Dodgers Stadium, Los Angeles, CA                              

Hal Jordan's power ring projected two large green fists, which held a struggling man up against the outfield wall of the ballpark. Two hours ago, Jordan had been watching the Dodgers win, enjoying a pleasant day alongside his best friend Tom Kalmaku. Less than an hour before, the man in his ring's grip had revealed himself as an agent of the intergalactic Manhunter cult, attempting to assassinate Kalmaku. Jordan had thwarted the man, faced off against an insane Manhunter android, and kept Kalmaku alive by convincing two other Manhunters that they had succeeded in killing him.* Now Kalmaku was on his way home, while Jordan was in a foul mood and left with only one prisoner to interrogate.
(* All last issue - TJB & DG)

"What's the master plan?" Jordan demanded of his captive brusquely. "You came here for Tom. Why? How does killing him now benefit the Manhunters?"

The man held by the emerald energy fists was heavy-set, with curly, black hair just beginning to recede with age. He stared balefully at Jordan, and the only response he made to the questions was to say, "No man escapes the Manhunters," with the harsh grin of a fanatic.

Jordan scowled at the man and willed one of the green hands holding him to pull back. The other fist construct spread its fingers to hold the man securely against the wall. "Did I ask too many questions at once?" Jordan asked with mock concern. On the fingers of the pulled-back fist, a dark green set of brass knuckles appeared. Jordan continued, "I'm sorry. Let's start simply. What's your name?"

The man glared unhappily, but answered, "Salvatore Benici."

"All right, Sally," Jordan nodded, while the energy construct behind him adjusted its fingers around the handle of the giant brass knuckles, "why were you and the Manhunter androids gunning for Kalmaku? Are you targeting the Chosen?" A day ago Hal Jordan would have been fairly certain that almost no one remembered the chain of circumstances the Guardians referred to as the Millennium event, in which twelve members of humanity had been selected to usher in the next step in human evolution. But of course the Manhunters, who had battled the Guardians and nearly been completely destroyed during the Millennium event, would not forget such things.

Benici seemed consumed with inner turmoil, as the loyal operative within him struggled against the devout proselytizer, weighing keeping secrets against spreading the word. Secrecy lost out as Benici began spouting angrily, "Yes, the Chosen! As well as the Green Lanterns, and everything else the Guardians have ever corrupted with their disorderly weakness, and the Guardians themselves! The Manhunters will wipe you all out, obliterate you from this universe!"

Jordan considered his captive carefully. The near-hysterical tenor of Benici's voice was almost identical to hundreds of other maniacs Jordan had faced over the years, convinced of their own superiority and righteousness, blind to the fact that they were doomed to fail. Almost identical, but some underlying conviction gave Jordan pause. Benici seemed to not only have faith in his holy mission, but to have seen proof that it would succeed. "How?" Jordan pressed.

Benici's eyes narrowed. "Your Corps, the Chosen, the Guardians - they will be hunted like animals, each in turn in their own time. The rest of the human race ... will be dealt with differently."

"What do you mean by that?" Jordan demanded.

Benici was grinning again. "This John Stewart, the human Guardian, troubles the Manhunters greatly. Extreme measures are being taken to ensure that no human like John Stewart ever happens again. And one of your own lanterns will be the key to that."

Jordan willed the green fist over his shoulder to brandish the brass knuckles at Benici. "What are you saying?" Jordan insisted. "Talk, damn you!" Benici only grinned defiantly, and Jordan let the energy construct fist fly at Benici's head, and screamed, "Talk!" The brass knuckles stopped less than an inch from Benici's face. Benici never said a word, and never stopped grinning.

Two police officers ran around the curving outfield wall and approached the Green Lantern and the Manhunter agent. Cautiously they drew their sidearms. "Hey, GL, everything cool back here?" the older of the two cops asked.

Jordan stared down Benici a moment longer, then turned away in disgust. The brass-knuckle wearing fist evaporated, and the hand restraining Benici transformed into a glowing green sphere enclosing the captive Manhunter. "Cool enough for now," Jordan answered the police officer. "I'm afraid this matter is bigger than police business, and I'll have to take this man with me. Excuse me, officers." With that Jordan rose into the air, towing Benici behind him on a line of emerald light emanating from his power ring.

