Forte, and the world, are still recovering from the events of the “Dawn of Anubis” (see Forte 2000 #'s 146-150) as spring comes to Seattle. Things are getting back to normal in the lives of the heroes of Forte past and present.

The current Forte team is off-world in another dimension at the moment, save for two members—Vortex and Dyna Girl. Vortex has the job of keeping an eye on the city while the others are gone, as the team generally tries to keep at least one member on monitor duty at all times. He’ll need to be the one because Dyna Girl has got another duty to perform.

After the events that took place back at the beginning of October, when an attempt to murder Dr. Jackal led to the revelation of the involvement of rogue members of the undersea Cassian race (see Forte 2000 #142), the Cassians have realized their involvement with the surface world is starting to become more regular, and it might be a good thing to get relations on a better level. Plus, considering members of Forte helped uncover this plot by some of their own, they feel they kind of owe them. So, in an attempt at diplomacy, and at the urging of their prince, Kell, they’ve asked for an audience with some of the former Forte members that were involved in the Jackal incident—they already know all the current Forte members, but have had no relations with the old guard.

So it was decided that a current Forte member would be the ambassador and bring the former ones down to Stronghold, the underwater tesseract city of the Cassians off the Washington coast. After much lobbying (Rainier would use the word “whining”) and after a good deal of resistance from the rest of her team, Dyna Girl managed to get the ambassador job. She contacted the Forte alums that helped her and her teammates stop the turncoat Cassians and Mandate (and save Dr. Jackal’s life)—Anvil, Lightsedge, Tomarssuk and Vanguard. Only Vanguard was unable to make the event. The other three freed themselves from their lives long enough for (another) trip back to Seattle.

So Anvil came in from Ohio, Tommy left Anchorage behind, and Lightsedge left things to his followers, The Order of Light, in their current home in Africa (where they’re righting wrongs and angering warlords and governments). They’ve all shown up at the new Forte base, a place they’ve never been before. They’ve all met at the old Forte base in times past, but this time, the team is going to need to use the Mariner, the new Forte’s submersible jet, to get where they’re going, and it’s housed at the new joint.

As Vortex sits on monitor duty (and plays computer games), Dyna Girl gives the boys a tour of the base, with its pool table and outdated console videogames left behind by the previous occupants (the techs from Tether Corp who built the Mariner). They have time to chat for a while, but soon it’s time to get on their way for their rendezvous below the sea.

They load up in the Mariner, with Anvil, the pilot, getting in the pilot’s seat and taking time to figure out the controls. The good news is that Tinker (the normal pilot of the thing) has installed something labeled “the idiot button”, which brings up all kinds of helpful info—much in the form of “frequently asked questions”—on the main display screen. As Lightsedge, Dyna Girl and human-formed Tommy strap themselves in (Tommy nervously, as he really hates to fly), Anvil gets his bearings, pressurizes the craft, and hits the auto-pilot that guides the sub/jet down through the seawater pool in which it floats, descending into the vertical tunnel below it, and outward through the long underground cavern that eventually feeds out (through hidden doors) out into the Sound. Once out there, Anvil takes the controls, breaks the surface, hits the jets, and takes them off into the brisk and salty Washington air.

Dyna Girl is explaining more about the Cassians and their society (she boned up on this stuff to augment her knowledge once she knew she had the job) to the boys as they’re nearing their point of descent. Suddenly, the jet is jolted (much to Tommy’s dismay) when another craft streaks right over them. The heroes barely have time to register this when a pair of F-16s rocket on past them, in hot pursuit of the craft. Funny thing about that craft? It didn’t look quite normal. It looked almost…kind of alien. Something Anvil has had some experience with (during the Saosyhant Invasion – see original Forte #’s 171-176).

Anvil quickly hits the afterburners and joins the chase, while Dyna Girl gets on the radio and uses some Forte cred to get patched through to the pilots in the jets. The pilots are happy to see Forte on the job. Dyna tries to get more info, but all they know is this thing was streaking over Oregon, then Washington, and they were dispatched to find out what it was and what its intentions were.

