Post by redsycorax on Jan 28, 2022 2:05:39 GMT
Why is Green Lantern John Stewart having dreams about a Justice League/Justice Guild silver age team up that never happened?
++
NEW YORK:
John Stewart tossed and turn in his bed as he dreamt something vivid, coherent but impossible...
It was 1963. Batman had convened a meeting of the Justice League, warning its members that three of their individual members most dedicated opponents had formed a co-ordinated larcenous grouping and were busily ransacking particular artefacts from three US cities- Chronos, Dr. Alchemy and Felix Faust. It was resolved that the Leaguers would divide into three groups to tackle their enemies, with authority delegated to those League members whose chief nemeses they were- the Atom and the Flash. Stirring in his sleep, Stewart realised that something was wrong, that he shouldn't be there, given that he had only been provided with a power ring after Guy Gardner's incapacitation and that was not until December 1971. But Hal Jordan was nowhere to be seen and Stewart was present at the meeting and within the mission team sent to confront Dr Alchemy.
And then things took an even more surrealistic turn. It was August 1963, ten months after the Cuban missile crisis and on Earth-One, nuclear war had narrowly been avoided after a tense confrontation in the Carribean Sea near Cuba over Soviet ICBMs surreptitiously stationed there. But on Earth-109, home of Stewart's childhood heroes the Justice Guild of America, the world had fallen over that precipice. Things went wrong, a Soviet submarine fired a nuclear-tipped torpedo at a US naval vessel and from that point of no return, US and Soviet ICBMs were soon accelerating from the Soviet Union and United States against each other and their allies. A day later, a Soviet submarine fired an ICBM at Ryerson Air Force Base on the outskirts of Seaboard City and the Justice Guild sacrificed their life to defend the city that they were based in and had called home. But in their brownstone headquarters, there they were- the heroes of the Guild alive and well, even the precognitive Cassandra, who had been dead from a lethal gun ambush intended for Black Siren for over a year. And there was no sign of Ray Thompson, the misshapen mutant who puppeted duplicate images of the valiant perished heroes after the war within the ruins of Seaboard.
As he dreamt further, Aquaman, the Atom and J'Onn J'Onnz confronted Felix Faust who was plundering a sunken battleship. He used fire against the Martian Manhunter, although the Atom's intervention soon eliminated that and then, Faust vanished as the Manhunter's breath propelled the Atom toward Faust, to deliver an enhanced mass knockout blow. Elsewhere, Dr Alchemy had used his Philosophers Stone to raid an armoured car, with Superman, the Flash and Green Arrow on hand- until the Flash mysteriously vanished. Alchemy menaced Superman with green kryptonite using his transmutation abilities until Green Arrow fired a leaden paint arrow, at which point Alchemy also vanished. Finally, Stewart saw himself, Batman and Wonder Woman tackling Chronos. Razorsharp clock dial hands sheared off Batman's batrope, while yellow mist left Stewart unable to use his power ring and he evaded her golden lasso before vanishing like his counterparts.
And there was another paradox. The three League opponents were talking with other dead men, namely the Injustice Guild's Sir Swami, Doctor Blizzard and Music Master. But again, that was impossible. Stewart's power ring had told him that most of the Injustice Guild had died at the time of Earth-109's Third World War and although Sir Swami and Doctor Blizzard had survived, they had resided in Australia, thousands of miles away and had reformed. Regardless, they were there and talked about their own ventures against assorted Justice Guild teams. The triads decided to switch worlds so their heroic opponents would be hampered by the absence of familarity with the abilities and tactics of their new, transposed enemies. Once on Earth-One, Sir Swami assumed the facade of Dr Alchemy, Doctor Blizzard became a simulacra of Chronos and Music Master now masqueraded as Felix Faust. Due to Superman's vulnerability to magic, the League were overcome and imprisoned in their own mountain headquarters. Establishing contact with the imprisoned Flash, the League learnt about Earth-109, the Justice Guild and Injustice Guild. Wait a minute...how? The League had only encountered the Guild several decades later, in late April 2002. It should have been the Justice Society and Earth-Two under discussion, but it was occurring seamlessly and without any sense of unease that events were not happening as they should have. Using a crystal ball from an adventure on another alternate Earth where Arthurian myth actually happened and Merlin the wizard had provided them with, the Justice League summoned the Justice Guild to Earth-One, after which the two groups decided to tackle their unified opponents together.
