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The air crackled as he flexed his hands. Neither he nor his opponent made a sudden move, their eyes locked together. Both of them knew the other was going to die before this was all over.

Kyle Rayner ignored the trickle of blood running from his temple. His focus was on the other, the reason he had been dispatched across countless realities by the Guardians of the Universe.

His opponent was barely recognizable as human. Half of his face was mechanical, with a robotic eye emitting a hazy red light as it scanned its surroundings. The rest of his face was more or less human, with a striking blue eye that made him look almost heroic were it not for the carnage he had created around them. His hair was long and black. He wore a black uniform with a modified silver S-shield on his chest. A cape tattered and bloody flapped in the breeze. His right hand glowed the darkest shade of green Kyle had ever seen. It was almost black. The symbol on the ring was a stylized X, looking like a cross between the letter and an explosion of energy. The ring crackled the air around it.

"This ring tells a convincing story," said the black-clad individual. "It's obviously powerful..and has a reason to see you dead. If your broken body is all I need to gain even more power..well, that's all I need to hear."

"The ring lies," said Kyle. "It's an alien parasite created by psycho dwarves called the Keepers of the Cluster. You need to drop that ring right now and walk away."

"Do not listen to it.it lies!" came a voice from the glowing ring. " Kill it.then ultimate power will be yours!

"Drop the ring," said Kyle, "or wind up like its previous owner." A dozen feet away, the body of a humanoid wearing a uniform reminiscent of the colors and design of the ring lay unmoving. A hole the size of a plate was burned through his chest. "I'm not going to tell you again, Connor."

The black-clad being seemed taken aback by the utterance of his name. "You seem to know much about me..but I'm not Connor Kent anymore. Call me what everyone on this planet called me when they died.the Cyborg-Superboy!"

Kyle steeled himself. This Cyborg-Superboy would be tough enough on his own.but with a Power Ring Parasite boosting his powers, even Kyle thought he would be tested. Considering he had the power of a Guardian of the Universe, that was worrisome indeed. He needed to stop this insane madman (madboy?) soon. He was all that stood between the Keepers and their mission of collapsing this Prime reality, one of the many pillars supporting the latticework of the Multiverse.

He had to stop him..especially since what happened to Axel meant Kyle was most likely done with his mission of zeroing in on Prime Realities. Axel had been his compass, his bloodhound in seeking out the Realities the Keepers were targeting. Now that Axel was gone, he didn't know what he would do.but first, this Cyborg-Superboy needed to be stopped.

Whether or not Kyle survived was another matter.

 

DC Infinity Proudly Presents

#1

"Power Play - Part One"

By Mike Hintze

 

Twenty Four Hours Earlier

Light cascaded around them as the walls of existence shifted, buckled and finally gave way to their arrival. The air around them shifted and shimmered as if in a heat haze. When it cleared, two humanoid beings stood in the reality shift's wake.

"Now that," said Axel Asher, "Was one screwed up place."

"No argument there," said Kyle Rayner. Both men were dressed in their standard fare; Kyle in his Green Lantern uniform and Axel in his own variation of futuristic jacket and tunic, only green with a small Green Lantern symbol on his left breast. The clothing was slightly tattered in places, with dirty smudges on their faces.

"So," said Axel, "Here we are."

"Wherever that is," said Kyle. "Looks pretty barren to me." All around them was a bare desert, with cracked hardpan as far as the eye could see.

"Yeah, well," said Axel, "We may be able to jump from alternate reality to alternate reality, but I can't exactly nail down a pinpoint destination each time. If I could, we'd appear on Paradise Island's nude beach each time we jumped."

Kyle smiled at his partner's humour. "I'd rather not discuss nudity right now, Axel. Besides, we'd get about a two second look at the Amazons, then have spears up our asses."

"That sounds better than the last Earth we were on," said Axel. "Seriously, what the hell was that all about? It was freaking sick."

Kyle nodded. Their last destination had indeed been creepy. There was no other word for it. Yet it seemed no different than any of the other realities they had visited since becoming the secret agents of the Guardians of the Universe. It didn't take long before they realized that not all was as it seemed. Which, considering the reason they had been there, made a weird sort of sense.