Anvil wants a closer look and really puts the pedal down, soon getting up on the mysterious craft’s tail. They’re all looking out the windshield at it, trying to figure out what to make of it, when suddenly there’s a roar and a bright flash of light that blinds and disorients them all.

When they recover, brightness is no longer a problem. It’s quite dark outside. And there are stars all around. And they all find themselves floating, weightless, held down only by their flight harnesses.

They all realize, quickly, that they’re in space.

In the MIDDLE of space.

There’s nothing but stars all around. No sun, no Earth, no moon, no nothing. Anvil quickly cuts the jets as they’re all trying to process this. All they can figure is that the craft they were chasing must have gone to some kind of warp, and they must have been caught up in its wake. That craft is nowhere to be seen, and the hows are really the least of their concerns. The main concern is…they’re in the MIDDLE…of SPACE.

The good news is, at least so far, it seems the Mariner can survive it okay. They’re all still breathing. The bad news is that this jet was NOT designed for flight in space, so there’s not going to be any pointing it in a direction and heading that way. They are very much stranded. And Tommy is more than a little freaked out by it.

While Tommy goes and hides in the bathroom (the very small one they have on the Mariner), the rest of the cosmic castaways start setting some priorities and trying to figure out what to do in what order. The first order is survival. Air. They check the tanks. They’ve got about twelve hours of oxygen. They discuss ways to tap into other air storage on the submersible, and with some jury-rigging, manage to get that up to about seventeen hours. There is some food aboard. There was a situation some time back when some Forte members were trapped at the bottom of the sea in the craft, and its been S.O.P. ever since to keep some emergency provisions aboard. It’s not much, but it’s certainly enough for the seventeen hours of breathing they have left (except for Anvil, who doesn’t need to breathe, which will help conserve oxygen but will leave him floating in a big metal box with three corpses for company…).

They check the Forte radios, just in case, and of course those don’t work out here (wherever “here” is). They try the cockpit radio, and get nothing but static. Dyna Girl checks radar, sonar, and whatever other sensors they have aboard, but can find nothing around them. They’re just gliding helplessly through spaceways.

While Tommy stays in the can (where it’s safe (?)) and reads on old “Oui” magazine (who the hell put that in there? Maybe it was just for the old Schwarzenegger interview…), the others go over options endlessly, but only seem to be going in circles. While Anvil and Dyna Girl are discussing things up front, Lightsedge decides to head to the back of the jet. While he’s looking out the back, he thinks he starts to see something. About that time, the radar up front starts acting funny (as in pretty much the whole screen going green). While Anvil and Dyna try to figure it out, Lightsedge lets them know that there seems to be an…um…ARMADA coming up on them.

A fleet of gigantic (as in city-sized, in some cases) ships overtakes them. The Mariner is completely dwarfed. Dyna Girl starts scanning through the radio, and eventually finds a frequency with something being barked on it in an alien language that seems to be waiting for an answer. Dyna Girl tries to answer and says that they come in peace, but soon, a massive laser blast shoots across the Mariner’s bow. A warning shot. There are a few tense moments, but suddenly, the Mariner jolts a bit and starts to rise, caught up in a tractor beam and being pulled into the giant warship above them.

Their jet/sub ends up in a landing bay that’s lined with a massive array of fighter craft—along with other ships—and soon the Mariner is surrounded by dozens of armed troops of different races, all wearing the same uniform, all pointing blaster rifles at the craft. The heroes do a quick sensor check to make sure it’s breathable air on that ship (it is) and then decide their best course of action is to step out and surrender. Hey, it beats suffocating in space, right?

They step out of the Mariner with many weapons pointed at them. Someone who seems to be an officer starts shouting something at them they can’t understand. Suddenly, a woman’s voice calls out something that they suspect is “Wait!”.

All eyes, including those of the Forte heroes, turn at the approach of the tall, shapely woman in the regal uniform, and the similarly-garbed people with her. Dyna Girl recognizes her (and them) right away. It’s Galaxia, the leader of the Realmwatch, and the rest of the ‘Watch is with her.

