"[Ring power 18%....]"
Kyle gritted his teeth at the notification but kept his eyes on the beast emerging from the boomtube.
Even though he spoke perfect English, he looked about as humanoid as the white-martians looked peaceful.
He was huge, topping out at eight feet tall-- all made of muscle and steel accents. Beneath the almost gladiatorial armor, he had skin like dry leather and eyes like a lion..... fitting in perfectly with his wild mane of dark hair and claws.
Synassia trembled in Kyle's grip, reminding him of his own fear. Weakening his castle constructs in the distance. Making his empire of protection crumble.
"What was that saying? Seeing is believing... Yea, that's it." Kyle saw his constructs solidify. He saw his fears fade.
He saw his hand holding a pencil.
"[Lantern-Ring Database and Oan fight-log research recognizes movement pattern and physical diagnostics of Apokolyptian adversary as..... Kalibak, Son of Darkseid.]"
"Will you submit to Apokolips.....or will you fight?" Kalibak questioned.
Silence.
The beast edged closer, giant steaming sword swinging as he warmed his bulbous shoulders.
"You're running out of time."
Kyle raised his ring, "So are you."
Kalibak's foot slowed. He looked down and found himself chained to a pile of dynamite constructs a seconds from exploding.
Kalibak spun and swung his sword down at the bombs midexplosion.
The speed and force of Kalibak's swing generated winds strong enough to overpower the bombs blowback.
He parted the chaotic sea of green with a single swing.
"You're going to need a bit more firepower than that, Lantern." Kalibak said.
"Noted."
Kalibak spun around in horror just in time to take a mace swing to the face from Hawkgirl.
The impact sounded off louder than the dynamite and sent Kalibak tumbling across the dirt of Mars.
Hawkgirl flew after him, pumeling him deeper into the dirt everytime she caught up to him until they were nothing but a distant cloud of red dust.
Alan Scott flew down with an outstretched hand to Kyle, "She found her mace."
"Any chance she's get extras?" Kyle said as he took Alan's hand and got to his feet.
"Why a mace when you've got the strongest weapon in the known universe?"
"Because the strongest weapon in the known universe just got turned into a parlor trick by the alien gladiator-prince."
Alan shrugged and looked around, "Eh.... You've had a long day... Night? Either way, Kalibak's strength is simple and set. Yours grows..... infinitely. It's not powered by your muscles or genetic structure. It's internal. Your mind is marvelous. Your will can strengthen your constructs.."
"I've been fighting my fear all night."
Alan nodded, "That's one type of will. There are many. Fighting fear, addiction, desires.. finding purpose and motivation. How badly do you want to save these Saturnians, Kyle Rayne--"
Hawkgirl screamed and came tumbling back to their feet. "You hit like a child!" She yelled from the ground.
"Prepare for my tantrum then!" Kalibak roared and as he leapt a hundred feet into the air with his sword raised.
Kyle and Alan readied themselves, both sweating and bleeding from a war barely survived.
Synassia trembled so hard in Kyle's grip that her skin vibrated....
No. That wasn't it.
"What the...."
Synassia flew out of his grip in a rage and transformed into a twenty foot tall white skinned monster covered in spikes and armored skin.
"She's a white-martian!" Alan said.
The white-martian caught Kalibak and slammed him to the ground. A shockwave erupted, causing the grounds to split for a mile across.
Kalibak disappeared behind the flurry of giant-fisted punches until he roared and rolled away.
Once he was on his feet, he threw his sword at the martians face.
She shrunk back into the form of a little girl and blasted him with laser fire from her eyes.
It wasn't enough.
Kalibak's words echoed in his mind.
"We need more firepower."
Thankfully his came from within. Within memories of Alex— his promise to her and her realizations of him. She said she'd never seen him so alive with his ring. As a Lantern.
She said he needed to be will for others. A symbol.
As he watched the white Martian fight to save them he realized he was doing it.
He was doing what she'd do.
"M'gann, can you buy us a few more seconds!?"
The white Martian yelled in the midst of firing a flurry of laser beams at Kalibak. "I can try!"
"What are you thinking, new guy?" Hawkgirl asked as she got to her feet.
"I'm thinking you should use your mace again. Get him off the ground so he can't move." Kyle said.
Hawkgirl grinned and spun her mace.
"Like now—"
"Don't rush me…" Hawkgirl watched them fight in the distance.
Kyle looked to Alan.
"Hawk vision. She's searching for a weak spot."
"Ok. Until then, help me." Kyle held his fist out to Alan.
Warily, Alan connected rings with with Kyle.
Starheart energies and oan lantern will power combined.
Kyle constructed the bulk of the nuke construct behind them. Large enough to blot out the rest of mars and the defeated martians behind them. A dozen smaller warheads were tied around it with….. super duct tape?
"Oh the writers block after this is going to be insane…" Kyle thought.
Alan built the thrusters and gave detail to the design where Kyle's construct wavered.
"Got it!" Hawkgirl took off.
Her massive wings spun the red sands in explosive shockwaves as she drifted in a blur.
M'gann sensed her coming as Kalibak lunged at her with his sword.
She phased through the blow like a ghost, allowing Hawkgirl to come in with a wild uppercut.
Her mace hit him in the jaw so hard his teeth crunched.
He flew hundreds of feet into the air. Clear of any innocents and unable to move.
Alan activated the thrusters and the nuke was off.
Kyle focused his waning energies.
"[Ring power 10%…..]"
Kalibak roared as the nuke closed in.
Seconds later and a verdant mushroom cloud spun in the blackness of space.
