Brimstone prepares to destroy the Earth with the fire of the Sun. Professor Stein returns to his apartment to find a letter from Ron that explains the truth about Firestorm. The Professor formulates a risky plan to confront Brimstone. Firestorm releases Ron and Mikhail from the matrix, leaving only the presence of Svarozhich. Firehawk and Svarozhich help propel Martin into space aboard a rocket plane. Firestorm is reborn and heads to the Sun for the final confrontation with Brimstone.

Firestorm826's Panel-by-Panel Story Summary (Spoiler Alert)

The beast lies in the heart of the Sun. The beast’s name is Brimstone - - the discarded seed of a failed plan of Darkseid of Apokolips. To regain his father’s love, the beast will attempt to offer the Earth as a fiery sacrifice. To stop him, a hero will pay the ultimate price and end in a…blaze of glory. Win or lose, this is the final Firestorm story.

The office of Simon La Grieve, Head of the Institute for Metahuman Studies. “You’re certain?!” Dr. La Grieve asks into his phone with surprise. “There’s absolutely no chance Maser was mistaken? I see…Perhaps Superman or Captain Atom or the Justice League could…no…not in time. Wait! Someone’s in my office!”

A man steps in and introduces himself. “I am called Rasputin. Do not be alarmed,” he tells Dr. La Grieve. “I have in the recent past, been a guide to the being you know as Firestorm.”

“What do you want?” Dr. La Grieve asks.

“I have been drawn here and, in listening, I now understand why,” Rasputin replies. “It may be I offer hope.”

“Hope? What kind of hope?” Dr. La Grieve asks.

“We must put forces into motion,” Rasputin explains. “Salvation is a process, not an act. Certain players must be gathered together and the threat made plain to them. Then we shall see what we shall see. I cannot explain why because I do not know why, but you must summon Martin Stein, Firehawk, and - - Firestorm.”

A short time later, Martin Stein, Firehawk, and Firestorm have gathered. They stand with Rasputin in Dr. La Grieve’s office. “That’s the story,” Dr. La Grieve tells them. “Brimstone has been reborn in the heart of the Sun. He’s manipulating the Sun itself, trying to reach the Earth with solar flares, turning the entire planet into a cinder. At this point, it’s only a matter of days - - perhaps hours - - until he succeeds. Our problem is - - we can’t touch him. There appears to be nothing we can do to stop him. No one can reach him in time.”

“Maser brought us the information, but stretched himself far beyond his abilities in order to do so,” Dr. La Grieve continues. “He’s physically unable to return at the moment though, to his credit, he wishes to try, even if he could, there’s no indication that he would be in any way effective in stopping Brimstone.”

“Excuse me, but I don’t understand,” Martin says. “Who or what is this Brimstone?”

“’He is an artificial creation of Darkseid - - sentient nuclear plasma given shape and form by magnetic fields,” Firehawk replies. “Grown from a ‘technoseed’.”

“This is my doing!” Firestorm says with frustration. “I have doomed the planet I was created to save!”

“You? How?” Martin asks. “I don’t understand…”

“It’s my fault!” Firestorm snaps back. “I threw him into the Sun! It was in my…’prior’ incarnation. Brimstone was threatening Las Vegas, threatening Firehawk..! I ripped through him and pulled the technoseed - - his heart - - from him! I just wanted to be rid of it - - once and for all! So I tossed it out into space! The Sun’s gravity obviously attracted the seed until it fell into the Sun and Brimstone was reborn!”

“You didn’t know that would happen!” Firehawk says, reaching to comfort Firestorm.

“I didn’t think that might happen!” Firestorm replies. “The best we can say is that I have not deliberately slain the Earth! Now I know why Maya told me I was a mistake! Perhaps if you, Martin, had become her Fire Elemental as she planned, this would never have happened!”

“I recently experienced - - or believe I have experienced - - a union with the Earth-Spirit Maya,” Firestorm explains to Martin. “Fire and explosion seem to be common elements in the creation of Elementals. The accident in the nuclear reactor…which created Firestorm was meant to include only you. The inclusion of Ron Raymond was a mistake - - and the exclusion of you, Martin Stein, in my re-creation, may well be a tragedy!”

