note: this story takes place prior to The Flash #24Oliver Queen sat in the back of the Starfish Hotel and Casino, absentmindedly sharpening an arrow. The beer was cold, the cards were shuffled, and the table was set. All that was missing now were the players.
“Bad time?” Green light filled the room as a grinning Hal Jordan passed intangibly through the back wall.
“Never, just had to change the schedule so Dinah wouldn’t wander back here” Ollie started without looking up from the arrow.
“Though if I knew we were wearing union suits, I wouldn’t have changed after patrol.”
The ring flashed and the costume vanished, leaving Hal Jordan in his signature bomber jacket and a Coast City Angels shirt.
“Better?” he asked as he sat across from Ollie.
“Much.” Putting down the arrow, he stole a glance at his watch. “Any word from our third?”
“Nah. He came and got me. I would be surprised if he wasn’t always…”
The back door flew open, and a gust of wind and a red blur rushed into the room.
“—sorry I’m late, I had to run back to Central, and Iris neededmilkandIwantedtoseeBartand—”
“Relax Barry, Hal just walked in, and we haven’t even cut the cards yet.”
“Oh.” The scarlet and lightning clad speedster finally stood still, looking from Hal to Ollie.
“I feel over dressed.”
* * * * *
“I hate this place.”
Kaskiw put the car in park, and he and Hayes headed through the rain to the looming stone building in front of them. Draper Penitentiary held the worst Coast City had to offer, and it had been filling up rapidly since Green Lantern had come to town.
A thick cloud of energy seemed to hang in the air, like right before a summer storm. Only there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. As the two officers approached, the front gate swung open. A veritable army poured out of the stony facade, led by a single small figure, who seemed to be the source of the strange energy.
The two officers backed towards their cruiser, hands absentmindedly on their holsters. Several familiar faces were unmistakable in the mass of people, chief among them the man who had tried to flash fry them earlier in the day: Ohm.
With a roar, the multitude stormed down the mountainside, headed down into Coast City. In kind, the two officers got in the car, and Kaskiw gunned it towards town.
“Told you I hated this place.”
* * * * *
“…so you see, the Fox-Schwartz theory allows not only for another Earth exist, but literally a possibility of infinite worlds! All just vibrating out of synch with one another…full house, aces full of kings.”
Both Hal Jordan and Ollie Queen bore expressions of abject boredom, each throwing in their cards in without turning them over.
“I just wanted him to stop talking.” Hal was still dumbstruck. “I can’t even remember what my cards were.”
“Okay, here’s the deal: I won’t bitch about Dinah anymore, Hal won’t complain about the ring,” Ollie nodded at Barry while he shuffled. “And you won’t nerd out on us. It’s only fair.”
Barry shifted uncomfortably in his seat as Hal took a laughing pull from his beer bottle.
“I mean, Ray and Ralph and I talk for days about this stuff. I understand that the idea of parallel Earths seems a little out there –”
“Barry, you’re the fastest man alive,” Hal glanced at his hole cards. “You’re playing in your monthly poker game with a real life Robin Hood, and a pilot with a magic ring. We pass ‘out there’ every morning when we get out of bed.”
“I guess you’re right, Hal.” Barry checked his cards so fast, it was imperceptible to his friends. “Guess I just got to focus on taking the rest of your money.”
“We’ll see, Barry,” Hal said looking again at his pocket aces. “We’ll see.”
* * * * *
Superman was still reeling from what Chloe had told him. Now, he was in the one place he knew he’d be able to think, to gain some perspective.
How could Hal not see the truth? And how was he supposed to get through Hal’s famously thick skull that Chloe hadn’t meant what she said…but then again, why would she say it?
This looks like a job, he thought, for…someone else. But there was no one else, and like it or not, he was in the middle of this little mess.
Sighing, he re-entered the atmosphere and headed to the Hall of Justice to look for Green Lantern.
* * * * *
“So, you’ve got to let me know,” Ollie threw in 50 more chips, calling Hal’s raise. “I read the incident report with that thing on Mars…” Barry threw in his cards. “…and how do you let a proposed intergalactic despot just run off like that?”
“What do you mean?” Hal smiled as he turned over the river card, a queen of diamonds.
“What I mean, is you’re infamous for a, let’s say, need to control.” He pushed his chips all-in.
