Upon waking, Kyle Rayner was more than a little surprised to find he was still alive.

The last thing he remembered was being blasted to kingdom come by a massive explosion across the surface of Warworld. He'd been trying to escape a gladiatorial game, set up by the Controllers, to determine whether he was fit to be Green Lantern. Somehow, while he wasn't looking, things had become a whole lot more complicated.

From where he lay on Warworld's surface, he could see the alien fleet -- the one that had caused this destruction -- hovering out in space. His ring identified the ships as Khundian. The name didn't mean anything to him, but he always liked to know just who was kicking his ass.

His ring also confirmed something else for him. The great green cloud in the distance that had once been the planet Oa seemed farther away, and so it was. This was because the artificial Warworld was plunging away from it, heading toward the sun at the center of Oa's system.

This was his chance to get away. No one was going to bother with him when they were trying to escape this planet-turned-comet, not even the Daxamite Von-Lo, who had originally captured him and brought him here. He could just open a hyperspace portal and head back to Earth. He'd found his way back from Oa before, he could do it again. All he had to do was leave the millions of aliens that had shown up for his trial to their own devices and escape vehicles.

Yeah, right... like he could look Superman in the eye after doing that dirt.

Shooting into the sky, Kyle began to circle the planet, trying to figure out how he could stop, or at least slow, its descent.

---

	The Emerald Gladiator.... TOTAL CONTROL Conclusion
Green Lantern #5 May, Year One	By Russ Anderson

---

Von-Lo, you are to report back to our command center immediately.

Diving over Warworld at near his top speed, the Daxamite Von-Lo pulled up short. "Sir," he replied over the subspace frequency he used to communicate with his masters, "you realize this planet is coming apart."

Yes. That is why you must report back to us now. The Controllers must survive, and you must see us safely to our escape vehicle.

Von-Lo scowled, his eyes turning again toward the crumbling shape of Warworld. He had sworn fealty to the Controllers long ago, and he had done many, many terrible things in their service, but leaving thousands of innocents to a fate he had helped engineer... that was cowardice. And Von-Lo of Daxam was no coward.

"I will stop this planet from falling into the sun," he replied in a low voice that brooked no argument. "If I determine that I cannot accomplish this, I will return to see you and as many others as I can save safely off the planetoid."

Von-Lo! You will report to our side at once! Do you under--

The Daxamite tapped his temple, exerting just enough force to crush the implant near his ear that allowed him to receive subspace frequencies. Then, with the voices of his masters quieted, he plunged toward the face of the world below.

"This is what comes of relying on others, brother."

The second Controller shook his head. "No matter. We can almost certainly escape by ourselves. We will deal with Von-Lo once we are safe."

The small control center lurched around the three aliens. They each stumbled, grabbing at the metal walls to steady themselves.

"We must hurry. Gravity is gone throughout most of the planetoid, and it will not continue for long in this sector."

"Save us, woman! Use your ring and save us!"

Yyra Kapriva of Xanshii shoved the trembling, insectile Sputan ambassador out of her way, sending him careening weightlessly across the arena. The air was thick with bodies, alien races of every size, shape, and composition set loose from the bonds of gravity. The woman often known as Fatality was using the yellow power ring bestowed upon her by the Controllers to keep herself anchored in this mess. She needed a moment to think.

Months ago, she had been approached by the Controllers, offered the chance to do battle with the last remaining Green Lantern and to usurp his title and power. She had been killing Green Lanterns on her own for months by that point anyway -- exacting revenge for the destruction of her homeworld by an unknown member of the Corps -- so she'd allowed the Controllers to bring this one to her. She had not questioned what the Controllers' motives were in all this, had not questioned their reasoning -- ensuring the last ring was given to the best possible candidate -- even when they gave her a yellow power ring that mimicked all the abilities of her opponent's green one.

