Thea explained on Hal's behalf. "Krona was a former Guardian, but he's been dead for over a hundred million years. Even within the Corps, only a handful know that piece of history. Krona was the greatest scientist Maltus ever produced. I don't know much about his life, but I know his curiosity was extreme. He was the kind of person who would not stop, would never give up, until he had his answers."
The moment she finished, the League's eyes swung as one toward Batman. We've got one of those right here.
Batman pretended not to notice the looks. "How does a man dead for a hundred million years come back? Was he resurrected during Blackest Night?"
Thea shook her head. "There's a connection there, but it isn't that. From what I've been able to piece together, during his lifetime Krona got hold of the Black Lantern's Book of the Black. He sealed a portion of his life force inside it. Once a specific condition was met, the Book would return that life force to him, and he would come back."
She didn't have much of her usual foresight to work with on Krona. These were conclusions stitched together from multiple sources.
The one detail consistent with her original timeline: Lyssa Drak, the devoted disciple who would have followed Sinestro to the grave, had been seduced by the Book of the Black just the same. No one had seen her in ages, alive or otherwise. By Thea's reckoning, she was the one who had found the Book and brought Krona back.
"And Krona didn't just come back. His obsession is intact. He still wants to find the truth of the universe's creation."
"Your universe really has people like that? Unbelievable..." The Grandmaster, who had been pretending not to be there, chimed in casually, as if he'd been part of the conversation all along.
Batman nodded. "Fine. A mad scientist hunting the truth. Earth has plenty of those. I think I follow. Then what?"
"Then we get to today. He stole all seven Lantern Entities, broke through the barrier between universes, and crossed over into another world. Let me introduce you: this old man is a member of the Elders of the Universe over there. The Grandmaster. They were the earliest intelligent species to emerge after the Big Bang in his universe." Thea added the introduction for the others.
The Grandmaster nodded grandly to each of them. No one paid him any attention.
"What?! The Entities are gone? Ion too?!" Hal Jordan's voice rose in alarm. Thea gave him an odd look. So much for the leader of the Green Lanterns. She suspected the other Lanterns had pushed Hal forward because, being Earthborn and easily managed, he made a convenient figurehead.
The rest of the League looked unmoved. So the Entities were stolen, so what? And so a mad scientist had crossed into another universe; they could keep a close eye on the situation. If the other side needed help, they could offer it. It didn't seem urgent.
In fact, it was Diana who knew Thea best. She knew there had to be more. "What happens to the universe if the Entities are gone?"
Thea couldn't say the truth: that the Emotional Spectrum Reservoir would dry up and the universe would detonate. That would force her to explain her entire setup around Kyle Rayner. If the heroes learned Kyle was being prepared to sacrifice himself for the universe, they would all insist on sharing the load, and if seven or eight of them charged the Source Wall at once, where on earth was she supposed to find the Life Equation?
Fortunately, spinning a story was an inherited Queen family trait. She made her face go somber. "The Entities each embody one of the emotions of our universe. If they're gone too long, we lose that emotion forever."
"Our universe would have no rage. No avarice. No fear. No courage. No hope. No compassion. No love. I can hardly bring myself to picture it." She let the gravity settle on her words.
Thea spun the lie convincingly. She was the leading authority on the Emotional Spectrum; no one could refute her. Several of the heroes had worn Power Rings during Blackest Night, three Green Lanterns were standing right there, and Batman still had a Yellow Ring tucked away in his belt. The idea of emotion as a tangible force wasn't a stretch for any of them.
In a heartbeat, the room believed her.
This was unacceptable. Rage, avarice, fear, fine, lose those. But hope, courage, love? Those they could not lose.
"Krona is the strongest enemy we have ever faced. If anyone wants to sit this one out, I won't force anyone..." Thea trotted out the obligatory speech. As expected, no one stepped back.
"The strongest? Why call him the strongest? Stronger than Darkseid?" Batman asked. He really wanted to throw the Grandmaster out, but the man kept smiling at him in that friendly way, and Batman couldn't be rude. The Grandmaster was, after all, here asking for help.
"Yes. The strongest. Because he's doing something right now that I can't even match."
"Such as?"
"Two universes." Thea pointed at herself, then at the Grandmaster. "Two universes are drifting toward each other. Krona is using some method I don't fully understand to force the merger of two universes whose rules are completely incompatible."
"So what's our move?" Superman asked.
Thea didn't know either. The rules of the two universes were nothing alike. Charging in could leave her at a fraction of her power.
And she suspected she couldn't outmatch Krona anyway. The man was a science-based type, but he had pushed that side to its absolute limit. He'd have tricks and instruments she'd never seen, the kind you couldn't defend against because you didn't know they existed.
And who in Marvel would even back her up? She couldn't exactly ring up Hela, Asgard's death goddess.
The League meant their offer of help. She couldn't pull the Grandmaster aside for a private chat; she'd have to keep the conversation in the open.
"What's your end of things? Why are you here?" she asked the Grandmaster.
The Grandmaster brightened, as if just remembering. "We've set up a wager. Each side picks a champion. We have a contest."
Thea cut him off before he could go further. "That's a lie. He doesn't care about your wager. He wants two worlds to merge and collapse, so he can glimpse the secret of creation in the wreckage."
The Grandmaster shook his head, unconvinced.
She had been on the verge of ignoring him, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized she needed an ally on Marvel's side. If she asked for one, Captain America would probably step up, though his combat power was another question. As for his American spirit, well, Thea didn't believe a word of it. America had spirit? Was it sold by the pound?
She rounded on the Grandmaster. "You fool! He's humoring you! Can't you see that? When two universes fuse, everything you have will be changed beyond recognition, and you're still fixated on your wager."
"Tell me how you got here. We're going to deal with him together." Honestly, teaming up with the Spectre would be the safest move, but the Spectre was bound to this universe. He couldn't leave; unless the two universes fully fused, at which point the day would already be lost.