The Central Power Battery was damaged.
Max had known that almost from the moment he returned, though discovering exactly how badly damaged it was had taken considerably longer. The Battery had continued functioning, which had initially made the situation seem better than it was.
He floated deep within the Battery's core, surrounded by machinery built across an age so ancient that much of it predated most of the planets in the system. Vast emerald conduits crossed one another through chambers large enough to contain small cities, carrying Will from the Source into the physical universe before distributing it through systems buried throughout the Battery. Some of those systems were newer than others, though "newer" became a fairly meaningless term when the Battery itself had taken billions of years to build.
There were components here that Max and Veridion had installed during the earliest stages of construction, only to develop vastly superior technology a billion years later and leave the old systems exactly where they were.
They had worked.
Neither of them had seen much reason to replace something that continued doing its job.
Max was beginning to reconsider the wisdom of that philosophy.
At the moment, one of those ancient systems was trying very hard to explode.
He hovered before an exposed section of circuitry stretching hundreds of feet across the chamber wall, where several containment channels had split open beneath the strain placed upon them. Emerald currents moved through the surviving conduits in uneven pulses, gathering around a reinforced central housing from which an increasingly familiar purple light flickered.
The Power Stone.
Max narrowed his eyes at it.
Green light gathered around his hands as he formed several constructs, each one thin enough to fit between the damaged mechanisms without disturbing the surrounding systems. Two fractured components were pulled apart by fractions of an inch while another construct reached between them and began reconnecting the channels that had fused during the last overload.
The Battery hummed.
Max stopped moving.
"Power output has increased by twelve percent," Jade said inside his mind.
"I noticed."
The hum deepened until he could feel it through his bones. A pulse travelled through the wall, reached the central housing, and disappeared into the Power Stone.
Purple light flared.
Max's expression fell. "Oh, fuck."
He launched himself backward just before the Stone erupted.
The blast ripped through every temporary construct he had created and crossed the chamber in a wall of purple energy. Max managed to turn before it struck him, but that accomplished very little. The impact sent him through one maintenance platform, then another, and a third before he finally caught himself several hundred feet away.
He hovered there for a moment while purple lightning crawled across his arms and shoulders.
Then he looked down.
The shirt he had been wearing was gone, burned away along with his pants, leaving him floating there completely naked.
Max stared down at himself.
"Of course."
He quickly formed a pair of green construct pants around himself, but before he could properly consider what to do next, golden light erupted far above him.
Max's head snapped upward.
"No, no, no."
The Mind Stone flared in response to the overload.
"Jade!"
"Attempting isolation."
"Attempt harder."
"I am already operating at maximum available speed."
Max accelerated toward the upper circuit. "Then lie to me and say you're trying harder."
There was the briefest pause.
"I am trying harder."
"Thank you."
The Power Stone and Mind Stone had never been intended to interact this directly.
He reached the Mind Stone's conduit just as another surge of purple energy raced upward from below.
Emerald barriers formed around the golden circuitry. The Power Stone's energy struck them an instant later, forcing Max backward as purple and gold spread through the surrounding mechanisms.
The entire Battery shook.
Max clenched his teeth and pushed more Will through his constructs. Green light spread from his arms into the walls around him, reinforcing one regulator after another while Jade rerouted power through whatever surviving systems could safely carry it.
"Come on. Come on."
The purple surge pressed harder before finally beginning to weaken.
The Power Stone dimmed.
The Mind Stone followed.
The shaking stopped.
Max remained hovering with his hands raised and watched both readings carefully.
Five seconds passed.
Then ten.
Nothing exploded.
"Okay," Max said quietly. Another few seconds passed before he allowed himself to lower his hands. "Good. That's progress."
"I would not describe nearly causing a cascading Infinity Stone overload as progress."
Max turned toward the damaged circuitry.
"Well, this sucks. I guess everything sucks now. This is the Age of Suck."
Max flew back toward the Power Stone housing and examined the newest damage. At least nothing important had actually broken this time. One of the containment channels had overheated, but that could be repaired once he replaced the regulator that had caused the problem in the first place.
The larger issue was that there had never been one single failure.
The Battery had endured far too much.
Max was fairly certain the damage had begun during the battle with Knull. He and Adara had used the Battery as a conduit to draw more of their respective powers from the Source than either could normally manifest through the physical universe. Will and Hope had flooded systems designed to regulate far smaller amounts of energy, and neither of them had cared what that was doing to the machinery because the alternative had been allowing the King in Black to survive.
They had killed Knull.
The Battery had paid part of the price.
And then the Entities escaped.
Max turned his attention toward the deeper reaches of the core, where the breach into the Source glowed between immense emerald structures.