“If this is your responsibility as you claim, Firestorm - - isn’t there some way you can travel to the Sun and stop Brimstone?” Dr. La Grieve asks.

“Would that I could!” Firestorm answers. “But as an Elemental, I am tied to the Earth! I would perish before I could break free of our atmosphere!”

“The only thing to do, then, is to inform the President,” Dr. La Grieve replies, reaching for his phone. “Perhaps he or the Soviet President can find someone who can cross the distance and stop Brimstone in time.” He dials a number quickly. “Well, Mr. Rasputin - - this meeting was something less than a success!”

Dr. La Grieve begins to speak on the phone. Firestorm slowly walks out of the office. “Is it? We cannot always see the end of what we begin,” Rasputin says. “Patience, Dr. La Grieve - - patience.”

‘Firestorm! Wait!” Firehawk yells. She flies in the sky behind Firestorm. “Where are you going?! What are you trying to do?”

“I’m going to try to force myself off the Earth - - towards the Sun!” Firestorm replies. “I’ve got to stop Brimstone!”

“You said you couldn’t do that, which probably means you tried once before,” Firehawk says. “What happened when you tried?”

“I failed,” Firestorm says sadly. “I…I nearly died.”

“Why should this time be any different?!” Firehawk counters. “You’ll just get yourself killed and nothing will be achieved! All just to assuage your guilt!”

“Why shouldn’t I die?” Firestorm snarls. “I’ve already effectively killed every other living being on this planet!” He arches his back in the sky and yells upwards. “Maya! Hear me! Forgive me! Release me! Let me atone by at least fighting for all that lives! Please!”

“Oh, Firehawk - - I can’t hear her - - or feel her - - anywhere near me!” Firestorm says, falling into Firehawk’s arms.

“Shush! Give her a chance,” Firehawk replies. “She’ll feel your tears. I do. For what it’s worth, I forgive you. And take this much hope - - we’re not dead yet. Be strong, be ready. Who knows what fate has in store?”

“Home again, home again…such as it is,” Martin thinks. He opens his apartment door. The apartment is shrouded in darkness and he flips on a light. “An odd life I am about to lose. The mail seems evenly divided between ‘Martin Stein’ and ‘Occupant’. Perhaps that’s who I really am - - ‘Martin Stein, Occupant’. I don’t really have a life. I occupy space.”

Martin leafs through his accumulated mail. “Hold on!” he thinks, seeing a letter from Ed Raymond. He opens it quickly and starts reading. “Ah! It’s something Ed feels I should know about my ‘past’. He’s forwarded a letter he’s found among Ronald’s things. Humph. It dates back to just after Ronald and I met at that rest home.”

“Dear Martin - - as I write this, it’s been only a few days since we found out you were still alive,” Martin reads. “Much of your memory of who you have been is gone. Well, I think I can fill you in on some of it because in some very real ways, our lives are jumbled together. And, in case anything should happen to me, I think you have a right to know the truth…or, at least, a version of the truth. Today’s truth; my truth, or as much truth as I remember.”

“If there’s one thing our time together has taught me, Martin, it’s that there are many kinds of truth,” Martin continues reading. “Okay, so here’s one ‘truth’: I used to be Ronnie Raymond, a high-school jock…and now, I’m Firestorm, or at least one part of Firestorm. How’d I get from there to here? Funny you should ask.”

“I was new in school. I felt like an outsider, a jerk, and I wanted to impress a girl named Doreen. So I joined a bunch of radicals protesting the Hudson Experimental Nuclear Power Plant…a plant you designed, Martin. All I wanted to do was look good to Doreen. Those radicals had other ideas. They wanted to blow up the plant - - and make me the fall guy - - and that’s exactly what they would have done, if you hadn’t been working late that one night. Do you believe in fate, Professor? I do. After all that’s happened to us, how could I not?”

