Post by Question on Dec 21, 2015 0:17:03 GMT -5
Issue 1: Hearts Long Lost
By Question
"Why not? Pour me another. The night is young."
Carol Ferris forced a smile as the bartender poured her another double shot of top shelf whiskey. She'd never been much of a drinker, honestly, but lately she'd really not had anything better to do than kill some brain cells with copious amounts of booze.
It was a Tuesday evening at Warrior's, so the crowd was mercifully nonexistent. The tv above the bar was airing some sports game or another. Carol had watched it halfheartedly when she'd first sat at the bar, but the pleasant alcoholic buzz had long since drowned out anything vaguely resembling interest in the game.
Carol threw back the shot, ignoring the burning in her throat and the momentary urge to vomit once the liquor hit her stomach. Carol had never really been a whiskey girl, but lately it was one of the few drinks that could make her forget (even if only for a moment).
Forget about Ferris & Jordan Aircraft, and how despite having to shut it down she was still being chased by creditors demanding money she didn't actually have.
Forget about the death of her mother, one of the two people who'd given her life meaning beyond work.
Forget about Hal Jordan.
Carol hated thinking about Hal.
Carol loved thinking about Hal.
Carol motioned to the bartender for another shot, having decided that she might just be too drunk to speak coherently. Her apartment was walking distance away, so really she just had to make sure she was able to walk semi-steadily when it was time to leave.
Unfortunately, as was often the case when she drank, Carol's thoughts were now firmly on Hal Jordan. The man she loved. The man she'd been with for so long that everyone thought they'd already been married.
The man who disappeared into space months ago, just after a mission with (what did the pundits call them again?) the Justice League.
Carol felt the tears welling, but blinked them away before the bartender (what was his name again?) poured her drink.
Six months. Damn you, Hal...
THEN
"So, did you hear? I saved the world! Again!"
Carol, paying rapt attention to the news coverage of the Justice League's latest victory, jumped at the sound of Hal's voice. Usually he was fairly noisy when he flew in the window of their apartment, but that mystery was quickly solved when she saw the glowing green hologram leaning against the wall. A construct. Cute.
"Can't even be bothered to stop by in person?" Carol smirked as she rose from the couch. She stopped, realizing her impulse to greet an illusory Hal with a kiss was probably a stupid one, but the construct walked forward and put its surprisingly solid-feeling arms around her. Carol instinctively melted into the light embrace. Sure feels like Hal.
"I'd love to, Carol, but the Guardians have recalled all Lanterns to Oa for something or other." The construct-Hal let her go and gazed into her eyes. Just like the real Hal Jordan, Carol felt like she could get lost in the construct's deep eyes even with them being molded in green light. "No rest for the wicked, am I right?"
Now Carol was annoyed. Suddenly unable to look Hal in the eye, she crossed her arms and turned her back on the construct, walking into the kitchen for some space. "You saved the world and now you have to leave? I feel like I haven't seen you in weeks. Months."
"I know, Carol. And I'm sorry, but I can't just ignore the Guardians." Carol turned back around, and to his credit Hal's doppelganger did seem appropriately chastised. "They usually let Lanterns do their own thing, defend their sectors as they see fit, so if they're calling us to Oa..." Not-Hal let the sentence drift off, the implication clear.
Carol sighed sadly. "I know, I know. But... they've been calling you a lot lately. Between them and now the Justice League, I feel like we're officially in a long distance relationship. And that's not even going into how my best pilot is, at best, never around..."
"Hey, if you'll recall, you told me this was something I needed to do." Hal sounded insulted, and Carol immediately hated herself for putting Hal on the defensive. Even by accident.
"I know, and I'm not saying you shouldn't. I just... miss you." Carol hated herself for the tears that were trying to force their way out.
"I miss you too." Hal wrapped his arms around Carol again, pulling her in close. She leaned back against him, enjoying even the illusion of intimacy with the man she loved. "And I swear, when I get back, we'll spend some time together. Maybe take a vacation."
"Or two."
Hal laughed. "Or two, yeah. I think I've built up some holiday time with the Corps, and the airfield can survive without us for a week or two."
"Says the one who doesn't balance the accounts." Carol grinned.
The two stood in an embrace for a moment (or two, or a hundred; who was counting?), enjoying the simplicity of being with one another without needing to speak. At least, Carol was; she was happy to assume the Hal-construct worked the same way.
Hal finally released her. Carol turned around, meeting Hal's intense gaze with a light smile. "Keep the planet safe while I'm gone, huh? Maybe do something about that whole deforestation thing."
Carol rolled her eyes at what had become a running joke between the two. "Of course. Planet's in good hands as long as you're not on it."
