Post by jross on Jun 22, 2011 15:23:22 GMT -5
Issue #3: The Will to Power, Part III
“Wait, what?” Hal Jordan replied to the newcomer, “Murder?”
“Yes, human,” replied the menacingly advancing alien, “Abin Sur, veteran Green Lantern and hero of a thousand worlds lies dead within your vehicle.”
“Oh, oh,” Hal responded in a hurry, “this isn't what it looks like. He was near death when I found him, I'm doing him a favor. You see, he-”
Jordan was cut off by a flash of emerald arcing past his head and striking his living room window, causing the glass to shatter in a tinkling cacophony.
“I will not ask again. Who are you?”
Hal's response was to instantly reach inward, summoning the suit of armor which he had only learned to use hours earlier. As the green force field surrounded his body, hopefully shielding him form further fire from Sines Toro's power ring, Hal felt a warming sensation suffusing his form.
Sines Toro stopped his advance, staring at Hal with a questioning expression. He lowered his ring and nodded to Hal.
“I believe that I see the truth of the situation, human,” Sines Toro began, his tone of voice no longer threatening, “If you will dismiss your protective field, we can initiate a compressed psychic data channel, greatly saving time and breath on words.”
Hal hesitated, weighing his options. Yes, he had spent his dream cycle of the previous night in training and was now confident that he could wield a power ring, but the alien on his lawn gave him pause. Surely this Sines Toro would have enough experience to be more than a match for Hal. Hal simply nodded and willfully dispelled his aura.
Without further words, Sines Toro raised his right hand once more, palm to Hal. An arc of brilliant lightning flashed between the two men, striking each in the forehead. Hal grunted in pain as he felt his mind opened forcibly.
As at the previous night flashes of images passed, but rather than receiving information, as Abin Sur had given him, Hal felt his own thoughts and memories flowing outward, naked for Sines Toro to view. After several seconds the exposed feeling vanished as Hal felt a power within erecting a mental barrier. Normalcy returned as he sensed Sines Toro withdraw.
“For a rookie your mind is well-shielded, Hal Jordan,” Sines Toro commented, “but I have seen what I need to see. I am convinced of your innocence in this affair, but not necessarily of your utility in the future. I rue this day, with the loss of an ally and the acceptance of a barbarian into the Corps.”
“Barbarian?” Hal grunted indignantly, “'Scuse me?”
In response Sines Toro raised an eyebrow and nodded to Abin Sur's broken form lying exposed in the bed of Hal's beaten-up truck.
“The more civilized cultures of the galaxy show great reverence for fallen heroes. We must take Abin Sur home to Ungara for dignified burial. Of course, barbarian, there is first the matter of vengeance.”
Hal nodded at this, and gave a slight, grim smile. Abin Sur had claimed that Hal's loved ones were in jeopardy, and Hal was intent on taking no chances with Carol's life, or Tom's for that matter.
“It's the Ryutians, right?” Hal wanted to make sure that this overbearing visitor knew that Hal was going to take his new life seriously, and that he would work to earn his respect.
“Ryutian, actually,” Sines Toro nodded, “the creature that you encountered last night was a spawn of Narkanthos, one of the last of his kind. The spawn are merely puppets of their progenitor, a bloodthirsty pirate who has plagued this sector of the galaxy for decades. This will be his last solar cycle.”
“Right. Where do we find him?”
“He is coming to us, Hal Jordan. The ship in which Abin Sur arrived on this planet was a Ryutian runabout. As a green power ring is capable of safely conveying a corpsman through the vacuum of space, Abin Sur must have had a compelling reason for stealing of of Narkanthos' vessels and coming here. Undoubtedly Narkanthos is personally pursuing his craft to this location. We shall intercept him past the orbit of Earth's satellite.”
Normally Hal would have been taken aback at the prospect of simply flying into space, but given what he had seen in the last twelve hours, Hal was prepared to accept virtually any new concept or experience that came his way. Once again, Hal simply nodded.
“Follow,” was Sines Toro's only response. Surrounding himself with a thin emerald aura, Sines Toro gracefully stepped from the ground, suspended in mid-air before swiftly streaking upwards. After a brief deep breath, Hal followed suit.
