Legends of the Green Lantern Corps #5

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Legends of the Green Lantern Corps #5
Hell on Earth

Written by Scott D. L. Kruger
Cover by Scott D. L. Kruger
Edited by Daniel Dyer

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Hal Jordan flew at super-sonic speed towards San Francisco and he was not happy. The blood storm had blanketed the land below in a thick red ooze. Unfortunately, most of the populace were already busy about their morning. Below, the endless sea of cars clog the freeways as people began their morning commute. With nowhere to go to get away from the blood, panic had begun to set in.

Kilowog, Hal's trainer, followed in stealth mode, but kept his distance... As far as Kilowog was concerned, this was the perfect opportunity to test Hal's battle prowess. Not to mention that humans had never seen anything quite like a Green Lantern before. To top that off seeing an odd creature like a Bolvaxian might cause a bit more panic. And these humans were already seeing their fair share of panic this morning.

---

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Upon the Eastern wall of Alcatraz stood the cloaked figure of Abel Tarrant. The ground below and everything around him covered in the blood rain. Abel's arms were raised skyward as a dark cloud of energy shot out from deep in the San Francisco bay.

The early morning tourists that had come to Alcatraz to beat "the rush" wished they had waited for that rush. Men, women & many children on a school field trip were being held at bay by creatures of massive size. A giant spider herded the tourists into it's enormous web as a giant serpent encircled the entire island keeping rescuers away. The serpent's jaws were filled with a ferry boat.

Abel himself was covered in blood as well, but not due to the rain... this blood was his own.

"Hear me, Lord Trigon!!!" Abel bellowed towards the sky. "The Earth is yours for the taking... I call upon the spirits of Azarath to free you from your shackles! Burn this world of its human infestation and..."

"Hey kid!" Abel's sentence was cut short as a translucent green hand tapped him on the shoulder. As he turned to regard the hand it became an enormous fist that knocked him skyward. Abel landed hard in the prisons' courtyard. The dark energy coming from the bay and blood rain stopped as soon as Abel's concentration was broken.

"I think I can speak for the 'human infestation' when I say knock it off!" Hal shouted.

"How dare you lay your filthy finger on me..." Abel stood tearing off his cloak, he wore only black leather pants & boots. His exposed, gaunt frame, covered in hundreds of frightening tattoos, piercings and scars, his long, black , stringy hair dripped with blood. "No one touches me... I am the Lord Trigon's Harbinger, I am the Tattooed Man and I will see that you burn in my Lords Hell for that... hero."

"It's Green Lantern, pal, and I'm taking you... JEZZUS!"

---

[Spider-Man Beyond]

The pain was blissfully excruciating. The Venus stone imbedded under the skin of Abel's neck glowed blood red. He hit the ground on all fours as the skin on his back began to pull & stretch skyward. Abel laughs as blood began to stream down his shoulder blades and onto the already blood soaked ground. His laughter became maniacal as the beak of the tattooed Phoenix on his back ripped through his skin. The sound of it alone, was horrifying to his captives, not to mention the sight.

"NNNYYYAAARRRGGGHHH!!!" he screamed as the wings of the creature tore free, leaving an enormous scar. As soon as it was free from it's human bonds, the Phoenix ignited & tripled in size before soaring skyward towards Hal. Unfortunately, for Hal, the Phoenix was burning yellow, the only color his ring was powerless against.

Abel dragged his bloody scarred body back toward the wall. Cackling all the way as he climbed to the top of the wall and began his incantation once more.

---

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Hal rolled & dove, avoiding the Phoenix creature though it seemed to match his speed and maneuverability. Kilowog stayed above the action, cloaked from the sight of civilians. Hal increased his speed, temporarily leaving the flaming bird behind. He stopped directly below Kilowog and turned to face the oncoming creature.

"I could really use some help here Kilowog!" Hal shouted over his shoulder as he sped away again.

An image of Kilowog's head emanated from the jewel in the center of Hal's ring, "Nah, You're doin' great! I will give you a bit of advice though, you might wanna give that flamin' bird a bath."

"Good idea!" Hal replied and made a b-line for the bay.

---

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Below, the captive tourists, still held at bay by the large spider, cowered in fear. All they could tell was a man in green came to help but the skinny guy with all the tattoos was harder to beat than the green guy thought. For a moment they had regained hope, but as the scary tattooed man climbed back up the wall, they realized it was only a temporary reprieve.

Once again the Tattooed Man reached towards the sky & the nightmare began again. At first it was just the black cloud, but then came the rain again.

A young boy, wriggled free of the webbed bonds and ran towards the wall where the Tattooed Man stood. His mother screamed after him to come back, but the fearless 12 year-old would not just sit & wait to die. He gathered up a handful of rocks hoping to distract the evil tattooed guy long enough for the green guy to stop him!

---

[Spider-Man Beyond]

For reasons unknown to Hal, the rain stopped again. Without the constant distraction of the pounding blood rain, Hal doubled his speed & dove towards the water, keeping the bird just out of reach behind him. At the last possible second, he pulled up... but so did the Phoenix. The bird’s pursuit caught Hal off guard & singed him a bit.

This thing's worse than a heat-seeking missile. Need to try something different.

Hal willed his ring to produce a duplicate of himself & sent it off in a different direction, in an attempt to distract the bird. Not only did it not work, but the bird duplicated itself as well. Now he had two birds to contend with.

Oh, not good... Looks like I'm taking a bath.

Hal & his duplicate merge again, as does the bird as he plunged, once again, straight down towards the bay as close to Alcatraz island as he could. Instead of pulling up though he shifted and hit the water at an angle, hard enough to generate a large wave. The bird immediately vanished.

