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Post by Admin on Nov 7, 2006 19:58:43 GMT -5
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Post by Admin on Nov 7, 2006 20:00:55 GMT -5
Ferris Aircraft, 25 miles North of Coast City, California
11:31am, Friday...
My ring is useless. I look down at my right hand as I sit on the floor rubbing my chin. The ring’s there, I can feel it‘s weight, but it’s hiding. I wasn’t expecting a sucker-punch, and the ring didn’t stop it. Wonder if that means I deserved it?
Probably did.
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Post by Admin on Nov 7, 2006 20:06:36 GMT -5
DC2 Proudly Presents...
Green Lantern Issue #2: Fear Itself” Written by Scott Kruger Cover by Scott Kruger Edited by David Charlton
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Post by Admin on Nov 7, 2006 20:07:39 GMT -5
9:00 AM, Friday (earlier the same day…)
The Police cordon around the apartment complex at 22 Sea View Drive only delays me for a moment. A flash of a DEO badge is usually enough to scare any beat cop… mine with the word ‘Director’ in big bold letters under my mug shot is usually cause for most to change their shorts. On any normal day I’d be amused. This is not one of those days.
Each level of the building contains three very large apartments. His is the one on the top floor, with the balcony that’s hidden from view for emergency Green Lantern business.
Level 6.
I catch the smell of ozone and freshly splintered wood. The patrolman that follows me up the stairs informs me that no one else in the building saw much of anything. They heard a loud crash, followed by two shots, a flash of yellow, then nothing.
Level 7.
Sullivan went to ‘interview’ Jordan last night and never came back to the hotel. I know she’s a big girl, but that… let’s just say, I’m not pleased.
Level 8.
The top floor. I turn right at the top of the stairwell and face apartment C at the end of the hall. Apartment A’s tenant was in the middle of rush hour when the ‘incident’ occurred. Apartment B is an old woman… deaf as a post when her hearing aid is off. She didn’t bother to get out of bed, thought it was an Earthquake. Damn complacent Californians. Not that she could have done much to help a top DEO agent.
I stiffen as I push past the yellow caution tape and the guard posted at the entrance. Not quite sure what to expect.
The shattered remains of a heavy oak door. Small traces of blood… red blood. Dimes to donuts it’s hers. No trace of Chloe.
“Has anyone contacted the owner of the apartment, a Mr. Hal Jordan?” I ask while referring to a blank page in my note pad.
“We have 2 cars en route to his place of employment now.” my escort informs me.
I kneel down to look at her purse on the ground. Its contents spilling out onto the ground. I catch sight of her bra strap and my blood begins to boil.
“Tell your men to stand down. I want to speak with Mr. Jordan myself.”
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Post by Admin on Nov 7, 2006 20:08:17 GMT -5
I open my eyes and look around. For the second time today I find myself waking up in a strange place… girl could get a bad rep from antics like that.
My hands are bound behind my back, and I have a gag in my mouth. I’m on my knees on a hard concrete surface. Not what I was expecting from an alien abduction at all. But I’ll take uncomfortable concrete to implants and anal probes any day of the week.
I try to look around the room, but there are no lights at all, except for a faint dim light about twenty feet above my head. Skylight… cloudy day. I see something shift out of the corner of my eye… I turn to face it. All I can make out is the shape of a man.
“Sinestro?” I try to say, though it comes out sounding more like ‘Finnefro’.
It looks up at me… its yellow eyes ablaze. Instantly I’m overcome with fear. My gun. Of course it’s gone. I look around me, it’s nowhere to be seen. Nothing. I can’t explain it… years of physical and emotional training gone.
He’s going to kill me.
He steps a little closer into the light and my terror increases… He opens his mouth to speak and I see his skin…
It’s not Sinestro.
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Post by Admin on Nov 7, 2006 20:08:49 GMT -5
To say my day at work started out a little strained would be an understatement. Not only did Carol give me the cold shoulder all morning, but my daily schedule had me posted on the F-270 VTOL… My name was hastily scratched off and replaced by Jackson. She’s got me ‘flying’ the damn simulators.
And she’s the one that didn’t want a relationship.
