Green Lantern Fan Fiction: "Emerald Gladiators"

EMERALD GLADIATORS

An Elseworlds Tale

by John Hefner -- RHagen6902@aol.com

Welcome to the future, stranger. Come on, have a seat. Right there. Yeah. Make yourself comfortable. Hey, it's cold. Come warm up near the fire. Pour a little more booze on it to keep it going. Thaaat's right. Look, I just gotta say, I love that coat. Black. You kinda look like a Darkman-Dick Tracy mix. So what's a bum like you doing here on the streets of Metropolis? Me, I get along. I find some good spots for shelter. You know, places the Parademons haven't found yet. You'd be amazed what we can salvage. Clothes, food, water, hell, it's almost like Christmas every day 'round here! Well, except I remember Christmas when there was no risk of losing any limbs, more or less your life. Y'know, they're much cleverer then you'd expect at first glance. They can sniff us out like bloodhounds. Now, if you want my opinion, you'll probably last a couple weeks, maybe a month or two. Me, I've been dukin' this war out for years. I tell you, someday, the nobility of the Green Lantern Corps will overcome Parallax. On that great-

What?! What planet have you been on for the past ten years, buddy? MARS? Geez. Look, I really can't understand that. Okay, if you really are that clueless, here you go: you remember the "Final Night", right? That whole thing with the sun going out and good ol' Hal Jordan sacrificin' himself for the greater good? Well, couple 'o years later, turns out Parallax came out of that battle pretty good, only when he came back, he was... different. When Parallax first reared his ugly head, he was a bad guy doing reasonably good things, at least that's what he thought, but the Sun-Eater must've done something to his mind. First, there were the typical street riots that all super-villains seem to enjoy doing. A couple smashed cars, some scared pedestrians, you know, normal stuff. Then, there was the incident in New York. Trust me, you don't wanna know. Anyhow, fierce battle occurred between the JLA and Parallax. The first to fall was, I guess appropriately, Green Lantern. The Rayner kid never stood a chance. Wonder Woman was reduced to dry earth. Martian Manhunter erupted into a mass of flames. Green Arrow was shot by his own bow and arrows. His own bows and arrows. Swarms of piranhas finished the job on Aquaman they'd started long ago. And Superman, well, Parallax didn't need to look very far for kryptonite. It's a well known fact, well, a rumor actually, that someone's in cahoots with Parallax, but that's a different story. That battle, man, it was far worse than what happened to Barry Allen. The only ones to make it out alive were Batman and the Flash, but...you really don't wanna hear about 'em. What's worse, Parallax didn't even stop there. He went on to destroy thousands of cities across the globe. Now, there are less than a hundred metas out there, and most of 'em are dying in prisons. Parallax succeeded in what other super-villains only dreamed of: he had conquered Earth. Yet for some reason, he just would not stop. One by one, all planets fell before him: Rann, Graxos IV, G'newt, Tamaran, Kalanor, Dhor, Pawsteem, Almerac, Kvetch, Korugar, hell, not even the might of Allfather or the fury of Darkseid could stop him. They're now nothing more than lifeless stones floating through the reaches of space. Death everywhere. Here, the citizens of Metropolis are like squabbling mice-people, hiding from the Parademons, once Darkseid's military power, now Parallax's own police force. The travel the streets and astonishing speed, arresting anyone who so much as looks at them. The prisoners are put into industrial prisons where they're forced to produce more Parademons, as well as various weapons and tools. It's the holocaust all over again, except this time, none will be spared.

My God, you hear that? The Parademons are coming. They're coming for me. They've sensed the heat of the fire and now they're coming. Drokk, I screwed up big time. Listen, kid, whoever you are, take this. It's an address. Go there. Say the password "Kltpzyxm", and try remember it, because they only give you one chance at it. Take this blaster pistol. Use it to save yourself against the Parademons. I've got my own. I'll hold 'em off just long enough for you to get away. Now go.

Hey! When you get there, tell 'em Jimmy Olsen sent ya!

Ha! Bring it on, 'mons!

BIZOOT

I can take you all! I'll kick your asses!

C'mon, jerkweeds! Suck my-

KRA-CHOOM

*
01:00

The card read "1560 Cordell Blvd." On the back of the card was a very crude pencil rendition of the Green Lantern icon. He looked at the card and felt a sense of nostalgia, but why, he could not say. He know morning would rise soon. When it did, he was vulnerable. He scattered through the dark alleys of Metropolis, looking for Cordell Blvd. The city is a stranger to him. He is a stranger here himself, caught in a maze of a strange city. Realization: he's alone. There are some evil metallic monstrosities after him.

WHO

He's been wearing the same clothes for... for... how long? Two years? Three? Who knows. He's also hungry, that, he knows. He was able to salvage bits of bread left on the pavement by some old loser who was picked up by the Parademons. It was just lying there. He thought, "hey, if I don't get it, the rats will." You've got to look at it from his point of view. Just run. It's 12:05 am. You have six hours 'till daylight.

Run for all you're worth. If they catch you, you won't be worth much. He started to panic. He just started running blindly. Run, you idiot! RUN! GET THE HELL AWAY! Then, suddenly, the whole world spiraled around him. Once the world stopped, he tried to catch his breath, but instead inhaled a mouthful of water. He got to his knees, violently coughing the water out of his lungs. It tasted horrible, muddy,

acidic, almost metallic. It took his about a minute to realize that he had fallen onto the cold, wet pavement and he had landed face first in a puddle of water (or was it water?). He looked straight down and saw someone else looking right at him. No, it was just a reflection in the puddle. He noticed his scruffy complexion, covered with smudges of dirt and mud and whatever else he fell in. He ran his hands through his long-unwashed dark brown hair. Then it struck him. His eyes widened. He did not recognize the man in the reflection. He thought, that can't be me...

WHO AM I?

*
02:00

KNOCKNOCKNOCKNOCK "Yeah, waddya want?"

"Um," he said, "Kltpz..." what kind of messed up word is this? "Kltpzyxm. Yeah."

The man looking through the crack of the door stared at him as if he were some sort of a freak or something. The stranger stared back. "Olsen sent me. Jimmy Olsen. He's dead."

The man in the door said nothing, but opened the door and stepped sideways. The stranger stumbled awkwardly inside. He was greeted by three women with blankets and a cup of hot liquid. They led him into a bigger room with Green Lantern symbols messily painted on the walls. They sat him onto a bed. He thanked them for their kindness, and they left him to rest. The last thought that passed through his mind before he fell into sleep was one of the three women, with black hair flowing into the atmosphere like an endless river of obsidian...

The halls of LexCorp were long and cold, just they way Parallax wanted them. Metal covered the walls for as far he could see, and large velvet curtains were draped around as if it was the interior of Windsor castle. What was once a business high-rise complex was now an inpenitrible fortress and prison. None could get out, and none with anything less of a Green Lantern ring could get in. He was safe, and now he was ready. The heroes were dead. There were none to oppress him this time. He gave them their chance. They refused. Now they have paid the price. He remembers the day... the day he stood in the middle of the streets of New York. He looked around at all the citizens. The citizens that once worshipped him. Now they were terrified of him. For a few minutes he stood, not moving a muscle, hearing the cries, the screams of hatred, the hate all derived towards him. Slowly, he lifted his hands high into the air. An aura of pure green energy emitted from his hands. The cries increased to deafening level, but he gave no notice. No one was quite sure of what he was doing. He was charging up his powers, no doubt about that. Then for one moment, everyone stood silent. Suddenly, the earth beneath the citizens of New York trembles and started to crack, but they could not scream. And when he spoke, the power of six million dead spoke with him.

"JUSTICE."

Upon saying that one word, the ground released bolts of pure green energy into the sky. Pillars of earth drove into the air. The ground opened up, exposing nothing but pitch black beyond. People panicked and ran, but there was nowhere to go. New York was a trap, he was the cat, and they were the mice. Just when it seemed most apparent that it would never end, the earth quakes stopped abruptly. The beams of energy ceased. Ruin and destruction was everywhere. For a few seconds, the entire world stood still. Parallax charged to teleport, those those few who saw him saw his eyes, and they knew. They would be the last to know the truth of his intentions. He vanished, and a single wave of green energy spread throughout New York. As it went through buildings, they decayed and crumbled. Mold grew from the sides, and cracks formed long veins that ran throughout whatever the wave passed through. Those who survived the earthquake could not outrun the wave. As it passed through them, they screamed in a combination of pain and terror. They collapsed, gagging, and...

..he did it. The universe was his. He had conquered countless planets. They were now under his supreme rule. He did it, but he can't stop there. Parallax walked into the large laboratory where one of his many viewing screens reported a rebel uprising in the streets. No matter. A minor problem, easily dealt with. He stopped to behold a unit constructing cells to form a being, more precisely, a human being. A woman. The woman he loved.