Hal laughed softly. "I know." He gave her an all-too-brief peck on the lips. "I love you."
"I know," Carol repeated back to him. She could still feel the ghost of Hal's lips on hers, familiar enough that it was easy to forget it wasn't actually Hal. "I love you too."
The construct faded from view, and Carol resisted the urge to reach out and touch it before it vanished. She sighed sadly.
"See you in a week or two, Hal," Carol said to the empty room.
NOW
That had been the last time Carol had seen or spoken to or felt Hal Jordan.
First there was the denial. Carol had tried running the company, had played the dutiful girlfriend to Hal's concerned family (and her own, honestly), but she depended on Hal to do everything she couldn't. Even after the first month - Hal had never been gone for a full month without word before, not even on official Green Lantern Corps business - Carol had refused to believe anything was wrong. She threw herself into her work, but unfortunately that proved difficult with her best pilot off saving the universe.
Next came anger. Well into the second month, Ferris & Jordan was getting behind on its test flights, which meant it was behind on revenue, which meant it was behind on paying its bills. It was easy to be superficially angry with Hal for that, blaming him for screwing over the company they'd both worked so hard to build, but even with the layoffs she'd been forced to implement in month three Carol knew in her heart that it wasn't Hal's fault. He'd have been there if he could have.
In month four, Carol had actually gone to Mass for the first time in her adult life, praying that Hal was all right and swearing to God that she'd be a better Catholic if it meant she could see him just one more time (or, even better, for one whole night).
Carol was self-aware enough by then to recognize the Kübler-Ross model of dealing with grief, but she'd also found herself falling into a depression so deep that even knowing she was grieving wasn't enough to snap her out of it. For the past two months, she'd put in the token amount of work at F&J to keep everything running and creditors mostly off her back, but nearly every other waking moment had been spent trying to keep herself from wondering where Hal was, how he was, if... if she weren't to blame in some small way for accepting his Green Lantern responsibilities.
If I had put up a fight, if I had said that I didn't want him playing superhero, would he still be around?
Carol knew intellectually that it wouldn't have made a lick of difference; Hal had always been one to play by his own rules and barring him from following in his hero's footsteps would have just forced him to do it in secret and cause more friction down the road. And besides, Hal's force of will and sense of justice were two of the many things Carol loved about the man. Being Green Lantern seemed like a natural extension of the man Hal already was.
Still, though... Being a Green Lantern was also the thing that had taken Hal from her. She tried to convince herself that there was still a chance that he was fine, but between the time, depression, and alcohol it didn't seem likely.
Carol was deep into trying and failing to convince herself not to order any more liquor when the tv caught her attention. The baseball (basketball? volleyball? quidditch?) game had been interrupted by a breaking news bulletin, complete with dramatically flashy graphic. Carol wasn't quite sure why she cared, honestly (she didn't), but when the bartender went to change the station she asked him to wait.
"This is Ramona Manning with an urgent report. Downtown Coast City is being ravaged by what can only be described as a number of... monsters."
The television shifted to an aerial view of Coast City's downtown district, where indeed there were a number of giant beasts terrorizing the populace. There was a gigantic snake headed woman, a bipedal Godzilla-esque reptile, something that looked like an ogre smashing up cars with a club...
Carol's mouth dropped, however, as she realized just exactly what she was seeing. They weren't just monsters attacking Coast City, they were monsters made of glowing green light. ...Lantern constructs?
"The monsters seem to have begun their assault shortly after a bright green shooting star was sighted in the sky above Coast City. Authorities are urging commuters and citizens to keep their distance..."
ONE HOUR AGO
In the space above Earth, two beings floated. One was a woman who, on Earth, would have been regarded as a physically attractive specimen despite her deep blue skin, and the other was a hulking beast of a creature.
She floated impassively, staring into the void of space with a cold, dispassionate gaze. He was visibly impatient, passing the time by cracking his knuckles and growling.
Both wore skintight yellow and black uniforms with matching symbols emblazoned on their chests. Both were protected from the airless vacuum by protective force fields that glowed with a dim yellow light.
"Stop fidgeting."
The beast glared at his companion. "I'm bored. Almost wish you brought that book." His voice was barely distinguishable from his growl, but she refused to rise to the bait.
She didn't return his look. "If you're so 'bored', go home. I think I can handle one lone Green." While his voice dripped with rage and disdain, her own lacked any sense of emotion.
"Plenty of carnage I could do down there," he replied, nodding his head toward the planet below. "Get some exercise, spread some... fear." She didn't need to look at her companion to hear the grin in his voice. "And I hear there's something called a 'Superman' on this planet that I would very much like to kill."
