"SO what are you planning on doing this week?"
T'Nara looked up, smiling. "Come on, Krys, you know I don't plan ahead."
The Narian smiled down at him and shrugged, "Me neither. I guess it's a hazard of the job, huh?"
T'Nara laughed, a loud booming noise that echoed around the cafeteria. No one in the place looked over for more then a second though, T'Nara was well known and respected here. "Take a seat, Corpsman, and regale me with tales of wrongs righted."
Krys smirked at him, sliding sinuously into the seat opposite him. "None to tell... just the normal. Prevented an asteroid impact on the Colsona Colonies last week..."
T'Nara rolled his eyes, "They should never have built in that system. It takes up more Corps time to keep those rogue asteroids from pulverizing them then it does to patrol the Scintoli Sector."
Krys shrugged, "It's not their fault that they built so close to Krypton, Nar."
"Please." T'Nara shook his head, "Even the Kryptonians should have known to get the hell out of that system... but the second one of their people tried to warn them, what happened? They turn him into a pariah..."
Krys didn't say anything. She knew that T'Nara took the loss of Krypton personally. It had been in his sector, but the people were too confident in their own superiority to accept the Corps help.
The silence was broken when a new voice broke in.
"Hey guys," A Corpsman by the name of Moro grinned pleasantly at them as he settle in beside Krys. "What's up?"
Krys grimaced comically and shifted away from him, "Nothing, Rookie, we're just talking about past missions."
Moro's eyes gleamed, "Can I listen? I can't wait to get out there like you guys do..."
T'Nara chuckled gruffly, "Listen, huh pup? Be true to the ring you wear and soon you'll have your own stories to tell, you won't have to listen."
Moro held up his hand and nodded, "I hope so."
"Don't worry, Rookie..." Krys started to say something when an alarm went off.
All around the room people rose from their tables, looking up in shock.
A voice came down from the ceiling. "This is an all Corps Alert. Repeat, this is an All Corps Alert. All Corpsmen will report to the Benara system for immediate deployment. Message repeats..."
But by that time no one was listening.
"An All Corps Alert?"
"Impossible."
"There hasn't been one of those since Krypton..."
"The guardians must have lost their minds..."
T'Nara shouted out, his voice booming over the whispers and shocked voices. "That's enough! Everyone fall in, and let's move out!"
Instantly the gathered Corpsman fell into ranks and followed T'Nara as he strode out of the pressurized dome, through the airlock, and into the vacuum of the asteroid oustide. Then, bathed in green glows, they rose from the barren rock and vanished into the depths of space.
Destination : Banara System.
"Ambush!!" T'Nara roared, plunging into the heat of the battle with a wild fervor.
He didn't look around, he merely cut a swath through the enemy without care for what ever might happen to him. Behind him he could hear his fellows rally at his back, screaming their support and diving into the war behind him.
As he screamed his battle cry his mind ran at warp, trying to figure out what had happened. <Of course it had been an ambush, there was no other reason to be called to this jerkwater system. No other reason for an all Corps alert.> He cursed to himself as he fought, his mind creating a spiked flail construct that he drove through the electronic guts of his android opponents.
Around him the battle raged as his fellows raged against the falling of their star, but it was obvious that the line had been crossed and that their time had come. The androids were nearly as powerful as they were, and were in far greater supply. One by one the others fell around him, each screaming their defiance with their last breath, but unable to forestall the inevitable fall.
Gathering all of his impressive will T'Nara surged forward, creating a massive construct that bodily shoved the enemy away from him and the others for a few brief moments.
The survivors used the time to rally, coming shoulder to shoulder as they faced off against the overwhelming odds.
"T'Nara!"
He turned, actually grinning widely as he recognized Krys'tal. "Some fight, huh?"
She grinned wildly back, her eyes lost in the battle lust. "To the death!"
T'Nara clenched his fist tightly, feeling the power surge from the ring on his finger. "I always knew that I would go out this way."
"As did I, old man." A new voice joined them.
"Young pup." T'Nara greeted their new companion as the three officers looked to the, now slowly approaching horde, "shall we make them pay for their victory?"
The other two smiled, as did the handful of other survivors, though grimly.
"They would sing songs of this day." Krys'tal announced.
"They would." T'Nara confirmed. "If any would survive it to speak of it to the bards."
"Then let us sing our OWN!" She screamed.
The survivors nodded as they formed up into a line.
T'Nara looked between them, bringing his clenched fist up as he spoke out in a loud voice. "By Brightest Day!"
He punched out his fist, and emerald beam erupting from his ring and slicing through the charging hord.
"By Darkest NIGHT!"
Krys summoned Emerald Night Specters, constructs of lethal predators from her homeworld, and unleashed them against the androids.
One by one the others added their power to the mix, and their voices to the cadence of the pledge. By the next line there were twenty voices screaming out in sync.
"NO EVIL shall escape our SIGHT!"
The chanted cadence echoed over the battlefield as the opposing juggernaughts met at the center of the field. On one side an unstoppable army of uncountable androids, on the other twenty three Knights in emerald armor, equipped with the most powerful weapons ever devised by the Guardians of the ancient order. The clash of this final moment in a battle of already epic proportions was like the thunder of Gods roaring in pent up rage.
And through it all the Knights continued to chant in their amplified voices, even as they fell one by one.
"Let those who worship evil's might," The screamed as they were cut down by the never ending supply of robotic enemies, "Beware our POWER!"
Finally there was only one left. T'Nara looked around, seeing the bodies of his closest comrades lying around him still in the peace of death, and let out a bellow of rage and power as hundreds of androids flowed over him. His voice echoed out the last line as they forced him to the ground.
"Green Lantern's LIGHT!"
Then there was an odd silence over the battlefield. The androids still moved, and surged over the fallen warrior, but for a long moment that was all. Then, suddenly, like a hand bursting from a grave a single green gauntlet burst through the press of synthetic bodies with it's finger's splayed wide.
<Listen old friend,> T'Nara thought desperately with his last strength. <I have only two tasks left for you... You must find a worthy to avenge us all, but first you must...>
An instant later, amid a sudden green pulse of energy, the ring on his finger slipped loose and rose rapidly into the air. As it began to accelerate to the sky it did it's last duty to it's bearer and sent a pulse of energy back along it's path.
The lethal green glare poured into the androids that were piled over the fallen knight, and in another instant there was nothing left but a smoking crater. With that task complete the ring flashed upward and out into space, intent on it's mission with a single purpose ingrained into it by it's fallen bearer. Vengeance.
"The Lanterns?"
"All dead, Milord."
"And their rings?"
The Android kneeled and delivered a chest to the figure seated in the large throne. "All have been accounted for..."
"Excellent." The figure on the chair leaned forward, revealing it's own metallic features. "The puppets strings have been cut..."
"Yes Milord."
"Then it is time to prepare the campaign against the masters." The ruler said, "Soon... Soon we move against the Guardians themselves."
"Then the crime will be assessed." The kneeling android said.
"Indeed. And justice will be done." The ruler vowed. "Tomorrow we begin the capaign to take Oa."
"Yes Milord."
The ruler kicked the lid of the chest shut, "Dispose of those... abominations."
Through the depths of interstellar space a single emerald object flashed with a speed borne of thought. It was homing in on the most powerful signal it could find, and that brought it quickly to a distant blue green world.
As it approached it lost it's lock on the power it had been tracking, suddenly becoming lost as it fell through the atmosphere. Something immensely more powerful was jamming it's senses. It adjusted it's course to the center of the jamming, preparing to conduct a local search.
As it fell through the dusty, somewhat polluted, atmosphere it didn't know the terrain below it. Didn't know that the patch of dry land was called California. Didn't know that the center of the 'jamming' was located in a small town called Sunnydale.
Buffy staggered to her feet, helped up by Xander as she tried to clear the stars from her eyes. "Wh... what's going on?"
"That freak is killing us Buffy!" Xander snapped out, trying to clear her head and wake the Slayer up. "Faith is getting her ass handed to her!"
A piercing scream rent the air, attracting both their attention. The looked to see the figure that had been ripping through them with such easy calmly snap the arm of one of the potentials they had brung along.
"God Damn it!" Xander yelled, dropping Buffy's arm as he shook his fist at the figure. "Put her down!"
"No! Xander!" Buffy pulled him back, "We have to get out of here. Run!"
"Buffy..." Xander hesitated, then nodded. "Retreat! Run! Meet back at the house!"
"You too." Buffy pushed him, "I'll keep this... Caleb bastard busy."
Xander nodded, leaving th blond Slayer's side. He looked around quick as he checked for stragglers, grabbing the injured potential and forcing her to her feet. "Move! Scream later when you're safe!" He yelled over her protests.
He circled back, eyes peering through the blackness for any other members of his team that might be in trouble.
"No one gets left behind." He said quietly as he picked up an unconscious potential and slung her over his shoulder. He was turning around and preparing to make his own run for it when a heavy iron grip landed on his shoulder.
It flashed through the air, moving fast in a logarithmic pattern as it examined the area at blindingly fast speeds. It flashed through the building that lay at the center of the interference, but found nothing of any interest. It spread it's pattern out, moving from place to place and finding plenty of beings powerful enough to be it's bearer but none worthy.
It locked onto a series of powerful beings that were nearby and flashed in their direction.
"You." The man snarled as he spun Xander around, "I know you."
Xander stammered in response, trying to back clear of the iron grip. "Ummm you must be mistaking me for someone else..."
"No." Caleb growled, holding Xander in place with one hand while he brought his other up to strike. "You're the one sees."
With that proclamation Caleb thrust his hand down, a single finger outstretched.
The ring came to a stop and observed the participants in the battle beneath it.
Power there existed in plenty, both tapped and untapped. But the inner selves were dark, frightened, undirected. Unworthy.
It flashed through the area, looking harder until it came to a stop.
It observed one move to save another, protecting others with it's life. It observed that ones inner self. Fear, yes, but it was locked safely down by bravery. Protection. Loyalty.
The ring paused, observing the conflict. Then it made a decision.
This one. This one would provide direction.
The ring itself would provide the power.
With that it pulsed.
As Xander saw the finger descend at his eye there was a sudden flash of brilliant green that blotted out the entire world.
"Ahhhhh!" Caleb screamed, falling back with his hands clutching at his eyes. "My eyes!"
Xander could sympathize. He couldn't see a damn thing himself at the moment as he started stumbling around, still balancing the unconscious potential on his shoulder as he tried to find a way out. As his free hand groped blindly through the air something hit his palm with a light thud and his fist clenched around it reflexively.
<What the hell?> He thought through the green haze that was still clouding his mind.
He didn't have time to wonder as he heard a familiar voice.
"Boytoy? Xander!?"
"Faith!" He called out, "Over here!"
"Come on, Xan!" She yelled, "We've got to get out of here!"
"I can't see a damn thing, Faith!" He yelled, "Something happened... I... I'm blind!"
Faith didn't say anything for a long moment.
"Faith?" He called out, afraid she had been hurt or left him.
Suddenly her hand locked around his wrist and he heard her voice close to his face, "Come on, boytoy... we've got to move."
"Right." He said, carefully balancing the potential on his shoulder and letting Faith guide him out of the deathtrap they had blundered into.
Back at Casa del Summers, the group collapsed into the home and began licking their wounds.
"How is she, Giles?" Xander asked, his eyes staring unfocused at the wall as Giles tending the potential he had carried home.
"She will live, Xander." Giles assured him. "Now allow me to examine your eyes."
Xander held still while Giles placed his fingers on his face and held his eyes open wide. Giles stared into the eyes that had once been deep brown and his breath caught a little.
"What is it, G-man?"
Giles ignored the nickname as he stared into the emerald eyes of a boy he considered a son. "Your... your eyes have changed color."
"What?" Faith shoved Giles out of the way as she looked into Xander's eyes. "Whoa... the stuffy brit is right. Damn. How'd I miss that on the way over?"
"It was dark, Faith... I'm sure that... whoa..." Buffy trailed off. "My god, Giles... what happened?"
Giles picked himself irritably off the floor, "if I could be left to finish my examination without further physical abuse, I may be able to ascertain that."
"Would someone please tell me what is going on!?" Xander asked, perturbed by the reactions from around him.
"Xander..." Buffy started, "You... your..."
"You've got a kick ass pair of peepers, boytoy." Faith said, a smirk in her voice. "Real funky green... hot as hell."
"Green?" Xander asked, his voice a whisper as his hand rose to his face.
"Emerald I should say." Giles muttered, "I'll look into it at once."
Xander sunk back into his chair, his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. "Green..."
As a sudden debate broke out around him, Xander tuned everyone out. He let his hands drop down at his side, frowning as they thumped against a lump in his pocket. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the object he had plucked form the air after being blinded.
As the gang fought and argued around him he felt the object carefully, determining it's general shape. "Hey guys?"
No one paid any attention.
Xander frowned. It felt like a ring or something similar, he thought as he casually fit it over the tip of his finger and slowly twisted it around. "Guys?"
They were still arguing too much to hear him.
He felt around him, trying to see who was near.
"Hey!" He heard Dawn's voice, "What where you put your... oh... umm... sorry, Xan."
He smiled at her. "Sorry Dawnie... Say, can you tell me what's this in my hand?"
