Lighting the Path

By Michael Weyer

Rogues, Rocks and a Return

I know, a surprise to have a new chapter up so soon but hit by inspiration to get this out before I head out of town for a few days. All comments welcomed.

Kara lifted her ring to form a shield just in time to block the pair of massive white fists coming at her. “Born on a Monday!” Grundy grunted as he swung down again. Kara hissed out as she backed up, doing her best to keep the shield going as the undead swamp creature smashed his fists down again and again.

Hourman pressed a button on the forearm of his sleeve to release the dosage of Miraclo kept inside. He shivered as he felt the drug take hold, his muscles bulging as they grew. He glanced down to see the timer on his forearm begin to count down, marking how much time he had until the Miraclo ran out. For the next fifty-nine minutes and forty-nine seconds, he had the strength of ten men. Against Solomon Grundy, that might be barely enough.

He hurled himself out, pounding on Grundy’s back. The monster grunted as he swept an arm to smack him aside. That let Kara smash the shield forward to hit him in the face, knocking him backward. Power Girl rushed in to hit him with a punch that would have taken the head off a normal man. For Grundy, however, it barely fazed him as he came at the two women.

Nearby, Shiv swung her twin blades at Stargirl, who nimbly dodged them. “I was hoping to get a crack at you!” she hissed. “I owe you for my father!”

“I didn’t kill your father, Cindy!” Stargirl snapped at the former high school queen. “He died in his own scheme to try and take over the world!”

“Because of you!” Shiv screamed as she lunged forward. Stargirl used her staff to fly upward out of her grasp. Before she could attack, she was suddenly tackled by Killer Wasp who punched her in the jaw.

“Cyclone, gimmie a lift!” Wildcat snapped. The teen quickly complied, causing a whirlwind to whip up under his feet. Wildcat rode it upward and then leapt out to launch a punch at Wasp’s jaw. “Big man fighting kids!” he snarled. “That’s always your way, huh, Wasp?”

They landed hard, Wasp getting to his feet before lifting himself up, letting out a blast of energy from his gauntlets Wildcat dodged. “Think I’m dumb enough to let you get me in close, old man?” he snapped.

Wildcat snarled as he got to his feet. “Tell ya what. Tell me what happened to Jake and I might just break one of yer limbs.” The first of two sons Ted Grant had fathered over the years, the boy had been abducted by one of Ted’s old enemies, the Yellow Wasp. The mad scientist wanted the boy to replace his own son, who’d been mutated by the man’s experiments into Killer Wasp. Wasp had admitted in the past to killing his father and stealing Jake but refused to tell what he’d done with them. From the wicked grin under his mask, he wasn’t about to change that as he fired another blast.

Icicle threw out his hand, the air in front of him condensing under his power into a set of icy daggers that flew toward Sand. The man’s body shifted, the daggers passing right through him as he moved to the side. “You don’t have to do this, Cameron,” he intoned.

“Save the speech, Sandy,” the second-generation villain spat. “I made my choice a long time ago.”

“You can’t trust Sorrow. He doesn’t care about any of you, he just wants to cause chaos.”

“Hey, better to be with the slaughterer than getting slaughtered,” Icicle replied as he suddenly fired a blast at the ground. Sand was caught by surprise as his feet froze in place. Icicle moved in and Sand fired his grapple gun, the ice man just avoiding the long rope and hook. Sand put a hand to the wall and let himself flow into it to escape the icy hold.

Hal found his path blocked by a giant wooden arm as Blackbriar Thorn approached him. Claiming to be a 2000 year old druid, the man’s face was tight as he threw a hand out, the arm elongating into a giant wooden fist. “Defeated one Green Lantern already, I have,” he growled in a rumbling voice. “Tis fine to take another down!”

“You did that to Alan?” Hal set his jaw. “Good to know.” His ring formed a giant buzz saw that sliced through the wooden arm, causing Thorn to howl in agony.

Nearby, Terrific and Mid-Nite were doing their best to handle the assault of Captain Nazi. The super-strong supremacist seemed to be taking personal pleasure in trying to smash the former man. “Your name is a joke! As if any jungle savage can be called ‘Terrific’!”

To his credit, Terrific kept calm as he dodged the blow. “We ‘jungle savages’ were carving out civilizations before your ancestors could crawl out of their mudholes,” he spat out.