The Guardians of the Universe had kept a secret for millennia, a secret that not even the members of the Green Lantern Corps had been privy to. The Guardians had long been opponents of the armies of the Anti-Matter Universe, the planet Qward and its army, the Weaponers. The dreaded Anti-Monitor had been born of that universe and nearly destroyed all of creation. That reality had given birth to countless evils, and it was in the vein of proactive prevention that the Guardians had hidden the existence of perhaps the greatest evil to arise in that universe: The Keepers, ebony skinned counterparts to the Guardians themselves. The Keepers had created their own version of the Green Lantern Corps, the Power Ring Cluster, one of which had been a member of that Earth's Justice League analog, the Crime Syndicate of Amerika. Unlike the Guardians' power rings, the rings used by the Cluster were malevolent alien parasites that infected and bonded with their hosts.

The Guardians were quiet as to why the Keepers hadn't been seen before now, but when they made their presence known by first infiltrating the Guardians themselves and then working with a newly restored Anti-Monitor to invade the Positive-Matter reality, they knew it was time to act. It was revealed that in the wake of the latest Crisis, the Multiverse had been restored. Throughout the expanse of multiple realities, the Guardians revealed that in that multitude were what they called Prime Realities, universes that served as keystones supporting the vast intricate web that was the greater Megaverse. If these Prime Realities were destabilized and destroyed, the greater Megaverse could be brought down and destroyed....or recreated, in the wrong hands.

The Keepers had tried to destroy Kyle Rayner's Earth by subjugating that world's Elementals. This plan was foiled by Earth's heroes, but made clear the threat the Keepers of the Cluster were. In the end, the Guardians secretly assigned Kyle and a former prisoner of the Keepers, Axel Asher, a man with the ability to travel across realities, to hunt the Keepers and their agents and stop them from harming other Prime Realities. That mission had started months ago.*

(*All of this happened in DCI 's '52'! Check it out! - Self-Promoting Mike)

The most recent reality the two had visited had been a sick and dark reflection of their own native world. That universe had been one of extremes. Sexuality had become the dominant force in society, but to obscene degrees. Human trafficking was one of the cornerstones of the world economy. Pornography had been a staple of television on the entire planet. The whole of society had taken a depraved turn into sex, drugs and a lack of human rights. Worst of all, were that Earth's protectors of the law.

The Bondage League was comprised of perverted versions of people Kyle and Axel knew well. Superman had been a silent leatherbound man known as the Predator, Batman had been a sick pimp of super-powered children, Wonder Woman had been a dominatrix named The Queen....the list had gone on. Kyle and Axel had found it difficult to comprehend the nature of that world, but before long they found that that reality was not a Prime one, and so they took their leave as quick as possible. Kyle had wondered if there was a Green Lantern Corps in that universe, and if so, where were they? He decided he didn't want to know. It was all he could do to leave that world the way it had been. It was hard to remember his mission in the face of a warped reality like that one. But in the end, he did remember his mission and the two men moved on. This wasn't the first world they had encountered that bothered him to his core. It certainly wouldn't be the last.

Kyle looked around the land, noting the hardpan's odd texture. It was warm, yet something seemed to give him a chill. He couldn't quite put his finger on it. He looked at the ring on his right hand. Kyle had been genetically changed to be identical to a Guardian of the Universe, effectively making him a living power battery. He wore the ring as a focus for the Oan energies inside him, but it did far more than that. The ring also had an artificial intelligence inside it, the same as all Green Lantern Power Rings used as an operating system. While the power came from Kyle itself, the ring's A.I. facilitated the management and use of his constructs. Kyle could easily make a giant fist with his power, but anything technical needed the ring to assist in its construction.

That bad feeling continued to tickle the back of his neck. Kyle waved his hand and encased himself and Axel in an emerald sphere.

"Hey, what's up?" asked Axel. "Something wrong?"

"I don't know," said Kyle. "Just being cautious, I guess." Several instrument panels sprung to life around Kyle, displays and sensors working wildly.

"Anything?" asked Axel.