*
03:00

"Awake, stranger," a voice said. The stranger opened his eyes and looked up to see this man. He had slick black hair and he wore a pair of badly damaged glasses. "My name is Jack Ryder. I welcome and brief the newcomers to the Corps."

"'Corps?" the stranger wearily said.

"Yeah, the Green Lantern Corps. Why else did you come here?"

The stranger thought about the question for a second. "I don't know. I... I met this guy on the street a while ago. His name was Jimmy Olsen. He told me about Parallax and... everything else."

"Wait a minute," Ryder interrupted. "How can you not have known?"

"Buddy, I don't even know who I am. I don't remember anything of my past. I don't even know how I got here to Metropolis, so cut me some slack, okay?"

Ryder shrugged. "Geez, okay. Look, put these on. They're your Corps uniform. Dinner will be served momentarily. Until then, just try to adjust, 'kay?"

The stranger looked at the uniform. It consisted of an olive-green army-style jacket with an armband with the Green Lantern symbol on it. To be worn beneath the jacket was a black long-sleeved shirt. There was also a pair of army-style camo pants, fingerless white leather gloves, and green boots. As he looked at this uniform, he was suddenly flashed with a memory (or was it a memory, not another dream), a memory of wingless jets, gorgeous gals, and purple men falling from skies selling jewelry. It was all perfectly rational to him, but there was no way in hell he could start to explain it. As he went deeper into his mindscape to see what else he had forgotten, the sound of Ryder's voice snapped him out of it.

"Hey, let's get a move on. They're starting."

As if waking from a dream, he said, "sure, sure." He Quickly put on the uniform and proceeded to follow Ryder out the room. "Hey Jack," he said, "you never did welcome me to the Corps."

"Oh, yeah," Ryder remembered," Welcome to the Corps."

04:00

The Table of Justice, as it was called, stood twenty-five yards in diameter. It may not have been the most original of names, nor, for that matter, the wittiest, but it was a name nonetheless. It was a large, green, circular table with the GL symbol etched in the middle and twenty-for green chairs surrounding it.. The stranger, upon seeing this, was starting to believe that he had landed smack into some sort of pagan cult, where the lantern was worshipped as the savior. It made sense, he thought. The lantern burned fire, fire is life and light, and the dark, evil things cannot stand the light, the light...of the Green Lantern. What kinda weirdo bunch of dorks have I landed myself into, he wondered.

Ryder brought him into the conference room, and told him to stand until the entire Corps entered the room and were told to be seated by the leader. After about a couple of minutes, he heard the thunder of footsteps. First to enter the room was a tall, bald Caucasian dressed in a GL uniform, but highly decorated with medals. It seemed, to the stranger, that this man radiated a sense of leadership experience. Who was this man, he wondered. Then, three men entered, all wearing a second arm band, with a bat pictured on it. The first was a tall, burly, muscular Caucasian with an impressionable chin and slick black hair. He wore dark glasses, suggesting he was blind, which, considering how well he maneuvered himself, would be amazing. He towered above the other two men, and he was so dark, it seemed as if instead of he casting a shadow, a shadow is always cast on him. Dispite the almost fierce look this man had, he looked, somehow, weak and powerless. The second was a old man, with scraggly white hair, a white mustache, and glasses. When he flexed his face, his wrinkles indicated he was in his seventies. He looked like he smoked too much. The last was perhaps the best looking. He had fine, almost- curly brown hair, boy-ish features, and was what had a appeared to be quite a charmer. At least, until you saw the left side of his face. His skin had been eaten almost to the bone. It was a charred reddish- black, with veins and gashes visible all over that side. His lips and eyelids were gone, giving him an uncontrollable drooling problem. His gums were black, and his hair on the scarred side was scraggly and gray.

The next group to come included a legless, orange haired man in a wheelchair, a tall, tough- looking, one-eyed man with white hair and beard, a slender man with a wispy mustache, a meek, short man with thick yellow eyeglasses, and a buffed-up, very serious-looking man with brown hair. Following them were four women, two with flowing black hair, one of which was quite fit and muscular, and the other two, one with long fire-bright green hair, the other with short snow- white hair. The last to enter were five men, all very fit, one was a blond man with distinctive lips of a sort of good-looking Mick Jaggar. Another man was a black-hairdo man who could still be called a boy, from the look of him, as would the next, a red-haired boy. Then came a very burly man with wavy black hair and a cleft chin, and finally, a short, slender black-hairdo man.

The bald man went up to the chair at the end of the table and everyone else went to a seat. The stranger went and followed the group and took a seat. The bald man stood up and read off role call:

"Batson, Billy."

"Here," replied the very burly man with the cleft chin and wavy black hair.

"Corbin, John."

"Here," responded the blond man with the lips. One utter of his voice revealed he was British.

"DeCosta, Beatriz."

"Here," said the girl with fire-bright green hair. She had a slight Brazilian accent to her voice.

"Dent, Harvey."

"Here, here," the two-faced man said.

"Ferris, Carol."

"Here," replied the less-muscular black-haired woman.

"Free, Scott."

"Here," the short, slender black-haired man responded.

"Gordon, Jim."

"Here," the old man replied.

"Grayson, Dick."

"Here" It was said by the black-haired man who could be mistaken for a boy.

"Hall, Hank."

"Here," replied the very-serious looking man.

"Harper, Roy."

"Here," said the orange-haired boy.

"Kord, Ted."

"Here," responded the meek, short man in thick yellow eyeglasses.

"Kyle, Selina."

"Here," the fit black-haired woman replied.

"Lawton, Floyd."

"Here," said the man with the wispy mustache.

"Olafsdotter, Tora."

"Here," replied the woman with snow-white hair, her voice implying Scandinavian origins.

"Ryder, Jack."

"Here," said Ryder.

"Wayne, Bruce."

"Here," timidly replied the blind man, with a voice as dark as himself when he appeared when he first entered the room.

"West, Wally."

"Here," responded the legless man in the wheelchair.

"Wilson, Slade."

"Here," replied the one-eyed man.

The bald man looked around. "Has anybody seen Jimmy?" he asked.

A silence suddenly hit the room. Ryder broke it as he stood up and said, "Jimmy was... killed by the Parademons. At least, that's what this man said." Ryder pointed almost accusingly at the stranger.

The bald man glared at the stranger. "What's your name?" he asked coldly.

"Lex," Ryder interrupted, "leave him alone. He's been through a lot. He's an amnesiac. He doesn't even know how he got here. He claims he's never heard about Parallax and he doesn't recall any knowledge of what has happened over the past ten years. It's like he just came into being a couple hours ago. Olsen told him about this place. Olsen was a good kid, and if he thought this guy was Corps material, then I stand by him on that."

There was a pause as Lex Luthor, leader of the Green Lantern Corps, contemplated the situation. "Very well, then. Let's proceed. Wally, report your findings."

Wally West nodded at Luthor and he placed his hands on the wheels. The second his hands touched the wheels, a blur swept through one corner of the room to the other. A sleight breeze passed through the room, lifting several loose papers. While everyone else just sat patiently, the stranger looked in astonishment to see that this man, legless of all things, had managed to turn off the lights, turn of the slide projector, and make it over to the pedestal, all in less that a second. The projector flashed an image of a blueprint onto the wall where Wally was sitting by at the pedestal. He pointed to a small opening in the blueprint.

"This," he began, "is the interior of the main hall of LexCorp. Our 'secret informant' on the inside sent us this info. Now, there are many ways in. First off, there's the main entrance. Now this is, understandably, heavy guarded. About 10 Parademons guard it. With the weapons supplied to us courtesy of Mr. Wilson and Mr. Harper, we could take those guard down in a matter of minutes. First, of course, there's the matter of the titanium doors. I'm sure John Corbin can take care of that quickly, right John?" Corbin nodded. "Good," Wally continued. "Okay, another entrance is a clich�, but it's an entrance, nonetheless. The ventilation system is a little tight, but it gives us access to nearly every room in LexCorp. Now, I know what you're all thinking: 'this is too easy.' Well, I'm sorry to say that is, but that's all we have, entrance-wise. I'm sure Jordan isn't dumb enough to supply his complex with a system this weak, so we'll have to be extra-prepared. That's where Ted Kord comes in. Ted?"