“I agree the man’s attitude is uncouth,” the Wizard announced as he floated toward them. “But one must need the brawn to balance out we brains.” He pointed with his cane as a blast of dark energy flowed toward Dr. Mid-Nite, covering him completely. The Wizard smirked as he lowered himself, moving in only to have Mid-Nite’s fist erupt from the cloud to blast him in the jaw. The Wizard gasped as he held his jaw. “How…the Shadows of Sarando should have left you blinded!”

“I live in a dark apartment,” Mid-Nite smirked. It amazed him how word hadn’t gotten out more about the fact he was actually blind, able to only see in certain spectrums of light. With the aid of the goggles, darkness was no problem to him at all.

Floating above the battleground, the Gentleman Ghost moved to where Sorrow also floated near the stone column. “Looks like a bit of complications here,” he said, his accent an odd mix of the Englishman he’d been born as and the years spent in the Southern U.S. before his death a century earlier.

“Just a minor annoyance,” Sorrow replied. “Take over for Wizard, I need him up here to get the spell prepared.”

The Ghost nodded as he flowed down. Kara saw him and fired a blast from her ring but it just passed right through the man. “Okay, that’s just cheating!” she yelled out.

Tigress and Liberty Belle were fighting, the villainess trying to stab down with her dagger. Belle was pushing it back as best she could. Nearby, Rick and Power Girl were doing their best to handle Grundy, the monster snarling and shrugging off their blows. Kara was having a hard time figuring out who to hit but was able to get a shield up to avoid the blast of chilling wind Icicle sent in her direction. Hal was nearby, still battling Thorn, the druid’s body contorting and growing to lash out with branches as sharp as razors. Kara moved to help him, her ring forming an axe to chop at the branches. She saw the Wizard floating upward to join with Sorrow. “Is that bad?”

Hal saw them and cursed. “Dammit….We need to get up there!”

“Well, if you think calling time-out will help, go ahead!” Kara snapped. Above, Cyclone was trying to use her winds on Gentleman Ghost but the man simply stood there, chuckling as they flowed through him.

Tigress kicked Belle in the face, sending her back stunned. The woman grabbed a knife from her boot and moved in, her face contorted. “All this trouble for Scott, I get. But Alchemy? Why bother saving him? Guy’s a pathetic jackal.”

Without warning, a wide gash erupted across her left arm. Tigress shrieked as she grabbed it, seeing a blur of motion by her. She whipped her head around to see something fly toward the far end of the chamber. It was caught in a gloved hand, revealing it to be a boomerang, its razor-sharp edges gleaming in the light.

The young man holding it appeared to be in his twenties, his hair short with a goatee matching its brown color. He wore light blue pants and a darker blue jacket, a white scarf around his neck. Along both the jacket and his belt were more boomerangs of various sizes. “One thing you oughta know about jackals, lady,” he called out. “We take care after our own!”

Both the JSA and the Injustice Society stopped their fighting to turn and look at the area by the stairs. A handful of figures stood there in various costumes and weapons, each looking hard and tough. At their lead was a man dressed in a thick blue outfit with white fur around the collar, sleeves, waist, upper chest and hood. An odd pair of blue glasses covered his eyes, only slits to let him see and a strange gun was held in one hand. He was aiming it up toward Sorrow as he spoke. “You’re gonna want to let Alchemy go now.”

“Who the hell…?” Kara started.

“The Rogues,” Power Girl groaned as she got up from where Grundy had punched her down. “A bunch of crooks the Flash has fought for years. Damn guys actually got themselves unionized here in Keystone.”

Sorrow’s eyes seemed to narrow as he gazed at the figures below. “This doesn’t concern you, Captain Cold.”

“Keystone’s our town, Sorrow,” Cold shot back. “And you never asked to pull some job here.”

“More important is that you got Alchemy,” the Weather Wizard said. He was clad in a green spandex suit with a raised collar and yellow streaks on the front. In his hands, his wand crackled with lightning ready to unleash. “He may be a nutcase but he’s still a Rogue.”

“And you mess with one Rogue,” Heatwave declared, holding up his miniature flamethrower, his eyes glowering behind his orange goggles, his body clad in a thick tan protective outfit. “You gotta take us all on!”

