Two goofballs tumbled out of the white light and rolled to a stop. They looked at each other. Solid ground under their feet. Deadman—Boston Brand—stared at his own hands, touched his own face, and said uncertainly to the Atom: "I think... I think I'm alive."
Ray Palmer had never seen Deadman's original face. He studied the thick-browed, wide-eyed man for a long moment and ventured: "I think... maybe?"
"You two clowns—go chat in the back!" Thea waved them to the rear before they could settle in for a proper heart-to-heart. Couldn't they see the raid was still in progress? Resurrected and standing around in front of the boss—were they trying to die again?
With the eyesores cleared, she finally got a good look at Nekron's sorry state. Satisfying. Wonderful. Exhilarating.
Nekron had taken catastrophic damage this time. Even if he put on a dress, he couldn't catch her now.
"Ha ha—" The tug-of-war was over. Thea retrieved her goddess composure and let out a crystalline laugh.
In her hands: a lifeless scythe blade and a short length of handle. No spiritual energy remained, but the fragment was saturated with Nekron's accumulated insights. She could have howled at the sky with glee. The thing was useless as a weapon, but enshrined for study? Absolutely.
This was a net win by any measure.
Thea dismissed the female heroes to rest. What came next was beyond their help.
The entities returned to their respective energy sources. All three hosts besides Thea were spent.
Of the three—Diana, Faora, and Kara—Diana was the strongest, but her partner Ion Shark was also the oldest entity, nourished by the Green Lantern Corps for over a hundred million years. The energy contained within was staggering. Without a divine constitution like Diana's Goddess of Courage mantle, an ordinary person simply couldn't withstand that much power without external enhancement.
"You've lost. Go back to your world. The living don't want you here." Nekron's appearance had deteriorated as well. His hair had dried out again, though it was noticeably thicker—the Entity's life-force wasn't so easily expelled.
The most comical detail was his weapon. He was holding a stick. The image of Death incarnate, scythe raised to reap the living, had transformed into a ragged beggar-sect chief clutching a dog-beating staff.
Nekron stared at Thea blankly—or rather, at the scythe blade in her hand—then reached toward the Black Lantern Central Power Battery, drawing power from it.
"Don't you dare!" Diana snatched up her lightning spear, arm cocked to throw.
Thea caught her arm. "Look carefully. What he's absorbing isn't the same as his source-power."
She knew, of course, that the Anti-Monitor was imprisoned inside the Central Battery. A reckless attack might crack the prison and release him, and then Earth would really have a party.
One course at a time. One enemy at a time. If Nekron wanted to siphon the Anti-Monitor's power to patch himself up, let him. Stacking raw energy actually diluted his fundamental nature. Thea was happy to watch.
"That's a force antithetical to creation—similar to Darkseid's Destruction aspect, but more refined," she murmured to Diana, choosing her words carefully. She couldn't explain how she knew the Anti-Monitor was sealed inside without raising questions.
"So we just watch?" Diana asked.
"Of course not. Nekron won't let destruction corrupt his death-domain indefinitely—he'll only absorb a portion. In that window, I'm going to consolidate the Seven Spectra and hit him with everything."
She raised her voice. "Ganthet—give me a Green ring. Carol—a Violet ring. Larfleeze!" She spotted the orange blur trying to slip away. "Don't even think about running! I'm talking to you! Give me an Orange ring!"
Her range of mastered emotions was broad but ultimately couldn't match Kyle Rayner's cheat-level advantage. Even now, she had firm command of only four emotions, with Orange Avarice at a basic level at best. Without a ring to bridge the gap, it wasn't going to work.
Green and Violet came easily. Orange... did not.
"You think you can outrun me? Hand it over before I make you." Larfleeze tried to bolt, but Thea blinked after him, caught him by the throat, and spent a long, undignified stretch alternating between threats and bribery. Larfleeze wept openly—fat tears streaming—and with the expression of someone attending his own parents' funeral, surrendered a single Orange ring.
Three rings floated before her. She didn't put them on immediately. First, she needed to harmonize the four emotions already inside her.
Compassion as the base—the most inclusive of the spectra. Layer in fear, hope, and rage. Then Green hope. Then Orange avarice. Close with Violet love.
Thea and Nekron adjusted simultaneously, preparing for the final confrontation.
The external battle had reached a boiling point. The female heroes, partially recovered, rejoined the fight. Only Diana remained at Thea's side.
Hal Jordan, Sinestro, Indigo-1, Saint Walker, Atrocitus, Larfleeze, Carol Ferris—seven elite Lanterns blazed brightest of all, teaming up against Scar.
Scar commanded her seven enslaved Guardians against the seven Lanterns. Each Lantern was either a Corps leader or the greatest of their color. Their teamwork was rough but functional—covering for each other, tightening the perimeter, all driving toward a single objective: take Scar down.
In their eyes, the blame was singular. Manufacturing Black Lantern rings. Enslaving the Guardians. Breaching Oa's defenses. Slaughtering life across the universe. Summoning Nekron. All of it traced back to this one little blue woman. She had to answer to the dead of the whole universe.
"Hal, rein in that recklessness! Have you forgotten everything I taught you?" Sinestro snapped. Hal had pushed forward too aggressively, leaving Sinestro's flank exposed. A Guardian nearly blindsided him.
"Don't lecture me, O Greatest Sinestro. We still have unfinished business, you and I." Hal couldn't help himself. Working alongside Sinestro was like handling a live wire—he knew the stakes, he was trying to play team, and he still ended up taking shots.
"Please, please—both of you, stay calm. Focus on the big picture. All will be well." Saint Walker scrambled to mediate.
Two minutes in, Atrocitus exploded. "Green Lantern—you're blocking my line of fire!"
"I'd also like a Green ring..." That shifty whisper came from Larfleeze.
The seven were a mess. Hal and Sinestro going at each other like rival magnets. Hal's romantic history with Carol adding a whole other dimension. Atrocitus's ancestral grudge against the Green Lantern Corps simmering underneath. Indigo-1 and Saint Walker frantically smoothing things over. And Larfleeze, darting between everyone, perpetually scheming to pocket someone's ring.
No one watching them fight would have associated the words "unity" or "teamwork" with what they were seeing.
Can these people actually pull this off? Diana couldn't help the thought. Anxious about the broader battle, she nevertheless held her position at Thea's side.
Thea was surrounded by an ethereal indigo haze—the base layer of compassion. Her golden hair drifted upward, each strand radiating light that would make the sun jealous—that was Yellow fear. One flash of crimson: rage. One shimmer of cerulean: hope.
Harmonizing four emotions wasn't difficult. She'd practiced extensively in private. She checked her work—everything stable—and slid on the Green ring of courage.
An external emotion, but piloting a single ring was child's play for her. No need for the oath. No need to pledge allegiance to the Green Lantern Corps. Courage slotted in smoothly as the fifth emotion.