She would get her answers later. For now, her first priority was to find the Terran Lantern. Not for the Controllers, not even for her dead world... but because the coward who had fled their righteous combat did not deserve to hold the mantle of the last Green Lantern. She despised all who had ever worn an Oan power ring, but she had gained a certain amount of respect for their skill and combat savvy as she'd killed them.

But this fool, this weakling, did not even deserve to be one of Fatality's hated enemies.

She considered the yellow ring on her fist. She hadn't taken the time to discover the extent of its abilities -- once she'd figured out how to use it as an offensive weapon, she hadn't cared to learn more -- but she knew from hard-earned experience that there was no end to what a green power ring was capable of. And if hers was equally as versatile...

She closed her eyes, reaching out thru the ring. She felt the power whisk her consciousness away immediately, felt the golden power carry her thru the crannies of Warworld's interior, and out over her damaged face, scouring the planet for any sign of her ring's primal opposite.

And there it was. The last Green Lantern ring, worn on the fist of the last Green Lantern. He was still here, still on Warworld.

He would die here.

Fatality shot into the air, punching a path thru the sea of floating bodies as she went.

Von-Lo circled the planet quickly. It would take all of his strength to halt this mass... if indeed he was up to the task. For now, his prime worry was finding the proper point to push back against Warworld's velocity. It wasn't easy with the planetoid tumbling as it was, its axis changing position every couple of minutes.

When he'd found what he thought was the right pressure point, he dove toward the surface, slapped his hands against the ground, summoned every ounce of his strength, and pushed.

At first he thought he was actually slowing the planet down... but then the surface crumbled beneath his fingertips, and Von-Lo was swallowed by Warworld, his inertia driving him down and past the planet's core before he could turn himself around. He heard living beings in the chambers he'd punctured along the way dying as they were sucked out into the void, and knew he couldn't take the time to save them.

He was a fool for not foreseeing this... he may be able to apply sufficient pressure to halt Warworld's progress, but that pressure was coming from far too small a point in relation to the size of the planet. Trying to stop Warworld's plunge with his bare hands was like trying to stop a balloon with a needle. All he would accomplish was punching more holes in the balloon.

Von-Lo turned and launched himself back down the tunnel he'd made, back toward the surface. He needed help, but there was none to be had. His own power and resources would have to be sufficient.

Von-Lo emerged onto the surface of Warworld -- and waiting there for him, hovering several feet above the ground, was the last Green Lantern.

"What say," Kyle began, "you and me do a team-up..."

"What are they doing?" the admiral of the Khund fleet demanded, leaning over the workstation of the trembling tech who had alerted him.

"They seem to be... working together to stop Warworld's..."

"I see that, you idiot!" the Khund leader roared. He leaned over and punched open a communication channel. "Turn all batteries on the Green Lantern and the Daxamite! I want all light fighters in-void in 3 minutes! Do it now!"

Straightening, the Admiral turned toward his main viewscreen, where an attentive tech had already focused on the present position of the Daxamite and Green Lantern. "The Controllers and all the races on Warworld will rue the day they shunned the Khund Empire. And none of their little tin soldiers is going to save them."

Kyle Rayner concentrated, banishing all thought of the Controllers and the danger he was in and home

(and Donna, oh how he missed Donna)

and all else from his mind as he focused everything he was into the ring on his fist.

He'd pulled some pretty impressive stunts in the months he'd had the ring, but he'd never made something this big. He had to create a solid base, covering at least half the hemisphere they were pushing against. It had to bulge out at the point Von-Lo would be pushing and taper down in all directions in order to evenly distribute the force across the planet's face. And it had to not break when Von-Lo started pushing on it.

Kyle was beginning to wish he hadn't slept through all of his physics courses.

"Quickly, Green Lantern 2814."

"I'm on it."

The emerald plate took shape quickly -- it had to, or it would be pulled along with the planet's rotation and become useless to them -- and Kyle slapped it down over the surface of Warworld.

"Go!"