The troops respectfully back away and let the ‘Watch through, and Galaxia quickly passes what look like watches to the heroes…but what end up being translators. She turns to the officer and says, “Don’t you know who this is? This is the Dyna Girl. Of Forte.” Suddenly there are surprised and somewhat excited murmurs amongst the troopers, as Galaxia gives Dyna Girl a Realm salute, followed by a hug. And she welcomes all the heroes, and lets them know, to their surprise, that they’re aboard the Realmvessel “Forte”.

The latter-day Forte first encountered the Realmwatch (basically the official hero team of the Realm, a vast empire in another galaxy) when an escaping group of very powerful villains knows as the Deviators landed on Earth thanks to a teleportation accident (see Forte 2000 #63). The founding “Forte 2000” foursome fought them and only escaped with their lives thanks to the arrival of the ‘Watch to assist. Forte faced the Deviators again when, during a prisoner transport, the villains managed to escape and replicate the teleport incident and return to Earth to take over, but this time the full eight members of Forte faced and defeated them in an epic battle in downtown Seattle, with the Realmwatch showing up after the fight and collecting the escapees (see Forte 2000 #145). At that time, Galaxia let them know that the Realmsovereign, the leader of the empire, was quite taken with tales of these heroes from another galaxy. And now that these same heroes had taken the Deviators out on their own, she wouldn’t be surprised if one of the new warships ended up named after Forte.

Guess she knew the Realmsovereign pretty well.

She’s happy to see Dyna Girl (and to meet members of the original Forte), but lets them know that whatever reason brought them out to the Realm, they’ve come at a bad time. The empire is currently at war. The neighboring Harcor Empire, an empire that has refused to join the Realm and has had a tenuous relationship with them over the years, has suddenly started launching attacks on Realm outposts. Many Realm citizens have been killed, and the Realmsovereign, and the citizens of the Realm, are outraged. The leader of the Harcor, Overlord Guyden, seems to have gone mad, and now the two sides have declared war. The fleet the heroes are now with is currently on its way to attack the Harcor home world and bring that empire to its knees.

Dyna Girl lets her know that the reason the heroes are there is that they were chasing a ship that showed up on Earth, and they accidentally got warped to Realmspace right along with it. At the mention of this, Galaxia looks to Blue Victor (the man who used to lead the Realmwatch until his rash decisions got him on the Sovereign’s bad list), and they exchange a meaningful glance. Galaxia asks the heroes to describe this ship. They do. She lets them know that the fleet was after this same ship, a ship she says is called the “Merleen”, the personal ship of the Harcor Overlord’s mysterious new First Counselor. The Realm spies on the Harcor home world reported that the ship departed suddenly, and Realm ships were making chase until it suddenly warped away and disappeared. It appears, now, that it somehow warped all the way to Earth (though no warp drive should be able to get it that far that fast). The reason for this is now the great mystery, and Galaxia says they all need to talk, and she asks the heroes to join the Realmwatch in their ready room.