Which is why you’re gonna fold here, flyboy.“Interesting interpretation.” Hal thumbed his cards. “Lots of people say I’m a fly by the seat of my pants guy, kind of reckless.”
“Yeah, well I know that is just how your particular need to control manifests itself.” He locked eyes with Hal, unblinking. “No situation controls you, so you’re always in control.”
“So why would you ever think I’m not keeping my own tabs on Mr. Mongul? Good read, Ollie.” Hal returned the stare, and slowly pushed all his chips in as well. Ollie turned over three queens…bested by Hal’s flush of diamonds. “On me, not the cards.”
“Guess it’s just you and me then.” There was a rush as the chips seemed to stack themselves, and just as suddenly, Barry sat across from Hal, smiling.
“I’m gonna grab a beer,” Ollie stomped off angrily.
* * * * *
Carol sped through the city, weaving to miss the errant pedestrians that were rapidly filling the streets.
What is going on? After leaving Hal’s house, she swung by Road House, but it was nearly empty. Now, the whole of Coast City seemed to have come unhinged.
Fires raged around the city, over turned cars littered the streets and people were hanging off of light poles. Children chased their parents into the streets, while the occasional bright orange jumpsuit usually found in "Draper's Pen" did nothing to calm her fears. Punching the car into high gear, she soon reached the city limits, where the numbers thinned. Almost unconsciously, she headed towards the one place she had always felt safe.
The roar of the masses rioting soon fell to the silence of the desert, and she was finally able to start to analyze the situation.
What was going on back there? How did those prisoners get free? Why wasn’t I going nuts? Where the hell is Hal? The looming sign pulled her back to reality.
'Welcome to Ferris Aircraft.'
Parking her car, she headed to the main hanger, only to be grabbed from behind in the darkness. Elbowing her attacker in the face, she spun, and switched the lights on to see a kneeling man, still in his flight suit.
“Henshaw? What are you doing here?”
* * * * *
“So how’re things with Wally?” Hal stared down Barry, most of his chips in the pot. “He still running around with the Titans?”
“No you don’t,” Barry shook his head. “You’re not going to shake my concentration this time.”
Hal breathed deep. “I was just wondering if he had mentioned anything about those rumors out of Gotham.”
Barry and Ollie shared a look, and then each looked quickly and reproachfully at
the floor.
“He’s really gone.”
“Wally says Nightwing hasn’t told the whole team yet, but they all know.”
“He was the best of us.” Ollie returned from the kitchen. “And he went down fighting for the same things we do…the same way we’d want to.”
“Well,” Hal swallowed hard. “Here’s to Batman.”
The clink of beer bottles masked the sound of the back door opening. As they drank, a voice carried through the room.
“I’ll drink to that,” Superman said somberly.
* * * * *
Chris Byrne couldn’t believe his eyes. Coast City was tearing itself apart; it was like watching a video of sports riots after championship games, or nearly any soccer match around the world, these days. Except it was happening right outside his very own window. Brawls, fires, random acts of violence. It was Armageddon in downtown Coast City, and he was going to get out of there as fast as he could.
Having deleted the last of the incriminating files from his hard drive, he rushed to his office door, hoping to appropriate the news chopper on the roof for his hasty return to Star City. But he never made it that far.
As he grabbed the door knob, a vicious shock traveled through it and into him, knocking him on his back, against his desk. The charge continued through the door, shattering it, and covering Chris in splinters. Before him stood the monster he had earlier set on Coast City, Ohm. But he was unnaturally stiff, as if he was being controlled by the diminutive man who stepped from behind him into the room.
“Hector?” Chris thought he recognized his old friend amidst the purple electricity that danced about the room. “Is that you? What the hell is this?”
“This,” Hector strode across the room, “is a beginning. Once you set up my interview with Mr. Bowman here, something inside me
snapped. And now, I’ve set all of Coast City on it’s ear.”
Trembling, Chris looked from to his ranting friend behind him to the hulking behemoth blocking the only exit from the room. “Y-y-y-you did all this?”
“I thought you said you always had FAITH in my abilities!” Hammond brought his temper back under control. “Yes. I appropriated the minds of the denizens of Draper and set them on the city. All the while setting the general populous into a state of utter panic and hysteria.”
“But I feel fine.” Byrne swallowed hard, and rose to his feet. “You can’t hurt me can you? Ha, I knew it—”
But he said no more, as his windpipe closed involuntarily, and he fell to the ground, clawing at his throat.
