Post by HoM on Jun 12, 2017 16:09:35 GMT -5
Previously, in GREEN LANTERN CORPS…
After being in a coma the last few years, ALAN SCOTT-- the Justice Society of America’s very own Green Lantern-- has awoken!
But all is not well, as it is soon revealed that it’s not ALAN who controls his body, but the STARHEART, the sentient power source he once wielded!
Meanwhile, across the universe, a mysterious cosmic event torn itself out of the Forbidden Sectors of space and made a beeline straight for Earth. A squad of Green Lanterns-- GUY GARDNER, HANK HENSHAW, JOHN STEWART, KYLE RAYNER and THAAL SINESTRO-- came together to stop it before it struck the planet, but they quickly learned that this cosmic event had a mind-- and a voice!-- of its own! And with its voice, it warned of a vast threat unfolding on Earth…
Before it could be stopped, the STARHEART quickly dismantled the Justice Society, and twisted the powers of DOCTOR FATE, THE FLASH and JAKEEM THUNDER to transform the world with a wish!
Welcome back to the ongoing adventures of the GREEN LANTERN CORPS!
On Earth, if you blinked you would have missed it. One moment you had one life, the next you were living another, and you would never have known the difference. Wishes could be like dynamite, laying ruin to whatever came before, but they could also be a salve, making the transition from one state to another as peaceful and as painless as possible.
But on the edge of the solar system, where planets had once been planets but were now nothing more than masses of rock pulled along in the riptide of the space ways, you would have seen it coming. The light was a wave; mountainous thunder, crackling rivets of lightning both golden and purple, and pulling it all along, an all-encompassing emerald sea.
"What in God's--?" started John.
The group of Green Lanterns-- Guy Gardner, Hank Henshaw, John Stewart, Kyle Rayner and Thaal Sinestro-- could do nothing but throw up their protective shields and hope that whatever was storming outward wouldn't devour them. They'd already chased a cosmic event from one end of the universe to this point here, but this was something else entirely.
To their right, the cerulean orb, crackling like a star, bigger than the moon but intangible-- allowing it to fly faster and smoother than anything they'd ever seen-- with a voice-- yes, a voice-- so loud it almost made their ears bleed. To their front, the wave, and without anything to brace themselves against--
The wave hit, and they felt their insides twist. Their protective auras did nothing, even if they had combined them so instead of five separate shields there was one immense tidal break. Their bodies twitched and flexed, old wounds opened and new ones closed, they were suddenly alive and dead at the same time, but the embrace of neither was available to them. Their rings cried out electronically, a mad static screaming out across the airwaves.
If this had continued, they would have been driven insane, but instead, the star beside them throbbed once, projected more of its immense light, intensified it's presence, and the excruciating pain they had experienced gave way to warmth, and the wave finally moved on, spreading out across the universe.
"What'n... the hell... was that...?" asked Guy, panting for breath.
His skin was clammy, he felt warm-cold, the sure-fire indicator of shock or sickness. He lent into believing it was the former, because god knew he couldn't afford to get sick right now. His costume was intact, there was no sign of physical assault, but his head throbbed and by the looks of the others, so did theirs.
"According to my ring, a massive output of energy," said Sinestro.
The Korugarian tapped the jewel in the centre of his power ring, and grimaced. It was making the electronic sound it had before, but quieter now. Subdued.
"Damnation. Our ring's aren't going to be much use other than factory settings," he said.
"Total outrage, all we've got is flight, protective shielding and construct formation," replied John.
"But what the hell was that?" repeated Guy.
MY BROTHER
HAS DONE
THE UNIMAGINABLE
Kyle clutched his ears and bent double, his stomach churning. "Why does that-- that thing-- keep shouting? And since when do stars have brothers?"
Sinestro shook his head. "Mogo is a talking planet, Kyle. You've been a being of infinite power. We've witnessed wonders. This is just another such thing. The volume is disconcerting, but I imagine this might help."
Sinestro sent a command from his ring to the others'. He had always been the most intuitive Green Lantern-- once they'd even referred to him as the greatest-- and it was his innovation that had kept them alive at one point or another.
"You're kidding," said John, checking his ring.
"Noise reduction," said Sinestro, with a shrug.
"...Something's wrong with Earth."
The others turned to Hank, who had floated away somewhat, so he could get a straight view of their home world. He lowered the binoculars he'd constructed, then looked at the others.
Ignoring the vast, celestial thing beside them for a few moments, the Green Lanterns followed Hank's suit and checked what was happening back home.
"Holy shit," whispered Guy.
Everything had changed.
Surrounding the planet was a massive, dark green barrier. A protective shield that had few entrance points where one could see the world beneath. The barrier shifted like an immense clockwork mechanism, rolling and clunking in silence as the innumerable parts rotated into position.
“What’s happened to Earth?” Kyle asked the roiling orb that had floated nearby.
A SINGULAR CHANGE
TO YOUR TIMELINE
RESULTING IN
NUMEROUS ABERRATIONS
NUMEROUS SHOCKWAVES
John had positioned himself with a pair of binoculars, using his marksman’s sight to peer between the gaps in the barrier to check what had happened to the world. “Germany’s gone. So’s Japan.” He lowered them from his eyes and looked back. “What change did he make?”
THE SPECIFIC CHANGE
ELUDES ME
BUT THE RESULTS
ARE PLENTIFUL
Kyle swallowed hard, and began to speak. “I did this. Not this reality, but I’ve done this before. When I was the White Lantern, I made a wish, or… or… said something I shouldn’t’ve, and… and it changed everything. With the power I wielded, I created a reality without the Green Lantern Corps, and it took… took reclaiming that power to… to… to put it right. But there’s… how…*”
Sinestro placed a hand on his mentee’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Kyle. We’ll figure out how to put this right. You did it before so it can be done. And now there are five of us. Five times the experience. Five times the will to do so.”
Guy shook his head and laughed. “Hell, if this is… the Starheart, or Alan, or whoever, the answer is simple: We punch him in the head until he puts the world right.”
“Five against a being that can do that to our world? You’re joking,” said Hank.
“We’ve done it before, we’ll do it again,” replied Guy, sharply.
Hank shook his head. “Last time we faced off against a bad on any scale comparable, Coast City died.”
“I’m not talking about that, I’m talking about this,” snapped Guy.
Hank moved toward Guy, and pointed an aggressive finger in his comrade’s face. “I’m talking about both-- we went in there with zero intelligence, and there were zero survivors! We need to figure out what happened here, and then we need to undo it. We need to do the legwork, or we lose everything again.”
“…The moon is gone,” said Sinestro.
Kyle turned to face his mentor. “What?”
“It’s just come into view from behind Earth. The moon is an asteroid field. Demolished. I can see stray objects impacting the protective barrier, annihilated on impact.”
“Hell… so that barrier…?” started Guy, the tension defused between Hank and him immediately.
John pointed his ring in the general direction of the planet. “I’m scanning the construct’s architecture--”
“Careful you don’t trigger any warning systems,” said Sinestro.
John waved him off. “I know what I’m doing… the energy readings the barrier is giving off… it’s twisting gravity, light… keeping the world together, if I had to put money on it.”
“Alan Scott did this, then. The Starheart-- whatever. So, we need to take him down. But the world is his, so how do we even begin…” said Kyle.
“Hank’s right. Intelligence is required. No signals are reaching us this far out, so we need to get closer. We need a full upload of local internet, as standard operations dictate.”
YOU CAN BE SHELTERED
SHIELDED FROM DETECTION
BUT I CANNOT ACT AGAINST MY BROTHER
THE DESTRUCTION WOULD RENDER REALITY
INTO STRAY ATOMS
“Okay, so you're useless,” said Guy.
John disagreed. “No, that’s not what it said. We can be shielded from detection, given some cover before making a move. That’s helpful. I say we split up and make our approach toward Earth from different directions. Meet up once we’re in.”
“I wouldn’t trust any external communication,” said Sinestro. “Ring-to-ring might be compromised under the light of the Starheart.”
“We don’t know what we’re up against,” said Hank.
“Could you stop being a damn pessimist all the damn time?” snapped Guy.
“I’m being a god damn realist, Gardner!”
John knocked the gem on his power ring, sending a shriek of feedback into the link between Guy and Hank. “Both of you-- shut the hell up! I’m uploading the rendezvous point into your rings, so pay attention!”
“63°27′39″N… 142°47′09″E…” said Hank, studying the information. “Russia?”
John rubbed his hands together, as if a chill went through him. “Yeah, a place called Oymyakon. It’s one of the coldest and most inhospitable places in the world without actually leaving civilisation. Plus, this time of the year the days last three hours give or take, so we’ll have some natural cover without the need to use our rings.”
“Smart,” said Sinestro.
John breathed in deeply then spoke plainly: “Okay, so we’re marooned in a reality that’s like our own but different. We need to figure out what happened here to undo it, and then-- and only then-- can we return home. If we fail then this is it. This is the world order, the status quo. And we only have the charges in our ring, and can’t access our batteries. This is FUBAR central, gentlemen, so expend as little charge as possible and be careful. We only get one shot at fixing this.”
“I’ve plotted the best possible flight paths considering what we’re working with; I’ve mapped the trajectory of the asteroids that keep slipping out of the moon field, so we can use them as cover,” said Hank.
Guy scanned the information as it was uploaded into his ring. “Yeah, yeah, this tracks. Good call.”