Danw glanced over, barely glancing as she watched Giles and Buffy arguing. "It's a ring."
Xander nodded, sitting back. <Ok. So it is a ring.>
He fumbled with it a bit, trying to judge it's size. <Feels like it would fit me too... Weird. How does a ring just happen to show up in the middle of a fight like that? And how does a blind man happen to snag it from mid air?>
He kept rolling it around his finger, thinking as he spun it in place. Abruptly it slid right down his finger, almost flowing over his knuckle.
<What the hell!?> Xande sat bolt upright as he felt a sudden surge of power run through him, like an electric current frying him from the inside out.
"And furthermore," Giles stated flatly, "Going into an obvious ambush against the better judgment of those who are just as experienced as you are..."
"Uh... guys?" Dawn spoke up hesitantly.
"I'm the Slayer Giles." Buffy retorted. "My calling, remember? My call."
"Guys??"
"Yes. You are the Slayer, Buffy." Giles admitted, a tinge of the Ripper peeking out, "That means that you are a glorified *footsoldier* and you should remember your place!"
"Guys!"
"What!?" Buffy snapped, face still red from Giles comment. She abruptly forgot about it when she saw Xander sitting bolt upright in his chair, shuddering as if having a seizure. "Xander??"
He didn't answer as the group crowded around him.
"Xan?"
"Xander!"
"Boytoy?"
Beyond them the Potentials looked on with worry. Several of them owed their lives to the man who was now going through something decidedly abnormal.
Suddenly he rose to his feet as a green glow enveloped him, his eyes glowing even more brightly. He took an uncertain step, then another, and another. Soon he was striding confidently to the door.
"Xander!" Buffy got in his way, "You aren't going anywhere!"
He didn't speak, merely slipped to the side of her, but she instantly got in his way again. "Xander! I'm warning you! If I have to keep you here by force I will... Don't make me..."
Her warning was suddenly cut off as his hand came up and a wall of green light swept her to the side. Buffy was pinned to the wall by the force and Xander walked past her, his eyes still staring blankly ahead and his face was completely devoid of expression.
"Xander!" Buffy cried out as he stepped outside.
As he came out into the open he dropped the field that held her and she rushed out, followed by the others. Just before she reached him, the glow around him pulsed again and Xander rose from the ground.
The entire group stared up, jaws slack and eyes wide, as the green glowing Xander rose into the sky and vanished from sight.
The dusty skies of the Banara system were briefly illuminated by the spotty flashes of green as a new figure entered it's barren atmosphere. This figure swept down in a long, but jerky, arc that came to a slowing halt just over a desolate plain.
It hovered for a moment before it's altitude suddenly dropped, then stabilized, then fell again.
"Crap!" Xander yelled as he hit the ground after falling thirty feet. He rolled along a gentle slope, coming to a stop on his back and staring at the sky.
After a long moment of breathing he noticed the sky was pink.
After another long moment if occurred to him that the sky was pink.
Finally, after yet another long moment he realized two important things.
First, the sky was PINK.
Second...
"Holy... I can see again!" He yelped in surprise and joy as he stared at the pink sky.
"Holy crap! The sky is PINK!" He blurted, still lying on his back. He rolled over, then yelped in shock as he found himself looking at a half buried body.
"Oh shit!" He cursed, scrambling to his feet and stumbling back.
After a moment he got control of himself and crept closer.
"Demon... must be." He said under his breath, though he felt oddly wrong as he said that. He reached out a hand and slowly pulled the odd looking body over, rolling it onto it's back. "Yep... demon."
That still felt wrong, but it was all he could think of. The creature was sort of greyish, and had tentacles or tendrils or something hanging on it's face. It was also wearing some kind of odd armor, or clothing, that Xander didn't recognize. It was a brilliant green and had an odd symbol centered in it's chest. Xander frowned for a moment, then stood up. He looked around, his heart skipping a few beats as he took in the definite non-earthy terrain and the roughly strewn bodies that were lying all around him.
"Great. Demon burial grounds..." Xander said as he shook his head and started walking to the next body.
Several hours later he sat down heavily on a large rock and looked over the scene, more confused then ever.
"It doesn't make any sense." He said to himself. "They all have the same... uniform. They all seem to be missing their ring fingers... well, the ones that *have* ring fingers. The others are missing other parts as near as I can tell."
Xander looked around, "You know... a place like this could get a guy to talk to himself."
Another moment passed and he slapped his forehead. "Ah crap!"
Finally he stood up again, shaking his head. "Ok... get a grip here, Harris."
"You're standing in the middle of a warzone... or an ex-warzone... tons of bodies. Definitely Dem... not humans... Must be an army of some kind." Xander took a breath, looking around. "Ok. These guys look pretty dangerous... I doubt they got taken out without doing some damage of their own... so where are the bodies of the other side?"
Xander started moving around, looking for corpses without the odd uniforms. After a long time he frowned, shaking his head again. "Nothing. Damn it... what the hell happened here? A civil war maybe?"
He came to a deep crater and on an impulse scrambled down to the center of it. He kicked over a couple rocks and scrap pieces of metal, freezing when he caught sight of something gleaming. He knelt down, brushing the dirt away as he pulled what looked like an armored helmet out of the dirt.
Xander shivered. "If there is a head in this I swear I'm going to scream like Dawn and run like hell."
He flipped the 'helmet' over and found nothing but wires and electronics inside.
"Whoa... a robot?" Xander examined it carefully, thinking of the Buffybot. "Damn. I wish Will were here."
He fiddled with some wires, noticing that there were still some lights on inside. He crossed a couple wires and got a shock for his troubles.
"Ouch! Dammit!" He cursed, almost dropping the robot head. Frustrated he smacked the side of the head, cursing it. "Dumb piece of junk!"
The head crackled and spat electrical charges, but didn't respond to his abuse in any other way.
Xander sighed and rose to his feet, talking to the head as he tucked it under his arm. "Great... Robots, dead whatever they ares... and this place don't look like Kansas, Toto..."
The head crackled again, as if in response.
Xander shrugged, "Glad to know you agree... So, what do you think? If we see some munchkins you want to kick their asses?"
No response.
"What? Don't tell me you like those little wierdos?" Xander asked the head as he walked back to his rock. "I mean... come on, a bunch of little guys... all dressing alike? It's major league creepy."
The head crackled and snapped again.
"Right. See? You do know what I mean." Xander said as he set the head down on the rock, sat down himself, and leaned on the robot head. "So... You got a girlfriend, Toto?"
No response.
"Yeah... Me neither..." Xnader commiserated. "I used too... but boy did I blow that."
As he talked he looked around the grounds in all directions. He could see to the horizon in all directions, and there was nothing. No hills, no mountains, no oceans, no cities. Nothing.
"So... what do you think, Toto?" He asked casually, "Pick a direction and start walking?"
Nothing.
"No... I didn't think so." Xander sat up, flipping the helmet upside down and examining it's interior again. "This really sucks."
The circuits spat at him again, causing Xander to flinch back. "Hey! Cut that out, I didn't say that you sucked..."
Xander kept tinkering with the inside of the circuits, more out of curiosity and boredom then anything else. As he played with two loose wires they happened to cross and come into contact with his ring, sending another power jolt up his arm.
"Ow!" he yelped, suddenly remembering the ring he was wearing, and then instantly forgetting it again as the eyes of the robot head began to glow and then suddenly projected an image of a fantastic battle.
Xander fell silent and stared as a clash of titans unfolded before his eyes.
As the recording came to an end Xander stared around the battleground with new eyes.
"Holy..." He whispered, abandoning the head and walking back out to the closest corpse.
He kneeled down, looking at the uniform, some idea of what had happened finally coalescing in his mind. He wasn't completely certain he understood the situation, but one thing was certain... The fallen here deserved more respect then they had been accorded.
They had stood their ground to the death against an enemy that was neither human, nor flesh and blood, and had done so with courage, skill, and power.
Xander shook his head, looking at the vaguely female features of the corpse, wondering if she had been pretty when she was alive. He closed his eyes, breathing out, as he climbed to his feet.
"What was that they said?" He asked himself, trying to recall the exact words the last band of fighters had screamed as they died.
He took a breath, letting it half out, and looked at the ring on his finger. The ring that he had seen on the fingers of these warriors. The rings that had certainly been removed with knives by the robotic armies. Xander straightened his shoulders, looking over the dead warriors, and snapped off a crisp military salute.
Then, almost unbidden, the words came to his tongue.
"In brightest day, In darkest night..."
As he intoned the words a green glow appeared beside him, attracting his attention. Xander felt his ring become almost magnetically attracted to the glow. He let his arm rise up, but continued speaking.
"No evil shall escape my sight..."
A lantern emerged from the glow and a sudden burst of power surged into the ring he wore, filling Xander with the same surge.
"Let those who worship evil's might, beware my power..."
The energy link surged one more time, then closed and the lantern faded away.
Xander lifted his hand, staring at the ring in wonder and the dawning of understanding.
"Green Lantern's LIGHT!"
The ring surged once, glinting with an emerald energy.
Xander looked around at the field of corpses, his eyes sad. "I... I'm starting to understand."
Destroying rocks, a Xander learned, was easy enough with the ring's power. Doing anything else, was not.
Still, after hours of trying to imitate the things he'd seen on the playback, Xander learned that he could move things with the ring and even create crude tools by imagining them.
Given that, it only took him four days work to dig a grave for all the bodies that were lying there. He used the rings to scoop out a large group grave, and then carried each body in by hand. Shoving them around with the ring didn't feel right to him.
When he was done he swallowed, his mouth dry as hell since he didn't have any water. The ring seemed to keep him alive, but he still needed something to drink soon, otherwise he was going to swallow his tongue.
He looked over the grave, the rows of bodies that were laying with their arms (and other things) crossed over their chests. Xander sighed, then spoke.
"I really don't know who you guys where... But even I'm not stupid... I recognize the symbol on your chests as the same thing I have on my finger. Sure it kidnaped me, but I can deal with that... I can understand it too... If I were out here... well I'd hope that someone was coming to at least pay some respect and maybe get a message to my friends. So I'm going to do that for you if I can... I... First I guess I have to figure out how to get out of here though..." Xander sighed, "Wish me luck... and Rest in peace."
With that he saluted the ranks of bodies, holding the position for a long moment, then he frowned and focused hard on the ring. Slowly he created a large scoop that pushed the pile of dirt he had excavated back into the pit, covering the bodies.
After that was done He breathed heavily and sat back down on the rock. Several long minutes later he stood up and faced the rock that was now sitting at the head of te mass grave. "Only one thing left..."
He aimed his fist at the rock and the ring flashed. Once. Twice. And over and over again. Sweat beaded on Xander's face, his muscles jumped from the exertion, until he finally stopped and fell to his knees in exaustion.
He looked at the rock and nodded before falling forward to the ground, unconscious.
On the rock, permanently carved into it's solid face, was the symbol that was on the chest of the fallen warriors. The same symbol that was on his ring. The symbol, he now knew, of The Green Lantern.
"All of them?"
"All."
"Then we are lost."
"Perhaps not, my brothers."
The Guardians of Oa turned at the new voice, surprise evident on their normally unexpressive faces. "Brother. You were not to return."
"I know." The Old One said, shrugging his slight shoulders. "However, given the circumstances."
"Yes." The others conceded. "Welcome home."
The Old One nodded slightly.
"Now..." The others continued, "Explain yourself. We are aware that the Corps has fallen."
"They have."
"Then we are lost." The guardians repeated.
The Old One smiled, something that the Guardians couldn't do. "There is another."
The Guardians reacted with shock, though their expressions didn't change. "Which Ring?"
"The one of Tomar-Re." The Old One said.
"From Tomar-Re through T'Nara... to Kal-El." The others said.
"No."
"No? That Ring was to go to Kal-El."
"It did not."
"Who then?"
"One from his adopted world. A human." The Old One said.
"His name."
The Old One shrugged, "That I do not know."
"Then he is an unknown?"
"Indeed."
The Guardians conferred rapidly amongst themselves, their thoughts passing silently through the ether. "We must know why the ring selected him... What was the last command of T'Nara?"
The Old One shrugged.
The Guardians subsided, looking at their Brother sternly. "Go to him. Bring him to us."
"I will go, brothers. But I will not bring him where he does not wish to go." The Old One said, "I relinquished my power, and your oath does not bind me."
"Very well. But go."
The Old One nodded, bowing slightly as he backed out of the room.
"Great." Xander muttered as he walked. He was weakening, and he could feel it happen. So far the ring had kept him alive, and mobile, but the thirst was growing stronger and after four more days he was seriously fighting off hunger pangs.
In the end he had chosen a direction at random and started walking. It wasn't the brightest idea maybe, but it was all he had.
Of course, after walking for three more days, Xander had to admit that he wasn't getting anywhere. He stopped, slowly turning and looking around. As near as he could tell he was in the same place he had landed, or at least there wasn't any obvious landmark to say otherwise.
"You're not getting out of here that way."
Xander spun around in shock at hearing another human voice. OR maybe not so human, he corrected a moment later as he caught sight of a short green guy smiling up at him.
"Jesus!" He held his chest, "Don't *DO* that!"
"My apologies." The short guys shrugged.
