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thejusticelounge2013-06-25 10:12 am
bossymarmalade) wrote in thejusticelounge2013-06-25 10:12 am
vidiri
J’onn searched for Guy’s mental signature on board the Watchtower. When he found it, he prepared a telepathic message. Then thought better of it and typed out a message over his computer instead:
“Guy - if you would be so kind, I have need of your presence in my quarters. Please make sure your affairs are in order and your ring is fully charged.”
After a moment’s pause, he added “And bring plenty of Chocos” before sending.
Guy raised his eyebrow at the strange note, and typed out a reply:
“Chocos I can do, but…. I need my affairs in order? What’s this about, J’onn?”
J’onn replied in kind: “I simply wanted to impress upon you that if you had other affairs to put in order, they should take precedent over coming to see me. Was this stated incorrectly? The structure makes perfect sense when translated to my native tongue. I apologize.”
The Martian hoped he had not needlessly troubled Guy. J’onn did not even know what he and the Lantern were needed for in the first place - only that Kyle had asked for assistance from the pair of them. But he did hope that Gardner would arrive soon with Chocos. J’onn had run out two days ago and was beginning to feel… well, itchy.
The Green Lantern made sure his last will and testament was still on file with HR (the H stood for “hero”, since “human” was rather xeno-exclusionary), and he took a Zeta beam down to New York and bought three bags of Chocos, and soon was pressing the door buzzer outside J’onn’s quarters.
“I got the Chocos, J’onn. What’s up?”
Kyle got a rather low-key telepathic transmission from J’onn about meeting Guy, and used his ring to track them to New York. When he arrived, there were two rather puzzled looking people in J’onn’ place.
He waved as he strolled in (half-expecting a live-audience to clap for him as he entered the scene). He paused beside Guy, clapping him on the back congenially.
”Hey you two. I think I should explain - J’onn just finished being the greatest hero and saving everyone’s favoritest Lantern Mogo. Thank you, deputy Blue Lantern J’onn. And I’d sent him a text a while ago asking to talk to him about…” Kyle tapped his brain. ”The Parallax Issue, dun dun dhun. Anyway, while J’onn was gone, me and mejor amigo here had one of many talks,” Kyle paused and smiled at Guy. “Including a mention of his desire to talk to you, J’onn, and use your awesome abilities to help him out. I’m not sure how this all happened, but since you’re both here now…”
Kyle reached out and shook J’onn’s hand, clasping his arm for a moment. “You’ve been a great friend to Green Lanterns recently, man. Thanks. Oh! Also, I read in the news that NASA has finally decided that Mars was habitable. How do you like them apples. Anyway, I’m not needed for this, unless…” Kyle turned inquiringly to Guy. “You want me to stick around? Or I could come fetch you afterwards? I’d be happy to do whatever you like, I got time and I got love to spare.”
“You set this up, Kyle?”
Guy didn’t mean to be unappreciative, but it was difficult to not feel defensive when lured into some kind of intervention…or at least, that’s what this was starting to feel like. ”I got my memories back, but you had Parallax in you. Seems to me you need to talk to J’onn more urgently than I do. How about you give some of that spare love to yerself for a change? You should go first…right J’onn? Shouldn’t Kyle have priority?”
Kyle shook his head. “Actually no, I don’t think I did. It just sort of happened, that’s all. I didn’t plan anything, Guy, it’s okay.”
J’onn quietly nibbled on his Chocos and watched the two Green Lantern partners quibble. He thought about clearing up the confusion between them because he could clearly read both minds and knew exactly what both desired. But he thought that would end his valuable Choco time.
So instead, he decided to let the two humans work this out on their own while he ate. Plus, he was sated and no longer so itchy…
“Fine! I’ll talk to him now on two conditions,” he pointed a finger at Kyle, almost forgetting J’onn was there. ”One, you agree talk to him yourself, soon. An’ two…I want some privacy. No offense buddy, but I can’t do this with you around. I’ll take ya up on that offer of meetin’ up later, sometime, okay?”
“No problem, I’m gonna traipse!” Kyle said congenially, patting Guy’s shoulder and smiling. ”I’ll be around town for a while, so if you want Guy, just give me a buzz if you guys wanna see my ugly mug again. If not, that’s cool too, I’ll be around. I’m kind of excited to explore my old digs.”
Kyle saluted them both and headed off, rather happy to be back in NYC again. It was indeed exciting for him, and Kyle went completely old-school, opting for the subway to take him to Greenwich Village.
