Somewhere Over the Pacific Ocean:

By the time that Kyle Rayner reached Japan he was not quite so annoyed as he had been. He had been a little irritated when he had gotten the call from Wonder Woman that he was needed in Siberia to help contain a fire started by a fallen meteorite. A fire!

He was the Green Lantern for crying out loud, not Smokey the Bear!

Never mind that he had five pages on the drawing board that still needed to be pencilled. Never mind that he had an editor breathing down his neck and leaving threatening messages on his answering machine because he was missing deadlines… again! Never mind that he was behind in his rent, and his social life- such as it was- was going down the drain.

He seriously doubted that Wonder Woman had to worry about making the rent every month. And Superman probably never needed to beat a deadline in his life. Still…

He had signed on with the League and had promised to be there when needed. It was his own fault really, for not posting a message to say that he could not be disturbed, even for a few hours. And he had gone off with Connor Hawke- the new Green Arrow for a time on a soul searching road trip across America. He wondered briefly if maybe, subconsciously he had wanted to be distracted. He did draw better under pressure.

Grudgingly Kyle Rayner had put his work away and brought out the Lantern. The Green Lantern that was the last of its kind and the source of his powers. The last Green Lantern, just like him.

Kyle had been given the ring and battery- all that was left of the once fabled Green Lantern Corps- by the last Guardian of the Universe, Ganthet. After madness had corrupted the previous Green Lantern of Earth, Hal Jordan, he had destroyed the Corp and killed the Guardians in a desperate attempt to resurrect his home, Coast City. Jordan had failed eventually- inevitably- but Ganthet had survived and restructured the powers that had once belonged to the Corps into the last Lantern and one final ring. Through fate or circumstance, Kyle Rayner had been chosen to wear that ring, and to be the next- last Green Lantern.

It was an honor of course, and Kyle remembered that every time that he put the ring to the Lantern to recharge its power. Every time that he spoke the oath-

In brightest day…
In blackest night…
No evil shall escape my sight!
Let those who worship evil's might,
Beware my power…
Green Lantern's light!

He didn't really have to say it, but sometimes it just felt right. The right thing to do, like answering the call.

Kyle Rayner had willed his costume into being and encompassed his body in a frictionless force field that provided both air and warmth. He would have to fly fast to reach Siberia, put out the fire and then get back in time to finish his work. He half-hoped that before he got even halfway, Wonder Woman would call back and say that Superman had saved the day.

No such luck…

Still, as he flew over the Sea of Japan towards Asia proper, his dark mood had all but lifted completely. He had time to think during his flight halfway around the world, and to relax. It was just a fire, after all. No world shattering villains trying to take over or destroy the planet. Diana had even told him that the meteorite would probably be no problem, and no reason for him to get involved. Good! Fly in, put out the fire, and go back home. Short and sweet! Just the way he liked it.

He had followed the forty-fifth parallel most of the way around the world, letting his ring follow the beacon left by Wonder Woman's message. The ring had no problem, taking the most direct route, veering to the northwest when they finally crossed into the Russian Federation not far from Vladivostok. By Diana's message, he would be some twelve hundred miles from the impact crater's center, but he would start seeing signs long before that.

She wasn't kidding…

Kyle Rayner pulled up short at the first signs of the disaster. He was still a few dozen leagues from the center, but even here he could see that the trees were bent and broken, all pointing out and away. Dark clouds roiled in the distance, the hazy smoke of the fires gathering overhead like a thunderhead and blanketing the ground with soot and ash for miles around in every direction. He could see flames here and there, sporadic bursts flickering on the fringe of the devastation, a greater blaze at the edge of the horizon. It almost seemed like a nuclear bomb had gone off. Almost. The only thing missing was the dead and wounded. He thanked god that the meteor had struck in so desolate a location.

Kyle Rayner, the Green Lantern stared out over the vast, blackened ground a moment longer, then sped away towards the brightest light that he could see. The biggest fire. He had to put it out, deadlines be damned. That was his real job. His duty! That was why he was in…

	The World's Greatest Superheroes..... RED MENACE Part 3: Better Red Than Dead!
JLA #11 - December, Year 1	by Curt Fernlund

Russian Defense Command:
Mission Control Center
Moscow-

General Leonid Kurev shouldered his way through the noisy, crowded room ignoring the startled technicians that were too slow to get out of his way as well as the gaggle of babbling aides that followed quickly in his wake. Cigar smoke trailed behind him as he shoved his way through the busy mob, alarms sounding as he passed and just as quickly silenced. His steely gaze swept the path before him as he turned corners by rote, following a trail that he could have walked in his sleep, in pitch black.