"What were you talking about?" Xander asked after his heartbeat slowed a bit. "I'm not getting out of here what way?"
"By walking." The little guy said simply, taking a seat on a small boulder.
"How else?" Xander asked, confused.
The little guy shrugged, "This is a dead world... It died a few decades ago... there is nothing here."
"World...?" Xander trailed off, his mind working, "Oh God..."
"Well... not quite." The little man smiled, "But I am here to answer a prayer."
"Excuse me??"
"You wanted to know more about the ring you wear." The little guy said.
Xander looked around, "You know, I'm getting flashbacks to that god awful D&D cartoon here. What's your name? And if you say Dungeon Master I'm going to kick your munchkin ass."
The little man frowned at him for a moment, then brushed the comments off. "I am called The Old One."
Xander rolled his eyes, "Oh like that's so much better."
The little guy just stared at Xander and waited patiently.
Finally Xander sighed, "Alright... tell me about the ring."
"Very well." The little guy said, smiling again. "The ring is, at once, a weapon, a symbol, and a badge of responsibility. It converts your thoughts into reality, it protects you from harm, and it empowers you beyond the ken of mortals."
Xander looked down at the ring on his finger, shivering. "Why me?"
The little guy shrugged, "An error perhaps... or perhaps destiny. You would be surprised how often they are one and the same."
"Not helping here."
"Sorry."
Xander sighed, looking around. "No problem."
"No matter the cause," The little guy said, "You do carry the ring now. It empowers you to act on the behalf of the Lantern Corps... It also places a heavy burden on your shoulder, young one."
"Power." Xander said, "I've seen what it does to people. I don't want it."
The little guy smiled, "And that, is perhaps the very reason why the ring selected you. Power should never be placed in the hands of those who desire it or, even worse, the hands of those capable of achieving it."
"Power corrupts." Xander said flatly. "I've seen it."
The little guy rose from the boulder, smiling gently. "That is incorrect, young one. Power does not corrupt. Power attracts the corruptible. Your concerns do you honor, young one. But for now, you must put them aside."
"Why? What's happening now?"
"The Lantern Corps has fallen. You are the last." The short man said, "And soon the Guardians will face the Manhunters alone, and with the power of the rings lost to them."
"What happened to the other rings?"
"They were captured."
"Destroyed?"
"No." The Old One said with finality. "Were the rings destroyed, their power would have returned to the core. It has not, and without it, Oa must surely fall."
Xander swallowed, "What is the Corps you're talking about?"
"The Lantern Corps is a galactic force of peace officers." The Old One said, "Enforcing laws, rescuing those in need, and combating evil where ever they may find it."
"Cops." Xander said.
The Old One shrugged, "As I understand the term... yes."
Xander looked at the ring on his hand, "What do I have to do?"
The Old One smiled. "First... A change of clothes is in order. Call your Lantern."
"Huh?"
"The Pledge. Recite the pledge."
Xander was about to question him again, but his mind suddenly clicked. "Oh..."
Xander brought his hand up, fist clenched, and held it flat out.
"In brightest day."
The Green Lantern appeared again, and Xander felt energy infusing him again.
"In darkest night."
The Old One laid a hand on his shoulder, whispering something low that Xander couldn't hear.
"No evil shall escape my sight!"
Xander began to shimmer, a green glow blanketing him.
"Let those who worship Evil's might, Beware my power..."
The glow coalesced around him, his clothing fading away to be replaced with the same armored green uniform of the fallen he had buried.
"Green Lantern's Light!"
The glow faded away and Xander looked down at himself. White gloves, fitting like a second skin, green and black uniform with armored inserts that protected key areas, and the black, white, and green symbol prominently displayed on his chest.
"Whoa..." He muttered, "Funky. Glad no one back home can see this."
The Old One didn't smile. "This uniform carries a great of respect and honor, young one. Do not be flippant about those who came before."
Xander nodded, straightening his back as he stood a little taller. "What now?"
The Old One looked up, "Your path lies there."
Xander looked up, swallowing as he saw the twinkling stars above him. "How?"
"Just... will it to be."
"Ok..." Xander nodded slowly. "How will I know where to go?"
"When you look... you will know."
Xander looked back for the cryptic little man, but was surprised to find that he was gone. "What the hell??"
He looked around, but there was no sign. "Great. A munchkin who puts Angel to shame... Just what I need."
He sighed, then looked up and tried to focus his mind on flying. After a moment he sighed and shook his head, "Damn it... I'm never gonna... YIIIII!!!"
The scream was due to the fact that he was already a thousand feet in the air and rising fast. Xander quickly got himself under control again and continued to climb as his heart raced. As the shimmer of atmosphere gave way to the steady blackness of space he came to a stop and looked around. "Now what?"
<When you look... you will know.>
The strange echo of the Old One's voice ran through his head and Xander shook himself to clear it. He looked around once more, and then he *looked*.
In space around him he could suddenly see two paths. One was faint and narrow and led in one direction. The other was strong, though fading, and wide and led in another. Xander stopped and considered.
"The faint one is probably my trail when I came here." He decided, "So if I go that way... I get home. The other way... that should lead back to where the Lantern's came from..."
He hovered for a moment then, decision made, turned and flashed through space.
Tonoro yawned as he swept up the old building, chills running up his back as he listened to the silence that seemed the scream at him from all sides. The place was never this empty, and he didn't like it.
As if in answer to his thoughts he heard the big central airlock cycle through. He looked up, his eyes gleaming as he recognized the uniform of the figure that strode through the door. Quickly he turned on the lights and told the computer to power up the bar.
"Welcome, welcome..." He said, striding forward to greet the Lantern, but then stopped in confusion. "Wait... who are you?"
The figure walked in silently, looking around for a moment before turning to him and smiling. "You can call me Xander. You run this place?"
Tonoro shook his head clear, frowning, but answered quickly. "Y... Yes sir. Can I get you anything?"
"When was the last time that the Lanterns were here?"
Tonoro thought fast, "About one Tek now."
Xander frowned, "Tek? What's a Tek?"
Tonoro shook his head, "Sorry. You must be new... Come over here..."
Xander followed him to the bar where Tonoro flipped up a computer screen, then looked at him. "What planet are you from?"
"Earth."
Tonoro frowned, tapping something in. Finally he shook his head, "No good... Do you have any idea how many primitives name their planet Earth? I need something more..."
Xander bristled at the comment, but sighed after a moment and shook his head. "The sun... we call it Sol."
He bent to the screen again, tapping something in, then frowned again. "Sol?? Are you sure?"
"Yes..."
"You come from the system of the rings..."
"Huh?"
"That system is quite famous." Tonoro said, looking up. "But it's not on any contact list... no one is supposed to go near it yet."
"Something screwed up." Xander said. "We call it a SNAFU where I come from."
"Snafu?"
"Situation normal..." Xander replied, "All fucked up."
Tonoro burst out laughing for a long moment, wiping his eyes finally. "Oh I like primitive languages... so expressive."
He quickly sobered as he noticed Xander bristle. "No offense, Sir..."
Xander brushed it off, "None taken. Now... how long ago did the Lanterns leave?"
"Oh... yes. Just a moment." He bent back to the computer, then nodded. "About a month by your reckoning."
"What caused them to leave?"
"That was very strange, Sir... there was an All Corps Alert issued... that doesn't happen very often."
Xander nodded, "Thanks. Were you here when they left?"
Tonoro nodded, "Yes Sir. I work here, day in day out. If you don't mind my asking Sir, where are they?"
Xander's eyes flickered, but he quickly looked Tonoro in the eyes. "I'm afraid that they're dead."
Tonoro blinked, a shocked look spreading across his face. Then suddenly he smiled, laughing. "Good One Sir... but nothing could kill the Lanterns... not all of them."
Xander shook his head, planting the robotic head of the Manhunter unit he found on the counter. "An army of these can."
Tonoro fell back a bit, his face going blank as he realized that Xander wasn't kidding. "D... dead?"
Xander nodded. "Can you get me a list of their family? They should be notified."
"Only people who know that is the Guardians..." Tonoro said, "Th... that's why you wear the Mask..."
Xander's hand went up to gently caress the stiff mask he wore over his eyes, and nodded. "Rough job then, is it?"
Tonoro nodded, "Yes Sir."
"Alright. Then I need to contact the Guardians." Xander said.
"They're on Oa, Sir..."
"Where is Oa?"
He tapped a few more keys and then flipped the computer around so Xander could see the path to Oa in relation to the asteroid he was currently on. After a few minutes Xander nodded, "Ok. I think I've got it... Tell me, are you the only one who works here?"
"No. There's a manager upstairs."
"Now?"
"Yes."
"Show me." Xander ordered, plucking the decapitated robot head from the counter and carrying it under his arm.
Miko-Re was a squat, fat, man that seemed to outweigh his desk as well as easily take up more space then the large piece of furniture. He also didn't like surprises. So when the door to his office was suddenly knocked open and he saw the green and black uniform of the figure behind it walk calmly in he reacted instinctively.
He tried to hide under his desk.
Xander rolled his eyes, mentally commanding the desk to lift off the man. His ring warmed ever so slightly around his finger as it enveloped the heavy metal desk and easily floated it clear of the 'man' on the floor.
"Excuse me." He said.
Miko-Re looked up, suddenly smiling. "Hello, Sir! Sorry, I didn't recognize you... I get nervous when the place is empty like this..."
Xander nodded, "Right... Tell me what you know about the All Corps alert that was issued a... Tek ago."
Miko-Re shook his head, shrugging. "Don't know nothing... I don't handle the alerts. The Guardians do that..."
"Uh huh." Xander said, "You seemed surprised to see me..."
"You startled me..." The man said defensively.
Xander nodded, calmly setting the desk back in place as the man got back into his chair. "Tell me what you know about it anyway."
"What?" The man looked around nervously. "It was an alert... nothing new."
"Lantern's receive All Corps Alerts often?"
"Well... not often... no..."
Xander pulled the robot head from behind his back and slammed it down on the desk, "I guess they only get issued when one of *these* asks for it, huh?"
Miko-Re tried to jump back from the disembodied robot, pressing his impressive mass against the wall behind him.
"So talk." Xander said coldly.
Miko looked around, "Nothin to say..."
"Don't give me that..." Xander snarled, his eyes flashing with green light as he brought up his hand.
Miko suddenly lunged, not at Xander, but at his desk and retrieved a hand pistol. He fired off three shots before Xander could react.
"Ooommph!" Xander cried out as he was sent crashing back into the wall.
As he was picking himself out of the wall, Miko rushed around his desk and made a bolt for the door. He only got halfway across the room before a green glow lifted him clean off the ground and slammed him back into the wall. He struggled, but was held in place by a huge green vice.
Xander picked himself up and walked forward, eyes still leaking the green glow at a ferocious rate as he barely kept his emotions under check. "Looking to finish off what you started I guess, huh?"
"Look... I... Uh... They threatened me..."
Xander watched as his eyes flickered to the huge desk. He dropped the big man and turned his focus on the desk, smashing it open with a thought. A shower of golden chips scattered all across the ground. He looked back up, "Your retirement fund?"
"Uh... I... I can explain..."
Xander grabbed him again, then turned and walked out, crushing the alien blaster pistol under foot as he carried the fat man out of the office.
"Talk!" Xander snapped, slamming the bulbous form of the manager against the wall. "I don't have time to screw around, my friends are fighting and dying at home! How did you fake the alert!"
"I... I don't know!" Miko cried out, under threat of a huge emerald anvil floating over his head. "I don't know! I just used what they gave me to use!"
Xander shook his head, "It doesn't make sense... how could they know how to fake an alert? It can't be easy... I mean, hell..."
"I don't know!"
Xander glared down at the crying form on the floor, "You're lucky I don't have time to deal with you now. I'll be back... Don't be here."
With that Xander turned his back and walked out, ignoring the stares he received as he passed and cycled through the airlock out into the airless void of the Asteroid surface.
Outide he looked up, staring at the unblinking stars spread before him in a panorama. "I should leave these people to themselves. I didn't ask fo this crap..."
He looked down at the ring on his finger, growling. "I have friends who could really use this kind of edge back home..."
Then he thought about the battlefield he had just left a short while ago, the men and women who had died there fighting an unstoppable foe. Xander shook his head again, kicking the dirt at his feet. As the dust and debris lifted up in the low gravity he watched the patterns and considered things.
"They died on their feet..." Xander sighed, "Fighting because they chose to help... Damn it, I can't just let that go for nothing... I hope to god someone would step up into Buffy's place if she goes down... lord knows, I tried... but I was never good enough to fill her shoes."
He looked at the ring on his finger, clenching his hand into a fist. "Maybe I can be good enough to fill someone else's."
Xander looked up into the black skies, his eyes instinctively finding a faded red star in the far distance. "Ready or not, Oa... Here I come."
"What do you mean, you don't KNOW!?" Buffy's voice was threatening, "SomeTHING kidnapped Xander! You have to figure out what the First is doing to him!"
"May I remind you, we have no evidence that the First is in anyway involved." Giles reproved mildly.
"Oh, so you think it's just a coincidence that Xander is taken after we got our asses kicked by Caleb!?" Buffy growled.
"An event, I might add, that might not have happened had you listened to our advice... Xander's included." Giles growled right back.
