S.W.O.R.D. #0-1

A Mercy by Any Other Color

Seeing Red

A terrified and pained telepathic scream reverberates through the cosmos alerting the ever mindful Martian Manhunter. It is a distressed Mother Mercy. Something has descended upon the Clementian habitat and is perverting the Black Mercies to amplify feelings of rage.

S.W.O.R.D. is tasked with making planetfall, protecting as many Black Mercy sites as possible, finding any sites turned to Red Mercies and dealing with them, confronting and dispatching the Red Lanterns, and rescuing Mother Mercy herself.

S.W.O.R.D. agents Beast and Doctor Doom arrive on Xanlis, the Black Mercy Planet, immediately note an alien race of sentient crystal lichen attached to boulders. They seem docile and unbothered, chewing and feeding on the planet’s atmosphere. Realizing they do not pose any threat, the two Earthlings venture deeper into the lush blue, green, and purple foliage.

Deeper into the planet’s jungles, they make contact with their first Black Mercy overgrowth, and in the distant skies, they can also see Red Lanterns scouring the planet’s surface for something.

It doesn’t take long to realize that the Lanterns are the source of the perversion and distress to the Mercies, and Doom springs into action casting Crimson Bands of Cyttorak on one of the Red Lanterns knotting him up to crash below the brush. This opening salvo alerts not only nearby Red Lanterns, but some nearby crystal lichen creatures under the noticeable influence of unbridled rage. Doom focuses his might on the Lanterns while Beast uses an up-close and personal fighting style, bounding around while studying the crystal rock creatures, trying to parse a way to clear their emotional tumult.

Eventually, the two fights converge, and while tossing one of the crystal aliens at a Red Lantern, Beast sees the Red Mercy attached to the bottom of the sentient crystal.

After biting off the finger of an unconscious Red Lantern to separate the ring from the wielder, Beast has Martian Manhunter teleport the unconscious and fingerless foe to the Watchtower holding cells.

He then turns back to the rage-inducing Red Mercies on the crystal aliens. He tries to rip it free but understands it is too deeply entwined to the creature and must kill the living plant. His punch does little except entice the creature to change hosts, and it wraps its tendril around his arm, poisoning him with tinges of rage.

Meanwhile, Doom also attempts to free the Red Lantern Graxus of its ring by ripping off a finger. Still, with his victim awake, a killswitch is activated, and it explodes like a grenade of violent red fire damaging all those around.

Not enough to kill or knock anyone unconscious (thanks to Doom’s quick wit, understanding what was happening, and tossing the ring), Doom summons a magical portal and drags Graxus into a Latverian dungeon to be dealt with later.

Before his eventual imprisonment, Graxus put out a beacon that he was being attacked, bringing the entire might and fury of the Red Lantern Corps to the position of Doom and Beast.

Running up that Hill

Beast and Doom attempt to hide knowing reinforcements are coming, and from their positions they can see Red Lanterns arrive, scope out the blown-up Red Ring, and canvas for their missing soldiers. They also watch as Bleez—who appears in command—uses the rage of her red ring to turn a Black Mercy into a red one.

Having gathered enough intel from the enemy Lanterns, the members of SWORD attempt to slink away, but are spotted and Adam X and Bleez give chase after Doctor Doom. Doom turns to face Adam X who gets the drop on him by fueling his mutant rage abilities with the red ring, and cutting through Doom’s armor. Doom blasts back, but Adam X goes supernova with rage energy, putting the Latverian ruler on the brink. Doom responds by threatening the Red Lantern and opening a portal to the Watchtower.

Bleez slows her pursuit and challenges Beast to approach with a jeer “here kitty kitty.” She says she has a blue kitten at home with a much bigger bite. Beast strikes, but is grabbed and held so that Bleez sticks a Red Mercy on him. While she is distracted, Beasts wiggles into a armbar and shatters her arm. It’s effective, but fuels the Lantern’s rage and she lifts him up through the pain and powers up to nuke the blue-furred doctor, but he is teleported back to the Watchtower and blinks out of existence before she can.

On the Watchtower, Martian Manhunter and Steel approach with technology designed to remove the Mercy, but Beast attempts to negotiate with it first. The alient plant rejects the offer, and shows Beast the death of his friend, Bobby Drake, for which Beast is responsible. In a flash of brilliance, Beast turns the tables, letting the creature feel his seething rage at himself for what he’s had to do over and over for the greater good. The evils he’s done. The only rage Beast feels is for himself, and that only harms the Mercy’s self preservation. The two come to a tentative cease fire, and Beast names them “Crimson.”

Beast and Doom recuperate for a while before scanning for signs of the Red Lantern legion, and Mother Mercy. They find both, the Lanterns having found and surrouded Mother Mercy.

Cast