by Libbylawrence
J’onn J’onzz had remained motionless, conserving his energy while he waited for Professor Hugo to return. As the giant robot kept guard over him, J’onn focused his powerful mind on probing Tor in order to find a weakness. The results were disappointing.
Tor no longer has a weakness, he soon realized. It once had a psychosomatic weakness to fire, because its brain patterns came from a Martian criminal and had thus shared his Martian weakness. Now, with Arnold’s mind in the driver’s seat, fire is not an option. Of course, I do have another tactic to try when he returns.
Suddenly, a paper-like shape slipped between slats in the old barn’s wall, and little Zook appeared. “Manhunter!” he cried happily, then used his power to generate extreme cold in order to put out the fires.
J’onn smiled with pleasure as his strength began to return, and he hugged the small alien. “Zook, you are a welcome sight! But you should not be here!” he cautioned.
Zook sniffled. “Ahh, Zook okay now that you okay!”
Then J’onn abruptly shifted and placed Zook behind him protectively. Tor had begun to lurch forward, and J’onn also caught a glimpse of Professor Arnold Hugo in the doorway of the barn.
“That little monster triggered my alarms!” roared Hugo. “I will kill you — and him as well!”
As Tor grabbed the Martian Manhunter, Zook squealed and ducked to one side.
J’onn brought both fists down and hurled his full strength against the robot, but he barely rocked it backward. Just as an Earth robot would be stronger than a mortal man here, so is this Martian machine stronger than I am! he realized.
Allowing the machine to exert crushing pressure on his pliable body, he then suddenly slumped forward and focused his mental powers through the robot toward its master.
Professor Hugo scowled but remained alert. He knew what was happening, but he wasn’t about to give up now. “You… know… my mind drives Tor… but you won’t… beat me,” he shouted through gritted teeth as he suffered the mental onslaught. “My advanced mind is too strong… for your mental tricks!”
Scampering forward, Zook sent a wave of intense cold at the scientist. Hugo lashed out at the little alien, but Zook was too fast.
A second burst of frigid cold swept over Hugo, and as the villain began shivering from the terrible cold, his concentration wavered.
J’onn J’onzz then focused all of his mental might in one skillfully directed assault. Then he did it. He managed to take control of Tor long enough to force the robot to swing around and knock Hugo across the room with one giant arm.
Immediately, the robot stiffened as Professor Hugo completely lost contact with its controls. It swayed to one side, then fell backward like a huge tree caught in a storm.
Rushing forward, J’onn pushed Zook to safety as the huge robot fell across Professor Hugo’s prone form.
J’onn flew to the villain’s side and lifted the robot off his body. “He’s alive, but his legs were crushed,” he said.
Zook coughed and grabbed J’onn’s hand. “We better go! Nubia gone to Mars to find you!” he said.
J’onn blinked in surprise. “Mars? She’s gone to the original Mars?!” he exclaimed.
“Yep!” Zook said. “T’omm think you there, but Zook know better!”
J’onn nodded. “I’ll call the authorities and summon help for poor Hugo. He was almost killed by his own desire for revenge.”
The Martian Manhunter waited until the police arrived, and medical personnel carried Arnold Hugo to an ambulance.
A blonde woman in a smart-looking uniform arrived, smiling warmly as she rushed forward to embrace J’onn before bending down to kiss the top of Zook’s head.
“Diane!” cried Zook as he hugged the pretty blonde police woman.
J’onn smiled warmly. “Diane, it’s good to see you. It has been far too long.”
“I agree,” said Diane Meade. “The people of Middletown have missed you. I know I have missed you!” Patting the little alien’s head, she said, “I’ve missed you, too, Zook! Do you still love candy bars?”
“Uh-huh!” he shouted. “Zook sure glad to see you!”
“I see it was Professor Hugo who brought you two back here after so many years,” noted Diane. “You always were dutiful.”
“I see you’re the Deputy Commissioner now!” said J’onn. “Chief Harding told me how proud he was of you. I know your late father would have been equally thrilled with your success!”
She nodded sadly and said, “Harding told me that he’d talked with you a few times in the last year. And he’s just one of our old friends that I miss so much. I often think of poor John Jones. He died much too soon. He was a remarkable man!”
J’onn nodded solemnly and said, “You have Hugo in hand. I will remove this robot, and Zook and I will be on our way. It was good to see you once more, Diane.”
Walking over to the electronic brain, he deftly made some adjustments. “I will give Arnold credit,” he said quietly to himself. “He did improve the old model, the Robot-Brain. I can set the controls on this version with ease. What took years of effort before can now be done in minutes. I will set it to take us directly to Mars, where we will find Nubia!”