                              Guardians Citadel, Coast City, CA                              

Kyle Rayner's power ring projected a green, anthropomorphic steam shovel, with eyes that blinked happily and reinforced teeth that chomped on the rubble of the ruined Citadel. Apros and Galius Zed assisted him with less stylized digging implements created by their own power rings. The bruised green fragments of the Guardians' Citadel were cleared away, and beneath them were revealed two of the Guardians themselves. They were unconscious, but enveloped in Oan energies which had protected their bodies from harm as the structure had collapsed.

We have found them, Apros broadcast telepathically to Rayner and Galius Zed. You should conserve your ring's charge, Kyle Rayner. Doubtless it will be needed again before your missing battery is recovered.

Rayner's steam shovel dissipated, and he nodded at the wisdom of the words coming from the mind of the huge, many-tentacled pumpkin. Rayner spoke to Galius Zed, "You wanna take them over to the others?"

"Sure," the squat tripod answered. A pair of stretchers emanated from Galius Zed's power ring and slid under the prone forms of the Guardians. They were lifted into the air by Galius Zed, who flew them across the courtyard to the area in which the Guardians were congregating. Galius Zed laid the unconscious Guardians on the ground.

Wununu Werro Wa approached the two still forms and knelt between them. The small, blue-skinned man laid a tiny hand on each of the prone Guardian's foreheads, and after a moment pronounced, "Zafaacha Ziz Zo and Ommek Obobo Ok. Bringing the number of Guardians present to twelve." Wununu looked around at the other Guardians in the area, most of whom were conscious, although a few were as catatonic as Zafaacha and Ommek. Even those who were conscious, however, said nothing. The Guardians' dark eyes darted among each other searchingly.

Finally Ganthet broke the silence. "Not everything is as it seems," he intoned ominously.

Rayner had just walked the distance between the excavation and the Guardians. "What do you mean, Ganthet? Is everybody accounted for?"

"Yes and no," Ganthet shrugged mysteriously. With a look of impatience, Mikaba Mylla Mi brushed past Ganthet and called out, "Xax! Attend to me!"

Momentarily the tiny, grasshopper-like Green Lantern hopped over to Mikaba. "Yes, Guardians?" Xax chirped.

"You spoke of witnessing two of the renegade androids departing with John Stewart and two of our brothers," Mikaba Mylla Mi said gravely. "Is that correct?"

"Yes, correct, yes," Xax replied.

"Are you certain that two of our brothers were taken?" Mikaba frowned. "Not only one, along with John Stewart?"

"Yes, yes, two, yes," Xax chittered enthusiastically. "Two androids, one-two, one John Stewart, two Guardians, one-two. Two, yes."

"I see," Mikaba nodded slowly, indicating that Xax was dismissed. Mikaba turned back to his brother Guardians with a troubled look on his wizened face.

"One too many Guardians," Rayner said, finally deciphering the situation.

"Correct," Ganthet nodded.

"But only one a true Guardian," Wununu Werro Wa pointed out. "Of the thirteen Guardians who remain, and now live here on Earth, twelve of us are in this place," the Guardian explained, spreading his arms in a gesture encompassing the courtyard. "Only our brother Poggepgee Pego Pau is missing. We are positively sure that the twelve Guardians here are who they claim to be."

"So, the second Guardian Xax saw was ... a fake?" Galius Zed asked. "Why would the Manhunters fake kidnapping a Guardian?"

"There are more pressing needs at the moment than answering that question," a deep voice rumbled from the sky above Rayner, Galius Zed and the Guardians, who looked up to see three figures descending.

                              Ferris Aircraft Offices, Los Angeles, CA                              

Carol Ferris sat behind her mahogany desk, tapping a business card against its glossy surface nervously. Her violet eyes flicked back and forth between the embossed card and the phone on the corner of her desk. Finally, resolutely, she lifted the receiver to her ear, laid the card flat, and began to dial the phone. The number she dialed was imprinted beneath the words "FEDERAL COMMISSION ON XENOMILITARY OPERATIONS - DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE" on the card.

"Hello? Yes, this is Carol Ferris. I'm calling to ... to ... well, I was told to call if there were any further alien-related incidents. I've heard reports about an altercation at Dodgers Stadium, and I'm reasonably ... no, completely sure that there was alien involvement."

Carol leaned her head back against the top of her chair, and closed her eyes. "Yes," she went on, "eyewitnesses will say they saw armored figures with strange weapons, and you might conclude that it could be anything from Intergang to Bialyan terrorists. I am calling because I know exactly where those armored figures come from."

