Justice League of America #5

WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS CHAPTER 5

After finally returning to Earth, Green Lantern Simon Baz has been recruited by A.R.G.U.S. to join the JLA. Unexpectedly, though, he has brought the squirrel-like Lantern B'dg with him, as he is still under observation because of his having pushed the limits of Sinestro's Green Lantern Ring to previously undocumented limits - and as such, wherever Simon goes, so too must B'dg go. Though this is not what they hoped for, A.R.G.U.S. has agreed to wipe Simon's criminal record in exchange for his cooperation. Suddenly, an explosion begins to drain the light energy from the Lanterns' rings, and they receive word that something horrible has happened to Dr. Arthur Light.  Elsewhere, the Secret Society has just murdered Catwoman. Meanwhile, Professor Ivo and the Shaggy Man have incapacitated Steve Trevor and the other members of the JLA, and they are ready for interrogation. As far as Catwoman's corpse is concerned, the Society's leader anticipates Batman's vengeance, and decides to head it off by having the corpse delivered to his doorstep. He leaves the body to Signalman and Copperhead to clean up, but they are surprised when Catwoman returns to life, and attacks them. Apparently, the Catwoman they thought they had captured was, the whole time, Martian Manhunter in disguise.  The Shaggy Man has brought down all of the JLA thus far except for Hawkman, requiring that Ivo send his robotic Justice League to subdue him. Meanwhile, Blockbuster and the Society's leader are attacked by both Martian Manhunter and Catwoman, who has been hiding in the rafters. Stargirl, who came against Waller's wishes, manages to rescue Hawkman with her Cosmic Staff, allowing them the opportunity to split up. While he continues to fight the Shaggy Man, she seeks out the others and frees them from their captivity.  When Manhunter and Catwoman finish with Blockbuster, they hunt down the leader, who seems to know all about their real identities. However, his identity is still a mystery to them. Manhunter attempts to use his telepathy to discover it, but he senses that he is blocked from doing so. Despite that, the man allows J'onn the opportunity to see into his mind, and the Martian is surprised to learn that this man watched his world die, as he did.  Meanwhile, the JLA learns that if they want to destroy the Shaggy Man, they need to remove the insulating plastic fur from his body, and Katana and Hawkman oblige by cutting it away. Elsewhere, Green Arrow chases down Professor Ivo until he corners him in the same room as a man who is trapped in a chair, dancing with electrical energy. Ivo explains that this man is Chronos. When the engine he is stuck in is activated - and it has just been - Chronos causes a temporal neutral field to envelope the manor, causing it to freeze in place throughout time, while the earth turns - which means that the earth moves, not the manor. Thanks to the coins that the Society have been given, they are able to stay within the manor without issue, but the JLA is going to face a very painful death if they do not leave the house soon.  As they escape the manor, the Society's leader comments to Martian Manhunter that it was nice to see him again. The team manages to capture a few of the Society's members, but the manor disappears completely before their eyes, and the Society's leader with it.  Later, Steve Trevor returns to A.R.G.U.S., where Waller informs her that she is disbanding the JLA as it currently exists, intending to change the roster, and arrange it based on character instead of ability. Steve argues that this team was successful at apprehending some wanted criminals, and they did rescue Chronos - aka David Clinton, an A.R.G.U.S. agent who had been captured while attempting to seek out Booster Gold. Steve claims that he was wrong about these people when she first created the team. While he had doubted them initially, he now believes that they all have potential - and whether they can take down the Justice League or not. After a pause, Waller gives Steve permission to make this team into the team he thinks they could be.  After he leaves, she smirks. This was what she had planned all along. She then receives a call from the Puzzler, who explains that the stained glass they pieced together from the manor is part of an image of Pandora's Box. Confused, Waller hurries to investigate. Before that, though, she checks in on Dr. Light, who has undergone a kind of change, thanks to the accident. As she hears his cries for help, Waller remarks that she will help him if he helps her.

THE MARTIAN MANHUNTER

Having sensed Catwoman's attempt to escape her cell in the Secret Society's manor, Martian Manhunter assumes her identity thanks to the mind-scan he took of her, in order to spare her the punishments she will undoubtedly face when she is caught. While he waits for that punishment to come, he thinks back on his horror at returning to Mars to find his people massacred. Desperately, he had scanned the ether for any trace of thought, and all he had found were the words "Thoth" and "Earth". The one responsible for the death of his people was calling to him.  He found the creature in Egypt, and it readily admitted that it had called him because it felt alone in the world, as one of the only creatures who could talk through his mind. Thoth is surprised and upset to learn that J'onn is blocking him from connecting with his mind. J'onn explains that this is because Thoth's thoughts are toxic. His people are dead because Thoth reached out with thoughts that behaved like a virus, consuming the thoughts and the lives of those they touched. Filled with rage at the loss, J'onn attacks brutally, intending to take Thoth's life. But as he attempted to kill the man, he learned of his life. The boy had grown up thinking thoughts that were incompatible with the human minds of others. He had killed his friends and family by thinking at them alone. He searched and searched for like minds, unaware that the people of Mars would die too.  When J'onn killed Thoth, he learned, to his horror, that Thoth was not a mortal man as he had thought. Thoth was a parasite. He could inhabit any body, and continue spreading his viral thoughts. And Thoth had just made a mortal enemy in him.