"That's not why we're here, Arkillo." She crossed her arms, glancing down at the yellow ring on her right hand. It glowed with a steadily pulsing light, and she knew from experience that Arkillo's matching ring sparked with barely restrained fury. It was never any surprise that he was looking for a fight. Still, she spoke to him as one would speak to a child. "When the Green Lantern enters this system, we intercept and kill him. There will be plenty of chances for you to prove your manhood once he arrives."
Arkillo grunted in acknowledgement. "You're no fun, Lyssa."
Lyssa Drak allowed herself a small smile at that, knowing Arkillo would be too focused on the cosmos to notice. They'd been partners in their Corps for less than half a standard year but already they bickered like an old married couple.
They were good partners, though. Their Corps was new, but Lyssa Drak and Arkillo were already making names for themselves as two of the top Corpsmen. They had most recently been entrusted with gaining the allegience of Malon 4 and securing their extensive benamite reserves.
On the duo's way back to the homeworld, Lyssa had intercepted a message from the Green Lantern Corps indicating that a senior Green was on his way to Earth. Apparently, the Green in question was highly decorated and considered one of the most able combatants in several space sectors, meaning Arkillo's interest had immediately been piqued. Lyssa might have been content with allowing the Green to travel home uninterrupted, but Arkillo had insisted that killing a Green as prominent as this one would do much for their Corps' reputation.
It was rare that Arkillo resorted to making an argument in favor of anything instead of simply doing it, so Lyssa had relented. Positive reinforcement was a powerful motivator, and he wasn't exactly wrong about killing the Green.
"I see him!" Lyssa looked where Arkillo was pointing; to his credit, the behemoth hadn't simply chosen to will a Triforian battleaxe into existence and rush the Green. Perhaps her lessons on restraint weren't falling on deaf ears after all.
Lyssa created a yellow telescope construct and peered into it. Indeed, a streak of green light was heading straight for them, the Green Lantern seemingly unaware of the ambush. "Prepare yourself, Arkillo. The Green is nearly here."
While Lyssa preferred a more subtle touch in her technique, Arkillo was a blunt instrument given flesh. The flash of light that accompanied the appearance of a Mercurian war lance into Arkillo's hand would surely have given away their position to the Green, so Lyssa dimmed her protective force field and drifted silently away from Arkillo. He either didn't notice or didn't care, so intent was he on facing a worthy foe in mortal combat.
"GREEN LANTERN!" Arkillo's ring automatically translated and transmitted his war cry to the Green's own. If he hadn't been aware of the ambush, he surely was now. "DEFEND YOURSELF!"
The Green slowed to sublight speeds, willing a glowing green shield construct just in time to block Arkillo's killing blow. The lance bounced off the shield, and the Green immediately counterattacked with a swipe from a quickly summoned longsword. He rushed toward Arkillo, sword and shield in hand like a knight from any one of a thousand legends Lyssa could recite off the top of her head. However, the Green's assault was disrupted by the yellow chains that suddenly yanked his sword to the side. He came to a halt, and Lyssa noted the disappointed look that flashed across Arkillo's face.
The Green grunted, amused. "Arkillo and Lyssa Drak. Wanted for... well, let's just say a lot of things." The Green dispelled his sword and shield, and Lyssa did the same with her now useless chains. "Not sure why you're here, but I promise that whatever you poozers want on Earth, you won't be getting."
"Lantern Kilowog. The hero of Mutara." The Green slowly floated into a position between Lyssa and Arkillo as she spoke. Most might have mistaken it for a grave tactical error, but the move was calculated enough that Lyssa knew it was no mistake. She kept a close eye on Kilowog's ring; it sparked with barely contained energy, and Lyssa knew the Green was very likely aching for a fight almost as badly as Arkillo was. "Powerful, experienced, and still no match for two of our Corpsmen."
"Well, two out of three right anyway." Arms suddenly outstretched in two directions, the Green shot two grappling hook constructs at his opponents. The grappling hooks wrapped aroung their wrists, and with a grunt Kilowog yanked them toward him.
Lesser combatants might have been taken by surprise with this maneuver, but Lyssa Drak was no lesser. She quickly constructed a blast shield in front of her. As Kilowog shot upward (relatively speaking; space really has no 'up'), obviously attempting to use their momentum against them and slam Lyssa and Arkillo into one another, Lyssa positioned her shield to give Arkillo a solid surface to bounce off of. They'd practiced the maneuver enough that Arkillo knew exactly what to do. As they collided, he landed on Lyssa's shield feet-first, kicking off of her and toward the Green.