The heroes are led through the gargantuan ship to the ready room, where proper introductions are made by Galaxia, a warrior woman of a line of rulers on her world that gave up her throne to serve the Realm (to her mother’s shame and her father’s pride). They meet (the new guys…Dyna Girl has already met them) Blue Victor, the very serious and stoic man of action who led the revolt on his own world that overthrew its dictator and brought it into the Realm. They also meet Traveler, the teleporter who walks between worlds, who made herself something of an outcast on her very pacifistic home world by leaving her religious order and joining the Realmwatch. She asks about Seahawk, whom she was very obviously taken with on the ‘Watch’s first journey to Earth. And there’s Chosen—otherwise known in the Realm as Ambassador K’Jerenn, a being with powers of the mind who was chosen by his people to be their ambassador to the Realm, and who eventually decided the best way to properly keep in the public eye (and to better spread their religious teachings) was to join the Realmwatch. He’s quite serene, thoughtful, and a bit on the prissy side. Legionon as a massive muscular being the Tommy quickly scents as having many robotic parts. A veteran of the Realm armies, he achieved the rank of Realm Commander before one particular battle all but killed him. His reconstructive surgery led to many cybernetic augmentations…many off which are weapons, by his insistence. The old soldier with the gruff manner and the deep voice eventually joined the ‘Watch. Sun Kin, a being from a world of sun-worshipers who, on a sabbatical orbiting their star, was caught up in a solar flare that engulfed his ship and gifted him with devastating solar powers, is seen as a very holy figure by his race, something the rather crotchety old man doesn’t care much for. And finally, there is Meta4, a young woman who was an archeologist until her journey into a hidden temple led her to an amazing gem that quickly embedded itself in her chest. A relic from a long-dead race, it was used by the chosen protector of that people, and bestowed upon her the ability to spilt into four different selves—one of strength, one of speed, one of light and one of darkness. Amongst all these military and religious types, she’s easily the most accessible and personable. Tommy smells magic on her. She doesn’t know that word, but if he refers to “the mystical”, that is something that her gem seems to be.

Galaxia and Blue Victor break down the situation with the war, and ask about the ship the Forte heroes followed. The heroes can’t tell them much more other than it was on Earth. This is of some concern to Blue Victor, wondering why the mysterious First Counselor would suddenly risk capture to take a journey to another galaxy, to the Earth specifically. It could be part of some master plan for the coming battle. There’s speculation that he might have gone to Earth to retrieve something, but what it might be is anyone’s guess. The Earth heroes suggest that if the Overlord is not acting himself, maybe this new First Counselor has some kind of control over him. They ask if there’s anyone else who might benefit from these two empires going to war. The only one who fits that description, the ‘Watch says, is the faraway Garen Empire, who have been at war with the Realm in ages past, but mostly keep to themselves and their space, where no Realm ship is permitted to travel as a condition of their shaky peace.

The heroes also take the chance to ask about THEM returning to Earth, as Dyna Girl knows from experience that Traveler can make it that far. Traveler tells her, sadly, that she can’t afford to expend that much energy right now. It would leave her completely drained for days, and she’s needed for the war. As no other ships but the “Merleen” seem to be able to make it that far, it appears the heroes are stuck here for the time being.

Traveler’s upcoming use of her teleporting power, they find out quickly, is for the Realmwatch’s forthcoming mission. They’ve been assigned to go in ahead of the fleet, right to the Overlord’s citadel, and take him out of the equation to shatter the chain of command. The heroes voice their concern about an assassination mission, and are assured that the goal of the mission is to capture the mad leader, not kill him. He’s to be brought directly to the Realmsovereign for questioning and to answer for his crimes. The Forte heroes suggest that taking them along might be the best course of action, as they might be able to spot anything that may have come from Earth. Galaxia and Blue Victor discuss it, and agree…but Victor makes it clear to the heroes that this is a military operation, and if they’re to come along, they’ll need to follow orders without question. Or lives could be lost.

Through a holographic display table, Galaxia and Victor lay out the plan and strategy. It’s now decided that once their mole on the Harcor home world lets them know that the Counselor’s ship is back and is clear, that should be their first stop…to check it and see if they can find anything on it that might lead them to an answer, with the Earth heroes’ help. Following this will be the taking of the Overlord himself. The citadel layout is studied by all, and plans are made. And then there’s nothing to do but wait for word to go.

The heroes take this time to get to know the ‘Watch a little better, and explain more about themselves. Tommy shows them his bear form (which, out here amongst all the varied races, isn’t all that shocking to anyone), and the Forte heroes do their best to summarize Forte history. Anvil is also busy snapping photos with Tinker’s digital camera that he took from the Mariner cockpit (so people back home will believe them…if they ever make it home), the one he also used to get shots of the fleet around them when they were being tractored.

Soon the call comes…the “Merleen” is back in its bay, and the way is clear. Both sets of heroes gather, and last-minute instructions are given. The Forte heroes try once again with their Forte radios in case they want to talk without the ‘Watch listening in, but again, they don’t work. But they exchange enough glances to understand each other—this team does not follow orders blindly, and they’re going to keep a close eye on what’s happening.