Heavy doors slid open at his approach, a pair of guards in dark combat armor snapping to crisp attention as he passed through the opened portal, showing his identity badge pinned to his lapel. He did not salute however. He was above such things.

The room beyond was huge, looking even larger than it actually was with one entire sweeping wall lined with an array of vast monitors reaching from floor to ceiling. The general glanced at the world in all its glory- briefly- then continued on, stalking through the lines of computer modules and sensory stations that kept track of the Earth and all of its happenings. Lights flickered high in the shadows overhead, casting armed guards in a dim red glow. A stale, recycled air wafted past, just enough to stir the trail of his cigar's smoke up and away. His gaze swept from side to side as he walked, taking in every monitor as he passed. He did not stop, nor even pause as all was as it should be- and had been with minor exception, for almost twenty years.

He spied his goal finally. It was the last cubicle in the darkest corner of the vast room. A cloud of smoke rose above the station, and Kurev could see the small orange dot of the perpetually lit cigarette that marked the existence of the station's operative. General Kurev strode forward, the last of the technicians in his way finally stepping aside even as a pair of guards stepped from the shadows to block his aides from continuing. That last cubicle was 'Eyes Only'- to put a label on it. It was far from the other stations for a reason, and only Kurev and a handful of others in the Federation were allowed to approach within the designated perimeter.

Kurev stared at the main monitor screen for a moment; the head-on view. He recognized the two 'people' framed in the picture; the Martian and the Amazon. They were speaking, but of course the sound was muted, directed inline to the operative's audio receptors. A smaller monitor divided the other near views into four panels on the screen. He saw Bjorn in one, shouting. Another showed Red Star with Mysta hovering just in and out at the edge of the frame. The third picture showed another American, a blonde that he recognized but could not place in the outlandish costume that she wore.

In the final frame however was the object of his current obsession. That thing that had woken him from the warm embrace of his wife in the early light of false dawn. The mysterious egg from space! It was times like these, half-asleep and hungry, that he hated his job- his position. Of course, there were better times as well…

"General…"

Kurev looked at the skinny, skeleton of a man lashed into the chair in front of the monitors. He was hairless, his taut skin pale and scarred in spots where terminal connections and IV tubes had once been, scabrous sores that never quite healed visible in the dim light. His eyes were wide and vacant, almost milky white, but Kurev knew that the man could see more- better than he. A cigarette hung limply from his cracked, chafed lips. Blood seeped free when he smiled, showing a few remaining teeth stained with nicotine.

"How good of you to come pay a visit, Herr General." The man chuckled, a laugh that as always turned into a hacking cough. His tubes and cables rattled as his body shook, and a line of ash fell into his naked, shriveled lap. Kurev waited for the man to regain what little composure that he had left.

"How are you, Rajas?" the General asked, his English limited to a few words as their conversation was usually the same, even after all these years. Ever since Chernobyl.

"Do you really care, General?" the man asked with a crooked smile. "I think you're just here to make sure that I haven't wrecked your little tinker toy, eh?"

He was right, of course. Kurev could not care less about the horrid scarecrow of a man and quite often wished that he would simply die the final death. He hoped that one of those midnight calls that he got would be that one night, but it never was. Never, every night since the disaster. Kurev wondered how something that had created the pure beauty of Mysta could also create the horror of Rajas?

"What is happening?" Learned sentence number two. Kurev hated the man for forcing him to speak English. The General knew that Rajas was fluent in over a dozen languages, the least of which was Russian. He hated kowtowing to the whims of a dead man.

Rajas had been a scientist at Chernobyl, a defected Pakistani. He had been on hand when the disaster had struck. Some had said that he had been the cause, but of course that did not matter. The disaster had awakened the man's Meta Gene and he had gone from scapegoat to the most important man in the Republic- now the Federation. The same radiation that had made him a Meta however was in turn killing him. But slowly. Oh so slowly…

"Our little team of 'heroes' is about to have their coming out party, it would seem. You recognize the Justice League of course?"