J’onn looked at Guy quizzically. ”Does he not realize that we are on the Watchtower?” he asked. ”What did he mean by ‘old digs’?” The Martian Manhunter stroked his chin. ”Kyle may be more in need of help than previously thought. I suppose we can catch up with him soon enough…”
J’onn absentmindedly ate the last Choco. Then he shook all the crumbs out of the bag into his hand and ate them too. The Martian crumbled the empty bag and tossed it into a nearby wastebasket. ”So Guy?” J’onn continued. ”What is new? Are you in need of my assistance? And, ah, did you bring, well, any more Chocos?” The MArtian was beginning to feel itchy again.
Guy tossed him the other two bags. “That’s all I brought, them an’ the one ya ate already…”
He sat down and ran a hand through his hair. “Kinda caught off guard here, J’onn…I didn’t know Kyle told you I wanted to see you. I guess a lot has happened lately. A lot. I’m tryin’ to deal with it…I’m tryin’…”
He looked up. There was no point lying to a Martian. “No one’s gonna know about this, right? You ain’t gonna tell Kyle, or Ollie, or anyone?”
“Of course” J’onn said. ”You may trust in my confidence.”
The Martian could sense Gardner’s troubled psyche. He knew his friend was troubled. He felt his friend needed him. ”Guy?” he asked. ”What can I do to help?”
He reached out and placed his hand on Guy’s shoulder, forgetting about the two new bags of Chocos.
Guy opened his mouth to speak, then hesitated. It sounded so stupid, so shallow… anyone would - should - tell him to get the fuck over the loss of such materialistic pursuits. He was a Green Lantern. Anything one of them survived was a victory, given the life expectancy of the average ringslinger. He shouldn’t be this hung up on it… no one could understand this, himself included.
He looked into the Martian’s eyes, but saw no judgement there, only concern. And what he sensed…was safety. Guy felt safe to open up to J’onn, as he hoped he would be.
“It was just a stupid BAR, goddammit…”
He inhaled a deep breath and forced himself to relax, and allowed his thoughts to express the pain his lips could not.
Grief. Sorrow. Lack of control. Loss. Regret.
It was just a stupid bar, J’onn, but I can’t get over it. I can’t… I can’t stop feeling sad, bitter, angry about it. There’s mourning, sure, but this… I can’t get it together and just move forward! I can’t even reach out to my friends about it…Ollie, Kate, …Dick… I don’t know what holds me back. I tried with Kyle, but since he’s…it doesn’t matter, I should be helping HIM, not the other way around… and none of it matters, it was just a stupid bar! I’ve lost bars before! Why is this one a big deal? Why does this fucking hurt so much?
“Ya gotta help me, J’onn. It’s like whenever I get emotional, my head runs in two or three directions at once. I can’t focus. I can’t concentrate. And a Lantern who can’t concentrate…they’re useless. If I can’t get my shit together here, I-I’m gonna have to resign from the Corps.”
J’onn could sense Guy’s troubles had more to do with something else than with any building, precious as Warriors was. And the Martian knew a few dozen ways to help his friend. But with Gardner, a direct approach was always best. And to catch Guy Gardner with a direct approach took the element of surprise.
“Guy” J’onn said. “Thank you so much for the Chocos.”
“Sure thing” Guy responded. “But you don’t always hafta ask me. You can buy yer own, you know.”
“I know. But I truly -” The Martian Manhunter’s eyes flashed red as his hand reached out and touched Guy’s forehead. For the split second the Lantern’s mind was on the cookies, his defenses were lowered enough for J’onn to enter. Guy was right to be worried. A Green Lantern who could not work his ring was no use to the Guardians. And they lot had never been a forgiving lot in J’onn’s experiences.
The familiar rush of thoughts and emotions that accompanied a mind meld settled, became more concrete. J’onn was inside Guy’s most private sanctuary - and things were in disarray. The Lantern’s thought’s swirled, his memories were like an assault on the senses. Images of Guy’s father, his college football days, his time as an educator flashed by. J’onn could see Tora, could see Dinah, could see Dick. Guy’s mind showed the Martian images of teammates near and teammates gone. J’onn saw Oa, saw Kyle, saw the Honor Guards, saw… Darkseid.
All the flashes of thought and images dancing around Guy’s mind coalesced into a twister, spinning and spinning and spinning. “H’ronmeer!” J’onn thought as he watched the twister tear apart a structure at the center of Guy’s mind. Brick and glass and splinters of wood all flew by and scattered until all that was left was the shattered husk of what was once a warm place, a safe place for Guy Gardner. As the winds died down, J’onn looked down and could see a green cocktail napkin float by with one word: “Warriors”.
