"Idiot!"
Watching Kal-El lose consciousness after taking the brunt of the attack, his bio-field collapsing rapidly, Kara immediately realized the two of them were probably not escaping this situation.
At least she wasn't worried about Kal-El's injuries just yet.
Her cousin had literally come back from getting his heart pierced before.
As long as his heart was still beating, there was still hope.
Only fifteen minutes ago, Kal-El had been the one carrying her through the battlefield.
And now Kara was the one who had to figure out how to carry her unconscious cousin out alive.
Unfortunately, the distant Alpha Lanterns had no intention of giving her that opportunity.
The massive light barrier stretching across the star system rose once again, altering the yellow sun's spectrum for a second time.
Just as Kara prepared to accelerate away at full speed, weakness flooded through her body again.
Behind them, the colossal sentient planet projected two enormous emerald hands forged from willpower far greater than the entire Alpha Lantern Corps combined.
Like someone carefully pinching up two insects between their fingers, the giant hands gently trapped both Kara and Joey.
"Let go of him, you stupid planet!"
Restrained around the waist by the giant construct hand, Kara furiously pounded against it with both fists.
But she quickly stopped.
The altered sunlight.
The Kryptonite radiation.
Their severe injuries.
Under conditions like these, struggling was nothing more than a waste of energy.
Right now, the only thing she could do was conserve her strength and wait for a possible chance to escape.
At that moment, Kara's heart was filled with nothing but guilt and regret.
If she hadn't been dead weight, Kal-El could've escaped easily.
But now, not only were both of them likely going to die at the hands of the Green Lantern Corps that had clearly abandoned its old principles—
Even the secrets hidden within Kal-El himself might be exposed to Krypton's enemies.
In that instant, Kara felt like she had become Krypton's greatest sinner.
Whoosh—
Before she could think further, an attack already arrived from the far reaches of deep space.
A sharp green spike less than two inches long shot toward them from the Alpha Lanterns' direction.
No decorative construct or elaborate shape.
Just a brutally efficient high-speed cone, like a bullet.
"Ungh!"
Unable to move, Kara took the projectile directly to the chest.
The spike pierced through her armor and stabbed into flesh, the attached Kryptonite radiation forcing a muffled groan from her throat.
Thankfully, the armor's AI had redistributed additional mass to the impact point beforehand, barely managing to stop the otherwise simple—but lethally precise—attack.
Otherwise, the strike probably would've punched straight through her body.
Before Kara could even pull the spike from her chest, the armor's AI began screaming warnings again.
There wasn't just one attack.
A second spike followed immediately behind the first.
Smaller, almost transparent green.
Hidden to the absolute limit.
With the AI's assistance, Kara's vision barely caught sight of the incoming projectile and its trajectory.
The second spike was aimed directly at her forehead.
Frozen in place, Kara felt her entire body go cold.
Within a single day, she had already brushed against death at point-blank range at least three separate times.
And this time—
Kal-El wouldn't be standing in front of her to save her.
"Enough."
A deep, thunderous voice echoed across the entire star system.
The giant green hands holding Joey and Kara instantly transformed into a massive emerald sphere, enveloping the two of them completely.
Crack!
The sharp projectile shattered the instant it touched the seemingly solid green barrier, crushed apart by overwhelming force.
The distant attacker had no choice but to halt the assault.
Kara suddenly felt gravity around her shifting rapidly.
Pulled by Mogo's gravitational force, the green sphere carrying both of them plummeted into the sentient planet's atmosphere.
The previously calm skies transformed instantly.
Dark storm clouds gathered.
Lightning split the heavens.
Violent hurricanes drove torrential rain down from above.
Green Lantern Mogo was pissed.
After the Guardians rewrote the Green Lantern Corps' code of conduct—the Book of Oa—even Green Lantern rings had become capable of projecting lethal force.
Mogo, the planetary consciousness once awakened by Abin Sur, had witnessed cosmic history unfold across billions of years.
It was hardly softhearted.
Killing dangerous enemies during intense battle was one thing.
But what the Alpha Lanterns had attempted just now, executing helpless opponents who could no longer resist was something entirely different.
That had already strayed far beyond the true path of the Green Lanterns.
Under Mogo's gravitational pull, the green sphere descended steadily onto the planet's surface.
The earth itself split open, swallowing Joey and Kara whole beneath the surface.
Meanwhile, the Alpha Lantern Corps began converging around Mogo from every direction, surrounding the sentient planet completely.
The lead Alpha Lantern stepped forward and demanded:
"Green Lantern Mogo. According to the laws of the Book of Oa, the two Kryptonians who attempted to attack you have already been sentenced to death. Why did you interfere with the execution?"
Oh, the Book of Oa...
Mogo recalled the thing briefly.
To borrow Sinestro's exact phrasing, it was usually more useful as toilet paper.
Still, Mogo now realized the Book of Oa did have one practical purpose.