As the two figures met in the center of the Summer's living room, quiet eyes watched it all from various vantage points around the room.
"Do they do this often?" Kennedy asked quietly.
Dawn shook her head, "No... They're really mad."
"It's about time someone tells her where to get off." Rhona muttered darkly, "She's going to get us all killed... or taken like Xander."
"We don't know that he was taken!" Dawn snapped, an edge of desperation in her voice. "He could have..."
"Could have what?" The Potential asked snidely, "Decided to go for a little after battle flight to relax? Face it. The First has him, and is probably hooking him up with one of those triggers even now."
Dawn paled, the idea of facing Xander on the other side of the line scared her more then Spike. Spike was always an unknown quantity, even when he was her protector. She'd always had this slight voice in the back of her mind warning her that he was a vampire, and they did, after all, like to bite. That voice was absolutely silent when it came to Xander, no matter what, Dawn never doubted his place. And the idea that his place might have changed, was frightening. "Oh God, I hope not..."
Rhona shrugged, "At least we'll be able to kick his ass if it some to it."
Dawn glared at her, "I wouldn't take any bets on that."
"Please. He's just some guy..."
"Some guy who carried Teresa back here from Caleb's... the whole way on his shoulders..." Dawn said coldly, "While he was *blind*. Just some guy who's survived longer then anyone here except Giles while fighting the darkness."
"Buffy started before he did." Kennedy objected, "Willow told me that."
"Did she also tell you that Buffy died twice so far?" Dawn asked cooly, "And that he was the one who brought her back both times?"
"I thought Willow did that."
"Will cast the spell the second time, but she needed Xander. And the first time was all Xander." Dawn glared at them both, "Trust me. We so don't want to face him under the First's control."
The two Potentials shared a worried look, then turned back to the heated argument in the living room.
"We are lost."
Explosions rained down on the alien city, immense spires toppling even as huge buildings ruptured into rubble. The fire came from the uncountable androids swarming the skies, casually destroying everything in their path as they homed in on the central core of Oa.
"Guardians!"
The voice boomed from the skies, rending the air with it's sheer volume as the lead androind swooped down on the central core of the ancient city. "Guardians! Come forth and witness Justice!!"
One by one the blue skinned Guardians slid silently out to meet the horde, their features inscrutable as they stood in a single rank and stared almost serenely at their accusers. "You have no comprehension of justice, Manhunters."
"Shut up!" The lead figure boomed, "We ARE justice! We were created to be the perfect agents of justice for this woe begotten galaxy, and now we will take our rightful place as it's protectors!"
"Oppressors, you mean." The Guardians spoke calmly, "Your mechanical minds have no comprehension of compassion, honor, or mercy. And without those, you are nothing but yet another despot waiting to be toppled."
"Perhaps." The lead android said, his voice booming, "But we won't be subjugated by the likes of you any longer. Good bye, Creators... If you have any prayers to your own creator, make them now... unless you killed him, as we will you."
The Guardians were silent, but refused to so much as back away from their attackers.
"So be it." The lead android raised it's voice. "Execution Squad, Forward!!"
Thirty of the manhunter units flew forward, landing in ranks by the leader.
"These criminals have been tried, and convicted, of removing the Manhunters from their rightful position and leave the Galaxy protected only by the inferior beings known as the Lantern Corps." The Leader boomed out, his voice being carried to the gathering crowds. "The sentence is DEATH!"
The execution squad snapped to attention.
"Carry out the sentence." The lead Android said coldly and simply.
The Androids brought their weapons to bear on the Guardians, charging with audible hums. Then, as one, they fired.
Their weapons rent the air, creating artificial thunder as the atmosphere rushed in to fill the vacuum left by the powerful blasts. Even over all that screams of terror and shock were to be heard from everyone within sight of the event, as they watched the Immortal Guardians, protectors of the entire Galaxy, come under fire from their own creations.
The blasts crossed the space between shooter and target in a blinding instant, but even faster then that an Emerald shield formed between them and absorbed the entire barrage.
For a long moment there was nothing but silence, then someone looked up into the sky and cried out. It was a cry of hope, a sound of salvation, but it was tinged with despair as well.
Because, floating above the square, was a single armored Knight in Emerald Green. His entire body was glowing with power, an emerald glint flashing from one steely eye, and a pure pulse of energy formed around his right fist.
To each and every person there, he was a sign of hope. The Lantern's were always there to protect them, save them from disaster. And he cut a magnificent image in the sky. So that was the cause of their hope.
The cause of their despair was simple.
He was alone.
Xander took a shuddering breath as he floated there, defying gravity and an army of androids simply by existing.
He thought about sayinf something, and for a moment wracked his mind for something classy, or tough, or even witty to say. But finally settled for keeping his beg yap shut for one and glaring at the androids silently while trying to look as mean as possible.
<This witty banter thing used to be my strong suit...> He mused as the crowds gaped at him, <I wonder what happened to it? Come to think of it I haven't had a really good joke in a long time... Nothing to laugh about in way too long maybe.>
As it turned out, looking intimidating was a lot easier when you didn't open your mouth and spoil the effect. At least, the crowds seemed impressed. The robot things weren't as easily intimidated, though they did seem to have an impressive temper.
"A lantern..." The Android said, his circuits so tied up by the figure above him that he even sounded shocked. "Not possible."
He instantly linked with the others, demanding explanations. "I was told that they were all accounted for!"
<They were. All bodies were found, their rings taken.>
"Then what is this... THING doing here!?"
<Unknown. Threat analysis?>
"He's alone."
<Eliminate.>
"With pleasure."
The Android turned to the figure in the sky, waving it's hand. "Kill HIM!!"
Again the air was rent with artificial thunder.
A glimmering orb appeared around Xander as the first blasts rent the air, easily absorbing the energy of the weapons. On pure defense, Xander somehow knew that he could hold out for some time. But on pure defense, he would eventually be worn out and killed.
As the first barrage died on his emerald shield he dropped the defense and mentally commanded the attack.
An emerald scythe swept through the ranks of the execution squad with a single lethal swoop, slicing them in two without the slightest visible effort. The thirty androids fell into a sparking heap.
Even before they hit the ground, Xander was dropping as fast as the planets Gravity would let him, falling under the second barrage and he holed another dozen androids with powerful, albeit clumsy, blasts from his ring. He touched down between the Guardians and the Manhunter Units, erecting a shield as quickly as he could.
Then he looked over his shoulder, "Alright... Talk to me! What the hell is going on here??"
The Guardians looked between each other, mentally assessing the situation.
"Now, people!" Xander flinched under a barrage from the Manhunters. "I don't think I can hold these things off for long!"
"Who are you?"
Xander rolled his eyes, "Do we really have time for introductions?"
When none of them responded, Xander sighed. "Alexander Harris, of Sunnydale California, Earth."
"And how came you by this ring?" A second one asked.
Xander winced under another blast, turning his focus back to where part of the shield was weakening. After he had mentally reinforced it he turned back, "Damn it, how the hell should I know?! The damned thing kidnapped me out of a friends house! Could we do the whole, you're useless give us back the ring thing later!?"
The Guardians looked at each other, again taking an interminably long time to size the situation up, then nodded once.
"Well, Alexander Harris," yet another of them slid forward, "We are the Guardians. You are The sole surviving Green Lantern... and those..."
They looked to where the Manhunter Units were ripping at the emerald shield with a tenacious zeal born of mechanical focus.
"Those, are the Manhunter units..."
"Great." Xander rolled his eyes, "That tells me so much! How the hell do I take them out??"
"Same as you have already done." They shrugged.
"Are you INSANE!?" Xander screamed at them, his knees buckling as he felt a hammer blow crack the shield. "There are a million of those things out there!!"
The Guardians shrugged, sliding back. "We have Faith in you."
Xander turned and looked at them, his eyes so wide with shock that the seemed to be all whites. The momentary distraction proved the element the Manhunters needed to crack his shield, and they made the most of it. The Emerald barrier shattered under a focused burst, the next barrage homing in on Xander himself a second later.
The weapons fire blasted into him while he was still stunned by the idiocy of the Guardians statement, taking the young man by surprise. At the last possible instant the ring itself pulsed, erecting a minute barrier along his body to stop the force from killing him.
The energy still blew him clear off his feet, slamming Xander back through the huge stone wall behind him and through the massive central building like a bullet. With each wall the ring's protection field would activate just in time to save Xander from death by massive blunt force trauma.
As he actually blasted *through* the rest of the building, Xander got his thoughts under control and managed to redirect his momentum. He arced upwards as he blew a hole in the outside wall, climbing fast for the sky as he flew up and over the building.
"Kill the Guardians." The Manhunter said, waving it's hand almost as an after effect. "I want their corpses decorating the city in ten minutes."
The Guardians watched impassively as another execution squad formed, seemingly of it's own volition, and took aim.
Only to be annihilated by a blast of emerald energy from the sky.
Everyone looked up to see the Armored Knight diving into the mass of Manhunter units, his eyes gleaming with a glow so intense that it left after images on the retinas of anyone looking straight at him.
"I've had ENOUGH!!" Xander raged as he dove into the mass of androids, lashing out with fists, feet, elbows, knees, and emerald blasts as needed. Three Manhunter units vanished into dust as he blasted them apart, another two fell to the ground in sparking heaps as their heads landed some distance away.
"I've been beat to hell...!" Xander yelled, lashing out with a powerful punch that, assisted by the rings energy, ripped a hole through a Manhunter chest.
"Shit on by everything life decided to send my way!!" He continued, his head barely rocking back from a blow as he reached out and twisted the head off another unit.
"Ignored by friends and foe alike!!" Xander created a giant pair of scissors, almost laughing darkly at the effect as they neatly snipped a dozen units in two.
"Faced the end of the world so many times I'm SICK of saving it!!" Xander mentally dropped a huge anvil on a large group of Manhunters, then rocked back as he took another blast from a stray unit.
"Kidnapped by some piece of junk jewelry and hauled off to another planet!!" Xander blew the offending android apart with a short blast from his ring, then he grabbed another unit and ripped it apart with his bare hands.
"Only to find out that the SAME old SHIT is happening out here!!"
There was a deep, powerful, silence as Xander let the head of the Manhunter unit fall to the ground. He swallowed, seeing the carnage he had just caused. For a hundred meters around him, nothing moved save some electrical sparks that jumped from the ruined circuits of the dozens of androids he had just shredded.
Further away he could hear gasps of shock as the crowds stared at him.
Only then did Xander consider how he must have looked to them, standing in the middle of all the destruction. His bangs were plastered across his face, sticking to the sheen of sweat that covered him, and he knew his face had been a mask of fury.
He straightened up, shaking the emotional burst free of him, just in time to hear a booming voice from above.
"Impressive."
Xander looked up, swallowing as he saw legion after legion of androids forming up in the skies above him. There was no possible way to count them all, as the ranks even blotted out a the sun directly above him.
"But futile." The Manhunter continued, "You WILL die. And your Guardians will follow you shortly, Lantern. You can not win."
A huge plume of dust erupted from the immense building, slowly settling as a silence descended on the area. The hush didn't last long as there was a faint sound of moving stones, then a small cascade of rubble, and finally the tell tale green glow as Xander picked his way out of the rubble.
He looked like hell, or more precisely, like someone who had just been thrown through his sixth building of the day and was getting VERY tired of the whole deal.
He picked a huge chunk of rock off the ground, the ring helping him lift it, his eyes glowing as he tossed the rock off his foot and stalked out. Two brief blasts from his ring later and the offending Manhunters were turned into tumbling debris.
"This is getting really TIRESOME!" He yelled up at the sky, even as he destroyed another group of Manhunters that were circling around to get behind him. He was beginning to to attain finer control over the power the ring lent him and he was starting to realize how high up it's maximum power level might actually go.
He *might* be able to destroy all the manhunter units on his own, Xander reflected, but he shuddered to think of what that kind of energy release would do to the planet around him, to say nothing of the innocent people living on it.
No, that wasn't an option. He wouldn't be dropping any atomic weapons on inhabited cities for the dubious purpose of 'saving' them from a greater threat.
Of course, that left him with the option of taking out all the manhunters one by one.
<A couple hundred down...> He thought grimly as another horde formed up and charged him. <Only like a MILLION more to go.>
He met the initial run front on, taking the blasts on a hastily constructed shield. He winced as the pressure built up in his head from the androids blasts, but held his fire as they closed. Just as they began to pull up from their charge, Xander suddenly shifted his shield forward, causing them to slam into the green force field at full speed. The entire group crumpled into worthless pieces of metal and plastic, then fell to the ground.
"Alright," Xander glared up at the sky, "Who's NEXT!?"
<He is emotional.> Thought one of the Guardians as they all watched the progression of the battle.
<Angry.> Another responded, mentally reinforcing the impression with an image of the new Lantern annihilating a hundred Guardians while raging against the universe.
<Unsuitable.> Came the confirmation of the remainder as they considered the situation.
<Why would the ring have selected him over Kal'El?> The general consensus was that this was an appalling situation.
<Why would any ring have selected him at all?>
"Hello Brothers."
The Guardians turned, somewhat surprised to see the Old One approach from the side.
"What are you doing here?"