Guy saw the destruction of Warriors as a metaphor for his own shattered psyche. J’onn had his work cut out for him.
“Time to go to work” the Martian thought to himself. The outward appearance of his mental projection became suited in Martian work garb. J’onn resembled less the philosopher detective he became and more the craftsman artisan he so worshiped as a child. Turning his right arm into a giant shovel, J’onn scooped up pieces of Guy’s mind and began.
_________
J’onn J’onzz sat alone at the bar and wiped the sweat from his brow. It had been hard work, but the structure in Guy’s mind was rebuilt as the Martian remembered it. Every brick was in place, the glasses were polished, it was as it had been before. And the task had not been easy. Each new piece was a memory Guy had felt in his life.
The lower pieces, the foundation, had been so much unresolved familial issues. But difficult as those were, Guy had come to grips with them years earlier. J’onn made quick work of those. The floors were adolescent years - Guy still felt guilt over cheating on a high school English exam all these years later. An his college regrets all seemed to revolve around a certain cheerleader, but they too were easily resolved. It was when J’onn placed the first green brick in the wall, Guy’s induction into the Green Lantern Corps, when things became hard work.
Being chosen to wield the power of the Guardians is an awesome responsibility. For Guy, being chosen to do so as a backup was not the honor the Guardians thought. It took some time for Gardner to see himself as a valuable member of a team rather than second-fiddle to Hal Jordan. Some universe travel and space battles brought much needed perspective. As did having an Earth teammate like John and a Lantern partner like Kyle.
The walls that represented Guy’s early time with the League were difficult to raise as well. For J’onn, it was as if he were watching his own memories from a different perspective. Guy joining the League was around the time of J’onn’s initiation into League leadership responsibilities. And Batman did not always make things easy. Nor did Booster. Nor did Beetle for that matter. But the first window in those walls felt cold to J’onn. The Martian smiled as a thin coat of ice formed on the glass. He knew that Tora Olafsdotter had been a boon to Guy. And the light that shone through this window was enough proof of that.
Losing Ice had been hard on everyone. But Guy still held her deep and dear in his heart. Her return had only warmed this place and further grew Guy’s love for all of his friends. And the reconstruction surrounding these memories had picked up speed.
Lifting into place the rafters that held Guy’s current affection for the League was where the real trouble began. His butting heads with the leadership, especially Oliver, troubled the Lantern. His brief love affair with Black Canary kept showing itself on this relationship as well. Did Guy feel guilt over dating Oliver’s ex? Was this a deeper seeded regret? J’onn did not have time to explore it as much as he would have liked before his blossoming feelings for Dick Grayson became manifest. This should have been an easier time. It should have been like Tora’s windows. But when Guy’s mind flashed to Dick, the wood kept trying to crumble, kept trying to fall apart in J’onn’s hands. Through his gentle hand and through Guy’s sheer willpower, it all held together.
Until it did not. Until the whole roof of the new structure fell. Until Darkseid…
As Guy’s time of capture by Kalibak and by torture the Lord of Apokolips made itself manifest, the ceiling warped. The roof caved and bent. So close to a completed structure, Guy’s mind twisted the roof into a grotesque shape, full of fragments and splinters and uneven finishes. The mess took shape and formed a human hand.
J’onn dove in deeper and forced order there. But Guy’s memories of this time were so shattered, so broken, that the task was impossible. It was as if Gardner felt himself held prisoner during this time. It was as if Gardner was forced to watch as he hurt his friends and loved ones and could do nothing about it. Guy felt a tremendous amount of guilt and regret about this time. And it was poisoning him from the inside.
J’onn had to use fillers from his own mind, which became planks of lumber, to bridge many gaps here. It was a temporary fix at best. The Martian knew that he would have to return and replace these memories piece by piece if necessary. Filling in false thoughts and placing in false memories was sometimes a good solution. But this was not one of those times. Guy’s psyche would not be able to withstand the revelation should it come later. But for now, they would do.
J’onn was almost finished, but he could see the Warriors inside Guy’s mind was missing an important piece. J’onn closed his mind’s eyes and the portrait of the four Earth Lanterns appeared once again on the wall. The Martian Manhunter had done good work here. He sat alone at the bar and wiped the sweat from his brow, waiting for Guy’s gratitude and the warmth of Guy’s love to return.
His wait was not long.
A soft red light began to fill the bar. J’onn looked up from his bar stool and squinted his eyes to see the approaching mental projection of Guy Gardner returning to his safe place.
The red light grew brighter as Guy landed behind the Martian. J’onn turned to look at his friend.
