Issue #211

FDC presents “City of Sleeping Angels”

by TJ Burns and Dale Glaser 

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Across the planet Earth, chaos ran rampant as Mongul's armada attacked city after city. A detachment of Psion strafing-craft wove a net of destruction through the skies over Rio de Janeiro, dropping bombs like rain on the Brazilian city. People in the streets below cried out for mercy, for rescue, for anything to stop the invaders, as they ran to hide from the assault threatening to wipe out their home completely. Explosions rocked office buildings, tenement houses, churches, stores, leaving behind burning rubble.
Twin emerald flashes in the sky heralded the arrival of the Green Lanterns Medphyll and Xax. Their years of service in the Green Lantern Corps allowed them to coordinate actions with scarcely a word spoken. Medphyll immediately dove for the beach, and willed his power ring to create a gigantic siphon which pumped water over the raging fires where the Psion bombs had hit hardest. Medphyll broadened the base of the siphon to create a shelter, which he quickly gestured for the natives of Rio to hide beneath. The Brazilians gaped openly at the strange alien with one large eye, brown bark-like skin and leafy hair, but made their way across the beach and under the green shield.
Xax flew like a tiny arc of green lightning, dodging the fire of the Psion strafing craft. He willed his ring to add bumblebee wings to each airborne bomb, causing the weapons to fly back up to the ships that had launched them. The thunder of explosions continued across the South American coastline, but now, instead of Earth buildings, Psion warships were feeling their effects. The Psions began shooting their own bombs out of the air, but not before two strafing craft were destroyed and sent to watery graves below.

Umburu of Z'Nang fought alone against a full regiment of Branx marines who had already torn into the heart of Prague. Chaselon had remained behind in Amsterdam, and Rot Lop Fan had gone ahead to Modora, leaving the former revolutionary to deal with this vicious horde of alien warriors. Umburu's Green Lantern uniform was torn in several places, his white beard and deep purple skin singed and blackened, but he had battled the marines to a standstill. The Branx continued to fire on him without pause, a continuous barrage of laser blasts from their heavy rifles, yet Umburu was able to maintain his own emerald forceshield through sheer will power, deflecting the incoming fire. From time to time the venerable Green Lantern would drop his own shield long enough to counterattack the Branx marines with crushing blows from his power ring, and it was at those times the Branx were able to do some damage thanks to sheer numbers.
At the moment Umburu had his shields up, and watched as the commander of the Branx regiment began to order the troops forward, closing the distance between themselves and the Green Lantern. Umburu realized what this new strategy meant: either the Branx would walk over his shields, or be close enough when he dropped them to counterattack that he would fall under the point-blank onslaught. Umburu's mind raced to find a way to stop the alien marauders.
A rumbling sound echoed from the far end of the city street, and an army tank treaded slowly into view. Its turret rotated toward the Branx soldiers, and fired an anti-tank shell into their midst. The explosion on impact was at best a distraction; only one or two Branx were actually knocked down and those were protected by their space armor.
The distraction was enough for Umburu to act. He willed his power ring to create a plow-shaped energy construct, which ate through the street leaving a giant furrow in its wake. The plow continued through the ranks of the aliens, and the Branx fell into the ravine. Umburu changed his energy weapon into a pair of shovels that reversed direction and began shoveling rubble into the trench, burying the Branx. It was not an honorable ending for the soldiers, but the unprovoked attack on Earth was nothing less than an atrocity. The Branx should know that war is cruel.

The majority of the armada focused on New York City, which contained not only a tremendous number of lives to sacrifice on Mongul's altar, but also the greatest number of heroes which Mongul had decreed must be destroyed before the conquest of Earth could succeed. Uncountable numbers of bloodthirsty alien troops swarmed through the Big Apple's streets, slaughtering at will.
Abel Tarrant was not a hero. For most of his adult life, in fact, he had been known as the villain called the Tattooed Man. But he had recently reformed and, thanks to the assistance of Green Lantern Kyle Rayner, relocated in New York City to start over as an honest man. Now Manhattan was a battlefield, with the fate of the planet on the line, and hero or not, Abel Tarrant could not sit idly by.