MY BROTHER WILL NOT TAKE OPPOSITION LIGHTLY
“And you won’t fight back,” replied John.
IF WE WERE TO WAR--
“Heard you the first time, pal. Didn’t give a damn for your cowardice then, either,” said Guy.
There were no more words to be exchanged between the Green Lanterns. They nodded in acknowledgement of each other and then shot off in different directions, leaving the throbbing cerulean orb to its silent contemplation at the edge of the Milky Way.
Kyle knew that approaching Earth wasn’t the problem. The clanking, clunking mechanism that surrounded the planet provided a natural cover from prying eyes on the surface, and the asteroid field that was once the moon allowed for even more camouflage. It would be the arrival, and the survival afterwards.
Regardless, Kyle hopped on the back of a particularly large slab of celestial rock and shunted it forward with a burst from his ring, keeping his protective aura dim as he went about the task.
Upon approach, he disengaged from the meteor and rolled in time with the barrier’s mechanism, slipping between the gaps that were there for one moment then gone the next. He made it through, and hoped the others would have the same luck.
Hitting atmosphere enough that he could breath without aid, he dialled back further on his aura. The thin air would be a problem if he didn’t have the ring, but that wasn’t the situation here. He made himself a projectile and shot through with little air resistance, then when he neared the ocean, reengaged his ring and pulled up, skimming the sea’s surface.
“You needn’t be so flowery next time, Kyle.” Submerged up to his neck, Sinestro motioned for his friend to approach. “Dim your light, let’s take stock before we proceed.”
“I keep forgetting you’re fast,” said Kyle.
“I have years of experience on you. As you know, I’m trying to instil that knowledge in you-- or I was, before you ran away from your responsibilities…*”
*That’s not exactly what happened, but check out Green Lantern Corps #60 for the whole story.
“Hey, hey god damn hey-- I told you before, the White Lantern power was too much-- it messed up my head-- “
“And if you’d had a stronger will, and I’d trained you better, you would still wield those powers and we would have been unable to undo this twisted version of reality with ease. But instead we have to--”
Sinestro held up his hand and sank a few inches further so just his eyes darted out from under the surface. Kyle took the hint and did the same. The air was still, no aircraft buzzing about, no ships floating on their way. But something had snatched Sinestro’s attention, and he was trying to figure out what.
Before Kyle could question anything, the sea beneath them surged up all around them. Their bodies were suddenly sapped of every drop of water they had stored, and their willpower and concentration left them along with it. They were dehydrated, almost drowning in the fact they were without a single drop of water in their bodies-- and then the water smashed down on their heads, knocking them out. Their reserves of water seeped back inside them, restoring their bodies to a semblance of hydration, but as the red-headed warrior who attacked them emerged from the sea to scoop up her quarry, it meant nothing.
Two Green Lanterns down… three to go…
Guy turned the collar on the coat he’d stolen up, so his face was covered. The temperature was ridiculous, but he allowed embers of his ring’s power to keep him warm. The only thing that allowed him to see two feet in front of him was his ring, the heavy snow-mist that hung in the air compromising his vision to a high degree.
He had tried to locate an internet hub, something he could tap into to so they’d have intel moving forward, but there was little to no signal emanating from the planet. Even on approach, the ring couldn’t tap into errant information, which concerned the roguish Green Lantern even more.
“You made it then,” said Hank, hustling up next to him. He had also acquired a heavy winter coat, and a scarf obscured the majority of his face. The two of them had to squint to see-- if you wore goggles out in this weather, they would freeze to the skin of your face, and that was a problem you didn’t want to experience.
“Yeah, wasn’t too hard. You as weirded out by the quiet as I am?” asked Guy.
“Not just that, but y’know how John’s scans showed that Germany and Japan were gone? I ran an ambient geographical scan on my approach. Russia is crippled. It’s like a third world country here. Afghanistan is a cemetery, so is Bialya and Quarac. What does that sound like to you?”
Guy made a noise and shivered, without giving an answer.
Hank pushed on. “Every major enemy of the United States of America since World War 2-- beaten into submission or wiped off the map. I think… we need to look at--”
Guy had stopped in his tracks, so Hank turned back and looked at his comrade. “What now?”
Guy was looking off to the distance, where a figure stood in a break where the mist had once settled. Whoever it was, she had her back to them and wore a skin-tight blue and white costume, that did nothing to protect her from the elements. Her skin was grey, her hair straw-like and white. She looked like a golem, or a cadaver acting as a statue. Someone left out in the cold to die and her body forgotten to stand as a warning to those who might come after.
“What in hell?” murmured Hank.
“I recognise her…” said Guy, his voice a tone softer than usual.
He approached slowly, Hank shuffling behind him. “No, Guy, it could be--”
The woman abruptly turned, her face a patchwork of ice-damage and anger. She drew a hand up and daggers of ice shot upwards, scattering the two Green Lanterns. Guy cursed himself-- he recognised her, but from where?-- and then aimed his ring, but the mist descended again. The cold was biting through his now fully active aura, which should have been impossible.
“Hank, form up!” barked Guy.
Henshaw’s comatose body was thrown into Guy, who collapsed under the weight of his friend. Hank’s eyes were wide open but he wasn’t responsive, and as a figure began to take shape from within the mist, Guy knew why.
“Oh my fucking god,” whispered Guy.
The Spectre emerged, his body twisting as if made from the weather front, before assuming a human form. Guy dragged himself backwards, pulling Hank along with him, but the spectral avenger was moving slowly toward, as if the Spirit of Vengeance was in a stop motion movie-- staccato, staggered movements chilling Guy even deeper than the preternatural cold of the small town they’d walked into-- scratch that, the trap they’d walked right into.
Still shuffling back, Guy bumped into something and looked up, only to be punched square in the face by a super strong blonde dressed in a white costume. Hank was unconscious, and now so was Guy.
“Good work, Ice,” said the blonde.
The freakish, cadaver-like ice golem chattered her teeth together, the best response her teammate was going to get considering the situation. She sank into the ice sheath under foot and faded from view.
“They… must… be punished…” said the Spectre.
The blonde shook her head. “That’s for the master to decide, you know that.”
“Power Woman… I hold… the divine and holy power… of the lord… in my palm. I act… at his… behest… not that… of the Starheart.”
“Yeah, and your lord god has decided to hitch his wagon to the master’s horse, so until then, you’ll do as your told-- won’t you, Bruce?”
Bruce Wayne, imbued with the godly force of the Spectre, was now visible as a shrivelled, desiccated old man with bleached, paper-thin skin that was half-hidden within the folds of the tattered green cape he wore, shook his head and then vanished in a burst of smoke, leaving Power Woman to transport their prisoners to wherever it is they would end up.
She smirked and then dragged Guy up by hit belt buckle. “Yeah, run home with your tail between your legs…”
Four Green Lanterns down… one to go…
The cerulean orb that floated at the outskirts of the Milky Way rotated silently, exerting silent influence upon the Green Lanterns to prevent them from being detected. It sensed that two had fallen into enemy hands though, through no fault of its own. All it could do was shelter them from the Starheart’s view, not those who might have their own agenda upon the world…
As it worked, flickers of emerald light began to form nearby, before taking an all-too human shape.
“You know, you never were the smartest of us.”
Projecting itself across the solar system, taking the form of a flaming Alan Scott, resplendent in his armour, the Starheart floated before the blue sun that was its brother.
BROTHER
THIS MUST STOP
BEFORE REALITY
FRACTURES COMPLETELY
The Starheart shrugged. “Yes, well, I think that would suit me just fine. This universe, this reality-- this multiverse-- deserves to suffer under the weight of what it did to us. I didn’t think you’d come so far just to ruin that for me.”
WE WERE CREATED
FROM THE DARK
TO PROTECT THE LIGHT
WHAT YOU DO HERE--
The sentiment was waved away dismissively. “Enough! I know you’ve sent agent to stop me. Two Green Lanterns against my Justice Society? What hope do you think they have of ending my reign here? You, when you’re at an ebb, a flicker, an ember. Me, when I have had decades on this world to fan my flames?”
PLEASE JUST STOP
WE CAN GO BACK TO SLEEP
AND WHEN THE UNIVERSE IS READY
WE CAN AWAKEN AND PROTECT--
Something impacted against the surface of the blue star. Light flickered across it, but it could do nothing to stop another such impact, or another. The Starheart smiled, watched as all its brother could do was spin on its axis, and take the punishment being dolled out.
WHAT ARE YOU--
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?
The Starheart brushed flickers of fire from its gauntlet in a dismissive fashion, as if buffing the metal up. “I found a group of beings willing to give their lives for a cause. My Planet Masters, my armoured monks, infused with my own power, whose own innate abilities increase it tenfold… upon detonation.”
Behind the sentient orb, tens of thousands of men and women, clad in black and purple armour, shot toward the surface of the flickering star. One after the other, then ten after ten, then a hundred after hundred until more and more landed, impacted, exploded-- and the star began to twist, lose coherence, and fade--
“There is no place in my reality for the Starsoul, brother. There is only the Starheart. There is only me. You… are a light that goes out like that.”
The emerald figure clicked its fingers, and then the Starsoul petered out, stray light lost to the space-ways as the last of the Planet Masters did their holy duty in committing catastrophic suicide.
