Post by HoM on Oct 19, 2010 18:21:57 GMT -5
Carol Ferris didn’t sleep that night. She kept hearing things. She had heard them every other night before now, the boiler bulging, the pipes creaking, but tonight the noises took on a different sound, something menacing and sinister. She wasn’t one for fear, for nervousness, but the sight of Hank Henshaw in her office, and the fact that no one else appeared to notice him? She held the covers tightly over her face, shaking her head at her own seeming insanity. She needed to sleep, and then she would be fine. That’s all she needed.
Across the street, watching from a streetlight, Hank Henshaw stood silently. As the sun crept up, he began to walk away, not a word wasted.
Green Lantern
Issue Twenty-Seven: Love Lost
Part Two: "Family Ties"
Written by House Of Mystery
Cover by Nathan Kilburn
Edited by Don Walsh
Jim Jordan held his son close to him, his boy gripping the side of his father’s coat as the wind whistled around their bodies. They looked down at the gravestone—crumpled, broken and shattered—and both Howie and Jim Jordan shivered as their bones rattled with the cold. The caretaker of the graveyard had contacted them a few hours before, and the car journey had been a frantic one. Howie insisted on coming, mainly because he loved car journeys with his father, but also he wanted to pay his respects to his grandmother. Jim loved his son, and agreed to let Howie join him.
“Who would do this?” Hal Jordan walked behind them; his jacket zipped up all the way, his face red with the cold. Jessica Jordan, their dearly departed mother, was interred here. And her gravestone had been viciously vandalised, large chunks of stone fragmented and scattered across her grave.
“I thought you might know the answer to that,” said Jim. “Thought it might have something to do with your extra-curricular activities.”
Howie Jordan looked up at his uncle and grinned at the thought. Hal ruffled his hair, before removing a small wrapped box from the inside of his jacket. His nephew took it quickly, and Jim briefly smiled at the youngster. Hal’s expression grew dark as he looked his younger brother in the eye. “No one knows my identity. No one that could… or would… do this kind of thing. It’s a dirty action, but it’s easily fixed.” He took his hand out of his pocket, and his emerald power ring blinked bright, before strands of energy collected the shards of gravestone and began to repair the damage. “It could be kids. It could be anything.”
“Or it could be a warning,” said Jim, pointedly. He glanced around uncomfortably, feeling awkward at the blatant display of Green Lantern-ness his brother was demonstrating. “This is protecting your secret? You look out for yourself, Hal.”
“You too, Jim,” said Hal. “And you, kid,” he looked down at his nephew, who was too engrossed with the gift Hal had given him, “you be good, too, y’hear?” The boy was beaming at the small model plane in his hands, and he nodded vigorously. Hal straightened up, and then handed Jim another present. “For little Janey. Chloe, Jess and I… we’ll come down again soon, alright? If you want?”
"That would be great," said Jim, smiling.
"Do you want me to fly you back?" asked Hal, motioning to his ring.
"Nah, we drove, we'll drive back, but thanks, Hal."
Jim smiled, and patted his brother on the back, before Hal Jordan’s civilian attire dissolved into his Green Lantern uniform, and he shot into the air silently, leaving his brother and nephew alone in the cold. “I’ll never get used to that.”
Green Lantern landed, and his costume faded into civvies before his foot touched the ground. Chloe sat in the lounge, and she looked up as Hal entered. "It's time we all got out the house," said Hal, smiling as he took Chloe Sullivan by the hand. “I have a plan.”
Chloe face brightened as Hal pulled her close, then pushed him away gently after the moment lingered just awkwardly enough. Baby Jessica was sleeping in her crib, and the early spring afternoon, with its cool breeze and young sun brought them comfort.
“Nevermind that, what happened at the cemetery?” asked Chloe, genuine concern on her face.
“It’s… nothing,” said Hal, and he knew that she could tell he was lying, but she let him have that one deception, before she collected their daughter up in her arms.
"Okay then-- so what are you talking about? We visited your brother's last week, it's not like we've been cooped up in here."
"I'm trying to make a grand gesture, bear with me."
"It's all I ever do with you," she said with a wink.
"Please." Hal pointed his ring up in the air, and an invisible energy beam leaped up, the air seemingly rippling in its wake. "You've never seen the greatness the universe has to offer. You've seen... Sinestro. Legion. Alex Nero and all the horrors that came in the wake of Parallax. Horror. You've seen horror and awfulness, and I don't think that's right."
Chloe nodded slowly. "So, what are you suggesting?"
"I just sent out a locator beam. A friend of mine has sent out a special brand of radiation our way which I need to funnel on down, and it's going to be my gift to you."
Chloe shifted her weight from one foot to another, contemplating the concept. "Radiation? Is it gift-wrapped, Hal? Can you tell I'm excited? A new mother does love a bit of radiation in her diet."
Hal grinned. "Don't you trust me?"