For hundreds of millions of years, the Emotional Entities had remained largely confined to the Source. Proselyte, Predator, and Adara had ways of exerting their influence, but Max had made sure Parallax and the Butcher remained imprisoned within it, unable to exert any meaningful influence upon the physical universe.
All six had now fully broken through.
Max's gaze lingered on the breach.
Who knew where they were or what they were doing?
He remembered the dark prison Parallax had created for him.
Parallax had not needed to invent elaborate tortures.
Firehair.
Aurora.
Their fates had been the only things he needed to reveal.
Max had believed it.
That remained the part he hated remembering most, the moment when he had stopped resisting. He had stopped trying to escape, stopped searching for some weakness in Parallax's prison, and stopped believing there was anything outside worth reaching.
He had decided to punish himself for his failure.
Then blue light had entered the darkness.
Hope had come to him, and with that light came a memory from so long ago.
Firehair making him promise that, whatever happened to either of them, Max needed to keep looking for their daughter because Firehair would do everything in her power to save her.
Max stared silently into the breach.
Firehair was gone.
There was no version of that truth he could soften for himself anymore. She had died, and nothing he had learned since returning suggested that death could simply be undone.
But Aurora could still be alive.
She had to be.
Firehair would have done everything to save her. If there had been one way to save Aurora, she would have found it. If there had been no way, she would have made one.
Max would keep the promise he had made her.
Fortunately, he had somewhere to begin.
The White Hot Room.
The home of the Phoenix Force.
"Jade."
"Yes, Max?"
"Any updates on the Phoenix?"
"None. The situation remains unchanged. The Phoenix Force has not been reliably observed within the known universe for approximately four hundred years."
Which placed its disappearance sometime after the events surrounding the Quarry.
Find the Phoenix.
Then find Aurora.
Max turned back toward the damaged section and raised his hand before remembering another problem.
He had sent Galan a message requesting a component a month ago. The Devourer possessed a particular piece of technology that could solve most of the problems here, something Max could not reproduce because Veridion had been the one who built the last one.
Unfortunately, Max had never expected Galactus to personally deliver it.
Which meant he was eventually going to have to leave Oa and collect the damned thing himself.
His expression tightened at the thought.
He had not left the Oan system once since returning.
The first few months barely counted. Max had spent much of that time recovering, sleeping, examining what remained of everything he had built, and discovering just how thoroughly half a million years could change a civilization that had been traumatized by catastrophic events.
Oa, Haven, and the other worlds had spent half a million years separating politically and culturally.
Max's return had changed the equation almost overnight.
He had appeared before all of them, speaking simultaneously across every world. There had been no grand command to reunify and no threat against those who refused. He had simply told them that he had returned and that this age of darkness was over.
For many, that had been enough.
Not enough to erase five hundred thousand years of resentment, but enough for governments that had spent generations preparing for conflict to begin talking again.
Max had given Turgon and several leaders he trusted the authority they needed to keep that process moving. Turgon, to Max's considerable satisfaction, had proved better at it than most people twice his age and several people several thousand times his age.
As for restarting the Corps, that would wait.
There would be no new generation of Green Lanterns until the system supporting them was stable again. The Academy had to reopen, the Corps' old institutions had to be rebuilt, and the worlds of the Oan system needed to learn how to cooperate without Max personally standing over every meeting.
That alone would take years.
"New arrival detected," Jade said.
Max's hand stopped several inches from the regulator.
"Who?"
"Norrin Radd."
Max frowned before recognition came.
"The Silver Surfer?"
Max knew Galactus had taken other Heralds after his own time serving him. Norrin could easily have been chosen sometime after the Black Night.
"Yes."
That was unexpected.
"He is descending toward the Central Power Battery."
Max looked upward through the layers of machinery.
"He has now entered the Battery."
A silver light appeared several chambers above.
Max watched as Norrin descended. The Silver Surfer stood upon his board with his arms relaxed at his sides, passing between the emerald machinery until he slowed near Max.
Norrin Radd bowed formally.
"Greetings from my lord and master, Galactus, to Ion of Oa, Guardian of the Universe, Lord of the Rings, and founder and master of the Green Lantern Corps."
Max returned the gesture with a slight inclination of his head.
"Welcome to Oa, Norrin Radd, Herald of Galactus."
Norrin raised one hand.
Something metallic rested upon his palm.
Max recognized the component immediately.
"Oh. You brought it."
"My master received your request and instructed me to deliver it personally."
Norrin offered the device to him.
"He also instructed me to tell you that he will not provide another."
Max took it and laughed.
"That sounds like Galan."
He examined the component for a moment.
"But he loves me. He just doesn't know how to show it. If I asked again, he'd make me another one."
Max turned the device over in his hand.
"Now let's see if the old bastard sent me another dud like last time."
Max flew downward and fitted the component into a slot near the Power Stone's housing.
The Stone immediately flashed purple.
Max instinctively leaned back.