The green embrace shielded Hal from the biting, chilling wind as he rose higher within the atmosphere. Not exactly a warming sensation, the effect of being clad in the representation of his own willpower was somewhat jubilant, as if his own self-confidence were growing from within to without and freeing him from all restraint.
As the two soared through the Earth's atmosphere, Sines Toro turned back and fixed Hal with a knowing smile.
“The first breakthrough is the same for every Lantern,” the words were visible on Sines Toro's mouth, but the sound could not have traveled through the raging winds. Hal saw and felt his ring vibrating as he received Sines Toro's words, the sound reaching his ears through skeletal vibrations.
“Uh, it's pretty great,” was all that Hal managed to say back.
Moments later the two breached the atmosphere. The slightly-felt buffeting of the high atmospheric winds ceased, but Jordan still felt no cold. Ahead he saw Sines Toro accelerate wildly and Hal saw that with a simple intent to fly faster he was also able to increase his own speed, though the only indication that he had of movement was his own position relative to Sines Toro's and the setting moon on his right side.
“Remain alert, barbarian,” Sines Toro called, his signal reaching through the vacuum, “Narkanthos will arrive within two minutes.”
Hal steeled himself, for the first time realizing that he was in a vicious life-or-death scenario. When he had accepted the ring the previous night, his thought had been protecting Carol, Tom and the rest of his friends. As he hung in empty space, farther from his home than any human had ever reached, the impact of that decision made itself forcefully felt. What business did he, a man who had never been more than a few feet from the ground, have battling space pirates and enforcing interstellar law? Could he even aid Sines Toro in the battle, or would he be a liability?
Even as Hal worked to shake off his feelings of doubt, he felt a familiar wisp of presence in the back of his mind, assuring him that all would be right. Hal looked forward to Sines Toro, who had adopted a stance that indicated combat readiness to members of any sentient species. Determination welled up within him, and Hal's aura shone brightly.
Seconds later faint pinpricks of light appeared at an indeterminate distance. The points of light resolved, growing larger at an alarming rate. Eventually Hal could make out the shape of a long, forward-pointing spacecraft, barely definable in the dark of space.
“No warnings, Hal Jordan,” Sines Toro called to his new partner, “and no survivors.”
Sines Toro and Hal opened fire, beams of verdant light lancing from their rings and impacting the approaching warship. Their target shuddered briefly, but did not slow in its approach. The Lanterns did not cease firing, and after a moment the flickers of their beams lit up several approaching forms.
“Battle is joined, barbarian; focus on the puppet spawn while I continue against the ship!” Hal heard Sines Toro's order clearly and moved to position himself in front of and below his fellow Lantern. Hal set up a wall of spikes in front of Sines Toro while he resolved his own aura into his now-familiar knight's armor.
As the defenses were raised several bolts of crimson energy weapons impacted the spike wall. Each caused the construct to ripple, and with every impact Hal felt a knew sensation. It was like a tugging at the base of his skull, pulling his concentration away from the construct, and at the same time almost imperceptibly slowing his physical reactions. Hal wasn't struggling yet, but he realized that more shots could cause him to lose the barrier, leaving Sines Toro vulnerable.
A dozen or so alien forms were visible, ranging from lanky and spindly to squat and broad. Each wore a silver suit emblazoned with a black sigil over the chest. Hal fired on the lead spawn. His shot arrested the spawn's momentum, but seemed to flicker harmlessly off of a red energy field. The spawn turned to shoot Hal as Hal rained continued to open up on the spawn. A crimson bolt hit Hal square in the chest, causing him to lose his breath, but his armor held fast. Finally the spawn's suit cracked open, and the being within twitched then stopped moving.
Hal glanced back at Sines Toro and saw the Lantern continuing to fire determinedly. The warship was beginning to slow and showed some signs of damage, but it seemed to Hal not to be enough to destroy the ship before the spawn overwhelmed Hal's defenses. Sines Toro must have realized this as he shifted tactics.
A nebulous but geometric form resembling a spider web materialized in front of the ship. The web caught on the nose of the craft, slowing it still more. Quickly a new construct rose from the web. Resembling a cross between a scorpion and a mantis, the new construct began slashing at the underbelly of the ship with pincers and tail flying furiously. Meanwhile Hal was still shooting the oncoming pirates, and had taken down two more.