“When I regained consciousness a few minutes later, I found us lying next to a bomb outside the nuclear pile. I tried to drag you away. We didn’t make it far. I still don’t really understand how…but we were fused into a single being - - the bomb went off - - radiation poured over us - - and we changed. With power over our combined atomic structure, and that of any inanimate object within a few dozen yards - - and I dubbed us Firestorm, the Nuclear Man. Corny, sure - - but I was a kid - - and even though you were present inside our mind, I was clearly in control.”

“After taking care of those radicals, I found I could split us apart by concentrating. That’s when I realized - - you had no memory of our time together as Firestorm. Great, I figured. If you didn’t know what we were doing, you wouldn’t stop me. I had no idea what that might do to you. Frightened by your ‘blackouts’, you started drinking. I’m sorry abouth that, Professor. I had no right to keep the truth from you…but being Firestorm made me feel good about myself…and I was afraid you’d make us quit. It seems so strange now: While I was busy fighting weirdos like Multiplex, Killer Frost, Plastique, and Black Bison - - you were falling apart. You lost your career and you thought you were losing your mind.”

“I guess the first really responsible thing I ever did was when I finally told you what was going on. I expected you to be furious…but instead, you were simply relieved. All you wanted was to know was the truth.”

“The next few years, I thought things were getting better and better. I graduated high school…we ended up at the same college, me as a student, you as a teacher…I met Lorraine Reilly, and she became Firehawk…our ‘career’ as Firestorm was going strong…and it all came to a halt when a shadow on an x-ray of your brain was diagnosed as a tumor, and the doctors gave you six months to live. That’s the funny thing about truth, Professor: Just when you think you know the truth, it changes.”

“When you told me about your tumor, I thought it was the end. But the truth is…your ‘death’ was only the beginning…We wanted to do something important before you died, Martin, so we told the world to get rid of all nuclear weapons or we would. The truth was - - we didn’t have that much power. But the world didn’t know that. They took us seriously and sent a Russian metahuman they called Pozhar - - destructive fire - - to nail us.”

“Pozhar was Mikhail Arkadin, who had been at Chernobyl during the meltdown. The radiation triggered his latent metagene. He could burn through anything, cause earthquakes, or create geysers of lava, just by plunging his hand into the ground. We fought, for the first and last time, above the nuclear testing facility in Nevada. We discovered that Mikhail was as reluctant a combatant as we were. Then the Russian and the U.S governments sent a nuclear missile to finish all of us.”

“In desperation, Mikhail linked hands with us, trying to give you a last shot of energy so we could form Firestorm and save ourselves. That’s what we were doing when the bomb went off. And Firestorm was - - reborn? Reformed? The matrix changed. Mikhail and I now comprised the two central aspects of Firestorm, but neither of us had been in charge. Firestorm himself now had his own personality!”

“For a long time, I thought you had died during the nuclear blast, The truth was…you were alive and your amnesiac mind, in fact, was now serving as the template for the new Firestorm persona! You’re one of the best men I’ve ever known, Martin. I really want to tell you this face-to-face, but…well, the truth is, I haven’t yet worked up the nerve. You forgave me once - - would you do it again?”

“I’ve written it down in case - - well, in case anything happens to me. You never know, right? And I hope you understand, in spite of how I’ve sometimes mooked it all up, I really am - - your friend, Ron.”

“Dear Ron, my dear friend,” Martin thinks. “You didn’t have the chance to write the end of this. It was only too late you learned the truth about Firestorm. The Russians tried creating a clone of Firestorm from his cells - - and succeeded only in creating a soulless inhuman creature codenamed Svarozhich! Thanks to this man who calls himself Rasputin, you learned Firestorm was actually the Fire Elemental. And that they only way to defeat it was for you and Mikhail to become Firestorm permanently.”

“And so the final, true Firestorm was created,” Martin recalls. “No, that’s not true, either, because for the first time I was excluded from the process and, according to a vision Firestorm had - - I was originally meant to be the human component in the matrix! Thank you, Ronald. Thank you. You couldn’t know, of course, that Lorraine had already told me all this. But you have clarified my thinking.”

“Look at this place,” Martin sighs. “Everything here is rented - - leased. Nothing has any personal meaning to me because I have no memories of my own of that previous life. In a real sense, whoever I was died a long time ago - - perhaps as far back as that accident in the nuclear reactor. And I think I have an idea, based on everything I’ve learned today, of what I can do.”