The purple light travelled through the new component, shifted through several shades, and emerged emerald.
Every conduit in the chamber brightened.
The Battery hummed.
Max watched the readings Jade projected across his vision as the unstable fluctuations began settling one after another. Power output around the Stone normalized.
He let out a breath.
"Finally."
"Primary stabilization achieved," Jade confirmed. "The probability of another uncontrolled surge has been reduced substantially."
"Well, this is a temporary fix," Max said as he examined the readings spreading across his vision. The surrounding machinery was still ancient, overstressed, and held together by repairs layered over repairs. "We need to strip out most of this section eventually and rebuild it from scratch."
"Reconstructing these systems from the original schematics will require several years," Jade replied.
Max looked across the miles of machinery disappearing into the emerald depths of the Battery. Several years sounded irritating until he remembered that he and Veridion had once spent billions building the thing in the first place.
"Yes. Yes, it will."
He flew away and returned to where Norrin waited upon his silver board.
"Thank you, Norrin," Max said. "And tell Galan I said thank you too."
Norrin inclined his head. "I will."
Max studied him for a moment.
"So, how long have you been his Herald?"
"Approximately four hundred thousand years."
Max raised his eyebrows. "That long?"
"Yes."
Norrin turned his board toward the upper reaches of the Battery. "I should return to my master."
"You just got here." Max gestured around them. "Stay a while. Enjoy some Oan hospitality."
There was the faintest shift at the corner of Norrin's mouth. "Your invitation is appreciated, but my master awaits."
"Fair enough. I'll fly you out."
They rose together through the enormous interior of the Central Power Battery, emerging through its upper reaches and entering Oa's atmosphere before accelerating toward space. The sky darkened around them until the stars became clear.
They passed the Citadel first.
The moon remained split almost completely in half, the two immense sections held near one another by gravitational systems and temporary stabilizers while construction craft moved between the ruins. Max had not yet decided whether they should repair it or leave it as it was. Part of him hated seeing the destruction every time he looked toward Oa's sky.
Vigil remained intact nearby.
Max glanced toward Norrin. "You know, I was Galan's first Herald."
"Yes. I know."
Norrin continued, "In fact, the tale of your time as Herald was the reason I became one."
Max stared at him. "How did that happen?"
They continued deeper into the system while Norrin considered his answer.
Sanctuary gradually filled the space ahead of them, blue-green and streaked with countless other colours, impossibly alive. Its oceans were broken by continents that carried ecosystems gathered from thousands of worlds. Even from orbit, Max could see vast forests, mountain ranges, inland seas, and artificial habitats built to preserve species whose original homes no longer existed.
Norrin slowed.
His expression changed as he looked down.
Max smiled faintly. Sanctuary tended to have that effect on people.
"The tale of the Guardian was known on Zenn-La long before my people dreamed of travelling among the stars," Norrin said. "In our distant past, visitors came from other worlds. They brought knowledge, stories, and accounts of civilizations beyond our own. Among those stories was one concerning the being who once travelled with the Devourer of Worlds, searching for planets capable of satisfying his hunger."
Max's attention shifted from Norrin to Sanctuary below.
The memories came easily.
He remembered Galactus being hungry enough that every delay became an argument. He remembered flying ahead through system after system, searching for worlds rich enough to sustain the Devourer while trying to avoid anything inhabited.
Sometimes there had been time to evacuate everyone.
Sometimes there had not.
He could still remember planets where ninety percent of the population escaped and everyone called it a miracle, while Max spent the following decades remembering the ten percent who had not. He had carried survivors to new worlds and returned years later to make certain they had actually survived what came afterward.
The Green Lantern Corps eventually inherited much of that responsibility. Once Max and Galactus established rules governing how the Corps could interfere, Lanterns would arrive ahead of the Devourer and begin evacuations whenever possible.
There had always been limits.
Creation required destruction. Stars died. Worlds died. Species died. Nothing existed forever, and Galactus was part of that balance whether Max liked it or not.
The Living Tribunal had eventually made that point more forcefully.
Some primitive worlds could not be saved. Sometimes the Lanterns could not evacuate everyone. Other times they had to calculate whether the population they managed to rescue could even survive after losing its world.
He still remembered arguments with Illustres who could not understand why the Corps could not do more.
Max had never found a satisfactory answer beyond the truth.
"When Galactus came to Zenn-La," Norrin continued, drawing Max back to the present, "I remembered those stories. I offered myself in exchange for my world and asked that he make me his Herald, as he had once made the Guardian his."
Max looked at him.
"I told him that if he accepted me, I would strive to become the kind of Herald the Guardian had been."
Norrin looked down at Sanctuary again.
"I have followed many of the principles you established during your service. Search first for lifeless worlds capable of sustaining him. Evacuate those who can be evacuated. Delay him when delay remains possible and another suitable world may yet be found."