He pulled the trigger and a blast of flame leapt outward to strike Blackbriar Thorn. The druid howled in agony as the intense fire ripped up his body, flopping backward and rolling on the ground. The smell was a twisted mix of flesh and wood as he tried in vain to put his body out. Behind his goggles, Heatwave’s eyes gleamed and his face was twisted in a smile as he savored the sight of the wooden creature burning.

Icicle snarled as he moved toward Cold. “I’ve been wanting to put you on ice for a long time, Smart.”

Cold sniffed. “I gave up those stupid puns years ago, kid.” He fired his gun, a blast of chilling air ripping outward toward Icicle. The other man yelped at it hit him but the blast of ice seemed to just add to his strength as he charged forward. Heatwave snap-aimed and fired a blast at him that drove him back, yelling out at the intense heat that even his icy shell could barely handle.

Weather Wizard held up his wand and the air seemed charged with electricity as lightning bolts struck the earth before Icicle, knocking him back. Next to the Wizard, Owen Harper, the second Captain Boomerang, hurled one of his weapons out. It hit Solomon Grundy in the chest and detonated a high-grade explosive that caused the monster to howl in pain.

The Wizard tried to ignore the battle, drawing his energies to cast the spells Sorrow wanted. He was interrupted by a blast of energy and whirled around to see Abra Kadabra floating up toward him. The man was clad in a futuristic suit and cape, his face marked with a sharp black goatee and mustache and a curl to his black hair. “Ah, ah, ah,” he said. “I believe there’s room for only one showman here.”

The Wizard fired a bolt from his wand but Kadbra merely waved his hand and it transformed into a bird. “Please,” the man scoffed. “To one from the 64th century, these are parlor tricks.”

Gentleman Ghost began to float upward only to have a shimmering wave come before him. “What in…” he began before it swept around him. With a start, he found himself encased in a pane of glass. He pounded on it, surprised he couldn’t simply phase through it. His gaze fell upon a man clad in a unique orange outfit with green helmet and shoulder coverings, a gun in his hands. “Hope ye enjoy being solid as anyone else for a change, Ghostie,” the Mirror Master said in his thick Scottish brogue. “Should take ye a while to get yerself back.”

Shiv was heading forward when an object whipped through the air. She found herself bound by what looked to be streamers of confetti only they were as tight as leather around her. A cackling laugh had her looking up as Axel Walker floated above her. The second man to take on the name of the Trickster, the teenage sociopath wore baggy striped yellow pants and blue and orange striped shirt with a long blue coat, a blue mask over his eyes as his punk blonde haircut gave him a hard edge. He giggled as he lashed out with one of the blue anti-gravity boots he wore to kick Shiv in the face.

“Okay, exactly who am I supposed to be hitting here?” Kara demanded as the JSA watched the fight unfold.

“Don’t argue with it, girlie, just let them beat each other’s brains out!” Wildcat said with a grin. “Damn, shoulda brought popcorn.”

“We’ve got a chance to get to Alan now,” Hal said.

“Provided we can get past Sorrow,” Mid-Nite pointed out.

The Wizard ducked to avoid a fireball and rose up to see Sorrow floating above. The man was holding something in his hands, a green ring that resembled Hal and Kara’s, only the lantern insignia was larger. “Get up here!” he hissed. “I need you to use the ring and gather the Starheart!”

Icicle fired a mini blizzard at Kadbra, driving the man back with a cry, his cape covered in snow as he tried to protect himself. Using the opportunity, the Wizard floated to where Sorrow was, his mouth already reciting a spell.

“Stop the Wizard!” Kara yelled out, getting ready to fly upward. A massive whirlwind came from nowhere, sending her spinning about. Weather Wizard glared as her hovered on the winds. “This is our fight, heroes. Stay out of it.”

Cyclone set her teeth and concentrated and the whirlwinds suddenly reversed direction to hit Weather Wizard dead on. He yelled in surprise as he twisted about, trying to correct his descent. Meanwhile, Killer Wasp let out a cry as a boomerang sliced through one of his wings, sending him crashing to the ground. Tigress fired an arrow from the mini-crossbow on her wrist but in a blur of super-speed, Captain Boomerang dodged it before hurling another of his weapons out. Solomon Grundy let out a bellow as he started to charge at Heatwave. Before he could reach far, a beam of blue-white struck him, freezing him in place. Grundy tried to move forward but Cold’s beam was too strong, his body turning to an icy statue.