The red light was fiercely bright as it struck J’onn in the chest and threw him across the room. Scrambling to an upright position, J’onn could see the red light take on a human form. Behind the red light on the bar’s wall, the Martian saw Hal telling Guy to keep an eye on Kyle. On the wall, J’onn saw Guy watch as Thaal Sinestro captured Kyle and forced the Parallax entity on to his partner. The wall showed Kyle, yellow light burning around him, turn his power on Guy. And as it had on the physical plane, the light of fear burst forth from Kyle and destroyed the Warriors Bar inside of Guy that J’onn had just rebuilt.
And standing in the midst of the rubble, breathing heavily, growling and full of rage, was Guy Gardner, Red Lantern. “Moons of Mars!” J’onn shouted as the Red Lantern looked his way, opened his mouth, and shot painful angry energy at the Martian.
“Moons of Mars!” J’onn shouted as he released his mental grip on Guy’s mind and fell backwards onto the floor of his quarters aboard the Watchtower. He looked up at his teammate and saw Guy look quizzically down at him. He clearly did not know what had transpired yet. But it would only take a few moments for the human mind to catch up to what had gone on inside.
“Uh, J’onny?” Guy asked smiling crookedly. “Something wrong there, big guy?”
J’onn could see that the familiar green surrounding Guy’s uniform become surrounded in a layer of red light. “H’ronmeer, what have I done?” the Martian Manhunter whispered. “What have I unleashed?”
“What? What’s wr-…” Guy followed J’onn’s line of sight to his chest and arms, and was bewildered by crimson glow around himself. Then he felt it.
Rage.
His body remembered the last two times. His heart began to beat out of control, his hands curled into tight fists as every voluntary muscle contracted, ready to fight. ”N-no… this… can’t be happening!” he screamed as he doubled over, desperately trying to resist.
And indeed, by all he knew, this was impossible. He had been purged of all trace of the Red Lantern residual energies both times he’d worn the red ring. There was no tool, no physical thing to amplify this power, only the raw rage that attracted the attention of such rings in the first place.
Guy wrapped his arms around himself and dropped to kneeling on the floor of J’onn’s quarters. The all-too-familiar pattern in the carpeting, identical to the one in his own quarters, blurred and warped in his vision, and he wasn’t sure if he was blacking out, or seeing red in the worst way possible.
The urge to lash out was growing by the second, and the redhead knew he had little time left. He was losing to the red…and part of him liked it. ”J’onnnnnn… help me!”
“Guy, you must fight!” J’onn shouted as he ran to his friend’s side. ”The rage of the Red Lanterns was purged from your system but your mind must have held on to a seed of anger. Whatever anger you feel now, your will is making that seed of rage manifest again!”
Gardner’s expression went from bewilderment to a sinister grin, then to pain as his internal struggles exploded within him.
“Your Green Lantern ring is being corrupted by the rage inside of you” J’onn yelled as he grabbed Guy’s head and held it steady between his two hands. ”If you do not defeat it, the rage will turn your ring red permanently!”
“Whatta I gotta do?” Guy cried out, grabbing his stomach. ”I can’t let this happen!”
“There is a way, a technique we used on Mars” J’onn said, worriedly. ”It may work on you, or it may destroy your mind in the process. But even if it does work, it is incredibly dangerous and should only be attempted in the most extreme of cases!”
“This is lookin’ pretty goddamned extreme!” Guy shouted back.
“Yes” J’onn sighed with a sense of regret. ”Forgive me my friend. This will hurt you much, much more than it will hurt me!” The Martian phased his hands through and into Guy’s head, physically entering the Lantern’s brain. Gardner’s screams of agony matched those that J’onn had heard in the torture chambers of Apokolips.
“What’s happening to me?” Guy screamed. ”Fuck you Martian! You’ll never win this way!” Guy growled in a lower voice.
“It. Will. Be. Done!” J’onn shouted with determination, releasing his grasp on Guy’s mind and throwing him back against the wall of his quarters.
As the Lantern’s body struck the wall, J’onn’s plan became clear. The violence of the strike split Guy in two. And now crouching in the room, across from the Martian, was a very confused Green Lantern Guy Gardner and a very angry Red Lantern Guy Gardner.
“Fools” the Red Lantern snapped, his red power ring glowing bright. ”You’ve given me life! You’ve given me power! I’ll devour you two! I’ll devour the League! I’ll devour the whole stinkin’ planet!!!”
A green construct shotgun appeared in the Red Lantern’s mouth, barrel pointed at it. ”If yer so hungry, start with this!” Green Lantern Guy growled. The boom from the gun sent the Red Lantern Guy crashing backwards through the outer wall of J’onn’s quarters and into a Watchtower hallway. A flash of green followed it out.