"I have saved many lives by following them," Norrin said. "But not all."
Max watched him for a moment. "No. You never save all of them."
Norrin's jaw tightened. "I wish fewer had died."
"If the Corps had still been active, fewer probably would have." Max folded his arms. "Some of Galan's Heralds were easier to work with than others. A few seemed to take evacuations as a personal insult."
He studied Norrin for a moment.
"You would have been a good friend to the Corps, Norrin. The Lanterns could have helped you, and you could have made their work a lot easier."
Max glanced back toward Oa, distant now but still visible as a green point among the worlds of the system.
"The Corps will return soon. There's still a lot to rebuild, but they will return."
He looked back at Norrin.
"When the Corps are fully active again, you'll receive all the support we can give you."
Norrin smiled openly this time. "That gladdens my heart."
They remained above Sanctuary for another moment before Norrin finally turned his board away from the planet.
"I must leave."
Norrin inclined his head.
"Until we meet again, Ion."
He accelerated away.
"Hey, Norrin."
The Surfer stopped and looked back.
"If you ever need someone to talk to, come to me."
Norrin watched him quietly.
"I mean it," Max continued. "Being a Herald can get... difficult."
Something in Norrin's posture softened.
"Yes. I believe you are one of the very few who could understand."
"I will remember your offer," Norrin said with a smile.
"Good. So don't be a stranger."
"Then until we meet again, Ion."
Max smiled.
"Call me Max."
The Surfer paused.
"Max... Until we meet again, Max."
Silver light gathered around him, and a moment later he accelerated away. Max watched until the glow became another point among the stars before disappearing entirely.
He remained above Sanctuary.
A faint blue light was visible near the planet's northern hemisphere.
Max descended.
The Blue Central Power Battery stood within a broad valley surrounded by construction sites, its sapphire light reaching high into the sky while workers assembled buildings around it.
Max landed well away from them.
Foundations now covered much of the valley floor, with several large structures beginning to rise around the Battery. Eventually, the place would serve as the heart of the restored Blue Lantern Corps.
"Well, well."
Max turned.
Adara approached from behind him, sapphire light moving softly around her humanoid form. She had chosen to appear almost entirely human, though the glow surrounding her skin and the blue burning within her eyes made pretending she was anything ordinary rather difficult.
"Ion finally decides to visit after an entire month," she said, her gaze moving down his body, "and apparently without a shirt."
Her amusement made Max glance down.
He had completely forgotten.
The Power Stone blast had destroyed the construct clothing covering his upper body, and in all the excitement with Norrin, he had only bothered keeping the dark emerald pants intact.
Max looked around at Sanctuary's warm evening sky. "I'm enjoying the beautiful weather."
Adara laughed as she walked closer. "Whatever you say. It's your planet."
Sanctuary suited her. Adara had poured an enormous amount of herself into its creation, binding enough of her power to the Battery that she could no longer travel far from it. For the foreseeable future, she could not leave Sanctuary at all.
Adara insisted she did not consider it imprisonment.
Sanctuary was one of the most beautiful worlds Max had ever created, filled with living things rescued from planets that had otherwise vanished from history. Hope had found something meaningful in caring for them.
That was why Max had effectively given Sanctuary to her.
Her world. Her Battery. Her Corps.
Then he remembered what Malgus had done to the first Blue Lanterns.
The thought of the Oan soured Max's mood immediately.
Malgus.
Even the name irritated him.
In retrospect, perhaps somebody should have been suspicious of a man named Malgus. It was such an absurdly evil-sounding name that Max could hardly believe nobody had questioned it.
And everyone had trusted him because he had a Green Lantern ring.
A man named Malgus.
Who wore black armor and black clothing.
"Max?"
Adara's voice pulled him from the thought.
She had stopped smiling.
"Are you all right?"
Max sighed. "Adara, I've told you about a hundred times that I'm fine."
"Yes. You have."
The way she said it made clear how much she believed him.
Max looked toward the Blue Battery instead of arguing.
"In a strange way, I think I'm glad Knull put me out of commission."
Adara's expression tightened.
"Parallax told me what happened to Firehair and Aurora while he had me imprisoned," Max continued.
Adara came closer but did not interrupt.
"I think it was better to learn that way..." Max said as he looked down.
"Firehair is gone."
He was quiet for a moment.
"I can accept that. I hate it, but I can accept it." His eyes moved toward the stars beginning to appear above Sanctuary. "Aurora is different. Firehair promised me she would do everything she could to save her, and I know she would have. So until I find proof otherwise, I have that little sliver of hope that my daughter is somewhere out there."
Adara touched his shoulder.
The contact was gentle, but Max felt the familiar warmth of blue light beneath it.
"You should leave Oa for a while," Adara said.