A terrible chuckle came from Sines Toro as a silver gas began venting from one of the arachnid construct's blows. The web and the creature vanished as Sines Toro shot forth another beam, which caught the trailing stream of gas. The stream expanded swiftly under the heat of the beam, which then traveled back into the ship, causing a swelling in the lines through which the gas was flowing. A split-second later the line ruptured into the rest of the ship, mixing with the oxygen environment and igniting. The outward effect was a linear explosion bucking the ship forward and down while the flaring vented gas consumed the approaching spawn.
Hal simply gaped as his spike wall dissolved while Sines Toro smiled. As Hal was about to speak he felt a catch around his left arm just below the shoulder. He looked up to Sines Toro to find the other man looking shocked, staring at a thin golden cable around his own right ankle.
Out of the dying fire blossom shot another figure. Approaching as a blur and shooting past the two Lanterns Hal judged it to be at least twenty feet tall. Before either man could react their cables constricted, slinging them after the new combatant. The force was so severe that Hal estimated that were he not protected by his green aura then his arm would have been torn off of his body.
“Narkanthos!” Sines Toro shouted as he shot after the streaking enemy, “It would have been better for you to have died in the explosion!”
“Think you can 'andle me now?” came a deep, gruff voice through Hal's ring, “Got me some new toys, I did, and no Green Lan'ern's gonna stand up ta me!”
Hal looked back to see that Narkanthos was in an enormous suit of golden armor, dragging the two Lanterns toward Earth. He formed a circular saw over his right hand and set to cutting the cable, wary of tearing his own arm or his head.
“I ain't gonna let you find it afore I do!” Narkanthos was still shouting, “But I am gonna use it to grind you ta pulp!”
Sines Toro paused his firing briefly, obviously puzzled. “Find what, Narkanthos? You have not made a personal appearance against the Corps in over a century. What has drawn you to this world?”
“He di'n't tell ya? Oi! This is gonna be priceless!” Narkanthos barked out what seemed to be a twisted mockery of laughter.
Sines Toro resumed firing, this time focusing on the cable around his ankle. He was able to free himself before Hal and quickly opened up once more on their foe. Narkanthos weaved, jerking Hal about and nearly placing him square in the line of fire. One of Sines Toro's shots sizzled past Hal's head, finally severing the cord around his arm.
Narkanthos growled as he whirled about, charging towards Hal, who was the closer of his two attackers. Hal threw up a hasty barrier, with no visible features beyond being a solid bubble of green. Narkanthos stopped in front of Hal and slowly reached forward. Without a ripple, a pull or any other sensation Hal's barrier parted around Narkanthos' massive hand.
Both Lanterns gasped in shock. Hal dropped his barrier and used a concussive blast to push himself back from Narkanthos. Sines Toro stretched forth his arms, a pair of snakes appearing from them and darting towards Narkanthos. Each snake entwined around a leg and slithered upwards, splitting into more snakes once they reached Narkanthos' torso. Narkanthos swept downward with his right hand, casually vanishing a snake head. Sines Toro grunted as he quickly wrapped a snake around Narkanthos' left shoulder from behind and looped it back to grab the right arm, pinning both immobile.
“Quickly, Hal Jordan,” Sines Toro called out, “no mercy!”
Hal was already surging back towards Narkanthos when he activated the saw on his right hand, focusing the spinning blade as sharp as he could make it. Hal slammed his fist down onto Narkanthos' face mask, pressing forward unrelentingly. Narkanthos struggled mightily but futilely as Hal bore down until the mask finally cracked. The pirate's giant red face swelled until it was grotesquely distorted while his body convulsed before falling still.
Scornfully, Sines Toro flung Narkanthos' body away, where it drifted toward Earth. The two men regarded one another while panting to catch their breath. Sines Toro nodded and smiled before silently speeding back to Earth. As Hal followed he once again could not keep himself from grinning like a fool.
-
Hal landed in his front yard, glad that he had no nearby neighbors. He was about to call out to Sines Toro when he saw the other man walking slowly to his truck. With a slight hop unassisted by his power ring Sines Toro deftly leaped into the truck bed and knelt over Abin Sur's body. He reached with his left hand to the right side of Sur's face while touching the right side of his own face with his other hand. As he traced a line down Sur's eye and his own he quietly intoned “The tears of a million brothers bear your pyre downstream.”