Traveler opens one of her portals, and the heroes all march through, and into a docking bay beside the Harcor Citadel on an alien world. The heroes spread out and make sure they’re alone, and find that the ship’s docking door is open. The Earth heroes also find from the English markings on the side of the alien ship that it’s actually called “The Merlin”. Curious…

Dyna Girl stays outside and flies around the ship, looking for clues, and Galaxia sends Meta4 and Chosen in with Tommy, Lightsedge and Anvil to check out the ship. Tommy immediately gets the scent of magic off the craft. The smaller group moves in and spreads out, quietly hunting through the ship, which appears to be a pleasure craft (but one very battle ready). Of the several living quarters, it appears that four are being used, and obviously by people of different races. In the main cabin, where Tommy finds the largest concentration of magic scent, he finds an empty McDonald’s bag. And, his nose tells him, it contained a Filet o’ Fish not too long ago…

Lightsedge finds some kind of cargo bay with some strange controls in it. And also some cardboard boxes. Searching through the dusty boxes, he finds flyers (circa the early 1970s) for a magic club in Portland, Oregon, along with capes and hats and photos of different people he doesn’t recognize. There are a variety of keepsakes there, and he contacts the others to come check them out. Dyna Girl flies in and meets with them in this bay to do so.

Suddenly, the four heroes vanish.

They reappear, after having been beamed by some kind of transporter, into a very large and opulent chamber. It’s about the size of a medium-sized opera house, complete with rows of seats and balconies. And it appears to be empty, save for one man…or in this case, alien. The figure in the royal robes sits on a throne on the other side of the chamber, up on a raised stage, slackly…appearing to stare out at nothing. The heroes look around carefully, and Tommy, still in bear form, does some sniffing. There’s magic here. And, up by that throne, the smell of someone who’s eaten a Filet o’ Fish. Tommy uses his telepathic link with Lightsedge and lets him know this (as he can’t talk in his bear form), and Lightsedge quietly lets the others in on it. They decide to carefully walk forward, toward the throne.

Dyna Girl loudly says that he can come out now, whoever he is. They know he’s there. Suddenly, a man—a human man, dressed in rich garb that looks somewhat local—appears out of nothingness behind the throne. And he’s not alone. There’s a male in imposing black costume near him, along with a female who seems to be made of water, and a being that can only be described as a giant slug. The smug and smiling man says, in a southern accent, that these four were NOT who he was expecting.

It takes a minute, but Dyna Girl finally recognizes the human. She’s shocked and confused, but mostly just very, very angry.

The man’s name is Arthur Denny, but the world knew him, at least in the 70s, as the magician villain called Hocus Pocus. He used to fight her father, Electro Man, and his fellow Protectors in the age of John Denver and Starsky & Hutch. He was a second-rate magician who came across a book of spells left to him by a dying fellow magician, and discovered and became obsessed with real magic. He would seek out new spells whenever he could, and became a little more powerful each time the Protectors faced him and his loose-knit team, the Carnival of Crime.

He wasn’t really front-page news until one day in 1976, a time before Dyna Girl was even born. He was trying to rob a museum for some artifact, by himself, and Electro Man showed up to stop him. But unlike their other meetings, this one got dark. Hocus Pocus collapsed the museum ceiling, and Dyna’s father nearly died in the wreckage. Four civilians DID die, including two children. Hocus Pocus escaped with his prize. The nation’s eyes turned to the tragic story out of Oregon, and everyone waited to see if Electro Man would pull through. Which he did. But now all over the papers and the evening news, and hunted by the Protectors, the Justice League and UNCLE, Arthur Denny did what all good magicians do best. He disappeared.

He fled the States and ended up in South America, unable to spend his earnings from the job for some time. He had to go deep underground to avoid the international manhunt, and soon fell into a new, quiet life in Buenos Aires. And he lived that way for years. Being an unlikable sort, he never managed to marry or father any children. He lived a simple, boring life in hiding, always planning for his big comeback but never quite getting around to it. And eventually time for it ran out, when was diagnosed with cancer in 1990.