Max frowned. "I just left Oa."
Adara gave him a look. "I meant the system."
She paused.
"Go to Earth. See your friends."
"I don't even know how many of them are alive."
He had watched Ghost die.
Fan would be gone by now. Azzuri as well. Perhaps Agamotto too. Vnn was another uncertainty entirely. Nur should still be alive unless something had happened to him.
And Odin...
Probably back in Asgard now. Perhaps he was even king again by this point.
"Go," Adara said.
Max stared at her.
"Oa will survive without you for a few days."
"You've spent months trying to repair everything you found broken when you returned," she continued.
Then her voice softened.
"Your friends lost people too, Max. They lost Firehair. They lost you. They lost Aurora."
Max said nothing.
"And now you've returned," Adara continued. "Don't you think you owe it to them to let them know you're alive?"
Max looked toward the stars.
He suddenly felt guilty that he had not returned to Earth sooner. He had wanted to, but the memories of Firehair and Aurora had kept stopping him.
Adara was right.
He could not keep putting it off.
He sighed. "Okay."
Her smile returned.
"I'll go."
"Good."
Max rose several feet from the ground.
Adara looked him over.
"You should probably put on some clothes first."
Max glanced down again.
"And perhaps shave that beard."
Dark green light spread across his bare torso, forming a shirt before a long overcoat appeared over it.
Adara nodded approvingly. "Better."
Max ran a hand through his beard.
"The beard stays."
"It makes you look old."
"I am older than almost everything."
Max laughed and began rising toward the sky.
The valley dropped away beneath him, then the continent, then the curve of Sanctuary itself. Within moments, he had cleared the atmosphere and entered space.
For the first time since his return, Max turned away from the Oan system with no intention of stopping at one of its worlds.
Earth was waiting.
Whatever remained there, it was time he finally went home.
.
.
.
Earth appeared ahead of him.
Max slowed without meaning to.
For several seconds, he simply floated there, looking at it.
The last time he had seen Earth, the living beings walking its surface had been dinosaurs, right up until a particularly inconvenient asteroid arrived and brought that age to an abrupt end.
Max started forward, then stopped again.
"I forgot something," he said to himself.
"Jade, contact the Puffs."
"Opening communications."
The answer came almost immediately.
"MAX!"
Several voices shouted his name at once, followed by enough overlapping noise that Jade automatically reduced the volume.
Max smiled. "Hey, Puffballs. Listen up."
The noise stopped, or at least became quieter.
"I am officially removing the restricted status from Zone 616. You can enter the region now."
For perhaps half a second, there was silence.
Then every Puff seemed to start screaming.
"YAAAAAY!"
Max laughed.
"Yeah, yeah. Calm down."
They did not calm down.
The Puffs had been trying to convince him to open this region for millions of years.
"You can patrol it like any other Green Lantern territory," Max continued once the cheering became slightly less deafening. "Announce yourselves properly, explain what the Green Lanterns are, help people who need it. Well, you know. Do Green Lantern things."
There was another eruption of excited voices.
The Shi'ar. The Skrulls. The Kree.
Oh dear.
The Puffs would have to deal with all of them. At least once the Corps was reactivated, they would eventually have four more partners to help them out.
"All right, you little gremlins. Be safe."
More cheers answered him.
Max shook his head and closed the channel.
He was still smiling when Jade spoke.
"Max."
Something in her tone removed the smile immediately.
"What?"
"I have completed a more detailed scan of Earth. En Sabah Nur is currently engaged in combat near the city of Eridu."
Max's attention sharpened. "Combat with who?"
"Five beings displaying extremely high energy signatures."
"How high?"
Jade placed the readings across his vision.
Max stared at them.
"Oh."
Then he vanished.
Earth's atmosphere came at him within seconds.
Air ignited around his body as he descended, and finally the land surrounding Eridu appeared ahead.
The region around the city had been torn apart in several places. Enormous fractures cut through fields and roads. Smoke rose from ruined structures farther away, though the city itself remained mostly intact.
Max slowed high above the battlefield.
Six figures stood below.
One of them was Nur.
He was also bleeding.
Five beings stood opposite him, all radiating godly power. Nur had clearly been fighting them for some time. Parts of his armor were damaged, and blood ran down one side of his face.
Max felt something else alongside the anger at seeing Nur injured.
Pride.
Nur had become powerful.
Very powerful.
Holding his ground against five opponents Max was fairly certain were gods was quite something.
Then Max noticed the blood again.
Emerald light filled his eyes.
Anger flared within him.
Max raised one hand.
The horizon behind him changed as the light of the rising sun turned green, washing across the battlefield below.
The five beings facing Nur noticed Max first.
Every one of them looked toward him as he descended.
Nur saw their expressions and slowly turned.
His eyes found Max.
For a moment, En Sabah Nur did not move.