Something deep within Hal stirred at this rite. However alien the culture, any respectable being would recognize the sorrow and loss immediately. From another in his psyche came a bittersweet nostalgia and a sense of dread for Sines Toro's own well-being, though he could not say why.
“I'll give you a minute,” Hal whispered to Sines Toro as he took to the sky.
-
Flying first to the sheriff's station, Hal landed inconspicuously and entered. Facing him from the back of the building was Tom Kalmaku. Wordlessly the deputy raised his hands in question, slightly shaking his head.
“You alone?” Hal asked.
“Jim O'Neal's out on patrol. Guy's in lock-up but he's passed out and I don't think that he'll wake up soon.”
Hal glanced to his right and saw the big man sprawled on his cell bunk, hanging over the small bed and drooling onto the floor. Hal was surprised to find that his instinct was not to open up on Guy the way he last night, despite the fact that he knew he would never again have such a good chance to really vent on the brute. Hal didn't know the feeling, and he didn't have time to address it now.
“Tom, I'm going out of town for a while. I've, uh, got a lot to work out,” Hal mumbled the last sentence looking down at the floor.
Tom smiled, a similar smile to the one that Carol had given him hours ago, “Hal, sure, sure. Um, is this you getting help? You know-”
“Uh, yeah. Tom, I'm getting help. Hey, thanks.”
“Hal, I've got faith in you. I'll hold down the fort, you get well. Are you going to tell Carol?”
“I'm on my way, Tom. Thanks again.” Without a further word from either of them Hal walked out of the station and around the corner of the building before soaring away.
-
Hal hovered over Carol's home and spied her in her glass-walled studio in her backyard. She was sitting in front of a large lump of clay with her head in her hands and her back hunched forward. A million thoughts came into Hal's head, each something that he wanted to say. Yet as he looked down it just seemed that no words could say what he needed right now. Hal hesitated a second longer before streaking towards his home.
-
Four hundred and fifty miles away in an office in Oklahoma City a man sat bored at his desk, wondering idly what he would have for lunch when his aide buzzed his intercom.
“Major Booker?”
“Yes, corporal?”
“Captain Usher is here to see you. He says that it's urgent.”
“Send him in.” Booker feared bad news but was eager for any excitement.
A slim, dark-skinned man entered carrying a file folder. He saluted before rushing to present its contents to the seated major.
“Major Booker, sir, there's been a crash about eighty miles out. Incoming photos are pretty incredible.”
Booker carefully reviewed each of the photos in the folder, marveling at the enormous form in the center of a crater. His ennui gone, Booker smiled.
“Captain, get that thing over to Dr. Stewart ASAP.”
-
Jordan landed a few feet from Sines Toro. The senior Lantern regarded him morosely.
“I had planned to take Abin Sur home to Ungara, but I have just received a summons from the Guardians. It seems that you and I are to travel to Oa without delay. We cannot leave the body of such a great Lantern here. We will take Abin Sur to Oa before departing for Ungara. First, however, there is a small matter to which we must attend.”
Hal raised his eyebrow expectantly while he waited for Sines Toro to continue.
“You have performed admirably, Hal Jordan. To be fully inducted to the Green Lantern Corps you must take an oath to defend the innocent. Repeat after me.”
Sines Toro solemnly intoned an oath, and Hal listened intently. When Sines Toro had finished, Hal stood straighter, took a breath and began.
“In brightest day, in blackest night,
No evil shall escape my sight,
Let those who worship evil's might,
Beware my power, Green Lantern's light!”
The two men gazed at one another briefly before Sines Toro extended a protective construct around Abin Sur' body. Without further ceremony both men took to the sky for a flight to the center of the galaxy.
The Battle-Hymn of Kilowog, Warrior-Poet
I stand before the line of the legions of dark,
The foe faces me, stares to my very core,
And I confess, he sees the worst of me,
Naked and bare I am laid before my enemy,
My brother, my sister rushes past, shining bright,
Their light warms my skin, my light stokes my soul-fire
The enemy crouches back as I surge forth,
Death awaits me, but I do not fear.