A patrol of three Khundian warriors was traversing a broad city street, idly discharging their plasma pistols at parked cars, while Tarrant watched them laughing at exploding sedans and station wagons from the shadows of a nearby alley. Steeling himself, Tarrant touched a tattoo on his right shoulder, and flung it out at the Khunds. A moment later a floating portrait of the Virgin Mary hung in the air before the alien soldiers, who stopped in their tracks and pointed their guns at it. The Virgin pulled open her outer coat and revealed her Sacred Heart, pierced with a sword, surrounded by a wreath of thorns, and crowned with flames. The Khunds observed this with wary curiosity.
The thorns unraveled from around the heart and wrapped around the throat of one Khund warrior. One of his companions fired a single blast at the religious tattoo before the sword withdrew form the heart, slicing the plasma pistol in half and then running through the Khund. The third Khund tried to run away but was engulfed in flames spewing forth from the top of the heart, and fell to the street in a burning heap.
Abel Tarrant watched the demise of the three Khunds with grim satisfaction. "Man I'm glad I dated a lot of Catholic girls back in the day," he said softly to himself as the Tattoo of the Virgin Mother faded from the air and reappeared on his shoulder. Tarrant could still hear the screams and explosions of battle raging in the city all around him. He wondered where Kyle Rayner was, or for that matter where Hal Jordan was during this earth-shattering conflagration. And he hoped that wherever they were, they were close to bringing this madness to an end, before the Earth ran out of time.

Kyle Rayner and Hal Jordan led their division of the Green Lantern Corps into the skies above Los Angeles, California. After fending off an attack on the Citadel led by Evil Star, and learning that L.A. was the ultimate target Evil Star had been tasked with distracting the Corps from, they had braced themselves to find the worst upon reaching the city.* They had flown as fast as their power rings could carry them, but what they found at the end of their flight was not at all what they expected.
(* See last issue)
None of the buildings in Los Angeles had suffered the slightest physical damage. The streets were empty, and eerily silent. The city seemed utterly uninhabited, as if it had been conquered without a single shot being fired.
"What now?" Jade asked, surveying the desolate urban scene below.
"Well, no offense to three point nine nine million other Los Angelinos, but I came here to make sure my mom was okay," Kyle Rayner asserted. "I'm heading to her condo uptown."
"That's as good a place as any to start trying to figure out what happened here," Hal Jordan agreed, but Rayner was already streaking through the air again. Jordan and Jade exchanged glances, then followed after Rayner, along with the rest of the Green Lanterns.
They soon reached the rooftop of the apartment building. Rayner turned to face the other Lanterns, holding out his hands pleadingly. "Look, guys, things here are freaky, and I don't want to freak my mom out any more. Could maybe everyone but Hal and Jenny just … hang out up here?"
The varied sentients nodded in understanding. Jordan, Rayner and Jade entered through the rooftop door. They descended the stairs and entered the corridor. A resident of the apartment building, apparently recently returned from the grocery store, lay slumped across the threshold of their apartment. Food had spilled from paper bags on either side of the prone man, whose eyes were wide open and glazed over.
The three heroes moved past the catatonic man and reached the door of Mrs. Rayner's apartment. Her worried son willed a skeleton key to emanate form his power ring, opening the door. Within the apartment, Maura Rayner sat on the sofa, extremely still.
"Ma? Ma, you okay?" Kyle Rayner asked, as he moved to his mother's side. Maura Rayner simply stared ahead blankly, her hands resting limply on the cushions. She made no answer, nor indication that she had heard her son at all. Her breathing seemed normal, and otherwise she appeared unharmed. But she was utterly unreachable nonetheless.
"Kyle? You okay?" Jade asked with concern.
"Yeah. Fine." Rayner scrutinized his mother. He picked up her hands, folded them in her lap, then stood up straight and looked Jordan hard in the eye. "Any thoughts, chief?"
"Obviously something unnatural has happened here," Jordan answered seriously. "It's doubtful that some physical cause visited the entire city so quickly, without evidence, so the only possibility is a mental energy attack of some kind. Let's get outside and see if our rings can pick up on the source. We'll get to the bottom of this, Kyle."
Back on the rooftop, the Green Lanterns assembled in a circle at Jordan's command, raised their rings high in the air and allowed the emerald energy to radiate outward in search of anomalous readings. Rayner's ring projected a larger-than-life green Sherlock Holmes, peering angrily through an oversized magnifying glass. Jade stood reassuringly by Rayner's side.