Kurev said nothing, returning his gaze to the screens. Rajas tried to shrug.

"I cannot pierce your mystery egg however, Herr General. It seems constructed of something rather… unearthly. I suppose I could try to bust it open. Rather like a Mexican piñata, eh? Heh-" Rajas started hacking again, this time spitting the butt of his cigarette to the floor. Kurev noticed that the area beneath the station was littered with spent butts, ground into the tiles from the wheels of his automated chair.

"Cigarette…" Kurev watched as a mechanical arm extended from the machine, directing a smoldering cigarette towards the man's gaping mouth. He heard the sound of the spit hose sucking air and shivered. The screens suddenly flashed white, then showed snow, hissing static-

"Oops!" Rajas leaned forward as far as the chair's straps would allow and concentrated on the machines before him. The man's Meta allowed him a psychic interface with any and all machines, and after the Manhunter debacle with the Rocket Reds, he seemed the logical alternative for the next phase in that operation. When Kurev assembled Red Square, after the newest robotic Rocket Red was ready, Rajas was in the driver's seat controlling the gargantuan robot from a safe distance remotely, secreted away in the depths of an old KGB bunker beneath Moscow.

"Seems little Mysta has jumped the gun. I still have not found a way around that Flash Attack. It continues to knock my cameras off line every time. Still, I get the images back sooner each time as well. Perhaps I am getting better at this hero thing, eh? Hopefully the League will not retaliate before I regain visual. You might wish to look at Monitor 12 whilst we wait."

General Kurev turned to look at the monitor in question and almost bit through his cigar when he saw the display. The American Green Lantern was flying over Olëkminsk pulling a giant green fire extinguisher behind him. Green gas seemed to be falling across the town and the surrounding lands. He was putting out the fires caused by the crash of the egg. He was helping. Saving lives-

"Sort of puts a whole new spin on things, eh Herr General? Ah…"

Kurev glanced at the monitors in front of Rajas again and saw the images flickering back to clarity.

"There we go. Feed at 93.2 % and climbing." Rajas rolled his eyes at General Kurev expectantly. A cloud of blue smoke gathered before his face. "Orders?"

Kurev frowned, biting down on the butt of his cigar. He knew what he should do. He knew also what he had to do. They would need a new scapegoat.

"Secure that egg…" It was a ship- a gift from space. What if it was another Superman? A Superman come down on Russian soil! He could not take the chance. "Whatever it takes!"

Rajas was about to speak again, but Kurev ignored him and walked away. He ignored the guards and the aides, the technicians and their computers as he stalked out of the room the way that he had come. Doors slammed shut behind him with a finality. An ending…

He had to get home…

He had to see Sera one more time…

Before the end.

The Russian Federation:
Siberia, just north of the River Lena-

Princess Diana of Themyscira, Wonder Woman to most of the world, stood her ground, waiting, listening…

She had been caught unprepared by the blinding flash of light, and by the sounds that her teammates were making she had to assume that the Martian Manhunter and Black Canary had been as well. Still, it did not matter. She had been trained to fight using her other senses. Relying only on sight was a fallacy that could prove fatal.

Diana blinked, trying to clear her eyes of the glowing spots that drifted through her sight. She healed much faster than a normal woman might- faster than say, the Black Canary, and she was already seeing shadows and silhouettes of her foes. She ignored what she saw however, concentrating instead on the gifts of Athena and Artemis; the wisdom and eyes of the hunter that would guide her now. She raised her hands defensively, her unbreakable Bracelets of Victory before her at the ready.

She could hear the sounds of the Rocket Red. The armor was quieter than she recalled, but she still heard the telltale sounds of its boot jets blasting not so far away. The noises of this new armor were still almost deafening; the sounds of its wrists cannons rotating and drawing energy, the hum of its power pack, the rattle and squeak of gears and servos within. Diana listened, trying to hear around the noise while still keeping the Red in sight.