The battle for Guy Gardner had begun.
“Guy - if you would be so kind, I have need of your presence in my quarters. Please make sure your affairs are in order and your ring is fully charged.”
After a moment’s pause, he added “And bring plenty of Chocos” before sending.
Guy raised his eyebrow at the strange note, and typed out a reply:
“Chocos I can do, but…. I need my affairs in order? What’s this about, J’onn?”
J’onn replied in kind: “I simply wanted to impress upon you that if you had other affairs to put in order, they should take precedent over coming to see me. Was this stated incorrectly? The structure makes perfect sense when translated to my native tongue. I apologize.”
The Martian hoped he had not needlessly troubled Guy. J’onn did not even know what he and the Lantern were needed for in the first place - only that Kyle had asked for assistance from the pair of them. But he did hope that Gardner would arrive soon with Chocos. J’onn had run out two days ago and was beginning to feel… well, itchy.
The Green Lantern made sure his last will and testament was still on file with HR (the H stood for “hero”, since “human” was rather xeno-exclusionary), and he took a Zeta beam down to New York and bought three bags of Chocos, and soon was pressing the door buzzer outside J’onn’s quarters.
“I got the Chocos, J’onn. What’s up?”
Kyle got a rather low-key telepathic transmission from J’onn about meeting Guy, and used his ring to track them to New York. When he arrived, there were two rather puzzled looking people in J’onn’ place.
He waved as he strolled in (half-expecting a live-audience to clap for him as he entered the scene). He paused beside Guy, clapping him on the back congenially.
”Hey you two. I think I should explain - J’onn just finished being the greatest hero and saving everyone’s favoritest Lantern Mogo. Thank you, deputy Blue Lantern J’onn. And I’d sent him a text a while ago asking to talk to him about…” Kyle tapped his brain. ”The Parallax Issue, dun dun dhun. Anyway, while J’onn was gone, me and mejor amigo here had one of many talks,” Kyle paused and smiled at Guy. “Including a mention of his desire to talk to you, J’onn, and use your awesome abilities to help him out. I’m not sure how this all happened, but since you’re both here now…”
Kyle reached out and shook J’onn’s hand, clasping his arm for a moment. “You’ve been a great friend to Green Lanterns recently, man. Thanks. Oh! Also, I read in the news that NASA has finally decided that Mars was habitable. How do you like them apples. Anyway, I’m not needed for this, unless…” Kyle turned inquiringly to Guy. “You want me to stick around? Or I could come fetch you afterwards? I’d be happy to do whatever you like, I got time and I got love to spare.”
“You set this up, Kyle?”
Guy didn’t mean to be unappreciative, but it was difficult to not feel defensive when lured into some kind of intervention…or at least, that’s what this was starting to feel like. ”I got my memories back, but you had Parallax in you. Seems to me you need to talk to J’onn more urgently than I do. How about you give some of that spare love to yerself for a change? You should go first…right J’onn? Shouldn’t Kyle have priority?”
Kyle shook his head. “Actually no, I don’t think I did. It just sort of happened, that’s all. I didn’t plan anything, Guy, it’s okay.”
J’onn quietly nibbled on his Chocos and watched the two Green Lantern partners quibble. He thought about clearing up the confusion between them because he could clearly read both minds and knew exactly what both desired. But he thought that would end his valuable Choco time.
So instead, he decided to let the two humans work this out on their own while he ate. Plus, he was sated and no longer so itchy…
“Fine! I’ll talk to him now on two conditions,” he pointed a finger at Kyle, almost forgetting J’onn was there. ”One, you agree talk to him yourself, soon. An’ two…I want some privacy. No offense buddy, but I can’t do this with you around. I’ll take ya up on that offer of meetin’ up later, sometime, okay?”
“No problem, I’m gonna traipse!” Kyle said congenially, patting Guy’s shoulder and smiling. ”I’ll be around town for a while, so if you want Guy, just give me a buzz if you guys wanna see my ugly mug again. If not, that’s cool too, I’ll be around. I’m kind of excited to explore my old digs.”
Kyle saluted them both and headed off, rather happy to be back in NYC again. It was indeed exciting for him, and Kyle went completely old-school, opting for the subway to take him to Greenwich Village.