"Well, now that you mention it--" Light seemed to pour all around them, and Hal took her hand as Jessica and himself faded from Chloe's view. "--Hal? Hal!" The light faded, and Chloe, Jessica and Hal were no longer in Kansas. She blinked once, twice, and realized that the sky was no longer the same, that it was no longer spring, that the sky was no longer the beautiful blue that it had been before-- and that the man in front of her, arms wide and jetpack attached firmly to his back, was not any old resident of Smallville.
"Chloe," said Hal, "welcome to Rann."
"Hello, Ms. Sullivan. My name is Adam Strange. I'm an old friend of Hal's, and he's told me all about you," said the jetpack-clad blonde, who put out his hand in Chloe's direction. She took it, and he leaned over, kissing it gently. "It is my sincerest pleasure to finally meet you."
Chloe turned to Hal, blushing. "You tell people about me?"
Full of brim and bluster, the Green Lantern of Earth began to reply. "Mother of my child, the only woman I..." His voice began to peter out, "...have eyes for."
"Yes, well, that's all well and awkward, but Ms. Sullivan--" Adam paused for a moment. "Can I call you Chloe?"
"Yes you may, Adam. I don't want to call you Mr. Strange all day; I don't think it's very becoming."
Adam smiled. "Indeed. Chloe, I'd like you and your adorable daughter to meet my wife and beautiful baby girl, if you'd be interested? I don't know how often you get to fraternize with the daughter of one of Alpha Centauri's greatest minds-- we are talking about my wife-- but it's an opportunity I'd leap at." He continued to smile, and Chloe found it infectious. "But then again I'm completely biased."
"It would be a pleasure," said Chloe.
"Fantastic," said Adam, taking a satchel from his side, and removed two small mechanical crowns, circuitry laced on the inside. "This is a Menticizer. It'll allow you to understand what she's saying."
"What?"
"Back when I first arrived, I didn’t speak the language. Aleea’s dad, Sardath, he put this on me, and then I could. I’ve finally started wrapping my head around the concepts behind it, science-by-osmosis, but half the stuff in Sardath’s lab is a hundred years ahead of Earth."
"Huh," Chloe grunted. Hal looked around the city, admiring the sparkling spires that reached up into the sky, pointed to buildings with one hand while cradling Jessica. "What about you?"
"Me?" said Hal, his attention drawn back to Chloe. "I've got the ring, its fine. I'm fluent in a thousand different languages."
Adam placed the Menticizer on Chloe's head, pressed a button, and then removed it. "Is that it?" she asked.
"Yeah. Imagine how I felt, one minute in a South American archaeological dig, the next seeing the most beautiful woman in the world talking complete nonsense in my direction. And then her father treating me like a child when he put it on my head."
"Oh, shush," said Alanna Strange, emerging from a door leading into the rooms beyond the balcony. "My father treated you as he would any stranger arriving in a flash of light. With a combination of abject horror and scientific curiosity." She kissed him on the cheek, and then turned to Chloe. "Ms. Sullivan? It's a pleasure to finally meet you."
Chloe laughed. "Does everyone know about me, Hal? All these people I know nothing about?"
"Well..." said Hal, grinning.
"Don't worry," said Alanna, "you won't be meeting my father Sardath. But then again, I think you could take him." Chloe laughed, and Hal gently handed Jessica to her. "You're leaving?"
Hal’s ring buzzed. <Elemental apparition forming in northern hemisphere—sentient elemental bio-mass—danger level: 7>
“Really?!” said Hal. He turned to Adam. “You still have problems with the elements of Rann running rampant as humanoids?”
“Sometimes, yeah,” said Adam, as he checked his jetpack, and his holographic armour shifted over his body. He grinned broadly. “Gimme a hand?”
Hal turned to Chloe, and she laughed. “Like I could stop you.” Alanna and Chloe watched from the balcony as the two men flew into the sky. "...Be safe," she found herself whispering.
Guy Gardner knocked on Carol Ferris’ door, and heard a jumble of commotion inside. Within seconds, Ferris answered, the door opened wide, and she looked terrible. She looked tired, the kind of tired you can’t hide with coffee and make-up, and Guy smiled awkwardly as her face took a second to react to his presence.
“Guy, oh, hello, sorry, I’ve been… thanks for coming in,” she said, and she smiled, and she blushed, and Guy entered at her beckoning. “What can I do for you?”
Guy looked around the office. It was a mess, but he didn’t say anything. His hands were deep in his pockets, his ring invisible to all but him, and it was running silent scans as he approached the seat in front of her desk. “I wanted to see if you were alright, Carol.”
“Oh?”
“What with Hank’s… death… and the way it hit me, well I couldn’t possibly begin to imagine how it’s affected you.”
“I’m fine, I am, I just…” She paused. “…You’ve spoken to Hal.”
“There was an incident, some kind of something happening in the upper atmosphere, and our rings synced and the conversation played out in my head, kind of automatic, can’t say I like that feature of the ring, but it’s a tool to make us well aware of every other Lanterns’ enemies and what not.” Guy bristled as he realized he rambled. “I’m sorry. That’s… it’s not right, I think, and it was impolite, but you said you saw Hank, and he’s dead, Carol.”