Von-Lo disappeared in a red-white blur, flashing down toward the planet and putting his hands on the plate Green Lantern had created. Together, the two of them pushed. The planet steadied, slowed in its haphazard rotation.

"We're doing it!" Kyle cried. "We're gonna--"

Something hit him in the back, and Kyle was sent tumbling through space, helpless and barely conscious, the emerald plate across the face of Warworld vanishing along with his concentration.

Von-Lo pulled up in time to avoid punching another hole through the planet, and turned. The Khunds had turned their batteries on the Green Lantern, had even launched manned fighters to engage them. Baring his teeth and clenching his fists, the Daxamite moved to destroy them.

"No... stop... save your strength."

Von-Lo turned, and was surprised for the second time in as many minutes to see the Green Lantern -- not only alive, but conscious -- moving shakily towards him. "I can hold them back... but you're going to have to do most of the pushing. You... up to it?"

Von-Lo nodded. "If you can endure... surely I can as well."

"Glad to... hear it." He was obviously still in a great deal of pain -- Von-Lo could see a smoking, bubbling wound in the small of his back -- but he gestured, and three dozen green fighters of a design unfamiliar to Von-Lo sprang into being to engage the Khunds.

"Now let's stop this thing."

Escape vehicles were fleeing Warworld in droves, but few were making it more than a kilometer from the planet's surface. The constant spinning made it nearly impossible to chart a safe trajectory away from the world, and the ocean of debris that had been created when the planetoid lost artificial gravity turned any path out into a deadly obstacle course.

Fatality navigated this with ease, glancing backward when a nearby Durlan vessel ruptured in a perfect circle of flame. This vision of death and beauty were the only distraction she allowed herself. She had a lock on her prey, and he would not escape her again.

"If we can slow the spin, some of those ships can actually get off the planet," Kyle said, trying hard to ignore the blistering pain of the wound in his back. All told, he was lucky the beam hadn't cut him in half, but the energy aura that allowed him to breathe in the void also offered him a certain amount of protection.

"Aye," Von-Lo agreed. "Let us begin."

Kyle nodded, took a deep breath, and focused on the planet that was still charging down the plane of the solar system at them. Behind him, Luke and Wedge and the gang were engaging the Khunds in a squadron of emerald X-Wing Fighters. He'd have to maintain their existence and do this as well. He could do it. To see Donna and drink Radu's frappucino one more time, he could do it.

And then something hit him from behind again.

At first he thought a Khund had gotten off a lucky shot, but as he plunged toward the surface of the planet, and whatever had hit him clung to him, he realized he'd forgotten probably the deadliest baddie in this game.

Fatality dragged Green Lantern down, and slammed him into the surface of Warworld with all the power at her yellow ring's disposal.

Von-Lo saw this happen, saw the Xanshiian serial killer the Controllers had inexplicably chosen as their replacement Green Lantern slam into the true Lantern and drag him down to the surface. With a scowl at the single-mindedness of the female, he turned to follow them down and peel her off before she could destroy their only chance of halting the planet.

But then a particle beam hit him in the back of the head, flipping him over completely with the impact. Stunned, Von-Lo turned to see the Khund fleet charging through the evaporating remains of the squadron the Lantern had created to engage them. All their guns were focused on him now.

"Relent, coward!" Fatality roared, driving a yellow pillar into Warworld in the spot where Kyle had been laying a moment before. "Relent and I will give you a quick death!"

"Oh, well okay then. I relent." An emerald phoenix blasted up from where Kyle lay, and enveloped the still-hovering Fatality. She screamed, the flame cooking her thru her protective aura, and blasted the bird of fire to nothingness.

"You cannot match my will, Terran! My entire being revolves around seeing you dead!"

"You want will?" he said from right behind her. She spun, cursing herself for losing sight of him while destroying the firebird, but he already had his hands on her, driving her straight down toward the planet. "I... got... your... will... right... here... you psycho!"