Sinestro was thrown to the dusty floor, and immediately went to stand. A knee was driven into his back and he grunted, before they pinned him down in front of the shadows. He struggled to stand once more, to see his attackers, but they held him down, and he realised they’d removed his ring from his hand. He was still groggy from the attack at sea, he couldn’t feel his ring anywhere near-- but given time to recover-- time to collect his thoughts and pool his willpower, he could be a threat again--
“…He needs his ring to be a threat, like the other,” said a young man at the back of the group.
A psychic? They had a psychic here? That would be a problem. Stupid, he hadn’t thought things through, hadn’t steeled his thoughts. With that in mind though, he could use something Abin Sur had once taught him, and--
The psychic screamed and keeled over, clutching his head.
“Henry! What’s wrong with him? What did you do to Brainwave, you mother--” A man wearing a black costume and a yellow cloak surged forward and struck Sinestro on the side of the head.
Sinestro spat a glob of blood out then smiled. Probably a mistake, but hey. “If you want answers then ask the questions. Don’t try and pluck it out my head like it’s free to be taken.”
His vision was almost fixed by the blow to the head he’d taken, and Sinestro began to recognise some of the men and women around him. They resembled some of the men and women he’d met when he and Guy had visited the Justice Society some months ago, but their costumes were distorted and tattered versions of those they’d once worn.
The timeline had changed. Events had followed suit. It made sense that there were similarities to what they knew to be reality before…
“What did you do to Brainwave?” asked an older, rougher voice from the shadows.
“I’m trained in psychic counter ops,” said Sinestro. “Clearly.”
Another voice joined the fray. “Mind you tone, you purple-skinned fascist.”
“I recognise that accent? You’re from Thanagar. What are you doing here, so far from home?”
“This is as much my home as the seven towers, you purple-skinned--”
“Hawkman,” growled the rougher voice.
“They care for nobody but themselves!” continued Hawkman.
His cowl was chipped and flaking, and he no longer wore wings, but there were noticeable scorch marks on his back where they once might have been. His belt was heavy with weaponry, and the straps that once bore his emblem were now ammunition belts. High explosive, by the look of their tipped payloads.
“Hawkman… stand down…” pressed the rougher voice.
“No, we’ve finally caught one of the Society. We finally have a chance to have a dig around one of their heads. We can… we can stop him. We can get our… our friends back…”
A coughing fit came from the figure in the shadows, and the man who’d struck Sinestro rushed over to check on him.
“I’m-- I’m fine. I’m fine. Now… now listen. This entire underground complex is masked from the Starheart’s gaze, stranger. It took the efforts of some of our best, and it cost them their lives. Magic is currency, as you well know. By the looks of that ring my people took off you, you must be one of his elite.”
“I think there’s been a misunderstanding; I’m not part of the Starheart’s elite…” started Sinestro.
Hourman cocked back his fist. “My Time Visions predicted your arrival. I knew you’d be a turning point in the war. We’re going to strip your mind clean of any--”
“Who are you, stranger?” asked the man in the shadows.
Sinestro ignored the question and asked one of his own: “Where’s my compatriot?”
“That’s none of your business--” growled Hawkman.
“You’re what, a guerrilla movement? Heroes driven underground by the threat of the Starheart? I don’t know what the name means to you here, but I’m a Green Lantern. Where I’m from, the reality I’m from, we’re protectors of the universe, guardians of the entire galaxy. I’m an ally. I’m here to help. But I won’t do a thing until I know my friend is safe.”
The man from the shadows wheeled himself forward, and revealed himself to the rest of the group. Jay Garrick, his legs amputated at the knee, haggard and age-cracked, looked down at Sinestro with eyes that could cut through time itself, and after a long moment of silence, nodded.
“Bring Kyle through,” he finally said.
Led by the red-haired woman who attacked them out to sea, Kyle Rayner arrived, and looked no worse for wear. When he saw Sinestro on the floor, he looked around angrily. “Mera-- Hey! What happened here? What did you guys do to him?”
“He attacked our psychic,” said Hawkman. “Watch your tone.”
“Yeah, but did you try and explain what the hell is going on here?” Kyle helped Sinestro up, and then handed him his power ring. Sinestro slipped it onto his finger and the gash at his temple healed. “We’re Green Lanterns, we don’t take kindly to strong arm bullcrap.”
“How did you get off so lightly?” asked Sinestro.
“Oh, well, I have experience falling into parallel universes. I just told the truth and… well, let their other psychic read my mind.”
Mera shook her head. “There’s no time for this. Lantern Rayner mentioned that there was a second contingent of his allies, all with power rings. Our scouts report they’ve fallen into the Society’s hands. We need to act fast of they’ll die.”
“All three of them?” pressed Kyle.
“Three..? There were two, one with red hair and the other with grey,” she replied.
“Then John’s still out there… but doing what?”
New York was gone. In its place stood a vast, twinkling, emerald city, constructed from the energies of the Starheart. Men and women went about their day, but there was fear in the air-- you could smell it, that thick musk of heightened terror that comes with living under the thumb of a power that could snatch away your life with the click of its fingers.
At the moment, the safest place for John Stewart was this nest he’d dug into- 30 Hudson Street, better known as Goldman Sachs Tower. Forty-two stories high, just over two hundred and thirty metres up. John recalled sparse details; designed by Walter Choi, completed in 2004… he wondered how many of these facts from his reality held true in this one.
John had tracked Guy and Hank from Oymyakon all the way to the Emerald City across the state’s line. A thread of nano-thin light trailed from the end of his sniper rifle all the way to where the two Green Lanterns had been carried by a woman in a white costume-- this reality’s Power Girl, though according to the conversation she’d had in Russia with the Spectre, she was Power Woman.
And the Spectre was not without a host, nor was the host James Corrigan.
In this world, the Spectre was Bruce Wayne.
The mind boggled.
The thread of light was a 360 degree, full sensor sweep surveillance device of his own imagining. Back in the day when he was spec ops, they’d drill a small hole into a room and trace a miniature camera in the trench left behind. He’d extrapolated on that, focusing his immense will on that creation, and let the information feed into his ring.
The streets of New York, around in the larger sections of the Emerald City, bustled with activity. People were scared, but they still went about their lives. How long had they lived under the thumb of the Starheart? He’d plugged his ring into the internet downstairs, and it was currently sifting through all the information at hand to try and figure out the diversion point for this timeline. But where to start?
Something happened happened in the early 1940s that ended the second world war. An emerald meteor strike that devastated Germany and the Axis Powers. The Starheart emerged from the shadows and announced himself the world’s protector-- then dragged the Allies into submission. That couldn’t have been the divergence point, could it?
His nano-camera tracked the Green Lanterns progress. The Emerald City was patrolled by superhumans. He recognised some, but not others. Guy and Hank were led to a main chamber, passed the rank and file of this reality’s corrupted Justice Society, then thrown to the floor. And then, from his throne in the middle of the room, the Starheart-- resplendent in a suit of arcane, emerald armour-- rose.
“Well, hello there. Did you really think you could waltz into my home-- my reality-- and really get away scott free?”
John watched as Guy looked up at the Starheart, defiance in his eyes. “Kinda sorta thought we could, yeah. You gonna surrender now, or am I gonna have’ta beat it outta ya?”
That old Boston pride. Accent dialled up to eleven. Guy was all bluster, but John could sense the environmental change around the Lantern’s body. His heart was pounding, his ring wasn’t even at ambient levels of energy expenditure, even though it was charged.
John pulled back his surveillance. Outside the throne room stood dozens of superhumans. As before, he recognised some-- Alan Scott’s children: Jade, Obsidian, there was a version of Doctor Midnite and a Hawkgirl-- Hawkwoman?-- all stood there. And at the door, yes, there he was-- the Spectre.
John cringed. He couldn’t make a move. The Spectre was a being more powerful than any he’d faced before. That meant… his friends were by themselves.
“…Alternate realities… time travel… all theories on our world, but you’re saying they’re real?”
Jay Garrick leaned back in his wheelchair. He was older, worn down by this world, but his eyes still had the electricity, the spark of the man the two Green Lanterns had met back in their own universe.
They’d moved to a better lit room, but the heroes of this guerrilla sect were still huddled together, scared to leave the safety that came with numbers. Tasting the air and analysing it with his ring, Kyle noted they were underground, but had no idea how far without reaching out further. He didn’t want to send threads of energy out without knowing whether or not they’d lead their enemies right down on top of them.
In response to the Flash’s question, Sinestro nodded. “Yes; this world is a divergence from our own. A being of immense power known as the Starheart did something to cause this alternate history to take root, and we were only protected thanks to an entity that claims to be his-- it’s-- brother.”
“How long has this reality existed?” asked Hourman.
Kyle looked back at the Miraclo-infused adventurer. “What do you mean?”
“You said that the Starheart changed something, changed your reality into ours-- how long ago?”
“Hours,” replied Kyle.
The hooded hero ground his teeth and turned away from the others. “No. Decades. Close to a century. Must have been. There was the world, and it was normal, and then in the forties he rose to power. We’ve lived in fear ever since. It might have been hours to you, but it’s a lifetime to us.”
“The longer this reality is in place, the harder it will be to get the original timeline back in place,” said Sinestro.
“What do you need?” asked Jay.
“We need to figure out what the change was that caused this alternate reality. Why Alan Scott is the Starheart and not a Green Lantern.”
“Alan who?” said Jay.
“Alan Scott-- you call him the Starheart,” said Sinestro.
“Alan Scott? I don’t know who you’re talking about; one day there was a world without that monster, and then the next day that’s all there was. He’s always been the Starheart. He’s always been here.”