Carol listened to the voice on the other end of the line. With slight irritation, she answered, "Yes, I realize this is sensitive information, which is why I've only told you that I know, rather than what I know. Oh? You'll send someone to Ferris Aircraft to discuss this further? If you think that's best. Yes, I understand." Carol picked up a pen and jotted down the time of her appointment with the FCXO representative, along with the rep's name. "Thank you. All right. Goodbye."

Carol hung up the phone and buried her face in her hands. She wished desperately that she had been born in a different time, a time when humanity believed itself alone in the universe, with no evidence to the contrary. Now that the galactic Pandora's box had been opened, however, it could never be closed again. Carol Ferris herself had spent part of her life interacting with alien races and unearthly forces, but wanted nothing more now than to leave that all behind. She found herself devoting more and more time and energy to trying to insulate her planet, her world, from the influences in the dark space surrounding it. The remainder of her time and energy was spent trying to forget the unearthly influence that was constantly exerted on the man she loved.

Carol picked up the business card and began tapping it on her desk again. Sooner or later, she knew, her desire for a world free of aliens and her love for a Green Lantern would come into direct conflict. Something would have to give. She refused to think through to which one it would be.

                              Guardians Citadel, Coast City, CA                              

The three figures alighted on the ground before Rayner, Galius Zed and the Guardians. In the lead was a male of basically human build with alabaster skin and black facial tattoos, dressed in a loose black tunic, gray trousers, brown boots and brown gloves, and wrapped in a heavy dark green cloak, with the insignia of the Green Lantern Corps as a clasp at his neck. To his right was an orange-skinned humanoid with large eyes, a beak like an eagle, and a crested fin atop its head. This alien wore a skintight blue outfit, with two holster-belts crossed over its hips holding blasters. To the leader's left, a bizarre creature squatted on the ground. The thing had magenta skin, a vaguely conical body which appeared to be mostly head, a blossom of short, slender tentacles on either side, and four legs bent to be nearly folded in half against its body. From the front it resembled a small mountain range of deep pink flesh, the knees forming hilltops on either side of the much higher peak of its head. The creature had two round red eyes which seemed to almost glow with an underlying golden energy, and an elongated, S-curved proboscis.

Ganthet stepped forward and bowed slightly to the leader. "Torquemada. Well met."

"Well met, Ganthet," Torquemada replied, bowing in return. "Guardians, this is Tomar-Tu, nephew of Tomar-Re, whom you knew well," the black-and-white skinned man announced, indicating the orange avian beside him. Pointing to the magenta creature, Torquemada continued, "And this is Rudlen, of the Pharon Empire. The Pharoids have a great appreciation for the Peace-bringer, Hal Jordan, and Rudlen in particular has sworn his life to aiding the Green Lanterns. All three of us have come to you to offer assistance against the threat of the revived Manhunters."

"You know what they're up to?" Rayner blurted suddenly.

"Perhaps not entirely," Torquemada admitted, raising an eyebrow in Rayner's direction, "but through my magicks I have received a vision, and it is that vision which brings me here. That vision came from the Starheart itself."

Nothing so audible as a gasp or murmur arose from the Guardians, but their countenances reflected that a sympathetic equivalent passed among them along the cosmic harmonics through which they communicated. Mikaba Mylla Mi said, "Speak plainly, Torquemada. What did this vision contain?"

Torquemada replied, "The vision was quite clear. I saw Manhunter androids attacking the champion of the Starheart on the Earth's moon. I could sense that it was the near future as I received the vision, and I can only pray that I have not arrived too late." Torquemada's words were not without irony as he surveyed the extensive damage to the Citadel.

"The champion of the Starheart ... Alan?" Rayner asked. "We gotta get up there. That is, if you're sure it really was the Moon, and not some soundstage under the Pentagon or whatever." In response to the blank stares from all eyes around him, Rayner hurried on, "Conspiracy theory humor. Sorry."

"Very well, Kyle Rayner," Wununu Werro Wa nodded. "You will lead six other Green Lanterns along with Torquemada, Tomar-Tu, and Rudlen to the lunar satellite of this planet, and aid Alan Scott against the renegade androids. Capture one, if possible."

Rayner started at the pronouncement. "Lead ...? Shouldn't Hal be the one ...?"