J’onn looked at Guy quizzically. ”Does he not realize that we are on the Watchtower?” he asked. ”What did he mean by ‘old digs’?” The Martian Manhunter stroked his chin. ”Kyle may be more in need of help than previously thought. I suppose we can catch up with him soon enough…”
J’onn absentmindedly ate the last Choco. Then he shook all the crumbs out of the bag into his hand and ate them too. The Martian crumbled the empty bag and tossed it into a nearby wastebasket. ”So Guy?” J’onn continued. ”What is new? Are you in need of my assistance? And, ah, did you bring, well, any more Chocos?” The MArtian was beginning to feel itchy again.
Guy tossed him the other two bags. “That’s all I brought, them an’ the one ya ate already…”
He sat down and ran a hand through his hair. “Kinda caught off guard here, J’onn…I didn’t know Kyle told you I wanted to see you. I guess a lot has happened lately. A lot. I’m tryin’ to deal with it…I’m tryin’…”
He looked up. There was no point lying to a Martian. “No one’s gonna know about this, right? You ain’t gonna tell Kyle, or Ollie, or anyone?”
“Of course” J’onn said. ”You may trust in my confidence.”
The Martian could sense Gardner’s troubled psyche. He knew his friend was troubled. He felt his friend needed him. ”Guy?” he asked. ”What can I do to help?”
He reached out and placed his hand on Guy’s shoulder, forgetting about the two new bags of Chocos.
Guy opened his mouth to speak, then hesitated. It sounded so stupid, so shallow… anyone would - should - tell him to get the fuck over the loss of such materialistic pursuits. He was a Green Lantern. Anything one of them survived was a victory, given the life expectancy of the average ringslinger. He shouldn’t be this hung up on it… no one could understand this, himself included.
He looked into the Martian’s eyes, but saw no judgement there, only concern. And what he sensed…was safety. Guy felt safe to open up to J’onn, as he hoped he would be.
“It was just a stupid BAR, goddammit…”
He inhaled a deep breath and forced himself to relax, and allowed his thoughts to express the pain his lips could not.
Grief. Sorrow. Lack of control. Loss. Regret.
It was just a stupid bar, J’onn, but I can’t get over it. I can’t… I can’t stop feeling sad, bitter, angry about it. There’s mourning, sure, but this… I can’t get it together and just move forward! I can’t even reach out to my friends about it…Ollie, Kate, …Dick… I don’t know what holds me back. I tried with Kyle, but since he’s…it doesn’t matter, I should be helping HIM, not the other way around… and none of it matters, it was just a stupid bar! I’ve lost bars before! Why is this one a big deal? Why does this fucking hurt so much?
“Ya gotta help me, J’onn. It’s like whenever I get emotional, my head runs in two or three directions at once. I can’t focus. I can’t concentrate. And a Lantern who can’t concentrate…they’re useless. If I can’t get my shit together here, I-I’m gonna have to resign from the Corps.”
J’onn could sense Guy’s troubles had more to do with something else than with any building, precious as Warriors was. And the Martian knew a few dozen ways to help his friend. But with Gardner, a direct approach was always best. And to catch Guy Gardner with a direct approach took the element of surprise.
“Guy” J’onn said. “Thank you so much for the Chocos.”
“Sure thing” Guy responded. “But you don’t always hafta ask me. You can buy yer own, you know.”
“I know. But I truly -” The Martian Manhunter’s eyes flashed red as his hand reached out and touched Guy’s forehead. For the split second the Lantern’s mind was on the cookies, his defenses were lowered enough for J’onn to enter. Guy was right to be worried. A Green Lantern who could not work his ring was no use to the Guardians. And they lot had never been a forgiving lot in J’onn’s experiences.
The familiar rush of thoughts and emotions that accompanied a mind meld settled, became more concrete. J’onn was inside Guy’s most private sanctuary - and things were in disarray. The Lantern’s thought’s swirled, his memories were like an assault on the senses. Images of Guy’s father, his college football days, his time as an educator flashed by. J’onn could see Tora, could see Dinah, could see Dick. Guy’s mind showed the Martian images of teammates near and teammates gone. J’onn saw Oa, saw Kyle, saw the Honor Guards, saw… Darkseid.
All the flashes of thought and images dancing around Guy’s mind coalesced into a twister, spinning and spinning and spinning. “H’ronmeer!” J’onn thought as he watched the twister tear apart a structure at the center of Guy’s mind. Brick and glass and splinters of wood all flew by and scattered until all that was left was the shattered husk of what was once a warm place, a safe place for Guy Gardner. As the winds died down, J’onn looked down and could see a green cocktail napkin float by with one word: “Warriors”.
Guy saw the destruction of Warriors as a metaphor for his own shattered psyche. J’onn had his work cut out for him.