The two of them made planetfall with the impact of a meteor, blasting debris high into the black sky. Fatality reeled, barely conscious as Kyle, who had kept her underneath him when they struck, seized the front of her tunic and yanked her up to her knees.

"Take a look around you! Everybody on this planet is going to die if you don't leave me alone" -- he drove his fist into her dazed face -- "long enough to save them!"

"You... destroyed my world..."

"Not me, lady! You think your people dying gives you the right to condemn everybody else to death too? Get a grip!" He shook her with both hands now, the pain in his back and the frustrating feeling of helplessness that had been growing ever since he'd first fought Von-Lo in New York making it hard to resist using his ring to just pop the woman's head off. "I've lost people I've loved before, so don't you dare blame your bloodlust on a bunch of people who are gone! You want to fight me when this is over, you want to settle this, we'll do it!" He released her, tossing her to the ground. "But until then, stay the hell out of my way!"

He turned, his utter dismissal of her hurting and infuriating her more than any of his blows had, and fired himself off into space. Fatality watched him go for a second, driving her fists into the metal beneath her. Then she scowled and arrowed off into space after him.

Digging his fingers into the forward hull of one of the Khund fighters, Von-Lo swung the ship like a bat, knocking the rear quarter off a second fighter. As that ship corkscrewed away, Von-Lo glanced in the cockpit of the first fighter, surprised to find the pilot still alive and pounding on the glass, mouthing Khundian obscenities at him. Unimpressed, the Daxamite flung the first ship into a third, covering his eyes as both of them erupted.

A green bolt of energy flashed past him, punching out the port engine of another opponent, and Von-Lo turned in surprise. A new squadron of emerald X-shaped fighters was charging past him, plowing through the unsuspecting Khunds as if they weren't there. Coming up quickly behind was Green Lantern -- pained, but with a fire in his eyes.

"One more time," Kyle Rayner said. "Lets do it."

"Kill them! Kill them both! All batteries, damn you! They're only two men!"

"Admiral, we've got an incoming transmission."

"From who?"

"I'm... not sure, sir. She says--"

"Put it on the main speaker."

"--eetings, Khund Warriors. I am Yyra Kapriva of Xanshii. Surely some of your number are aware of Xanshii's warrior heritage and traditions?"

The lower-ranking Khunds on the bridge, turned to look questioningly at their admiral. He was grimacing in disgust.

"The Xanshii," he muttered, "were a race of cannibals. Always looking for an excuse to eat each other, filthy creatures. They would often eat the remains of their enemies on the field of battle to absorb their fighting spirit, their souls."

"For crimes against sentient life," the voice continued, "as well as for being a race of buffoonish, ugly children, and because you're the only viable target I have left to vent upon... prepare to be consumed."

And then the communication channels lit up with the screams of the dying as Fatality of Xanshii tore through the fleet like a scythe thru wheat.

"God!"

Kyle Rayner zipped out of the way as a chunk of Warworld roughly the size and shape of New York State ripped free from the surface and hurtled toward him. Somehow he managed to maintain the constructs engaging the Khunds and the one distributing Von-Lo's strength while doing this.

"I need more!" Von-Lo shouted. "I've slowed it, but the momentum is too great!"

"Damnit," Kyle hissed, grabbing his right wrist with his left hand. He was already doing everything he could. He couldn't push more into the planet without letting his guard down on the Khund front. Too much to do, not enough willpower to spread out. He glanced back over his shoulder to see how Luke and Wedge were doing.

They were doing... surprisingly well, actually. There were maybe five Khund fighters left operational, and the three-dozen X-Wings Kyle had created were making very quick work of them. He looked past them, and saw a yellow laser slashing its way through the larger Khund battleships and frigates. A laser shaped a little bit like a woman.

Kyle nodded and, as Wedge finished disabling the final Khund light fighter, he dissipated the lot of them right in the middle of their Rebel victory cheer. Then he turned his attention -- his full attention this time -- back to Warworld.

In the coliseum, and all over Warworld, those trapped inside who hadn't been killed came to realize that they weren't being hurled about by the planet's haphazard rotation and velocity anymore.