Wununu flicked a hand dismissively. "We do not know when Hal Jordan will return or make contact. Time is of the essence. Choose your fellow Green Lanterns."

Rayner scratched his head. Jordan was MIA, Stewart a captive of the Manhunters, Kilowog in the infirmary, both arms seriously injured ... perhaps it did fall to him to be a leader within the Corps. He had grown accustomed to his almost ancillary role within the Corps due to his primary membership in the JLA. The current situation, however, was obviously anything but ancillary.

"All right," Rayner said with determination, "Galius, you up for it?" Galius Zed responded with a thumbs-up and Rayner said, "Great. Round up Tuebeen ... M'Dahna, Larvox ... umm ... Umburu ... and Hollika Rahn." As Galius Zed flew off, Rayner turned to Torquemada and said, "I don't suppose you know what part of the moon they'll be fighting on?"

Torquemada shook his head. "I do not believe they will be difficult to find, however. In my vision, the Manhunter androids were ... not the same exemplars of stealth and surprise I recalled."

A minute later the six Green Lanterns Rayner had chosen convened with the Guardians in the courtyard. Tuebeen carried his power battery and held it out, saying, "We should all recharge our rings."

"Hey, Ganthet," Rayner said, as the other Lanterns began to recite their oaths while huddled around Tuebeen's battery, "is there any reason why I can't recharge my ring using one of these 'old-model' batteries?"

"Yes," Ganthet replied gravely, "there is."

Rayner was taken aback. "Really?"

Ganthet nodded solemnly, deliberately ignoring the other Guardians looking in his direction, whose expressions ranged from curiosity to borderline hostility. "Your power battery is as unique as your power ring, Kyle Rayner," Ganthet explained, "unique in ... many ways. That may explain why the Manhunters targeted your power battery for their agent to steal. In any case, your ring is essentially incompatible with the other Green Lanterns' batteries. You must conserve its energies until your battery has been retrieved."

"Peachy," Rayner grumbled.

"Perhaps one of your fellow Green Lanterns could convey you to the lunar satellite, to conserve energy," suggested Fadamo Fobri Fei, one of the most curmudgeonly of the remaining Guardians, with abundant derision in his voice.

"No thanks," Rayner waved off the idea. "I know a way to the Moon that'll be faster than power ring flight without using the rings at all."

                              The Moon                              

"Alan, this is simply breathtaking," Molly Mayne Scott sighed to her husband. She and Alan were reclining on green-energy deck chairs on the surface of the moon, under an environmental dome of almost transparent verdant light. Above them, shining brightly against the backdrop of star-studded blackness, was the blue and white swirling globe of Earth. From Alan and Molly's vantage point, their planet dominated the heavens magnificently.

"I'm glad you like it, sweetheart," the man known as the Sentinel smiled, entwining his fingers with his wife's. Her hands were lined with wrinkles, her digits stiff and knobby with age, but her husband clasped them gently, tenderly, with the love of a lifetime. He went on, "I have to thank Zatanna for this idea when we get back. We're long overdue for a vacation together, you and I."

Molly sighed, "You shouldn't need one of your superhero friends to tell you that." The comment was made without malice, and Molly squeezed Alan's hand a little. For once, the tension between them seemed to have nearly disappeared. Far away from the rest of the world, there was no need to pretend that the supernaturally youthful Alan was Molly's son. It seemed now as if they were both the same age, physically as well as mentally, soulmates whose greatest contentment came simply from sharing quiet time together, enjoying the view.

The first blasts slammed against the perimeter of the pale green dome, and shook the surface beneath Alan and Molly's chairs, raising puffs of moondust. Another bolt of energy crashed against the top of the dome, followed by a second, more powerful bolt, breaking through the surface cracked by the first. The energy dissipated as it passed through, its force expended in breaking the dome. Alan literally flew out of his chair, his train lantern-shaped ring bursting with jade flames which cloaked him in his red and green costume as Sentinel. "Molly, stay down!" Sentinel commanded as he reshaped her deck chair into a large shield before her. The androids began flying in through the hole in the dome at that instant.

There were five of the red and blue armored attackers. Leading the charge was a grotesquely muscled robot with an expression of pure fury upon its pale blue face. That figure was followed by a smaller, almost scrawny android which appeared to be talking to itself, a solidly built android, and a lanky android with disproportionately long legs flying in capricious loops and rolls. Plodding along at the rear was an android with a heavy, ungainly frame, curved to the appearance of obesity.