“Time to go to work” the Martian thought to himself. The outward appearance of his mental projection became suited in Martian work garb. J’onn resembled less the philosopher detective he became and more the craftsman artisan he so worshiped as a child. Turning his right arm into a giant shovel, J’onn scooped up pieces of Guy’s mind and began.
_________
J’onn J’onzz sat alone at the bar and wiped the sweat from his brow. It had been hard work, but the structure in Guy’s mind was rebuilt as the Martian remembered it. Every brick was in place, the glasses were polished, it was as it had been before. And the task had not been easy. Each new piece was a memory Guy had felt in his life.
The lower pieces, the foundation, had been so much unresolved familial issues. But difficult as those were, Guy had come to grips with them years earlier. J’onn made quick work of those. The floors were adolescent years - Guy still felt guilt over cheating on a high school English exam all these years later. An his college regrets all seemed to revolve around a certain cheerleader, but they too were easily resolved. It was when J’onn placed the first green brick in the wall, Guy’s induction into the Green Lantern Corps, when things became hard work.
Being chosen to wield the power of the Guardians is an awesome responsibility. For Guy, being chosen to do so as a backup was not the honor the Guardians thought. It took some time for Gardner to see himself as a valuable member of a team rather than second-fiddle to Hal Jordan. Some universe travel and space battles brought much needed perspective. As did having an Earth teammate like John and a Lantern partner like Kyle.
The walls that represented Guy’s early time with the League were difficult to raise as well. For J’onn, it was as if he were watching his own memories from a different perspective. Guy joining the League was around the time of J’onn’s initiation into League leadership responsibilities. And Batman did not always make things easy. Nor did Booster. Nor did Beetle for that matter. But the first window in those walls felt cold to J’onn. The Martian smiled as a thin coat of ice formed on the glass. He knew that Tora Olafsdotter had been a boon to Guy. And the light that shone through this window was enough proof of that.
Losing Ice had been hard on everyone. But Guy still held her deep and dear in his heart. Her return had only warmed this place and further grew Guy’s love for all of his friends. And the reconstruction surrounding these memories had picked up speed.
Lifting into place the rafters that held Guy’s current affection for the League was where the real trouble began. His butting heads with the leadership, especially Oliver, troubled the Lantern. His brief love affair with Black Canary kept showing itself on this relationship as well. Did Guy feel guilt over dating Oliver’s ex? Was this a deeper seeded regret? J’onn did not have time to explore it as much as he would have liked before his blossoming feelings for Dick Grayson became manifest. This should have been an easier time. It should have been like Tora’s windows. But when Guy’s mind flashed to Dick, the wood kept trying to crumble, kept trying to fall apart in J’onn’s hands. Through his gentle hand and through Guy’s sheer willpower, it all held together.
Until it did not. Until the whole roof of the new structure fell. Until Darkseid…
As Guy’s time of capture by Kalibak and by torture the Lord of Apokolips made itself manifest, the ceiling warped. The roof caved and bent. So close to a completed structure, Guy’s mind twisted the roof into a grotesque shape, full of fragments and splinters and uneven finishes. The mess took shape and formed a human hand.
J’onn dove in deeper and forced order there. But Guy’s memories of this time were so shattered, so broken, that the task was impossible. It was as if Gardner felt himself held prisoner during this time. It was as if Gardner was forced to watch as he hurt his friends and loved ones and could do nothing about it. Guy felt a tremendous amount of guilt and regret about this time. And it was poisoning him from the inside.
J’onn had to use fillers from his own mind, which became planks of lumber, to bridge many gaps here. It was a temporary fix at best. The Martian knew that he would have to return and replace these memories piece by piece if necessary. Filling in false thoughts and placing in false memories was sometimes a good solution. But this was not one of those times. Guy’s psyche would not be able to withstand the revelation should it come later. But for now, they would do.
J’onn was almost finished, but he could see the Warriors inside Guy’s mind was missing an important piece. J’onn closed his mind’s eyes and the portrait of the four Earth Lanterns appeared once again on the wall. The Martian Manhunter had done good work here. He sat alone at the bar and wiped the sweat from his brow, waiting for Guy’s gratitude and the warmth of Guy’s love to return.
His wait was not long.
A soft red light began to fill the bar. J’onn looked up from his bar stool and squinted his eyes to see the approaching mental projection of Guy Gardner returning to his safe place.
The red light grew brighter as Guy landed behind the Martian. J’onn turned to look at his friend.