Zook gave Diane one last hug, then ran over to the Martian Manhunter. Then the electrical energy swept across them, teleporting them along with the inert robot to Mars itself.
Diane Meade looked at the empty barn for a few minutes. She and her men would secure the place and handle any of Hugo’s dangerous inventions with the proper care. She sighed softly, and as her eyes glistened for a moment with the hint of unshed tears, she whispered, “It was good to see you again, John.”
***
Nubia grunted in pain as Bel Juz throttled her, but she managed to break free and return several smashing blows to the Martian warrior.
Bel Juz blasted her with beams of Martian vision, causing Nubia to stiffen, but she fought through the pain to connect with a punch that knocked the Martian away from her.
Next, Nubia leaped after Bel Juz and landed with both feet on the other woman’s chest. She gripped Bel Juz by her hair, even as Bel flipped her over her shoulders. Nubia retained her grip, but the alien used her power to turn intangible to escape.
Nubia screamed as Bel materialized with one hand inside her body. She brought her head down and rammed the alien in the face. Abruptly, Bel released her hold on the Amazon and flew backward.
“Poor Earthling!” Bel Juz sneered. “I could kill you without even touching you!”
“I would rather touch you with my fists!” Nubia replied.
With a battle cry, Nubia charged at the Martian with super-speed. She connected before Bel could dodge the attack, pummeling her repeatedly.
The crowd of yellow Martians screamed with a fevered pitch. Some even seemed to be cheering Nubia on, although she could really only determine that they relished the battle in and of itself.
As Bel Juz exerted her own mental powers, attempting to overwhelm Nubia’s mind with a barrage of mental attacks, Nubia hesitated. Still, she managed to ignore the painful sensation and battled on with renewed strength.
A blinding flash of blue energy suddenly filled the sky, and Nubia stopped her attack for a moment. T’omm! I don’t know what happened to him, but that’s his power! she knew.
At that moment, J’onn J’onzz and Zook materialized nearby and raced forward upon seeing her there. “Nubia!” J’onn exclaimed, rushing to her side.
Bel Juz scowled as she saw her old lover appear. “The gallant knight arrives just in time!” she said, rolling out from under Nubia.
Wonder Woman and the Martian Manhunter embraced, and then Nubia asked, “Are you hurt?”
J’onn knew it would be swifter to merely project his story telepathically. He did so, and soon he received Nubia’s own thoughts in return.
“Bel Juz. I had hoped to never see you again,” said J’onn.
“I rule this world now!” Bel Juz replied. “You will bow down to me!”
J’onn countered, “Things are not as they appear! My mental powers allow me to see through this illusion!”
The Martian Manhunter concentrated, and Nubia’s eyes widened as the entire Coliseum around them faded from view, revealing that the yellow Martians were merely sitting on barren sand instead of marble seats.
“The whole Roman motif was an illusion,” J’onn told Bel Juz. “It appears as if you are truly queen of nothing.”
A wizened old man in ancient armor suddenly loomed over the entire area like a ghostly apparition in the sky. “The Duke of Deception!” Nubia exclaimed, recognizing the Master of Illusions.
“Of course! Was it not fitting that your old mentor created the perfect kingdom here on the planet that gave birth to your lover?” the Duke said with a cackling laugh.
The Martians cowered at the sight of the immortal villain, while Bel Juz cried out, “Master, restore my domain! You promised me that I would ever reign as your Queen of Mars!”
“I fear, fair Bel Juz,” replied the Duke, “that the time has come for the stark light of truth to blanket this barren world. Our charade has ended! Such delights are always far too fleeting, even for one with all the time in the world.”
A flickering blue light bathed the sky as the Duke seemed to shrink out of sight.
“You would be wise not to rely upon promises made by that master of lies,” advised Nubia. Grabbing Bel Juz, she whirled her around before knocking her flat with one stinging punch.
The Martians cheered wildly and began to chant, “Hail Nubia, Queen of Mars!”
Raising one arm in salute, Nubia said, “J’onn, these Martians seem more primitive than your people on New Mars. They clearly want me as their ruler!”
J’onn nodded and began to explain, “When the Blue Flame destroyed most of our civilization here, we departed to find a new home. That home turned out to be the planet Vonn, or New Mars, as we called it. However, some of the yellow Martians took the destruction as a sign that our society had drifted too far from the ancient ways. They became nomadic and remained here. Clearly, they’ve come to embrace what many would call barbaric customs, and the Duke of Deception was all too willing to use his powers to indulge their fantasies by installing Bel as a type of warrior queen!”
“He was always cruel and cowardly,” said Nubia. “Yet I can’t explain his sudden departure.”
T’omm J’onzz suddenly flew into view, a blue flame of energy crackling around him. “I can explain! I have a lot to tell you all!”