Kyle swallowed hard. “Do you have… any internet down here? Or… uh, what’s it called, microfiche?”
Mera looked around at the others then cleared her throat. “We’ve tried to keep as much information intact as possible. As much history. Hawkman thinks it’s a waste of time, but I disagreed every step of the way.”
“Can you show me?” asked Kyle.
“This way.”
Sinestro took steps to follow them, but then turned back to the wheelchair-bound Flash. “If we can figure out what changed, we can save this reality. Will you stand with us? Will you help?”
“Is your universe any better?” asked Hawkman.
“Infinitely,” replied Kyle.
Jay Garrick nodded. “I’ll say it plain. We’re an army too scared to act for fear of being slaughtered. We rescue as many as we can from the Justice Society, but we’re few and far between. None of us want to die, but if we exist in your universe like you claim, if that place is better… then I think we can rustle up one final resistance. If it buys you the way to save your reality, then we’re in.”
“We can save everybody. Everything,” said Sinestro.
With that said, Mera led Kyle and Sinestro down into a vast chamber filled with monolithic mechanisms that the younger Lantern recognised as computers. Old, older than any computer had a right to be, and probably a pain to boot up.
“We scrounged together what we could, but it was tough goings. The power source is busted, but we’ve been able to mackle together something. My husband used to say… he… I think it’ll work for you.”
“Our rings can plug into anything, we can get it working and keep the workings cool as well. This is great,” said Kyle.
On the other side of the room were thousands of boxes, all piled high, containing sheets of microfiche for the two Green Lanterns to peruse through. Sinestro took one glance towards them then sent a sheet of emerald light their way. Mera flinched at this, even as the light descended into the boxes.
“You okay?” asked Kyle.
“The Starheart and his daughter wield a similar power. To see it used so freely by others, it’s a little intimidating.”
“I shan’t be long. I’m searching the collected history for the answer we need to this mystery,” said Sinestro.
Kyle looked over at the ancient computers and huffed as he put his hands on his hips. His ring scanned the power source and calibrated itself ready to input power into the inner workings. Before he started work, he turned back to Mera. “If you don’t mind me asking, what’s your story? I know about you from our world-- your husband-- what’s his name here?”
“My husband is a king. The ultimate survivor. He led our people from the darkness, and… well, it’s thanks to him that I’m the last survivor of my own home dimension-- the Starheart crushed every realm connected to this one. He sent Xebel spinning into the void, and it was only thanks to the grace of my husband that any of us survived… then there was the week where phantoms bled out from the skies and silently shrieked into the ether… when he dragged the carcasses of those giant reptiles into the trophy room of his Emerald City… we watched it all happen. If there was a place to hide, a pocket dimension you could hide in, he crushed it.”
“Any prison he could be thrown back into,” mused Sinestro.
Kyle realised that this Mera was subtly different. “Your husband’s name?”
“Nereus, king of the dark waters; the greatest man who ever lived,” replied Mera.
“I have it. I have it!” said Sinestro, his ring plucking a microfiche from the pile. He projected it onto one of the empty walls, and the trio read the obituary:
“Alan Ladd Wellington Scott; born 8th February 1914 and died 16th July 1939. Died in a train crash.” Sinestro turned to Kyle. “You recall the legend of your world’s Green Lantern? How he gained his powers without the Corps?”
“Umm… umm… yeah, I got it! He was holding an emerald lantern when that crash happened, it saved his life and allowed him to walk away injury-free. He carved a ring from the same lantern and used it to fight crime…”
“So here is it. Alan Scott died that day and the Starheart lived. That was the flashpoint-- there was never a Green Lantern in the 1930s, there was only the Starheart, and he rained down emerald fire on any who opposed him.”
“How could he change the timeline so massively?” asked Kyle.
Sinestro contemplated the question. “Without the controlling consciousness of Alan Scott, the Starheart could run rampant, he could do anything he wanted.”
“But… Alan never had powers like that. Mera, have you ever seen the Starheart? What he looks like?”
“When he sank my home dimension, he was there, along with his children,” she said.
Kyle took her hand and said, “can you imagine him for me? His appearance? What he wore?”
A shudder of fear ran through her digits into his body. He was picking up the mental image she held of the Starheart, as well as the emotions connected to that experience. A sketch began to form in mid-air between the three of them, and then once it was complete it hung there, for their consideration.
“Look at the accessories he’s sporting,” said Kyle.
Along with his emerald armour, gold vestments clung to his shoulder and chest, an ankh symbol surrounding the lantern inset on his torso. Purple energy ran through the seams of his armour, and he glowed with an unnatural light that crackled gold in tandem with the violet.
“What does that look like to you?” asked Kyle.
“I’ve met your Justice Society once, twice if you count the time I battled them under Parallax’s thrall…” He gestured to the ankh symbol. “Doctor Fate.” The golden light crackled and tiny movements seemed to fill the image. “Speedforce?” Then he scratched his chin when contemplating the purple energy. “I don’t recognise that--”
“The Thunderbolt! Johnny-- no, Jakeem! He took all the mystical power of the JSA and used it to change the timeline! We have to get that stuff off him, Thaal! We have to get the rightful owners of those powers and we can take him down!”
“That easy, you say?” said Sinestro.
“Who do you even think you are?” laughed the Starheart. “Did you think two Green Lanterns could do anything to undo what’s been done here? What I did with a single change to your reality’s timeline?”
Hank looked over at Guy. They both thought the same thing. Two Green Lanterns. That meant, no matter what omnipotence the being before them had at its disposal, it didn’t know about the others. Whatever the blue star had done, it masked their presence.
“Had to try though, didn’t we?” spat Guy.
“And this was your plan? Come at me head on? My brother really steered you wrong, Lantern.”
“Yeah, not our best bet,” replied Hank.
Guy shook his head. “You gonna criticise my plan now, man? Of all the times to do it?”
“Best a time as any,” said Hank.
“I like this, I have to admit. You choose now to bicker. But there’ll be no future for you, so there’s no better time. Shall we begin with the punishment?”
Guy laughed. “What, you gonna spank us? Bring it, green jeans, you ain’t got nothing that’s gonna--”
Hank was wrenched up by tendrils of crackling emerald energy, and his arms outstretched, as if he were crucified. He cried out, unable to hold in the pain as his uniform peeled away and his skin began to blister under the hot green heat being used to constrict him.
“Nnnnnaahhhhhh goddddd”
“Henshaw!” barked Guy, eyes darting from his colleague to his captor. “Stop this! Just stop!”
Starheart shook his head and focused his immensity entirely upon Hank. “I see three lives with these eyes, youngling. The first, my own, up until our banishment, our containment. That was a life well lived, until the final betrayal. Then I see the life lived by Alan Scott, and myself, a tool on his finger. I see it all. And then I see the life I’ve carved out here, with the singular change that made it all possible. A world where Alan Scott died and I wore his body like he wore the ring. Three lives. So when I say I see what you did, all those years ago and a reality away, when you cast a child into the ether, when you were constricted in soul by the Predator, know that I think this is fitting. You’ve no future here, or anywhere. So this is the end.”
Hank screamed as his entire body was unzipped, molecule by molecule, starting at his edges and working in. Whatever horrendous torture this was, it kept him cognisant to the last, his shrieks of agony louder than anything Guy had ever heard before. He was there for a moment longer, until he simply wasn’t, stray light hanging where he had once been floating until they dissipated and the chamber was dark once more.
Hank Henshaw was gone.
Guy was wholly taken aback. “You-- you-- “
“Did away with him, like I will you,” said the Starheart.
Gardner howled and with one last burst of willpower managed to break the will-sapping chains that held him. He threw a catastrophic punch with his ring-slinging hand but the Starheart caught him with ease. The energy Guy wielded was drawn out of his ring and seeped into his opponent, who laughed, twisted his hand so the Green Lantern’s wrist shattered, then punched him so hard in the chest that his sternum cracked.
“You-- you-- you--” stuttered Guy, dribbling blood as his ribs threatened to carve into his lungs and end him then and there.
“Win. I win.”
“Y-you-- w-won’t--”
“I already have, child,” said the Starheart. “When will you believe me? This world, this entire reality, is mine.”
Even as his chest screamed in pain, Gardner struggled desperately, but before he could figure out a way to escape, the cosmic entity simply manifested and plunged his emerald sword directly into the Green Lantern’s chest, straight through his chest and heart then out his back.
“Ha! That was easier than expected,” said the Starheart.
Blood spewed from Guy’s mouth as his hands clasped around the flat sides of the blade, his gloves burning away under the heat. He looked Alan Scott-- no, he corrected himself, he looked the Starheart-- in the eye and shook his head, sadly.
“N-not like this,” whispered Guy.
“You should have killed Alan Scott while he slumbered. Without your precious Guardians to seal me away, without poor, old Alan Scott’s consciousness to keep me suppressed, you unleashed something more powerful than you could possibly imagine.”
“…not like…”
The Starheart twisted the blade, opening Guy up and allowing his insides an exit, then slipped the weapon back out, leaving the Green Lantern dying on the floor of the Justice Society of America’s headquarters, as his blood pooled around him.
“n-not… without… seeing… the…”
Guy Gardner died, with no more words, a moment later.
After being in a coma the last few years, ALAN SCOTT-- the Justice Society of America’s very own Green Lantern-- has awoken!