Martin picks up his phone and dials. “Hello, Simon?” he says. “This is Martin Stein. Look, I have an idea that might solve the Brimstone problem. No, let’s not talk on the phone. Can you gather Firestorm, Firehawk, and Rasputin and meet me tonight on the airfield adjoining the Institute?” He listens for a moment. “Midnight. When one day dies and another is born. Let’s meet at midnight.”

Darkness hovers over the airfield as Martin, Firestorm, Firehawk, Rasputin, and Dr. La Grieve meet. “The problem is Brimstone…and the obvious answer is Firestorm,” Martin says. “The problem then becomes how to get Firestorm free of the Earth’s biosphere so he can reach the Sun. If we can get Firestorm out of Earth’s gravity, he should be able to do it. If the answers to certain questions are what I think they are, I may have a way to do that! If this Firestorm no longer existed, would I then become the new Fire Elemental?”

“Possibly,” Rasputin replies. “However, the process involves fire, explosion, and rebirth and would have to occur at the same moment or close to it.”

“If I was outside the Earth’s gravitational field at the same time - - would the transformation still take place?” Martin asks.

“Hm,” Rasputin wonders. “My inquiries are inconclusive, but - - yes, I think it would. You are still the designated template.”

“Then the solution is simple - - we need only get me into orbit and then Firestorm and I must die,” Martin explains.

“Martin, have you gone mad?!” gasps Dr. La Grieve. Firehawk looks on in disbelief.

“I’m desperate but, I think, sane,” Martin replies. “And I think I know how to implement the plan. IMHS is currently warehousing old, experimental aircraft for its studies in metagene manipulation by cosmic rays. I propose we use one of these craft, equip it with oxygen tanks…and a quantity of explosives.”

“Firehawk and Firestorm then supply sufficient thrust to put me it - - and me - - into orbit,” Martin continues. “We detonate the explosive, ending my and Firestorm’s lives…and hopefully, recreating us both into a new Firestorm…in theory, anyway.”

“I’m willing, Martin, to take the chance,” Firestorm replies. “Any chance is better than none! But - - your plan will also doom Ron and Mikhail. Is there no other way?”

“I may have an idea there as well,” Martin explains. “But first we need your transmuting power to help prepare the rocket. And I’ll need a flight suit and a grenade.”

“I can get those from the Institute, along with trajectories for the flight window,” Dr. La Grieve says. “The plan is madness, Martin - - but I have none other to offer.”

“Martin, what of your own life?” Firehawk asks, resting a hand on Martin’s shoulder. “Are you willing to just toss it away for so slim a chance?”

“I don’t really have a life, Lorraine..,” Martin says somberly. “…so nothing would actually be lost. But if I succeed, then everyone has a chance! How can I not risk it?”

“Funny. Here they spend all kinds of money trying to determine if powers make one a hero,” Firehawk thinks. “And the definitive answer is walking around on two feet…and most people never noticed him.”

A short time later… “I hope the suit fits, Martin. It’s all we had,” Dr. La Grieve says. The group stands outside a hangar alongside a NASA rocket plane.

“It fits well enough for what we need,” Martin says, adjusting the flight suit. “Comfort is not essential. Firestorm, would you now create those oxygen tanks we discussed and attach them where I showed you on the craft?”

FZAM! Instantly, Firestorm transmutes two large tanks and guides them into position on the rear of the rocket’s fuselage. “Excellent,” Martin observes. “Now we can create a launch platform of earth by creating a ramp at the angle I gave you.”

FZAM! Firestorm shapes the ground under the rocket, poising it upwards in launch position. “We make quite a team,” he says.

“Yes, yes,” Martin replies. “Now comes the tricky part. There’s only one way we can do this and still save Ronald and Mikhail - - release them from your matrix but retain Svarozhich…the Russian clone created from your earlier self.”

“I…I can’t do that..!” Firestorm sputters.