“One plate of Grundy cubes coming right up!” the Trickster yelled as he threw out a yo-yo, striking the frozen form. It instantly shattered into a thousand pieces spreading about as the yo-yo returned to the Trickster’s hand. He giggled as Captain Nazi lunged at the Mirror Master. His hand smashed into the costumed helmet but instead of hitting flesh, it seemed to sink into the man’s image. Another Mirror Master appeared to shove Nazi into the reflection, the man yelling out in agony as he merged with the second Master. Mirror Master smiled as he shattered his reflection, Nazi’s howls of agony echoing through the cavern.

“Will you idiots quit getting in the way and stop them!” Belle howled out, pointing toward the Wizard and Sorrow. The black-garbed man had just finished reciting his words when he reached Sorrow. He raised his cane and a slew of energy flew around him, surrounding he, Sorrow and the two prisoners on top of the column. Instantly the air in the chamber became charged as bolts of light struck Alan and Alchemy. The two howled in agony as light flew into the large pit at the center of the chamber.

“What the hell-----” Heatwave began.

Kadbra appeared alarmed at the sight. “They’re harnessing the energy below us…they’re trying to wrest the Starheart from its hiding place!”

“You know about that?” Hal called out over the growing wind.

“Who do you think hid it here?” Kadbra stated. “That artifact is too powerful for even I to properly harness. There’s no way Sorrow and Wizard can get it out safely! They’ll unleash energies that will rip Keystone apart!”

The rest of the Injustice Society seemed to understand things were getting dangerous as they moved toward the column. Overhead, Sorrow laughed as he held Alan’s ring. “Yesss…yessss….” he hissed watching as the energies from below flowed into it. “It’s coming…”

“Ah, Len?” Weather Wizard called out over the wind. “I’m all for sticking up for one of us but this is getting big-time JLA magic crap territory.”

“You heard Kadbra,” Cold shot back. “No Keystone is gonna make things hot for us.”

Kara was gazing at Sorrow and how he held the ring, trying to figure some strategy…

Sorrow was holding the ring.

She glanced at the others. “Sorrow’s solid without the mask, right?”

Power Girl nodded, confused at first but then realized what Kara was talking about. “Yeaaah….It might work. Michael?”

Mr. Terrific nodded. “We did it before with Mid-Nite recording his face. But this time we can go one better…”

Above, Sorrow was cackling as he circled in the air, holding the ring up higher. “Ah, yes. The irony of it all, Green Lantern…that your own weapon shall be my conduit to ultimate power. Once I have the Starheart, I will use it to…”

“Blah, blah, frakking blah,” Kara’s voice cut through as a pair of glowing green hands locked themselves onto Sorrow’s mask. Before he realized it, it was yanked upward, a bright glow emitting as Kara floated behind him. Fortunately for the Wizard, his eyes were closed in concentration and thus was spared Sorrow’s horrific visage. Before the man could realize what was happening, a green helmet slammed around the top of his body as the mask was placed into a green box.

“Pretty good,” Hal said as he used his own ring to wrap Sorrow up into a green straightjacket. “Alan and Kyle pulled this on Sorrow once before so we should be able to handle it now.”

The Wizard realized something was wrong, his eyes opening just in time to catch the massive green fist Kara slammed into his face. He yelled as he flew back, smashing into the wall. As he did, the energies of the pit suddenly ripped outward in flows of red and pink, raking the walls. “Ah, that can’t be good,” Kara muttered.

Hal was using his ring to cut the bonds holding the two men to the column. He caught Alan in his hands as Alchemy fell, caught at the last moment by Weather Wizard. Kara was pulling Sorrow down as the cavern began to rumble. “What the hell is this?”

“Without the Wizard’s guidance, the energies are being let loose,” Kadbra declared. He glanced at Cold who nodded and turned to a nearby wall. He fired a beam from his gun to form a massive wall of ice, enough so the reflections of the Rogues could clearly be seen. Mirror Master moved to it, merging with his own reflection and the rest of the Rogues followed quickly, Weather Wizard still holding Alchemy’s body. “Sorry, all,” Cold declared. “But we got what we came for, no sense risking our necks anymore. This is your job now.”