After a few moments, Salakk spoke. "I believe my ring has found … something," the alien announced, pointing into the distance with his two left arms. Jade, eager to do something to help, immediately flew high into the air to look in the direction Salakk indicated. She returned to the rooftop to confirm Salakk's discovery.
"There's a ship, down in the warehouse district, which must be where the energy came from," Jade explained. "I can't see exactly what the ship is armed with, and the aliens must be inside. But it's something to head for."
The Green Lanterns agreed and took to the air on course for the warehouse district. They flew low, weaving between city buildings, hoping to avoid detection and keep surprise on their side. Soon they were close enough to see the sleek spacecraft.
"The markings on this starship are Thanagarian," Stel remarked in his electronic monotone.
"Thanagar? Hawkman Thanagar?" Rayner inquired.
"He was a good apple from a bad barrel," Jordan explained. "Everybody be careful."
The Green Lanterns reached open ground. Adam, flying on the left-most point of their formation, noticed the crowd first. "So it's slaves they're after," he said, directing his fellow Corps members' attention to a cluster of figures half-hidden between two warehouses.
Over fifty people stood immobilized, staring ahead with glazed, blank eyes. Two Thanagarian soldiers were moving through the crowd, connecting ankles with shackles and chains. Dressed in gray and black body armor, with golden hawk helmets and silvery metal wings, the soldiers worked unhurriedly, as their captives were as unresponsive as Maura Rayner had been.
"All right, Zghithii, you take out the two Thanagarians over by those people," Hal Jordan instructed. "Everyone else, follow me."
The snake-like Green Lantern glided toward the enslaved humans and their Thanagarian captors. The rest of the Corps made their way slowly across to the spacecraft. Zghithii reached his target, and with one quick strike of his emerald energy wrapped the two Thanagarians in green tendrils and slammed them into one another before the surprised soldiers could react. The soldiers were incapacitated, but the humans remained enthralled, rooted to the spots where they stood.
Before the rest of the Green Lanterns could reach the spacecraft, dozens of Thanagarian shock troops swooped down from hiding spots on the rooftops of warehouses, energy rifles blasting away at the Corps members now standing out in the open. Alien battle cries rang out as the Green Lanterns scattered under fire.
Hal Jordan made the first return salvo, willing his power ring to create an enormous emerald pterodactyl that sank its teeth into the torso of an attacking Thanagarian and drove the alien into the ground. The Thanagarian fired round after round of energy blasts at the winged dinosaur, but the energy construct was as strong as Jordan's willpower, and thrashed the Thanagarian against the ground until he was beaten into submission.
M'Dahna quickly took to the air, surrounding herself with a forcefield in the shape of a green leviathan, and rammed into three of the flying Thanagarians with incredible force that sent them spiraling out of control. As she continued to pass by, she snapped the tail fluke of her forcefield and battered two of the three with it.
Two female Thanagarian soldiers hovered above the Green Lanterns, taking careful aim with their energy rifles and squeezing off sniper-like shots. One blast exploded the ground between Stel's legs, causing the robot to stagger back several steps. Another burned across Jade's shoulder, at which her head snapped around to face the Thanagarian females, fury burning in her dark green eyes. Jade burst into flight directly toward the Thanagarians. In the half-second it took the hovering soldiers to point their weapons away from the ground and focus on the green-skinned girl charging them, Jade was able to let loose a devastating charge of deep green energy at the chest of the first, and land a powerful right hook across the jaw of the second.
Zghithii flew into the fray, curling his serpentine body into a C-shape in order to point the power ring which adorned the tip of his tail toward an approaching Thanagarian. A pair of emerald pincers emerged from the ring and clamped down on the alien soldier's helmet, but its golden color rendered the attack ineffectual. This inspired the Thanagarian to press the attack as a flying headbutt, and the gold hawk helmet passed through Zghithii's defenses and slammed hard into the snake's belly.