Kyle prayed as the smoke cleared. He knew whatever god he prayed to was real when the sight of the closing boom tube was all that remained in the sizzling expanse of space.
Kyle hovered to the ground, bringing up small spirals of red dust, reminding him how far from home he was.
As if the sight of hundreds of unconscious white-martians and huddled saturnians wasn't enough.
"Well done, Kyle Rayner. Very well done." Alan said as he landed beside him.
"This was just one planet…." Kyle mumbled.
"And still, it's unfinished."
"What?"
"Our job isn't done." Alan raised his ring to the white-Martian girl standing alone in the distance.
"Woah woah! Hold on!" Kyle said. "What are you doing? She saved us."
Alan shook his head, "Which I appreciate. But the issue remains. Her life— her people, are this way because of our makers."
"What— the guardians?" Kyle asked.
Alan nodded, "The White-martians are an unnatural off breed, split from their green cousins. Because the malthusians— the guardians, were afraid of their power. Of The Burning Martians. So they instead turned them into genocidal maniacs— savages. We're here to clean up their mess. Think about it Kyle! What they did to the starheart cosmic energies, they also did to a living breathing race of sentient beings. It's not right."
"Well, yea. It's not right... but we're here now, and she's doesn't seem very savage to me. Maybe the Guardians messed up. Maybe there's a loophole, all I know is you can't bring me out here with all this talk about a duty to protect the universe and save the innocent then try to atomize a little girl!"
Alan looked back to the Martian girl— M'gann, only to find she wasn't there anymore.
Kyle tried not to move as the invisible alien girl huddled up behind him.
"Will you fight for what you believe in, Kyle Rayner?"
He stumbled under M'gann's weight— even as light as she was. Before he could say anything that would immediately be unbelievable, the shadow of wings overhead darkened their rings light.
Kyle and Alan looked up to find Hawkgirl floating overhead like a guardian Angel.
"Alan, drop the planet destroying jewelry or I'll turn you to mincemeat."
"Hawkgirl, this is a matter you wouldn't understand."
"Oh really? Me? A alien princess born on earth wouldn't understand people telling me what I'm hardwired to do and not do?"
Alan clenched his jaw, visibly grappling with his own ideals and morality before the ground shook the tension out of them.
"We forgot about the hellspore." Kyle said.
Then, they were off.
As Kyle flew he tried to keep his mind off the fact that he almost fought his senior lantern before being saved by a violent bird woman.
"John was right." He thought as he watched Alan join Hawkgirl over the hellspore.
Beneath the rubble of the Martian-kings skyscraper home, it sat like a half burrowed bug in the red sands. Fiery orange eyes gleamed from within the black shell.
"I'd say call the justice society but we're a bit fractured last time I checked." Hawkgirl said.
"No need." Alan replied, "I got a little power boost after handling Kalibak."
Kyle felt Hawkgirl eye him.
Alan raised his ringbearing fist. A massive construct of a drill formed into existence.
In a flash, he was diving into the hellspore, gutting it from the inside and freeing the planet from imminent destruction.
The saturnians began boarding their ships and shuttles but not before they all carved and lantern symbol into the sands and gave telepathic thank yous. It almost made Kyle faint.
He had to be helped on the fly back to earth. Portions of it eluded his memory, making him think he slept through it until the familiarity of earths atmosphere hit.
Then they were on a roof. Dean Alan Scott's roof. It was still night, and Kyle felt like a living wound.
"Will you be returning to your planet?" Alan asked Hawkgirl.
She shook her head, "No, not yet. I'll catch you guys later. Nice work, Lantern. You're kind of scary….. I like it."
The two shook up.
Then she was off, leaving the two lanterns alone.
Alan sighed as he watched Kyle.
"You said you were looking for something." Kyle said.
Alan nodded.
"And then you looked at me."
Alan nodded again. "The league is gone. They were…..impactful. I'm connected to a vast force of energy. I can feel when things are missing. I can feel…. I can. The cosmos are in ruin. It's a slow death of endless wars, subjugation and old mistakes come to roost. I can feel it, Kyle. I fear it's driving me mad. So I searched. My starheart power pumps a lifelong search in my veins. Through an aura that transcends the physical plane we inhabit…."
"Whatever that means." Kyle thought.
"Then I found you."
Kyle felt uncomfortable.
"Lanterns have a specific signature. I'm tied to the emotional spectrum in a way, I know what kind of lantern someone is even if they don't want me to. Their will…. or rage…. Or hope, it's like a needle that pierces my aura, it's what makes them lanterns. They have more than most. It tells me they're impactful figures. Like the league. Just…. Incomplete."
"Right, so you felt my willpower." Kyle said.
Alan shook his head, "Kyle, when I'm near you, my skin is on fire. Your energies are scalding…. you are…. complete. You're the missing thing. The balance. I feel it all. I feel your will…. I feel greed…. I feel hope….. rage, even. How are you like this?"
Kyle raised his eyebrows in confusion, "I…. I don't know, I'm still trying to figure this ring out."
"Do you have relatives who have wielded other rings?"
"No." Kyle said.
Alan itched his chin in thought, "How curious….. either way, you helped me today Kyle Rayner. I owe you— and hope you'll continue as you have. From this point on, you have all of the JSA at your beck and call. Hawkgirl respects you….. and she respects almost no one. You could be something Kyle, but only if you keep fighting your fears. That is your greatest battle."
Alan flew into his office.
"If I keep fighting my fears will I become a Lantern too?" M'gann asked as she turned visible again on his back.
"Maybe. Do you want that?"
"Yes."
Kyle looked to the stars, "Alex, what have you gotten me into?"