Wally wheeled himself out of center stage as Ted Kord entered with a nylon bag full of, presumably, his 'gadgets.' "Thank you, Wally. As you know, I have been doing all I can to assemble battle equipment, some even equal to that of the Batcave. Here is the latest and perhaps the best friend a GL can have," he said as he held out a small, blue, metallic device that looked like a beetle and fit in the palm of his hand. "This is what I call the Scarab 3000. This little baby is the Swiss Army Knife of tomorrow. The wings open up by a simple touch to reveal a mini-control panel, each bottom is another weapon in your arsenal. First, there's the ninja-style throwing star." He pressed a button and five curved blades sprung out. He pressed it again, and the blades retracted. "Next, we have this el-neato laser-phaser device, which I won't demonstrate, thank you very much. The Scarab 3000 can also emit sonic waves. On the lowest setting, it will give anyone with ears a serious earache. On the highest setting... well, trust me, you reeeealy don't wanna be within a couple hundred yards. That's why there's a time-delay device. It can be set from one second to one hour. The time delay double-functions for the 'last resort' self-destruct defense. This function can wipe out two whole levels, so unless you're feeling particularly martyr-ish, I seriously discourage you from using this. Bear in mind, it has an extremely sensitive hair trigger, so be very careful. Now, the only non-weapon function is the communicator function. With a very strong range, anyone with one of these babies can communicate with anyone else anywhere inside LexCorp. This is, what I consider, truly vital to any Green Lantern's arsenal."

A low applause filled the room, but it was short-lived. Luthor stood up and addressed the Corps. "Very well, Ted, you may sit down. Now, I propose we split our group into three, one group, led by John Corbin, will enter through the main entrance and eliminate the guards as quickly and quietly as possible. As second group, led by Selina Kyle, will hit the ventilation system. There are seventy-five floors at LexCorp. The Corbin group will clear a path into the main security system on the 50th floor, disabling all cameras. The Kyle group will have to make it to the sub-basement and disable the main power box. This will shut off all power for exactly ten minutes until the backup power is initiated. In that three minutes, the third group, led by Harvey Dent, will have to hurry like hell up the stairs on a hovering device created by Scott Free up to the 74th floor to rendezvous with our informant. Here lies Parallax's POW camp, of sorts. No one has ever made it there and gotten out alive, so be prepared for anything. The first and second groups will meet the third group up there along with our secret informant. We can't take on Parallax ourselves, so I've been supervising the tek lab to come up with the ultimate weapon against him: a bomb that emits pure yellow rays, so concentrated that it can eliminate all the Green Lantern power inside him, leaving him powerless. Then, we strike. We bust into his complex and we eliminate him once and for all. We strike at 10:00.

*
05:00

His room is cold, dark, and peeling. The plaster on the walls, once white and clean, was now peeling off in small ribbons. The years of decay have taken their toll on this place. The whole hideout is dying. The whole hideout is like his room: dark, dark without electricity, dark without love, dark without freedom. Filthy, filthy with the mold growing in-between the cracks, filthy with the smell of human excrement and urine, filthy with the diseases spreading throughout. Alone, alone as the human heart. It is no wonder that the Corps are initiating their first, final, ultimate attack tonight, the stranger thought. They have nothing to lose. Why should he help them? He has to find his own life, discover the reality to his dreams.

The reality is this: Earth, the universe, is dying. Parallax's iron grip is crushing everything in sight. These guys want to stop him. If he isn't stopped, there won't be a reality to return to.

Well, there's always dreams...

He sees her, black hair flowing like an endless river of obsidian into the atmosphere. She dresses in purple armor like a warrior princess. She looks at him with wide eyes, kisses him long and deep, and says she loves him. Then, she pulls her broadsword out of its sheath and lunges to him, screaming with the fury of a thousand amazons. Out of instinct, he gets out of the way, not by ducking, not by sifting to the side, but by going up, up into the heavens. He keeps going up until he is surrounded by stars. Stars, no planets in sight. It is cold, quiet, peaceful. There is no one to bother him, they are all dead. Bodies lay sprawled across the vastness of space, but he hardly takes notice of them. He looks up for a second, then looks down and sees himself standing on a yellow landscape, surrounded by blue midgets is red robes. They all seem to be screaming at him, trying to stop him from doing something, but he can't hear them. He's as far away from them as he can be. He's inside, getting stronger, losing himself. He can see them wither and fall, and he doesn't care. He has what he wants. No, not yet. There is so much more to be done, so very much more...

06:00

11:00. Tonight, it all ends. One way or the other, it all will end. He decided he had to do it, no matter what. But, if he was going to go in, he would have to know who was going with him. He "mingled." Fittingly, they were all former super heroes and villains. Sleina Kyle, as it turned out, was a former cat-burglar who was called Catwoman, a foe known for he agility and speed. Speaking of speed, he then came over to one Wally West, the former Flash. He was, still is, the fastest man alive. His legs were lost in that legendary battle with Parallax and the Justice League. Only he, along with Bruce Wayne, the Batman, got out alive. Wayne can't turn to his riches anymore. Now, he is just like the rest of them. Ironically, his eyesight was lost in the same battle that cost Wally his legs. He is now, quite literally, "blind as a bat." After that battle, Wayne's spirit was broken, broken in a way Bane could never do. He has never been the same since. He has re-formed the bond with his two closest friends, Jim Gordon and Harvey Dent. Together they are the BAT group, a detachment of the Green Lantern Corps dedicated to the defeat of Parallax. Jim Gordon was the Commissioner of Gotham City, and now is nothing more than the toughest old man alive. Harvey Dent, the two-faced man, was once Gotham city's prominent district attorney, but the many years of abuse from his alcoholic father all came together when one-half of his face was destroyed by acid thrown by a vengeful mobster. Once a criminal mastermind, he has now re-taken his mind, body, and soul thanks to Wayne's help. Because of Wayne's incapability, Dent now leads the BAT group. John Corbin is another sort of two-face. When he became mortally injured, he had his mind put into an indestructible body composed of Metallo, powered by the radioactive stone kryptonite. His robotic skeleton is covered by a super-tough skin, giving him the appearance of a normal human being. Thanks to his super-strength and indestructibility, he is a vital asset to the Green Lantern Corps. Jack Ryder, for such a seemingly calm and quiet man, once went by the name The Creeper.

Others he had only heard about. One of the more interesting former villain- turned-hero was once a hero to begin with. Hank Hall was the Hawk, one of the most heroic of super- heroes, but one day, he snapped and became Monarch, the ruthless, malevolent ruler of the 21st century. He was stopped, of course, and the grim vision of a future under his rule faded. Now, he has decided to reclaim his role as a hero to stop Parallax, his former partner-in-crime. Dick Grayson and Roy Harper were once both sidekicks-turned-solo heroes. Slade Wilson and Flowd Lawton were both ruthless killer-for-hires. Beatriz DeCosta and Tora Olafdotter were once the powerful super-duo of Fire and Ice. Scott Free was the last survivor of the planet New Genesis. Ted Kord is an inventive genius who used to go by the name "Blue Beetle." Billy Batson was Captain Marvel, a metahuman whose power nearly equaled that of Superman's.

He liked what he saw. These people were here to fight. They were willing to sacrifice everything for truth and justice. He just wasn't sure if they have what it takes to go up against Parallax. Many of their broken spirits have yet to completely mend. How could they possibly stop him now if they couldn't do it then, when they were fully powered and able?

His thought was interrupted when he saw her. She was just leaving the room when he first noticed her. There was something... familiar about her. She was a tall, woman in her later thirties, but at a glance she looked much younger. She had long black hair that flowed into the atmosphere like... an endless river... of obsidian.

"HEY!" He shouted, chasing after her. As he ran up to her, he caught her arm in an attempt to stop her. In response she twisted his arm around so that it was just one more once of pressure would cause it to snap.

"Who are you, boy?!" she demanded. "Touch me again, and I take the arm." She released her grip and he recoiled a few steps back. "What're you doing suprising me like that, kid?! If you're trying to come on to me, forget it. Just because you're new here doesn't mean you're gonna get any."

"No... no that's not it," he replied, still weary from her ambush, "it's just... well, uh, do you know me? Do I know you? You look so... familiar, but... I don't know from where or when I saw you."

"Hm. Come to think of it, you DO look familiar. I can't put my finger on it, but I know you from somewhere."

"It's just that I've been having these dreams... I have amnesia and it seems that my dreams are trying to tell me about my past. I keep seeing Martians and spaceships and little blue men and..."

"Wait. Not here. Follow me to somewhere private. Then you can continue," Carol said as she turned and advanced down the dank, wet halls into a small room with two mattresses. She locked the door behind them, and she sat on one and the stranger sat on the other. She made a "go on" gesture at him, and he continued.

"Okay, the dreams have been happening for about as long as I can remember, which is about when I entered Metropolis. Since I only got here about six hours ago, this probably means my amnesia started then. Since then, I've dreamt twice. I know that somehow, the Green Lantern is tied into all of this. The first time, I saw things. I saw a red-skinned man. He was dying. He told me that I was special, and he gave me something, but I can't remember just what. I know it gave me almost limitless power, I know that. I could do just about anything, I know that, anything except get you to love me. I kept seeing you. You were younger but just as beautiful."