“You miserable little…” Power Girl began.

“Just business, darling,” the man returned.

“Cold, you son of a bitch!” Icicle yelled. “Don’t you think about leaving us!” The surviving members of the Injustice Society had gathered by the Wizard. With a smirk and a mocking salute, Cold entered the reflection. As the heroes watched, the Rogues’ reflections seemed to run away before vanishing.

Tigress was kneeling by Wizard, slapping his face. “Come on, come on, we need an escape here!”

“What about Sorrow?” Shiv asked, wincing as she held her wounded arm.

“Every man for himself here, hon!” Killer Wasp called out. The Wizard let out a soft moan as he opened his eyes to see the Tigress grabbing him. “No time, don’t care where, just get us out now!”

The man rasped a word and in a flash of light, the villains vanished. The JSA were more concerned with the growing blast of dark energy ripping out from the pit, bolts raking the ceiling. Mr. Terrific looked at one of his spheres and winced. “The energy output is growing fast!” he called over the noise. “At this rate, it’s going to let loose in a matter of minutes!”

“Any chance we can just put a cap on these thing?” Wildcat asked.

“That’ll just increase the explosive power,” Terrific said. “Even Hal and Kara’s rings might not be able to hold it in long.”

“What about…mine?” Everyone turned to see Alan getting to his feet, his ring in his hand. “It’s based on the Starheart…same energy….Maybe I can be able to control it...Drive it back.”

Terrific paused to think about it. “It might…maybe if Alan and Kara were able to block some of it off…But we’d still need a stopgap of some sort, something to leech some of that power off.”

Sand’s eyes fell on the green-wrapped figure nearby. “Like perhaps…a multi-dimensional being who’s able to unleash power with a gaze?”

Everyone looked over toward Sorrow and a set of smiles came about. Kara used her ring to float Sorrow to face the mirrored wall still remaining on the cavern. “Everyone look away!” she yelled as she closed her eyes and turned her head. The rest of the JSA followed, a few also covering their eyes. Even Mid-Nite didn’t want to take another chance with Sorrow. Concentrating, Kara let the upper half of the green straitjacket to melt away.

Any doubts she had to its effect were done away with as an agonizing scream ripped through the chamber as Sorrow bore witness to his own hideous face. Even through her closed eyes, she could see the blinding glow and felt the air of the chamber become even more charged. A force flew past her like a wild wind and she could swear she felt it screaming as it did. The light finally faded as did the cry as the wind seemed to slacken a bit.

“It’s okay,” Mid-Nite called out. “He’s gone.” Everyone opened their eyes to see that Sorrow was indeed gone. The pit was still sending out energy but it appeared to no longer be as wild. Instead, a solid tunnel of light was firing upward, cutting through the ceiling and Kara could see daylight at the far end as well as hear screaming.

“The rest of you get up there,” Alan said, straightening up, his face tired but set hard. “You need to keep any civilians safe.”

“Alan, you feel up for this?” Wildcat asked his old friend with concern.

“It doesn’t matter how I feel,” Alan said, bringing himself up. “I have to do it.”

Wildcat nodded as he and the others raced up the nearby stairway to the surface. Alan let his ring glow, sheathing him in a field that let him rise upward. Hal and Kara quickly joined him. “What do you need?” Hal asked.

“You two press it inward as much as you can,” Alan said. “Make it tight enough for one person.” The two flew to each side and let their rings flow outward, each creating a metal clamp. Kara felt it spark as she struck it but pressed it inward as much as she could. She felt it resisting but kept pushing more and more, her face lining with sweat as she concentrated. She could see Hal on the other side doing the same, seeming to have a bit more knack for it. She ground her teeth as she concentrated more, pressing as hard as she could, pushing the tunnel of magic closer to the other side.

Alan watched as they managed to condense it tight. He took a deep breath to steel himself and then flew into the center of the cone. He hissed out as the magics struck him, his shield buckling but he urged it to hold. He aimed his ring downward and fired a blast of light as far into the pit as he could, aiming for the Starheart piece he could sense below. It struck and he shook as it fought back but he kept it up. He could feel the energy swirling about him but ignored it the best way he knew how.

