Issue #209

FDC Presents "GOLD INTO LEAD"
by Dale Glaser

Gleaming emerald spires stretched up into the skies over Coast City Memorial Park. The green structure they adorned had not stood in the park a few days before, but a few days before the Guardians of the Universe had been captives of Sinestro in the anti-matter universe of Qward. Today, however, the Guardians were returned to their rightful universe, and had completed construction of their Guardian Citadel on the grounds of Coast City Memorial Park. A ceremony was about to commence which would confer new power rings on the founding members of the new Green Lantern Corps.

Hal Jordan, however, was not present at the Citadel as the ceremony began. Instead, Jordan found himself in a different area of the park, standing before a verdant topiary Green Lantern Corps symbol. Atop that bushy base stood a colossal energy construct of Jordan himself.

Jordan aimed his power ring at the top of the energy construct, which began to lose cohesion and revert to a shapeless mass of solid emerald light. Jordan focused his willpower and new forms became visible in the green glow.

Kilowog emerged from a path through a nearby stand of trees and approached his old friend. "What’s up, Hal?" the big alien from Bolivax Vik asked.

"We seem to be setting up something of a permanent base here in the Park," Jordan answered, continuing to refine the shapes in the green light, "and I thought a bit of redecorating was in order. To be honest, it’s a little disturbing to see this larger-than-life monument to myself, which was erected when everyone assumed I was dead. But there are others whose memories deserve to be preserved as much, if not more. I just thought I would tend to this before another distraction came up."

Jordan lowered his ring, finished re-sculpting the emerald energy. What had been a giant green statue of Hal Jordan was now a depiction of many deceased Green Lantern Corps members in flight: Abin Sur, Ch’p, Eddore, Tomar Re and many others. Leading the formation were Katma Tui and Arisia.

Kilowog and Jordan looked up at the new energy sculpture for a long time in silence. Finally Kilowog put one massive hand on Jordan’s shoulder. "I think that’s real nice, Hal," Kilowog said with bittersweet appreciation. "Real nice."

"Thanks," Jordan replied. "Let’s get back to the Citadel."

Kilowog and Jordan rose into the air surrounded in emerald sheaths generated by their power rings, and flew south through the park to the grounds of the new Guardian Citadel. John Stewart, the Guardians and several Green Lanterns were co-mingling in the front courtyard. The Green Lanterns were all brandishing new rings, and attired in fresh Corps uniforms.

Jordan looked around for a moment, then asked, "Where are Guy and Kyle?"

Xax leapt over to the ground in front of Jordan and chirped up at him, "Gone to Guy’s eating and drinking establishment, they said. They were going to let Ganthet know his brothers had been safely returned. And Kyle was going onward to New York City, so he said."

"A few others accompanied them, as well," Tuebeen added seriously, his quartz-like face impassive as always. "But they promised to return before too long."

"All right, then let’s get t’work, ya poozers," Kilowog bellowed good-naturedly. "Time t’see how much you forgot about them rings on your fingers. Maybe by the time the rest of the Corps gets back, you’ll be ready t’make ‘em wish they hadn’t skipped out on first day back to school!"

                

Seven figures flew over the desert sands towards Las Vegas, six of them wielding power rings. Leading the way was Guy Gardner, enveloped in yellow energy manifested by his Qwardian power ring. Behind him flew four members of the newly invigorated Green Lantern Corps in diamond formation – the pale, frog-like Rot Lop Fan; bacteria-shaped Larvox; orange-skinned warrior-woman Shilandra Thane; and huge, furry Voz. The green auras of Oan energies surrounded the alien Green Lanterns. Bringing up the rear was Kyle Rayner, the Green Lantern of the JLA, whose power ring not only encased him in green light but also provided a solid energy sky-sled for Abel Tarrant, the reformed Tattooed Man*, who was accompanying Rayner back to New York.

(*see last issue for all the body-art-related details)

"You sure you don’t mind stopping at Warrior’s for a beer, Abel?" Rayner asked his traveling companion.

"Nah, it’s fine. I’m not about to complain with you giving me a free lift to New York, anyways," Tarrant acquiesced.

"Well, I’m glad you’re cool with it," Rayner responded. "As you can see we’ve got some buddies who came a long way to be here with us, and we’re trying to make them all feel at home. Or at least show them a good time."