Max could almost see his mind rejecting what his eyes were telling him. Shock passed across his face, followed by disbelief.
Then Nur laughed.
It began quietly before growing into the same deep laugh Max remembered.
He turned back toward the five beings before him.
"Oh, you poor bastards," Nur said. "I almost feel sorry for you."
Max grinned as he flew toward Nur, stopping several paces away before landing and walking forward with one hand raised.
Nur's eyes dropped toward it.
Recognition came immediately.
A grin spread across his face as he raised his own hand and stepped toward Max.
Their hands slammed together.
"MAX, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Nur shouted happily.
Max burst out laughing as their hands locked together.
It was the same greeting they had used countless times before, part handshake and part contest, their own private way of greeting each other.
Nur squeezed.
Max matched him.
The ground cracked beneath their boots.
Nur's grin widened as he applied more strength.
Max allowed him to enjoy the attempt for a moment.
Then he added a little more power.
Nur's arm shifted.
His eyes narrowed.
Max increased it slightly again.
Nur laughed, abandoned the contest, and pulled Max into a crushing embrace.
Max returned it immediately.
"I cannot believe you are here," Nur said, holding him hard enough that most humans would have been crushed. "You are actually here."
Max closed his eyes briefly.
"Yeah, I am."
Nur pulled back enough to look at him.
"How?"
Max smiled. "That's a long story, my friend."
He looked Nur over properly.
"You haven't changed a bit. Well, your fashion sense has improved."
Nur laughed. "And you have a beard."
Max's attention moved to the blood running along Nur's cheek.
The humor left him.
He reached out and touched one finger lightly against it before looking toward the five figures across the field.
"I assume they did this."
Nur's expression hardened.
"Yes."
Max stepped past him.
"Who are they?"
"The Anunnaki."
That got Max's attention.
Nur indicated them one by one.
"Nergal. Marduk. Arammu. Enlil. Ningal."
Max studied the five as he walked several steps forward and stopped.
"Hey, what the fuck is wrong with you?"
None of them answered.
Nergal's expression twisted.
"All right."
Max looked across the five Anunnaki.
"I'm going to give you one chance."
Emerald light moved faintly around his body.
"Get the fuck out of here, or I will..."
The response came immediately.
Nergal crossed the distance between them in an instant. Divine fire exploded around his body as he drove one fist directly into Max's face with enough force to send a shock wave across the plain.
The blow landed against Max's cheek.
His head barely moved.
Nergal froze.
The fire around his fist continued roaring while the two of them stood there, Max's expression unchanged and Nergal slowly realizing that something had gone very wrong.
Max turned his eyes toward him.
Nergal's fist was still pressed against his cheek.
"Oh," Max said, his voice slightly distorted by the hand against his face. "This is how you want to do it."
He raised one hand and closed it around Nergal's wrist.
His other hand followed.
Nergal tried to pull free.
Nothing happened.
The Anunnaki's muscles tightened as he increased his strength, divine fire pouring across both of them until the ground beneath his feet melted into glowing stone.
Max did not move.
His eyes brightened.
WHUM.
Power Cosmic gathered behind Max's eyes.
Nergal jerked against his grip.
WHUUUM.
Red energy mixed with emerald light.
"Wait," Nergal began.
WHUM. WHUM. WHUM.
Twin beams erupted from Max's eyes at point-blank range.
They struck Nergal directly in the chest.
The god vanished.
His body became a streak of divine fire as the blast hurled him across the horizon. The beam changed direction at impossible right angles, altering Nergal's trajectory again and again as it continued driving him farther away until both god and beam disappeared beyond the distant horizon.
Silence settled across the battlefield.
Max's eyes returned to normal.
He looked toward the remaining four Anunnaki.
"Anyone else?"
Marduk, Arammu, Enlil, and Ningal did not take Nergal's defeat well.
For several seconds, they stared toward the distant horizon where Max's Omega Beams had carried their fellow god. Divine power rolled across the battlefield as they advanced together, weapons appearing in their hands while the earth beneath them trembled.
Max glanced toward Nur.
"Looks like diplomacy failed."
Nur laughed.
A sword formed in Max's right hand. Nur looked at it, then at Max.
"One for me."
Another sword appeared and flew toward Nur, who caught it by the hilt without taking his eyes from the approaching gods. Max simultaneously extended his awareness across the surrounding region. Eridu lay close enough that a serious exchange between beings at this level could kill thousands before anyone realized they were in danger, and the farms and smaller settlements surrounding the city would fare even worse.
That was not happening.
A barrier rose around Eridu, then another across the surrounding villages, fields, and waterways until the entire inhabited region sat beneath a shield.
The Anunnaki charged.
Marduk went directly for Nur. Their weapons collided hard enough to send a pressure wave across the countryside, and Nur immediately forced Marduk sideways before following with a second strike aimed at his ribs.