But that wasn't how it happened, Stewart told his anomalous dreamself as he and the Green Guardsman sought to free the imprisoned Flash and the Streak, imprisoned within cages in the interdimensional void between universes. On Earths One and 109, the heroes of the League and Guild pursued their respective opponents- Tom Turbine and Cassandra tackled the Music Master, Catman and Black Siren faced off against Doctor Blizzard and Sir Swami, while the Justice League's Batman and Wonder Woman fought Doctor Alchemy, Green Arrow and Atom subdued Chronos and Superman and Aquaman targeted Chronos. Surprisingly, this time, both teams were successful, just as Stewart and the Green Guardsman liberated the Flash and Streak from their interdimensional imprisonment, only for a further trap sprung due to the collaboration of Felix Faust and Sir Swami. Although Green Guardsman and Stewart were imprisoned in a yellow aluminium cell, they were able to escape when the Atom suggested that they simply shrink their way out of imprisonment. Consequently, their power rings and the combined abilities of the Flash and Streak made short work of the imprisonment. Sir Swami and Felix Faust sensed that their enemies were free and realised that there must also be other alternate Earths where they could seek sanctuary. The Music Master searched for the vibratory sequence that could assist them in their escape, but the Justice League and Guild were on the allied villains before his ploy could succeed.
Finally awake, John Stewart rose from his bed, pulled on a dressing gown and requested:
"Power ring, what was the nature of the dream that I just had?"
"The dream was a memory of the first meeting between the Justice League of America and Justice Guild of America of Earth-109, Lantern Stewart."
"No, it can't be. That's not how it happened. I was a child reading their fictional adventures in the Justice Guild comics and those were cancelled in November 1962 because of some psionic link between the Guild and Earth-One comic artists and authors at National Comics. The League and I didn't meet the Guild in person anyway, and by the time that escapade was supposed to have taken place, Seaboard City was a ruined wasteland under the thrall of Ray Thompson until we intervened forty years later. I was there when it happened. Ring, has the timeline been altered?"
"There is no record of the event that you describe, Lantern Stewart."
"Am I losing my mind?!"
"I hope not, John. What's the matter, couldn't sleep?" Shayera Hol had sauntered in, and embraced the startled Green Lantern.
"Shayera?! What if Katar-?"
"Who's "Katar?" Are you talking about Hro Talak, the Thanagarian Star Force commander?"
"Ring, is there five-dimensional entry and egress radiation in the vicinity?"
"Negative, Lantern Stewart."
"Examine League database for records of Katar Hol, Hawkman."
"There is no such entity, Lantern Stewart."
"Ring, has temporal relignment occurred?"
There was a pause before the power ring replied:
"Affirmative, Lantern Stewart."
"Retrieve memory and available data abouts Earths Two, the Justice Society of America, the Justice Guild of America and Earth-109."
"Earth-Two first encountered by Barry Allen/Flash in 1962, before first Justice League encounter in 1963, with Justice Society. Earth-109...dual encounters. One in 1963, one in 2002. The first was coterminous with the first encounter with the Justice Society, while the other was in April 2002 when Lantern Stewart, Hawkwoman, Flash and J'Onn J'Onnz were transferred to Earth-109 after a Lex Luthor device malfunctioned, tearing an inter-universal hole. Contradiction noted and registered."
"Ring. identify source of temporal discrepancy."
"Source identified as..Ray Thompson, psionic mutant, Earth-109."
"It can't be! He died when his psionic control over Seaboard City was broken and the illusion of the Justice Guild's survival was disrupted. Ring, identify reason for Thompson's survival."
"I'm with you on this, John. We need to get Wally and J'Onn and get back over there."
"Thanks, Shayera. Appreciate this."
EARTH-109:
2022:
"So this is Earth-109,' Batman observed,"an irradiated nuclear wasteland."