Tarrant nodded as they continued in flight. Soon the city limits of Las Vegas were in sight, and within moments the large neon sign for Warrior’s came into view. The seven flying figures alighted before the entrance of the restaurant, and Gardner proudly withdrew a keyring from his pocket and unlocked the front doors.

"Now, everyone just get nice and comfortable, plenty of bar stools to go around," Gardner boomed expansively as he swung the doors open into the unlit restaurant. He felt along the wall for the master row of lightswitches. "I’ll have a round of frosty cold ones set up in no time, and we’ll raise a few glasses to the good old Corps …"

As the lights flickered to life, the assembled Lanterns gasped at the sight that greeted them. Suspended over the bar was Ganthet, his wrists bound in ropes tied to the glassware rack. Ganthet’s chin rested against his chest, and he looked badly beaten. Without hesitation, Rayner and Gardner raced to the Guardian.

"Ganthet! Ganthet! You all right?" Rayner demanded, trying to lift the Guardian’s head.

"Beware … our old enemy …" Ganthet slurred.

"Who?" Gardner asked.

The crash of a table thrown across the restaurant caused Rayner and Gardner to spin around. Approaching from the far corner of the room was a creature of melded characteristics. The right half of the torso and head, right arm, and right leg were human, clad in a dark business suit, with black hair slicked back against its skull. It carried a pistol in its right hand. The left half was a reptilian green with no clothes at all. The left leg was scaly and thick like an elephant’s, and the powerful left arm ended in sharp talons. The left side of the creature’s head was crested by a small fin, and featured a large red eye, no nose, and a half-mouth full of pointed teeth. As the creature continued to make its way toward the bar, Gardner and Rayner could see that it was in fact a centauroid, with its body extending backwards from the upright torso. It walked on six legs – three reptilian on the left side, one human and two reptilian on the right. A long green tail thrashed behind the last pair of reptilian legs.

A second creature emerged from behind a glass case which held a costumed mannequin of Tomar Re, knocking the display to the floor. Like the first creature, this one’s right half was human, dressed in a suit, and carrying a pistol; the only distinguishing characteristic was the blond hair on half of this one’s head. The left half of the second creature’s body was almost perfectly round and armored in a magenta carapace covered with jagged spikes. The left half of the head, from which a narrow antenna rose, was narrow and marked only by a thin mouth slit, giving a lop-sided appearance to the complete face. The left leg was thin and chitinous, but the left arm was tremendous, ending in a massive crab-like claw.

"Dualities …," Rayner breathed with dawning realization.

"What?" Gardner asked.

Rayner ignored him, turning to the Guardian again. "Ganthet, why did you do this?"

Before Ganthet could answer, Voz roared and charged at the reptilian Duality. The human arm raised its gun and fired at the huge Green Lantern, but the bullets were deflected by the energies of Voz’s power ring. Then a shower of sparks fell on Voz, and he was suddenly encased in a golden cocoon.

"Ganthet did it … because I gave him no choice," a voice from the doorway of Gardner’s office answered. The Green Lanterns looked and found Keith Kenyon, the villain known as Goldface, standing there in gleaming golden armor and helmet. Goldface took one step forward, out of the shadows, and it became apparent that only the right half of his body was actually his own.

The left half belonged to Warrior’s head bouncer, the Metal Man known as Lead.

Gardner took to the air, scowling down furiously at the Goldface/Lead Duality. "Kenyon, you’ve done some stupid, lousy things in your day, but this …"

"This is only the beginning!" Goldface boasted, as Lead’s left arm stretched out with incredible speed, its dark gray metal hand expanding to the size of Gardner’s body. Gardner’s limbs were tangled in its massive lead fingers as the arm continued thrusting up, and his body soon collided with the ceiling with a resounding crash, accompanied by Kenyon’s laughter.

Shilandra Thane lunged at the Duality nearest her, the half-man/half-mollusk, with an emerald warhammer emerging from her power ring. The crab-like Duality slashed at her with its gigantic claw simultaneously, and both combatants’ blows connected. The emerald warhammer glanced off the thick carapace of the Duality, while the spiked claw found purchase in the orange flesh of Shilandra Thane’s upper arm. She cried out in pain and went down to her knees.