Yet, fate took a hand.

In 1991, the Saoshyant invasion of Earth happened. Buenos Aires was one of the many cities hit, and many of its citizens, including Denny, were taken aboard their hellish ships for assimilation. This seemed like the end for the old villain, but Forte was aboard one of the other ships, and, out in space, managed to defeat the Almighty (at least it seemed), the power behind the Saoshyant. Denny relates that he remembers seeing Anvil there (the only one of these heroes he recognizes), coming through the ship and organizing the relocation movement, and, certain he’d be recognized, Denny hid away. When one of the drop-offs, returning alien beings to the worlds they were taken from, sent a ship down to an alien planet, Denny—figuring he was dying anyway and might as well have one last great adventure before he was gone rather than end up in a prison on Earth—stowed away aboard it.

He ended up on the home world of the Trilku—a very peaceful and very boring race. Soon a transport ship full of anthropologists came to trade with a study the Trilku, and Denny feigned friendliness with them and managed to get passage with them off the world. He confided in them his medical condition, and found out, through them, about a world where great healers lived. He made his way there and met the Wehquel, and, remarkably, when their microscopic creatures, sent into his body after a prolonged ritual, did their thing, he was completely cured of his cancer.

With a new lease on life, Denny now began to travel the galaxy he was in and look for new opportunities. He soon fell back, however, into his old ways, missing his days of fortune-seeking and villainy, and began using his magics to make himself wealthy. He learned his way around the stars well, and how things worked and who the players were. And how to avoid Realm space as much as possible. Soon he had a ship—the Merlin—and became something of a statesman pirate, surrounding himself with brigands and adventurers. He also learned all he could about magics of different worlds, and began using these alien incantations to add to his arsenal, and became quite powerful.

Life was good for quite some time, but he eventually started looking for bigger things. He began to become interested in politics and started ingratiating himself to the powerful. On a trip through the Harcor Empire, he managed to meet and impress the right people, which got him an audience with the Overlord himself. Overlord Guyden was impressed by Denny’s fantastic tales and adventures, but more enthralled by his magics. Seeing greater things for himself, Denny eventually gave up the life of piracy and started living on the Harcor home world, and became First Counselor to Guyden. He became rich and powerful, but that itself was not enough. He saw more in his new future. Much more.

And actually, he got a much bigger plan. In his travels and searches for magics, he ventured into the Garen Empire’s space…not a safe thing to do. But he found a people very magic- (“mystic-”) friendly…and with the right mindset (conquest). He made connections in their ruling class (impressing them with his magic knowledge) and made deals with them for more magic. One particular one seemed like a very, very good one…

He would use his position within the Harcor government to keep the Overlord in thrall, control him, plant things in his mind. His mind and those of his cabinet. He convinced them that the Realm was looking to take over, and had spies everywhere, and had committed secret atrocities. He got them to stir up the whole Harcor Empire in a patriotic fervor and convince them that taking on the Realm, finally, was the way to go. Denny’s plan? Get the two empires into all-out war, throw them both into chaos, let the body count rise, weaken them both, and then let the Garen Empire step in and clean up and take over both (something they’ve been planning for some time now). In return, he could get access to all their magics and have worlds to rule…

But to really make his plan work, he needed something more, a way to use his illusion powers on a wider scale. And he knew of one such way to make it happen. Taking three of his old crew with him that still followed him, he took his ship—augmented with an experimental Garen drive—and returned to Earth. There, he headed back to Oregon for a quick stop at an old hiding place of his, where some of his long-stored belongings, including his famous wand, were still boxed away. And a quick stop at McDonald’s, too. He just couldn’t pass up the opportunity.

He takes his wand out and waves it back and forth, and explains that it’s a mystic item he came across during his career that augmented and multiplied his casting abilities. Now, using it in conjunction with the new MUCH more powerful magics he’s learned, he’ll be able to cast his illusions and control across whole armies, and effectively take control of the coming war.