"Flatterer," she said and smiled.

"Heh. Anyway, the second dream, I saw myself killing things, people. I felt no remorse, I just sought out revenge for something. I saw a group of little blue men who were desperately attempting to prevent me from entering something, I don't remember what. I just went in. I felt myself getting stronger. I knew that there was so much more to be done. I killed untold millions. I felt myself die three times. But before all that I saw you again, only this time, you were heavily muscled and you wore all this purple armor. You looked like one of those amazon warrior. You lunged at me with such fury..."

Carol could have had a heart attack. Her face lost all its color as she said the words "Star Sapphire".

He kept going as if he had not heard her. "... you were obviously trying to kill me. I got away, by flying, of all things. It was all so strange. You, the aliens, and that..."

Then the realization finally came to her, to them both. Her mouth dropped in shock. "Oh..."

"... red-skinned man..."

"... my..."

"... giving me that..."

"... God."

"... ring."

She recoiled in such fear it was as if she were sitting in the same room with the devil. This can't be, she thought. IT CAN'T! HE'S GOING TO KILL ME!!! She ran screaming towards the door, desperately, frantically fumbling with the lock. He ran over to her and put his hand over her mouth and pulled her back. She squealed in terror.

"Carol! No, it's not what you think! I'm not him! I mean, I'm him, b-but I'm not him him! He's somebody else! I-I didn't do all this! I don't know how this happened! Look, I don't even have any powers, I'm just a freakin' human! I don't know how, but it's all true! You've gotta believe me!"

She pulled his arm over and threw him against the wall. "BASTARD!" she screamed. He got up, raced over to the mattresses, lifted one up and threw it down on her, pinning her to the ground. He looked at her, crying, sobbing, squealing. In between sobs, she squealed, "you bastard. You did all this. You bastard... you bastard..."

He leaned over and tried to console her. "Carol..."

Suddenly he heard the sound of the door banging. It collapsed as Dent, Corbin, Kord, and Lawton ran in. They had obviously heard Carol's screams and had come to investigate. Dent looked at Carol under the mattress, crying her eyes out. "What is the meaning of this?" he demanded with a cold, starched voice.

"He's Jordan," Carol sobbed, her tears turning to screaming rage. "HE'S HAL JORDAN! HAL JORDAN! HE'S PARALLAX!"

"Muh... my god... " Kord stuttered. "I-it IS him..."

Jordan stumbled backwards as Corbin totally emotionless in expression, approached him. "No... no, it's not w..."

And with that, he felt the cold metallo connect with his face and all around him went black.

07:00

"Kill him now."

"We can't!"

"Bitch, shut up!"

"Kill him. The monster. Kill him. Cut him open like a fish..."

"God, he's regaining consciousness! What do we do? He'll kill us! He'll kill us all!"

"Tora, shut up! We kill him is what we do!"

"We can't just do that! Not in cold blood! We're heroes! Heroes don't kill in cold blood!"

"...gut 'im like a tuna..."

"He killed billions. What can stop him from killing us?"

"John's got him."

"Yeah, but for how long? He may be a robot, but he can't keep it up forever."

Once again, he heard voices. This was the most realistic of dreams (or was it a dream?) he has had yet. All he could see is black, but he knew there was blood coming from his sore, broken nose. He could feel the sharp, cold blade against his neck. He couldn't move. He was being held down. Suddenly, he realized that this was not a dream.

"He's awake," Ryder said with a trembling voice. He was obviously in a state of great nervousness and fear, as was everyone else in the room with him. John Corbin had a knife pressed to his throat, and he saw Beatriz DeCosta creating bands of green flame to tie him up with. Luthor looked down at him with gleaming eyes. For a couple seconds they exchanged looks, until Luthor broke the silence.

"Jordan. How dare you enter here. We're trying to save our lives, and you have the gall to come down here, except our kindness, then you betray us and try to kill us all!"

"Look, I-URK!" He grunted as Corbin forced the knife closer to his throat. Hal struggled to speak, his voice barely able to be heard by anyone past Luthor. "Lex... I'm not Parallax. I don't know how I got here in Metropolis. I can't remember where I have been for the past fifteen years. Yes, I was Parallax, but the last thing I remember is going into the sun on that suicide mission. I tried to kill no one here!"

"Tell that to Carol, you monster. You attacked her. If it weren't for Dent and his men, she would've-"

"She attacked me!" Hal interrupted. "I can't be Parallax. Look at me! I'm about twenty-five! When the final night began, I had white temples. I don't see any on me now. If I were Parallax, if I had been the one who killed all those out there, I'd be about fifty-five! Look at me! I'm too young to be him!"

"It's a trick," interjected Scott Free. "With your powers, you could've changed yourself to appear as if you're twenty-five!"

"You killed Olsen! You led the Parademons to him!" someone screamed.

"I didn't! They found him when he lit a fire! I didn't-"

"Kill him now, John! Kill him!" another person yelled. Most of the group began screaming death commands. Hate filled the room like a plague.

"Die, you killer!"

"Kill him, kill him!"

"He can't be trusted! The bastard!"

"DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!"

"NO!" a voice commanded, overpowering the small crowd. "Let me through." The people cleared a way for Wally West to wheel himself over to Hal. "Everyone. I just went outside. I saw a man flying around outside. It was vague, but I know that was Parallax. I could see the costume, the actions. That was Parallax. This man can't be him."

"Wally," Bruce Wayne said, "Parallax has limitless power at his hands. He must've made a duplicate of himself to mind LexCorp while he penetrated our hideout. This man is, without a doubt, Hal Jordan."

Wally looked back at Wayne. "That doesn't mean he's Parallax." He looked at Hal over there, on the ground, a gold knife to his throat. He wheeled himself over closer to him. "Hal..." he said, the tears filling his ducts in his eyes.

"Wally," Hal said. "It's me. I didn't do this. You must believe me. You must."

The whole room fell silent. No one knew what to say during this awkward moment. What was there to say, after all?

"I believe you," Carol said.

"As do I," Wally said.

"And me," Ryder said.

"So do I," Dent said.

Suddenly, everyone's attitude had changed. Even Bruce Wayne lightened up. Corbin released Hal from his grip and put the knife back into its sheath. Everyone was either cheering at Hal or had at least come to accept and respect his return. Everyone, that is, except Luthor.

"Are you people mad?!" Luthor shouted in fury. "If we release Parallax, he will kill us all! It's all a trick! This is all a farce, one set up by him to bring us down from the inside! He'll kill us all! We-"

"Luthor, shut up," Harvey Dent interrupted. "Don't you realize what this man means to us? This is not Parallax we're, it is Hal Jordan. Hal Jordan was, is the greatest Green Lantern ever to live. We were fooling ourselves into thinking we could take Parallax on our own. We tried once before, and we failed. Miserably. Look at Wally. Look at Bruce. If anyone can take down Parallax, who better than Hal Jordan himself?"

Luthor, in total disbelief, approached and confronted Harvey. The stared each other straight in the eyes. "Harvey, you've always been my number one man around here, but surely you can't believe this man's lies. If you do, you deserve to die by his hands."

"Get out of my face, Luthor."

"Which one?"

It was the last thing that Hal Jordan, in fact, everyone in the room expected to see. Upon hearing these harsh words from Luthor, Harvey's horrific, serious face shifted to a hurt and upset emotion as a solitary tear went down the unscarred eye on Harvey Dent's face. Suddenly, all the rage in Harvey Dent welled up and went for Luthor as he went to punch Luthor in the nose, with such fury, such speed, one would have thought Wally did it. Luthor collapsed on the floor, bleeding. Harvey himself collapsed, in tears. He fell on his knees onto the cold, hard, filthy floor and cried, long and hard. Bruce Wayne bent down to Harvey, and he escorted him out of the room, consoling him all the way. Tora Olafsdotter and Beatriz DeCosta helped a cursing and complaining Luthor off the ground and into another room. He gave Jordan a look which Hal clearly understood, as clear as day:

I'm going to kill you first.

*
08:00

"Hal?" said Hank Hall who was peering like a tomcat through the ajar door of Hal's room.

"Hi, Hank. How're you?"

"Oh, fine. It's just... um... how?"

Hal grinned. "You know, I get a feeling I'm gonna be asked that a lot more before the day is done. To answer, I really just don't know. I'm about twenty-five, the same age as when I was first given a Green Lantern ring. Parallax probably has totally gray or white hair."

Hank smiled back at him. "Hm. Hal, remember the time we fought alongside one another? you know... Zero Hour?"