Lyssa's strategy succeeded in taking Kilowog by surprise, and he barely had time to react when Arkillo slammed into the Green, sending them both tumbling further into space. Lyssa was preparing to summon a spider's web of construct chains to restrain Kilowog when a second streak of green light caught her eye.
The second streak was no Green Lantern, however. As it shot past Lyssa - barely slowing to sublight - she saw it for what it was: a single Green Lantern ring.
If we can capture that ring before it chooses a new bearer, we could access Oa's database directly...! This would be an incredible coup for her Corps. Access to the Guardians' records, a database of the most powerful weapons and the greatest enemies the Green Lantern Corps had ever encountered, and perhaps even a way to use Green technology to upgrade the yellow rings!
"Arkillo! An unattached Green Lantern ring!"
"No!" Kilowog roared as he struggled in Arkillo's powerful grip, but he was no match for Arkillo's brute strength.
"Heh. I've got this," Arkillo grunted as the Green elbowed him in the face. Blood was drawn, but Lyssa knew from past experience that this would only anger Arkillo more. "Go get that ring! I'll finish killing this one and then we'll have TWO!"
Lyssa didn't reply as she willed her ring to take a pursuit course after the Green's. She'd already lost visual sight of the Green ring as it entered Earth's atmosphere, but her own ring's artificial intlligence was fully capable of tracking it. It might take a bit to ascertain a flight path through all of this planet's horrendous atmospheric pollution, but soon enough that Green Lantern ring would be the property of the Sinestro Corps.
With two Lanterns locked in mortal combat in space and the third making her way to the planet below, no one noticed the streak of violet light also heading for Earth.
NOW
Considering the amount of alcohol in her system (a lot), Carol made it to downtown Coast City on foot in record time. What few people were on the streets were all running in one direction, which gave Carol a fairly good indication that she should be running the other way.
Stupid alcohol... Stupid monsters... Stupid Hal... Carol almost regretted that last one, but not quite.
She wished she had a plan. So far, she knew there were Green Lantern constructs downtown (or what she assumed were constructs anyway), and... well, that was it. She didn't know where Hal was; she didn't even know if Hal was here. The constructs could easily have been Alan Scott's, or John Stewart's, or Sinestro's... or literally any other Green Lantern's.
Carol refused to consider that it was anyone but Hal, though. At this point, hope was all she had. But even then, she had no idea why he would be attacking Coast City rather than wisking her away from the bar and into bed.
Or, you know, why he would be attacking Coast City at all.
Carol stopped at the intersection of 103rd and Main Street, staring into the face of a twelve foot tall glowing green bigfoot. "Uh... hey there...?"
The bigfoot was just as surprised to see Carol as she was to see it (well... maybe not just as surprised), and it hesitated for just a second. Luckily, adrenaline was winning the war against the alcohol in Carol's system, and she dodged to the side just as the creature brought its massive fist down. Instead of being reduced to chunky salsa, the bigfoot slammed the telephone pole near where Carol had been standing. It was reduced to splinters, but Carol was sprinting toward an alley a few doors down. As she turned, she risked glancing behind her, where the bigfoot was thankfully not taking chase.
Ducking behind a dumpster, Carol leaned against it to catch her breath and maybe wonder if her desire to find Hal was going to literally kill her.
Why would... how...?
A screech from overhead interrupted Carol's very coherent thoughts. She looked up and saw a giant winged dinosaur flying overhead. It seemed to be heading in the same direction as the bigfoot Carol had recently made the acquaintance of, leading her to wonder if they were heading away from whatever was creating or summoning or... whatevering them.
Carol was mostly sober by now, or at least sober enough to think that making her way to the source of the constructs was a good idea. And if it's not, I probably won't live long enough to regret it, so I have that going for me.
She slowly crept up to the end of the alley, peeking out onto the street. The dinosaur and bigfoot were thankfully both gone, so she stepped out onto the street and made her way in the direction they'd both come from. She broke into a light jog, praying that she wasn't on some kind of suicide mission, praying that she wasn't about to run into a witch or something instead of a Green Lantern, praying that this wasn't the worst idea she'd ever had...
Well. It's not like she had a whole lot to lose.
A few times, Carol had to duck behind a car, or a newspaper box, or a life-sized novelty cartoon mouse cutout advertising a new cartoon; there were more green construct-creatures walking down the street and she had no illusions about her odds of survival if she weren't making sure to stay out of their sight. Carol did notice, however, that the creatures all seemed to be the stuff of nightmares - demons and monsters and predators, the kind of creatures that would give children nightmares.
Hal never created monstrous constructs. He tended more toward the utilitarian or simple - lasers, force fields, giant boxing gloves. He was capable of willing things like these into existence, but Carol very much doubted that if he were here Hal would have been responsible for these.