And with such grand plans ahead of him, he certainly can’t have a handful of Earth heroes in his way.

Suddenly, dozens of Harcor warriors appear all around the chamber, their weapons at the ready and trained on the heroes. An impressive sight, yes…except that Tommy does a quick sniff and mentally tells Lightsedge that they’re not really there. Another illusion. Not even being in on this telepathic conversation, Dyna Girl takes a gamble and tells Denny she knows they’re not real. And she also tells him something else. That Electro-Man is her dad. And that Denny should have stayed lost in space.

She takes off into the air and rockets toward Denny, pulsing with rage. As she does, the warriors surrounding them disappear. Seeing battle about to begin, Lightsedge and Tommy fall into their old combat routine, and, pulling his psychic sword, Lightsedge leaps onto Tommy’s back as Tommy charges after Dyna Girl. Anvil quickly follows.

Dyna Girl soars past Denny and attempts to grab his wand, but he gets it out of the way in time. His crew springs into action. The black-garbed figure, Shadowpath, leaps from the stage and heads for Anvil. The water girl, Ocea, bursts into the air with a blast of saltwater and heads for Tommy and Lightsedge. The being named “Slug” by Denny makes a disgusting sound and burrows into the stage beneath him and disappears.

Dyna Girl starts to engage Denny, and finds that the mage, for being an old man, is a lot more formidable than he apparently used to be. She’s having trouble laying a glove on him, and he’s unleashing powerful mystical blasts at her. Anvil gets into it with Shadowpath and finds the man remarkably fast—too fast, it seems, to land a punch on, though Anvil keeps trying as the martial master dodges. Ocea starts water-blasting angrily at Tommy and Lightsedge, while Lightsedge does his best to deflect the blasts, before they hit Tommy, with his psychic sword. Quickly enough, Slug bursts out of the floor before them and projects a telepathic blast from his very distasteful mind into Lightsedge’s.

Dyna takes a shot from Denny and goes flying back toward a balcony, but manages to right herself in time. He’s verbally sparring with her as well, and is quite overconfident. She flies back at him and he evades again and nails her with another of his dark blasts. She feels it all right, but the thought of him nearly killing her father—and killing a couple of kids—feeds her rage and keeps her going.

In the midst of battle, the heroes hear something on their Realm radios. The ‘Watch has been found and overrun, and are currently engaged in battle with two entire divisions of Harcor warriors. All the while, the Realm fleet races ever closer to the home world to lay waste to it and truly start the galactic war proper.

Lightsedge and Tommy manage to take down Slug while Ocea stays at a distance and blasts at them from the viewing stands. Tommy decides to use the unconscious Slug as a projectile and hurls him/it at Ocea, and his throw connects, taking the soggy alien villainess down. Lightsedge quickly joins Anvil to take on Shadowpath. Anvil has managed to land one blow, but the alien fighter withstood it and is still up and swinging.

Dyna Girl gets a punch in on Denny and sends him flying back a ways, and though it hurts him, his mystic shields keep him from going down. Putting tactics over her personal vendetta, she suddenly decides to grab the Overlord and fly off with him to keep him away from Denny and hopefully try to find some way to stop this war. Enraged, Denny suddenly takes to the air and flies off after her. With a wave of his wand and an incantation, his power yanks the Overlord from Dyna and back to him. While he’s focused on this, she takes the opening to fly up and punch him very, very hard, putting all her anger behind it. Denny, with the Overlord still in mystical tow, goes flying back across the vast chamber. He slams into the Overlord’s throne and falls into it, deep into unconsciousness, and the Overlord lands on him in a slumping sit (for you Champions fans out there…somebody rolled a 3).

Dyna Girl quickly joins the guys, who are all on Shadowpath, the last of the opposition standing. They surround him and engage, but he moves like dark lightning, evading and counter-punching, not willing to surrender. Finally, working together as a unit, the Forte heroes take him down.