"::Target : traitor : Molly : Mayne : the : Harlequin : acquired::," the powerhouse in the lead announced in an angry voice. "::All : units : converge : and : destroy::."

"Over my dead body!" the Sentinel bellowed, thrusting his ring hand toward the Manhunter androids and unleashing a bright green hawk of light and fire. The massive bird closed on the lead android and wrapped its talons tightly around the bulging metal biceps.

The restrained Manhunter howled monstrously, a sound which eventually coalesced into words. "::Units : Jaypur : and : Skkittzz : destroy : Molly : Mayne : the : Harlequin::. ::Units : M'pedee : and : Appathi : destroy : the : Green : Lantern::."

"::Affirmative : Unit : Rager::," the four other androids responded. The two smaller Manhunters dropped to the Moon's surface, the lanky one twirling a pirouette as it descended. The tall, trim Manhunter flew directly at Sentinel, followed unhurriedly by the more round-bodied android, while Rager struggled against the claws of Sentinel's flaming green hawk.

Jaypur and Skkittzz landed behind the shield Sentinel had created for Molly, and the frail gray-haired woman pushed herself as far back against the shield as she could. Skkittzz flinched and looked around the dome nervously, and croaked, "::Affirmative::, ::affirmative::. ::The : Will : to : Do : is : the : Will : to : be : Done::, ::affirmative::."

Jaypur, ignoring Skkittzz's babbling, loomed over Molly on stilt-like legs and said, "::So : the : Harlequin : woman : is : on : the : Moon::. ::But : hey : diddle : diddle : where : is : your : fiddle::? ::If : you : had : your : looted : lute::, ::would : that : make : you : a : menstrual : minstrel::? Ha : ha : ha : ha : ha::!!!"

Molly threw an arm across her face, moaning "No, no, no" hopelessly. Jaypur approached her prone form in a lilting, dance-like step. Upon reaching her side the Manhunter android squatted, pulled back one arm as if to dash out Molly's brains with its fist, and brought its hand speeding toward her skull. A few inches from Molly's head the android stopped its hand, and poked Molly's head tauntingly, once again laughing in cold, mechanical tones.

"::Affirmative : need : target : and : tkk : and : tkk::," Skkittzz's metallic head twitched uncontrollably toward its left shoulder while it tried to finish speaking, "::and : diamonds::. ::Diamonds : and : sandwiches : affirmative::. ::Sandwiches : and : target : Will : to : be : Done::." Skittzz fired a blast of energy toward Molly, who was now weeping with fear. An internal gear twitch pulled the Manhunter android's aim high, and the blast sailed over the top of the shield.

Overhead, M'pedee, the first of the two Manhunter androids ordered to attack Sentinel, reached its target and balled its fist to strike. Suddenly it retreated through the air a few feet, scowling, "::Negative::, ::the : attack : on : target : should : be : energy : based::." M'pedee lurched forward again and in a deeper voice responded to itself, "::Silence::. ::Physical : force : will : be : sufficient::." With that the android kicked the thoroughly confused Sentinel in the midsection. The blow caused Sentinel to lose his concentration on the bird restraining Rager, and Rager barreled toward the elder Green Lantern. Appathi, the rotund android making its way toward Sentinel, veered aside lazily to allow Rager to pass.

At the same moment, Kyle Rayner and the other Green Lanterns, as well as Torquemada and his companions, entered the dome. The Manhunter androids froze for an instant to stare in bewilderment at the newcomers. "::Negative::, ::impossible::, ::no : Green : Lantern : energy : detected : in : space : between : Earth : and : Moon::," M'pedee insisted in a voice higher in pitch than any the android had used so far.

"Guess the JLA teleporter to the Watchtower gave us more of a surprise edge than I thought," Rayner mused, while assessing the situation.

The Manhunters recovered from their initial shock. Rager and M'pedee unleashed a brutal, point-blank energy assault from their gleaming blue gauntlets on Sentinel. From a distance, Appathi added his own firepower. Sentinel hurtled through the air, stunned, and the environmental dome around the area dissolved into nothingness.

Quickly Rayner ordered, "Torquemada and Hollika, go help Molly! She can't survive up here without air. Everybody else find a Manhunter to shut down!" His comrades sped to comply.