Diana heard the muffled sound of running feet. She could smell the burning ozone lingering behind the glowing woman of light. Her image glared even through Diana's closed eyelids, and the Princess could feel the burning radiation when she passed too close. Her skin tingled as a sudden breeze blew past, and she cocked her head, hearing the whistle of something spinning. She braced-

There was a sharp clang of metal striking metal as something heavy slammed against her bracelet. The force of the blow staggered her back, despite that she was prepared. She heard the whistle of the wind as something cut through the air, heard the angry cry of Bjorn as he dove in to attack. Diana raised her arm, blocking the cutting scythe then reached out and caught the warrior's arm. She heard his cry of surprise as she shifted her own weight, deflecting his flight to send him crashing to the dirt at her feet. Before he could recover she quickly spun about and slammed the heel of her boot into the back of his head, hopefully rendering him senseless for a moment at least.

She dove to the right, hearing the sound of the Rocket Red firing a barrage of tiny missiles her way. She remembered the attack, and knew that while blinded there would be too many projectiles to fend off. Better to evade, use the speed of Hermes to outdistance the strafing attack and let the Red expend his weapons uselessly into the ground. Diana rolled and leapt, dodging left and right, running out of the line of fire.

Diana!

It was J'onn J'onzz, telepathically speaking to her. He was still active then-

Dinah?

She is fine at the moment. I can see you both telepathically, as well as our assailants save the Rocket Red. I believe he is an automaton. At the very least he is shielded from my probes. I have become intangible, as well as invisible. I can coordinate our attack-

Help Dinah! I am fine at the moment. I don't need you, and frankly you're distracting me at the moment.

Silence…

Very well.

J'onn kept the link open, but went silent and Diana was glad. She heard Bjorn grunting, trying to rise even as the Red turned in its labored flight to face her again. She recalled that the Rocket Red armor used an ungodly amount of power back when she worked with one in the Justice League Europe. DiMitri, the Manhunter Sleeper agent, had had the top of the Red line and still it was full of imperfections- bugs. This robotic version did not sound barely improved. Still, it was a robot- at least according to J'onn- and that changed everything.

J'onn J'onzz, the Manhunter from Mars stood perfectly still, waiting for his vision to return. He had little to do, and knew he would be most effective when he could see once again. He had offered to help both Wonder Woman and the Black Canary telepathically while he waited, but they had both turned him down preferring to fend for themselves. Even after all these years on Earth he did not understand Human pride. He understood women even less.

Dinah Laurel Lance, the Black Canary was probably one of his oldest friends here on Earth. They had fought together for years in the original Justice League of America, and again in several other incarnations of the team. Only Aquaman could claim more associations, but they had never really been close. Arthur, like himself, was a private person and they had never really meshed beyond teammates and the bond between their psychic abilities. Dinah on the other hand had always seemed a true friend.

At least until recently.

She had been on edge it seemed, ever since rejoining the League. She had been gruff and quick to temper. She seemed to have some need to prove herself even though she had long since done so in the early days. She commanded even more respect from the others because she was a woman- one of the first in this new age of heroes, and she had been 'running with the big boys' as she put it from the start. She had nothing to prove, at least in J'onn's opinion. Apparently however, she had to prove that to herself once again.

J'onn wondered briefly if it had something to do with the death of Green Arrow. It seemed to him-

Pain!

J'onn J'onzz screamed as he looked down to see the glowing white arm sticking out of his chest. Fire rippled from his body at the point where the arm protruded and in that second he froze, his powers failing him. He became solid and visible, and the pain increased.

J'onn J'onzz, the Manhunter from Mars fell to the ground, unconscious. Floating above him the glowing form of Mysta shimmered, looking down. She had no true body anymore to speak of. Inside however, behind the silver mask she was smiling widely over her victory.

Best to keep your mind on your work, Martian…

She giggled, then looked around for another victim.

This was fun…

The Canary heard the Martian Manhunter's scream, both in her ears and in her head. Both versions cut off quickly, and for just a moment she feared the worst. Then she remembered that it was J'onn and set her mind to the task at hand once more.

She was battling Red Star, or rather, they were exchanging katas. The Black Canary could almost see again, her opponent was a blurry figure before her but she could tell what he was doing enough to counter his moves.

His bear paw thrust countered with a sweeping upward block, returning a jab to his ribs, which he spun away from.

An elbow aimed at her head was ducked and she swept at his legs. He jumped and she rolled behind him, kicking at the back of his knees forcing him to stagger forward and flip back to his feet for purchase.