“Yes, you could,” Rasputin replies. “You always could. As they gave themselves freely to the bond to form you, so you must freely dissolve it…to give them back to themselves. You did not because you feared they would never form you again. Hear their voices within you: Surrender to those voices and Ron and Mikhail will live again.”

“But - - how do you control Svarozhich?” Firestorm asks. “He was an inhuman construct and not all that stable - - physically or mentally.”

“I talked it over with Rasputin and, with his help, I think I can establish mental control over the creature.” Martin explains. “The same psychic connection you and I started to exhibit should provide leverage.”

“What you ask me to do - - this is not death,” Firestorm replies. “This is dissolving myself. To give up my very concept of self. No, I must not hesitate. If all ends as you say, Firestorm will live again. And the Earth will be saved. Let it be.”

Firestorm concentrates. Light shines brightly around him and his image blurs. FZAM! Firestorm disappears, and two fireballs streak upwards from the airfield!

The twin beams of light dance for a moment and then break away in different directions. One spans the North Pole and streaks across Moscow. “Bozhe moi!” gasps a bystander on a Moscow street as a fireball races overhead.

And in a remembered apartment, now lovingly restored…FZAP! “Mama!” shrieks Sofia Arkadin as light suddenly fills the room.

“The glowing light!” Nina gasps. “It’s..!”

The light takes form. “Nina?” Mikhail asks as he becomes visible.

“All the saints in Heaven…” Nina says, covering her mouth in disbelief.

“Papa!” Sofia and Irena cry out as they see their father. They rush to his side.

“Mikhail! Oh, Mikhail!” Nina says as tears stream down her cheeks. She hugs her husband tightly.

“Hush, love! Hush, my dove!” Mikhail says tearfully. “I’ve come back! I’m real. I’m home!”

New York City. “Ed, you’ve barely stirred out of this apartment in five weeks!” Felicity Smoak-Raymond says. “Honey, let’s get out - - a movie, a play, something..!”

Ed sits on the couch. “Naw, I just don’t feel…I can’t..,” he replies.

FZAM! Light fills the room. Ed looks and stands angrily. “Ed, don’t!” Felicity says quickly.

“I don’t care, Felicity!” Ed growls, clenching his fists. “Until I see Ron again, Firestorm has no place here! All right, you creep! Give me back…my son!”

The light fades and Ron becomes visible. “Dad? Mom?” Ron asks.

“Ron! Oh, thank Heaven! Ron!” gasps Ed, rushing to hug his son.

“But - - I thought - - how did you get out of Firestorm?!” Felicity asks in disbelief.

“It’s kind of hazy,” Ron explains. “He released me because he and Martin - -! Oh, no! Nooooo!”

“Ron?” Felicity gasps nervously. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“It’s Martin!” Ron blurts. “He’s going to kill himself!”

At the airfield, Svarozhich hovers near Martin, Firehawk, Rasputin, and Dr. La Grieve. “Do you know…do you remember…what we are going to do?” Martin asks.

“I…remember,” Svarozhich says with a scowl. “I will not do it. I have just achieved my own life. I will not give it up.”

“There isn’t any other choice,” Firehawk says. “For the Earth to live, you must go through with the plan.”

“Let the Earth die!” Svarozhich protests. “I would have purged it in any case! The power is now mine to use as I will - - and I will not sacrifice myself!”

“But that power is not yours,” Rasputin replies. “It is usurped. This man is the rightful heir to the power of the Fire Elemental.”

“And with this man’s help, I now claim my right,” Martin says. “Bend your will to mine, Svarozhich.”

SHOOM! Fire radiates from Svarozhich, causing the others to shield themselves. “I will not!” he yells fiercly. “And I will kill those who try to make me bow!”

“And if the Earth dies - - what becomes of you?!” Firehawk yells back. KRAK! She punches him hard across the jaw. “The decision was already made - - and you’ll stick to it.”

SPAKOW! Svarozhich fires flaming bursts out from his hands that Firehawk barely dodges. “Burn with them!” he yells. “Let it all burn before I die!”

“No. Our choice is for life,” Martin calmly continues. “And you will cooperate.”

“I…I..,” Svarozhich says quizzically. “I will do what I must.”