None of them would know for quite some time what force had saved them. But just then it didn't matter. It didn't even matter that gravity hadn't returned yet, and they were each adrift on whatever course they'd been traveling when the planet had stopped. Nothing mattered except the unquestioned joy of having survived. Those still able to cheer did so, throwing their arms around each other, racial squabbles and disagreements temporarily forgotten.

For the first time ever, peace and brotherly love reigned in the belly of Warworld.

"We must... push it several thousand miles back to... put it in a safe orbit," Von-Lo grunted in Kyle's ear. A green halo surrounded the Daxamite, a sympathetic aura Kyle had erected to allow the two to better communicate.

"Are you up to that?" Kyle asked, tired out of his mind and half-hoping the Daxamite would reply, Nah, forget it, let's just let this sucker go.

"I must be... and so must you... Green Lantern 2814."

"Suppose you're right," Kyle muttered, and began to again push Warworld back from Oa's sun. He applied as much pressure as he could to the green plate he'd erected over the planet -- hard enough to convince Von-Lo he was giving it his all -- but his attention was divided again. For the first time since this mess had begun, he was beginning to think of the future. And to that end, he sent his will out into the void. Searching, searching....

The Admiral of the Khund fleet crawled, bleeding, across the bridge of his ship. His men lay dead or dying all around him, their blood making his progress more treacherous as his hands kept slipping in it. He could not feel his legs, and, though he couldn't be sure through the red haze that had dropped across his vision, he thought he had lost one of his eyes.

She had destroyed them. Every last one of them. And she had done it easily.

There was a great rending sound, and the Admiral turned to see the hull peeling back near the front of the bridge, exposing the compartment to the void. Bodies and debris began to rush out, but a shimmering golden wall appeared in the fissure, plugging it before much could be lost.

And then a beautiful red-skinned woman, clad in the warrior garb of a dead race and wearing the tokens of dead Green Lanterns as trophies stepped through the wall and dropped down softly onto the deck.

The Admiral grunted in fear, turned, and began to scramble across the floor again, toward the corridor door. He hadn't made it more than a couple feet when Fatality's foot descended gently on his clawing hand, halting him.

"Admiral Rolfor, I presume?" she purred, squatting down until her face was level with his own. "Many of your men died with your name on their lips. You must be very proud."

The Admiral wanted to boast about how badly she would die, about how no one would be allowed to do what she had done to them and live to see another sunrise... but he couldn't. Even an admiral in the Khund empire, fed on propaganda and tall tales practically since birth, saw the futility of empty boasts when death was staring you in the face.

"I didn't eat them, of course... when I said that earlier, I meant it figuratively. You Khunds are dense meat, and I doubt I could consume very many of you. So I've been saving myself. For you."

Fatality of Xanshii smiled, her perfect teeth gleaming in the bridge's red emergency lights, and Admiral Rolfor of the Khund began screaming.

He didn't stop for a very long time.

When Warworld was at last in a proper orbit, only then did the massive emerald plate across its face dissolve, and only then did Von-Lo of Daxam stop pushing. He paused just a moment to make sure they'd positioned the planet correctly, then he moved upward to face Kyle Rayner.

Kyle stood his ground as the Daxamite approached. He wasn't sure how this was going to play out but, the shape he was in, he hoped Von-Lo didn't want to do it nasty.

Von-Lo paused when he'd reached Green Lantern, his head tilting slightly to the side as if considering his alternatives. Then he nodded and said, "Neither of us could have accomplished that without the other, Kyle Rayner."

Kyle nodded guardedly. "I know."

"You could have fled -- would have been perfectly right to do so. But you are a man of honor, as I suspected from the moment I first met you in battle. I... cannot answer for what the Controllers have done to you in this. I have never second-guessed my orders once I have sworn fealty to a person or cause... but my masters have left far too many unanswered questions behind. Do you agree?"

