PLOT:
The JLA are finding it difficult to land any hits on Starbreaker because the entity that they're aiming at is revealed to be just a holographic projection.
Stripped of his glamour by Zatanna, Starbreaker's true form is revealed and having feasted on so much of Dharma's blood (which is said to contain the energy
of more than a thousand suns) he has grown into a giant hulking mass of solar energy. As Starbreaker explains, the form which the League had previously known
him in was nothing more than the larval state of his species. With great effort, the League along with Icon and Hardware are able to knock the Solar Vampire
off of his feet which causes the portion of the Shadowspire cave to collapse on top of him.
While this buys them some time it also has unfortunately separated the group. As fate would have it, Firestorm and Kimiyo are trapped on the other side of the rubble with Shadow Thief. Lurking in the darkness, Thief seizes the opportunity to attack Dr. Light and trap her in a giant ball of shadows. But much to Shadow
Thief's chagrin, Kimiyo has finally overcome her fear of the dark and overpowers his shadows, bursting forth and holding him captive in an orb of pure white
light. Though tempted to kill Sands and exact revenge for the death of the original Firestorm, Jason is forced by a no-nonsense Hardware and Vixen (via com-
link) to consider the darkness that would bring upon his own soul and therefore spares Shadow Thief's life. That is after he makes sure that Carl Sands is
unable to pull forth any more dark matter like last time at Van Kull by sealing shut his mouth ... as well as another dark orifice or two.
Dr. Light and Jason re-join the others outside of the Shadowspire thanks to a teleportation spell from Zee but the battle isn't over yet. Using the badly
injured (but still alive) Dharma to lure Starbreaker from his confines beneath the rubble, the heroes stand at ready. When the giant enraged Starbreaker
bursts out, they use Dr. Light's new solar suit to absorb the stolen energy and siphon it back to the Lyra Constellation. However despite the advancements
made to her suit's technology by Hardware and the others, it still isn't powerful enough to handle all of the pilfered energy. Diminished in size but still
retaining a tremendous amount of power, Starbreaker threatens to finish what he had started draining the final ounces of lifeblood from Dharma. That is until
the gunslinger Paladin approaches. With his specialized rail gun and Lutetium bullet, Paladin puts down the sun-eater like a rapid dog. Though, as Dharma
warns, the permanence of death may be in jeopardy in the near future and they therefore should dispose of Starbreaker's corpse as carefully as possible.
Returned to his strength by Zatanna's magic, Dharma retreats within the Shadowspire to fulfill his promise to tell Icon the full truth of the matter at hand.
Icon brings the Man of Steel back to Earth from New Krypton so that he too can bare witness to what Dharma has to say. The Pre-Cog explains that Superman
and Icon used to exist in their own separate universes until Darkseid’s fall unleashed forces which destroyed the universe which Dharma, Icon and the Shadow
Cabinet resided. Using the powers of a creature called 'The Rift' (whom Superman and Icon had once defeated in their anomalous sole previous encounter with
one another), Dharma was able to begin merging the two worlds along with the memories and consciousnesses of their inhabitants. It was during this intense
process that Starbreaker made his attack, threatening to disrupt everything. This explains why only select members of the Justice League had been aware of
the Shadow Cabinet during their battle at the Watchtower. Now however, with Superman's and Icon's approval, Dharma agrees to go ahead and finish the process
so that the two worlds can be complete as one joined Earth.
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