"I came to watch the battle." The Old One smiled.
"We are ended." The Guardians said, their voices putting sound to their silent consensus.
"Perhaps." The Old One shrugged, "All things come to an end. Such is the way of the universe."
"You are not bothered?"
"Neither should you be. If the time has come, then it has come." The Old One said, then he paused, "But I do not think it has..."
The Guardians followed his gaze back t where the lone Knight was battling the horde. "You can not mean that you believe him to be a worthy Knight??"
The Old one smiled softly, something his brothers were unable to do. "You spend too much time on Oa my brothers. Trust in fate, or trust in the ring, or... if you can, trust in him."
The all turned back to the battle, their eyes widening as they watched a new Drama unfold.
Before anyone could respond to his angry and arrogant challenge, Xander heard a loud cracking noise spear the air, and turned around wildly as he tried to find the source.
The building he had just gutted with his own projectile plummet was the source. His construction experience told him instantly that he had probably knocked out one of the main support beams when he had been thrown through it by the last round of blasts from the Manhunters.
As he watched the building appeared to settle slightly to one side, and Xander just *knew* that it was coming down.
"Oh shit." He muttered, preparing to get himself away from the weakened building.
A small sound caught his ears and he turned to see a child wander into the path of the slowly accelerating fall of the massive structure. Behind the little girl, at least Xander assumed it was a girl, a tall woman was running and screaming over the general ruckus.
Suddenly there was another huge crack and the building began to fall freely, directly into the path of the two civilians.
"Oh shit." Xander repeated, instantly willing himself to move.
The girl and woman looked up, fear turning to panic as they saw the huge building coming down towards them. Their scream was lost in the sounds of the collapsing building, but their screams were soon echoed by a large portion of the crowd that had gathered to witness the battle.
At the last instant, just as the building was about to crush the two, there was a green flare and Xander stepped between them and then building, a Emerald Crusaders shield appearing on his right arm as he held it aloft to cover the three of them.
The building collapsed, the entire planet seeming to shake from the rumble of fallen stone.
There was a long silence.
A group of Manhunter units slid over the debris, searching through it with their scanners and sensors, but were unable to find any trace of any of the three.
"Brave." The lead unit pronounced, "But foolish."
As the group turned to go back to the Guardians there was a second, smaller cracking sound behind them. They turned back.
The Guardians watched with their usual bland expressions as an emerald bubble rose from the debris, shoulder aside the heavier pieces of rock easily as it floated above the destroyed building. In the bubble they could easily see the new Lantern and the two civilians, all apparently alive and well.
"Impressed?" The Old One smiled.
They didn't quite frown at him, but he smirked at the wave of annoyance they projected. They disliked it when he smiled at them, so he made certain to do it quite often. Smiling was one of the things he gained when he gave up his place with the Guardians. There were times when it seemed a poor exchange, but this wasn't one of those.
Grudgingly the Guardians nodded.
"We may..." Began one.
"Have been mistaken." Another concluded.
"He does appear to have the qualities of a Lantern."
"Though he appears..."
"Unpolished."
The Old One shrugged, "That comes with time and experience."
"And only time will tell," Began one of the Guardians.
"If he will live to gain any experience."
Xander glowered at the Manhunter units. Daring them to make a move while he guided the bubble over the battlezone. Surprisingly they backed off, allowing him to deliver his passengers to safety.
He touched down, letting the bubble dissolve into the ether, freeing the woman and, he presumed, her child. Then he turned back to the horde, rising into the air and approaching them cautiously.
"You could have attacked me then." Xander said slowly, "I'd have been at a disadvantage. Why didn't you?"
"They were innocent." The Lead Unit said, "We do not wish to harm them."
"Then why are we fighting?" Xander shook his head, "Why all this senseless carnage??"
"They were innocent," The lead unit replied, "But the Guardians are not. They replaced us with *you*. We can not allow that."
"Me?? What the hell are you talking about??"
"You are a Lantern. You are our replacement." The lead unit drifted slightly as it glared at him.
"Let me get this straight..." Xander's eyes widened in understanding and some outrage. "You're doing all this crap because you got DOWNSIZED!? Jesus Christ! Get a lawyer and sue them like any normal person you psychos!"
The Lead Unit shrugged, "I do not understand your vernacular, but it doesn't matter. You must die. The Guardians must die. And then we will administer justice to the galaxy as we were designed."
Xander shivered, not liking the sound of that last pronouncement. He was beginning to see that he wasn't fighting to save peoples lives, not directly, he was fighting to preserve their freedoms. Slowly he nodded as he floated there in space.
"Alright... Let's do this then."
The lead unit motioned once, and the war was one again.
The initial barrage splattered against his shields, doing little more then again creating that pressure inside his mind, like he was about to gain a splitting headache. But when the second barrage hit, it was joined by more and more units as they got into position. The third Barrage followed on the heels of the second, so close as to be part of the same attack, and shattered his shield.
Xander flew to the attack, moving even as his field fell, and sliced through the closest unit with ease. He cut through a dozen or more, then a stray bolt caught him in the side and flung him into another building. Before he could recover, he was struck by another from a different side.
Reeling, Xander spun around and tried to defend, but missed and took another punch to the jaw. He swung wildly to the attacker, but was hit in the small of the back before he could connect. Xander spun around, reaching for the attacker, but was taken from the left flank by an energy burst that crashed him into yet another building.
As he skidded along the floor of the huge stone building, Xander coughed up blood and spit ot out of his mouth. <Not good.>
He staggered to his feet, barely making it up, when a wall burst open and pelted him with flying debris. One of the rocks hit him on the temple, only the ring's power saving him from having his skull crushed. Xander hit the ground hard, his head bouncing off the stone floor as the light in his eyes faded. Through his dimming vision he saw rank after rank of Manhunters floating outside, and an entire squad of them were landing in the room he was in.
<Aw Crap.>
Xander forced himself to his knees, trying to climb back to his feet, only to be struck by another hard blow that threw him back through another wall. He hit the floor sliding, his eyes glazing as the world suddenly dimmed.
<Oh shit. I'm dead.>
His head lolled from side to side, but Xander couldn't manage to get anything under his own control again. From a distance he felt rough hands pick him up, and then there was another rush of wind and a sickening crack. Dimly he percieved that he'd been thrown through another wall, and then there was nothing but a feeling of falling that ended in a sudden, jarring, blackness.
A cry went up through the gathered crowd as they watched their protector fall bonelessly through the air, plummeting over five hundred feet to the street. He hit solidly, his body just laying where it fell, and didn't move.
In the building from which he'd been thrown, there was a brief commotion, and then a team of Manhunters exited through the hole the Lantern had made. One of them descended to the ground, landing on it's briefly flashing jets beside the body. He leaned down and picked up the limp body of the Lantern, pressing it over his head.
"This is your savior!?" He bellowed, his voicebox turned up on maximum as he addressed the crowd. "THIS is what you desire to protect you? He couldn't even protect himself!"
The android turned slowly around, challenging the crowd with his voice, demanding an answer none of them would give. "The Lanterns were flawed! They were not worthy of being your protectors! From this day forth, WE, then Manhunters, claim that position!"
A gasp passed over the crowd.
"That had to hurt."
Xander groaned, nothing but emerald green light visible in his eyes. He shook his head slightly, trying to clear it. He looked around as the green light died out, frowning. "Where am I?"
"Wrong question." said a second voice.
Xander swallowed a couple times, wincing from the pain. "Who the hell are you?"
"Me? I'm T'Nara." Said the first voice.
Xander turned to look at him, then craned his head back and looked up. Waaay up. T'Nara was at least eight feet tall and built like an Ox. "Aye carumba."
The big man type thing folded it's arms against it's chest and glared down at him, "Excuse me?"
Xander took a couple steps back, eyes wide in shock, only to run into someone behind him. He turned around in shock and looked at the figure behind him. This man wasn't quite a big, but was solidly built, and carried a noble air about him. "What the hell is going on here? Who in the hell are you!?"
"I am Tomar'Re." The second one rumbled.
Xander swallowed and fell back a step, once again taking a place between the two titans he found himself with. He looked between them, sighing as a thought entered his mind. "I'm dead and in hell aren't I?"
The one called Tomar'Re laughed, a low rumbling sound that echoed all around him.
"Hardly." T'Nara said sourly. "You are neither dead, nor in hell. Though, from the way you fight I shouldn't expect it will be long before one or the other happens."
"Go easy on the child, T'Nara." Tomar'Re smiled, "He did well for a recruit."
T'Nara nodded sullenly. "I had hoped that our ring would go to someone a little more... impressive?"
"Do not judge on looks, T'Nara." Re said slowly.
"I'm not." T'Nara muttered, "I'm judging on his showing against the Manhunters."
"Ok! Cut that out!" Xander spoke up, "Stop talking about me like I'm not even here!"
"You aren't."
"WHAT!?"
Tomar'Re sighed, "You are still on OA, Xander Harris. Frozen in your last moment of life. The Manhunters will kill you shortly."
Xander's eyes widened and he looked around, "I've got to get back there!!"
"All in good time." Tomar'Re replied, "We intercepted your consciousness for a reason."
"Who are you guys??"
T'Nara drew himself up to his, very impressive, full height. "I am T'Nara, bearer of the Ring of Tomar'Re who was the Greatest of our Corps in ten Millenia."
"And I," Tomar'Re said slowly, evenly. "Am Tomar'Re, Bearer of the Ring of Galantol who was the savior of Triest. We are those who came before you, Xander Harris."
Xander blinked, "Excuse me??"
T'Nara looked around, frustrated and annoyed. "The ring be damned, this child can not match the Man..."
"Silence." Tomar'Re said softly. "You are still too much as if you were alive, T'Nara. You need to learn patience."
"Alive??" Xander pounced on the word, "You guys are dead?? Oh crap, just what I need... I'm haunted!"
Tomar'Re turned on him, "And you be silent as well, Xander Harris. We have little enough time that we can ill afford to waste it with idle prattle."
"Yeah... sure... right..." Xander looked around, eyes flitting for a door, or a window, or anthing he could use to escape.
"You must return shortly to face the manhunters." Tomar'Re said calmly, ignoring Xander's attempts to find a way out. "You must not fight them head to head again. If you do, you will fail."
Xander paused, looking back. "You got any bright ideas smilely?"
T'Nara again growled, but was waved down by Tomar'Re. "Do not attempt to play to their weakness, Xander Harris. They are many, and their weaknesses are spread out too far for you to exploit. You must play to your strength."
Xander looked at him, eyes wide. "That's it?? That's the big revalation?? What the hell kind of cheap ass haunting is this anyway?"
T'Nara growled, stepping forward. "Just listen to him, boy! You are the last hope of the Corps."
"Me? I'm the last hope?" Xander laughed bitterly, "boy are you guys fucked."
Tomar'Re was about to respond, but was distracted by something in the distance. He turned back to Xander. "It is time. Go. But remember, play not to their weakness! Play to your strengths!! Remember the rings! The rings!"
The urgent voice faded into the darkness that overtook Xander, becoming harder and harder to understand as it was washed out by another voice screaming.
"This is your savior!?" The manhunter bellowed, balancing Xander in a press above his head. "THIS is what you desire to protect you? He couldn't even protect himself!"
The android turned slowly around, challenging the crowd with his voice, demanding an answer none of them would give. "The Lanterns were flawed! They were not worthy of being your protectors! From this day forth, WE, then Manhunters, claim that position!"
A gasp passed over the crowd, turning to a scream of shock when the Lantern's eyes opened and glinted with emerald light.
The Manhunter took it as a sign that he was getting his point across, and missed the green glow that flashed from the ring hand of the 'fallen' Knight.
Xander turned his head slightly, looking down, then his fist flashed down in a lightning motion that ripped the metal head from the Manhunter's body. As the android fell, he spun in mid air and lightly touched down on the stone road beneath him.
He looked up to see the hordes of Manhunters still above him and his face set through the pain he was feeling. <Play to my strengths, huh?>
<I'm a dead man.>
Dawn walked into the livingroom, looking around slowly at the only two occupants. The first was Anya, who looked rather morose, but Dawn understood that. She'd been that way for some time, ever since Xander had vanished.
The second was a little more confusing.
Dawn looked to the other side of the room to where Faith was moodily staring out the window at the dark Sunnydale night. Dawn sighed and grimaced, she didn't like Faith, certainly didn't trust her, but she still steeled herself to talking to the dark Slayer.
"What's up?"
Faith looked back, "Nothing."
"Right." Dawn sat down beside her, "That's why you're sitting shiva here with 'Anya the widow'."
Faith shot her a scowl, "I am not mourning anyone... Anya just... needed some company."
Dawn nodded. That much was true, but it seemed way out of character for the Dark Slayer to even notice. Dawn herself had sat with Anya a lot lately, wondering why the blond girl was so badly shaken up by the turn of events. She had, after all, broken up for the 'finally final' time with Xander, at least she wanted everyone to believe. Dawn sighed, she didn't like Faith, and didn't understand Anya, and was scared half to death of Buffy.
Life was basically going along normally in Sunnydale.
As normal as it could be without Xander Harris.
Xander Harris ducked low under the wild blast of the manhunter unit on his tail, his mind wracking itself for the solution to his dilemma.