"Don't take this personally, Hank, but you were almost nuttier than I was then. You killed several JSAers. Speaking of which, whatever happened to Alan, Guy, and John?"

"Them? No one knows for sure. Our informant believes they're inside LexCorp."

"God, do you hear the way we're talking right now? We're talking about the countless deaths we caused like they were 'the good old days.' Wonder why we're not sitting in rocking chairs on the porch of some general store, eh? Bear in mind, I'm older than I look. Like Alan, though I highly doubt I'll be calling myself 'Sentinel' anytime soon. Heh."

"Hal, you're babbling."

"You know, being young again, it reminds me of my days in the old JLA. Barry, Diana, Arthur, and J'onn. They're all gone now. All because of me."

"Hal, you didn't kill them. Parallax killed them, and you're not Parallax. Besides, Parallax didn't kill Barry Allen."

"I contributed to it, so have you. Every so often there's another maniac plotting rule over the universe. Darksied, Mongul, Cyborg, Anti-Monitor, the Dominators, Neuron, Monarch, Extant, Parallax. Every time someone like them shows up, people, good people, die. Parallax just killed the best." he paused. "Wait a minute. Has anyone actually seen Parallax after 'Final Night'?"

"Wally and Bruce were the only ones who have and survived. He's been so secretive after 'Final Night' and he has been doing all he can to avoid being seen. This doesn't mean that this isn't the work of Parallax. We could tell from the uniform, the powers, the mass murders. This is his doing."

"What's he doing up there?"

"We know that he's been looking up research for genetic engineering during his rampages. We believe he is trying to clone Carol. He believes she was killed during 'Genesis', and that's what we believe sent him over the borderline. That's where we have him at an advantage. The real Carol is here, as you already know."

Hal stopped to think, to reflect. "Being young again. It makes me realize how Kyle must've felt. Kyle. I... I wish he could've made it this far. I've wanted to say how proud I felt that the flame of the Green Lantern was being upheld by him. He was one of the best. No, he was the best. Better than-"

Before Hank could say anything, Jim Gordon came into the room. "It's starting," he said.

*
09:00

"Suit up," commanded Luthor. The Green Lanterns started putting on their olive-green jackets with GL armbands, their white gloves, and their camo pants. Every one was given their individual Scarab 3000. Batson said the word "Shazam" and he suddenly became the world's mightiest mortal. The room was filled with the scents of lost courage and newfound idiocy. Not a single person thought that this assault was to succeed. Everyone knew they had to plot a final assault sometime, even it was going to be a final assault in every sense of the word. Hal looked at his uniform. It just didn't seem right, he thought.

"Lex," Hal asked, "I'm not comfortable with the uniform. I ask permission to go into battle wearing what I am now."

"Absolutely NOT! You will wear your uniform, like it or-"

"Lex!" Ryder interrupted. "Hal, let's compromise, can we? Let's see: black trench coat, black shirt, black pants, sneakers... okay. How about trading in the black shirt for a green shirt with the GL symbol on it. Put on a pair of gloves, boots... and put an armband on. 'Kay?"

"Yeah, that's better," Hal said. "Wait. What about a mask? Where's the mask?"

"Hal, I think that's a little unnecessary."

"I don't think so. Got any dark green fabric?"

"Uh, yeah. I go get some." Ryder left to the storage room and retrieved a small ratty dark green, almost black t-shirt. Hal looked at it. He rubbed his fingers through it. Perfect, he thought. He tore a thin strip out of the shirt, then punched out a couple of eye holes. He tied the strip across his eyes and tied it at the back of his head. "Perfection."

Luthor stood in the center of them all. He held up a green lantern which bore a striking resemblance to the original power battery. "Friends. This may be the last time we set foot out of here. When in battle, always remember what you're fighting for. Remember the past, pray for a future. And never underestimate your opponent. I say to you all, speak with me as I speak the oath:

In brightest day,
in blackest night,
no evil shall escape my sight!
Let those who worship evil's might
beware my power,
GREEN LANTERN'S LIGHT!"

*
10:00

The night is cold, but they can't feel it. The air stinks of sewage and rotten flesh, but they can't smell it. The one common they all share is fear. Carol fears because she doesn't know if she should kill the man she loves, even if he would kill her. Wayne fears that Jordan has always been crazy. Dent fears that if he died, he would never have a chance to redeem himself for the sins he's committed. Wilson and Lawton fear that they might become the prey to an unstoppable predator. West fears that the Hal Jordan in there would not be the one he knew in his youth. Corbin fears he may not be so indestructible after all. Luthor fears he might be right about Jordan. And Jordan fears that he what he will face may very well be himself, which would mean the greatest fight of his life.

Suddenly, there they were. In front of LexCorp. Titanium lined the sided of the building, top to bottom. This meant nothing to John Corbin, however. "Corbin group, prepare. Once we go in, we don't leave until we have won. Or died. Ready..."

With the sound of thunder, the ten-inch thick titanium doors went down with one punch. The Parademons inside stood and stared in amazement and shock at the sight of these men and women running in, shooting everything in sight with their blaster rifles and pistols. The first Parademon collected its thoughts and lunged at DeCosta, just before being reduced to a pile of ash in a matter of seconds by DeCosta's blast. The group, successful in the elimination of 30 guards, headed for the stairs. The elevators would be foolish, to say the least. As they entered the stairs, everyone did the best thing they could think of: none of them looked back.

Selina Kyle had no need to debrief her group. Five minutes after Corbin's group departed, they went in. Sneaking in like cats, their movements could barely be heard by human ears. That was too loud. They slipped like a mist into the stairs on their perilous mission to the sub- basement.

Kyle saw the ventilation door, kicked it open. She went into the dark narrow opening, then she was followed by Jim Gordon, Dick Grayson, Ted Kord, Jack Ryder, and finally Bruce Wayne. They crawled under the vents quietly, single-filed. It was hot in there. Wayne was sweating rapidly, but from fear, not from heat. He was terrified of who he would face in the end. The ventilation system was like a simple maze: easy to solve from a bird's-eye-veiw, hell from inside it. Kord looked at a map of the ventilation system.

"Almost there ," Kord said.

"Stop," Kyle said. "Hear that?"

Nothing could be heard at first. Wayne was the first to make it out. Then Grayson. Then Gordon. Then Ryder. Then Kord. It was the sound of snorts, animal-like in nature. It was the sound of horrid growls and sadistic giggles.

"Kord's eyes suddenly opened up with full terror. "Oh my God! It's the Parademons! It's the-"

Before Selina could shut Kord up, the razor claws of a Parademon tearing through metal and into Kord's chest did the job for her. Kord fell though the hole, never again uttering another word.

"It's a trap!" Selina yelled as she shot her blaster throught the hole at a horde of Parademons below.

"No kidding!" Grayson yelled back. He whipped out his blaster, fired open a hole in the steel and started blasting away. Suddenly, the vents started shaking, then twising, then it fell thirty feet onto the ground. "Everyone okay?" Kyle asked. No one thought anything to respond. They all had their minds on blasting the Parademons, totally oblivious to Ryder, who was caught in between two Parademons twisting the vents and was crushed by the twisted metal.

Holes were blasted through the vents, creating openings for the remaining Corps members to escape and get a better shot. Parademons were falling, but not by much. Slowly, ever so slowly, they were getting closer and closer to the Corps members. Gordon looked across the room. He saw a panel with a switch labeled "Emergency power shutdown." He blasted his way through the mob and just barely made it to the switch. He reached over to press it, but he was halted by an incredible pain in that hand. It was a searing, indescribable pain. It traveled up through his arm, then eventually, the pain encased his whole body. His ability to scream failed him for the final time. His bady slowly broke apart into tiny molecules which scrambled and sepertated, leaving nothing of Jim Gordon behind. If he were still around, he would've seen the other Corps members, Selina, Dick, Bruce, all held by Parademons. They were struggling, all but Wayne. he was limp, sad-looking, acting as if he had totally given up. The sounds of claping and laughter broker through.

"Wonderful, wonderful," Dessad cackled.

"Dessad!" Grayson exclaimed. "I should've figured it was you! With Darkseid gone there was no one to suck up to. With him outta the way, you offered your services to Parallax, didn't you?"

"Quite right," dessad said. "I simply couldn't resist being a part of the final defeat of Earth's... ahem... "mightiest" warriors, could I, now? I don't think you'll begetting anywhere near that switch, fools. It is protected by a field of anti-matter. you can see its effects quite clearly on this old man here."

Wayne suddenly stood, dumfounded. "Jim...?"

"Is quite dead, I can assure you that. Parademon? Now what about the lady, I wonder? She is a pretty one. Perhaps we need not kill her... yet. Heh heh." Dessad grinned.