Larvox aimed his ring-wielding flagellum at the half-man/half-reptile centauroid and a honeycombed wall of emerald energy swept across the restaurant, forcing the Duality into the far wall. Pictures, framed news clippings of the Green Lantern Corps of Earth, and other memorabilia leapt off their mountings as the wall of the restaurant shook with the impact. The Duality writhed against the green honeycomb while Larvox willed it to remain in place. A shower of sparks met with the emerald energy wall, fired from Goldface’s helmet, and a golden doorframe formed in the midst of the green barrier, blocking the ring’s power. The centauroid Duality lumbered through the doorway and its human half raised its pistol, squeezing off rounds at Larvox. The Sputan Green Lantern quickly protected himself with an emerald forcefield.

Rayner was hurriedly untying Ganthet’s wrists. "Ganthet, what’s going on? What happened to you and Lead?"

"Goldface … sought revenge …," Ganthet wheezed. "Many years ago the Guardians imprisoned him in a Sciencell on Oa, for murdering Green Lanterns. Much has changed since then … but not Goldface’s hatred for the Guardians and the Green Lanterns. He learned of my presence here and attacked. In my weakened condition he overpowered Lead and myself. In his time on Oa he had learned of my ability to create Dualities, and he commanded me to do so using himself and his henchmen. He plans to …"

"ENOUGH!" Goldface shouted, raising a golden blaster of his own. He fired a bolt of yellow energy at Rayner and Ganthet, which Rayner easily deflected with an emerald avatar of a policeman directing traffic. The yellow bolt was knocked aside by a snap of the policeman’s hand and burned a hole in the nearby wall instead. Goldface was momentarily taken aback by a Green Lantern resisting a yellow-based attack, but followed up by lashing out with Lead’s extended arm. Still holding Gardner in its gray metal fist, the arm swung backhanded through the glass rack over the bar, pulverizing all of its contents. Splintered wooden debris and glass shards rained down on Ganthet and Rayner. Gardner was released from Lead’s grasp at the end of the swing of the robotic arm, and he flew over the back bar and crashed into the mirror above it, then tumbled to the floor.

Abel Tarrant had watched the scene unfold before him in a frozen state approaching outright horror. The alien dualities were monstrous sights, but Tarrant was more disturbed by Goldface himself, the criminal overlord who had once had Tarrant shot and left for dead. He had never imagined a chance to meet Goldface again, and yet here he was, though apparently more powerful than ever. Tarrant was inclined to duck out quietly and forget anything had ever happened at Warrior’s. But he realized that Kyle Rayner and his fellow Lanterns could be in serious trouble, and Rayner had stuck his neck out for Tarrant in L.A. He owed him at least one assist.

Tarrant noticed that the pale, dome-headed Green Lantern was still standing near the doorway as well, turning its head from side to side as if struggling with something. "Ain’t you gonna help your friends?" Tarrant asked the creature.

Rot Lop Fan answered, "I am not sure exactly what is going on. It is difficult for me to hear, and I cannot …" the Green Lantern who called himself F-Sharp Bell paused as he searched for the word.

"You can’t see? You’re blind?"

"Yes," Rot Lop Fan confirmed.

"Well, maybe you can help out somehow … come on," Tarrant grabbed Rot Lop Fan’s wrist and ran into the fray. He pulled up short behind the huge golden coffin in which Voz was trapped, and laid Rot Lop Fan’s hands on it. "See if you can get your big buddy loose. He’s trapped in here." Then Tarrant ran towards the man-mollusk Duality.

Shilandra Thane was struggling to rise to her feet, but her muscles were trembling badly. She was drenched in sweat and her lustrous black eyes were only partially open. The Duality was pointing its gun at her. It fired, and missed, although the distance between them was minimal. Tarrant arrived with a flying elbow to the human ear of the Duality.

"Careful …," Shilandra Thane urged Tarrant. "Claw is … venomous …" She grimaced as the swift-acting poison ravaged through her system.

Tarrant barely registered the Green Lantern’s words before the claw was swinging towards his head. The Tattooed Man ducked while reaching into his shirt, drawing out his hand to animate a tiger tattoo that leapt up, clawing at the Duality’s face. While the tattoo occupied the Duality’s attention, Tarrant scooped up Shilandra Thane and moved her away from the monstrosity.