“I can’t expect you to understand,” said Carol.
“No one understands, Carol,” said Hank Henshaw, as he sat perched at the window, arms crossed. “But I do. I understand your heart, and your wanting to believe, and that’s all that matters, isn’t it?”
Carol blinked, and Guy followed her eye line to the window. His ring didn’t make a noise. “Carol?”
“Hmm? Oh. Sorry.” She was as pale as a sheet. “I must have imagined it. Dreamed it. Or something.”
Guy’s ring noted her increased agitation. “If you ever need to talk to anyone,” he started, “I know we’re not… friends… but I know what you’re going through, and if you need to talk, I’m here for you.”
“Like he could understand,” Hank Henshaw lifted himself up from where he was leaning, and approached Guy. “This failure, he can’t look after himself, let alone anyone else. What was he doing when I had a hole blown in my chest?” He patted himself hard across the sternum. “No. If he doesn’t believe you’re seeing me, then what good is he?”
Carol swallowed. “I’ll be fine, Guy.”
“Right,” said Guy, as his ring prepared to shoot him off to Coast City, back to his apartment. The coordinates were laid in, and he hesitated at Carol’s side. “I know you’re going through something you don’t think anyone could understand, but the impossible is kind of my forte, my expertise, and I’ll listen, alright?”
“I appreciate it, I really do, Guy, but I’m fine.” She opened the door for him to leave. “We’ll be alright, I think.”
“…We?” questioned Guy.
“He doesn’t understand,” repeated Hank, “not like I do. Not like we do.”
“Me. Bye.” She closed the door, and turned back to Hank, who was stood close to her now, “What’s wrong with me?”
“You bought me back from the brink, Carol, you and only you. You’re my heart, and my soul, and without you I’d be nothing.” He breathed, and she could feel her neck bristle. “I need you.”
She closed her eyes, and Hank Henshaw smiled.
The elemental was returned peacefully back to the volcano it had sprung out from, and Green Lantern and Adam Strange floated above the blister on the surface of Rann, ensuring it didn’t pop back up. “That was relatively easy,” said Hal. “How often do these things play jack-in-the-box?”
“A couple of times a year, we’re working on placating them though, a kind of non-aggression pact. They thrive on the interior of the planet. It’s the kids, the adolescents, they’re the ones that rise up and go a bit crazy. It’s just a case of convincing them that returning to their natural form is the right idea. Sometimes that takes a peaceful gesture, other times, superior fire power.” Adam grinned. “Sardath is working on a translator. That’s my next job, I think, going in and talking to the elders.” He paused. “You have no idea how much I love this planet, Hal.”
“I can see it though,” said Hal, “you’re in your element, the unknown, the mysterious. Action archaeologist, right?” He laughed. “Good for you.”
"Thanks, Hal," said Adam. The two men sat on the tip of Rann's highest mountain range, overlooking the volcano valley. "So. How are things with Chloe?"
Hal managed a smile. "Awkward. Our relationship has never been the most straight forward. She... I think we need to talk. Talk about things. Talk about Jessica and our lives, our future, but we've got a good thing going, and I don't want to ruin it."
"Understandable, but not talking about it, that's what's going to hurt everything. Aleea was the best thing that ever happened to me. Seeing her born changed me. Shook me to the core. Made me realise I can't be the world-hopping adventurer that the Zeta Beam made me. I settled here. I'm a family man now."
"I was possessed by an evil energy virus when Jessica was born. I was attempting to destroy the Green Lantern Corps when Chloe was giving birth. I don't know if she's forgiven me for that."
Adam shook his head. "I'm sure she has. It's your job and you came through it. And, well... you know what I'm doing right now?"
"Talking to me?" offered Hal, smiling.
"I'm training the Rann Planetary Police Force. I can't be flying around fighting space-dinosaurs and tornado tyrants. Not all by my lonesome, I have a kid to think of now. Sure, I pull on the jetpack every now and then, but I can't die. I can't die and leave Alanna and Aleea. I can't possibly be that selfish."
"I was thinking the same thing," said Hal, “thinking about Chloe and Jess and what would happen if I let my concentration slip, if something got through my forcefield—Hell, what would happen if I forgot to charge my ring and I suddenly find myself in a vacuum with nowhere to go. That’s what scares me, I figured out. Not dying. But leaving them.”
“But Chloe understands what you’re doing, and Jess…”
“Jess doesn’t know. If I die, she won’t ever know me. She won’t remember me. Not at all. So I need to be there. I need to stay alive. I’m being selfish wearing this ring, aren’t I? I’m considering… letting it go. Letting it pass on to someone else deserving.”
“You’ll do what’s right for your family, Hal,” said Adam, nodding. “Because they are your family, no matter what you think it is.”
“You’re a smart man, Adam Strange.” He hesitated. “I don’t know if I’m with Chloe out of an obligation to Jess, or because I genuinely have feelings for her. There’s this weird feeling, right here,” he pointed to just below his rib cage, “and I don’t know what it means. When I see Chloe, I get… I feel like an idiot. Like I’m a teenager or something. My lifestyle, before all this, I was flittering from relationship to relationship, or not even that, flings, meaningless things, and now I’m a father, and it’s a whole new ball game.”