He swept a roundhouse backhand, using the force shield that had appeared at his gauntlet as a cutting weapon. The shield was a crutch for him, like her own Canary Cry. She could tell that he did not like using it, but it gave him an edge and he was getting annoyed and flustered. He was good, she would give him that. He had the edge in strength as well, a product of Soviet experimentation. He was a Super-Soldier and dedicated to whatever task was on his plate. In his mind, he was a hero. So was she!

The Black Canary rolled under his sweeping backhand, coming to rest right in front of the Russian hero. She looked up at the same time that he looked down, but it was too late. She smirked and kicked; a snap kick up and out to the groin. She felt the cup between his legs, protecting his one weak spot, but it was not enough. Red Star whimpered and grabbed at his groin, dropping first to his knees, and then onto his face in the dirt between her legs. He curled into fetal position as she stood. He was done, at least for awhile.

"Works every time!" she smirked and looked around for another target.

Diana heard the male cry of pain and knew exactly what had happened. She smiled and nodded. The sides were more or less even again, thanks to the Black Canary.

Still, she had no time to celebrate. Bjorn had gotten to his feet again and was attacking like a madman. His alternating blows were meant to kill, hammer and sickle driving down with all of the force that he could muster. It was taking all of Wonder Woman's skill to fend off his blows and still keep the three remaining members of Red Square within her fuzzy peripheral vision.

The Rocket Red still hovered near the egg-ship, almost as though guarding it. He would occasionally fire off a volley, but for the most part he had taken himself out of the battle. The glowing woman- Mysta- had been circling around, hoping no doubt to attack from the rear, but now Diana saw her arching up and back towards the Canary. Diana had no idea how Dinah might deal with the woman. She was apparently intangible like J'onn, and had a wide array of powers connected to the light spectrum; a blinding flash, flight, probably a beam of energy as well.

They had to gain the upper hand, or at least a moment's respite. If Mysta took down the Canary, then Diana would be alone. And if the group had any type of coordinated attack, she would be done. Diana could see blurry shadows, but her sight was far from perfect.

"Fall, damn you woman!"

Bjorn hammered another blow against Diana's crossed wrists. Her entire body shook with the force of his blow, but she held her ground. If Bjorn knew that her bracelets- forged from the Aegis of Zeus himself- were unbreakable, he did not seem to care. His golden hammer and sickle seemed just as sturdy, and his strength- though not on a par with Superman- was at least equal to J'onn's. She had position though, and she knew how to defend. As long as he continued hammering like a man enraged, she could fend off his blows indefinitely.

She did not have that luxury however. She had to end this.

Bjorn was strong true, and fast, but there was a brief second between his blows that Diana knew she could exploit. She waited, timing his movements until she was caught up in the rhythm of his attack. Hammer! Sickle! Hammer! Sickle-

Wonder Woman uncrossed her wrists and blocked the downward thrust of the hammer to her left. As expected, Bjorn was not prepared for the sudden shift as he was so caught up in the rage of his attack. He staggered forward, off balance, and Diana brought her palm up, driving it into his nose.

Blood splattered as she heard cartilage shatter on the impact. Bjorn's head snapped back as she followed through, holding back just enough so as not to drive the splintered bone up into his brain. He was not worth killing. He fell to the ground, blood pouring from his broken nose, unconscious before the plume of soot settled over him.

Two down…

Rajas chuckled and coughed to see the over inflated B'jorn humbled and driven into the dirt, by a woman no less. He had never met the man personally, but he had hated him remotely with a passion. So arrogant! So full of himself. Just another Meta with delusions of grandeur after all. Just like him…

They were even up now, the JLA and Red Square. He and his Rocket Red along with Mysta against the Wonder Woman and the Black Canary. Red Square obviously had power on their side, but the ladies of the JLA had the experience and that might prove to be the edge that they needed to win. Both women were dangerous in their own right, but Rajas decided that the Amazon was the true threat.

He told Mysta through the communicator in her faceplate to concentrate an attack on the Amazon. With her down, the Canary would quickly follow. She was just a martial artist after all.

He saw the light shift as Mysta prepared a blast of concentrated light, and he powered up his own blast of forced wind. It was a pressure attack that they had practiced, hitting an opponent from opposite sides, slamming them between their equal forces of solid light and compressed wind. His was a new power, and though the Amazon might hear the turbines in his gauntlets building in strength, she would not know what was coming. It would be quick.