“I’ve got him, but I don’t know how long I can hold him,” Martin says as he gains control over Svarozhich. “Let’s do it.”

Moments later… “Martin, are you ready?” Dr. La Grieve calls via radio.

“Yes, Simon,” Martin replies from the cockpit of the rocket. “Tell Firehawk and Svarozhich to take their places and let’s begin.”

Firehawk and Svarozhich move into position at the back of the rocket. BWAROAR! The engine bursts to life and the rocket begins to speed upwards!

“God be with you, Martin,” Simon says as he watches the rocket race away.

“Dozvidhanya, Martin Stein,” Rasputin says.

SHUUUUUU! The rocket shoots through the atmosphere. “Martin!” Ron yells.

“Fly, my brother,” Mikhail says. “Take all our hearts with you!”

“Keep - - pushing!” Firehawk says as she and Svarozhich work in the rocket’s fiery exhaust plume. The rocket races up through the atmosphere into space.

“Gaaah!” Svarozhich yells.

“What is it?!” Firehawk asks.

“Unstable - - tearing myself apart…it is finished!” Svarozhich warns. He separates from the rocket and banks away.

“Get away! Fast!” Firehawk yells. FWADOOM! Svarozhich is enveloped in a massive explosion as Firehawk propels the rocket higher.

“Up to me…can’t stop…a little further!” Firehawk thinks, straining into the rocket’s plume. “Have to make orbit! One…last…push! Uhnnng!” With all her strength, Firehawk shoves the rocket. It continues to soar upwards as she slowly falls away. “Martin, I’ve done all I could!” she thinks. “I don’t know if I can make it back myself! I only hope you make orbit!”

Martin raises his dark visor and gazes around at the stars. “Dear Lord - - it’s so beautiful!” he thinks. “I dreamed of seeing the stars - - and now I have. How exquisite! Look at me. I’m shaking. Scared. Not unreasonable, I suppose. Is it death that scares me - - or the thought that it will prove meaningless? That I’ll fail once and for all and the Earth will be doomed.”

He reaches down and finds the hand grenade. His hand trembles as his fingers close around the pin. “Can’t be helped, Martin, so just pull the pin and trust to luck!” Ping! With a metallic clink, he pulls the pin free.

“You are wise, brother!” says the voice of a friendly face appearing in the stars near the rocket. “For luck is with you! Eshu is come!”

The explosion is all the more terrible for its silence. The fire is all the more frightening, for it means the oxygen tanks are being quickly consumed. And then - - the fire falls in on itself…and begins to take the shape of a man. Until, at last, Firestorm is reborn.

“Good Heavens! It worked!” Martin thinks. “I am Firestorm! And…I am also truly Martin Stein! The Firestorm matrix has preserved all those memories of myself I thought I had lost! I remember everything pertaining to both Firestorm and Martin Stein! This time the fusion between Elemental and human natures has melded perfectly!”

“I’ve won the initial gamble!” he thinks, gazing down at the Earth. “I can reach the Sun and face Brimstone! And that will be the final - - the most important test! Can I defeat him? I’ve never gone into ‘battle’ by myself! Ronald, I can only hope I’ve learned from you during our time together. For your sake, and the sake of all the others on our poor, abused planet, I no longer have the luxury of losing genteely. I must learn to finally – win! May Maya guide me!”

Firestorm turns towards the Sun and quickly leaves the Earth behind. On the surface of the Sun, a fearsome figure reaches out. “Hear me, Lord!” cries Brimstone. “Hear me, great Darkseid! At last, I will fulfill your commandment unto me! Soon I will incinerate the brazen planet Earth and burn away all its graven images and false heroes! And then you will love me and take me back to my rightful home and my worship will be rewarded!”

“Sorry, Brimstone!” Firestorm calls out as he appears above Brimstone. “But the planet Earth is not for burning!”

“Who - - ?!” Brimstone gasps.

CHOOM! Firestorm’s fist smashes across Brimstone’s jaw and sends him tumbling. “Firestorm! You may remember me. I defeated you the last time,” Firestorm replies. He lands on the Sun as Brimstone gets back to his feet.