“Yeah, that’s how I felt. How I feel. Every time I see my wife.”
“Oh,” said Hal, realizing the implication. “Right then…”
The road blinked with the lights of the highway, ducking into sight every few seconds, and Jim Jordan looked over to his son, who was sleeping quietly in the passenger seat next to him. They’d been on the road for a few hours now, but they were near home. Every now and then a car buzzed by, and Jim smiled. The radio quietly played some generic stadium rock from Jim's youth, and he was full of enough coffee that he wasn’t afraid of falling asleep.
There was a light up ahead though, low enough to take a moment to blink into view. It was a purple haze, and Jim didn’t know what to make of it. He assumed one of the car's headlights was playing up, and he drove through the luminous fog without much thought.
Then the car sprang into the air, spinning with a mighty thunder. The purple light seemed to grab at the sides of the car, and Howie Jordan’s eyes blinked open as he was suddenly upside down. Jim looked to his son, panic in his eyes, and then reached out to him—just as the car was slammed down with a heavy metallic thud onto the highway. The car was then dragged by the violet light, and shrieked a hundred meters further, before being tossed down an embankment, and into the wet mud below.
Jim Jordan’s eyes didn’t open when they landed, and neither did Howie’s. They sat motionless, broken and bloodied as the purple light shifted from their vehicle back toward the highway, where a silver-haired man watched, the energy filling his being.
"How can you deal with it?" Chloe suddenly asked, as Alanna and herself watched their daughters play in the hard-light pen that contained them. "I mean, sorry, Adam's a hero, right? He protects this world. And, I don't know, isn't that hard on you?"
"Adam is a hero," said Alanna, smiling. "He didn't choose this life, it chose him. He does what he thinks is right, it's his way." She contemplated her daughter-- the spitting image of her mother, thought Chloe-- and then nodded slowly. "He's pulling back from it all. He's here all the time now-- Sardath inundated Adam's cells with mega-Zeta radiation, he won't leave unless he has to... and sure, it happens every now and then. I'm proud of him. He does something he loves, and he doesn't have to fight the giant dinosaurs that sometimes emerge from the caverns in the wastelands around Ranagar."
"It was a fluke, wasn't it?" Chloe asked slowly. "He was in the right place at the right time."
"Yes," said Alanna, "it was a complete coincidence that the Zeta-beam hit Adam. To think... if it wasn't for a fluke of science, I would have never met my soul-mate."
Chloe pondered that for a moment. "Soul-mate?"
"He completes me," nodded Alanna. "I was empty before him, and I didn't even know it. But he's here, and we've made something of our love, and she's every bit as amazing as he is."
"And every bit as amazing as you, I would guess," said Chloe.
Alanna smiled, and laughed gently. "She is more than the sum of her parts. Destined for greatness, perhaps. What of Hal and yourself? I know you aren't... a conventional couple. But is there something there?"
"Sometimes," started Chloe, "sometimes I think there might be. A look or a feeling... our hands touch, and we laugh and feel embarrassed and get on with it all. Sometimes he holds me, and I just..." She allowed herself a laugh, but Alanna frowned, well aware of her discomfort. "...I love him, and I don't think he sees me as I think he should. I think he sees Jessica, and this duty he has to honor. He's all about duty and honor, just like wearing that ring, and now being a 'good daddy'. But Hal Jordan is not destined for monogamy. I think that was of the first things I thought when I met him. Maybe he's going to prove me wrong, maybe... maybe... but I don't know."
"You should talk to him," said Alanna. "You need to. If not, you'll always live in a state of not knowing, and that's just as bad, isn't it?"
"Yeah. I guess it is." Chloe smiled. "So, when does the Zeta radiation fade?"
Alanna checked the small wrist-gauntlet she wore, and then shrugged to her right. "Soon," said Alanna. She leaned forward, and put the back of her hand in front of her mouth, feigning a whisper, “Adam could have put that little elemental incursion out by himself. He’s trying to impress you, I think? Take from that what you will.” She straightened up and continued to smile. "You could visit us again, if you like. It's nice to have someone I can just talk to." She laughed, and Chloe smiled.
"I would love that. I've got nothing going on right now but Jessica. My time is taken up with her, and I have to say... I do love it, but I could use the break sometimes."
"I'll have Sardath send a Zeta-beamer to Earth when he has the time to build one. Then you can just give me a call, so to speak."
"Great," said Chloe, and she meant it-- and knowing that made her feel just as good.
‘Ace’ Morgan headed home to his wife, the rain lashed at the streets, the cars on the roads kicking up the excess onto the sidewalks. He loved the pure emotional gamut of this kind of weather: the way it stung him, the way it made him know he was still alive on his time, his borrowed time. He walked home to his wife, and threw his thoughts back to the boys he now oversaw—he’d been promoted a month or so back to a special operations division, leaving the Air Force behind him. Now that Gardner was back, and Hal was thriving, his black spots were gone, and that’s all that mattered, that his boys were alive, and nothing else.
