The foreman at Midway City Electrical showed the World's Best Friends around the transformer.

"I can't explain it," he said. "The power just seemed sucked out of them. I've never seen the like."

Optiman nodded, "I have."

Iron Knight called out from the safety platform atop the transformer, "Optiman, take a look at this!"

Optiman flew up and joined the Iron Knight. "What do you see, old friend?" He used his heightened senses. "Odd marks ... what do they mean to you?"

"Bird claws ... but see? Incredibly powerful, right into the metal, and there's no organic matter left behind." Iron Knight peered again through his mini-magnifying glass.

"Mechanical birds?" Optiman pondered, "That doesn't sound quite like Dexter Cortex's style. Eh?" He turned his face skyward. "Do you hear that?"

Iron Knight said, "What is it?

A familiar voice called out, "My 'bad news birds', you pumpkin-headed paladins!"

Optiman turned around, "Milton Biggsley!"

"Yes, it is I!" Biggsley sneered, "and with the mechanical birds which Dexter Cortex has proved me ... far more powerful than my old ones ... soon the skies shall be mine!"

At his words, the sky turned dark, and the heroes saw hundreds of birds soaring to them, constructed of Dexter Cortex's familiar glittering, artificial glass technology. Iron Knight turned to his friend, "You handle the skies, I'll take care of our mutual old foe here?" He reached into his scabbard and drew out his famed black sword.

Optiman nodded, "Sensible as ever, old friend," and headed again skyward.

Biggsley drew from his umbrella his duelling sword, this time a special one: clearly made from the same technology as his artificial avians, it crackled with energy. "You usually overcome my superior facility with the epee with some cunning ploy, but now I have a compensation!"

Iron Knight grinned, "And expecting some sort of trick like this, now I have rubber-lined gloves." His sword swung forward, meeting Milton Biggsley's in battle with a crackle of energy.

In the skies, the birds flocked against Optiman, swooping and striking as he moved in near-supersonic speed, crushing them in his powerful hands. Each time there was a crackle of energy. He exposited, his voice strained, "They've siphoned off a lot of electricity ... and they're changed their frequencies as they attack. I think they're trying to ... interfere with my body's processing of the optipowers I gain from that radioactive meteor!"

Behind his helm, Iron Knight scowled. He and the others of Justice 9 were some of the few who knew that the original Optiman has been slain by the otherworldly creature known as Superdoom, and it had taken their most advanced technology to create this clone of the original. But they all feared some level of potential genetic deterioration which might result in a lower power set. His mind returning fully to the battle, he and Biggsley shifted back and forth on the safety platform, swords sending off sparks. "Why are you doing this, Biggsley? This isn't your usual sort of strategy ... mechanical birds? Have you abandoned your ecological goals?"

Biggsley lunged, "Never! Cortex promised me the skies if I helped him." He caught the corner of Iron Knight's helm, electricity charging through it. "Arh," the Iron Knight said, and fell to his knees. Biggsley gloated, "Soon mankind's reign of terror over the winged world shall end, and no longer shall my friends be eaten and killed for sport!"

Optiman was distracted by his ally's plight, and just then a hawk swooped down, catching him from behind. Fizzle!

"Arh," he cried, as he fell to the platform, his force-field spitting and crackling.

Iron Knight swung out with his buccaneer-booted foot, catching Milton Biggsley in the belly. "Waugh," grumbled the fiend, as Iron Knight ran over to assist his fallen ally.

"Are you all right?" he asked. Optiman nodded, "I think it's time for a reverse strike."

Iron Knight nodded, "With my glider I can easily take care of the birds ... they won't be able to resist cold steel! And Biggsley's sword won't matter against your strength!"

Optiman swooped down, returning with the glider. Iron Knight hooked into it, and the orange-and-blue clad hero gave him a massive boost skyward.

Biggsley aimed his sword at Optiman's shoulder. The latter's opti-powers being weakened, the hero winced in pain. "It's not that ... simple, I'm afraid," he said, and reached up, grabbing his opponent's sword with his hand. A halo of electricity surrounded the combatants and then with a sharp sound Biggsley's epee was shattered! "Waugh!" he cried out in frustration.

Iron Knight glided among the metal birds, his ebony sword flashing, felling the creations of Dexter Cortex's evil plot. A final swoop from one of the falcons tore his glider before the Iron Knight could decapitate it, and he started to fall towards Earth ... only to land in the waiting arms of Optiman, who set his friend down on the platform.

The Iron Knight grinned at him. Even in this cloned form, he knew Optiman's feats would echo throughout history, as when Washington freed the slaves, Lincoln was elected president for life, and Custer was chief of the Indian Federation. "Well, Biggsley made the same mistake these villains always do," he said, looking down at the defeated arch-foe.

Optiman nodded, "They always underestimate the value of teamwork!"