Umburu placed himself in Appathi's path. "Defend yourself!" the violet-skinned, white-bearded warrior barked, as an emerald morningstar with a head larger than the Manhunter appeared in the air between them. "Or know the pain of crushing defeat!!!"

Appathi shrugged, intoning mechanically, "::Either : way::, ::it : is : all : the : same::." A blast of searing energy shot out of Appathi's right hand as Umburu's gigantic light construct weapon bashed at the android. The Manhunter's energy blast glanced off Umburu's verdant forceshield; the Green Lantern's morningstar rent the android's corpulent body asunder, sending limbs, red and blue armor fragments, inner mechanisms and wiring flying.

Galius Zed zoomed to intercept the flying head of Appathi. Catching the tangle of wires spilling out of the severed neck with his foremost leg, Galius Zed wheeled through the air and turned his attention to Rager, who was surrounded by emerald avatars: a mammoth anemone projected from M'Dahna's power ring, and an equally sizable green virus willed into the fight by Larvox. The berserker Manhunter android slashed at the constructs with his golden knuckle spikes, furiously striving toward the Green Lanterns beyond.

Rayner lined up M'pedee in his sights and unleashed a beam of viridian energy, which coalesced around the android in the shape of a kitchen trash compacter with the brand name "GLC MASHMASTER" emblazoned on the door. M'pedee screamed in a girlish voice of protest as the device enveloped it, then a moment later smashed through the walls of the construct, boot thrusters blazing to propel the android toward Rayner.

"::You : will : desist : and : LEAVE : HER : ALONE::!" M'pedee bellowed in a deep baritone, arms outstretched with obvious intent to strangle Rayner.

"Whoa," Rayner objected, backing up through the air, "Here, hold this." Rayner's power ring created a set of jumper cables connected to an enormous battery, with the open clips attaching themselves to M'pedee's hands. Rayner nearly created an entire monster truck around the car battery, but restrained himself to conserve the charge in his ring. He willed the current to flow from the battery into the Manhunter android, which convulsed at the high voltage influx.

Below, Hollika Rahn landed beside Molly Mayne Scott, who was struggling weakly for breath as the oxygen once held in by her husband's energy dome quickly dissipated. Hollika's power ring created a breathing mask for Molly, who continued to lay exhausted on the surface of the moon.

Torquemada alighted beside Hollika and began to cast a warding spell around Molly to protect her from the attacks of the Manhunters. Meanwhile, Rudlen and Tomar-Tu engaged Skkittzz. Tomar-Tu drew both blasters from their holsters and fired at the scrawny Manhunter, but the android was able to jerkily dodge the blasts. Rudlen concentrated a moment longer and shot brilliant yellow bolts of energy from his eyes at Skkittzz. Guided by the Pharoid's mind, the bolts struck true and knocked the android off its feet, to crash down several dozen yards away.

Tuebeen flew within attack range of Jaypur, power ring blazing green light. Jaypur hopped from one foot to the other mockingly in Tuebeen's path, calling out, "::The : servants : of : the : Guardians : want : to : put : the : Manhunter : units : in : a : pretty : pickle:: ... ::and : all : green : and : shiny : they : look : like : pretty : pickles::! ::Ha : ha : ha::! ::Isn't : that : a : laugh::?"

"Not to me," the quartz-skinned man answered dourly, projecting a monstrous, faceted wheel of emerald energy which rolled over the Manhunter android with devastating force.

M'Dahna's anemone and Larvox's virus construct grappled with Rager, pinning the muscular android between them. Galius Zed's power ring projected a set of stocks, trapping the Manhunter's arms and head. Rager uttered a robotic banshee howl and extended two yellow blades on either side of each wrist, slicing through Galius Zed's restraints. Then the Manhunter android kicked out with both legs at the virus, shoving with both arms at the anemone, to create just enough space to slip out from between the two constructs, which, carried by their own momentum, began to grapple with one another. Rager blasted on boot thruster power toward Larvox, and slashed at the alien bacterium's cyclopic eye with its yellow knuckle spikes. Larvox's cilia stiffened in pain as Rager's weapons found their target.

A gigantic zeppelin of jade flames rammed into Rager's back, carrying the Manhunter android away from the Green Lanterns. Alan Scott had recovered and now seemed to virtually burn with energy as he stared defiantly at the Manhunters.