“Wait, what?” Hal Jordan replied to the newcomer, “Murder?”
“Yes, human,” replied the menacingly advancing alien, “Abin Sur, veteran Green Lantern and hero of a thousand worlds lies dead within your vehicle.”
“Oh, oh,” Hal responded in a hurry, “this isn't what it looks like. He was near death when I found him, I'm doing him a favor. You see, he-”
Jordan was cut off by a flash of emerald arcing past his head and striking his living room window, causing the glass to shatter in a tinkling cacophony.
“I will not ask again. Who are you?”
Hal's response was to instantly reach inward, summoning the suit of armor which he had only learned to use hours earlier. As the green force field surrounded his body, hopefully shielding him form further fire from Sines Toro's power ring, Hal felt a warming sensation suffusing his form.
Sines Toro stopped his advance, staring at Hal with a questioning expression. He lowered his ring and nodded to Hal.
“I believe that I see the truth of the situation, human,” Sines Toro began, his tone of voice no longer threatening, “If you will dismiss your protective field, we can initiate a compressed psychic data channel, greatly saving time and breath on words.”
Hal hesitated, weighing his options. Yes, he had spent his dream cycle of the previous night in training and was now confident that he could wield a power ring, but the alien on his lawn gave him pause. Surely this Sines Toro would have enough experience to be more than a match for Hal. Hal simply nodded and willfully dispelled his aura.
Without further words, Sines Toro raised his right hand once more, palm to Hal. An arc of brilliant lightning flashed between the two men, striking each in the forehead. Hal grunted in pain as he felt his mind opened forcibly.
As at the previous night flashes of images passed, but rather than receiving information, as Abin Sur had given him, Hal felt his own thoughts and memories flowing outward, naked for Sines Toro to view. After several seconds the exposed feeling vanished as Hal felt a power within erecting a mental barrier. Normalcy returned as he sensed Sines Toro withdraw.
“For a rookie your mind is well-shielded, Hal Jordan,” Sines Toro commented, “but I have seen what I need to see. I am convinced of your innocence in this affair, but not necessarily of your utility in the future. I rue this day, with the loss of an ally and the acceptance of a barbarian into the Corps.”
“Barbarian?” Hal grunted indignantly, “'Scuse me?”
In response Sines Toro raised an eyebrow and nodded to Abin Sur's broken form lying exposed in the bed of Hal's beaten-up truck.
“The more civilized cultures of the galaxy show great reverence for fallen heroes. We must take Abin Sur home to Ungara for dignified burial. Of course, barbarian, there is first the matter of vengeance.”
Hal nodded at this, and gave a slight, grim smile. Abin Sur had claimed that Hal's loved ones were in jeopardy, and Hal was intent on taking no chances with Carol's life, or Tom's for that matter.
“It's the Ryutians, right?” Hal wanted to make sure that this overbearing visitor knew that Hal was going to take his new life seriously, and that he would work to earn his respect.
“Ryutian, actually,” Sines Toro nodded, “the creature that you encountered last night was a spawn of Narkanthos, one of the last of his kind. The spawn are merely puppets of their progenitor, a bloodthirsty pirate who has plagued this sector of the galaxy for decades. This will be his last solar cycle.”
“Right. Where do we find him?”
“He is coming to us, Hal Jordan. The ship in which Abin Sur arrived on this planet was a Ryutian runabout. As a green power ring is capable of safely conveying a corpsman through the vacuum of space, Abin Sur must have had a compelling reason for stealing of of Narkanthos' vessels and coming here. Undoubtedly Narkanthos is personally pursuing his craft to this location. We shall intercept him past the orbit of Earth's satellite.”
Normally Hal would have been taken aback at the prospect of simply flying into space, but given what he had seen in the last twelve hours, Hal was prepared to accept virtually any new concept or experience that came his way. Once again, Hal simply nodded.
“Follow,” was Sines Toro's only response. Surrounding himself with a thin emerald aura, Sines Toro gracefully stepped from the ground, suspended in mid-air before swiftly streaking upwards. After a brief deep breath, Hal followed suit.