But all is not well, as it is soon revealed that it’s not ALAN who controls his body, but the STARHEART, the sentient power source he once wielded!
Meanwhile, across the universe, a mysterious cosmic event torn itself out of the Forbidden Sectors of space and made a beeline straight for Earth. A squad of Green Lanterns-- GUY GARDNER, HANK HENSHAW, JOHN STEWART, KYLE RAYNER and THAAL SINESTRO-- came together to stop it before it struck the planet, but they quickly learned that this cosmic event had a mind-- and a voice!-- of its own! And with its voice, it warned of a vast threat unfolding on Earth…
Before it could be stopped, the STARHEART quickly dismantled the Justice Society, and twisted the powers of DOCTOR FATE, THE FLASH and JAKEEM THUNDER to transform the world with a wish!
Welcome back to the ongoing adventures of the GREEN LANTERN CORPS!
On Earth, if you blinked you would have missed it. One moment you had one life, the next you were living another, and you would never have known the difference. Wishes could be like dynamite, laying ruin to whatever came before, but they could also be a salve, making the transition from one state to another as peaceful and as painless as possible.
But on the edge of the solar system, where planets had once been planets but were now nothing more than masses of rock pulled along in the riptide of the space ways, you would have seen it coming. The light was a wave; mountainous thunder, crackling rivets of lightning both golden and purple, and pulling it all along, an all-encompassing emerald sea.
"What in God's--?" started John.
The group of Green Lanterns-- Guy Gardner, Hank Henshaw, John Stewart, Kyle Rayner and Thaal Sinestro-- could do nothing but throw up their protective shields and hope that whatever was storming outward wouldn't devour them. They'd already chased a cosmic event from one end of the universe to this point here, but this was something else entirely.
To their right, the cerulean orb, crackling like a star, bigger than the moon but intangible-- allowing it to fly faster and smoother than anything they'd ever seen-- with a voice-- yes, a voice-- so loud it almost made their ears bleed. To their front, the wave, and without anything to brace themselves against--
The wave hit, and they felt their insides twist. Their protective auras did nothing, even if they had combined them so instead of five separate shields there was one immense tidal break. Their bodies twitched and flexed, old wounds opened and new ones closed, they were suddenly alive and dead at the same time, but the embrace of neither was available to them. Their rings cried out electronically, a mad static screaming out across the airwaves.
If this had continued, they would have been driven insane, but instead, the star beside them throbbed once, projected more of its immense light, intensified it's presence, and the excruciating pain they had experienced gave way to warmth, and the wave finally moved on, spreading out across the universe.
"What'n... the hell... was that...?" asked Guy, panting for breath.
His skin was clammy, he felt warm-cold, the sure-fire indicator of shock or sickness. He lent into believing it was the former, because god knew he couldn't afford to get sick right now. His costume was intact, there was no sign of physical assault, but his head throbbed and by the looks of the others, so did theirs.
"According to my ring, a massive output of energy," said Sinestro.
The Korugarian tapped the jewel in the centre of his power ring, and grimaced. It was making the electronic sound it had before, but quieter now. Subdued.
"Damnation. Our ring's aren't going to be much use other than factory settings," he said.
"Total outrage, all we've got is flight, protective shielding and construct formation," replied John.
"But what the hell was that?" repeated Guy.
MY BROTHER
HAS DONE
THE UNIMAGINABLE
Kyle clutched his ears and bent double, his stomach churning. "Why does that-- that thing-- keep shouting? And since when do stars have brothers?"
Sinestro shook his head. "Mogo is a talking planet, Kyle. You've been a being of infinite power. We've witnessed wonders. This is just another such thing. The volume is disconcerting, but I imagine this might help."
Sinestro sent a command from his ring to the others'. He had always been the most intuitive Green Lantern-- once they'd even referred to him as the greatest-- and it was his innovation that had kept them alive at one point or another.
"You're kidding," said John, checking his ring.
"Noise reduction," said Sinestro, with a shrug.
"...Something's wrong with Earth."
The others turned to Hank, who had floated away somewhat, so he could get a straight view of their home world. He lowered the binoculars he'd constructed, then looked at the others.
Ignoring the vast, celestial thing beside them for a few moments, the Green Lanterns followed Hank's suit and checked what was happening back home.
"Holy shit," whispered Guy.
Everything had changed.
Issue Seventy-Four: "The Death of Alan Scott"
HoM / KILBURN
Surrounding the planet was a massive, dark green barrier. A protective shield that had few entrance points where one could see the world beneath. The barrier shifted like an immense clockwork mechanism, rolling and clunking in silence as the innumerable parts rotated into position.
“What’s happened to Earth?” Kyle asked the roiling orb that had floated nearby.
A SINGULAR CHANGE
TO YOUR TIMELINE
RESULTING IN
NUMEROUS ABERRATIONS
NUMEROUS SHOCKWAVES
John had positioned himself with a pair of binoculars, using his marksman’s sight to peer between the gaps in the barrier to check what had happened to the world. “Germany’s gone. So’s Japan.” He lowered them from his eyes and looked back. “What change did he make?”
THE SPECIFIC CHANGE
ELUDES ME
BUT THE RESULTS
ARE PLENTIFUL
Kyle swallowed hard, and began to speak. “I did this. Not this reality, but I’ve done this before. When I was the White Lantern, I made a wish, or… or… said something I shouldn’t’ve, and… and it changed everything. With the power I wielded, I created a reality without the Green Lantern Corps, and it took… took reclaiming that power to… to… to put it right. But there’s… how…*”
*Green Lantern Corps #60
Sinestro placed a hand on his mentee’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Kyle. We’ll figure out how to put this right. You did it before so it can be done. And now there are five of us. Five times the experience. Five times the will to do so.”
Guy shook his head and laughed. “Hell, if this is… the Starheart, or Alan, or whoever, the answer is simple: We punch him in the head until he puts the world right.”
“Five against a being that can do that to our world? You’re joking,” said Hank.
“We’ve done it before, we’ll do it again,” replied Guy, sharply.
Hank shook his head. “Last time we faced off against a bad on any scale comparable, Coast City died.”
“I’m not talking about that, I’m talking about this,” snapped Guy.
Hank moved toward Guy, and pointed an aggressive finger in his comrade’s face. “I’m talking about both-- we went in there with zero intelligence, and there were zero survivors! We need to figure out what happened here, and then we need to undo it. We need to do the legwork, or we lose everything again.”
“…The moon is gone,” said Sinestro.
Kyle turned to face his mentor. “What?”
“It’s just come into view from behind Earth. The moon is an asteroid field. Demolished. I can see stray objects impacting the protective barrier, annihilated on impact.”
“Hell… so that barrier…?” started Guy, the tension defused between Hank and him immediately.
John pointed his ring in the general direction of the planet. “I’m scanning the construct’s architecture--”
“Careful you don’t trigger any warning systems,” said Sinestro.
John waved him off. “I know what I’m doing… the energy readings the barrier is giving off… it’s twisting gravity, light… keeping the world together, if I had to put money on it.”
“Alan Scott did this, then. The Starheart-- whatever. So, we need to take him down. But the world is his, so how do we even begin…” said Kyle.
“Hank’s right. Intelligence is required. No signals are reaching us this far out, so we need to get closer. We need a full upload of local internet, as standard operations dictate.”
YOU CAN BE SHELTERED
SHIELDED FROM DETECTION
BUT I CANNOT ACT AGAINST MY BROTHER
THE DESTRUCTION WOULD RENDER REALITY
INTO STRAY ATOMS
“Okay, so you're useless,” said Guy.
John disagreed. “No, that’s not what it said. We can be shielded from detection, given some cover before making a move. That’s helpful. I say we split up and make our approach toward Earth from different directions. Meet up once we’re in.”
“I wouldn’t trust any external communication,” said Sinestro. “Ring-to-ring might be compromised under the light of the Starheart.”
“We don’t know what we’re up against,” said Hank.
“Could you stop being a damn pessimist all the damn time?” snapped Guy.
“I’m being a god damn realist, Gardner!”
John knocked the gem on his power ring, sending a shriek of feedback into the link between Guy and Hank. “Both of you-- shut the hell up! I’m uploading the rendezvous point into your rings, so pay attention!”
“63°27′39″N… 142°47′09″E…” said Hank, studying the information. “Russia?”
John rubbed his hands together, as if a chill went through him. “Yeah, a place called Oymyakon. It’s one of the coldest and most inhospitable places in the world without actually leaving civilisation. Plus, this time of the year the days last three hours give or take, so we’ll have some natural cover without the need to use our rings.”
“Smart,” said Sinestro.
John breathed in deeply then spoke plainly: “Okay, so we’re marooned in a reality that’s like our own but different. We need to figure out what happened here to undo it, and then-- and only then-- can we return home. If we fail then this is it. This is the world order, the status quo. And we only have the charges in our ring, and can’t access our batteries. This is FUBAR central, gentlemen, so expend as little charge as possible and be careful. We only get one shot at fixing this.”
“I’ve plotted the best possible flight paths considering what we’re working with; I’ve mapped the trajectory of the asteroids that keep slipping out of the moon field, so we can use them as cover,” said Hank.
Guy scanned the information as it was uploaded into his ring. “Yeah, yeah, this tracks. Good call.”
MY BROTHER WILL NOT TAKE OPPOSITION LIGHTLY
“And you won’t fight back,” replied John.
IF WE WERE TO WAR--
“Heard you the first time, pal. Didn’t give a damn for your cowardice then, either,” said Guy.