<play not to their weaknesses,> he mused, remarkably calmly as he returned fire and obliterated the offending android. That much was obvious, the sheer numbers of the Manhunter units insulated them from any conventional assault that he might mount.
No, it was the second part of the cryptic message that was completely stumping the rookie knight.
<Play to my strengths? Wtf is that supposed to mean anyway?> Xander asked himself angrily. <What, am I supposed to do? Joke them to death?>
The young Lantern didn't have a lot of time to consider the matter before he was caught in another Manhunter ambush.
"Hey!" Xander snarled as he blew two of them away with emerald pulses, "What is this!? The WWF?? No tag teaming!"
<Oh hell! Maybe I am supposed to joke them to death...> With that almost depressing thought, Xander dove behind an evacuated building, barely avoiding another barrage of fire from the alien androids.
"Dammit!" Xander cursed out loud, ducking under a mass of tumbling debris from the newly damaged building. "We're blowing the whole damned city apart!!"
The construction worker in him cringed at the destruction, horrified by the loss of the unparalleled architecture. The thought galvanized his thoughts, bringing him back to the last words of his cryptic quasi-hallucination.
The ring, remember the ring.
<No,> Xander corrected himself, <Rings.>
He could remember 'hearing' the capital letters.
As his searching thoughts landed on the subject of the other rings, Xander felt an almost instant connection click in his mind.
Those few members of the gathered crowd that were still morbidly interested enough to brave the dangers of the battlefield moaned in desperation when they saw their last champion look up at the sky, then rose in a rapid acceleration that quickly carried him out of sight.
"Anya?"
Anya sighed and looked back at the source of the voice. "Yes, Andrew?"
"I... uh... I brought you some tea." Andrew said a little nervously. "It's camomile... It relaxes the body and..."
Anya looked at him oddly.
"What?" He asked defensively. "So what if I know about herbal teas? I looked it up when I was looking for poisons..."
Anya kept looking at him.
Andrew folded like a wet rag. "Ok, so I needed something to relax me after Warren run us through his latest scheme! Sue me!"
Anya smiled weakly and accepted the tea. "You know, you aren't as annoying as I used to think."
"I'm not?" Andrew asked hopefully.
"No. But considering that I used to think you were worse then a Belgorath demon on it's mating cycle that might not be saying much." Anya said candidly as she took a drink of the tea.
"Oh." Andrew paused, trying to piece together the above statements and see if they came out to a compliment or not. Finally he gave up and just shrugged, "Can I get you anything else?"
"No thank you." Anya smiled softly before turning back to the window.
Andrew sighed and turned around, leaving as quietly as he'd entered.
"Anya?"
Anya sighed and looked back at the source of the voice. "Yes, Andrew?"
"I... uh... I brought you some tea." Andrew said a little nervously. "It's camomile... It relaxes the body and..."
Anya looked at him oddly.
"What?" He asked defensively. "So what if I know about herbal teas? I looked it up when I was looking for poisons..."
Anya kept looking at him.
Andrew folded like a wet rag. "Ok, so I needed something to relax me after Warren run us through his latest scheme! Sue me!"
Anya smiled weakly and accepted the tea. "You know, you aren't as annoying as I used to think."
"I'm not?" Andrew asked hopefully.
"No. But considering that I used to think you were worse then a Belgorath demon on it's mating cycle that might not be saying much." Anya said candidly as she took a drink of the tea.
"Oh." Andrew paused, trying to piece together the above statements and see if they came out to a compliment or not. Finally he gave up and just shrugged, "Can I get you anything else?"
"No thank you." Anya smiled softly before turning back to the window.
Andrew sighed and turned around, leaving as quietly as he'd entered.
Xander rose through the air like an emerald meteor, albeit in reverse.
He could FEEL the presence of his objective in the distance, coming closer with every passing moment, and he would be damned if he let anything stop him from achieving it. Behind him he could feel the searing blasts from the pursuing Manhunters rip through the thinning air as the off color blue of the sky slowly gave way to black.
As the grip of OA gave up it's hold on him, Xander paused in his flight to glance back down at the mass of pursuers that were rising up beneath him.
"Highground has tactical advantage you bastards," He whispered, building a powered charge in his ring before unleashing the equivalent of a kiloton of TNT into the thin atmosphere below him.
The explosion vaporized the lead element of the attackers, and the resulting concussion shattered those that remained mere moments later.
"The Lantern comes."
"Impossible. He can't know..."
"We should have disposed of the Rings, My Lord."
"How?" The voice was angry. "Scatter them to the universe? Leave them to be found? We don't dare destroy them."
"He is coming for them."
"Then we will kill him here. Prepare the defenses."
"Yes my lord."
"Dawnie?"
Dawn looked up to see Willow standing over her, a slightly concerned look on the Wiccans face.
Dawn smiled weakly, nodding as the witch sat down beside her. "Hey."
"Are you alright?"
Dawn shook her head, "No. No I'm not."
Willow nodded, "Yeah. I get that."
"He..." Dawn hesitated, her breath catching, "He meant a lot more to me... to us all... then I knew."
Willow nodded, "I know. I forget it too often, but I do know."
"He's really gone isn't he?"
Willow shook her head, "I don't know. He didn't exactly leave us in what could be considered a normal way."
Dawn let out a sudden laugh, but it was tinged with anger and sadness.
"What?"
"Normal." Dawn said, shaking her head. "Xander told me... not long ago... how he understood how I felt... how it felt to be the normal one. He really understood what I was feeling, Willow... the pain, helplessness... God I wish I'd said something, anything, to let him know that he..."
Willow shivered, not knowing why exactly. "I'm sure he knew, Dawnie."
"Don... don't call me that." Dawn said after a moment, her voice plaintive. "Not anymore. Just.... Just call me Dawn. Ok?"
Willow felt a spike of hurt flash through her, then remembered that there was only two people who ever called her Dawnie before. And one of them was dead now, and the other was missing. Willow nodded slowly, "Ok... Dawn."
"Thanks." Dawn smiled painfully at the red Wiccan, then turned away again.
"Hello my pretties..." Xander whispered in a mocking tone, leering at the starship that was floating in orbit a relatively short distance away.
"Let's do this." He said again, leaning forward as his power caused him to accelerate through the vacuum in a rush.
As he approached the ship, it's serenity was ripped away in a blaze of energy fire that all seemed to hone in on Xander.
"Whoa!" Xander uttered under his breath, rolling under some of the fire while his shield once again formed on his arm to intercept the rest.
The battering fire continued to pound away at Xander's will and focus, but his shield held as he closed on the ship.
"Kill HIM!"
"Our gunners are having a difficult time holding him in their sights, My Lord. He is moving too fast."
"I want results, not excuses!"
"Yes My Lord."
Flying an erratic flight through the void, Xander continued to close on his target until the gleaming hull of the immense was only meters away. Here he was safe, for the time being at least, hidden under the arc of the huge energy weapons fire.
He smirked, holding his fist out in front of him. "Knock Knock..."
An emerald beam blasted from his ring and started to cut through the hardened armor of the starship hull.
The bridge of the ship rocked as a section exploded into the hard vacuum of space.
"He's breached the hull!"
"Order the troops to intercept and destroy him!"
The orders were given in an efficient manner, and teams dispatched throughout the ship to intercept the intruder. There was another, smaller shudder, and the boards lit up with warnings.
"He's blown through the inner airlocks! Outer blast shields are active and undamaged!"
"KILL HIM!"
The internal sensors of the ship noted the motions as the intruder sliced through the ship, going through bulkhead after bulkhead. Within the ship, the power advantage of the ring came fiercely back into play as the Manhunter units were prevented from engaging the young Lantern with their full force of numbers.
"My Lord! He's h...!"
The scream was cut off by a section of bulkhead suddenly collapsing inwardly, crushing an entire back on computer consoles as a figure dressed in the uniform of the Lantern corps stepped calmly through the wreckage.
His eyes blazed green, his fist was enclosed in a globe of emerald energy.
His eyes found the unique form of the figure at the central station. Obviously a Manhunter, but equally obviously NOT what one might consider 'rank and file'.
"I presume that you're the one behind all this." He said, his voice like ice as he lifted his fist so that the emerald ring was clearly visible between them. "I've come for... my brothers."
The Manhunter Command and Control Unit snarled, "NEVER! DIE YOU PATHETIC HUMAN!"
Xander instantly erected a shield, absorbing the sudden blast of energy from the Unit, his eyes bulging as the force of it drove him back. It took only a few seconds for him to realize that this one unit had more firepower then any fifty of the others, and in those few seconds he was driven to his knees as he gritted his teeth and reinforced his shield.
The C&C Unit strode forward, his electronic voice snarling with a satisfied gloating tone. "Now do you understand, Human? You are pitifully under equipped for the job you have chosen... We are your superiors in every way, human."
Xander fell back onto his ass, his shield rapidly becoming more and more nebulous. His mind cast about, and his eyes widened as he found what he sought. He gritted his teeth, slapping a hand back against the wall behind him and forced himself back up. "Not every way... The little blue guys were right about one thing..."
"Oh?" The machine asked idly as it continued to blast away at his shield. "And what would that be."
Xander's eyes suddenly flared with a green flow and he stood up straight, his shield suddenly blazing with renewed energy as he smiled a deaths head grin at the machine trying to kill him. "Justice. You don't have any comprehension of the word."
There was a sudden silence, one that could be *heard* and felt even over the clash of weapon meeting shield, and Xander smiled even wider. "Allow me to teach you."
Suddenly his shield changed into a spear and rushed forward, causing the Command and Control Unit to start to dodge until it realized that it wasn't the target. It turned, watching as the emerald spear thrust out and utterly destroyed the box that had sat safely at his side since the ambush at Banara.
"NOOOOO!!" He screamed as the energy of the destroyed rings held within the box erupted into the bridge, circling him like a flurry of green ghosts, before suddenly accelerating through the air and straight into the single surviving Lantern.
"The Rings!" One of the Guardians uttered in shock, his eyes widening as he stared skyward with eyes that saw beyond the physical.
"They are destroyed. We must..." Another began.
"Gather their power into the core." A third finished.
"Not so fast, my brothers." The Ols One said calmly.
The twelve turned to him, their eyes tight with nervous energy. "We MUST. Else the power will be lost to us for eternity."
"May." The Old One corrected, "It may be lost. And it may not. But consider this, should you summon the power back to the core... what becomes of the Galaxy?"
The twelve paused, their eyes widening as the import of what the Old One had to say fell on them.
"Indeed." He smiled tightly, "Choose. And choose fast. Gather the power to the core and save OA... but doom the Lantern to death against the Manhunters, and the Galaxy to an eon of their control while you attempt to rebuild the rings. Or don't... and risk Oa against the freedom of the galaxy."
The twelve were uncertain for the first time in eons. They didn't know what to do. If they gathered the power to them, then Oa was saved. That was certain, but equally certain was that if they left the power in the fragile mortal vessel it was now bonding with, they may lose it forever... and earn themselves a single new tyrant to replace the mass of Manhunters that now threatened them.
The Guardians looked between each other, indecision formulating emotion on their normally stoic faces. Entrust their future to a throw of the ice? Or doom the Galaxy to an eon of darkness under the metal shod boot of the Manhunters?
The Old One smiled slightly, again irritating his fellows with that which they themselves could not do.
"Why do you smile, brother? This is no game we play."
"Ah, but it is... and I smile because I already know your decision." The Old One kept grinning, "Afterall... every moment of indecision is merely another step to the inevitable."
The Guardians stared at him, realizing that he was right. Not making a decision WAS making a decision. They had to choose. Here. Now.
And, in the end, they were still bound by their Oath.
Given the choice between the lives of a single planet, and the future of the Galaxy, they had no choice. Not even when their own lives were among the dice they had to cast.
Xander screamed.
Or he tried to scream. He wasn't really certain if he was succeeding because the pain was blotting out his every other sense. He could see only green, he could hear only the whispers of the voices that were flooding his skull, he could feel only the incredible bursting pain that welled inside his gut and sliced at his flesh like it was trying to escape. His nose was filled with the stench of death, and his mouth tasted of rivers run red with blood.
He was in hell.
Or as close to it as he had ever imagined.
<Kill them all....>
<Avenge us...>
<Destroy the Manhunters...>
<Destroy everything...>
"KILL HIM!!" The C&C Unit screamed over the horrid noise that came from the convulsing figure that hung, draped in mid air, like a puppet being jerked along by some maniac master.
The Manhunters unleashed every erg of power in their weapons, firing into the emerald maelstrom, but all in vain. Every shot, every joule of power, every particle pellet was absorbed or reflected or simply stopped dead in it's tracks to splatter against an emerald shield.
Still they fired, unleashing everything they had to kill the being that was even now forming in their midst. As little as the Manhunter understood their replacements, as little as they understood those they were built to protect, the knew one thing.
No thing living could take that much power into himself and survive unchanged.
So when the screaming and the sounds suddenly stopped, so did they. In some form of morbid curiosity that pervaded even their advanced circuits, the Manhunters lowered their weapons as the Emerald Knight in the midst stopped convlusing, his arms relaxing to his side as his feet slowly came together with his toes point down to the deck. His head was bowed down to his armored chest, but it slowly rose and they could see that his eyes were no green within green, and his face was a peculiar mix of emotions.