“Not this time!” Brimstone replies angrily. “NOT THIS TIME!” Brimstone pounds his fist into the Sun. THOOOM! “NOT THIS TIME!” he yells. “Come forth, Man of Fire! Come forth and I will snuff your flame!”

“No. You come down,” Firestorm replies. SHOOP! He pulls Brimstone down towards him. “I have…intuition…reflexes…telling me what to do,” Firestorm thinks. “Must let them guide me. I can’t allow myself to think of Brimstone as a living being - - he’s not! He’s an artificial intelligence! His thoughts…his emotions…are all pre-programmed! He can’t be reasoned with! Can I destroy him?”

FAP! Firestorm sweeps a leg kick into Brimstone. FIP! He whips Brimstone away like a ragdoll.

“You throw me into the heart of the Sun - - but heat cannot destroy me!” Brimstone yells, turning back towards Firestorm. “Fire cannot destroy me! You cannot destroy me! But I can destroy you!”

Brimstone reaches out his hand and a gigantic silver sword appears in his grasp. He swings the blade mightily! SNEKT! It slices completely through Firestorm’s right arm!

“My arm!” Firestorm gasps. “You cut off my arm!”

KLOP! WHAM! Brimstone strikes with his fist. “You are a puny thing, Firestorm - - unworthy of my sword!” he yells. “Worship my master and I will make your death swift! Worship me and I may let you live!” Brimstone reaches out and tightly closes his hand around Firestorm’s throat.

“This…is absurd!” Firestorm thinks. “He cannot choke me to death - - we’re both creatures of energy! Of force! Pure force!”

SPAKOW! Firestorm blasts Brimstone away. “Yaagghhhhh!” Brimstone cries out as he flails backwards.

“And by thought, I can form or reform that force - - as I have already done to get to the Sun!” Firestorm thinks. “I can think myself whole!” Quickly, Firestorm’s missing arm takes shape. “And I am! Now, monster - - now we shall start again, hand to hand, force to force!”

“Aye!” Brimstone yells. “And may the greater force win!”

Then begins the headlong rush. Power versus power. Across half the width of the Sun at unimaginable speeds, the two beings race toward one another. The Sun itself shudders at the impact. The Earth feels the spasm of conflict. For a moment, it seems the Sun has exploded. And then, there is only quiet. The quiet of the grave.

Firestorm floats in a swirl of energy. His eyes slowly open. “I think, therefore…I am alive,” he thinks. “I think. That…very nearly finished me. But it will have been worth it, if only it means Brimstone is gone!”

Unseen behind him, a gigantic hand reaches out from the Sun. In an instant, it closes tightly around Firestorm completely. “Now, impious gnat!” Brimstone yells as he reappears. “Now I have you and this time I will destroy you! Now I see the energy matrix that forms the core of your being! This time, when my fiery sword strikes, it shall pierce that matrix and you will be gone…forever!”

Brimstone clutches Firestorm tightly in his left hand; his left hand raises the fearsome sword. “Of course! I’ve been a fool!” Firestorm thinks. “I haven’t used my brain! The secret isn’t to strike at his surface, but at his heart! Matter into energy and escape.”

In an instant, Firestorm dematerializes and disappears from Brimstone’s grasp. He floats free. “Pierce the surface and strike at the heart of his technoseed!” he thinks as he turns to speed towards Brimstone’s chest. “Destroy the technoseed and Brimstone dies!”

PANK! Brimstone shudders as a streak of light enters his chest. Firestorm flies quickly inside. Just ahead lies the looming technoseed heart of the monster. SPAKOW! Firestorm crashes into the technoseed and it shatters!

“YAHHHHHHRRRRGGGG!” Brimstone yells in agony. “Master! Take my soul! Turn not your face away from your faithful one! Save me, Lord Darkseid, or I die! I diiiie…!”

SPAKOW! In a massive burst of light, Brimstone disappears into the Sun!

Triumph. Disaster!