When they do, there’s a violent slamming at the chamber doors. What sounds like a very large number of warriors is trying to get in. Anvil, Lightsedge and Tommy do their best to block the doors, or at least hold them as long as they can. Dyna Girl, meanwhile, tries to rouse Overlord Guyden, and finally manages to shake him out of his stupor. Now free of Denny’s control, he looks confused and perplexed. Dyna Girl quickly tells him that he’s been under Denny’s thrall, and has been used to start this war, and now he has to stop it before things go further. He takes some time to come back to his senses and consider all this, all while the troops are still trying to batter their way in, and as the Realm fleet prepares to engage the waiting Harcor armada in high orbit.

Finally, the Overlord gets on his communicator. He does a global transmit to his commanders and troops. He orders them to all stand down. Immediately. Dyna Girl desperately calls Galaxia and explains and tells her the Realm fleet needs to disengage. Galaxia has to contact the Realmsovereign directly, and there’s a painfully long wait as he and his counselors confer. Finally, the order is given, and the Realm fleets stops where it is and breaks off its pending attack. Things are tense, and liable to explode at any moment, but for the time being, the war comes to a pause.

The heroes of Forte and the Realmwatch remain on the Harcor home world for some hours, conferring with the Overlord and his counselors, trying to salvage the situation and find a way for everyone to back away from the brink of annihilation. There’s no instant fix for something like this. The two empires, since this began, have sworn to destroy each other, and their peoples are fired up and seething hatred for each other. But with the revelation of what really happened here now apparent—and with witnesses from another galaxy not belonging to either empire being the ones who discovered it and can testify to it—the leadership of the empires, at least, broker a fragile peace and start pulling their forces back. Having what appears to be a common enemy, the Garen, makes this easier, and gives each side a place to direct their anger besides at each other.

The Forte heroes are going to need to stick around for a few days, to assist with the peace process, and, more practically, because Traveler can’t afford to expend her powers for the long journey with things still so unstable. There’s always the idea of using the ship, the Merlin, but its been confiscated by the Realm to study its drive. Besides, the heroes do want to do their part to help fix the damage that Denny has done in this galaxy.

In the end, the road to healing between the empires gets off to a good start, with much diplomatic maneuvering. And the heroes of Forte, warriors from far beyond this place, are hailed as heroes of the Realm, and are credited with single-handedly stopping a war that could have decimated countless worlds and cost millions of lives…and made slaves of both empires to the Garen. They spend a remarkable week getting a grand tour of the Realm and some of its diverse worlds, and are celebrated wherever they go and treated like royalty. And the week ends with a massive gala ceremony on the home world of the Realm Empire, where the Realmsovereign himself awards all of them—in the viewing of all worlds of the empire—with the highest commendation possible. They are granted their medals, made citizens of the Empire with royal-level diplomatic standing and the rank of Realm Commander, and Dyna Girl, Anvil, Lightsedge and Tomarssuk are made official members of the Realmwatch.

As for Denny, he’s locked up deep in a Realm prison on the home world until his final fate can be decided (as in which Empire gets him). Dyna Girl can’t resist the chance to check in on him and gloat some…and let him know that as much as she’d like to have seen him stand for his crimes on Earth, she has a feeling the justice system out here will be much, much more appropriate for what he deserves. She leaves her father’s near-killer there to rot in his cell and face his bleak (and probably short) future.

After spending much time being wined and dined, having to tell Earth and Forte stories to just about everyone, it seems (most especially the Realmsovereign, between his diplomatic workings), getting to know the places and peoples of the Empire, and getting to know the Realmwatch better (Tommy spending most of his time with Meta4…and getting training on zero-G maneuvering, having warmed up to the idea of it and finding it much like swimming in air), the heroes finally say their farewell to the Realm and to the Realmwatch. Traveler expends extra effort to manage a portal large enough to fit the Mariner through, and the new Realm legends known as Forte fly through it and back to their world—where they have some diplomatic fixing of their own to do (with the Cassians), a lot of explaining to do to people who’ve had no idea where they’ve been all this time, and a whole lot of amazing tales to tell (and pictures to show) of their journey to the stars.