His mouth was tightened in fury, his jaw and cheeks seemed to shake in laughter, and his brow was raised in sorrow. But his eyes, most frightening of all were the dead, unemotional, logical, and implacable eyes that the Manhunters found staring into what passed for their souls.
Those coldly logical eyes that they saw each time one of them looked upon another, those eyes that they knew harbored the same thoughts and opinions that they themselves felt.
In that moment, the manhunters knew that they were dead.
And then, they were right.
The Starship simply ceased to exist.
One moment it was there, orbiting Oa serenly despite the drama that was occurring on board, and the next it was gone, ripped to particles by the sudden appearance of an emerald sphere of energy with a diameter twice the ships beam. No explosion, no drama, just the sudden and irrevocable deactivation of fifteen thousand Manhunters.
The Emerald starburst was visible from the worlds surface, where another hundred thousand of the units were waiting orders that would never come.
The observers from the planet stared up as the globe of green light slowly descended from the sky, coming to rest over the great central city of Oa and then receding until only the form of a man was left.
A hesitant cheer went up from the people, but was soon halted when the figure did nothing but float there and watch. Slowly, in small groups, the Manhunters moved to attack but were instantly wiped out with casual, almost off handed bursts of energy, as if the figure now had more important matters to consider.
He descended, his face jerking heavily as an unstable plethora of emotions ripped across it. In one moment, shining tears were running down his cheek, and in the next an icy rage burned behind his emerald eyes.
It was in one of the rage moments that he struck out, and a building was crushed into rubble.
Now the people screamed, a hesitant gathering turning into a routed mob as they ran in panicked disarray from the man who was their savior.
He ignored them, their actions meant nothing to him, he was more interested in removing another offensive piece of architecture with a calm swipe of power. When he was done, he turned around and looked over the city below him and spoke.
His voice was soft but hard, cold but burning with rage, sorrowful but had a tremor of joyful eagerness.
"I AM... CORPS." He growled, "I WILL HAVE JUSTICE."
"He has gone mad." The Guardian consensus said. "We are lost."
"Perhaps."
They turned on the Old One, ire in their eyes. "You should not have prevented us from drawing back the power. You have doomed Oa with the Galaxy... we have merely traded one tyrant for another."
The Old One shrugged, "Perhaps." He said again.
They glared at him, but it was an impotent rage, and he knew it.
So he smiled.
At length he spoke again, "If it is our time to die, then so be it my brothers. One cannot rail against the universe, and not even such as we can stop the hand of the specter when it decides that out time is up. The planet from which he hails has an interesting saying..."
The Old One again smiled, much to the Ire of his brethren, then spoke again. "They say... A person can survive damned near anything... except death."
The Guardians didn't get the joke, and the Old One didn't care to explain himself, so the thirteen of them turned their focus back to the raging inferno that was now among them.
The being calling itself CORPS let loose an emerald blast, incinerating a thousand Manhunters at a blow, but also raining fiery debris across the city and destroying three more buildings. The Manhunters began to run, but he routed them out in groups then in pairs, and finally one by one as he had to. The Emerald being chased them from street to street, ripping through buildings and tearing apart ancient edifices of history to destroy his hated enemies.
And they were destroyed.
Singly, in pairs, groups, platoons, and battalions, he took them all on and left their circuits smoking in his wake. And when he was done, the being known as CORPS turned back to the capital city and his attention came to his next objective.
The Thirteen watched as the emerald glow returned in their direction, quickly becoming a figure from the distance and finally they could see the man within the glow of power. He flashed in, coming to a halt just in front of them, hovering just above the ground as if he disdained to let his feet be sullied by the surface.
The display of power was enough to affect and even impress the immortal beings that had, in effect, created it. No mere mortal, nor even any *immortal*, was ever intended to wield such unchecked power.
Once, long ago, the Guardians themselves had held power very nearly as potent as this, and in many ways even more so, and they had been forced to check their own power before it destroyed them and took the galaxy with them. They had sworn the oath, all but one of them, the oath to become the Galaxy's Guardians. To protect those who required it to the best of their ability, to nurture rather then destroy, to encourage rather then inhibit.
But the Oath had taken them untold eons to make. Eons of destruction as they warred amongst themselves, destroying entire worlds in their arrogance.
Eons that, in the final analysis, this young Knight did not have.
He glared at him, his face still that same curious mix of emotions, until finally he spoke.
"YOU." He said calmly, just a faint hint of a tremor in his voice. Whether from anger, or sorrow, or even suppressed laughter no one could tell.
"YOU," He repeated, "CREATED THOSE ABOMINATIONS. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR FATE."
The Guardians were silent, not knowing what to say, but knowing with certainty that the wrong words would most definitely topple whatever control this unstable being might currently posses.
"FOR THAT CRIME," CORPS said calmly, the tremor still there in his voice, "I PRONOUNCE JUDGEMENT."
No one spoke even still, though there was a crowd of braver and foolhardy individuals forming behind CORPS.
His face twisted as he stared at the twelve that his inherited memories told him were the head of the Lantern Corps, and the self proclaimed Guardians. "THE JUDGEMENT IS... DEATH."
Spike walked out behind the blond Slayer, moving silently as he approached her where she stood in the backyard of her home.
"Hello Spike." Buffy said, almost tonelessly as she stared at the skies.
"He's not up there, luv." Spike said softly, "You know that, right?"
Buffy nodded, "I... I know. The First has him... that's the only thing that makes sense."
"And he's being fitted with a trigger as we speak." Spike finished, "Just like mine."
Buffy nodded again.
"What are we going to do about it?"
"You beat it." Buffy said, "So will Xander."
"If you think so, pet." Spike said, palming a cigarette and casually tossing it up and catching the white stick in his teeth. "But I've got to remind you, I only got rid of it when Woody back there tried to kill me. Droops doesn't have my history of bucking the bossy types either."
Buffy shook her head, "Xander will beat it."
Spike fell silent for a moment, then shrugged. They'd cross the bridge when the came to it. In the meantime, he wasn't going to fight with the Slayer. That wasn't the way to get what he wanted. "Whatever you say, Pet."
Buffy didn't turn as Spike's hand came down on her shoulder, but he leaned back slightly and pressed against the touch of the man behind her, trying to take comfort in him while also desperately trying to ignore the hint of disbelief she had heard in his voice. And the fear that he might be right.
As the pronouncement rolled over the crowd, and the gasp of shock was once more uttered on behalf of the Guardians, CORPS gathered his power and focused it through his entire being. As he marshaled his strength to strike with one single blow, a thirteenth figure stepped between him and his target.
He didn't bother to consider that, if the fool wanted to die as well, then he wouldn't shed any tears. So his power continued to build.
"You must stop."
CORPS blinked, the incongruity of the words actually penetrating to him. He looked at the small figure of the Old One and frowned, "WHO ARE YOU TO COMMAND ME, OLD FOOL?"
The Old One smiled slightly, shaking his head. "You misunderstand me, *young* fool. I do not command, I merely state fact. You must stop, or you will forever be lost."
CORPS growled and took a step forward, but the enigmatic figure didn't budge. "YOU RISK MUCH, OLD MAN."
"Not so much as you. I may die here today, but your very soul is at stake young human."
CORPS actually stopped, hesitating at that. "MY... SoUL?"
The Old One nodded.
"EXPLAIN YOURSELF." CORPS spoke, his voice firmly back in control.
"I don't have to. *You* know what I mean." The Old One said, leaning forward slightly as his eyes gleamed. "The real you does, not the false mask I see before me."
"I... I... I AM CORPS." The imposing figure said again, a glow erupting once more from his ring as he desperately marshaled power against some unseen foe.
"No. You are Xander Harris." The Old One said calmly, "Born in Sunnydale California, on a rim world by the local designation of Earth. You are the last of the Lantern Corps, and you must remember that the rest are dead. They are gone."
"BECAUSE OF THEM!!" CORPS snarled, jerking his head toward the twelve Guardians.
"No. Because they chose to serve in a position of much danger." The Old One said, his voice still calm. "One that each of them chose to do despitet he risks, because they were Knights. Like you, child."
CORPS fell back again, hesitating. "I... I... NO... I..."
The Old One strode forward, pressing home his advantage as he strove to reach the human soul within the overpowered shell. "Just do me one favor, child. One thing is all I ask... then I will leave you to do what you will to the Guardians."
The twelve Guardians watched, their eyes bulging as they heard that from their wayward brother, and for a moment wondered if he intended to see them dead after all.
CORPS looked at him curiously, forgetting for the moment that he had the power and not the odd little man, and of course, in that moment, he didn't have the power and the odd little man did. "WHAT FAVOR?"
"Look to your right." The Old One shrugged, "That's all... down the street to where you destroyed that last brigade of Manhunters."
CORPS frowned, then his eyes involuntarily flitted to the right.
They came back, and then the image of what he had seen smashed back into his brain that a hammer blow.
Down the long street, almost a kilometer away in fact, lay a little girl and her mother. Both had been crushed by rubble brought down by CORPS himself in his single minded pursuit of the Manhunters.
The emerald figure staggered as if struck, his mind reeling as the echoes were suddenly shoved aside by the grief of the true owner of the body. In that one instant, Xander emerged fully and recognized the two figures that had been struck down by his own hand.
They were the two he had saved from a similar fate only minutes earlier.
"Mr Giles?"
Giles looked up to see Robin Wood standing at his door, he nodded to the man and motioned him inside. "Yes, Mr Wood?"
"I thought you should know," Robin frowned, "The morale isn't too hot around here these days."
Giles nodded, "With all that has happened, I am not surprised. Did you know that Xander survived almost seven years as a part time, sometimes full time, vampire and demon hunter? He's never been seriously injured... and I don't believe that he's ever been gone quite as long, even when Spike took him to torture so Willow would cast a spell for him."
Robin blinked, not quite understanding what Giles was saying, but then it dawned. "You think he's the reason everyone is so somber?"
Giles nodded, "I don't believe that Buffy... or anyone here really, ever really understood what he brought to the team. Least of all myself, or even Xander."
"I don't understand."
Giles smiled slightly, "My point exactly, Mr Wood."
As the shock rushed through CORPS' being he fell back, landing on his ass as his hands covered his face. "OH GOD.... What HAVE I Done?"
His voice creaked and shivered with the straining of the internal battle, but even as the echoes marshaled to reclaim their place in his mind, many of their number defected and joined Xander's own mind in reclaiming his body for it's rightful owner.
Tears streamed down his cheeks, leaving iridescent green tracks along his cheeks as they dried, and Xander shook with the horror of it all.
As he shoo with the wracking sobs, he felt a small hand on his shoulder. "Grieve for them, but do not shoulder more blame then is truly yours."
Xander turned, looking up at the placid face of the small blue man. "I killed them."
The Old One smiled sadly, "You did. But it wasn't only you. I killed them as well, by allowing the power to enter you when I knew that it would likely overrun your mind. The Manhunters killed them by mounting this attack. The Guardians killed them by letting things reach this point. There is blame aplenty, child. And there is work yet to do."
Xander looked up, his face tensing as he heard the note of urgency. "What?"
The Old One looked up, "Did you truly believe that the Manhunters only had one ship?"
Xander followed his gaze, and swallowed in horror as he saw the sky above him dotted by gleaming hulls of ships like the one he had just destroyed. "Oh My God..."
"Perhaps." The Old One said calmly, "But I believe that we will have to make do without his intervention this time."
Xander watched, feeling helpless despite all the power that welled within him, as the ships above opened fire and a destructive rain fell down on the city and the planet.
Screams began again, and this time they were echoed by the roaring fire of massive explosions and thundering guns. Xander froze for the barest millisecond, locked in place by the sheer shock of the attack.
Scores of explosions rent the air with their fearsome roars, thunderous rumbles in the distance signaling the approaching rain of death.
"It is time." The Old One urged.
"Time??" Xander turned to look at him, "For what!? There are more ships up there then there were Manhunters before! There must be millions of Manhunters now! More!"
"Numbers are immaterial." The Old One said calmly. "Remember who you are."
"Me? I'm nobody, man." Xander muttered, "I'm just Xander Harris from Earth."
The Old One nodded, "Precisely. You are Xander Harris... Green Lantern of Earth."
Green Lantern.
Xander straightened his shoulders, remembering the images of the battle torn warriors who died in an impossible fight, struggling against the inevitable as they chanted their credo, and in that instant he determined that he wasn't going to disgrace them by surrender.
He WAS a Green Lantern, by God, and if that meant he was going to die then so be it.
There was a green flash and Xander rose from the ground, and rushed upward as his fist glowed with controlled power. His fist flashed upwards, and a burst of energy flashed out of it and formed into a canopy that sheltered a thousand mile diameter area of the planet from the attack.
"Not this time." Xander growled, his arm and fist clenched. "Not this world. Not on my watch... Not while I breathe."
The fierce fire pounded down into the emerald shield, but was unable to shatter it as the Manhunters directed their combined efforts to break the lone guardian of Oa.
"Everyone get ready."
The Potentials looked up to see Buffy stride into the room like she owned it. Fair enough really, since she did. Their expressions were mildly interested but it was only Kennedy who dared speak up. "Ready for what?"
