| WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN! - KALIBER MEETS GUY GARDNER |
A lost story by Steve Mattsson, originally posted on AOL
Kaliber Meets Guy Gardner:
The Kaliber meets Guy Gardner text story was written for the letter's page of Superboy and the Ravers #12, which featured letters of comment about Superboy and the Ravers #8. Then the letters' page got cut because we added an extra story page in #12. When I saw Guy and Kal together in Genesis #4, I decided it'd be fun to post the story of their first meeting here on AOL! I hope you enjoyed it. (Note: this story fits into Superboy and the Ravers #8 sometime after PAGE EIGHT panel one and dovetails into PAGE FOURTEEN panel three.)
The Lantern Lounge in Warrior's restaurant:
The magical entity known as Sentinel was once a man named Alan Scott. On the journey from human to demi-god he found a green lantern--a battery containing mystic energy. Taking a name and power from the battery, Alan Scott called himself Green Lantern and shed his light over dark, evil things!
From across the cosmos other Green Lanterns joined the battle against those who worshipped evil's might. Alan Scott felt a great kinship with them, but also a separation. In a vast corps of Green Lanterns he was different. He was a true original.
Now the Corps is gone, but he remains. The part of him that is still human enjoys reflecting on things that were in this shrine to the Green Lantern Corps.
Suddenly, inexplicably, a Qwardian Destroyer entered the lounge. Sentinel willed the light rays in the room to bend around himself. The Destroyers and the Green Lantern Corps were mortal enemies. Sentinel knew that the hot tempered owner of Warrior's, Guy Gardner, would not take kindly to finding a Qwardian in his establishment.
Sentinel took no action against the Qwardian. He was content to observe. There was something fascinating about the alien youth. The Thunderer stank of evil. Razor-keen mystic senses perceived a being that had been baptized in hate, but Sentinel could detect no malevolence radiating from within. There was only a pale white light struggling through hairline cracks in the gnarled black shell of the Qwardian's upbringing.
The youth looked in awe at the trophies and tributes in the room. He then lingered before one in particular--the new statue of Hal Jordan. Jordan was once the Corps' most famous, now most infamous member. The Qwardian gazed up at the icon with tears welling in his large eyes. He started to speak. Sentinel granted himself an understanding of the alien language.
"Green Lantern of Earth--how the Weaponers of Qward hated you for their many defeats! And how we in the rebel underground loved you! You were always my personal inspiration until...until the...Crimes. I couldn't understand your Emerald Twilight. A journey from good to evil? Is such a thing possible? I pray that I never know. Something I do understand is the bitter struggle from evil to good. Did you redeem yourself against the Sun Eater? I am not sure, but I do know that you do not deserve the dishonor I've shown you. Three times I have denied you when listing the greatest champions of Earth. And I failed to pay you proper homage at your living shrine in the Coast City crater--for this I am sorry."
After a pause, the youth seemed about to speak again, but that was when the Warrior himself walked into the room. The human part of Sentinel had mixed feelings about Guy Gardner. The man had failed at almost everything he tried and was still obnoxious. He never gives up, though. As a Green Lantern, as possessor of the yellow ring, as an exo-skeleton-clad superhero, and now as a Vuldarian-gened Warrior, Guy has waged a constant battle against personal demons while simultaneously fighting the galaxy's most dangerous villains.
A surge of adrenaline shot through Guy's body the instant he saw Kaliber. His flesh began to twist and morph. Guy's right fist expanded into a giant spiked mace. His "Warrior's logo" t-shirt sank into his skin. Guy's Vuldarian battle tattoos rose to the surface of his bare chest and scowling face. Prism tongued, Gardner assaulted the young Destroyer with a full spectrum of 'colorful' language and finished with, "The Corps may be gone, ya piece of anti-matter filth, but you're gonna learn that there's still hell ta pay when ya come uninvited to my Universe!"
Kaliber turned to see the Warrior in all of his Vuldarian glory. Guy thought he was ready for anything, but he could not have anticipated the Qwardian's response. A wide smile spread across the youngster's face, lighting up his features in way most unnatural for his species. Kaliber stuttered a bit and finally blurted out, "Guy Gardner! The Guy Gardner! You are the Warrior that defeated the Crimson Lord of Qward, Sinestro! I-I would never come to your sanctum unbidden, Great One! I am a comrade in arms of the Superboy! I am here with many other brave young Earth heroes!"
Guy was taken aback and Sentinel used that moment to spread a blanket of calm over the entire Lantern Lounge. Guy felt the tension drain from his body and spoke, "Superboy? The kid's got mucho nerve sneaking in ta my bar with a buncha his snot-nose buddies!" But Kaliber didn't seem to hear Guy. His mind was on one track only, "I was just a youngster, but I still remember the day that you and Lobo invaded Qward--two against a whole planet of evil! What a bittersweet day that was for the resistance! You and Lobo demoralized the Weaponers and gave inspiration to us in the underground, but that was also the day when we learned that Qward's greatest pacifist was murdered in prison by his jailers!"
It was then that Guy matter-of-factly spoke the words that wounded Kaliber like a knife in the guts, "Sorry kid, the Weponers didn't off your peacenick pal--Lobo did it as some sorta joke.* Now, excuse me--I gotta go round up Superboy before he costs me my liquor license!"
Guy strode purposefully out of the room and Sentinel heard Kaliber speak these ominous words, "If what the Warrior told me is true...Lobo will pay for his crime! This I swear!"
* See the Guy Gardner Reborn mini-series.
Back to GLCWP Behind the Curtain.