"Yes, but how did Thompson manage to learn about Earth-109 and inject those false memories about a JLA/JGA case that never happened into my mind?"
"Possibly because you were the most familiar with the Justice Guild mythos, having encountered their recorded adventures back on Earth-One. Whoa."
On the periphery of their vision, two figures had appeared. Batman's brow furrowed:
"One of you corresponds to ancient Jewish Talmudic folklore about the Angel of History. The other, unless my recollection of Greek mythology is considerably mistaken, is Queen Persephone of the underworld."
Queen Persephone nodded: "That is correct. And furthermore, you are also correct, Bruce Wayne. We are...boundary markers on this Earth... you might call it. And we know Ray Thompson has created a temporal contradiction which threatens the future existence of this whole universe."
"How? He's been dead for over twenty years."
"As I am a eu thanata, not a kakothanatos, I cannot respond to your inquiry about the postmortal status of Raymond Thompson."
"Fortunately, as I am gifted with the integrity and preservation of history, I can assist you with travel back to the paradox in question." The Angel of History replied.
"Angel, where is Hal Jordan? I was a child at the time of the alleged JLA/JGA team back in 1963."
1963:
It was several months after the world had been plunged into nuclear war after the events of the Cuban missile crisis had metastasised into the Third World War. Across the Northern Hemisphere, radioactive winds howled through ruined cities, lifeless bodies were besieged by flies and rats, blinded and burnt erstwhile survivors staggered through desolate streets in search of medical care that would never arrive, fires burnt unchecked, and starving families huddled within increasingly squalid and filthy fallout shelters, while the remnants of civil authority, police and armed forces shot looters and raider gangs, with or without cause- due process had perished amidst the inferno of the nuclear holocaust. Around the globe, nuclear winter held perennial sway and would do so for several months as debris, ash, fire and fallout swirled across the trophosphere and stratosphere. This then was Earth-109. But there was a deceptive sanctuary- the bubble of idyllic memory and immaculate past known as Seaboard City, with Ray Thompson as its master, with his simulacra of the Justice Guild as its guardians and the illusion of his prewar self as the innocent child that he had never been in reality.
As the Justice League appeared in the hallucinatory brightness of Seaboard City, J'Onn J'Onnz grimaced:
"Uhhh...trouble. We can't possibly encounter the facades of the Justice Guild in this period, or Thompson."
"Oh, you poor fools! Did you really think I could be defeated that easily?!" Above them was a all too familar figure, with a power ring on his hand.
"Let me guess. That isn't Green Guardsman's ring, it's the one that his nephew Simon- Kid Guardsman - wore instead. From what Queen Persephone told us, he, Mynah and Boy Streak died during the immediate aftermath of the War here, assisting the survivors and refugees from the nuclear war. Wow, an irresponsible monster in charge of a power ring."
"What gives you any right to interfere here?"
"Because you're not even supposed to be here. You've possessed your own past self and you're the one who's interfered with our Earth's history. If you're not stopped, this entire universe will collapse amidst an accelerated entropic big crunch. You've created a massive temporal contradiction and it threatens more than one world. Why?!"
"Look around you. Kill me now and the people of Seaboard City will perish in the nuclear winter outside. I thought you people were supposed to be a Justice League, protector of the weak and innocent and vulnerable?" Thompson retorted mockingly.
"Where's Hal Jordan? And why are you even doing this?"
"We need not fear him, my friends. For that is not this universe's Ray Thompson. He is from a third Earth, one where the Justice Guild facade was never breached and he continues his tyrannical rule over Seaboard City. Would that he were a daemonic being."
"Virtually identical to this one, in other words?"
"To be exact, it intersects with this one, diverging and converging because it only has a fractal probability status. And you can guess who and what is maintaining it."
Hawkwoman and John Stewart exchanged glances: "Am I right in guessing that this Thompson would be as vulnerable to a unified assault as much as his Earth-109 Proper version was?"
"That would indeed be the case." And suddenly, alongside them, spectral doubles of the Justice Guild appeared.
"Thompson. I'm almost going to enjoy this." Cassandra's ghost said.
"You shouldn't even be here, witch!"
