The frogs bunched together, moving to attack the two heroes. Their ectoplasmic bodies would damage Mr. Justice if he allowed them to close. And if they could damage the ghostly crusader, they would rip the Blue Beetle apart.

The front rank was blind, but still dangerous. The second rank was leaping to close on the two. The third had formed a circle and started to chant something unintelligible. Glowing lights were ascending from the floor.

"I don't like that." The Beetle jumped forward, dropkicking the nearest frog out of the way.

"They're trying to open a door to call for more of their kind." Mr. Justice pointed, flame reaching out. Two of the amphibians burst straight up from the beam.

"Can't you stop them?" The Beetle grimaced at the flame attack, but he still moved, bouncing off his enemies to keep them disoriented.

"Yes." Mr. Justice busted a hole through the moving wall of animated slime with a fist of flames.

"Wait." The Beetle paused to think while executing a throw to get him some elbow room. His fighting style was acrobatic, and needed room to do things. "Can you reverse it?"

"I don't understand." Mr. Justice straightarmed a frog. "Reverse it?"

"Yes." The Beetle moved through the line, laying about him with his feet and fists. "That's exactly what I'm talking about. Reverse it."

Mr. Justice smiled at the thought. He knew what the Beetle wanted now, and it was something he could do. All he needed was the right moment to strike.

Mr. Justice blasted through the frogs, heading right for the circle of wizard wonders. They kept up their chant, striving to reach the end of the enchantment. The strength of the circle depended on the number of the children. Unfortunately they might have waited too long before calling for reinforcements.

The ghostly avenger saw that the rift created would only be as big as a hand. That wasn't a threat to him. The flow of ectoplasm started oozing out on the sewer floor.

Mr. Justice checked on his comrade, glancing at the Blue Beetle. The sentinel was holding his own, driving the frogs back where he could. They needed to change the odds if they wanted to finally end this.

Mr. Justice decided the frogs needed a hand.

He reached out with his inhuman power, tapping their circle. He expanded the rift, recognizing the vista on the other side of the hole. The Beetle was right. This was how it should be.

Mr. Justice exerted his will. The wind that poured out reversed, pulling on the nearby frogs. The wizards tried to step away. He opened the hole to catch them before they could get out of reach.

Now for the rest of Light's monsters.

Mr. Justice kept expanding the hole while grabbing the nest tree. The frogs turned to try and stop him. They were too late. He chucked the pods through, glad at least the children were gone. The monsters jumped, tongues whipping out to batter him.

The former prince put up a shield to block their attacks. The tongues wrapped around him, trying to crush his shield, and then him. He counted at least ten hooked to him. The crusader pulled back and dove through the hole, swinging them into the ground hard enough to loosen their grip. He flew back through the rift, struggling against the flow.

The rest of the frogs had cornered the Blue Beetle against a wall. He had battered them with his human strength as much as he could, but he was still only human and they were things of unnatural substance. He wouldn't survive a beating now that he was trapped and unable to use his greater mobility.

Mr. Justice stretched out with his arms and hands. He grabbed several monsters and dropped them into the rift. That made the rest turn around and see him as a real threat. A growl went up as they went for him as a group.

He just waited for the right moment, and then flew above them and blasted them into the hole between the worlds. He smiled as they moaned with their fall back home. At least Light wasn't awake to punish them for their failure.

The ghostly avenger closed the rift with a few moments of concentration. He looked around. It looked like the city was safe thanks to the Blue Beetle and his actions to protect it.

"It looks like we've stopped them." Mr. Justice let his senses roll out, aware that the frogs' seal would prevent him from sousing out any other hiding places.

"They're back where they belong." The Beetle flexed his hands. "I'm glad we didn't have to kill all of them."

"They'll be back eventually." Mr. Justice frowned. "Their master will command it. At least you know what to look for now. They won't take you by surprise."

"Thanks for saving the day." The Beetle turned toward the solid wall. "Maybe you can get us out of here."

"My pleasure." Mr. Justice concentrated and the opening appeared again.

Somewhere beyond barriers, a planet sits under a pale sky. Bubbling slime pooled in volcanic craters dotting the landscape. Some of the vile green goo fell on the rocky rim, becoming a formless movement trying to become something vaguely alive.

Mostly the blobs just froze like stone when they couldn't find anything to help them become more than a mindless monster. Occasionally the blobs would form rudimentary limbs, tapping into the mother slime to slowly grow sentience. These almost frog men would join others to form small colonies. Eventually their numbers would produce an almost group mind. They would notice their world and want more from it than a steady diet of ectoplasm.

They wanted more experience, more than a surrounding desert.

The ghost planet held many pits that resembled natural caves. The ectoplasm fires had burned out long ago leaving behind natural holes in the hills and ground.

One of those caves held a man.

He was encased in a shell of amber, apparently sleeping. Frogs came when their minimal duties allowed to pay respects. He was their creator and mentor, shaping them to be his children when he returned to his natural reality if he ever broke free of the capsule. The monsters were careful not to touch the crypt. It sucked their lives out like a sponge with water.

Sometimes a crack appeared in the sky over the simple shrine. When it did, one of the servitors would try to get through to the other side. They had been charged with spreading from the prime plane to the best of their ability whether their master was awake, or not.

This time the colony returned, dropped on the hard ground by an ancient enemy. They howled their disappointment to the uncaring sky. A permanent portal could have been opened to allow free access to the creator's home world and first choice for colonization. They would have to wait for another chance portal to try and get across again where they could work their master's will as they had been designed.

Still they had stories to tell of the evil ghost and his blue clad devil ally. That passed the time as each telling took on more embellishment as it went around the circle.

None noticed that the crypt of the creator had cracked a little across the top. Suvok Light's eyes were still closed as if sleeping. His hands worked at his sides on their own.