The green embrace shielded Hal from the biting, chilling wind as he rose higher within the atmosphere. Not exactly a warming sensation, the effect of being clad in the representation of his own willpower was somewhat jubilant, as if his own self-confidence were growing from within to without and freeing him from all restraint.
As the two soared through the Earth's atmosphere, Sines Toro turned back and fixed Hal with a knowing smile.
“The first breakthrough is the same for every Lantern,” the words were visible on Sines Toro's mouth, but the sound could not have traveled through the raging winds. Hal saw and felt his ring vibrating as he received Sines Toro's words, the sound reaching his ears through skeletal vibrations.
“Uh, it's pretty great,” was all that Hal managed to say back.
Moments later the two breached the atmosphere. The slightly-felt buffeting of the high atmospheric winds ceased, but Jordan still felt no cold. Ahead he saw Sines Toro accelerate wildly and Hal saw that with a simple intent to fly faster he was also able to increase his own speed, though the only indication that he had of movement was his own position relative to Sines Toro's and the setting moon on his right side.
“Remain alert, barbarian,” Sines Toro called, his signal reaching through the vacuum, “Narkanthos will arrive within two minutes.”
Hal steeled himself, for the first time realizing that he was in a vicious life-or-death scenario. When he had accepted the ring the previous night, his thought had been protecting Carol, Tom and the rest of his friends. As he hung in empty space, farther from his home than any human had ever reached, the impact of that decision made itself forcefully felt. What business did he, a man who had never been more than a few feet from the ground, have battling space pirates and enforcing interstellar law? Could he even aid Sines Toro in the battle, or would he be a liability?
Even as Hal worked to shake off his feelings of doubt, he felt a familiar wisp of presence in the back of his mind, assuring him that all would be right. Hal looked forward to Sines Toro, who had adopted a stance that indicated combat readiness to members of any sentient species. Determination welled up within him, and Hal's aura shone brightly.
Seconds later faint pinpricks of light appeared at an indeterminate distance. The points of light resolved, growing larger at an alarming rate. Eventually Hal could make out the shape of a long, forward-pointing spacecraft, barely definable in the dark of space.
“No warnings, Hal Jordan,” Sines Toro called to his new partner, “and no survivors.”
Sines Toro and Hal opened fire, beams of verdant light lancing from their rings and impacting the approaching warship. Their target shuddered briefly, but did not slow in its approach. The Lanterns did not cease firing, and after a moment the flickers of their beams lit up several approaching forms.
“Battle is joined, barbarian; focus on the puppet spawn while I continue against the ship!” Hal heard Sines Toro's order clearly and moved to position himself in front of and below his fellow Lantern. Hal set up a wall of spikes in front of Sines Toro while he resolved his own aura into his now-familiar knight's armor.
As the defenses were raised several bolts of crimson energy weapons impacted the spike wall. Each caused the construct to ripple, and with every impact Hal felt a knew sensation. It was like a tugging at the base of his skull, pulling his concentration away from the construct, and at the same time almost imperceptibly slowing his physical reactions. Hal wasn't struggling yet, but he realized that more shots could cause him to lose the barrier, leaving Sines Toro vulnerable.
A dozen or so alien forms were visible, ranging from lanky and spindly to squat and broad. Each wore a silver suit emblazoned with a black sigil over the chest. Hal fired on the lead spawn. His shot arrested the spawn's momentum, but seemed to flicker harmlessly off of a red energy field. The spawn turned to shoot Hal as Hal rained continued to open up on the spawn. A crimson bolt hit Hal square in the chest, causing him to lose his breath, but his armor held fast. Finally the spawn's suit cracked open, and the being within twitched then stopped moving.
Hal glanced back at Sines Toro and saw the Lantern continuing to fire determinedly. The warship was beginning to slow and showed some signs of damage, but it seemed to Hal not to be enough to destroy the ship before the spawn overwhelmed Hal's defenses. Sines Toro must have realized this as he shifted tactics.
A nebulous but geometric form resembling a spider web materialized in front of the ship. The web caught on the nose of the craft, slowing it still more. Quickly a new construct rose from the web. Resembling a cross between a scorpion and a mantis, the new construct began slashing at the underbelly of the ship with pincers and tail flying furiously. Meanwhile Hal was still shooting the oncoming pirates, and had taken down two more.