"Uh huh, bulbous squat and gruesome. You don't make the rules here. Not this time."
"Nice to meet you, Cassandra. Shame it couldn't be earlier." Stewart acknowledged.
"And given that I am indeed a deity and have control over life and death, some differentiation is needed here." Queen Persephone gestured and the two Ray Thompsons abruptly drew apart- one still behind his forcescreen in Seaboard City, ignorant of the conflict going on outside its borders, still preserving his feigned idyllic conservative utopia as he would for the next forty years and oblivious to his momentary possession- and the snarling, bestial Ray Thompson of the fractal, divergent Earth-109.5.
And with that, battle was joined, as the Justice Guild and Justice League fought alongside one another, despite Thompson's malevolent interference and attempts to triumph despite the odds. But it ended the same way as the spirits of the departed Justice Guild enveloped the weakening power ring shield that Thompson had tried to establish around him. And ultimately, due to Kid Guardsman's weaker power ring, this iteration of Ray Thompson met the same fate as his counterpart behind the screen. His death caused the sudden cessation of the falsified "Justice League/Justice Guild" team up and events resumed as they should have, with Earth-Two and the Justice Society of America meeting their silver age counterparts for the first time.
"Thank you, John. It was an honour and a privilege to work alongside you. Time for us to go. Oh, and with Her Majesty's permission, here's a souvenir for you." With a gesture, the Angel of History deposited a shining tin badge in John Stewart's hand. This one shone in the winter twilight. It was a "Junior Justice Guild" badge, extracted from Earth-One's past. For a second time, John Stewart's eyes filled with tears as the still-valiant ghosts of the Justice Guild of America renewed their Elysian Fields sojourn on the other side of the mortality barrier. With his own power ring, Stewart focused his effort on the Kid Guardsman ring on Ray Thompson- 109.5's cankered hand. Abruptly, the other power ring disintegrated and shattered into tiny fragments, blown away by the howling radioactive world.
"Let's get out of here. And leave this place to its ghosts." John Stewart said, as the Justice Leaguers dematerialised from the charnel house tomb world of Earth-109. Behind them, the dumb show of this Earth's Ray Thompson continued on, but one day, decades from now, his time would come.
THE END
++
NEW YORK:
John Stewart tossed and turn in his bed as he dreamt something vivid, coherent but impossible...
It was 1963. Batman had convened a meeting of the Justice League, warning its members that three of their individual members most dedicated opponents had formed a co-ordinated larcenous grouping and were busily ransacking particular artefacts from three US cities- Chronos, Dr. Alchemy and Felix Faust. It was resolved that the Leaguers would divide into three groups to tackle their enemies, with authority delegated to those League members whose chief nemeses they were- the Atom and the Flash. Stirring in his sleep, Stewart realised that something was wrong, that he shouldn't be there, given that he had only been provided with a power ring after Guy Gardner's incapacitation and that was not until December 1971. But Hal Jordan was nowhere to be seen and Stewart was present at the meeting and within the mission team sent to confront Dr Alchemy.
And then things took an even more surrealistic turn. It was August 1963, ten months after the Cuban missile crisis and on Earth-One, nuclear war had narrowly been avoided after a tense confrontation in the Carribean Sea near Cuba over Soviet ICBMs surreptitiously stationed there. But on Earth-109, home of Stewart's childhood heroes the Justice Guild of America, the world had fallen over that precipice. Things went wrong, a Soviet submarine fired a nuclear-tipped torpedo at a US naval vessel and from that point of no return, US and Soviet ICBMs were soon accelerating from the Soviet Union and United States against each other and their allies. A day later, a Soviet submarine fired an ICBM at Ryerson Air Force Base on the outskirts of Seaboard City and the Justice Guild sacrificed their life to defend the city that they were based in and had called home. But in their brownstone headquarters, there they were- the heroes of the Guild alive and well, even the precognitive Cassandra, who had been dead from a lethal gun ambush intended for Black Siren for over a year. And there was no sign of Ray Thompson, the misshapen mutant who puppeted duplicate images of the valiant perished heroes after the war within the ruins of Seaboard.
