeMonStar. Z-mage wasn't sure whether or not yet Hart could beat DeMonStar on his own, but he would be watching and waiting in the shadows to make sure that he did.

Meanwhile, back on War World, the Magus was enraged. He had learned that his task force which had sent to DeMonStar's moon had not only failed, but as a result, the moon was attacking War World. However, the cosmic egg would soon be ready and the destruction would begin.

And finally, in the outside corridor, just outside the Magus' control room, the doppleganger of Thanos had been sent to deal with DeMonStar's invasion. As he was heading to the control room, he heard a voice behind him.

"Such a petty creature, hardly equal to its original. I cannot fathom why the Magus should see a need for a waist such as you at his side."

As the doppelganger turned around, he found himself face to face with the original Thanos. Before he could react, the original titan fired a blast directly to his head, killing the creature in an instant.

Thanos smilled, thankful that the security measures he had placed to safe guard against the theft of the cosmic egg had allowed him to track the Magus all the way here. The time had come to deprive the Magus of his newfound prize.

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