A terrible chuckle came from Sines Toro as a silver gas began venting from one of the arachnid construct's blows. The web and the creature vanished as Sines Toro shot forth another beam, which caught the trailing stream of gas. The stream expanded swiftly under the heat of the beam, which then traveled back into the ship, causing a swelling in the lines through which the gas was flowing. A split-second later the line ruptured into the rest of the ship, mixing with the oxygen environment and igniting. The outward effect was a linear explosion bucking the ship forward and down while the flaring vented gas consumed the approaching spawn.
Hal simply gaped as his spike wall dissolved while Sines Toro smiled. As Hal was about to speak he felt a catch around his left arm just below the shoulder. He looked up to Sines Toro to find the other man looking shocked, staring at a thin golden cable around his own right ankle.
Out of the dying fire blossom shot another figure. Approaching as a blur and shooting past the two Lanterns Hal judged it to be at least twenty feet tall. Before either man could react their cables constricted, slinging them after the new combatant. The force was so severe that Hal estimated that were he not protected by his green aura then his arm would have been torn off of his body.
“Narkanthos!” Sines Toro shouted as he shot after the streaking enemy, “It would have been better for you to have died in the explosion!”
“Think you can 'andle me now?” came a deep, gruff voice through Hal's ring, “Got me some new toys, I did, and no Green Lan'ern's gonna stand up ta me!”
Hal looked back to see that Narkanthos was in an enormous suit of golden armor, dragging the two Lanterns toward Earth. He formed a circular saw over his right hand and set to cutting the cable, wary of tearing his own arm or his head.
“I ain't gonna let you find it afore I do!” Narkanthos was still shouting, “But I am gonna use it to grind you ta pulp!”
Sines Toro paused his firing briefly, obviously puzzled. “Find what, Narkanthos? You have not made a personal appearance against the Corps in over a century. What has drawn you to this world?”
“He di'n't tell ya? Oi! This is gonna be priceless!” Narkanthos barked out what seemed to be a twisted mockery of laughter.
Sines Toro resumed firing, this time focusing on the cable around his ankle. He was able to free himself before Hal and quickly opened up once more on their foe. Narkanthos weaved, jerking Hal about and nearly placing him square in the line of fire. One of Sines Toro's shots sizzled past Hal's head, finally severing the cord around his arm.
Narkanthos growled as he whirled about, charging towards Hal, who was the closer of his two attackers. Hal threw up a hasty barrier, with no visible features beyond being a solid bubble of green. Narkanthos stopped in front of Hal and slowly reached forward. Without a ripple, a pull or any other sensation Hal's barrier parted around Narkanthos' massive hand.
Both Lanterns gasped in shock. Hal dropped his barrier and used a concussive blast to push himself back from Narkanthos. Sines Toro stretched forth his arms, a pair of snakes appearing from them and darting towards Narkanthos. Each snake entwined around a leg and slithered upwards, splitting into more snakes once they reached Narkanthos' torso. Narkanthos swept downward with his right hand, casually vanishing a snake head. Sines Toro grunted as he quickly wrapped a snake around Narkanthos' left shoulder from behind and looped it back to grab the right arm, pinning both immobile.
“Quickly, Hal Jordan,” Sines Toro called out, “no mercy!”
Hal was already surging back towards Narkanthos when he activated the saw on his right hand, focusing the spinning blade as sharp as he could make it. Hal slammed his fist down onto Narkanthos' face mask, pressing forward unrelentingly. Narkanthos struggled mightily but futilely as Hal bore down until the mask finally cracked. The pirate's giant red face swelled until it was grotesquely distorted while his body convulsed before falling still.
Scornfully, Sines Toro flung Narkanthos' body away, where it drifted toward Earth. The two men regarded one another while panting to catch their breath. Sines Toro nodded and smiled before silently speeding back to Earth. As Hal followed he once again could not keep himself from grinning like a fool.
-
Hal landed in his front yard, glad that he had no nearby neighbors. He was about to call out to Sines Toro when he saw the other man walking slowly to his truck. With a slight hop unassisted by his power ring Sines Toro deftly leaped into the truck bed and knelt over Abin Sur's body. He reached with his left hand to the right side of Sur's face while touching the right side of his own face with his other hand. As he traced a line down Sur's eye and his own he quietly intoned “The tears of a million brothers bear your pyre downstream.”