As he dreamt further, Aquaman, the Atom and J'Onn J'Onnz confronted Felix Faust who was plundering a sunken battleship. He used fire against the Martian Manhunter, although the Atom's intervention soon eliminated that and then, Faust vanished as the Manhunter's breath propelled the Atom toward Faust, to deliver an enhanced mass knockout blow. Elsewhere, Dr Alchemy had used his Philosophers Stone to raid an armoured car, with Superman, the Flash and Green Arrow on hand- until the Flash mysteriously vanished. Alchemy menaced Superman with green kryptonite using his transmutation abilities until Green Arrow fired a leaden paint arrow, at which point Alchemy also vanished. Finally, Stewart saw himself, Batman and Wonder Woman tackling Chronos. Razorsharp clock dial hands sheared off Batman's batrope, while yellow mist left Stewart unable to use his power ring and he evaded her golden lasso before vanishing like his counterparts.
And there was another paradox. The three League opponents were talking with other dead men, namely the Injustice Guild's Sir Swami, Doctor Blizzard and Music Master. But again, that was impossible. Stewart's power ring had told him that most of the Injustice Guild had died at the time of Earth-109's Third World War and although Sir Swami and Doctor Blizzard had survived, they had resided in Australia, thousands of miles away and had reformed. Regardless, they were there and talked about their own ventures against assorted Justice Guild teams. The triads decided to switch worlds so their heroic opponents would be hampered by the absence of familarity with the abilities and tactics of their new, transposed enemies. Once on Earth-One, Sir Swami assumed the facade of Dr Alchemy, Doctor Blizzard became a simulacra of Chronos and Music Master now masqueraded as Felix Faust. Due to Superman's vulnerability to magic, the League were overcome and imprisoned in their own mountain headquarters. Establishing contact with the imprisoned Flash, the League learnt about Earth-109, the Justice Guild and Injustice Guild. Wait a minute...how? The League had only encountered the Guild several decades later, in late April 2002. It should have been the Justice Society and Earth-Two under discussion, but it was occurring seamlessly and without any sense of unease that events were not happening as they should have. Using a crystal ball from an adventure on another alternate Earth where Arthurian myth actually happened and Merlin the wizard had provided them with, the Justice League summoned the Justice Guild to Earth-One, after which the two groups decided to tackle their unified opponents together.
But that wasn't how it happened, Stewart told his anomalous dreamself as he and the Green Guardsman sought to free the imprisoned Flash and the Streak, imprisoned within cages in the interdimensional void between universes. On Earths One and 109, the heroes of the League and Guild pursued their respective opponents- Tom Turbine and Cassandra tackled the Music Master, Catman and Black Siren faced off against Doctor Blizzard and Sir Swami, while the Justice League's Batman and Wonder Woman fought Doctor Alchemy, Green Arrow and Atom subdued Chronos and Superman and Aquaman targeted Chronos. Surprisingly, this time, both teams were successful, just as Stewart and the Green Guardsman liberated the Flash and Streak from their interdimensional imprisonment, only for a further trap sprung due to the collaboration of Felix Faust and Sir Swami. Although Green Guardsman and Stewart were imprisoned in a yellow aluminium cell, they were able to escape when the Atom suggested that they simply shrink their way out of imprisonment. Consequently, their power rings and the combined abilities of the Flash and Streak made short work of the imprisonment. Sir Swami and Felix Faust sensed that their enemies were free and realised that there must also be other alternate Earths where they could seek sanctuary. The Music Master searched for the vibratory sequence that could assist them in their escape, but the Justice League and Guild were on the allied villains before his ploy could succeed.
Finally awake, John Stewart rose from his bed, pulled on a dressing gown and requested:
"Power ring, what was the nature of the dream that I just had?"
"The dream was a memory of the first meeting between the Justice League of America and Justice Guild of America of Earth-109, Lantern Stewart."
"No, it can't be. That's not how it happened. I was a child reading their fictional adventures in the Justice Guild comics and those were cancelled in November 1962 because of some psionic link between the Guild and Earth-One comic artists and authors at National Comics. The League and I didn't meet the Guild in person anyway, and by the time that escapade was supposed to have taken place, Seaboard City was a ruined wasteland under the thrall of Ray Thompson until we intervened forty years later. I was there when it happened. Ring, has the timeline been altered?"
