Synopsis
| - Sodam Yat, now merged with the Ion Entity, battles Superboy-Prime across the city of New York. Their battle takes them to a bridge near the Hudson River. As they go underwater, Sodam instinctively uses heat vision on Prime, something he's never done before. Prime responds in kind, and in short order, the water in the area is quickly evaporated, as Sodam thinks back to his past...
As a child, Sodam Yat was interested in outer space. Daxam was intensely xenophobic, and his father was as well. During a meteor shower, Sodam sees a space cruiser, where some of it crashes into a nearby mountain. His father, seeing what he's doing, calmly explains that Daxam is all the universe he will need, takes the lenses of his telescope, and breaks it.
Superboy-Prime punches Sodam into the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant. Sodam begins to feel sick, as there is lead everywhere. Prime impales him with a uranium rod, which Sodam shoves into Prime's mouth. Prime instead chews and swallows the uranium, then throws it at a fleeing Sodam, who again thinks to his past...
After the metoer shower, Sodam headed to the crash site. Instead of a rock, he finds a wrecked starship and a pilot named Tessog. He takes Tessog to a cave, and over the weeks, they begin to teach each other about the other, despite not speaking the same language. Sodam knew that it was a path he could never turn back on.
As the rod again spears Sodam Yat, Superboy-Prime crashes him into a cemetary in the Bronx. Prime enjoys the sight of the corpses being unburied by their battle, and carves two tombstones: one for Sodam Yat, one for Earth. As Sodam corners him against a wall with one of the tombstones, Prime hits him with the force of a sonic boom, triggering the most painful flashback...
As Sodam heads to the Tessog's cave, he finds that Tessog is gone and everything is missing. Suddenly, he is struck unconscious by electrically charged whips. His next experience is Tessog's people massacring Daxamites, killing Sodam Yat's parents. As Sodam curses the aliens, it is revealed that his parents had Sodam brainwashed into seeing the images to develop xenophobia.
In the cemetery, Sodam Yat is becoming weaker and weaker. Yat begins to fear that Prime is going to defeat him, as his final flashback occurs...
On a trip to a museum with his class, Sodam Yat is shown various images of what would happen if aliens were allowed to land on Daxam. Suddenly, one exhibit catches Sodam's attention--Tessog's stuffed corpse on display, threatening a Daxamite. Remembering everything, Sodam spends the next several years putting on an image for his parents and fellow Daxamites, while using what is left of Tessog's ship to build his own vessel. When his ship is ready for launch, a voices tells him that he has the courage to overcome great fear, and a Green Lantern Ring slips onto his finger. Sodam Yat is now a member of the Green Lantern Corps.
Sodam Yat has been taken to his limit and beyond. Unable to stand or see, he finally slips into unconciousness. Holding Sodam's injured, probably dying body, Superboy-Prime askes John Stewart and Guy Gardner which of them would like to be next.
|