The other three came for Max.
Arammu attacked first with a long spear surrounded by white fire, while Enlil approached from the opposite side carrying a curved blade that crackled with divine energy. Ningal remained half a step behind them, a heavy axe balanced across one shoulder as he watched Max rather than rushing blindly into the exchange.
Arammu thrust for his chest. Max knocked the spear aside with his sword, turned with the movement, and caught Enlil's blade before it reached his neck. He redirected both weapons past him rather than meeting their full strength, allowing their momentum to carry them several paces forward before striking Arammu across the back with the flat of his sword.
The blow sent him skidding through the earth.
Enlil recovered faster and came around with another swing, but Max shifted inside the attack and struck him in the chest with his shoulder. The god was lifted from his feet and thrown backward before Ningal finally entered the fight.
"What are you?" Arammu demanded as he rose.
Max looked genuinely offended.
"Seriously?"
Enlil came at him again.
Max caught his wrist, redirected the blade downward, and kicked him away before turning back toward Arammu.
"Did you seriously forget who I am? It's only been, what, four hundred thousand years since I was last here? It's me. Green Lantern."
Recognition appeared on Ningal's face.
"The Emerald One. The leader."
Max pointed at him with the sword.
"See? He remembers."
Ningal roared and brought the axe down.
Max stepped aside.
The weapon struck the ground where he had been standing and tore open a trench several hundred feet long. Before Ningal could lift it again, Max drove his elbow into the god's jaw and sent him staggering into Enlil, who had been trying to attack from behind.
Max parried another thrust from Arammu, caught Ningal's axe against his sword, then twisted hard enough to wrench the weapon from the god's hands. He threw it over his shoulder without looking and ducked beneath Enlil's blade before driving the pommel of his sword into Enlil's stomach.
The Anunnaki folded around the strike.
Max spun and kicked him away.
"You're making the other guy look good."
A roar came from his left.
Max turned just in time to see Nur driven backward by Marduk.
Nur recovered almost immediately and attacked again, their weapons meeting several times in rapid succession, but Max could see something was wrong now. Every time Marduk's weapon came close to Nur, his powers weakened.
"Jade."
"I have detected the anomaly."
"Weapon?"
"Affirmative. Marduk's weapon is generating a suppressive field that interferes with En Sabah Nur's mutation. Continued exposure will substantially reduce his fighting capability."
Max turned back toward the three Anunnaki.
"Fun's over."
Arammu lunged.
Max's eyes ignited.
The Omega Beams struck Arammu in the chest before the god completed his attack, hurling him across the battlefield.
Enlil barely had time to react before Max seized him by the shoulder.
Emerald light erupted around them.
A rocket construct formed piece by piece, enormous engines appearing first, followed by a reinforced body several hundred feet long. Enlil found himself strapped across the nose of it, his arms and legs locked against the hull.
Enlil stared at Max in shock.
Then fear appeared on his face.
Max waved.
"Have a nice flight."
The engines ignited.
The rocket tore across the sky with Enlil still attached to the front, screaming as it accelerated through the clouds and vanished toward the upper atmosphere.
Ningal charged, both hands glowing.
Max raised one finger.
Constructs appeared around the god from every direction.
They had no consistent shape. They floated around him, then began pulling in opposing directions.
Ningal froze in place.
He tried to move, but every attempt to generate leverage caused the constructs to increase their force and counter the movement before he could complete it.
Max watched him struggle.
"Stop moving, or it's going to keep getting more annoying."
Ningal growled.
Movement from across the battlefield caught Max's attention.
Arammu stood again.
He was not dead.
Just like Nergal before him, Max had used the Omega Beams in what could generously be described as stun mode. He was not trying to kill either of them.
Arammu looked at Ningal, suspended helplessly among the constantly changing constructs, then toward the sky where Enlil had vanished. His gaze shifted toward the distant horizon where Nergal had disappeared.
Then he looked at Max.
Arammu turned and fled.
Max watched him go.
"Smartest one here."
A violent impact drew his attention back toward Nur.
Marduk had driven him through a section of ruined stonework and was already moving to follow.
Max sighed.
"Right."
Emerald light gathered around him as he flew toward them.
Marduk raised his weapon for another strike.
A whistle sounded behind him.
The god turned.
An enormous green locomotive had appeared in the middle of the battlefield.
Max stood upon the front of it with one hand gripping an imaginary rail.
"Choo choo, motherfucker."
The construct train accelerated.
Marduk had just enough time to raise his weapon before several thousand tons of emerald locomotive slammed into him. He disappeared beneath the front of the engine and was carried several hundred feet before the construct dissolved, leaving him buried beneath a trench of broken earth.
"You okay?" Max asked as he landed near Nur.