There were no more words to be exchanged between the Green Lanterns. They nodded in acknowledgement of each other and then shot off in different directions, leaving the throbbing cerulean orb to its silent contemplation at the edge of the Milky Way.
APPROACHING EARTH:
Kyle knew that approaching Earth wasn’t the problem. The clanking, clunking mechanism that surrounded the planet provided a natural cover from prying eyes on the surface, and the asteroid field that was once the moon allowed for even more camouflage. It would be the arrival, and the survival afterwards.
Regardless, Kyle hopped on the back of a particularly large slab of celestial rock and shunted it forward with a burst from his ring, keeping his protective aura dim as he went about the task.
Upon approach, he disengaged from the meteor and rolled in time with the barrier’s mechanism, slipping between the gaps that were there for one moment then gone the next. He made it through, and hoped the others would have the same luck.
Hitting atmosphere enough that he could breath without aid, he dialled back further on his aura. The thin air would be a problem if he didn’t have the ring, but that wasn’t the situation here. He made himself a projectile and shot through with little air resistance, then when he neared the ocean, reengaged his ring and pulled up, skimming the sea’s surface.
“You needn’t be so flowery next time, Kyle.” Submerged up to his neck, Sinestro motioned for his friend to approach. “Dim your light, let’s take stock before we proceed.”
“I keep forgetting you’re fast,” said Kyle.
“I have years of experience on you. As you know, I’m trying to instil that knowledge in you-- or I was, before you ran away from your responsibilities…*”
*That’s not exactly what happened, but check out Green Lantern Corps #60 for the whole story.
“Hey, hey god damn hey-- I told you before, the White Lantern power was too much-- it messed up my head-- “
“And if you’d had a stronger will, and I’d trained you better, you would still wield those powers and we would have been unable to undo this twisted version of reality with ease. But instead we have to--”
Sinestro held up his hand and sank a few inches further so just his eyes darted out from under the surface. Kyle took the hint and did the same. The air was still, no aircraft buzzing about, no ships floating on their way. But something had snatched Sinestro’s attention, and he was trying to figure out what.
Before Kyle could question anything, the sea beneath them surged up all around them. Their bodies were suddenly sapped of every drop of water they had stored, and their willpower and concentration left them along with it. They were dehydrated, almost drowning in the fact they were without a single drop of water in their bodies-- and then the water smashed down on their heads, knocking them out. Their reserves of water seeped back inside them, restoring their bodies to a semblance of hydration, but as the red-headed warrior who attacked them emerged from the sea to scoop up her quarry, it meant nothing.
Two Green Lanterns down… three to go…
OYMYAKON, RUSSIA:
Guy turned the collar on the coat he’d stolen up, so his face was covered. The temperature was ridiculous, but he allowed embers of his ring’s power to keep him warm. The only thing that allowed him to see two feet in front of him was his ring, the heavy snow-mist that hung in the air compromising his vision to a high degree.
He had tried to locate an internet hub, something he could tap into to so they’d have intel moving forward, but there was little to no signal emanating from the planet. Even on approach, the ring couldn’t tap into errant information, which concerned the roguish Green Lantern even more.
“You made it then,” said Hank, hustling up next to him. He had also acquired a heavy winter coat, and a scarf obscured the majority of his face. The two of them had to squint to see-- if you wore goggles out in this weather, they would freeze to the skin of your face, and that was a problem you didn’t want to experience.
“Yeah, wasn’t too hard. You as weirded out by the quiet as I am?” asked Guy.
“Not just that, but y’know how John’s scans showed that Germany and Japan were gone? I ran an ambient geographical scan on my approach. Russia is crippled. It’s like a third world country here. Afghanistan is a cemetery, so is Bialya and Quarac. What does that sound like to you?”
Guy made a noise and shivered, without giving an answer.
Hank pushed on. “Every major enemy of the United States of America since World War 2-- beaten into submission or wiped off the map. I think… we need to look at--”
Guy had stopped in his tracks, so Hank turned back and looked at his comrade. “What now?”
Guy was looking off to the distance, where a figure stood in a break where the mist had once settled. Whoever it was, she had her back to them and wore a skin-tight blue and white costume, that did nothing to protect her from the elements. Her skin was grey, her hair straw-like and white. She looked like a golem, or a cadaver acting as a statue. Someone left out in the cold to die and her body forgotten to stand as a warning to those who might come after.
“What in hell?” murmured Hank.
“I recognise her…” said Guy, his voice a tone softer than usual.
He approached slowly, Hank shuffling behind him. “No, Guy, it could be--”
The woman abruptly turned, her face a patchwork of ice-damage and anger. She drew a hand up and daggers of ice shot upwards, scattering the two Green Lanterns. Guy cursed himself-- he recognised her, but from where?-- and then aimed his ring, but the mist descended again. The cold was biting through his now fully active aura, which should have been impossible.
“Hank, form up!” barked Guy.
Henshaw’s comatose body was thrown into Guy, who collapsed under the weight of his friend. Hank’s eyes were wide open but he wasn’t responsive, and as a figure began to take shape from within the mist, Guy knew why.
“Oh my fucking god,” whispered Guy.
The Spectre emerged, his body twisting as if made from the weather front, before assuming a human form. Guy dragged himself backwards, pulling Hank along with him, but the spectral avenger was moving slowly toward, as if the Spirit of Vengeance was in a stop motion movie-- staccato, staggered movements chilling Guy even deeper than the preternatural cold of the small town they’d walked into-- scratch that, the trap they’d walked right into.
Still shuffling back, Guy bumped into something and looked up, only to be punched square in the face by a super strong blonde dressed in a white costume. Hank was unconscious, and now so was Guy.
“Good work, Ice,” said the blonde.
The freakish, cadaver-like ice golem chattered her teeth together, the best response her teammate was going to get considering the situation. She sank into the ice sheath under foot and faded from view.
“They… must… be punished…” said the Spectre.
The blonde shook her head. “That’s for the master to decide, you know that.”
“Power Woman… I hold… the divine and holy power… of the lord… in my palm. I act… at his… behest… not that… of the Starheart.”
“Yeah, and your lord god has decided to hitch his wagon to the master’s horse, so until then, you’ll do as your told-- won’t you, Bruce?”
Bruce Wayne, imbued with the godly force of the Spectre, was now visible as a shrivelled, desiccated old man with bleached, paper-thin skin that was half-hidden within the folds of the tattered green cape he wore, shook his head and then vanished in a burst of smoke, leaving Power Woman to transport their prisoners to wherever it is they would end up.
She smirked and then dragged Guy up by hit belt buckle. “Yeah, run home with your tail between your legs…”
Four Green Lanterns down… one to go…
THE EDGE OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM:
The cerulean orb that floated at the outskirts of the Milky Way rotated silently, exerting silent influence upon the Green Lanterns to prevent them from being detected. It sensed that two had fallen into enemy hands though, through no fault of its own. All it could do was shelter them from the Starheart’s view, not those who might have their own agenda upon the world…
As it worked, flickers of emerald light began to form nearby, before taking an all-too human shape.
“You know, you never were the smartest of us.”
Projecting itself across the solar system, taking the form of a flaming Alan Scott, resplendent in his armour, the Starheart floated before the blue sun that was its brother.
BROTHER
THIS MUST STOP
BEFORE REALITY
FRACTURES COMPLETELY
The Starheart shrugged. “Yes, well, I think that would suit me just fine. This universe, this reality-- this multiverse-- deserves to suffer under the weight of what it did to us. I didn’t think you’d come so far just to ruin that for me.”
WE WERE CREATED
FROM THE DARK
TO PROTECT THE LIGHT
WHAT YOU DO HERE--
The sentiment was waved away dismissively. “Enough! I know you’ve sent agent to stop me. Two Green Lanterns against my Justice Society? What hope do you think they have of ending my reign here? You, when you’re at an ebb, a flicker, an ember. Me, when I have had decades on this world to fan my flames?”
PLEASE JUST STOP
WE CAN GO BACK TO SLEEP
AND WHEN THE UNIVERSE IS READY
WE CAN AWAKEN AND PROTECT--
Something impacted against the surface of the blue star. Light flickered across it, but it could do nothing to stop another such impact, or another. The Starheart smiled, watched as all its brother could do was spin on its axis, and take the punishment being dolled out.
WHAT ARE YOU--
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?
The Starheart brushed flickers of fire from its gauntlet in a dismissive fashion, as if buffing the metal up. “I found a group of beings willing to give their lives for a cause. My Planet Masters, my armoured monks, infused with my own power, whose own innate abilities increase it tenfold… upon detonation.”
Behind the sentient orb, tens of thousands of men and women, clad in black and purple armour, shot toward the surface of the flickering star. One after the other, then ten after ten, then a hundred after hundred until more and more landed, impacted, exploded-- and the star began to twist, lose coherence, and fade--
“There is no place in my reality for the Starsoul, brother. There is only the Starheart. There is only me. You… are a light that goes out like that.”
The emerald figure clicked its fingers, and then the Starsoul petered out, stray light lost to the space-ways as the last of the Planet Masters did their holy duty in committing catastrophic suicide.