Rajas watched the power grids rise, lines of energy peaking out at 98%. He adjusted his controls with a thought, turning down the gain on his audio as a reverb started to disrupt his sensors. An annoying sound, like a dog whistle…

Or a Canary's Cry!

Too late-

The Black Canary screamed!

The air seemed to ripple as her sonic cry arched out, waves of sound flowing through the air. She shaped her mouth, closing her lips slightly to concentrate the energy and direct it towards her target. It hurt, like her throat was on fire, but she struggled, forcing her Meta to work. She had thought that the Cry might never return, that her Meta was gone forever after the tortures she had endured at the hands of terrorists. It had taken months just to get to the point that she felt confident enough to try and use her power again. Slowly, little by little, she had managed to regain some of the sonic scream. It was still not up to par, nowhere near full strength, but it was enough. She would suffer for this tomorrow.

Her Canary Cry hit the Rocket Red like a giant sledgehammer. She saw bits and pieces fly off of the armor as the robotic body was buffeted back by the force of her Meta attack. It spun, tumbling end over end, caught in the wave of sound that disrupted its internal mechanisms and sheared through its defenses.

Thousands of miles away, in a hidden bunker beneath the cold, deserted streets of Moscow, Rajas opened his mouth to scream. Blood spewed from his ears, and the headphones stapled into his skull seemed to shatter and fall away. The monitors in front of him winked out as his cameras shattered. The sound of the scream drove through his body, trapped in the chair that kept him immobile, but alive.

He felt his bones vibrating.

He felt his few remaining teeth shatter.

His eyes bulged as his head slammed back into the soft padding of his chair. He could not move, and so was forced to take the brunt of the attack that ran through his psychic link and raped his helpless, fragile body.

The cigarette fell from his lips and landed in his lap.

He did not even feel the burn at that point…

Dinah watched as the Rocket Red robot ripped in half and fell to the earth. Bits and pieces exploded as it dropped, its power pack actually imploding- luckily she supposed. Bits of molten metal rained down as the bulk of the armor slammed back to the ground, destroyed and useless.

She would never have used her Canary Cry if she had thought that there was actually someone within the armor. J'onn had been fairly certain that the armor was a robot however, and that was enough for her. It took just a moment to find the proper frequency, but when she got the reverb from her Meta, it was as good as over.

Rocket Red was dead!

Better dead than Red!

The Black Canary chuckled and turned to face the last of Red Square- the glowing woman, Mysta. She was hovering there, facing Diana, wondering what to do.

Her teammates were down.

Her leader was down.

She was alone…

Dinah cleared her throat, preparing to scream again…

"There's no need for this to continue!" Diana shouted, looking up at the glowing woman that hovered not so far above her. "Stand down, Mysta!"

The glowing woman stared at the Amazon, or at least appeared to. Her silver facemask betrayed no emotion; a beauteous carving that was forever impassive. Still, Diana saw the slightest change in the woman's glowing form- a shift in color and intensity.

I cannot…

Her words were music, lighter than air. Diana found herself distracted at the beauty…

"Diana!" the Canary shouted, rushing forward-

Wonder Woman shook her head, driving out the soothing calm of rapture.

Please…Surrender…

Wonder Woman stood motionless, caught by the muse of song, beauty…

Dinah charged forward, taking a deep breath. She had no idea if her Canary Cry would affect a being of living light, but she would be damned if she did not try-

Diana was crying, tears racing down her cheeks. A smile on her face-

Mysta turned towards the Canary…

Surrender…

Dinah saw the purity. The melodious perfection! She gasped, trying to scream…

Two giant green glowing hands swooped down out of the sky and separated the women. The left hand wrapped tightly about the glowing woman, locking her in a clenched fist. The right swept the Themysciran Princess and the Black Canary back and away. Dinah Lance looked up, her mind muddled, wondering what was going on-

She saw Kyle Rayner, the Green Lantern floating there like a god above them all. The glowing green hands were emanating from the ring on his finger, the most powerful weapon in the universe. He was grinning like an ass-

"Ladies, please!" he smirked. "Can't we all just get along?"

Crack!

They all turned.

The egg was hatching…

To Be Continued…

NEXT ISSUE: Next time for sure! Find out what's in the egg, and see how the JLA deal with it! You might be surprised…