#6: The Legion Virus Saga, Pt. 6 (Kruger)

[Admin]

[Admin]

Tales of the Green Lantern Corps
Issue 6: "The Legion Virus Saga, Part 7: Hell on Earth"
Written by Scott Kruger
Cover by Scott Kruger
Edited by David Charlton

[Admin]

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 clogged 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 these humans had never seen anything quite like a Green Lantern before. To top that off seeing a creature like a Bolvaxian might cause a bit more panic. And these humans were already seeing their fair share of panic this morning.

[Admin]

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

Early morning tourists had come to Alcatraz to beat "the rush" now wished they had waited for that rush. Men, women and many children on a school field trip were 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 prison's 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 and 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!" Hal shouted back with revulsion.

[Admin]

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 and 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 its human bonds, the Phoenix ignited and 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.

[Admin]

Hal rolled and 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' critter a bath."

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

[Admin]

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 and 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 and 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!

He hurled the rocks one by one in the air at the Tattooed Man and missed each time. He dropped to his knees and found a larger stone. He rose back up, took careful aim and threw with all of his might at the Tattooed Man’s head, striking him in the cheek and breaking his concentration.

[Admin]

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 and 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 and 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 and his duplicate merged again, as did the bird as he plunged 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.

[Admin]

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 hit, knocking him off the wall.

Abel landed, stomach first, in the prison courtyard gashing the area on his arm where the new serpent tattoo resided. 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 and 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 and 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. Hal landed, setting the boy down carefully.

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

Hal tousled the boy's hair and flew back toward 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.

[Admin]

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 two 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 ring's 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 and 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 and beaten Abel Tarrant repeated as if in a dream.

[Admin]

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.

"CHARLIE!!!" 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 mothers 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.

[Admin]

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..."

[Admin]

Epilogue:

The Anti-Matter Universe of Qward.

A sickly yellow light slices through the space above Qward like a knife through butter. The sliver of light expands outward forming a circle, tearing a hole through spatial dimensions.

Seven beings pass through the portal into the Anti-Matter Universe, each wielding a diseased power ring. At the head of the group, their leader. Not the leader due to experience or skill with a power ring. He was the first, or at least as far as his followers were concerned, he was the first. In all actuality the ring he bore was the first. The other rings were slaved to his, just as his was slaved to the source.

The LEGION virus coursed through each of them forcing Guy Gardner's will on the others. Unfortunately for them, Guy's will was not his own... The source had him, corrupting him utterly, yet leaving his personality intact.

[Admin]

Chief Weaponer Kiman stood on his balcony. He looked upward into the Qwardian sky, seeing fragments of his planet… a constant reminder of his hatred toward the Guardians. He signaled his newly arrived LEGION slaves to join him, but they did not move. After several moments, their leader, someone unfamiliar to Kiman, that did not wear the hated uniform, came forward.

"Yes, that’s right! Come to me, my Lantern!" Kiman beckoned the being forward. "Kneel before your master!"

The Yellow Lantern, as Kiman had dubbed his LEGION infected Corpsmen, landed before him, but did not kneel.

"Kneel before your Master!" Kiman repeated sternly.

Yellow energy spat out of the Lantern’s ring, gagging Kiman and enveloping him in chains. Thunderers jumped into action aiming their deadly Qwa-Bolts at the rogue Yellow Lantern, but before they could react further the six Lanterns that followed him through the portal struck. Within moments the entire Qwardian army had been disarmed and held hostage.

Guy Gardner strode confidently to Kiman and took the Chief Weaponer by his collar.

"Kneel?" He spat in the Kiman’s face, "I don’t think so pal… ya see, there’s a new Sheriff in town!"

[Admin]

To be continued!

[mockingbird]

To let us know what you think of this issue, please visit the letters page here!