“Oh, I can hurt you very much, ‘old friend’.” Hector knelt to look Chris in the eye. “I kept you separate because I wanted to watch you die screaming.”
Simultaneously, he opened Chris’ windpipe, while pouring pure fear and terror into every inch of his mind.
The screams cut through the din of the city.
* * * * *
“I hate that.” Ollie was putting away the table and chips while Barry gathered up beer bottles.
“Hate what?”
“That feeling I get whenever Big Blue walks into a room. Like my dad caught me sneaking in the liquor cabinet. You know, getting busted breaking rules?” Ollie looked up from the closet at his friend, who had a look of shame on his face. “You have no idea what I’m talking about, do you?” Barry shook his head. “God, I hope Bart and Wally don’t end up as boring as you are.”
“I don’t see why we couldn’t have talked in front of Arrow and Flash.” Green Lantern was in full Corps uniform now, badge flashing brilliantly against the night sky.
“This is…a sensitive topic.” Superman was rarely at a loss for words. Even more rarely did he find himself in a situation like this.
“Ok…but why not behind the Starfish? Why all the way up here?” Hal motioned to their current location, which was in the upper atmosphere, far above Las Vegas.
“I guess some perspective. Listen, Hal, you’ve recently become involved with an old friend of mine…”
“How in the world do you know Carol Ferris? I thought you were from Middle America somewhere, like Flash.”
“What? No, not Carol. Chloe.”
“Oh.” Hal’s entire demeanor changed at once. “Look Blue, I know you’re usually a good judge of character, but that one is off the wall.”
“I’ve known
that one all my life.” Superman’s voice carried a chill that could not be attributed to the upper atmosphere. “And she’s tough. Sometimes too tough for her own good. I know what she did to you hurt…”
“Hurt?”
“...and she knows that she was wrong. She shouldn’t have lied like she did, but I do know you mean a great deal to her, and she would appreciate to know that there is no bad blood.”
“Superman, you’re great at a lot of things.” Hal looked into the Man of Steel’s eyes. “But you can’t lie at all. You're trying to tell me Chloe's still pregnant, aren't you?” Hal shook his head. “Something about the whole situation felt off. Well, I guess I know what I have to do.”
“And what is that?”
“Be there for the kid.” Hal brushed off Superman’s shocked look. “Look, that jacket I always wear? It was my dad’s…let’s just say I more than understand the responsibilities of a father.”
“Good.” Superman exhaled hard. “If you could mention that I didn’t tell you to Chloe, that would be great too.” He grinned. “Like you said, I can’t lie.”
Hal couldn’t help laughing back and nodding in agreement. As the laughter subsided, Superman’s face turned serious once more.
“So, you’re calling me ‘Blue’ now too? I really should speak to Oliver.”
* * * * *
The ring directed Hal’s reentry angle to come into Coast City from the north.
Figure I can get a closer look at the plane I wasn’t allowed to fly today while I’m close. His thoughts about the new X-52 were disrupted by a faint tickling at the base of his skull.
J’onn, if you want to talk, you know telepathy isn’t my--. His thoughts were cut quickly as his brain erupted in pain. Barely able to keep flight, his head was filled with a strange voice, overwhelming him.
Ah, the courageous Green Lantern. Said to be the most fearless of the heroes. An admirable first test.Who?That is unimportant Mr. Jordan. That’s right, I know all about you. Your mind, however feeble, is an open book to me. Ah, headed to your precious airfield with your marvelous ring…that runs on your very will?No…Forget your pleas. Your will, your POWER are both mine, now.Carol slammed the phone on the desk in frustration. “Nothing! No police, no firemen, no hospitals! Has this whole damn city gone mad?”
“Not just the city,” muttered Hank Henshaw, running out of the office. Her eyes followed him as he ran towards a flickering green light in the distance. As they watched, the light plowed into the field next to the hanger.
Hank got to the fallen body first. “Green Lantern, you okay?” From the kicked up dust, a beam of green energy flew out, punching him in the chest, launching him back into the hanger, and landing with a thud.
Carol looked at the immobile lump that had been her new pilot, and turned back to the fallen hero.
“Hal?” Her voice quivered with fear.
“Not exactly.” The response was not the voice she knew so well, but twisted, corrupted beyond recognition. “Hal’s not home.”