***
Later, after the Martian Manhunter and Wonder Woman exchanged their stories, and little Zook received the praise he deserved for his help, Zook thought about the way Primaid had helped him get to J’onn. He knew that she was a reformed military official who had once loved J’onn, but had chosen to side with a more warlike group of their people rather than stand by his side. Her real name was J’en N’ston, but she was content now to secretly be a heroine to the Martian people, known as Primaid.
J’en still felt guilty over the way things had ended between her and J’onn, but she had vowed to always do anything she could to help him. If he was happy now, she was glad, but she also regretted losing him years before. Zook had agreed to keep her secret, and he had kept his promise. She had returned to New Mars after making certain, via her Martian senses, that Zook and J’onn had triumphed.
She could not have known that J’onn had already detected her from afar after their battle with Professor Hugo. His keen senses were far more developed on Earth than any other Martian who had less experience in the alien environment. He felt sorry for his old lover, but he was also proud that she was trying to redeem herself. He would allow her to keep her secret. J’onn looked over at his brother.
T’omm spoke softly but deliberately, selecting each word carefully. “I was drawn here by the Blue Flame itself,” he said. “It made me think you were here. When you vanished, we didn’t know what had happened, but I was deluded into thinking you were here. It was all a ruse to draw me back here so I could fulfill a prophecy.”
Nubia spoke up. “T’omm, your power frightened the Duke away. That much I could tell.”
“My power comes from a deep elemental source that rests within this planet,” T’omm said. “I was drawn away from Nubia when we first arrived. I went to the site where the Blue Flame first made itself known to us. It spoke to me. Eons ago, the Guardians of the Universe banished all magical energies to another universe. Some of those energies fell to an Earth known as Earth-Two and became known as the Starheart. (*) They empowered a hero named Green Lantern of the Justice Society!” (*)
[(*) Editor’s note: See “Dark Things Cannot Stand the Light,” Green Lantern v2 #111 (December, 1978), “Starheart Connection,” Green Lantern v2 #112 (January, 1979), and The Green Lantern, All-American Comics #16 (July, 1940).]
“I have met him,” J’onn said. “He is a true hero. Are you saying the Blue Flame is also part of those long-banished magical energies?”
“That is what it told me today,” T’omm said. “The voice said that another section fell free before the rest were contained. This section split into two component parts — not green, but blue and yellow. The yellow part was drawn into a universe known as Qward, where it was exploited for a time by the evil residents of that universe, until it found an unlikely champion there and redeemed him. (*) Meanwhile, the blue landed here and became the Blue Flame. Apparently, when Blanx tried to manipulate it, it blazed forth as a force of death. It bonded with me for some reason, and now it has brought me here to fulfill its second prophecy. The power must bring life as well!”
[(*) Editor’s note: That champion calls himself the Yellow Flame; see Crime Syndicate of America: The Secret Society of Super-Heroes, Chapter 1: A Gathering of Heroes.]
“But didn’t it do that already when you were not harmed by its power years ago?” J’onn asked.
“Possibly,” T’omm said, “but it has compelled me to come here to use its elemental magic to bring life to this charred world!”
T’omm flew skyward, and as blue energy erupted across the sky, the landscape itself began to transform from charred desert to green, life-sustaining foliage. In moments, half of the continent itself had become renewed, and J’onn gasped as he realized all the implications.
Someday, life may thrive here again, he thought, holding Nubia as they watched excitedly with Zook. “T’omm has repaired the damage caused by Blanx years ago!”
As T’omm landed once again, the blue nimbus faded from view. “My powers are still inside me, but they have been greatly expended,” he said. “J’onn, I think I’ve done what I was always meant to do. I spent so long wondering if I had a role of my own to play, and now I’ve found it. I have restored our homeworld. Our people can return and begin to build again!”
“You have truly amazed us all!” J’onn said. “You are more of a hero than I ever could be! Perhaps, some will choose to leave New Mars and start again here.”
“What of the yellow Martians?” asked Nubia. “They need leadership. I lost one people to the time and space fluctuations of Mars Isle, or Marzal, but I consider these people my responsibility now, since even their illusions of civilization are gone. As your partner, I have a tie to Mars. I once had a vision caused by the Time Master in which I was crowned Queen of Mars. (*) I think it is my duty to care for these people and guide them into the development of civilization!”
[(*) Editor’s note: See Wonder Woman: Time of Change.]
“With your robot plane, travel between here and Earth is a fairly simple matter,” J’onn said. “I will support you if you wish to spend more time here and help my people. You were truly born to rule!”
“If I but rule your heart, I will be eternally happy,” Nubia said.
They kissed as the Martians cheered, and little Zook laughed merrily.
“Manhunter always win!” Zook shouted. “Zook knew it!”
The End