The red light was fiercely bright as it struck J’onn in the chest and threw him across the room. Scrambling to an upright position, J’onn could see the red light take on a human form. Behind the red light on the bar’s wall, the Martian saw Hal telling Guy to keep an eye on Kyle. On the wall, J’onn saw Guy watch as Thaal Sinestro captured Kyle and forced the Parallax entity on to his partner. The wall showed Kyle, yellow light burning around him, turn his power on Guy. And as it had on the physical plane, the light of fear burst forth from Kyle and destroyed the Warriors Bar inside of Guy that J’onn had just rebuilt.
And standing in the midst of the rubble, breathing heavily, growling and full of rage, was Guy Gardner, Red Lantern. “Moons of Mars!” J’onn shouted as the Red Lantern looked his way, opened his mouth, and shot painful angry energy at the Martian.
“Moons of Mars!” J’onn shouted as he released his mental grip on Guy’s mind and fell backwards onto the floor of his quarters aboard the Watchtower. He looked up at his teammate and saw Guy look quizzically down at him. He clearly did not know what had transpired yet. But it would only take a few moments for the human mind to catch up to what had gone on inside.
“Uh, J’onny?” Guy asked smiling crookedly. “Something wrong there, big guy?”
J’onn could see that the familiar green surrounding Guy’s uniform become surrounded in a layer of red light. “H’ronmeer, what have I done?” the Martian Manhunter whispered. “What have I unleashed?”
“What? What’s wr-…” Guy followed J’onn’s line of sight to his chest and arms, and was bewildered by crimson glow around himself. Then he felt it.
Rage.
His body remembered the last two times. His heart began to beat out of control, his hands curled into tight fists as every voluntary muscle contracted, ready to fight. ”N-no… this… can’t be happening!” he screamed as he doubled over, desperately trying to resist.
And indeed, by all he knew, this was impossible. He had been purged of all trace of the Red Lantern residual energies both times he’d worn the red ring. There was no tool, no physical thing to amplify this power, only the raw rage that attracted the attention of such rings in the first place.
Guy wrapped his arms around himself and dropped to kneeling on the floor of J’onn’s quarters. The all-too-familiar pattern in the carpeting, identical to the one in his own quarters, blurred and warped in his vision, and he wasn’t sure if he was blacking out, or seeing red in the worst way possible.
The urge to lash out was growing by the second, and the redhead knew he had little time left. He was losing to the red…and part of him liked it. ”J’onnnnnn… help me!”
“Guy, you must fight!” J’onn shouted as he ran to his friend’s side. ”The rage of the Red Lanterns was purged from your system but your mind must have held on to a seed of anger. Whatever anger you feel now, your will is making that seed of rage manifest again!”
Gardner’s expression went from bewilderment to a sinister grin, then to pain as his internal struggles exploded within him.
“Your Green Lantern ring is being corrupted by the rage inside of you” J’onn yelled as he grabbed Guy’s head and held it steady between his two hands. ”If you do not defeat it, the rage will turn your ring red permanently!”
“Whatta I gotta do?” Guy cried out, grabbing his stomach. ”I can’t let this happen!”
“There is a way, a technique we used on Mars” J’onn said, worriedly. ”It may work on you, or it may destroy your mind in the process. But even if it does work, it is incredibly dangerous and should only be attempted in the most extreme of cases!”
“This is lookin’ pretty goddamned extreme!” Guy shouted back.
“Yes” J’onn sighed with a sense of regret. ”Forgive me my friend. This will hurt you much, much more than it will hurt me!” The Martian phased his hands through and into Guy’s head, physically entering the Lantern’s brain. Gardner’s screams of agony matched those that J’onn had heard in the torture chambers of Apokolips.
“What’s happening to me?” Guy screamed. ”Fuck you Martian! You’ll never win this way!” Guy growled in a lower voice.
“It. Will. Be. Done!” J’onn shouted with determination, releasing his grasp on Guy’s mind and throwing him back against the wall of his quarters.
As the Lantern’s body struck the wall, J’onn’s plan became clear. The violence of the strike split Guy in two. And now crouching in the room, across from the Martian, was a very confused Green Lantern Guy Gardner and a very angry Red Lantern Guy Gardner.
“Fools” the Red Lantern snapped, his red power ring glowing bright. ”You’ve given me life! You’ve given me power! I’ll devour you two! I’ll devour the League! I’ll devour the whole stinkin’ planet!!!”
A green construct shotgun appeared in the Red Lantern’s mouth, barrel pointed at it. ”If yer so hungry, start with this!” Green Lantern Guy growled. The boom from the gun sent the Red Lantern Guy crashing backwards through the outer wall of J’onn’s quarters and into a Watchtower hallway. A flash of green followed it out.
The battle for Guy Gardner had begun.