Grayson shouted. "Leave her alone, you! Oh......" Three claws emerged from him forehead. His eyes rolled back. His mouth gagged open, becoming a collector of blood that was flowing from his forehead. The claws retracted. Dick Grayson fell. Wayne could do nothing but watch. He froze.

"Dick!" Selina yelled as she started crying. "You killed him! Help! Green Lantern Corps! Help! AAIIIEEE!" She started to scream like a tortured cat as the Parademon squeezed harder and harder. Her ribs started to give way, her body feeling like a damn sponge.

"This'll shut you up!" Dessad said.

Selina looked at Bruce with the most strained eyes. "Bruce! Aa! Br-Bruce...! I love you, Bruce! I love-AAKKKK!" The sound of bones snapping hit Bruce Wayne like a ton of bricks. Blood spurted out from Selina and from the arms of the Parademon holding her. It drip, drip, dripped onto the floor in a steady stream. She gagged one last time, then the Parademon released her. She fell, limp and bloodied, beside Dick.

Wayne looked at Dick and Selina, sprawled out on the cold floor next to each other, a pool of blood forming beneath them. Wayne looked at them, but he didn't see his friends anymore. He saw two adults, one, a man in a black suit, his yellow hat next to him, with a gunshot in the chest. He saw a woman, black hair, yellow dress, gunshot wound in the chest. Her pearls lay in the blood. Wayne whispered, "Father.. Mother!"

"Well, that was fun," Dessad cackled. He looked at Wayne, ready to give the Parademon the word. Instead, he was suddenly caught off gaurd by Wayne.

Wayne looked back with the fury of a child. His eyes locked in on Dessad's. "...Dead! They're d.. dead!"

Dessad's grin faded away. Fear began to fill his eyes. "Stop looking at me like that!"

Wayne grabbed the Parademon's arms, tore them off. He kicked it down, stepped on its head, crushed it like an overripe melon. He then advanced towards Dessad. Dessad started backing up. he realized that right behind him lay the anti-matter field. He was cornered."S- stay away, you!"

Wayne paid no attention, got closer. He grabbed Dessad, pulled him up into the air by his robe. "Criminals are a superstitious, cowardly lot."

"N-no, you fool! The anti-matter! It'll kill us both!" He suddenly stopped. Wayne just held him there.

"A bat," Wayne finally said.

"W-what the devil are you talking about?!" Dessad screamed. Wayne pulled him back. "NO! DON'T!"

"That's it!" Wayne said. "It's an omen! I shall become..."

Dessad screamed with full terror. Wayne threw him forward. "NOOOOOOOOOO!"

"A BAT!"

The lights, all the lights that lit the corridors of LexCorp like an electric star system all went off. "Let's go," Dent said.

*
11:00

The halls were dark, cold, lifeless, save for the seemingly endless masses of computers and wired and monitors that lined the interior of LexCorp. Something's wrong here. Jordan knew it, Luthor knew it, Dent knew it, Wayne knew it, the all knew it. A thousand eyes, presumably temporarily lifeless, watched them from above. This is all too easy. If Parallax truly wished us gone, we never would have been able to enter the complex in the first place. This entire time he'd been playing us like figures on a chessboard. This battle is our move. What, then, is yours, Parallax? What do you have prepared for us?

The hover disk folded out like a piece of paper under the long, tall stairs. The hover disk was twenty feet in diameter, barely enough space to hold all eight Green Lanterns. "Everyone on?" inquired Scott Free. "Good. Prepare yourselves. We have two minutes left. Here... we... GO!"

It felt like the worst roller coaster in the world. The sudden speed caused most Lanterns to collapse, just barely avoiding falling off the edge. Jordan felt his stomach, already weak, fall deep into his legs, but within a matter of seconds, they had made it to the top. There was no sign of any matter of life around them, be it a Lantern, Parademon, or Parallax himself. Where is Corbin and all his men? Suddenly, insane laughter broke out throughout the seemingly endless corridors, but no one knew of its origin. The laughing was like something out of a demon, a creature from hell, which was nothing compared to the man who was laughing with such intensity at them, for it was-

"Joker! Keep it down! Wanna get us killed?!"

"Ya know," Joker said, "in any other circumstance.... heh."

Jordan looked in shock at the sight of Joker. "Him? He's our secret informant?! This... madman, to say the least, has killed almost as much as Parallax in his lifetime! Why have we been putting our lives in the hands of this-"

"Jordan," Dent interrupted, "first off, I'd say that's a bit of an exaggeration. Secondly, let me point out that we need all the help we can get. If you think it was insane to have him join up with us, what have you to say of myself?"

"I..." Jordan stalled, was about to respond, then thought better of it. He saw the Joker grinning at him, his long, narrow teeth like bristles on a comb.

"Okay then," Dent said. "Joker, where are they? Where're the prisoners?"

"Follow... heh... me, friends," Joker said with an almost inhuman voice. Then the world truly has gone mad, Jordan thought. He knew he wasn't the only one who didn't trust the Joker, but Dent was right, we need all the help we can get. Joker led them through a narrow, dark passageway through a vent. It resembled a spider's web because of all the hanging wires everywhere. The wires were so thick that it was impossible to see past them. God only knew how Joker knew where they were going. One can only wonder what might await them ahead.

"A.. heh... clearing is coming up...heh," Joker said. As the last wire was pushed away, light, pale, electric light, shone through, revealing the-

"...the silo, ladies and gentlemen, the silo. Here, Parallax.. hehheh... uses his prisoners as guinea pigs, slaves, and... hehheh... eventually, Parademons." As they observed, the entire upper complex took up two thirds of all of LexCorp. Ahead of them were narrow catwalks. Below them was a 1,000 foot drop into darkness. The walls were like the interior if a beehive; glass cells for prisoners seemed to merge into the wall itself. Prisoner could be seen, crying, begging for mercy, screaming with unthinkable fear. The center was hollowed out to make room for the gigantic... "Oh my God.... it... it can't be. He wouldn't dare..."

"That, my... heh... friends, is Parallax's ultimate weapon. That is the Anti- Matter Cannon."

West looked with combined awe... and dread. "Jesus... Barry..."

Jordan shook himself, told himself to relax. Once he collected his thoughts, he said, "I'm not letting it happen again. I'm NOT!"

Dent put his hand on Jordan's shoulder to calm him down. "Jordan, chill. That, the cannon, is our purpose here tonight. Parallax's gonna use it on the universe tonight. He's lost it completely. We can't take any chances, and this time we have the technology to destroy the cannon."

"Where are they? Where's the rest of the team? We need them here."

"Jordan," Dent said, "don't worry. They'll be here. Just where the hell..."

BIZOOT

"uh......" Dent looked down at his chest. Slowly, very slowly, there opened up a crimson stain.

"Dent!" Jordan exclaimed.

Dent fell, leaning against Jordan. He tried to help him up, but Dent just slid like dead weight down Jordan, leaving a streak of blood in his wake, and eventually collapsed on the floor. Jordan looked ahead. He saw a figure of a man holding a smoking blaster.

"It was you..." Scott Free exclaimed in utter shock as a beam a light, emitted from a blaster, tore through his chest.

"Yes," Luthor said. "It was me."

"Why?" asked Batson. "We trusted you. With our lives, we trusted you! For God's sake, you just killed them!"

"Do you honestly believe I actually let Parallax take over my building? My life?! Where do you think Parallax got the kryptonite during that battle with the JLA? He thinks that he now runs the show alone, but he's dead wrong. Let him think he owns it. Thanks to you idiots, I'm going to rule this empire alone."

"Alone, Luthor? You don't know the meaning of the word." A thundering voice echoed throughout the silo.

"What the he-" Luthor said, distracted by this new person entering the battle. In the midst of this distraction, Carol reached into her pocket and pulled out her Scarab 3000, and flung it at Luthor, knocking him out cold. Suddenly, no one cared about the petty victory as all around them turned green as they teleported into Parallax's throne room. They looked ahead to see a thousand television screens, and Parallax standing in front of them. His hand was charging pure green energy. "I thought it best to tend to the last of the pitiful rebel forces before I eliminated you once and for all."

"Last...?" West said, the fear in his eyes shared by his companions.

"Oh, come now. You underestimate me, as you did Luthor. I knew all about your rebellion. I knew what you were planning, when you would execute your doomed plan. It was I who shut off the power, the security system. Don't worry, I had Parademons waiting for your friends. I made sure they were dealt with. I watched every second. No one got out."

"You bastard..." Batson said, tearfully, "You murdering bastard... you killed them all..."

"Once the cannon is fired," Parallax continued, "my dream will be a reality. All time and space will cease."

"Then you'll create us all over again in your own little Utopia, right?" West inquired.