"Yeah," said Kyle as one display pinged. "Rad levels here are not good. Looks like this hardpan used to be something else."

"Rads?! Radiation? Man, we stood in that stuff for five minutes!" Axel stuck out his tongue and made gagging sounds.

"Don't worry," said Kyle. "The ring is scrubbing us clean. Still, this doesn't bode well. Can you tell if this is a Prime Reality yet?"

"It feels right," said Axel. "Its been getting stronger the closer we get, and it feels pretty right but....you know how this works, each reality is different. Some I know right away, others it takes a while."

"Yeah," said Kyle. He turned to his ring. "Ring, are we on Earth, and if so, where exactly?"

" Working.. .." said the ring. Small green energy probes shot out into the sky. Moments later, the ring glowed as the probes returned. " Current locus is identified as an analogue of Earth. Specific locus corresponds to melbourne , australia . "

Kyle's jaw dropped. " Melbourne ? Someone dropped a nuke on Melbourne ? Jesus, this just gets better and better."

"Don't forget, Kyle," said Axel, "This Earth may never have had a Melbourne . Still, the radiation doesn't fill me with confidence."

"Me neither," said Kyle. "That said, let's scope things out....get the lay of the land." Seconds later, the two were flying through the sky in an emerald limousine, green energy streaking behind them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I've waited a long time for this."

The Cyborg-Superboy's eyes flared red with energy as he slowly closed his hand on his victim's throat. A sick, wet crunching sound came as he crushed the man's esophagus. A voice sounded, no more than a squeak, as the Cyborg-Superboy squeezed.

"Connor..stop.." said Clark Kent , formerly known as Superman. He had been the greatest hero on Earth at one time, until he was exposed to a new strain of Kryptonite, colored gold rather than green, that robbed him of his powers forever. His cells were no longer able to absorb sunlight and solar radiation to convert into power. This lack of solar retention had rapidly aged Kent , so much that he now looked over eighty years old, when it had only been three since his power loss.

"You always held me back," said the former Connor Kent. "You most of all. I had the potential to be more than you and Lex combined, more than the entire Justice league! Instead, you kept me down, kept me controlled, never letting me realize my full potential!"

"Henshaw.has.lied to you.corrupted you." said Clark . He rasped for breath, struggling to breathe.

"Look around you," said Connor. "See what I have done?" All around them, Metropolis was a burning crater. "Henshaw opened my eyes to the truth. He unleashed my potential so I could finally surpass all of you!"

"I'm.sorry." said Clark . "Sorry..it had to end.like this."

The air whistled. Connor dropped Clark and spun to catch an arrow, aimed for his head. The movement took less than a nanosecond.

"Ollie," said Connor, "I thought I killed you."

"Not Ollie," said a female voice. "You would have never heard Ollie's shot before it was too late."

"Mia?" said Connor mockingly. "A pathetic attempt from a pathetic shooter. You should never have left the streets, Mia. You were always better in the sack than as Speedy."

"Die, you son of a bitch," said Mia as she expertly knocked another arrow and let it loose in one smooth motion. Connor easily batted the arrow aside and walked toward Mia.

"You were good," said Connor, "But I've had better."

He reached out to Mia and grabbed her arm. It made a sickening snap. Mia barely uttered a sound. "I've learned a lot lately," said Connor, "Like how to use my tactile telekinesis on organic tissue." Her legs bent backwards seemingly on their own.

"Leave.her.alone!" yelled Clark as he ran into Connor. His feeble frame bounced off Connor's cyborg body, but it had the desired effect. It had gotten his attention.

"Die already, old man!" yelled Connor as he unleashed his heat vision, vaporizing Clark in an instant. He turned to face Mia again..and saw something sticking out of his chest. It was Mia's original arrow, Clark had stuck it in Connor's inner cyborg workings, jammed it inside.

Mia lay on the ground, smiling despite her pain. "See you in hell, Connor."