The simulator is state of the art. Enter the program code of the plane you’re ‘flying’ on the keyboard next to the canopy, the computer does the rest. I ‘fly’ my T-16 above the Angeles Mountains as the automated air-traffic controller prompts me of possible obstacles, other planes, adverse weather patterns… that’s when Tom cuts through on the actual PA. The digital video feed cuts off and the lights come on.
“Highball, you have a visitor.”
“Copy that control.” I unlatch my seatbelt and open the canopy. I climb down the ladder… my foot touches the ground and I turn to find my face meeting a set of gnarled knuckles.
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Post by Admin on Nov 7, 2006 20:09:30 GMT -5
“Good afternoon, Ms. Sullivan.” The young man steps into the dim light. His long, red hair hangs low over his face covering his yellow eyes.
I can’t catch my breath… I feel like I’m hyper-ventilating. I have to get this gag off. I begin to squirm, the bonds holding my hands together begin to dig deep into my wrists. I feel a warm ooze trickle down the palm of my left hand.
“Please. Let me help.” He says it with a cocky smirk on his face. With a wave of his hand the gag is gone. I can breathe again. I gasp for air and nearly pass out from the rush. I try to look up at him, but I can’t bring myself to do it. I feel like his presence alone will kill me. I want to scream…
“Wh-who are you?” I ask hoarsely, I hardly recognize my own quivering voice. I don’t understand why I’m so afraid. I can’t scream…
“Honestly… I don’t quite remember.” He seems to withdraw a bit and I feel more like myself. I briefly see his eyes through his hair, they’re blue. In fact he looks like a boy, mid to late teens. “I’ve been so many people. None of them quite myself.”
“Where’s Sinestro?” I ask him after I regain my composure… I have to remember my mission.
He sees me looking into his eyes and they begin to burn yellow again. The wave of fear strikes me again. I gasp for air, but I feel like I’m drowning.
“My puppet?” He smiles again… I feel like I’m looking into the face of evil incarnate. He develops an aura that engulfs him… I swear his hair forms into horns as he rises off the concrete floor. For a moment his skin turns a sickly yellow and his teeth seem to narrow into points.
He’s not human anymore.
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Post by Admin on Nov 7, 2006 20:10:21 GMT -5
“Get up, you son of a bitch!” Faraday spits at me. I feel like a 16 year old caught in the backseat with his date. I spit blood on the concrete as the crowd begins to gather around. Carol, Tom and Ralph, not quite sure what to do or say. Carol knows. Women’s intuition I suppose.
“You get that one shot, Faraday.” I draw myself up to my full height, at least four inches taller than Faraday and step up to him. “You won’t get another.”
Faraday hesitates for a moment unsure of what to say next. He was flying off an impulse.
“Come with me.” He states flatly and walks toward his government issued Buick.
“What’s going on Hal?” Tom asks, Carol turns and walks away.
“Nothing I can’t handle, buddy.” I give him a friendly sock in the shoulder and follow Faraday’s lead. I get into the passenger side. He doesn’t say a word as he speeds off. We drive down the highway at the car equivalent of mach 10. I thought only the Batmobile could go this fast.
“I always tell myself not to get close to my partners…” He hesitated for a moment, “but this one’s like a daughter to me.”
“She’s a grown woman and old enough to make her own decisions…” “Not that you ass.” He spat at me again with venom in his eyes. “She’s missing… someone broke into your apartment and kidnapped her.”
The car is in the air and flying at mach 10 toward Coast City before he’s able to catch his breath.
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Post by Admin on Nov 7, 2006 20:10:44 GMT -5
The yellow glow intensifies illuminating the room… we’re in an abandoned warehouse. My attention is drawn to the far corner. Sinestro stands there motionless. The burning man stretches out his hand toward Sinestro… his fingers abnormally long. Sinestro begins to walk forward, nothing more than a puppet. According to Hal that’s all Sinestro was before as well.
“That’s enough.” He says yellow flame burning brighter around him. I shield my eyes from him, but it doesn’t help. The panic is back.
“Wh… what do you want from me?” I gasp.
“There is something of great importance that is lost,” his voice is like fingernails scraping across a chalkboard, I grind my teeth in response. He drifts down to the floor and kneels down to face me. His breath is hot and reeks of rotting meat. He continues, but in a whisper I can hardly make out. “In fact, it is the single most important thing in the universe to him… us. There is only one of them in the universe. Green Lantern knows where it is, he… we… want it. We‘ve brought you here, he will come for you and we will have it. It‘s really quite simple.”