"Not this time. This time, order shall be a bitter memory and chaos shall rule. Sinestero knew what he was talking about all those times. The universe shall, nay, must be ruled in chaos. Now watch. It is time. Watch you future fade-"

"Hal!" Carol cried as she approached Parallax. "Hal, it's me. It's Carol."

Parallax suddenly stopped everything, his movements, his thoughts, everything. "Carol...?"

"Yes, Hal. It's me. I'm alive!"

"Yes. So you are, Carol."

The green light tore through the air like a knife through butter. A deafening scream, a blinding flash, and it was over. What was left of Carol Ferris collapsed at Parallax's feet.

"So you are." he said.

Jordan ran to what was left of Carol and he screamed her name. The tears poured down his eyes like the fountains of Athens. He looked up at Parallax, straining to dare to gaze upon himself. His dark half. Parallax prepared to finish him off as well, until... he saw his face. The blank white eyes in the mask opened up, hard and wide as he gazed upon his creator.

He saw this man, he looked like himself, but he was far younger. His slick brown hair pouring from the roots of his head amid his soft, unshaven skin.

He saw this man, if he could still be called a man, who looked like himself, only older. Strangely, when he remembered Parallax, he remembered him looking older. This Parallax didn't even have white temples... only a full head... of black hair.

"You..." Parallax said. "It can't be you. You're dead. I sent you to the Sun- Eater. You're dead." The hot tears started to emerge amid the rage. He started pounding at Jordan's chest like a five-year-old. "I KILLED YOU! YOU'RE DEAD! I KILLED YOU!"

"I know you did, Kyle," Hal Jordan said. "I know you did."

12:00

"I did it." Kyle Rayner, Parallax, said as he fell to his knees before Hal Jordan, the tears felt like acid as they formed hot salty rivers down his face. "I did what you never could. I beat the heroes. I killed them, broke their spirits, stole their souls. I have them in the silo right now, drawing from their life elements, making them mine. Almost all are dead now, or assimilated. I have a universal empire. I went beyond the Wall, the boundary of our universe. I stared the Source straight in the eye and it blinked. I went beyond it and I saw things you never could. I did all you never could, and now you're here."

"Why, Kyle?" asked Jordan. "Why? Why did you do it all?"

"For years I looked up to you as a mentor. I tried, ever since I got my ring, I tried to live up to you. I had to do everything I could to follow in your footsteps. I realized the only way to do that was to get rid of you first. I traveled the universe, looking for some way. Then, I found the Sun-Eater. It was a normally peaceful being, but I changed all that. I made it want to devour the heat from suns, tested its capabilities, made sure it was unstoppable, then, I led it to Earth. Of course I could have stopped it with my ring, it was no big deal, but I made it seem more threatening than it really was. I created that monstrosity, I could've destroyed it just as easily. I knew this was my chance. I knew you wouldn't pass your last chance at martyrdom.

"Once you "died", there was still enough of your essence floating around the existance of space, as well as the wasteland that was once Oa, to take it and make it mine. I became Parallax, stronger and smarted than you ever were. I issued a false Kyle Rayner with my newfound powers. No one was the wiser. Then came New York, my city. Your city, Coast City, was destroyed, so I realized what I was destined to do. When i killed that fake Kyle, it felt like killing the old, wimpy me. It felt wonderful. After that, the heroes came, as I knew they would. I killed them all, except Bruce and Wally. I let them live so they could tell the world to fear me, and they did. within a matter of months, I had conquered entire galaxies. I had limitless power at my hands, and I used it in ways that you never dared. You had to be the hero, didn't you? Well, I beat you, Jordan. I beat you on Oa, I beat you through the very fabric of time, I beat you on Earth, and I will beat you now!" Screaming for vengeance, Kyle charged and fired his blasts of green energy at Jordan, but they never got to him. His powers fizzled and faded.

"One thing you overlooked, Kyle," Jordan said, "the power won't take the life of its creator. You have what is mine, Kyle. Give it to me."

Jordan put his hand out to receive his power, but as the energy channeled out of Kyle, it diverted to avoid Jordan and instead manifested itself in the center of the room. When the power settled, what was left was a little blue man with long white hair and a red jacket with a tie and green pants.

"Ganthet!" Jordan and Rayner said almost simultaneously.

"Of course," Ganthet said with a snooty, almost English accent. "Who did you expect?"

"Then it was you who-"

"Brought you back from the great beyond, Hal Jordan? Certainly. The second you put on your ring for the first time, your identity has been permanently recorded in the main power battery. It was one of the lesser-known features of the Green Lantern ring."

"Wait a minute," Jordan said, "if you knew about Kyle all this time, why didn't you do anything about it?"

"It was not for me to decide, Hal Jordan. If I had stopped him, the effects to the future may have been changed in ways much worse than the present. Now and only now was the time for you to emerge and put a stop to his evil."

How many times had I heard those words, Jordan thought. Such arrogance, such gall, you'd have thought he had learned his lesson after I became Parallax. Once a gaurdian, always a gaurdian.

"All right," Rayner said, "now what?"

"Now...." Ganthet paused. "Now is the final battle. This is to decide the fate of the universe." Upon the utterance of those words, power surged through both warriors until they both had identical Green Lantern rings on their middle ringers. "Say your oaths..."

Jordan and Rayner looked at each other, their looks telling each other that they were both shocked at this, but deep in their hearts, they both knew this was going to happen no matter what.

"In brightest day," Jordan said as white gloves covered his hands and wrists.

"In blackest night," Rayner said as green gauntlets covered his arm from the elbow down.

"No evil shall escape my sight," said Jordan as his original costume of black and green enveloped him.

"Let those who worship evil's might," Rayner said as his tarnished Parallax uniform transformed into a black and white jumpsuit.

"Beware my power," they both said as masks covered their eyes.

And as they charged...

"GREEN LANTERN'S LIGHT!!!"

An ax, a rapier, a broadsword, a cannon, a hammer, a robot, everything that has ever been made by a green lantern ring were exchanged in a matter of seconds between the two fighters. Rayner generated a robotic exo-skeleton battle suit, Jordan reduced it to green shards with a single blast of his ring. Jordan made a gigantic version of himself to try to step on Rayner, and Rayner generated a land mine, which caused the gigantic Jordan to be flung into the wall of television sets. Jordan aimed a direct current of green energy at Rayner, and Rayner did just the same. They stood, deadlocked. Sweat poured down each other's faces. No one dared to blink, to breathe. They stood, focusing their complete and total power concentrated in one beam. The pain was excruciating for both, until finally, one fell weak and the other's beam made it over to him, blowing him all the way over to the other side of the room. Jordan walked up to Kyle, almost lifeless on the cold titanium floor. Jordan reached down to Kyle's hand, and he gently pulled his ring off, and merged it into his ring. He formed a fencing saber and aimed it straight at Kyle's throat. Kyle gulped a mouthful of saliva mixed with sweat and blood.

"You killed Carol," Jordan said.

"Of course I did." Rayner replied.

"She... we thought you were trying to clone her. Joker told us you were cloning a woman."

"He was right. I have been cloning, but I've not been cloning Carol. Behold," he said as he slunk over to a tall chamber and opened up the steel doors to reveal a naked woman floating in a containment unit. The woman looked about twenty-three, her golden hair flowing like gold through the liquid. "You may remember her, Jordan. She was taken from me because I became Green Lantern. She was my Coast City, Jordan. Now, I've been able to remake her using a small bit of my own DNA. Now, we're bonded forever." Suddenly, the liquid started dissipate and in it's place, mist started swirling around the woman until she vanished from sight completely. The glass over the chamber lifted, releasing the mist throughout the chamber. Out of mist, a single foot stepped out. Then as the girl emerged, completely dry, Kyle Rayner said, triumphantly, "Now... Alexandra DeWitt lives again."

"Holy..." Jordan gasped. He remembered this woman. When in a parallel dimension, he met her, and he loved her. He remembered Kyle telling him of her violent death. A villian who called himself Major Force folded her up and stuffed her in a refrigerator.

"We shall be the last ones alive," Kyle said. Jordan looked at him in disbelief. "Oh, didn't I tell you? I already set the cannon. It will detonate in about, oh, ten minutes. You see, Jordan? No matter what now, I've won! I've designed this building to protect us from the anti-matter, but that won't save you for long. Even if you get away from me, you'll never escape. You'll have no where to go."

Jordan didn't know what to do. He looked over at Ganthet for help, for advice, but... he was gone. If Jordan didn't know any better, he would've thought Ganthet fled like the coward he is. All he could do is look over at Kyle and his creation, Alexandra DeWitt, as they began to lock together in passion. She looked up at him with sultry eyes and she put her arms around his neck and moved closer in to him.

"Hey, baby," she said with a voice of lust and passion, "I missed you."