Rager spun around and snarled at Sentinel and the Green Lanterns. After a moment to absorb the futility of the Manhunters' situation, however, the lead android commanded, "::All : Units : abort : mission::. ::Cease : engagement : with : Green : Lanterns::. ::Abort : and : retreat::." Rager snapped off each word bitterly, then flew up into the black space overhead, firing a barrage of energy blasts backwards at the Green Lanters. The remaining Manhunter androids, Jaypur, Skittzz, and M'pedee, followed suit, laying down covering fire of their own.

"Shall we chase them down?" Umburu demanded.

"Uh ... no," Rayner decided. "We got a prisoner, sort of," he indicated Appathi's head, still clutched in Galius Zed's front foot, "and we did what we came here to do, keep Alan and Molly safe. Right, Hollika?"

Carrying Molly in her arms, Hollika Rahn ascended to the altitude at which the other Green Lanterns were hovering. "She is distressed and exhausted, but she should be fine," Hollika informed them.

"I'll take that precious bundle," Sentinel offered, accepting Molly from Hollika's arms into his own embrace. Molly was enveloped by the Sentinel's fiery green halo, and a quilted blanket of energy wrapped itself around her as well. "Thank you all. I don't know how you knew to be here, but I owe you more than I can say."

"It's no problem, Alan," Rayner assured him. "But now that you've seen what we're up against, you know we could use all the help we could get ..."

Sentinel's head dropped slightly, and his eyes fixed on his wife's fragile form in his arms. Without looking up he answered, "I know. But my priority is looking after this lady who I love. I've got to get her back home, and make absolutely certain that she's all right. I probably won't be convinced of that for a few days, during which time I really can't leave her side. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry," Rayner waved off the apology without anger. "By the time Molly's good as new, we'll probably have this whole Manhunter thing wrapped up anyway. Go. Be with your family."

Sentinel met Rayner's eyes again and nodded his appreciation. He began to rise into the starry sky, then stopped to say, "Kyle ... I don't mean to overstep my bounds, but under the circumstances ... I think Jennie misses you. You and I both know she would never say as much, but ... If you've been wondering whether or not you should try to make contact with her in Appollyon, take it from her pop - you really should."

Rayner gave Scott a grateful half-smile. "Gotcha."

The Sentinel resumed his flight back toward home, and Kyle Rayner led his fellow Green Lanterns and allies to return to the Watchtower.

                              The Sanctuary of the Manhunters                              

The sound of the heavy iron door slamming against the stony wall of the cell roused John Stewart from uneasy sleep. He raised his head slightly from the cold floor and saw two Manhunter androids enter. One of the androids was just over nine feet tall, shuffling on thick, powerful legs with equally thick arms dangling at its sides and a dull look upon its pale blue face; the other was only five feet tall, skinny, and holding its mechanical body in a stooped posture as if hoping to avoid notice. "::Quickly::, ::Unit : Brooht::," the smaller Manhunter android wheezed, "::we : must : bring : the : first : prisoner : to : the : Highmaster : at : once::!"

"::Affirmative : : : Unit : : : Ubseeqwius::," the larger android responded slowly, grabbing Poggepgee Pego Pau from the floor and tucking the Guardian under one colossal arm. As quickly as they had entered, the two Manhunter androids departed the cell, and the door slammed shut.

"This bodes most unfavorably," the Guardian on the far side of the cell said plaintively.

Stewart propped himself up on one elbow and stared at his only remaining cellmate. Stewart had almost gotten to the point where he could tell the small, blue old men apart by sight. He could not quite place the Guardian across from him, however, which he resignedly attributed to his rough treatment by the Manhunters and his throbbing headache. "How bad could it be?" Stewart asked.

The Guardian shook his head. "The evolution has come full circle. The creations of the Guardians have risen up against their masters once again, and our numbers are far fewer than in the past, our powers diminished, while the renegade androids have only grown stronger in learning from history. This may be the end."

Stewart could scarcely believe the fatalism he heard in the Guardian's voice. "The end of what?" he demanded.

"The end ... the painful, irrevocable end ... of the Guardians of the Universe."

TO BE CONTINUED...!

NEXT ISSUE: The Manhunter War escalates! Featuring guest stars galore! Guy Gardner! Booster Gold! Batman! And of course non-stop ring-slinging action and murderous robot rampages! Plus, a new player revealed in the struggle! All this and more - don't miss it!