With that he disappears.
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Post by Admin on Nov 7, 2006 20:11:18 GMT -5
“Where are we going?” Faraday asks me, from the sound of his voice, I’d say that someone’s afraid of flying.
Streets pass by below us as we head to the south end of Coast City. People stare up at us; they do it every time I fly overhead. I am in full uniform, flying outside of the car, dragging it behind me. Not quite sure why I brought him along…
“My ring is detecting an energy source in a warehouse on the far end of the city.” I try to reassure him, still not quite sure why. “We’re almost there, Just sit back and leave the flying to me… Jerk-wad.”
The energy the ring detects is similar to mine… almost as though it was a part of it. If this is Sinestro’s doing and he has somehow gotten his hands on a power ring… but how could that be possible? I thought I had the only remaining Green Lantern ring…?
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Post by Admin on Nov 7, 2006 20:11:49 GMT -5
I am in complete darkness again, aside from the skylight above… a cruel reminder that freedom is so close but completely unattainable. My mind whirls… ‘he’? ‘we’? ‘us’? I’m being held hostage by a schizophrenic super-villain with power similar to Hal’s. The lost thing he spoke of… is it the boy in New York that Hal is here to protect? Kyle Rayner, the Torchbearer?
“Excellent…” the yellow flame returns, he never left; he was in my head. A psychic psychotic schizophrenic super-villain. He looks more alien than ever, dozens of rows of needle sharp teeth line his jaws. His fingers are nearly three times their normal length, with talon like nails springing from their tips. “The Guardians and their flare for the dramatic. The ‘Torchbearer’? They leave the source of the greatest power in the universe within a human child?”
He lifts off the ground again and turns to Sinestro.
“She has outlived her usefulness, my puppet… kill her. I will send for you later, we have a Corps to build!”
He shoots out of the warehouse like a bolt of lightning leaving me alone with Sinestro. My fear left with the other one, but my hands are still bound behind my back. I struggle against my chains, feeling the warm ooze trickle down my wrists again. I realize that this entire time my feet were not bound. I stand to meet my fate head on.
He walks toward me like a zombie being pulled by strings. He doesn’t use his ring; he reaches out for me, wrapping his hands around my throat. I kick him and he squeezes. I gasp for breath, none comes. He wraps his other hand around my neck and doubles the pressure. I continue to thrash around attempting to break his grip. I try to call out for Clark, but I can’t even manage a whisper.
Tiny sparks seem to fire before my eyes. My head is throbbing. My ears ring. The monster becomes blurry as the room darkens around me.
I feel no peace. I do not see my life flashing before my eyes.
I feel cold. Alone. Helpless. This is a stupid way to die.
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Post by Admin on Nov 7, 2006 20:12:20 GMT -5
A yellow streak of light shoots out of a warehouse going about a million miles an hour.
“What the Sam Hill was that?” I ask as I stick my head out the damned window. Jordan ignores me and watches the light fly off in the distance. “Well, are we going to follow it?”
He looks from it to the warehouse.
“No, there are two life forms still in the warehouse.”
He uses his damned ring to whip me out of the car and in a heartbeat we’re in a controlled free-fall. He pulls up at the last second and we burst through the front of the warehouse, taking out half the wall in the process. That’s when I see the alien… his hands wrapped around her throat.
“Let her go!” I shout with my gun drawn and pointed at his head. His head snaps up and he glares at me. His dull eyes seem to brighten.
He recognizes me.
Before I can do anything else the boy scout is on him, with his ring ablaze. The distraction is all I need. I run for Chloe. I drop to my knees and feel for a pulse… her neck is bruised and her pulse is weak, but she’s alive. I pick her up, heaving her over my shoulder as a girder from up above nearly takes off both are heads.
I’ve seen photographs and the occasional video of Green Lantern in action, but to actually see it in person is completely different. I realize that I need to be elsewhere when I notice that Hal isn’t just fighting to stop Sinestro… he’s trying to protect me from him.
“FARADAY! NOW WOULD BE A GOOD TIME TO MAKE YOURSELF SCARCE!” GL shouts down to me, and I couldn’t agree more.