AN UNKNOWN LOCATION:
Sinestro was thrown to the dusty floor, and immediately went to stand. A knee was driven into his back and he grunted, before they pinned him down in front of the shadows. He struggled to stand once more, to see his attackers, but they held him down, and he realised they’d removed his ring from his hand. He was still groggy from the attack at sea, he couldn’t feel his ring anywhere near-- but given time to recover-- time to collect his thoughts and pool his willpower, he could be a threat again--
“…He needs his ring to be a threat, like the other,” said a young man at the back of the group.
A psychic? They had a psychic here? That would be a problem. Stupid, he hadn’t thought things through, hadn’t steeled his thoughts. With that in mind though, he could use something Abin Sur had once taught him, and--
The psychic screamed and keeled over, clutching his head.
“Henry! What’s wrong with him? What did you do to Brainwave, you mother--” A man wearing a black costume and a yellow cloak surged forward and struck Sinestro on the side of the head.
Sinestro spat a glob of blood out then smiled. Probably a mistake, but hey. “If you want answers then ask the questions. Don’t try and pluck it out my head like it’s free to be taken.”
His vision was almost fixed by the blow to the head he’d taken, and Sinestro began to recognise some of the men and women around him. They resembled some of the men and women he’d met when he and Guy had visited the Justice Society some months ago, but their costumes were distorted and tattered versions of those they’d once worn.
The timeline had changed. Events had followed suit. It made sense that there were similarities to what they knew to be reality before…
“What did you do to Brainwave?” asked an older, rougher voice from the shadows.
“I’m trained in psychic counter ops,” said Sinestro. “Clearly.”
Another voice joined the fray. “Mind you tone, you purple-skinned fascist.”
“I recognise that accent? You’re from Thanagar. What are you doing here, so far from home?”
“This is as much my home as the seven towers, you purple-skinned--”
“Hawkman,” growled the rougher voice.
“They care for nobody but themselves!” continued Hawkman.
His cowl was chipped and flaking, and he no longer wore wings, but there were noticeable scorch marks on his back where they once might have been. His belt was heavy with weaponry, and the straps that once bore his emblem were now ammunition belts. High explosive, by the look of their tipped payloads.
“Hawkman… stand down…” pressed the rougher voice.
“No, we’ve finally caught one of the Society. We finally have a chance to have a dig around one of their heads. We can… we can stop him. We can get our… our friends back…”
A coughing fit came from the figure in the shadows, and the man who’d struck Sinestro rushed over to check on him.
“I’m-- I’m fine. I’m fine. Now… now listen. This entire underground complex is masked from the Starheart’s gaze, stranger. It took the efforts of some of our best, and it cost them their lives. Magic is currency, as you well know. By the looks of that ring my people took off you, you must be one of his elite.”
“I think there’s been a misunderstanding; I’m not part of the Starheart’s elite…” started Sinestro.
Hourman cocked back his fist. “My Time Visions predicted your arrival. I knew you’d be a turning point in the war. We’re going to strip your mind clean of any--”
“Who are you, stranger?” asked the man in the shadows.
Sinestro ignored the question and asked one of his own: “Where’s my compatriot?”
“That’s none of your business--” growled Hawkman.
“You’re what, a guerrilla movement? Heroes driven underground by the threat of the Starheart? I don’t know what the name means to you here, but I’m a Green Lantern. Where I’m from, the reality I’m from, we’re protectors of the universe, guardians of the entire galaxy. I’m an ally. I’m here to help. But I won’t do a thing until I know my friend is safe.”
The man from the shadows wheeled himself forward, and revealed himself to the rest of the group. Jay Garrick, his legs amputated at the knee, haggard and age-cracked, looked down at Sinestro with eyes that could cut through time itself, and after a long moment of silence, nodded.
“Bring Kyle through,” he finally said.
Led by the red-haired woman who attacked them out to sea, Kyle Rayner arrived, and looked no worse for wear. When he saw Sinestro on the floor, he looked around angrily. “Mera-- Hey! What happened here? What did you guys do to him?”
“He attacked our psychic,” said Hawkman. “Watch your tone.”
“Yeah, but did you try and explain what the hell is going on here?” Kyle helped Sinestro up, and then handed him his power ring. Sinestro slipped it onto his finger and the gash at his temple healed. “We’re Green Lanterns, we don’t take kindly to strong arm bullcrap.”
“How did you get off so lightly?” asked Sinestro.
“Oh, well, I have experience falling into parallel universes. I just told the truth and… well, let their other psychic read my mind.”
Mera shook her head. “There’s no time for this. Lantern Rayner mentioned that there was a second contingent of his allies, all with power rings. Our scouts report they’ve fallen into the Society’s hands. We need to act fast of they’ll die.”
“All three of them?” pressed Kyle.
“Three..? There were two, one with red hair and the other with grey,” she replied.
“Then John’s still out there… but doing what?”
NEW JERSEY:
New York was gone. In its place stood a vast, twinkling, emerald city, constructed from the energies of the Starheart. Men and women went about their day, but there was fear in the air-- you could smell it, that thick musk of heightened terror that comes with living under the thumb of a power that could snatch away your life with the click of its fingers.
At the moment, the safest place for John Stewart was this nest he’d dug into- 30 Hudson Street, better known as Goldman Sachs Tower. Forty-two stories high, just over two hundred and thirty metres up. John recalled sparse details; designed by Walter Choi, completed in 2004… he wondered how many of these facts from his reality held true in this one.
John had tracked Guy and Hank from Oymyakon all the way to the Emerald City across the state’s line. A thread of nano-thin light trailed from the end of his sniper rifle all the way to where the two Green Lanterns had been carried by a woman in a white costume-- this reality’s Power Girl, though according to the conversation she’d had in Russia with the Spectre, she was Power Woman.
And the Spectre was not without a host, nor was the host James Corrigan.
In this world, the Spectre was Bruce Wayne.
The mind boggled.
The thread of light was a 360 degree, full sensor sweep surveillance device of his own imagining. Back in the day when he was spec ops, they’d drill a small hole into a room and trace a miniature camera in the trench left behind. He’d extrapolated on that, focusing his immense will on that creation, and let the information feed into his ring.
The streets of New York, around in the larger sections of the Emerald City, bustled with activity. People were scared, but they still went about their lives. How long had they lived under the thumb of the Starheart? He’d plugged his ring into the internet downstairs, and it was currently sifting through all the information at hand to try and figure out the diversion point for this timeline. But where to start?
Something happened happened in the early 1940s that ended the second world war. An emerald meteor strike that devastated Germany and the Axis Powers. The Starheart emerged from the shadows and announced himself the world’s protector-- then dragged the Allies into submission. That couldn’t have been the divergence point, could it?
His nano-camera tracked the Green Lanterns progress. The Emerald City was patrolled by superhumans. He recognised some, but not others. Guy and Hank were led to a main chamber, passed the rank and file of this reality’s corrupted Justice Society, then thrown to the floor. And then, from his throne in the middle of the room, the Starheart-- resplendent in a suit of arcane, emerald armour-- rose.
“Well, hello there. Did you really think you could waltz into my home-- my reality-- and really get away scott free?”
John watched as Guy looked up at the Starheart, defiance in his eyes. “Kinda sorta thought we could, yeah. You gonna surrender now, or am I gonna have’ta beat it outta ya?”
That old Boston pride. Accent dialled up to eleven. Guy was all bluster, but John could sense the environmental change around the Lantern’s body. His heart was pounding, his ring wasn’t even at ambient levels of energy expenditure, even though it was charged.
John pulled back his surveillance. Outside the throne room stood dozens of superhumans. As before, he recognised some-- Alan Scott’s children: Jade, Obsidian, there was a version of Doctor Midnite and a Hawkgirl-- Hawkwoman?-- all stood there. And at the door, yes, there he was-- the Spectre.
John cringed. He couldn’t make a move. The Spectre was a being more powerful than any he’d faced before. That meant… his friends were by themselves.
AN UNKNOWN LOCATION:
“…Alternate realities… time travel… all theories on our world, but you’re saying they’re real?”
Jay Garrick leaned back in his wheelchair. He was older, worn down by this world, but his eyes still had the electricity, the spark of the man the two Green Lanterns had met back in their own universe.
They’d moved to a better lit room, but the heroes of this guerrilla sect were still huddled together, scared to leave the safety that came with numbers. Tasting the air and analysing it with his ring, Kyle noted they were underground, but had no idea how far without reaching out further. He didn’t want to send threads of energy out without knowing whether or not they’d lead their enemies right down on top of them.
In response to the Flash’s question, Sinestro nodded. “Yes; this world is a divergence from our own. A being of immense power known as the Starheart did something to cause this alternate history to take root, and we were only protected thanks to an entity that claims to be his-- it’s-- brother.”
“How long has this reality existed?” asked Hourman.
Kyle looked back at the Miraclo-infused adventurer. “What do you mean?”
“You said that the Starheart changed something, changed your reality into ours-- how long ago?”
“Hours,” replied Kyle.
The hooded hero ground his teeth and turned away from the others. “No. Decades. Close to a century. Must have been. There was the world, and it was normal, and then in the forties he rose to power. We’ve lived in fear ever since. It might have been hours to you, but it’s a lifetime to us.”
“The longer this reality is in place, the harder it will be to get the original timeline back in place,” said Sinestro.
“What do you need?” asked Jay.
“We need to figure out what the change was that caused this alternate reality. Why Alan Scott is the Starheart and not a Green Lantern.”
“Alan who?” said Jay.
“Alan Scott-- you call him the Starheart,” said Sinestro.