“And I shall shed my light over dark evil…”

He cracked the Starheart open and forced his beam into it, turning the edge into a suction vacuum.

“For the dark things cannot stand the light…”

He felt the energies sucked downward, his nose bleeding but ignoring it as he directed the power of the artifact downward into its home.

“The light of…”

Like a whirlpool of power, the magical energy was swept downward, past Alan and toward the pit. He kept it going as hard as he could, forcing every inch down.

“The Green Lantern!”

He let out a yell as he felt this last burst resist him, as if the Starheart was a living thing trying to be free. That brief lapse was enough for a beam of the Starheart’s power to rake upward and toward him. Without thinking, Kara flew in, her ring creating a shield to intercept the beam. It struck her harder than she anticipated, causing her to scream in agony. She felt as if she was being ripped inside out and yanked back and forth as the reddish glow covered her completely.

“Kara!” Hal yelled out, watching in horror as the glowing figure was yanked downward and into the pit. Before he could move, Alan fired his ring off once more to suck this last blast of energy into the Starheart. With the precision learned from decades of use, Alan forged a laser to weld the Starheart shut. He lowered himself to the ground, falling to a knee as he gasped for breath.

Hal landed next to him, staring in disbelief at the pit. “Kara,” he whispered.

Alan gasped out. “I’m sorry….I didn’t realize she…had done that until….I had to seal it off…”

Hal shook his head. “I can’t believe…”

“Do not mourn, Hal Jordan.” The two Green Lanterns whirled about to see the Phantom Stranger standing next to them. The man appeared as impassive as ever amid the destruction of the cavern. “Kara Thrace is not dead. She had merely been…transported by the energies of the Starheart.”

“Transported where?” Hal demanded. “No games, Stranger, tell me!”

The Stranger’s gaze actually appeared concerned for once. “To meet her destiny, Hal Jordan. One which shall impact your world far greater than anyone can anticipate.”

Hal Jordan had modeled his entire life on never feeling fear. But the words of the Stranger were enough to chill even his spine.

Kara screamed out as she felt herself able to feel her body again. She was tumbling end over end through a field of clouds, the thin green sheath of her force field protecting her. She managed to command herself to stop and take stock of her surroundings. She felt bile rising and swallowed it, positive throwing up inside a thin force field in space wouldn’t be a pleasant move. Kara opened her mouth to take a few deep breaths (which remained a bizarre thing to do in space).

“Ring,” she was finally able to say. “Where the frak am I?”

“Scanning…Carutos Nebula in Sector 7452.”

“Anyone else around here? Any worlds?”

“Detecting multiple vessels of unidentified types roughly 2000 kilometers away.”

Kara nodded. “Okay…might as well head there first.” Maybe someone had some sort of communications to get her in touch with another Lantern and find a way back to Earth. She flew through the clouds, the thick cover slowing her progress down. “Power level?” she asked, worried about losing her protection.

“Error. Error. Power levels at 257%. Error. Error.”

Kara blinked in confusion. “How…”

“Unknown. Power levels at 257%.”

Kara frowned at that. She wondered if that Starheart might have given her a boost of some kind even though its energy should have been different. Her musings were cut short when she caught sight of something in the clouds. Instinctively, she floated upward and to the side to examine it. She stared at the sight as it became clearer, the dimensions sharp and the shame in full view.

“No frakking way…”

She sent herself into high speed to pull alongside the craft. She saw its pilot turn his head, see her and then do a priceless double-take. She laughed, unable to help herself as she kept in perfect pace with the Colonial Viper and let her ring connect her to its communication system.

“Well, well. Fancy meeting you here, Captain Apollo.”

The look on Lee Adama’s face behind his helmet visor was absolute disbelief, his jaw opening and shutting with no sound coming out. “Don’t freak out, Lee,” Kara said in a softer tone. “It’s really me.”

“Kara?!” Lee gasped.

Her smile enough to dazzle a sun, her green uniform-clad body flying as if it was perfectly normal, her blonde hair whipping behind her, Kara Thrace nodded. “I’ve been to Earth. And I’m going to show us the way.”

I know, a long chapter but had to get to this moment. As you can tell, things are going to get even more interesting from here on out and all comments welcomed.