He felt the hands on his back immediately, but couldn’t stop them from pushing him into the traffic. The first car swerved to miss him, but he rolled over the hood on automatic, the wet surface providing frictionless movement. He stumbled into the next lane, and his hands found the side of another car, and he threw himself over the top awkwardly, bounced off the other side and onto the sidewalk, knees first, hands second.
The people who had seen this display of hesitant and pained acrobatics gasped with surprise, and rushed over to see if Morgan was alright, but he was more concerned with who had pushed him, who had tested his life so roughly. He blinked, and saw no one sticking out in the crowd. He exhaled, and looked at his bleeding hands and his torn trousers, before mumbling to himself. “…Guess I’m still living on borrowed time after all…”
Adam Strange’s armor buzzed, and a small, blue, holographic head popped up from his wrist. Hal nearly jumped, and then laughed. “So that’s what it’s like for everyone else.”
Adam blinked. “What?”
Before Hal could continue, the head—Sardath’s-- began to speak. "Some kind of incident has been reported in Ranagar's main custom precinct. Nothing more has been told, no more data has been input. Adam, your presence is required! Bring your Green Lantern friend if you like, I’m sure he won’t get in the way."
The head dissolved, and the two men looked at each other. “So that’s Sardath,” said Hal, nodding.
"Let's fly," said Adam Strange, hurtling off the mountains, followed by Green Lantern.
Within seconds, they landed hard, followed by the Rannian police. Fire fell from the sky. Dozens of smouldering trails smashed with buildings, with the store fronts, and the people screamed in fear.
"The weather net should be protecting the city!" said Adam over the noise. "Something's wrong!"
"Scan your tech for faults in the system, I'm going to--" Hal projected a shield over the city with his ring, and ran a diagnostic on what had landed. He could hear things collide on the shield, but he focused on what was at his feet.
<Meteor impact. Previous possibility of impact: 2.5%>
“What? What does that mean?”
<Meteor swarm trajectory passed behind secondary moon of Rann. Readings suggest that the wave has been diverted by artificial means.>
"What?!" asked Adam Strange.
“Someone aimed this bombardment at Rann!” said Green Lantern. “Who would--?”
"No need to ask," said a booming voice, and the emerald shield around the city shattered, causing Hal Jordan to cry out in shock and surprise. The feedback through his ring rang in his ears, and he fell to his knees, clutching his head. "It was me, Green Lantern." A violet mass of energy surged as it approached the surface, and the air crackled all around it. "Do you have any last words?"
"Last... words?" gasped Green Lantern. "No need--" His ring sent a construct out under the city and erupted beneath the attacker, sending it staggering high up into the air and onto it's back. The floor beneath its body burned on impact. "Adam! Evacuate the--" The Lantern glanced down at his hand to see that he was suddenly transparent. The Zeta-Beam was wearing off. "Adam-- get clear-- evacuate the area--!" His voice dipped in and out, and Hal could see Earth coalescing into view. "Adam!" He shouted and shouted, but Adam didn't seem to hear-- the Man of Two Worlds levelled his ray-gun, and approached the invading force of one.
The thing pulled itself up from the floor, and met Adam Strange halfway across the street. "Adam Strange of Earth, and of Rann," it drawled, and Hal blinked as he realised that it was smiling "Your heart holds great love. To threaten that love would be a crime. To steal it, a worse offense. So, to save you, to protect your heart from the ravages of time and outside influences--" The man snapped his fingers, exploded in a blast of intense white light, and Hal threw up his arms, an ethereal voice whispering in his ear-- "is to end it."
And then they were home, the last of the Zeta radiation gone from their bodies.
Chloe looked at Hal, noticing the active ring-aura around his body and the look of concern on his face. Something was wrong. She remembered a tremor back on Rann, Alanna looking confused-- 'there shouldn't be any planet quakes today' she had started to say, and then, with Jess in her arms, they returned to Earth, back where they'd started. "What happened?"
"I... I..." Green Lantern blinked, and saw Adam Strange turn toward him as the light reached out-- and then vanished. A memory? He pulled his battery from it's pocket reality, and then grimaced. "Green Lantern emergency. All available units report to Sector 2682, major terrorist incident taking place on Rann." He turned to Chloe, who held Jess, and then shook his head. "We were fading, I couldn't... I couldn't..." He breathed in slowly, and then exhaled fast. "I need to get back to Rann under my own steam, right now, Adam needs my help-- Rann is in danger, and--"
"Go," said Chloe, kissing him softly on the lips, "save the universe."
"I..." started Hal, as he started to float off the ground... "I think I love you, Chloe Sullivan."
"Keep thinking that," said Chloe, as she watched him vanish into the night sky. "Because I love you too."
Across the street, watching from a streetlight, Hank Henshaw stood silently. As the sun crept up, he began to walk away, not a word wasted.