At the very least, it could be used to deal with annoying pests like these.
"According to Article Six of the Book of Oa, Green Lanterns are forbidden from engaging in private communication. Therefore—"
The sentient planet's impatient voice echoed through space once more:
"Get lost."
"I must respectfully decline."
The leader's mechanical voice remained as flat and hollow as ever, yet Mogo could still sense a trace of anger beneath it.
"According to the amended regulations of the Book of Oa, Alpha Lanterns hold authority above standard Green Lanterns within the chain of command. Therefore, I order you to surrender the two Kryptonians."
"...Sigh."
The violent storms raging throughout Mogo's atmosphere vanished instantly, leaving behind only a long, weary sigh.
Today alone, Mogo had probably spoken more words than during the previous entire millennium.
"When exactly did you become like this...?"
"And when did the Corps become like this, Kilowog?"
The one pressuring Mogo was none other than Kilowog himself—the Green Lantern Corps' legendary drill instructor, who had died a year earlier during an attack by the Black Lantern Corps.
Once upon a time, he had been a warmhearted and dependable man.
Now, after being resurrected through the Guardians' methods, he had become nothing more than a puppet dancing on the strings of that glorified toilet paper they called the Book of Oa.
Mogo finally understood what the existence of the Alpha Lanterns truly meant.
The old Green Lantern Corps had already begun rotting from its very foundation.
In all but name, it no longer existed.
"As a member of the Green Lantern Corps, I am obligated to follow my conscience and morals."
"And based on both, I refuse your order, Kilowog."
Mogo's entire planetary body began glowing with brilliant green light.
The enormous construct Green Lantern ring surrounding the planet manifested once more.
"The two Kryptonians are inside me."
Compared to Mogo's planetary-scale size and overwhelming energy output, even an army of nearly ten thousand Alpha Lanterns looked insignificant.
"If you want them..."
"Come and take them yourselves."
"Hmph."
Kilowog, now partially mechanical with most of his face covered in metal, could no longer make proper facial expressions.
Yet somehow, he still managed to let out a rare cold snort before waving a hand and ordering the Alpha Lantern Corps to withdraw.
"Very well."
"You will be responsible for guarding those prisoners."
---
"We've got a signal again!"
When Joey had smashed his way through the Alpha Lantern blockade earlier, the tracker on Kara had briefly transmitted coordinates once more.
"Get me over there now!"
Though only a little more than ten minutes had passed since the signal was lost, to Starfire it had felt like ten agonizing years.
Fully geared up and ready for combat, she still didn't forget to blame the "utterly useless" Batman standing nearby.
"This is your fault! Why did you let Joey face that Kryptonian woman alone?!"
Faced with Starfire's accusation, Bruce chose silence as usual.
Logic told him the situation absolutely wasn't that simple, and sending Starfire in recklessly would've been irresponsible.
But logic also told him something else: trying to argue rationally with the victim's loved ones was a fantastic way to get punched in the face.
Yes.
The moment Bruce noticed the way Starfire looked at Joey, he immediately understood why Superman from that distorted future had specifically warned him to keep distance between himself and Diana.
Back in his own universe, the trio had always maintained an unspoken balance, a relationship filled with subtle tension and mutual affection that never quite crossed the line.
Because as the pillars of the Justice League, if any two of them grew too close, the balance of the entire Justice League would collapse.
Bruce had once assumed Superman possessed the foresight necessary to preserve that equilibrium.
Now it seemed more likely that Joey simply didn't want to deal with romantic drama.
This universe's League didn't possess balance in the first place.
Everything here was conflict laid bare.
Honestly, a relationship between Superman and Wonder Woman might actually help stabilize this already shaky alliance.
But now...
Bruce wasn't so sure that would necessarily be a good thing.
At this rate, future internal conflicts inside the League were probably only going to increase.
"Get ready, Starfire and Hawkgirl—"
Cyborg had also realized something had probably gone wrong on the other side.
So he decided to send over the thousand-plus combat drones he had just freshly printed as reinforcement.
"Total teleportation units: 1,972. Countdown: three... two... oH HOLY SH—"
Cyborg suddenly let out a strangled yell mid-operation.
The teleportation signal abruptly cut out again.
Warning sirens immediately began blaring throughout the Watchtower.
"Warning: Unauthorized external access detected. Warning: Unauthor—"
"Cyborg, what happenening?!"
Everyone immediately turned toward him.
Only to discover sparks violently bursting from the metallic half of his skull.
This time, the Watchtower's systems hadn't crashed.
Cyborg himself had crashed.
Every screen throughout the station began flooding with bizarre, distorted symbols.
But everyone present was experienced enough to realize these weren't random glitches.
Batman the master linguist.
Hawkgirl the Thanagarian.
And Starfire, who had studied alien languages with Joey before.
All three recognized the symbols immediately.
They weren't corrupted code.
They were Kryptonian text.
"Where is Kal-El?"