That, of course, led to the question: who was creating the constructs? It also led to another question: why was Carol still making her way toward whatever was creating the constructs?
A bright green light was shining in an alley up ahead, so bright that despite the late hour Carol wished she'd brought a pair of decent sunglasses. Hindsight was 60/40... or something.
"HAL?" It (probably) couldn't be Hal. Carol (theoretically) knew that. Still, she couldn't stop herself from calling out for him on the off chance that she was wrong and Hal was here and they were about to have their happily ever after.
The crying dashed most of those hopes. The realization that the crying was coming from a woman finished the job.
Carol jogged up the the entrance of the alley with the intense green light. A few feet in, a crying woman was kneeling on the ground. Her hands were clasped together, almost in prayer, but she was loudly sobbing. She would probably have been pretty without the tears and sniffling, but on the ground and crying just made Carol feel sorry for the woman.
"Please stop please stop oh god please stop..."
The woman didn't notice as Carol approached. Carol kneeled down next to her, taking the crying woman's hands in her own. The woman's head jerked up, surprised at the touch, but Carol willed a warm smile onto her face even through the disappointment that this wasn't Hal. Happily, it wasn't as hard as she was expecting. "Hey there. I'm Carol. What's your name?"
The woman stared at Carol through the tears pouring out of her eyes. She sniffled, and whimpered, and finally answered. "J- Jessica. Jessica Cruz."
"Hi Jessica Jessica Cruz." Admittedly, it was a terrible joke. Unfortunately, Carol didn't have much of an idea where to go from here. "So, uh... what's going on here?"
"It's stuck... I can't..." Jessica began sobbing again. She lifted her hands up to give Carol a better view.
Jessica was wearing a Green Lantern ring.
"I guess their standards are going down," Carol muttered to herself, making sure that Jessica wouldn't hear her barely whispered words over her own tears. She gently tried to pull the ring off Jessica's finger, but it did indeed seem to be stuck. If anything, Carol's touch seemed to intensify the glowing. "I don't suppose you have some WD-40 in your purse?"
At least Carol's stupid jokes seemed to be calming Jessica down a little. She even giggled a little through the tears, which Carol decided was an encouraging sign. Still, the ring remained stuck.
"It... it flew down from the sky..." Carol impulsively wrapped an arm around Jessica. She couldn't help but feel so sorry for this woman. Carol doubted Jessica's distress began with the ring finding her, but being surrounded by monsters sculpted from light was probably not helping the woman. "It stopped them... but then the... things..." Jessica began sobbing again as the ring's light began to pulse.
Carol knew what that meant.
A rush of wind knocked Carol back and into the brick wall behind her as a construct began to emerge from Jessica's ring. Jessica screamed, wide eyed and failing to back away from the ring still attached to her finger. The light coalesced into a demonic being, something resembling a ten foot tall minotaur brandishing a broadsword. As it finished appearing, the minotaur roared angrily... at Carol.
Well that was just perfect.
"Don't worry, Jessica. We're gonna get you out of here." Had she been thinking about anything but the woman cowering on the ground a dozen feet away, it might have surprised Carol that her first impulse was to comfort Jessica rather than deal with the frigging minotaur, but to be fair it was shaping up to be a pretty weird night anyway.
"How?" Jessica asked in between petrified whimpers.
"That... is a really good question." Carol tried backing away from the very angry looking bull-man, but she was already backed into a very solid-feeling brick wall.
"Just go. Run." Jessica began sobbing again. Carol was tempted to join her. "You should-"
"I'm not leaving you." Carol began inching to the left, half planning to try and duck around the minotaur, grab Jessica's hand, and run for it. The minotaur was having none of that, though. It stabbed its broadsword into the wall, blocking Carol's not-really-a-plan. "...in fact, you run. I'll distract it." As the beast seemed to be fixated on Carol, it seemed like a safe bet that Jessica could just escape.
"It'll just find me... or the next one will..." Jessica curled into a fetal position, and Carol's heart went out to the other woman even as Carol herself ducked under the minotaur's horizontal arm swipe.
Jessica had a point though. What good would running do if the ring was just creating more constructs?
Unfortunately, even as Carol realized she was out of ideas, the ring began to pulse with green light again. Another construct was forthcoming.
Wonderful.
Carol might have expected to think of Hal as the minotaur raised its sword, preparing for a mighty downward slash right into Carol's skull. Instead, she could only think of Jessica, wondering if anyone could help her more than Carol apparently could.
"Carol Ferris of Earth, you have great love in your heart..."
And then everything went