Kyle nodded again, warily, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"You are free to go, Green Lantern 2814, with my blessing, and my word that I will make the Controllers pay for their crimes."

Kyle blinked. Von-Lo continued hovering before him, obviously waiting for some response -- probably an expression of gratitude, Kyle thought bitterly.

"And that's it?" Kyle asked. "I just zoom back home and we forget this ever happened?"

"Aye." Von-Lo had turned and was watching escape ships launching from Warworld by the dozen. Most of the floating debris had been swept away when they'd moved the planet, so getting out was much easier than it had been an hour ago. "Unless you would like to accompany me in my mission against the Controllers? I had assumed you wished to return home as quickly as--"

"That's not good enough," Kyle interrupted, shaking his head. "You killed a lot of people on Earth to get my attention..."

"I regret that... but I thought it necessary at the time. I was assured it was so by the Controllers..."

"But you did it, damnit. And you weren't being controlled. You were following orders. Killing innocents to lure me out quickly so you wouldn't have to deal with the entire JLA. What about those innocents, Von-Lo? How do they get their justice?"

Von-Lo stiffened, his chin tilting slightly so he could look down at Kyle through slitted eyes. "Their justice will be served when I bring an end to the Controllers."

"That's not good enough."

"It must be."

"I'll stop you if I have to."

Von-Lo's eyebrows wagged up in surprise. "You couldn't stop me on Earth. What makes you think you can stop me here, when you are injured and weak?"

"Give yourself up, Von-Lo. Don't make me do this."

"You're beginning to anger me, Green Lantern."

"Not as angry as you're going to be."

A green bubble of Oan energy formed around Von-Lo. He considered it for a moment, then drew a fist back and shattered it with one blow.

"Very well," he said, emerging from the bubble's already-dissolving splinters while Kyle grabbed his head in pain at the psychic feedback. "But please understand I have no wish to fight you."

Heat vision lanced from Von-Lo's eyes. Kyle got a shield up in time, barely, but wasn't ready when the Daxamite whipped around the construct and belted him.

Kyle went tumbling toward Warworld again, captured by the planetoid's weak gravity. He began to pull up, but then Von-Lo tackled him, dragging him the rest of the way down to the surface.

"Do you yield?" Von-Lo demanded, seizing Kyle by the front of his uniform.

"Only... only if you do it first."

"I honor your courage, Green Lantern, but you never truly had a chance." With a heavy sigh, the Daxamite drew his fist back... and paused, his eyes going wide. He shuddered, released Kyle, and stumbled backward, his hands going to his throat and his mouth gasping ineffectually at the void.

Kyle got to his feet and put out a hand, catching a small cylinder of silver-blue metal, about the size of a roll of quarters, as it rocketed toward the surface. "Lead," he said, holding the cylinder up for Von-Lo's inspection. "It's rare out here, had to search a couple of systems over for it, but I finally managed to find some and bring it here."

Kyle strode calmly to the spot where Von-Lo was still gasping at the void like a fish out of water. The proximity of the lead had completely removed his powers, leaving him as powerful as a normal human being. A normal human being that's going to pop like a zit if he doesn't get atmosphere soon, Kyle thought, noting his purplish skin.

"Never had a chance, huh? Man, a grade school kid with a number 2 pencil could take you out." Kyle rolled his fingers around the lead cylinder, reared back, and decked the Daxamite square in the jaw. Blood spurted from Von-Lo's lips, falling slowly to the ground in the diminished gravity, and then the Daxamite's eyes rolled into his sockets and he collapsed.

Kyle erected another bubble around him immediately, building an O2 atmosphere out of ambient atomic particles. The Daxamite was still alive, and as long as Kyle kept the sliver of lead shielded, his condition shouldn't deteriorate.

At least he hoped not. He was comparing the Daxamite-lead thing to Superman-kryptonite, and he wasn't entirely sure how close to the mark that was. Best to get this guy back to the JLA Watchtower and let clearer heads and stronger biceps deal with him.