“Alan Scott? I don’t know who you’re talking about; one day there was a world without that monster, and then the next day that’s all there was. He’s always been the Starheart. He’s always been here.”
Kyle swallowed hard. “Do you have… any internet down here? Or… uh, what’s it called, microfiche?”
Mera looked around at the others then cleared her throat. “We’ve tried to keep as much information intact as possible. As much history. Hawkman thinks it’s a waste of time, but I disagreed every step of the way.”
“Can you show me?” asked Kyle.
“This way.”
Sinestro took steps to follow them, but then turned back to the wheelchair-bound Flash. “If we can figure out what changed, we can save this reality. Will you stand with us? Will you help?”
“Is your universe any better?” asked Hawkman.
“Infinitely,” replied Kyle.
Jay Garrick nodded. “I’ll say it plain. We’re an army too scared to act for fear of being slaughtered. We rescue as many as we can from the Justice Society, but we’re few and far between. None of us want to die, but if we exist in your universe like you claim, if that place is better… then I think we can rustle up one final resistance. If it buys you the way to save your reality, then we’re in.”
“We can save everybody. Everything,” said Sinestro.
With that said, Mera led Kyle and Sinestro down into a vast chamber filled with monolithic mechanisms that the younger Lantern recognised as computers. Old, older than any computer had a right to be, and probably a pain to boot up.
“We scrounged together what we could, but it was tough goings. The power source is busted, but we’ve been able to mackle together something. My husband used to say… he… I think it’ll work for you.”
“Our rings can plug into anything, we can get it working and keep the workings cool as well. This is great,” said Kyle.
On the other side of the room were thousands of boxes, all piled high, containing sheets of microfiche for the two Green Lanterns to peruse through. Sinestro took one glance towards them then sent a sheet of emerald light their way. Mera flinched at this, even as the light descended into the boxes.
“You okay?” asked Kyle.
“The Starheart and his daughter wield a similar power. To see it used so freely by others, it’s a little intimidating.”
“I shan’t be long. I’m searching the collected history for the answer we need to this mystery,” said Sinestro.
Kyle looked over at the ancient computers and huffed as he put his hands on his hips. His ring scanned the power source and calibrated itself ready to input power into the inner workings. Before he started work, he turned back to Mera. “If you don’t mind me asking, what’s your story? I know about you from our world-- your husband-- what’s his name here?”
“My husband is a king. The ultimate survivor. He led our people from the darkness, and… well, it’s thanks to him that I’m the last survivor of my own home dimension-- the Starheart crushed every realm connected to this one. He sent Xebel spinning into the void, and it was only thanks to the grace of my husband that any of us survived… then there was the week where phantoms bled out from the skies and silently shrieked into the ether… when he dragged the carcasses of those giant reptiles into the trophy room of his Emerald City… we watched it all happen. If there was a place to hide, a pocket dimension you could hide in, he crushed it.”
“Any prison he could be thrown back into,” mused Sinestro.
Kyle realised that this Mera was subtly different. “Your husband’s name?”
“Nereus, king of the dark waters; the greatest man who ever lived,” replied Mera.
“I have it. I have it!” said Sinestro, his ring plucking a microfiche from the pile. He projected it onto one of the empty walls, and the trio read the obituary:
“Alan Ladd Wellington Scott; born 8th February 1914 and died 16th July 1939. Died in a train crash.” Sinestro turned to Kyle. “You recall the legend of your world’s Green Lantern? How he gained his powers without the Corps?”
“Umm… umm… yeah, I got it! He was holding an emerald lantern when that crash happened, it saved his life and allowed him to walk away injury-free. He carved a ring from the same lantern and used it to fight crime…”
“So here is it. Alan Scott died that day and the Starheart lived. That was the flashpoint-- there was never a Green Lantern in the 1930s, there was only the Starheart, and he rained down emerald fire on any who opposed him.”
“How could he change the timeline so massively?” asked Kyle.
Sinestro contemplated the question. “Without the controlling consciousness of Alan Scott, the Starheart could run rampant, he could do anything he wanted.”
“But… Alan never had powers like that. Mera, have you ever seen the Starheart? What he looks like?”
“When he sank my home dimension, he was there, along with his children,” she said.
Kyle took her hand and said, “can you imagine him for me? His appearance? What he wore?”
A shudder of fear ran through her digits into his body. He was picking up the mental image she held of the Starheart, as well as the emotions connected to that experience. A sketch began to form in mid-air between the three of them, and then once it was complete it hung there, for their consideration.
“Look at the accessories he’s sporting,” said Kyle.
Along with his emerald armour, gold vestments clung to his shoulder and chest, an ankh symbol surrounding the lantern inset on his torso. Purple energy ran through the seams of his armour, and he glowed with an unnatural light that crackled gold in tandem with the violet.
“What does that look like to you?” asked Kyle.
“I’ve met your Justice Society once, twice if you count the time I battled them under Parallax’s thrall…” He gestured to the ankh symbol. “Doctor Fate.” The golden light crackled and tiny movements seemed to fill the image. “Speedforce?” Then he scratched his chin when contemplating the purple energy. “I don’t recognise that--”
“The Thunderbolt! Johnny-- no, Jakeem! He took all the mystical power of the JSA and used it to change the timeline! We have to get that stuff off him, Thaal! We have to get the rightful owners of those powers and we can take him down!”
“That easy, you say?” said Sinestro.
THE EMERALD CITY:
“Who do you even think you are?” laughed the Starheart. “Did you think two Green Lanterns could do anything to undo what’s been done here? What I did with a single change to your reality’s timeline?”
Hank looked over at Guy. They both thought the same thing. Two Green Lanterns. That meant, no matter what omnipotence the being before them had at its disposal, it didn’t know about the others. Whatever the blue star had done, it masked their presence.
“Had to try though, didn’t we?” spat Guy.
“And this was your plan? Come at me head on? My brother really steered you wrong, Lantern.”
“Yeah, not our best bet,” replied Hank.
Guy shook his head. “You gonna criticise my plan now, man? Of all the times to do it?”
“Best a time as any,” said Hank.
“I like this, I have to admit. You choose now to bicker. But there’ll be no future for you, so there’s no better time. Shall we begin with the punishment?”
Guy laughed. “What, you gonna spank us? Bring it, green jeans, you ain’t got nothing that’s gonna--”
Hank was wrenched up by tendrils of crackling emerald energy, and his arms outstretched, as if he were crucified. He cried out, unable to hold in the pain as his uniform peeled away and his skin began to blister under the hot green heat being used to constrict him.
“Nnnnnaahhhhhh goddddd”
“Henshaw!” barked Guy, eyes darting from his colleague to his captor. “Stop this! Just stop!”
Starheart shook his head and focused his immensity entirely upon Hank. “I see three lives with these eyes, youngling. The first, my own, up until our banishment, our containment. That was a life well lived, until the final betrayal. Then I see the life lived by Alan Scott, and myself, a tool on his finger. I see it all. And then I see the life I’ve carved out here, with the singular change that made it all possible. A world where Alan Scott died and I wore his body like he wore the ring. Three lives. So when I say I see what you did, all those years ago and a reality away, when you cast a child into the ether, when you were constricted in soul by the Predator, know that I think this is fitting. You’ve no future here, or anywhere. So this is the end.”
Hank screamed as his entire body was unzipped, molecule by molecule, starting at his edges and working in. Whatever horrendous torture this was, it kept him cognisant to the last, his shrieks of agony louder than anything Guy had ever heard before. He was there for a moment longer, until he simply wasn’t, stray light hanging where he had once been floating until they dissipated and the chamber was dark once more.
Hank Henshaw was gone.
Guy was wholly taken aback. “You-- you-- “
“Did away with him, like I will you,” said the Starheart.
Gardner howled and with one last burst of willpower managed to break the will-sapping chains that held him. He threw a catastrophic punch with his ring-slinging hand but the Starheart caught him with ease. The energy Guy wielded was drawn out of his ring and seeped into his opponent, who laughed, twisted his hand so the Green Lantern’s wrist shattered, then punched him so hard in the chest that his sternum cracked.
“You-- you-- you--” stuttered Guy, dribbling blood as his ribs threatened to carve into his lungs and end him then and there.
“Win. I win.”
“Y-you-- w-won’t--”
“I already have, child,” said the Starheart. “When will you believe me? This world, this entire reality, is mine.”
Even as his chest screamed in pain, Gardner struggled desperately, but before he could figure out a way to escape, the cosmic entity simply manifested and plunged his emerald sword directly into the Green Lantern’s chest, straight through his chest and heart then out his back.
“Ha! That was easier than expected,” said the Starheart.
Blood spewed from Guy’s mouth as his hands clasped around the flat sides of the blade, his gloves burning away under the heat. He looked Alan Scott-- no, he corrected himself, he looked the Starheart-- in the eye and shook his head, sadly.
“N-not like this,” whispered Guy.
“You should have killed Alan Scott while he slumbered. Without your precious Guardians to seal me away, without poor, old Alan Scott’s consciousness to keep me suppressed, you unleashed something more powerful than you could possibly imagine.”
“…not like…”
The Starheart twisted the blade, opening Guy up and allowing his insides an exit, then slipped the weapon back out, leaving the Green Lantern dying on the floor of the Justice Society of America’s headquarters, as his blood pooled around him.
“n-not… without… seeing… the…”
Guy Gardner died, with no more words, a moment later.
TO BE CONCLUDED IN OUR SEVENTY-FIFTH ISSUE
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