Before Nur could answer, the ground erupted.
Marduk shot upward from beneath it, divine energy blazing around him as he landed several dozen feet away.
Max looked at him.
"All right. What exactly is this all about? Why are we fighting here?"
"There is a woman," Nur said.
Max glanced at him.
"She is pregnant."
Nur pointed toward Marduk. "The child she carries is half mutant and half divine. These devils intend to kill it."
Max slowly turned toward Marduk.
Any humor left his face.
Marduk raised his weapon. "The child is dangerous. Its existence is an abomination to the natural order."
Max's eyes narrowed.
"Is that true?"
"Are you planning to kill the child?"
Marduk did not hesitate.
"Yes."
Something cold settled behind Max's eyes.
"The child belongs to us. You have no right to interfere in the affairs of the Anunnaki. Leave now, Green Lantern, and we will forget this ever happened."
Max looked at him for a long moment.
Then he drew his right fist back.
The air around Max began to distort.
A violent howl swept across the battlefield as pressure collapsed around him, creating a powerful suction that dragged dust, broken stone, and loose debris toward his body. Marduk planted his feet, but the pull strengthened until cracks spread beneath his boots and he began sliding forward.
His expression changed as he was ripped from the ground and dragged directly toward Max.
Max drove his fist upward.
The uppercut struck Marduk beneath the jaw with enough force to detonate the air around them.
BOOOOM.
Marduk disappeared into the sky.
"Oh, shit," Nur said loudly.
One moment Marduk had been standing in front of Max, and the next his body had punched through the clouds, leaving a circular tunnel through them as he climbed toward the edge of the atmosphere.
Max looked up.
Then he disappeared too.
Nur barely had time to follow the emerald streak before Max overtook Marduk.
The Anunnaki was still rising when Max appeared above him.
Marduk's eyes widened.
Max smiled down at him.
Marduk tried to raise his weapon.
Max's eyes began to glow.
A low vibration rolled through the upper atmosphere.
WHUM.
Red energy gathered behind his eyes, threaded through with emerald light.
Marduk stopped struggling and stared. There was little else he could do. His head was still reeling from the punch.
WHUUUM.
The glow intensified until Max's face was almost lost within it. The clouds far beneath them began spreading outward as pressure built around him.
Marduk raised both arms.
WHUM.
The sound deepened.
WHUM.
WHUM.
WHUUUUUUUM.
The Omega Beams erupted.
Twin streams of cosmic energy struck Marduk from above and completely reversed his movement. The god was driven downward so violently that a cone of compressed air formed around his body as he fell back through the atmosphere.
The energy bent through the sky at a sharp angle and struck him again, forcing him back onto the trajectory Max had chosen.
Straight toward North Africa.
Marduk became a burning streak crossing the heavens.
The beams drove him into the heart of the Sahara.
Silence returned around Max.
He stared down toward the distant impact site for a moment.
"That should keep him busy."
A few seconds later, he landed beside Nur.
Nur stared at him.
"Where did you learn that? Those beams. You never did that before."
"Long story."
Nur looked as if he intended to demand considerably more explanation, but Max interrupted him.
"Where is the woman?"
Nur froze.
His eyes widened.
"Oh."
"Give me a moment."
Nur closed his eyes and extended one hand. Amber energy gathered around his fingers.
Max folded his arms.
"Nur."
"I was somewhat distracted, and I pushed her away through a portal..."
"You lost the pregnant woman everyone is trying to kill?"
"I did not lose her."
"Where is she?"
"I am finding out. Let me concentrate."
A portal opened several feet away.
Through it, Max could see bright blue water, white sand, and sunlight reflecting across a coastline.
They walked through together.
Warm sea air replaced the heat of Mesopotamia.
Max looked around.
A pristine blue ocean stretched toward the horizon. Rocky hills rose farther inland, covered with trees and vegetation familiar enough that Max did not need Jade to identify the region.
He glanced at Nur.
"This is Greece."
Nur was already searching the beach.
"She should be here."
There was no woman.
No tracks.
No sign that anyone had been there recently.
Max looked across the coastline.
"Jade, scan the area. Is she nearby?"
Several seconds passed.
"No."
Then Jade continued.
"However, I am detecting residual energy signatures approximately two hundred metres inland."
"What kind?"
"The patterns are consistent with energies recorded during previous encounters involving members of the Olympian pantheon."
Nur went still.
Max looked at him.
Nur swore.
"Fuck."
"What?"
Nur turned toward Max. "The Olympians are after her too. They must have taken her to Olympus."
Max stared at him.
"How many gods are trying to kill this baby?"
"All of them, I think."
Max stared at Nur for another second.
"How did you get to Olympus last time?"
Nur thought for a moment, then rose into the air.
"Follow me."
Nur accelerated toward the mountains and Max followed.
.
.