Kyle put his hands around her back just above her waist as he went in to give her a kiss. "Missed you too baby. Now nothing's gonna keep us apart. We're gonna be together forever."

"I know, baby," she said as he kissed her neck. She tightened her hold on his neck. Tighter. Tighter. Their kisses were long, hard, passionate, and... and...

KRAK

thud

"My God...." Jordan whispered. There he was. On the floor. Dead. As the last of his life-force shuddered out of his body, a single tear went down the eye of Kyle Rayner. Then, the Alexandra DeWitt thing turned to Jordan, a sinister grin spread across her delicate face. Batson and West came up to Jordan, fearful of this creaton before them.

"What happened?" West asked.

"Kyle said his blood runs through her. Kyle was pure evil. Now, she's just like him."

The Alexandra DeWitt thing went to approach them, when she suddenly slipped on her foot. She was melting. Then her other foot started to drip it's artificial flesh. Her face, once young and beautiful, was now collapsing upon itself, the false skeleton inside her shriveling up like a hair to a flame. The flesh- colored ooze spread like wildfire across the carpeted titanium floors.

"Sweet mother..." Batson muttered. The last indication of emotion in her face looked up at them, and it smiled. Then, as it faded, it slipped into the river of flesh-colored ooze and finally collapsed, pouring out like it was coming out of a bucket, upon the body of Kyle Rayner.

"Kyle said that they were now bonded. One couldn't live without the other." Jordan said. He looked at Kyle, his face still frozen in half-shock, half-bliss. He looked, and, not out of rancor but happiness for Kyle, he smiled. "Now they're together. In peace."

BIZOOT

Batson grunted and suddenly disappeared in a flash of anti-matter. Behind them, holding an anti- matter blaster, stood Lex Luthor.

"Did you forget about me, heroes? You're all too late. That cannon's going off, and now, you can't stop it."

"Oh, hell, he's right," West said with utter dispair as he typed up a configuration on the computers. "Luthor's created a virus that has overrun the disarm mechanism. There's no way to stop it."

"That's right, and now, time do die, I thin-eeeooowww!" Luthor screamed as he felt acid pour down his neck.

"It seemed, heh, that you forgot about me, Lexy, old chap! HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Joker said. He pushed Luthor out of the room and into the silo. "What're you waiting for, you pair of goody two-shoes! Get the prisoners outta here! I'll take care of ol' cue-ball here! GO!"

Jordan ran, almost blindly, up through the areas where the prisoners were being held. To his amazement, most of the cells were empty, all but four. He went up to the first one. Inside was am african- american man huddled in a corner. The plaque on the door read "Stuart, John." He smashed the glass open and walked in to help him up.

"H... Hal? Is it really you?" John asked, with a voice like sandpaper.

"Yeah John," Jordan said. "It really is me."

"Heheheheheh, c'mon sexy Lexy! Issat th' best you can do!?" Joker said as Luthor swung a punch at him, missing Joker for about three inches. The battle was tense on the catwalk. Both opponents knew one wrong move meant going down. Far, far down. "Seriously, you hafta do better than that if you really wanna hit-URK!" With Luthor's hands forming one fist, Joker went over the hand railing. Luthor looked down to see Joker hanging by one hand off the catwalk. He looked up at Luthor and smiled. "Now, where have I seen this scene before? Heh. Oh, well. There are no original stories these days. Heh. Exit, stage left."

His hand lost it's grip and he fell down the long and dark shaft. His laughing echoed through the halls all the way down and continued to echo for long after he hit the ground.

Jordan smashed open the glass cell to free prisoner #2645, "Gardner, Guy." Guy's reaction was almost the same as John's. "Yeh poozer, Jordan. I knew you wouldn't leave us behind."

Before Jordan could react, it suddenly struck him. Where was Wally? Last he saw of him he- Oh no... he couldn't be. Jordan went over to the glass wall of the cell to see. He couldn't be doing it, he couldn't... but he was.

For the millionth time, Wally West circled the cannon at a speed faster than light itself, and the speed still increased. "Can't stop," Wally kept saying. "Barry didn't stop. He never stopped. Neither... will... I!" The pain was incredible. He could feel the very fabric of time tear against his flesh. But he wouldn't stop. Not for anything.

So perfect, no way I could miss, thought Lex Luthor. He cocked his blaster and aimed it straight for Wally. His finger tightened on the trigger. Suddenly, in a flash of light, the blaster got extremely hot and collapsed in on itself. Someone was using a heat ray from the Scarab 3000. Luthor looked over to the origin of the blast, which was by the hand of a dying Harvey Dent. The man, or men, barely could stand up. The only thing keeping his organs in his body was his hand, holding them in.

"Y.... you can't get r... rid of me that easily, Luthor," Dent slurred as he dragged himself across the catwalk. Clumsily, he stumbled over and collapsed, dropping his Scarab 3000 at Luthor's feet.

"What're you going to do, Dent?" Luthor said with an evil giggle. "You are pathetic. You always have been pathetic and you always will be pathetic."

Dent looked at Luthor rolled his eyes back, slightly moaning. He opened up his eyes again and looked right at Luthor and grinned. There was something different in his looks. Something evil. "Hello Lex," he said with a dark, scraggly voice. "Remember me?"

The speed. Too fast. Wally could barely remember his own name. Didn't matter. Had to keep going. For Hal and Guy and John and Barry (Barry's dead) and Barry and Linda and Jay and Barry and Hal and Barry and Iris and Barry and Barry and Barry....

"Two-Face," Luthor said, his voice full of horror. "It doesn't matter. Dent'll be dead soon and you along with him. You have no more power than he does."

"D-do I, Lex?" Two-Face asked as he reached into his pocket and pulled out... a coin. "Do I really?"

FLIP

Th-there's always time....

FWUP

The coin flew through the air.

T-time to save the world!

FWUP

Lex suddenly realized something. He looked down at the Scarab at his feet.

Time... back in time...

FWUP

It was set on "self-destruct." Three second delay.

Do what you have to...

FWUP

Lex looked at Two-Face with utter despair.

We must save to world...

FWUP

Two-Face grinned on both sides of his face.

"And we will, Wally," Hal said as pushed Wally from the cannon and grabbed him as he went for the window with the four prisoners. "We will save the world."

FWUP

TINK

"Hail to the king, baby."

KRA-CHOOOMMM!!!!!!

Flames engulfed the entire corridor. Everything in LexCorp collapsed and burned. Through the impregnable wall of flame and smoke, a warrior clad in green and black emerged from the blaze with five paggengers along with him. They slowly went down onto the cold, filthy streets of Metropolis, and from there, they watched LaxCorp burn and fall, like Babylon, the flames seeing to bring warmth and life to the Earth, no, not just Earth, the entire universe. The last prisoners saved were perhaps the best, well, one of them, at least. Alan Scott was the first of a great line of Green Lanterns for space sector 2814, along with Guy Gardner, John Stuart, Hal Jordan, and Kyle Rayner. The last guy to be rescued was just a homeless bum, a guy no one knew about or cared. Before they could get better aquatinted, Ganthet suddenly appeared before them.

"Hal Jordan, you did well. Earth is now yours to nurture and protect, as it is the duties of all these men. All of you, you are heroics, past and present, prove you all to be worthy. Put out your hands."

They all obeyed, and Ganthet came up to Wally West first. A ring appeared on his finger. The one on John Stuart's. Then one on Guy Gardner's finger. Then one on Alan Scott's finger. Then...

"My powers indicate that you are trustworthy and completely honest, young man. What is your name?"

"Bluestone, sir," the homeless man said with pride, "Sam Bluestone."

"Sam Bluestone, I now proclaim you to be a Green Lantern," Ganthet said as a ring appeared on Sam's finger.

"Now, Wally West, John Stuart, Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner, Alan Scott, and Sam Bluestone, you may think the battle is over, but it is just beginning. Now, you six are Earth's final hope. It is your mission to search the cosmos for life, for life is precious and must be cherished. So, I now declare you six: The Green Lantern Corps. It is time..." Ganthet put out his hand and formed a large power battery. Hal Jordan approached it and put his ring into it. He felt the sudden rush as the energy pulsed into him. Then John floowed his example. Then Wally, then Alan, and then Guy. Hal looked at Sam. Sam smiled and put his ring into the battery. Hal looked at his new team. One smile said it all.

"One more time, everybody..."

IN BRIGHTEST DAY,

IN BLACKEST NIGHT,

NO EVIL SHALL ESCAPE MY SIGHT!

LET THOSE WHO WORSHIP EVIL'S MIGHT,

BEWARE MY POWER,

GREEN LANTERN'S LIGHT!

EPILOGUE

Welcome to the future, stranger. It just got a whole lot more enjoyable.

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