The Gold Corps: Gold Justice, Chapter 11: Joining Forces

Kilowog's team waited at a distance from the battle, sizing up the events. There was no love lost between the Green Lanterns and the gods of New Genesis, especially not since the latter had sought to acquire all the power rings in existence, in order to forge a weapon against Darkseid. Still, Kilowog had to admit, in this instance, they were on the same side. When the monster caught Highfather's scepter, Kilowog signaled to his team, through his ring: hit him hard and fast—'Vixx, you hit 'im high and behind, El, you go low and in front.' And he readied himself….

The Green Lanterns' beams caught both monster and gods completely off-guard. The creature spun head over heels, still not completely accustomed to combat in weightless, airless space. Its hold on Highfather's scepter loosened, ever so slightly….

Which was precisely what Kilowog was looking for. Diving in, he dealt the monster a two-handed blow that would have crushed a building, and, at the same time, grabbed the scepter, and immediately moving back out of range.

The beast hesitated for just a moment…and that was all Orion needed to send a blast of astro-force its way. Attacked from several different fronts, the creature decided, for perhaps the first time in its entire life, that a strategic relocation was in order. It dodged behind an asteroid, and, grabbing another one, smashed the two together, creating an expanding dust and debris cloud that effectively hid its retreat.

Orion rounded on Kilowog. "We did not need your help, Lantern! We had matters under control, until you interfered!" The battle-lust was still upon him, and he was just looking for an excuse to vent it.

"Could've fooled me. Anyway," he said, brushing past a still seething Orion, approached Izaya, handing him the scepter. "I b'leeve you dropped this."

Izaya studied the newcomers intently. Unlike his hot-headed son, he knew better than to antagonize those who'd come to their aid. That only made two enemies where, before, only one had existed. "Thank you," he said, taking the scepter from Kilowog. Inwardly, he shuddered at the thought of what the monster could have done, had it mastered the scepter's power. "I take it your being here, in such numbers," he nodded to Kilowog's strike team, still standing at the ready, "was no coincidence."

"Ya got that right." Kilowog nodded in the direction of the monster's last whereabouts. "This thing's been going from world to world ever since it got here. Wasn't exactly makin' friends, either. The Guardians sent us to deal with it. As in 'kill its ass dead.'" He nodded towards Uggha's form, and Lightray's. "If your people need medical care…"

"We do not. Our mother boxes will heal us, given time. We…thank you for your concern." He shot a stern look at a still boiling Orion. "In this case, we have a common foe. We are not at odds in this." This last directed more at Orion than Kilowog. Orion turned away, still visibly struggling to master his temper. "And I understand about your being under orders." Pause. "Perhaps, in this case, since our objectives converge, you might be of assistance to us." The enemy of my enemy…

Kilowog grunted. This was no time to be arguing over jurisdiction. "Sounds like a plan ta me."

….

Earth: Nightwing and Miss Martian were busy "interrogating" the prisoners from the last raid.

Telepathy is not a cut and dried solution to all problems. In many instances, one has to delve deeply into the mind of the person being scanned, so deeply that damage can result to that person's psyche. It was often a more productive technique, and less invasive, for Nightwing to be asking the perp questions, and having Megan standing by, in the next room, ready to catch any stray thoughts related to said questions. Even if the person being questioned remains silent, he or she cannot help but think of the answer.

Unfortunately, none of the prisoners really knew anything. All they knew was, they'd been hired to kidnap children within a certain age category, and had been provided with sensors that would determine the genotype sought. And they had been under strict orders that said children were not to be harmed in any way, shape, form, or fashion. They had not been given any explanations, only paid. As far as they were concerned, that was good enough. "Damn, damn, damn," muttered Nightwing, as he went over the reports. He, Megan, and Aqualad were perusing the data in the conference room. "None of these creeps knows the slightest thing."

"Are you really surprised?" asked Kaldur'ahm. "They're basically hired muscle. How much would you tell your henchmen, knowing they could be caught and possibly mind-scanned?"

"Point taken. But I had hoped they'd know something. Those ray blasters they used on us were definitely not Earth tech. Not even Lexcorp ever produced anything like that, working on that principle."

"You sent those files upstairs, correct? Along with the guns?" Meaning to the Justice League. "Did they have any further information?"

"None I know of. And, to make matters worse, these guys didn't have any idea of any other kidnapping cells. As far as they were concerned, they were acting alone. But we know they weren't alone. There've been other such cells we've busted." He sighed. "Two steps forward, three back."

"Not necessarily. We did succeed in shutting down this particular cell, this operation. So there's that."

"Perhaps. Maybe I'm expecting too much, too soon." He turned to Megan, who hadn't said a word during the whole conversation. "M'gann? You've been awfully quiet. Did you find out anything more about Ragnar?" The green girl had been uncharacteristically silent since returning to Earth.

"Yes." And she related their discoveries to Nightwing. "So it seems like his parents…put something in him, modified his genetic code, in order to defeat Doomsday. But what, we don't know."

"Wait. Ragnar's supposed to go up against Doomsday? The Doomsday? That Doomsday? How?"

"We…nobody knows. Ragnar sure doesn't know, himself. Right now, he's being studied by the Guardians. I suppose, if anybody can find out how he's supposed to, to do whatever with that horror, they can." But she sounded tired.

They adjourned, Aqualad heading for the pool, with Nightwing and Miss Martian walking down the hallway towards her room. "Megan? I can tell something's bothering you. Would you like to talk about it?"

Again a sigh. "Thanks, Dick, but…truth is, I can't really put it into words myself. I, I just have this terrible feeling. I keep telling myself that his parents wouldn't just send him up against Doomsday without some sort of adequate preparation, but…I can't shake the feeling that…" And here she trailed off, unsure of what to say, herself. Not to mention a little afraid…

"…that he's gonna get himself killed?" She nodded, wordlessly. "M'gann…I know I don't know all about what you and he learned, but I can't believe any parent who cared anything at all about their child would, would just toss that child to the wolves, so to speak. And I can't imagine a bigger wolf than Doomsday. And Ragnar's no fool; I don't see him as rushing headlong into a battle he knows he can't win. That ring of his may be powerful, but we've seen that power rings—no matter what color-don't seem to be all that effective against the monster.

"Personally, I think the Guardians will determine just what gene-mod his folks put in him, and use it against Doomsday. I mean, I just don't see them as sending him out half-cocked, so to speak." He changed the subject slightly. "So the message seemed to indicate that Ragnar possesses some of Doomsday's genetic material?" Another wordless nod. "Hm. That's…interesting." And a little unsettling.

But privately, he had a hunch where this was going.

To be continued…