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Post by Admin on Nov 7, 2006 20:15:40 GMT -5
I block the exit behind Faraday with a green barrier, but that doesn’t stop Sinestro from pounding away at it with his yellow power ring. I expand the barrier to surround us completely and he doesn’t notice. He’s in a blind screaming rage. When he realizes he can’t break through he finally pauses to catch his breath.
“It’s you.” he says glaring at me.
“You’re still not yourself are you?” I ask him, not really knowing why.
“On the contrary, Jordan, for the first time in nearly three of your Earth years, I am quite myself!” He punctuates his words by firing a yellow energy beam at me.
“So now you’re free!” I reply as I dodge the blast. “Free of the Legion Virus, free of your cell here… you can go anywhere!”
He pauses and looks at me, his black eyes are filled with anger.
“I am not free… I will never be free.” He holds up his hand and for the first time I see the yellow ring on his finger. The ring is burned onto his flesh. Permanently bonded and pulsating with a life of its own. It’s not Qwardian like his last ring, but it’s not quite Oan either. It’s something entirely different… “As long as they live, this ring will keep me their slave.”
Their slave?
“Then let me help you…” I try to reason with him.
“Help me? You?” The pink hue of his skin darkens to a purple and the veins in his forehead bulge as his anger builds.
“THIS IS YOUR FAULT!” he screams as he lunges for me.
“THE GUARDIANS NEVER CAME FOR ME!” His fists, encased in yellow gauntlets slam against my shielding.
“I WAS THE BEST…”
My shield begins to crack and the barrier protecting Faraday from the outside vanishes.
“AND THEY LEFT ME FOR DEAD ON THIS FORSAKEN MUDBALL OF A PLANET!”
I try to strengthen the barrier between us, but I can’t! I don’t know what this energy is made of… it’s unlike anything the ring has ever encountered.
“THEY REPLACE ME WITH YOU!” he breaks through my shield and lands a square punch to my jaw, followed by a knee to my stomach.
“Then that human…” He clenches his hands and hits me on the back of my head knocking me to the ground. “Tormented me!” he kicks me in the gut, knocking the wind out of me. “Tortured me!” Kicks me again.
{Warning, energy levels at 5%} My ring speaks to me…
That’s it! It’s not his ring’s energy that’s beating me! His ring is draining the energy from mine! He kicks me once more and I roll with it placing distance between the two of us. If it’s my ring’s energy that he wants, then that’s what he’ll get!
I land on my back, raise my ring and unleash a blast on him that drains my energy completely, sending him flying through the ceiling. I have a moment. I reach into the pocket universe that holds my power battery, grasp it by its handle, pull it free and recite my oath:
“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!”
{Power levels at 125%} the ring reports… which has been the normal operating level since Qward.
I rush through the hole in the roof to the outside preparing myself for the fight of my life… I know that I have to keep my distance from him. The closer I get, the weaker my power ring is. I’m ready… but there’s nothing. No sign of Sinestro at all. Below me, Police cars and an ambulance surround the warehouse.
Faraday and Sullivan are safe… and God, am I sore.
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Post by Admin on Nov 7, 2006 20:16:41 GMT -5
“What happened?” Faraday and Hal asked each other at the same time.
I’m sitting on the gurney with an oxygen mask on. My clothes are torn and my hair’s a mess… I’m sore, bruised, bloody and just happy to be alive. “You first, fly-boy.” Faraday said.
“We fought, he was winning, I hit him hard, then he was gone. What did you see?”
“Saw him fly through the roof, he hit the ground, looked unconscious, got up, flew away.”
“Which direction?” Hal asks King.
“East.”
East? Oh my God, I forgot! I tear off the oxygen mask and try to speak, but my voice comes out in a hoarse croak.
“Ma’am, please try not to speak…” the paramedic urges me as she tries to put the oxygen mask back over my mouth and nose. I slap her hand away…
“What is it Chloe?” Faraday asks and Hal places his hand on my shoulder.
“The… torch…bearer,”
Hal’s masked face goes blank.
“They’re… after… Rayner.”
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Post by Admin on Nov 7, 2006 20:17:05 GMT -5
To be continued!
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Post by mockingbird on Aug 1, 2011 18:28:55 GMT -5
To let us know what you think of this issue, please visit the letters page here!
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