Kyle turned, looking back toward the wreckage of the Khund fleet. The yellow blip of Fatality was nowhere to be seen now, and his ring was confirming that her yellow power ring was nowhere in the immediate vicinity.

"Another one I'll have to deal with later," he muttered into the void. The Controllers had surely made their escape by now. He would have to be content with dealing this blow to their power and their credibility. After this fiasco, it would probably be a long time before any races came to a Controller function again. It would have to do.

Kyle drew a quick charge from the swirling cloud of emerald energy where the planet Oa used to be, then he opened up a hyperspace portal.

With just one glance backward, he passed through it and was gone.

"Our error," the Controller pronounced, "appears to have been bringing Warworld and, consequently, the Green Lantern, so close to the remains of Oa."

"Agreed. The Xanshiian surely would have dispatched him with ease if he had not been able to recharge his ring."

The three Controllers considered the image on the screen -- the still-deteriorating husk of Warworld -- in silence for a moment. Their ship was already in hyperspace, but their technology allowed them to view simultaneous happenings in real space.

"And when the Xanshiian had torn the ring from the Terran's dead fingers, she would have found that it would not function for her."

"Nor for anyone without the Terran's genetic code. Ganthet was clever in that, at least."

"And Von-Lo would have had to kill her, at which point the Controllers would have been the sole caretakers of the emerald power ring."

"It was a sound plan," one of them sighed. "The Terran's remains would have been cloned and engineered to fill the core of Warworld. We could have controlled the clone, and thru it, the power of the ring."

"Effectively turning Warworld into the planet-sized engine of destruction it was always meant to be," another one finished. "Powered by the energy of Oa, Warworld would have truly been the last Green Lantern. And the galaxy would have been safe from those who would seek to subdue it."

"But all our schemes were for naught, brothers."

"Perhaps... or perhaps we have gained valuable insight into the Terran Green Lantern this day. Perhaps, when next our paths cross, we will be better prepared to wrest the ring from him."

"Perhaps..."

In the shadows near the bridge's ceiling, a young woman with death in her heart listened to the confession of the Controllers, and realized that she had been right to stowaway in the scheming aliens' escape craft. She had been nothing but a pawn all along

The golden power ring glowed on Fatality's fist. Though they had no way of knowing it, the Controllers would never live to set foot off of this vessel.

Epilogue 1 -- Earth

Annie Lennox softly crooned "Don't Let It Bring You Down" from the stereo, and Donna Troy began slowly swaying to the music as she zipped up her overnight bag.

She'd been practically living here at Kyle's apartment since he'd disappeared days earlier, and the bag contained the various toiletries and clothes that she'd let accumulate in that time. At some point earlier that morning, she'd decided that enough was enough. She had never been one to sit at home and worry, and she wasn't going to let herself fall into the habit now. She'd check back periodically to make sure Kyle hadn't returned, but it was time to get back to her life.

She left the bag on the counter dividing the kitchen from the living room, then circled the couch and dropped wearily into its slightly lumpy folds. Letting her eyes flutter closed for a moment, she let the music take her, soothe her. She'd loved this song from the first moment she'd heard it, and it always, always made her think of Kyle. Great make-out song.

She pulled the emerald heart-shaped locket he'd given her out of the front of her shirt, the one that assured her that he was still alive out there. Somewhere. He'd made this for her several weeks ago, taken the time and effort to make it semi-permanent. He didn't have to concentrate to maintain it, but surely it would wink out of existence if he were no longer alive.

At least, that's what Donna had been telling herself for the last five days.

"Okay Kyle," she said, dragging her carcass out of the couch. "I'll check in every day. You know I will."

The locket, which she moved to drop back down the front of her shirt, twinkled brightly. And Donna paused. Had that been a trick of the light? Or had the light, as she suspected, come from within the locket.

