Post by Spider-Man Beyond on Aug 7, 2006 7:49:21 GMT -5
Legends of the Green Lantern Corps #2
Chapter 3: Emerald Dawn
Chapter 3: Emerald Dawn
Written by Scott D. L. Kruger
Edited by Daniel Dyer
The smoldering wreckage of Hal & Guy's X-23 planes sit on the desert floor. The eerie quiet relenting only to the sound of flames. Although the collision in the desert happened but moments ago, it seems like it had been hours. All that remains of Abin Sur's shuttle, scattered fragments mostly burned beyond recognition. A heavy lair of dust, smoke & ash fill the air. In the distance, Guy Gardner lie's face first in the sand, covered in dirt, unconscious. Sitting in his ejector seat, upright, the, thankfully, unconscious, near death body of Lt. Hal Jordan. One leg pinned beneath the seat, the other, hyper extended as he drowns in his own blood.
Emergency vehicles have been dispatched from Edwards, but they are too far away. Hal will not survive the next 10 minutes...
From the burning crater of Abin's shuttle a soft emerald glow begins. As the glow brightens, an object emerges, floating up from the wreckage. It is the ring. A successor is needed to continue the crusade. Someone fearless, honest, with an unbreakable will. Someone who can command the vast energies of the Green Lantern and that can keep the ring safe from evil. The ring begins to scan for someone with that meets the lofty standards set forth by the Guardians of the Universe. And it need not look far.
The ring silently glides towards the wreckage that is Hal Jordan. The ring’s time is short, it knows that Abin would have been followed... but how far away is he? A successor is needed immediately... regardless of his physical condition. This human can be repaired.
The ring lifts the ejector seat from the desert floor, freeing Hal's left leg. It quickly removes the safety harness from his unconscious form and casts the ejector seat away. Hal just floats in the center of the warm green glow of the ring... time to begin. The ring begins to mend his lacerations and reform the shattered bones. It begins to rebuild torn muscle and drain blood from his lungs. If he were conscious, the process would be agonizing, lucky enough for Hal, he is not. The process takes but minutes. The ring sets Hal gently down on the desert floor and softly glides onto his right middle finger.
Hal's tattered & torn, blood stained flight suit is immediately replaced with the green & black uniform of the Green Lantern Corps. Hal still lies unconscious in the sand... unacceptable. The ring shocks him back to consciousness.
"Father..." Hal shouts with a start.
Nothing but a dream... or a memory. Hal lifts himself off the ground, his limbs sore, his mussels tight. He feels like he's just been in a 10 car pile up. He begins to dust himself off when he realizes he's not wearing his flight suit.
"What the hell is this?"
Hal looks all around & the last 10 minutes become clear. The planes, the fireball in the sky, the shock-wave... the ground rushing up to meet him. By all rights he should be dead. judging from the strange outfit he has on, for all he knows, he might be. He notices the emerald ring on his black gloved right hand.
"What the hell is going on?" he asks more to himself than to the voice that answers.
{When one falls, another must be chosen. So has it been for over 3 billion years.}
Hal begins to turn, looking for the origin of the voice, but sees no one.
"Alright, if I am dead, this is definitely not what I expected."
{You are not dead Harold Jordan of Earth, you have been chosen.}
"Chosen for what? and where the hell are you."
The ring on Hal's right hand begins to glow and a beam of light shoots out from its jeweled center. Before Hal the emerald apparition of Abin Sur takes shape.
{Harold Jordan, you have been chosen, by the ring of power you now wield, to succeed me as Green Lantern of Sector 2814. Congratulations.}
"Congratu…? Who are... what are you?" Hal stares at the ghostly image in wonder. He pokes at the image, astonished as his finger passes right through it.
{My name was Abin Sur... I was the Green Lantern of sector 2814, the sector that includes your galaxy.}
"...Galaxy...? What is a Green Lantern? Are you some kind of ghost?"
{We are an intergalactic peacekeeping force that has existed almost since the dawn of sentient life in the universe. I am not a ghost, I am a construct created by the ring of power. It shows you the way I looked before this...}
Abin motions towards the smoldering crater.
{We must hurry, HE will be following & you are not ready to face him... there is much you need to learn.}
Hal moves to halt Abin with a hand to the chest, but his hand passes through it. He quickly withdraws his wayward hand...
"Listen, Casper, I go nowhere without answers..."
{If that is your wish...}
The air around Hal begins to electrify and the landscape begins to shift. Hal finds himself standing on what seems to be an alien world surrounded by creatures of all shapes & sizes surrounded by yellow buildings. All the aliens wear uniforms similar to, if not exactly like the one he now wears. Hal notices that they're all staring upwards at something behind him, each pointing a ringed arm, or leg, in some cases a tail, in others, he wasn't sure what the appendage was, upwards. He follows their gaze up and turns to find an enormous lantern, pulsating with a deep green energy. The sight takes his breath away.
"My God..."
{The Green Lantern Corps were formed over 3 billion years ago by our masters, the Guardians of the Universe. As I said before, the Corps was created to preserve peace and order across the universe. There were 3600 of us, each carrying a ring of power like the one you now wear. The ring is the most powerful tool in the universe, it is powered by your willpower and is capable of doing anything you can imagine...it can even protect you against, and assist in healing mortal injuries...}
"Then why are you dead?" Hal interrupted.