Kyle Rayner caught notice of Zghithii's struggle as he crossed the ground toward the spaceship, determined to find a way to undo the catatonia afflicting his mother. "Damn, Kilowog really needs to get Guy to help him train the out-of-practice GL's," Kyle muttered to himself. "Forgetting mid-battle about the ring's weakness to yellow can only end in tears. Unless you're lucky enough to have an advanced, weakness-free model." With that Rayner leveled his own ring at the Thanagarian a created a giant green avatar of a racecar pit-crew member, carrying a socket wrench. The construct slipped the wrench head over the Thanagarian's helmet and turned the handle, twisting the helmet so that its back now covered the Thanagarian's face, blinding him. The momentary respite gave Zghithii a chance to recover, and the Green Lantern wasted no time creating a green column of energy with which to ram the Thanagarian bodily into a nearby warehouse wall.
Rayner returned his attention to the spacecraft, when without warning the hull doors opened with a loud hiss, and a metal gangplank descended to meet the ground. A lone figure strode halfway down the ramp, dressed in a blue and white general's uniform as well as a white space helmet adorned with a single fin on its crest. The general smirked malevolently as his large bulging eyes took in the scene before him; then he raised high above his head a round, well-beaten disc of gold - his Gamma Gong.
"Kanjar Ro!" Jordan spat, recognizing the old foe of the Justice League as he flew to Rayner's side. "You're the one mind-controlling all of Los Angeles! Release them now!"
"I think not, Green Lantern!" Kanjar Ro shouted back. "The citizens of this Earth city, depraved though they may be when in their right minds, will make excellent slaves under my control! And to think that shortsighted brute Mongul wanted me to kill every earthling I found. I see no reason to waste perfectly good slave material, and if the fear of Mongul has not stopped me, surely you don't believe you will!" He laughed coldly, then struck the Gamma Gong twice. "Slaves! Stop the Green Lanterns! Kill them all!!!"
For the first time, the assembled citizens showed signs of awareness, suddenly coming to life and charging toward the spacecraft. Momentarily, Jordan and Rayner were overrun by men and women clearly straining themselves to the brink of physical exhaustion to comply with Kanjar Ro's commands. Punches flew, fingernails tore, and kicking feet flailed at the two Green Lanterns. Rayner willed his power ring to create several green referees throughout the crowd, who held up their arms to fend off the mentally enslaved men and women. Jordan simply constructed an emerald band of solid energy around himself, which he slowly extended outward to keep the Los Angelinos a safe distance away.
The rest of the Green Lantern Corps members turned their attention to Rayner and Jordan, and moved toward the mob under Kanjar Ro's control. Adam waded into the outer fringe of the frenzied group, a body-length shield of green energy emanating from his ring. A Thanagarian soldier wielding a spiked mace attacked Adam from behind with a fly-by blow that knocked the muscular Lantern to his knees. Salakk moved closer to the mind-controlled people, but was followed by laser rifle fire from several Thanagarian soldiers, unconcerned about human obstacles between themselves and their target. An elderly man went down in a heap, his clothes burning, and Salakk regretfully pulled back from the mob scene.
"Hal, our guys are falling apart out there," Rayner pointed out, as a short, heavy-set woman pounded her fists into his ribs. "They don't know whether to keep tussling with the Hawk Meanies or help us subdue the normal folks. Someone's gotta take command, hint hint, I'm looking at the recently-resurrected legend, here."
"You're right, at least about needing some leadership" Jordan agreed. Emerald light shone brightly from his power ring, and Jordan was sitting astride a bright green pegasus, which leapt up into the sky. Jordan's voice boomed out confidently, "M'Dahna! Adam! You help Kyle stop those people from hurting themselves or anyone else. Everyone else, don't let up on the Thanagarians!" As he finished speaking an emerald sword appeared in Jordan's hand and he spurred his winged horse toward four Thanagarian soldiers. With a flash of the green blade Jordan severed the muzzles of all four soldiers' rifles, and a second backhanded slash sent the Thanagarians hurtling away.
Adam regained his feet and willed his ring to generate heavy green globes, each three feet in diameter, around the fists of the people nearest him. The globes rested on the ground, holding men and women in place with their weight and keeping their hands restrained. M'Dahna glided above the mob and created a net of emerald energy that harmlessly pinned down more of the victims of the Gamma Gong's influence. Rayner continued to use his energy constructs in striped shirts to quell the more violent citizens.
Jade continued to outmaneuver Thanagarians in the air and return green energy blasts for their laser fire. Stel's power ring created mechanical clamps that pinned together the wings of two soldiers, immobilizing them. Zghithii and Salakk forged lengths of verdant chain to anchor more Thanagarians to the earth, willing the chains to snap down hard to slam the soldiers into the ground.