There was a sound at the window, and Donna wheeled in time to see a familiar hand pulling the pane up. Then, a moment later, looking tired and battered and in pain, but wonderfully alive, Kyle Rayner stepped through onto the floor of his apartment.

"Kyle!" Donna leapt across the room and fell into his arms. Kyle winced at the impact, and the crushing grip she put on him, but he didn't complain. In fact, he smiled.

He was home.

Epilogue 2 -- Warworld

Warworld hung in space, abandoned. The once-mighty behemoth feared throughout the cosmos as a harbinger of death was now little more than an unusually large derelict, her weapons silenced, her cargo bays empty.

For weeks, the planetoid drifted undisturbed in a natural orbit around Oa's sun. Then, with seemingly no internal or external influence, Warworld... shifted. It began to drift outside its orbit. Over the course of a week, it moved gradually but inexorably into Oa's orbital belt. A week after that, it collided with the green cloud that had once been Oa.

For days, Warworld was engulfed by the cloud, completely hidden in its depths. Then, the cloud surged outward hundreds of kilometers in all directions, and subsided, sinking further and further until it was completely hidden -- stored, some might say -- inside of Warworld.

Not long afterward, a blue-skinned man walked on Warworld, its metal face scrubbed to a high polish by the emerald energy it had bathed in. The man was diminutive, less than three feet tall, and his long white hair was pulled back in a ponytail.

He walked for many hours, finally stopping and having a seat on a great, twisted plate of metal near Warworld's north pole. He looked around, taking the planet in from horizon to horizon.

A self-satisfied grin split the face of the last surviving Guardian of the Universe.

"Needs work," said Ganthet of Oa. "But it should do."

The plot thickens.

That's mainly what this issue was about. I liked the way that Russ gave readers some background information in the opening scene. Even for folks who don't need it, it's nice to get a refresher course anyway.

Honestly, I was having trouble finding a good starting point for last issue, hence the history lesson at the beginning to get me warmed up. I usually end up throwing stuff like that out in final edit, but I liked how it came out so it stayed. Hopefully nobody thought it too terribly pretentious or self-indulgent.

I very much liked the battle between Fatality and Kyle. Russ did a great job of making each blow recieved and each interesting battle technique used into a very enjoyable picture.

The arrival of the Khunds was well thought out too. I thought the thoughts of both Von-Lo and the Khund leader were one of the best aspects of the issue. The Khund leader is a jerk and I really dislike the guy, but that just means that Russ has done a good job portraying his arrogance and menace.

I like Von-Lo a lot too. You almost hope that Kyle and Von-Lo will have to work together to keep the planet from teetering into the sun. Either that or to get the innocent people off the surface. I wonder how willing Kyle will be to help after everything that's happened...

Wait and see. :-)

Fatality is a real annoying character in that she seems singel-mindedly focused on Kyle and destroying him. I can only think of one single moment when she got a little deeper, and that was when she was pondering why the Controllers would want Kyle's ring when Fatality's could do the same thing. I myself have wondered the same thing, but it seems very possible that Fatality probably wouldn't get the ring anyway and the Controllers are just BSing everybody.

I tried to go a little bit into Fatality this issue and last, when she felt indignant at Kyle's cowardice. Not just angry, indignant. Because she HAS developed a healthy if grudging respect for the Green Lanterns during her murder spree, and even tho she despises them, she doesn't see Kyle as being worthy of being one of them. If that makes sense.

I hope she becomes a bit deeper in further issues, and I almost hope Von-Lo becomes more than an enemy loyal to the Controllers and becomes an ally to Kyle. I like the guy. Just about everything intrigued me about this issue. Especially the energy of OA remaining even though the planet was destroyed. I know Russ isn't going to stick around on this title too long and that's a shame, but I definitely like where this latest issue is leading.

Mike III

As always, thanks for the review and the kind words, Mike.

- Kyle made the emerald locket for Donna in DC's Green Lantern #78

Story © 2001, Russ Anderson. Most characters presented are property of Marvel Entertainment Group