Everything went white.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kyle could hardly believe it. There was barely anywhere on Earth that wasn't a crater or a radioactive wasteland. Something huge had happened on this Earth, something that Kyle was determined to get to the bottom of. Whether or not this was one of the Prime Realities, Kyle needed to know that whatever had caused this to Earth wouldn't cause it anywhere else. He was hoping to catch someone he could blame for this atrocity, unlike the previous Earth had come from, where society itself had decayed beyond what he could have hoped to do. Here, he could maybe, possibly make a difference and live up to the ideals of the Green Lantern Corps.

"Ring," said Kyle, "continue to scan for sentient life."

" Working ," said the ring. A green hologram lit up before Kyle, showing the Earth as they flew over it, looking for anything that was alive. Outside of a few pockets of animal life, nothing had been found yet, at least anything human.

"I still can't say for sure whether this is a Prime Reality yet, Kyle," said Axel. "It's weird.usually I get a strong feeling the closer we get, and usually know for sure not long after we arrive, but this reality.its as if something is clouding my sense of it. It's hard to describe."

"Well, keep.sniffing, or whatever you call it," said Kyle. In the meantime, I'll keep scanning for life."

The two men flew across North America for hours before stopping to rest. The Oan energies within Kyle made it such that he never had to rest or eat, but the same couldn't be said of Axel. In the end, whatever talents he had, he was still human. Two Earths ago they had gathered some supplies and food, enough to last them for a while, and stored them within a tesseract the ring had constructed. They never knew when they would come across a world or universe that didn't have anything edible, so they always took the time to pack ahead if possible.

Kyle erected a small hut with beds inside. After a light meal, Axel went to get some rest for a few hours. Kyle erected a force-dome around their camp, and once Axel was asleep, decided to continue searching on his own.

He knew their camp hadn't been far from Los Angeles , so he decided to head there. He might be lucky and come across a version of himself, power ring and all. He had yet to find an alternate version of himself in his travels.

Los Angeles was effectively gone. Some rubble was still visible, but there was nothing resembling human habitation that he could see. Then, his ring chimed.

"HUMAN LIFESIGN DETECTED. APPROACHING AT MACH ONE ."

Kyle did a double take. "What? Mach One?"

"YES, MACH---!" The ring was cut off as something slammed into Kyle, knocking him into the ground below at the speed of sound.

Kyle shook his head. His force field had reacted to protect him from the worst of it, but he was still a bit dazed. He hadn't felt a hit like that since.well, since ever. "Who the hell?" he said

"A Green Lantern?" said a woman's voice, full of derision and spite. "I thought they knew better not to come around here." Kyle could barely make her out in the dust kicked up in his landing. She was blonde, wore a black, form fitting costume with a cape..and a silver S-Shield.

"They're stubborn, I'll give them that," said another woman. This time, Kyle recognized her voice instantly.

"Donna?" asked Kyle. The women floated down to ground level as he got up. He got a better look at the two. The first was definitely Supergirl..and the second sounded like Donna Troy, but her face was full of piercings and her hair was spiked in every direction. Her clothing was revealing to say the least..and she had two golden lassoes on her belt. One glowed serenely. The other crackled with electric intensity. "Donna Troy?"

"Not anymore," said Donna. "Now, it's Donna DesTroy!" She flung the crackling lasso around Kyle and before he could react, energy pulsed through the lasso, surrounding him, coursing through him. He saw Supergirl wind up and punch him..then everything went black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Axel stirred in his cot, shaking sleep out of his eyes. He was unsure how long he had been asleep, but he had almost never slept long without Kyle waking him, pushing on to continue their mission. He stood up and walked out of the hut. A green force-dome had been erected around the camp, and inside a comfortable recliner had been erected. It was a much darker shade of green than Kyle's usual constructs, but with night having settled in, it might have been a trick of the light. He saw Kyle was sitting in the recliner.

"Hey," said Axel, "You ready to search some more?"

Kyle got up out of his chair. Axel immediately realized it was not Kyle at all.

"No," said the dark green humanoid standing in front of him. "No, I've found what I'm looking for, thanks." A dark green power ring glowed on the humanoid's right hand. Energy flashed at Axel..

Seconds later, Axel was gone..all that remained was vapor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next Issue: 'Power Play' continues..you might think you know how this is going to end, but then again..you might not! Plus: a mysterious new ally appears! All in Dark Worlds #2!