Green Lantern
Issue Twenty-Seven: Love Lost
Part Two: "Family Ties"
Written by House Of Mystery
Cover by Nathan Kilburn
Edited by Don Walsh
Jim Jordan held his son close to him, his boy gripping the side of his father’s coat as the wind whistled around their bodies. They looked down at the gravestone—crumpled, broken and shattered—and both Howie and Jim Jordan shivered as their bones rattled with the cold. The caretaker of the graveyard had contacted them a few hours before, and the car journey had been a frantic one. Howie insisted on coming, mainly because he loved car journeys with his father, but also he wanted to pay his respects to his grandmother. Jim loved his son, and agreed to let Howie join him.
“Who would do this?” Hal Jordan walked behind them; his jacket zipped up all the way, his face red with the cold. Jessica Jordan, their dearly departed mother, was interred here. And her gravestone had been viciously vandalised, large chunks of stone fragmented and scattered across her grave.
“I thought you might know the answer to that,” said Jim. “Thought it might have something to do with your extra-curricular activities.”
Howie Jordan looked up at his uncle and grinned at the thought. Hal ruffled his hair, before removing a small wrapped box from the inside of his jacket. His nephew took it quickly, and Jim briefly smiled at the youngster. Hal’s expression grew dark as he looked his younger brother in the eye. “No one knows my identity. No one that could… or would… do this kind of thing. It’s a dirty action, but it’s easily fixed.” He took his hand out of his pocket, and his emerald power ring blinked bright, before strands of energy collected the shards of gravestone and began to repair the damage. “It could be kids. It could be anything.”
“Or it could be a warning,” said Jim, pointedly. He glanced around uncomfortably, feeling awkward at the blatant display of Green Lantern-ness his brother was demonstrating. “This is protecting your secret? You look out for yourself, Hal.”
“You too, Jim,” said Hal. “And you, kid,” he looked down at his nephew, who was too engrossed with the gift Hal had given him, “you be good, too, y’hear?” The boy was beaming at the small model plane in his hands, and he nodded vigorously. Hal straightened up, and then handed Jim another present. “For little Janey. Chloe, Jess and I… we’ll come down again soon, alright? If you want?”
"That would be great," said Jim, smiling.
"Do you want me to fly you back?" asked Hal, motioning to his ring.
"Nah, we drove, we'll drive back, but thanks, Hal."
Jim smiled, and patted his brother on the back, before Hal Jordan’s civilian attire dissolved into his Green Lantern uniform, and he shot into the air silently, leaving his brother and nephew alone in the cold. “I’ll never get used to that.”
* * *
Green Lantern landed, and his costume faded into civvies before his foot touched the ground. Chloe sat in the lounge, and she looked up as Hal entered. "It's time we all got out the house," said Hal, smiling as he took Chloe Sullivan by the hand. “I have a plan.”
Chloe face brightened as Hal pulled her close, then pushed him away gently after the moment lingered just awkwardly enough. Baby Jessica was sleeping in her crib, and the early spring afternoon, with its cool breeze and young sun brought them comfort.
“Nevermind that, what happened at the cemetery?” asked Chloe, genuine concern on her face.
“It’s… nothing,” said Hal, and he knew that she could tell he was lying, but she let him have that one deception, before she collected their daughter up in her arms.
"Okay then-- so what are you talking about? We visited your brother's last week, it's not like we've been cooped up in here."
"I'm trying to make a grand gesture, bear with me."
"It's all I ever do with you," she said with a wink.
"Please." Hal pointed his ring up in the air, and an invisible energy beam leaped up, the air seemingly rippling in its wake. "You've never seen the greatness the universe has to offer. You've seen... Sinestro. Legion. Alex Nero and all the horrors that came in the wake of Parallax. Horror. You've seen horror and awfulness, and I don't think that's right."
Chloe nodded slowly. "So, what are you suggesting?"
"I just sent out a locator beam. A friend of mine has sent out a special brand of radiation our way which I need to funnel on down, and it's going to be my gift to you."
Chloe shifted her weight from one foot to another, contemplating the concept. "Radiation? Is it gift-wrapped, Hal? Can you tell I'm excited? A new mother does love a bit of radiation in her diet."
Hal grinned. "Don't you trust me?"
"Well, now that you mention it--" Light seemed to pour all around them, and Hal took her hand as Jessica and himself faded from Chloe's view. "--Hal? Hal!" The light faded, and Chloe, Jessica and Hal were no longer in Kansas. She blinked once, twice, and realized that the sky was no longer the same, that it was no longer spring, that the sky was no longer the beautiful blue that it had been before-- and that the man in front of her, arms wide and jetpack attached firmly to his back, was not any old resident of Smallville.
"Chloe," said Hal, "welcome to Rann."
"Hello, Ms. Sullivan. My name is Adam Strange. I'm an old friend of Hal's, and he's told me all about you," said the jetpack-clad blonde, who put out his hand in Chloe's direction. She took it, and he leaned over, kissing it gently. "It is my sincerest pleasure to finally meet you."
Chloe turned to Hal, blushing. "You tell people about me?"