Larvox had risen into the air as the centauroid Duality approached him. Larvox was momentarily out of reach, but the Duality reared up on its hindmost pair of legs and reached to double its height. The taloned reptitlian arm swatted at Larvox, and the force of the blow sent the Green Lantern hurtling through the air. The forcefield generated by Larvox’s power ring protected him, as like a green missile the bacterial alien tore through a table and the booth seat behind it before skidding along the floor.

Guy Gardner roused himself from the floor and, while still shaking his head to clear it, leveled his Qwardian ring at Goldface and fired a beam of yellow energy at him. Bands of hard yellow light encircled the Goldface/Lead Duality, pinning both arms to the sides. Kenyon cried out in anger, and the Lead half of his body began to morph into different shapes – spherical, elongated, flat, spiked – in an attempt to break free. But Gardner’s control over his ring construct was powerful, and the bands remained tight around the Duality, whatever shape the robotic half took.

"Do you mean to hold onto me forever?" Kenyon demanded with a sneer. "I know you won’t hurt me, for fear of what it would do to your Metal Man friend. Will you simply keep us both bound here eternally?"

Gardner did not answer, but only extended the yellow bands to encase the Duality’s mouth as well. "Damn Guardians," Gardner muttered to himself, "always causing problems …"

An emerald beach umbrella poked through the mound of debris atop the bar, opened and revealed Rayner and Ganthet underneath. Rayner surveyed the restaurant, saw Larvox rising to face the centauroid Duality, the tiger tattoo fighting the crab Duality as Tarrant carried Shilandra Thane out of harm’s way, and Gardner struggling to keep Goldface/Lead bound. Rot Lop Fan was knocking on the side of Voz’s golden cocoon, holding his frog-shaped head to the yellow surface. "Ganthet, what do we do?" Rayner asked.

"I feel my strength returning," the Guardian answered, "but undoing what I have done will prove difficult. In most cases Dualities are eager to be separated, having been joined against their will. But Goldface very much desires to keep his new form, which will hinder any separation I might attempt. So long as his will is contrary to mine, the separation may be impossible."

"Great," Rayner said, as he saw the crab Duality finally catch the tiger’s belly in its massive claw. With one snap the tiger was cut in half, and with a painful roar the tattoo disappeared. The Duality returned its attention to Tarrant and Shilandra Thane, raised its gun and fired. Again, it missed.

"He’s not compensating for having only one eye," Rayner thought out loud. "He’s got no depth perception." With that, Rayner sent out a small tendril of emerald energy, and tapped the Duality on the back of its human head. The Duality turned around.

Rayner was standing on top of the bar, and beside him stood a green midget bartender dressed like an old West saloon keeper. The Duality pointed its gun at Rayner. The midget threw a roundhouse punch at the Duality’s human side of its head. The green energy construct was not actually standing on the bar, but floating only a few inches from the Duality’s face. Rayner had created it small enough to give the image the perspective height it needed, and positioned it so the Duality would see it ‘standing’ on the bar. The construct was small but focused all of Rayner’s willpower in a single punch, which smashed into the human temple and rendered the Duality instantly unconscious.

"See if you can’t separate them," Rayner said to Ganthet as the Duality crumpled to the floor of the restaurant.

Just then the air in the restaurant began to vibrate in resonance with a tone coming from Rot Lop Fan’s ring. Rot Lop Fan focused the vibrations on Voz’s gold encasement, which was soon humming in sympathetic frequencies. A moment later the cocoon shattered and Voz was free.

"Voz, help Larvox!" Rayner ordered as he jumped down from the bar. The hunchbacked giant sprang across to a nearby tabletop, and from there leapt onto the back of the centauroid Duality. Larvox had enclosed the reptilian talons and the human gun-wielding hand in emerald restraints. Voz created a giant emerald whip which began flailing against the Duality’s back.

Gardner still held the edge over the Goldface/Lead Duality, keeping the joined pair locked in yellow bands of energy. Rayner reached Rot Lop Fan’s side and guided him over to the Lead side of the Duality, then whispered instructions into the alien Green Lantern’s ear membrane. Rot Lop Fan placed his ring against Lead’s head.