---

[Spider-Man Beyond]

The boys distraction infuriated the Tattooed Man and he turned to face the fearless young boy below, and prepared to unleash another of his horrific creations at him. Before he could strike, he was knocked to his knees with searing pain as the tattoo of the Phoenix reappeared on his back. Caught off guard by the pain, he didn't see the second part of the 1-2 punch as the wave Hal generated hits, knocking him off the wall. Abel lands in the prison courtyard hard and gashed the area on his arm where the new serpent tattoo would reside. Immediately the giant serpent (still working on swallowing the boat whole) writhed in pain and disappeared. Hal conjured a large hand to gently place the dropped boat back into the San Francisco bay.

So... I hurt his tattoo & the creature vanishes. Injure the creature bad enough, it vanishes. I'd really prefer not to cut the guy to shreds...

Hal noticed the boy standing near the Tattooed Man & flew down to scoop the 12 year-old up. Hal took the child back over the prison wall, flying him to the newly safe Island perimeter.

"You're so cool..." the boy said amazed.

Hal tousled the boy's hair and flew back towards the courtyard where the Tattooed Man had regained his footing. Abel was holding his bloody shoulder where the cut serpent tattoo had reappeared. The giant spider that had been holding the tourists at bay now stood behind him as if to defend his master. Everyone held within its' web watched the confrontation, praying for a miracle.

"All right, Green Lantern, let's play!" the Tattooed Man spat.

"Bring it on, kid" Hal replied, taking a defensive posture, prepared for whatever the Tattooed Man may throw at him.

---

[Spider-Man Beyond]

The Venus Stone embedded beneath Abel's neck began to burn blood red as tattoos ripped from his body. Hal noticed the glowing red stone in his neck and quickly deduced that it must be the source of the Tattooed Man's power.

"RRRAAAARRRGGGHHH!!!" Abel screamed as the demonic creatures tear from his flesh with a sickening sound. With each creature he freed from the confines of his body, the Tattooed Man visibly weakened.

Hal stepped back as a large skeleton with the horns of a bull charged him. Hal conjured a machete from his ring, and neatly removed the skeletons horned head.

The Tattooed Man fell to his knees, screaming in pain as the beheaded skeleton returned to his body as a scarred tattoo. The other creatures began to charge.

Hal recalled the machete back into his ring and manifested 2, M-60 styled machine guns, one in each hand, and unleashed a barrage of glowing, emerald colored bullets at his assailants. It stopped the first few creatures, but the others came on stronger.

In the background Abel writhed in pain as the tattoos reappeared on his body.

Hal launched himself in the air towards the Tattooed Man, using the rings power, to leap over the onslaught of demonic creatures. Midway through the leap, he turned one of his firing guns back into the machete. Hal landed next to the Tattooed Man and swiftly cut the Venus stone from his exposed neck.

"Noooooooo!!!" Abel screamed as the tattoo creatures one by one faded & painfully returned to his body. As the last of the monstrosities returned, the Tattooed Man lost consciousness.

The dark clouds above unleashed a salvo of rain to cleanse the blood spattered Earth. Hal knelt down and collected the Venus stone.

"No, please... forgive... me... my lord... please," the bloody & beaten Abel Tarrant repeated as if in a dream.

---

[Spider-Man Beyond]

The webs that were holding the hostages faded causing the tourists to fall, but Hal produced a giant green air bag to catch them. Most just sat on the ground and enjoyed the cold rain as it washed the blood from their bodies.

"KYLE!!!" a lone woman screamed as she searched for her son.

"Don't worry ma'am, your son's safe," Hal said soothingly as a large green hand appeared over the wall carrying her son.

"Mom!!!" the boy shouted excitedly as he landed on the ground, running to his mother’s arms.

The rest of the crowd began to converge on Hal, thanking him for his help. The men, shook his hand and patted him on the back. The women hugged him & the children just stared at him in awe. A bonafide, real life Super-Hero!

With a smile & a quick salute, Hal took to the sky, leaving the people transfixed.

"Thank you, Green Lantern!" came the call from all gathered.

---

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Hal flew above the cloud cover and into the sunlight where Kilowog waited for him. The senior Green Lantern sat, legs crossed, on nothing. Hal hovered before him, with a smirk on his face.

"So, what'd you think?" Hal asked.

"What did I think? I think you're sloppy!" Kilowog thundered at Hal.

Taken aback by Kilowog's outburst, at first Hal launched into a rebuttal, "Oh yeah, well I'd like to see you... hrmph" Kilowog quieted Hal down with a conjured green piece of tape over his mouth.

"If you'd let me finish, you poozer... I think you're sloppy, but you got the job done. Not bad, rookie... Ha! I thought you were toast though when that bird thing duplicated," Kilowog beamed.

"Yeah, thanks for the assist there you big... Warthog. " Hal said, free of the tape. "Hang on a moment." The Venus stone in Hal's hand had begun to burn. Hal quickly manifested a pair of pincers to hold the stone. He and Kilowog looked into it. At first it was just a smooth, black rock, but as it's temperature increased it turned into a deep blood red. In the center of the small rock, what looked like two pairs of eyes, one atop the other, opened. The eyes were a fiery yellow.

"Well that's somethin' you don't see everyday..." Kilowog said.

"Yeah," Hal replied.

Hal used his ring to disintegrate the stone.

"So, you gonna finally tell me how you K.O.'d Sinestro?" Kilowog asked as the two began the flight back to El Mirage dry lakebed.

"Sure, you know that vehicle we were driving in last night? It's called a jeep... Turns out they’re really heavy..."

End