Full of brim and bluster, the Green Lantern of Earth began to reply. "Mother of my child, the only woman I..." His voice began to peter out, "...have eyes for."
"Yes, well, that's all well and awkward, but Ms. Sullivan--" Adam paused for a moment. "Can I call you Chloe?"
"Yes you may, Adam. I don't want to call you Mr. Strange all day; I don't think it's very becoming."
Adam smiled. "Indeed. Chloe, I'd like you and your adorable daughter to meet my wife and beautiful baby girl, if you'd be interested? I don't know how often you get to fraternize with the daughter of one of Alpha Centauri's greatest minds-- we are talking about my wife-- but it's an opportunity I'd leap at." He continued to smile, and Chloe found it infectious. "But then again I'm completely biased."
"It would be a pleasure," said Chloe.
"Fantastic," said Adam, taking a satchel from his side, and removed two small mechanical crowns, circuitry laced on the inside. "This is a Menticizer. It'll allow you to understand what she's saying."
"What?"
"Back when I first arrived, I didn’t speak the language. Aleea’s dad, Sardath, he put this on me, and then I could. I’ve finally started wrapping my head around the concepts behind it, science-by-osmosis, but half the stuff in Sardath’s lab is a hundred years ahead of Earth."
"Huh," Chloe grunted. Hal looked around the city, admiring the sparkling spires that reached up into the sky, pointed to buildings with one hand while cradling Jessica. "What about you?"
"Me?" said Hal, his attention drawn back to Chloe. "I've got the ring, its fine. I'm fluent in a thousand different languages."
Adam placed the Menticizer on Chloe's head, pressed a button, and then removed it. "Is that it?" she asked.
"Yeah. Imagine how I felt, one minute in a South American archaeological dig, the next seeing the most beautiful woman in the world talking complete nonsense in my direction. And then her father treating me like a child when he put it on my head."
"Oh, shush," said Alanna Strange, emerging from a door leading into the rooms beyond the balcony. "My father treated you as he would any stranger arriving in a flash of light. With a combination of abject horror and scientific curiosity." She kissed him on the cheek, and then turned to Chloe. "Ms. Sullivan? It's a pleasure to finally meet you."
Chloe laughed. "Does everyone know about me, Hal? All these people I know nothing about?"
"Well..." said Hal, grinning.
"Don't worry," said Alanna, "you won't be meeting my father Sardath. But then again, I think you could take him." Chloe laughed, and Hal gently handed Jessica to her. "You're leaving?"
Hal’s ring buzzed. <Elemental apparition forming in northern hemisphere—sentient elemental bio-mass—danger level: 7>
“Really?!” said Hal. He turned to Adam. “You still have problems with the elements of Rann running rampant as humanoids?”
“Sometimes, yeah,” said Adam, as he checked his jetpack, and his holographic armour shifted over his body. He grinned broadly. “Gimme a hand?”
Hal turned to Chloe, and she laughed. “Like I could stop you.” Alanna and Chloe watched from the balcony as the two men flew into the sky. "...Be safe," she found herself whispering.
* * *
Guy Gardner knocked on Carol Ferris’ door, and heard a jumble of commotion inside. Within seconds, Ferris answered, the door opened wide, and she looked terrible. She looked tired, the kind of tired you can’t hide with coffee and make-up, and Guy smiled awkwardly as her face took a second to react to his presence.
“Guy, oh, hello, sorry, I’ve been… thanks for coming in,” she said, and she smiled, and she blushed, and Guy entered at her beckoning. “What can I do for you?”
Guy looked around the office. It was a mess, but he didn’t say anything. His hands were deep in his pockets, his ring invisible to all but him, and it was running silent scans as he approached the seat in front of her desk. “I wanted to see if you were alright, Carol.”
“Oh?”
“What with Hank’s… death… and the way it hit me, well I couldn’t possibly begin to imagine how it’s affected you.”
“I’m fine, I am, I just…” She paused. “…You’ve spoken to Hal.”
“There was an incident, some kind of something happening in the upper atmosphere, and our rings synced and the conversation played out in my head, kind of automatic, can’t say I like that feature of the ring, but it’s a tool to make us well aware of every other Lanterns’ enemies and what not.” Guy bristled as he realized he rambled. “I’m sorry. That’s… it’s not right, I think, and it was impolite, but you said you saw Hank, and he’s dead, Carol.”
“I can’t expect you to understand,” said Carol.
“No one understands, Carol,” said Hank Henshaw, as he sat perched at the window, arms crossed. “But I do. I understand your heart, and your wanting to believe, and that’s all that matters, isn’t it?”
Carol blinked, and Guy followed her eye line to the window. His ring didn’t make a noise. “Carol?”
“Hmm? Oh. Sorry.” She was as pale as a sheet. “I must have imagined it. Dreamed it. Or something.”
Guy’s ring noted her increased agitation. “If you ever need to talk to anyone,” he started, “I know we’re not… friends… but I know what you’re going through, and if you need to talk, I’m here for you.”