The reptilian centauroid’s tail thrashed as Voz whipped its back, and soon Voz was knocked off as the tail connected full force with his furry body. The Duality tried to rear up to reach Larvox once again, but this time a green spear caught its exposed underbelly and the creature screeched in pain. Shilandra Thane, laying down and still weak from the venom’s effects, was able to project the weapon and knock the Duality onto its back. Voz regained his feet and projected a massive emerald paw which beat at the Duality, and Shilandra continued her assault as Larvox held the Duality’s arms above its head. The Duality was soon rendered senseless.

Rot Lop Fan was vibrating Lead with sound, and while the vibrations were not painful to the Metal Man, attuned to his composition and density as they were, they were causing no small amount of suffering for Kenyon. Goldface screamed, and Rot Lop Fan continued the vibrational assault through Lead. The screams rose in volume to almost inhuman levels.

"Make … it … stop!!!" Goldface pleaded.

"You heard him, Ganthet," Rayner called back to the Guardian. "Make it stop!"

Ganthet raised his small blue arms and a brilliant green light filled the entire restaurant. When the flash subsided, Goldface’s underlings were whole, still unconscious, while their alien Duality halves were gone. Goldface and Lead had been separated, and Gardner quickly released Lead and enclosed Goldface in a yellow energy bubble.

"Well, that was exciting," Rayner sighed.

"Easy for you to say, kid," Gardner grumbled. "It wasn’t your restaurant that got totally trashed."

Rayner glanced around at the collateral damage. "Ouch. Sorry about that, Guy."

Gardner shrugged. "Coulda been worse. And at least we caught this guy. I’ll call the cops and they can come pick him up. We’ll worry about how he pays for it all later."

Rayner nodded. "Is everyone OK?" he asked.

Shilandra Thane’s ring was already working on eliminating the toxins from her system, and aside from some bruises everyone else seemed fine. "We all are well," Larvox replied.

"Well, then, how ‘bout we say if any of the beer around here survived, huh?" Gardner asked as he reached for the phone to call the police.

"I think I’ve had enough fun," Rayner answered. "Abel and I have to get back to New York. But you guys have a good time. Ganthet, I’m glad you’re all right. The rest of the GLs will have to fill you in on what went down in Qward. We’re outta here. Ready, Abel?"

"Oh yeah," the Tattooed Man answered. "Am I ever. Vegas is a little too weird for me."

                

"Honey, I’m home," Kyle Rayner announced as he flew through the window of his apartment in New York. He had dropped Abel Tarrant off near Times Square, gave him his phone number to call if he needed anything, and wished him luck.

"Har de har har," Rayner’s roommate Jenny Hayden answered. "Did you have fun?"

"Long, long story," Rayner explained. Jenny, the green-skinned girl who was also known as Jade, was sitting on the sofa, sorting through her mail. "I’m glad you needed a roommate. It’s nice to have someone checking the mail for you while you’re in the anti-matter universe on business."

"I’m sure it is," Jenny smiled. "And you can tell me all about your anti-matter adventures on the way."

"On the way? On the way where?"

"I’m going to a wedding," Jenny said, holding up a filigreed envelope. "And I need a date. You available?"

"Anything for a friend," Kyle agreed good-naturedly. "Who’s getting hitched?"

"Carter Hall."

"Carter ‘Hawkman’ Hall?" Rayner asked, incredulous.

"That’s the one. Old friend of the family." Jenny stood up and was bathed in a green halo of light, transforming her yellow t-shirt and jeans into the dark green and white costume she wore as Jade. "Come on, we’ll talk while we fly. The wedding’s near the North Pole so we’d better get going." She floated out the window.

"Oooo-kaaay," Rayner shook his head while he followed her into the sky outside.

 

                

AUTHOR’S NOTE: I must take a moment and thank TJ for letting me have this issue. When I came on board scripting GL, TJ already had a year’s worth of storyline plotted. I persuaded him to let me sneak this one-shot plot into the fold, and what you’ve just read is the first issue which was conceived of and planned out by me alone. So don’t despair, nothing strange has happened to TJ’s plotting abilities. If you wondered how he produced such a mangled narrative after the quality of the preceding eight months, rest assured he had nothing to do with it. And next month we go back to TJ’s master plan. But thanks again to my partner for letting me take the wheel for a month. It was fun.

NEXT ISSUE: COLD ARMAGEDDON!!!!!!!