"There is no record of the event that you describe, Lantern Stewart."
"Am I losing my mind?!"
"I hope not, John. What's the matter, couldn't sleep?" Shayera Hol had sauntered in, and embraced the startled Green Lantern.
"Shayera?! What if Katar-?"
"Who's "Katar?" Are you talking about Hro Talak, the Thanagarian Star Force commander?"
"Ring, is there five-dimensional entry and egress radiation in the vicinity?"
"Negative, Lantern Stewart."
"Examine League database for records of Katar Hol, Hawkman."
"There is no such entity, Lantern Stewart."
"Ring, has temporal relignment occurred?"
There was a pause before the power ring replied:
"Affirmative, Lantern Stewart."
"Retrieve memory and available data abouts Earths Two, the Justice Society of America, the Justice Guild of America and Earth-109."
"Earth-Two first encountered by Barry Allen/Flash in 1962, before first Justice League encounter in 1963, with Justice Society. Earth-109...dual encounters. One in 1963, one in 2002. The first was coterminous with the first encounter with the Justice Society, while the other was in April 2002 when Lantern Stewart, Hawkwoman, Flash and J'Onn J'Onnz were transferred to Earth-109 after a Lex Luthor device malfunctioned, tearing an inter-universal hole. Contradiction noted and registered."
"Ring. identify source of temporal discrepancy."
"Source identified as..Ray Thompson, psionic mutant, Earth-109."
"It can't be! He died when his psionic control over Seaboard City was broken and the illusion of the Justice Guild's survival was disrupted. Ring, identify reason for Thompson's survival."
"I'm with you on this, John. We need to get Wally and J'Onn and get back over there."
"Thanks, Shayera. Appreciate this."
EARTH-109:
2022:
"So this is Earth-109,' Batman observed,"an irradiated nuclear wasteland."
"Yes, but how did Thompson manage to learn about Earth-109 and inject those false memories about a JLA/JGA case that never happened into my mind?"
"Possibly because you were the most familiar with the Justice Guild mythos, having encountered their recorded adventures back on Earth-One. Whoa."
On the periphery of their vision, two figures had appeared. Batman's brow furrowed:
"One of you corresponds to ancient Jewish Talmudic folklore about the Angel of History. The other, unless my recollection of Greek mythology is considerably mistaken, is Queen Persephone of the underworld."
Queen Persephone nodded: "That is correct. And furthermore, you are also correct, Bruce Wayne. We are...boundary markers on this Earth... you might call it. And we know Ray Thompson has created a temporal contradiction which threatens the future existence of this whole universe."
"How? He's been dead for over twenty years."
"As I am a eu thanata, not a kakothanatos, I cannot respond to your inquiry about the postmortal status of Raymond Thompson."
"Fortunately, as I am gifted with the integrity and preservation of history, I can assist you with travel back to the paradox in question." The Angel of History replied.
"Angel, where is Hal Jordan? I was a child at the time of the alleged JLA/JGA team back in 1963."
1963:
It was several months after the world had been plunged into nuclear war after the events of the Cuban missile crisis had metastasised into the Third World War. Across the Northern Hemisphere, radioactive winds howled through ruined cities, lifeless bodies were besieged by flies and rats, blinded and burnt erstwhile survivors staggered through desolate streets in search of medical care that would never arrive, fires burnt unchecked, and starving families huddled within increasingly squalid and filthy fallout shelters, while the remnants of civil authority, police and armed forces shot looters and raider gangs, with or without cause- due process had perished amidst the inferno of the nuclear holocaust. Around the globe, nuclear winter held perennial sway and would do so for several months as debris, ash, fire and fallout swirled across the trophosphere and stratosphere. This then was Earth-109. But there was a deceptive sanctuary- the bubble of idyllic memory and immaculate past known as Seaboard City, with Ray Thompson as its master, with his simulacra of the Justice Guild as its guardians and the illusion of his prewar self as the innocent child that he had never been in reality.