“What have I done?” Firestorm gasps as he watches the Sun’s surface rage and boil where Brimstone disappeared. “Brimstone’s imploding energies have created a vortex! I’ve created a nascent black hole on the surface of the Sun! And it bids fair to suck me in with the rest of the Sun’s energy!”

An overwhelming invisible gravity force pulls Firestorm down. He struggles mightily against it. “Maya!” Firestorm cries out. “Mother! Guide me now! I’ve been reborn as you said I was meant to be! Have I doomed not only our planet, but the entire Solar System?! Maya, help me! How may I save us all?! MAYAAAAA!”

In the bright and swirling energy of the Sun, the face of the Earth-Spirit Maya appears. “Child of my heart, child of my will, hear me and heed me now!” she yells. “The vortex is a gate that cannot be closed from this side! Pass through the gate…and you may be able to shut it from within. Do not resist the vortex’s pull! Surrender to it so that Earth may live!”

“I…I do…but the pain, Maya!” Firestorm says as his body falls closer to the vortex. “The vortex crushes even my energy! The pain!”

No light, no sound, no energy escapes the crush of this gravity. Only after he has been spat out past the event horizon…does the screaming come.

“I…never again!” Firestorm thinks as he falls through the other side. “I could never endure that again! I will never have to endure that again because if I succeed, I’ll never have a way back to what I knew as home! And if I do not close the gate, everything that I knew as home will cease to be! I haven’t come so far - - challenged so much - - to fail at the last! Whatever my fate may be, the Earth must live!”

SCHRAK! Firestorm fires a massive burst of energy from both hands at the gate! SPAKOW!

For a while, there is nothing. But energy, like hope, can never truly be destroyed. Slowly, the light fades.

“I…live,” Firestorm thinks warily. He looks around himself at the stunning astral sights. “Astounding!” he thinks. “The theory was that black holes would lead us to antimatter universes with white holes, but this space seems to be a universe of positive matter! I wonder what it’s like, I suspect I will have time to learn - - for the way home to my world is blocked. There may yet be another way home - - somewhere. In the meantime, I have a universe to discover - - and explore. I live and my world still lives…and on it, my friends are safe for the moment. It was more than I hoped for when I began. Thank you, Maya! Your child is grateful!”

Some days later on the small, green planet we call Earth… “I’m glad you’re feeling better, Ms. Reilly,” Dr. La Grieve says. He stands with Lorraine in a hospital room at the Howard Fine Howard Clinic. “You had a bad day or so at the start. We all feared you wouldn’t make it. Now the doctors say you’ll be out by the end of the week. Oracle completed her scan. We now know where all of Sunderland’s taps are going into the Institute.”

“And you’re removing them?” Lorraine asks softly.

“Oh, no, that would be counter-productive,” Dr. La Grieve explains. “They’d just install new ones. Instead, Oracle arranged it so that all the material transmitted would randomly omit certain data. They, of course, won’t realize that they have incomplete data. Anything they try to do with it will go wrong, and they’ll be hard-put to know why. It should keep them busy for quite a while.”

“For such a nice man, you have a very devious turn of mind, Doctor,” Lorraine says with a smile. “I assume that Firestorm was successful. Where is he?”

“He evidently was successful,” Dr. La Grieve explains. “Unfortunately, he hasn’t yet returned. We don’t think he is…able…to do so. I’m sorry. I have to be getting back to the Institute. But there’s another old friend here who dropped by to see how you were getting along. Actually, he’s been camped outside your door.”

Dr. La Grieve opens the door. “Uhhh…Hi,” Ron says as he steps in. “I brought you some flowers. You like roses?”

“Ron!” Lorraine cries out. She sits up and Ron hugs her. “Oh, Ron!” The two kiss passionately.

“Missed you,” Lorraine says happily.

“Missed you, too,” Ron answers. “Thanks for helping Martin. Dr. La Grieve filled me in on the whole story. You were great!”

“Pshaw!” Lorraine scoffs playfully. “But - - oh, Ron! Is he really dead?! Do you think that Martin - - that Firestorm - - is really gone?!”

“No,” Ron replies. “I’d feel it inside if he was. He’s out there somewhere. I know it. In my heart, I know. Firestorm lives!”

For now - - The End