{Listen to me now, for what I am about to say is the most important of all. The ring has two weaknesses, first the ring’s power supply only lasts 24 of your Earth hours. It must be charged by your lantern battery...}
A smaller version of the lantern before Hal appears in his left hand.
{It and the ring are linked together to this main power battery on the planet OA. Secondly & most important of all, due to a necessary impurity, the ring is powerless against anything colored yellow. It was not the crash that ultimately killed me, I was dead before due to injuries I sustained against a madman wielding a yellow power ring like yours.}
The image of planet OA fades & is replaced with the barren landscape of Death Valley. Dust and ash still thick in the air. Mangled debris scattered over the area.
{A virus known only as LEGION has been unleashed in our universe. We do not know it's exact origin, although the Guardians have their suspicions. The virus attacks only Green Lanterns. The virus attacks the power ring directly, turning it yellow. The virus then enters the ring-bearers body and spreads like a disease. It then corrupts the mind of the ring bearer sending them on a single-minded mission... to spread the virus to other Green Lanterns.}
Abin’s image changes to reveal another Green Lantern. This one tall, and gangly, with a slightly larger forehead. He also had beady black eyes with a mustache and goatee. The look on his face was that of smug superiority... not unlike someone else Hal was familiar with.
{This is Sinestro of Korugar in Sector 1417, he was the first of us to fall. He was always a little over-zealous, in my opinion, but the Guardians applauded his results.}
"If the ring has no power over anything yellow, and the infected rings are becoming yellow, how do you stop the virus?"
The image of Sinestro changes back into Abin Sur.
{That is the real puzzle, isn't it? And it is also the reason why so many of us have fallen... for direct contact, ring to ring, is how the virus is spread.}
A knot forms in Hal's stomach as he remembers back just a few moments ago to all the various Green Lanterns standing before the giant glowing Lantern.
"How many have fallen Abin?"
The image of Abin looks down at the rocky floor, then looks back up at Hal, sorrow in his eyes.
{Nearly a thousand...}
Hal stares at Abin in disbelief. Abin quickly peers over his shoulder looking into the black smoke.
{Someone approaches...Listen carefully, when you need to recharge your ring, simply will your battery to appear. When it appears, place your ring to the face of the lantern and recite the oath...}
And with that, Abin was gone. Leaving Hal alone in the desert once again.
"Wait, Abin... WHAT OATH???"
"You hit your head harder than me Jordan? Who the hell are you talking to?" Guy Gardner steps through the smoke, dried blood matting his hair, "You hallucinating or something? Jesus, look at you... not a scratch on you, but your flight suits ripped to shreds. How the hell you manage that?"
Hal looks down and for the first time realizes that the Green Lantern uniform is gone, replaced by his flight suit. It was, literally, ripped to shreds around his legs & arms, with blood staining the front.
"I... I don't know. I just woke up.” Hal's mind reeling, did he just imagine the last 15 minutes of his life? He stares down at his right hand, the ring gone.
"When I found that... I thought for sure you were worm food," Guy motions in the general direction of Hal's X-23 and the ejector seat.
"Thanks for the overwhelming concern... ass."
"I just call it as I see it... Harold."
Guy walks over to Hal's ejector seat... noticing the parachute never deployed, he glares at Hal over his shoulder. Waitaminit... "How the hell did you walk away from this? There's blood all over the seat."
"Just lucky, I guess. And I clean up well."
"Great... the almighty Hal Jordan survives an UN-survivable crash."
"Sorry to disappoint you."
The sound of an approaching helicopter cuts short any reply Guy might have had. The smoke still so thick neither man can see the approaching rescue vehicle. Guy begins to walk toward the sound. Hal takes the opportunity to stare again at his ring-less hand. He concentrates on making the ring appear and it does, clear as day. Holy crap, it worked... I wasn’t hallucinating.
Hal willed the ring away and, in a split second, it was gone. He just stood there transfixed, staring at his hand when Guy shouts back at him, "Hey, Superman, yeah, you have a hand... can we go now? The chopper’s comin’”
Hal shields his eyes as the helicopter comes in for a landing. Dust, soot & ash fly through the air. As the copters skids hit the ground Captain John Stewart & General Alan Scott jump out and start jogging towards the pilots.
Guy leans into Hal, "Great, now it hits the fan... oh wait, that's right, you're perfect."
"Shut up Guy, it wasn't our fault, he knows that."
"Whatever Golden Boy."
Both men stand at full attention as the commanding officers approach. General Scott cannot contain his anger. Captain Stewart is just relieved. "I'm glad to see that the two of you made it out relatively unscathed..." John said while catching his breath.
General Scott places his hand on Captain Stewart's chest, as he steps between John & the others. “I want both of you on the evac. chopper now! Report to the base infirmary for full physicals & get your asses to debriefing. I want a full report from both of you... YESTERDAY! Clear?"
"Yes sir, General" both men said in unison saluting.
"Dismissed!"
Captain Stewart's face is blank as he turns to the General. "Alan, it wasn't their fault..."
"I know that, CAPTAIN, but I'm going to have to explain to the "Joint Chiefs" that 2 of their brand new 25 million dollar stealth fighters were taken out by a UFO... I don't suppose you would like to join me on that call, would you? Captain?"
"No sir, General."
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