As the Justice League appeared in the hallucinatory brightness of Seaboard City, J'Onn J'Onnz grimaced:
"Uhhh...trouble. We can't possibly encounter the facades of the Justice Guild in this period, or Thompson."
"Oh, you poor fools! Did you really think I could be defeated that easily?!" Above them was a all too familar figure, with a power ring on his hand.
"Let me guess. That isn't Green Guardsman's ring, it's the one that his nephew Simon- Kid Guardsman - wore instead. From what Queen Persephone told us, he, Mynah and Boy Streak died during the immediate aftermath of the War here, assisting the survivors and refugees from the nuclear war. Wow, an irresponsible monster in charge of a power ring."
"What gives you any right to interfere here?"
"Because you're not even supposed to be here. You've possessed your own past self and you're the one who's interfered with our Earth's history. If you're not stopped, this entire universe will collapse amidst an accelerated entropic big crunch. You've created a massive temporal contradiction and it threatens more than one world. Why?!"
"Look around you. Kill me now and the people of Seaboard City will perish in the nuclear winter outside. I thought you people were supposed to be a Justice League, protector of the weak and innocent and vulnerable?" Thompson retorted mockingly.
"Where's Hal Jordan? And why are you even doing this?"
"We need not fear him, my friends. For that is not this universe's Ray Thompson. He is from a third Earth, one where the Justice Guild facade was never breached and he continues his tyrannical rule over Seaboard City. Would that he were a daemonic being."
"Virtually identical to this one, in other words?"
"To be exact, it intersects with this one, diverging and converging because it only has a fractal probability status. And you can guess who and what is maintaining it."
Hawkwoman and John Stewart exchanged glances: "Am I right in guessing that this Thompson would be as vulnerable to a unified assault as much as his Earth-109 Proper version was?"
"That would indeed be the case." And suddenly, alongside them, spectral doubles of the Justice Guild appeared.
"Thompson. I'm almost going to enjoy this." Cassandra's ghost said.
"You shouldn't even be here, witch!"
"Uh huh, bulbous squat and gruesome. You don't make the rules here. Not this time."
"Nice to meet you, Cassandra. Shame it couldn't be earlier." Stewart acknowledged.
"And given that I am indeed a deity and have control over life and death, some differentiation is needed here." Queen Persephone gestured and the two Ray Thompsons abruptly drew apart- one still behind his forcescreen in Seaboard City, ignorant of the conflict going on outside its borders, still preserving his feigned idyllic conservative utopia as he would for the next forty years and oblivious to his momentary possession- and the snarling, bestial Ray Thompson of the fractal, divergent Earth-109.5.
And with that, battle was joined, as the Justice Guild and Justice League fought alongside one another, despite Thompson's malevolent interference and attempts to triumph despite the odds. But it ended the same way as the spirits of the departed Justice Guild enveloped the weakening power ring shield that Thompson had tried to establish around him. And ultimately, due to Kid Guardsman's weaker power ring, this iteration of Ray Thompson met the same fate as his counterpart behind the screen. His death caused the sudden cessation of the falsified "Justice League/Justice Guild" team up and events resumed as they should have, with Earth-Two and the Justice Society of America meeting their silver age counterparts for the first time.
"Thank you, John. It was an honour and a privilege to work alongside you. Time for us to go. Oh, and with Her Majesty's permission, here's a souvenir for you." With a gesture, the Angel of History deposited a shining tin badge in John Stewart's hand. This one shone in the winter twilight. It was a "Junior Justice Guild" badge, extracted from Earth-One's past. For a second time, John Stewart's eyes filled with tears as the still-valiant ghosts of the Justice Guild of America renewed their Elysian Fields sojourn on the other side of the mortality barrier. With his own power ring, Stewart focused his effort on the Kid Guardsman ring on Ray Thompson- 109.5's cankered hand. Abruptly, the other power ring disintegrated and shattered into tiny fragments, blown away by the howling radioactive world.
"Let's get out of here. And leave this place to its ghosts." John Stewart said, as the Justice Leaguers dematerialised from the charnel house tomb world of Earth-109. Behind them, the dumb show of this Earth's Ray Thompson continued on, but one day, decades from now, his time would come.
THE END