The Green Lanterns began to take the upper hand in the conflict, despite being vastly outnumbered, as more and more Thanagarians were rendered unconscious and human thralls were restrained. Kanjar Ro, however, was unperturbed. He laid down his Gamma Gong and unhooked from the back of his belt his Energi-Rod. "Enjoy your momentary victory against my useless Hawk troops, Green Lantern," Kanjar Ro growled to himself as he pointed the weapon at Jordan. "Your ring-wielding friends will be leaderless and helpless before me, once you have finally been killed!"
"NOOOOO!!!" a voice cried out from a pile of empty boxes and discarded palettes against a nearby warehouse exterior. A shape emerged, clad in a ratty longcoat with a kerchief wrapped around its head. It was too large to be human, yet had the curvaceous outline of a female, as well as a fluid movement as she sprinted toward Kanjar Ro. The Energi-Rod's muzzle crackled as it was about to fire, but the huge figure tackled Kanjar Ro and the weapon discharged into the ground. Kanjar Ro and the newly arrived combatant fell to the pavement together, and the powerful newcomer easily wrapped her arms around the would-be slaver's torso, then got to her feet and lifted Kanjar Ro in a bear hug. The kerchief, loosened by the impact of the tackle, fell away from her head and fluttered down to the ground as Kanjar Ro struggled futilely to escape, desperate fear evident on his face.
A chained Thanagarian, arcing through the air under the direction of Salakk's power ring, collided with the last two airborne Hawk soldiers and knocked them out cold. Adam finished corralling the Los Angelinos, who had become markedly more docile after Kanjar Ro himself had been attacked and distracted from mentally commanding them. All the Green Lanterns turned to see their mysterious savior, and Hal Jordan smiled broadly with recognition.
"Brik!" he exclaimed happily. "Brik of Dryad!
Brik's mouth opened slightly, but no words were formed. She simply stared for a long moment, her gray, stony face a frozen tableau of awe and astonishment. Finally, she found her voice. "Oh … Hal Jordan … I saw you on the television, but I couldn't really believe you were back … and yet here you are … alive." She laughed, a sound of elation nearly covering memories of heartbreaking sorrow. "You're alive, Hal Jordan!" Brik hooted.
"He still is, thanks to you," Rayner added. "But, have you been here in L.A. the whole time? How'd you avoid the effects of the mind control?"
Brik set her face in an expression of stalwart pride. "The will of a Green Lantern is a powerful tool, even without a ring to give it external shape," she explained seriously.
"True enough, Brik, true enough," Jordan assented, and Brik beamed with pleasure. Now that the Green Lanterns were all gathered around, Brik released Kanjar Ro, and he was quickly shackled in emerald restraints provided by Adam and Stel. Rayner, meanwhile, sent forth a green construct of a labrador retriever, which fetched the Gamma Gong in its mouth like a frisbee.
"Anybody object to me breaking this little toy?" Rayner inquired, and with no arguments forthcoming, the retriever bit down hard and snapped the Gong into pieces. The residents of the city, cordoned off to the side, began to emerge from their stupor and questioningly observed their surroundings.
"We should take Kanjar Ro back to the Citadel," Jordan stated matter-of-factly. "Then we can find out where things stand on combating the overall invasion."
"Allow me to save you the trouble," a gravelly baritone answered from above, "on both counts."
The Green Lanterns looked skyward, to be blinded by a searing light that lanced straight into Kanjar Ro's heart and dropped him to the ground. As their vision cleared, the Corps members saw a floating platform overhead, just large enough to accommodate a lone figure. A tall, solidly built being, with pale yellow skin, dressed in a gray and maroon bodysuit, gripped the rail of the hover platform in blocky yellow fists.
"Kanjar Ro has paid the price for disobeying me … and as for the invasion of your pathetic world, you stand no chance at all of stopping it. By this time tomorrow, all life on this world will be forfeit … to ME!" the world-conqueror Mongul proclaimed, his voice as chilling as the touch of death.

TO BE CONTINUED … !!!

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NEXT ISSUE: COLD ARMAGEDDON races toward its conclusion! Hal Jordan faces off against the galactic despot responsible for the destruction of Coast City! The Corps defends the far-reaches of the globe from the alien armada! Don't miss this monumental, Year One-ending issue!