Something deep within Hal stirred at this rite. However alien the culture, any respectable being would recognize the sorrow and loss immediately. From another in his psyche came a bittersweet nostalgia and a sense of dread for Sines Toro's own well-being, though he could not say why.
“I'll give you a minute,” Hal whispered to Sines Toro as he took to the sky.
-
Flying first to the sheriff's station, Hal landed inconspicuously and entered. Facing him from the back of the building was Tom Kalmaku. Wordlessly the deputy raised his hands in question, slightly shaking his head.
“You alone?” Hal asked.
“Jim O'Neal's out on patrol. Guy's in lock-up but he's passed out and I don't think that he'll wake up soon.”
Hal glanced to his right and saw the big man sprawled on his cell bunk, hanging over the small bed and drooling onto the floor. Hal was surprised to find that his instinct was not to open up on Guy the way he last night, despite the fact that he knew he would never again have such a good chance to really vent on the brute. Hal didn't know the feeling, and he didn't have time to address it now.
“Tom, I'm going out of town for a while. I've, uh, got a lot to work out,” Hal mumbled the last sentence looking down at the floor.
Tom smiled, a similar smile to the one that Carol had given him hours ago, “Hal, sure, sure. Um, is this you getting help? You know-”
“Uh, yeah. Tom, I'm getting help. Hey, thanks.”
“Hal, I've got faith in you. I'll hold down the fort, you get well. Are you going to tell Carol?”
“I'm on my way, Tom. Thanks again.” Without a further word from either of them Hal walked out of the station and around the corner of the building before soaring away.
-
Hal hovered over Carol's home and spied her in her glass-walled studio in her backyard. She was sitting in front of a large lump of clay with her head in her hands and her back hunched forward. A million thoughts came into Hal's head, each something that he wanted to say. Yet as he looked down it just seemed that no words could say what he needed right now. Hal hesitated a second longer before streaking towards his home.
-
Four hundred and fifty miles away in an office in Oklahoma City a man sat bored at his desk, wondering idly what he would have for lunch when his aide buzzed his intercom.
“Major Booker?”
“Yes, corporal?”
“Captain Usher is here to see you. He says that it's urgent.”
“Send him in.” Booker feared bad news but was eager for any excitement.
A slim, dark-skinned man entered carrying a file folder. He saluted before rushing to present its contents to the seated major.
“Major Booker, sir, there's been a crash about eighty miles out. Incoming photos are pretty incredible.”
Booker carefully reviewed each of the photos in the folder, marveling at the enormous form in the center of a crater. His ennui gone, Booker smiled.
“Captain, get that thing over to Dr. Stewart ASAP.”
-
Jordan landed a few feet from Sines Toro. The senior Lantern regarded him morosely.
“I had planned to take Abin Sur home to Ungara, but I have just received a summons from the Guardians. It seems that you and I are to travel to Oa without delay. We cannot leave the body of such a great Lantern here. We will take Abin Sur to Oa before departing for Ungara. First, however, there is a small matter to which we must attend.”
Hal raised his eyebrow expectantly while he waited for Sines Toro to continue.
“You have performed admirably, Hal Jordan. To be fully inducted to the Green Lantern Corps you must take an oath to defend the innocent. Repeat after me.”
Sines Toro solemnly intoned an oath, and Hal listened intently. When Sines Toro had finished, Hal stood straighter, took a breath and began.
“In brightest day, in blackest night,
No evil shall escape my sight,
Let those who worship evil's might,
Beware my power, Green Lantern's light!”
The two men gazed at one another briefly before Sines Toro extended a protective construct around Abin Sur' body. Without further ceremony both men took to the sky for a flight to the center of the galaxy.
The Battle-Hymn of Kilowog, Warrior-Poet
I stand before the line of the legions of dark,
The foe faces me, stares to my very core,
And I confess, he sees the worst of me,
Naked and bare I am laid before my enemy,
My brother, my sister rushes past, shining bright,
Their light warms my skin, my light stokes my soul-fire
The enemy crouches back as I surge forth,
Death awaits me, but I do not fear.