"We're taking the fight to them." Buffy said confidently.
"Again? It didn't work out too well the last time you know. We lost two girls and Xander." Kennedy challenged her.
Buffy's face tightened, becoming a mask that hid her emotions. "Back off, Kennedy. This is my call."
"Says who!? You've been calling the shots since we started and we've been losing right and left!" The young Potential challenged, growling. "I've had enough of being led around by the nose by you!"
Buffy shook slightly, but she held her emotions mostly in check. "I'm the Slayer here. I call the shots."
"Oh yeah?" Kennedy asked, "What about her? I hear she's a Slayer too."
Everyone looked over to Faith, who instantly held her hands up. "Hey, whoa... leave me out of this. I don't want nothing to do with this crap... I kick ass, I raise hell, and that's IT. I don't do the Patton crap."
Buffy looked back to Kennedy, head tilted slightly. "You got any more suggestions little girl?"
Kennedy looked around for backup, but not even Willow was willing to go up against Buffy at this point, so she back down.
"Good." Buffy said, "Here's the plan..."
Xander was sweating under his mask, his will power being tested to the maximum as the ships in orbit laid down enough fire to reduce the city and everyone in it to slag.
He couldn't keep it up, he KNEW that. But he couldn't figure out what else to do. There were simply too many of those ships to fight.
Too many.
The thought echoed in his mind for a moment, catching something deep inside him. A memory stirred, and his eyes flashed as some of CORPS flickered back to life.
<The central battery.> He realized, suddenly knowing what he had to do.
He looked up once more, dropping his power feed to the shield and suddenly going on the attack.
"What is he doing??"
A similar cry echoed through the crowds as the people saw the great green shield that defended them falter and begin to fade. Panic ripped through the crowds as people once agains scattered and ran for cover that simply didn't exist.
One lone woman stared upwards, her face in a tight rictus of concentration, then she too broke and run. But she ran with direction and purpose, heading for one of the tallest buildings.
As his shield dropped completely, Xander unleashed powerful beams of power that destroyed one ship after another. The effect on the enemy was negligible except in that it made absolutely certain that every enemy ship focused their attacks on him, rather then the city.
"Arrrggghhhh!" Xander roared as first one blast, then more and more ripped into him and knocked him around the sky.
Only the power of the ring and his own refusal to fall kept him aloft.
As the blasts continued to close on him, hammering him from one side to another, Xander watched the ships above and waited.
And waited.
And then it was time to act.
He rose above the hammering blasts, fist glowing with emerald energy and eyes gleaming in like fashion, and he roared to the heavens with all his strength, white teeth flashing as he screamed.
"BY BRIGHTEST DAY AND BLACKEST NIGHT!"
And emerald blast from his ring suddenly shot down and hit a target below the clouds of chaff and smoke. Soon a green glow was emerging from the city below.
"NO EVIL SHALL ESCAPE MY SIGHT!!"
His roar echoed on the wind over hundreds of miles, shattering glass and causing the people to cover their ears even as hope gleamed once more in their eyes.
The green glow from the center of the city pulsed with enormous power, power that was being returned to it's rightful controllers even as Xander unleashed it, letting it build as he continued to bait the remaining ships closer and closer.
"LET THOSE WHO WORSHIP EVIL'S MIGHT!!!"
Suddenly an energy field snapped into place around the entire planet, shattering a thousand ships as it cut them in half, and the Manhunters finally realized that they had been tricked. Xander still reeled under their attack, each shot ripping into him with more and more potency as he gave away more and more of his borrowed power.
Soon defenses of the world cut into the ships, ripping them apart as they dealt with the threat as they were programmed.
Still, as the final erg of energy flowed out of him, Xander smiled in victory even as the last surviving ships focused on him and fired a final barrage of incalculable power.
"BEWARE MY *POWER*," He screamed out as their blazing fire centered in on him. "GREEN LANTERN'S LIGHT!!"
Then his form was lost in a blazing apocalypse of fiery energy, only to emerge a second later in free fall as he dropped out of control to the city below.
Above him, the last ship of the Manhunters forces continued it's power dive. The units on board knew that they had lost, and now they were determined to gain one thing only. They wanted vengeance for the loss. They wanted the last Green Lantern dead, and his ring destroyed that none could ever follow in his path.
And they meant to accomplish that at any cost.
Tianna Anamede stood on the rooftop of the Guardian Tower, a sentinel's rifle in hand and watched the enormous fight that raged above.
She saw the falling figure and her eyes widened.
"No..." She whispered, seeing the rushing ship that came down in pursuit of the helpless figure.
As she watched the planetary defenses attack, ripping the ship apart and she relaxed for an instant, only to tense up when she saw the cloud of Manhunters emerge form the dying ship and continue their death dive.
Anamede leveled the rifle on the falling figure, sighting just above him, and opened fire.
Xander was barely conscious as the wind rushed past him, fighting both the injuries he had taken from the attack and the light headed feeling left him by the sudden loss of all that power. He could feel the danger around him, but could barely summon the interest in staying away, let alone fighting back.
An energy buzz roared around him, but Xander frowned as he realized that it was completely missing him and briefly some detached part of his mind wonder why. The Manhunters weren't that bad of shots. Then he felt another sudden blast, only this time from the other direction, and it also missed him.
The puzzle was enough for Xander to look in the direction of the second series of shots, and his eyes widened slightly as he saw the Manhunters flashing in towards him. He made a feeble attempt to move, but before they could quite reach him a series of red blasts came from nowhere and ripped them apart.
He shifted slightly in the air, his body flopping around as he descended through the last few hundred feet of his fall, and he saw his saviour.
She was standing on a rooftop, braving the long range fire of the Manhunters as she fire back into them with her rifle. His eyes widened, and for a moment he felt his mind clear, but then his falling body struck the rooftop of one of the cities great towers and plunged down through floor after floor.
The pulsing scream of the Sentinal rifle roared over the open rooftop as Tianna fired again and again at the surviving Manhunters. That the androids had lost was now a forgone conclusion, but Tianna knew that they could inflict a massive amount of damage in addition to that which they had already done before they fell.
And so, alone, she continued to fight to hold them back.
But she was only alone for a short time, and soon others had joined the final moments of the battle, citizens who had enough of the destruction, enough of the death. And the report of her rifle was soon joined in a cacophony of similar bursts throughout the city. Sporadic at first, then growing in volume and frequency.
But through it all, as she fired and aimed and fired again, Tianna's thoughts remained on the one who had allowed this to come to pass. The fallen Knight of the now fallen Order. The Last surviving Green Lantern.
Xander groaned in pain, his eyes fluttering as he tried to open them. He couldn't see anything, and for a moment panic took him as he slowly rolled his head from side to side and looked around. But shortly he spotted a glow from above him and his eyes adjusted to the dim light, enough that Xander could see the long line of shattered levels above him. Like a mile long tunnel, Xander followed the wrecked levels up with his eyes as he realized that he had crashed through the entire length of the immense building and smashed into the solid rock of the sub basement.
"Ouch." He muttered, reaching one hand up to grab the lip of the crater he had dug when he struck. "I feel like a dozen vamps just played t-ball with my head."
He dragged himself out of the impression in the floor, rolling himself over the lip and onto his back as he stared upward again.
"I don't remember things hurting this bad before I got powers..." Xander bitched to himself as he finally forced himself up to his knees. "I wonder if Buffy gets this much pain after a night of patrol, or am I just lucky?"
Finally forcing himself unsteadily to his feet, Xander looked up. "Ok... Up up and away..."
Nothing happened.
Xander groaned, putting a hand to his head as a throbbing pain roared through his temple. "Ohhhhhh.... Come on... work damnit!"
Still nothing.
He held up his ring, staring at it through the dim light and breathed out heavily. "I think I drained it to charge that big energizer."
He sighed, "Well... Let's see if this thing still works at all..."
His fist tightened once more, and the ancient pledge came to his lips.
Tianna was surrounded, the remaining Manhunter's had apparently decided to take her down with them as she was one of the few remaining sources of fire.
She gripped the rifle tightly, leveling it at the closest group of Manhunter androids, the pulse weapon roaring with fire as she emptied it's energy reserves in a final act of defiance against the encroaching death.
The Manhunters leveled their weapons, and a blinding blast reached out to engulf her, causing Anameda to flinch and blink in an involuntary act of denial.
The attack never landed.
She opened her eyes slowly, and they widened of their own accord when she saw a shimmering green field of power blocking the attack. She turned her head and looked up to see the figure of the Lantern floating just over her right shoulder.
His uniform was tattered, and he was bleeding and battered, but he was floating under his own power with a look of haggard determination on his masked face.
"No more." He said, shaking his head as he touched down lightly on the rooftop. "NO MORE!"
There was no more then a few hundred Manhunters left and they all paused in their actions to look to the rooftop that had suddenly become the very center of the city.
"No more." He said again in a calmer tone of voice that nevertheless carried to every straining ear. "This battle is done."
The Manhunters froze in place, uncertainty filtering into their programming for an instant as they stared in shock at the emerald figure.
Then Tianna saw one of her fellows take advantage of the pause to level his rifle against a Manhunter and open fire.
Her breath came short in her chest as the Lantern reacted instantly, intercepting the blast short of it's target and destroying the Sentinal rifle in it's owners hands. "I said, No MORE!"
A heavy silence fell across the city, centered around the large plaza they were currently fighting above.
Tianna found herself the closest person to the Lantern and opened her mouth to object. "They tried to destroy our city! Our entire world! You can't..."
The Lantern turned on her, his eyes gleaming brightly. "I can. I will. No more battle. No more death. We won, they lost. It's over."
A grumbling sound of outrage echoed from the streets below as the debate was carried even to the frightened mobs below. Snippets of outrage and ire floated up to them.
"Kill them all!"
"They're just robots!"
"They're too dangerous!"
"Revenge!!"
The Lantern stepped lightly off the roof, his emerald form glowing brightly as he looked over the people below.
"Would you become what they are?" He asked in a soft voice that somehow carried to every listening ear. "Would you give up mercy for the Iron fist of a tyrant? Justice for revenge? Would you give up your..."
The lantern paused, smiling slightly as some inscrutable thought passed over his face. "... humanity for the same cold blooded calculation that drives the Manhunters? I say no more. Go home. Rebuild. Leave the Manhunters to the law."
Many of the crowd began to do just that, their respect for the uniform giving them pause as the sole surviving guardian of a fallen corps watched over them from above.
Satisfied, Xander turned back to the Manhunters. "Give yourselves up. I'll pledge my power to your defense if you stop this insanity now. You can't protect the people by harming them. It's not..."
Again his lips twisted in some amusement that noone understood, "... logical."
The Guardians watched from below as the Manhunters surrendered to the Lantern, their faces inscrutable as they observed in silence.
After a long moment they paused and nodded in solemn unity.
"It would...."
"Appear..."
"That you..."
"Were correct,"
"Brother."
They said in peculiar unison as they turned to their thirteenth sibling.
But the Old One was no where to be found.
The guardians were perplexed for a moment, but it quickly passed and they returned to their silent vigil. Hours later, they were still watching when a tired and worn out Xander Harris landed unsteadily in front of them and walked calmly up to them.
He took a breath, then calmly pulled the ring from his finger and held it up. "Here... You'll need this... I'm sorry I destroyed all the others."
The Guardians looked at each other for a long moment, then reached an approved consensus.
"The ring belongs to the Lantern Corps." One said calmly, "Not to us."
"And we believe that you are the Lantern corps."
"Xander Harris of Earth."
Xander blinked and swallowed. He hesitated, then shook his head. "No... No. I'm not ready for this. I'll never be ready. I'm just a normal guy. You need a hero... that ain't me. I just got lucky, and got this thing by chance."
"Chance and fate... are often one and the same." Another said calmly.
Xander shook his head again, smiling wistfully. "Hey, I know when to bow out gracefully... I had some luck... stumbled onto something big... but I wasn't chosen. I'm no hero."
"Heros seldom believe they are. You may not have been chosen by the Corps, but the ring selected you..."
"And more importantly..."
"Most importantly..."
"You *chose* to follow in the very best traditions of the Lantern Corps."
Xander hesitated again, looking down at the small green ring in his hand.
"Don your ring, Xander Harris... Green Lantern of Earth."
Xander looked down, still uncertain. Power. He didn't want it. He didn't *need* it. Not anymore. He knew that. Once he thought it was important, once he wanted power for himself. But he'd seen what it did to people, and as CORPS he'd *felt* what it could do to him.
But...
He wasn't being drafted. He wasn't seeking power. He was being offered a place in a... a knighthood. Xander swallowed and looked up. "I... I need to think it over."
The Guardians nodded solemnly, "As you will."
Then they slid back, into the huge building that made up the entire face of the plaze and vanished.
Xander watched them vanish and then dropped the ring in his pocket as he turned and started to walk.
Toward the carnage he'd help wreak on the ancient and beautiful city.
Towards the fires. Towards the suffering.
His hand slid into his pocket and Xander Harris was replaced moments later by the Green Lantern of Earth, who then flashed towards his destiny.
Xander Harris answers the call of destiny and is shortly sent on a mission more dangerous then any he'd every known. A return to Earth.