“Like he could understand,” Hank Henshaw lifted himself up from where he was leaning, and approached Guy. “This failure, he can’t look after himself, let alone anyone else. What was he doing when I had a hole blown in my chest?” He patted himself hard across the sternum. “No. If he doesn’t believe you’re seeing me, then what good is he?”
Carol swallowed. “I’ll be fine, Guy.”
“Right,” said Guy, as his ring prepared to shoot him off to Coast City, back to his apartment. The coordinates were laid in, and he hesitated at Carol’s side. “I know you’re going through something you don’t think anyone could understand, but the impossible is kind of my forte, my expertise, and I’ll listen, alright?”
“I appreciate it, I really do, Guy, but I’m fine.” She opened the door for him to leave. “We’ll be alright, I think.”
“…We?” questioned Guy.
“He doesn’t understand,” repeated Hank, “not like I do. Not like we do.”
“Me. Bye.” She closed the door, and turned back to Hank, who was stood close to her now, “What’s wrong with me?”
“You bought me back from the brink, Carol, you and only you. You’re my heart, and my soul, and without you I’d be nothing.” He breathed, and she could feel her neck bristle. “I need you.”
She closed her eyes, and Hank Henshaw smiled.
* * *
The elemental was returned peacefully back to the volcano it had sprung out from, and Green Lantern and Adam Strange floated above the blister on the surface of Rann, ensuring it didn’t pop back up. “That was relatively easy,” said Hal. “How often do these things play jack-in-the-box?”
“A couple of times a year, we’re working on placating them though, a kind of non-aggression pact. They thrive on the interior of the planet. It’s the kids, the adolescents, they’re the ones that rise up and go a bit crazy. It’s just a case of convincing them that returning to their natural form is the right idea. Sometimes that takes a peaceful gesture, other times, superior fire power.” Adam grinned. “Sardath is working on a translator. That’s my next job, I think, going in and talking to the elders.” He paused. “You have no idea how much I love this planet, Hal.”
“I can see it though,” said Hal, “you’re in your element, the unknown, the mysterious. Action archaeologist, right?” He laughed. “Good for you.”
"Thanks, Hal," said Adam. The two men sat on the tip of Rann's highest mountain range, overlooking the volcano valley. "So. How are things with Chloe?"
Hal managed a smile. "Awkward. Our relationship has never been the most straight forward. She... I think we need to talk. Talk about things. Talk about Jessica and our lives, our future, but we've got a good thing going, and I don't want to ruin it."
"Understandable, but not talking about it, that's what's going to hurt everything. Aleea was the best thing that ever happened to me. Seeing her born changed me. Shook me to the core. Made me realise I can't be the world-hopping adventurer that the Zeta Beam made me. I settled here. I'm a family man now."
"I was possessed by an evil energy virus when Jessica was born. I was attempting to destroy the Green Lantern Corps when Chloe was giving birth. I don't know if she's forgiven me for that."
Adam shook his head. "I'm sure she has. It's your job and you came through it. And, well... you know what I'm doing right now?"
"Talking to me?" offered Hal, smiling.
"I'm training the Rann Planetary Police Force. I can't be flying around fighting space-dinosaurs and tornado tyrants. Not all by my lonesome, I have a kid to think of now. Sure, I pull on the jetpack every now and then, but I can't die. I can't die and leave Alanna and Aleea. I can't possibly be that selfish."
"I was thinking the same thing," said Hal, “thinking about Chloe and Jess and what would happen if I let my concentration slip, if something got through my forcefield—Hell, what would happen if I forgot to charge my ring and I suddenly find myself in a vacuum with nowhere to go. That’s what scares me, I figured out. Not dying. But leaving them.”
“But Chloe understands what you’re doing, and Jess…”
“Jess doesn’t know. If I die, she won’t ever know me. She won’t remember me. Not at all. So I need to be there. I need to stay alive. I’m being selfish wearing this ring, aren’t I? I’m considering… letting it go. Letting it pass on to someone else deserving.”
“You’ll do what’s right for your family, Hal,” said Adam, nodding. “Because they are your family, no matter what you think it is.”
“You’re a smart man, Adam Strange.” He hesitated. “I don’t know if I’m with Chloe out of an obligation to Jess, or because I genuinely have feelings for her. There’s this weird feeling, right here,” he pointed to just below his rib cage, “and I don’t know what it means. When I see Chloe, I get… I feel like an idiot. Like I’m a teenager or something. My lifestyle, before all this, I was flittering from relationship to relationship, or not even that, flings, meaningless things, and now I’m a father, and it’s a whole new ball game.”
“Yeah, that’s how I felt. How I feel. Every time I see my wife.”
“Oh,” said Hal, realizing the implication. “Right then…”
* * *
The road blinked with the lights of the highway, ducking into sight every few seconds, and Jim Jordan looked over to his son, who was sleeping quietly in the passenger seat next to him. They’d been on the road for a few hours now, but they were near home. Every now and then a car buzzed by, and Jim smiled. The radio quietly played some generic stadium rock from Jim's youth, and he was full of enough coffee that he wasn’t afraid of falling asleep.
There was a light up ahead though, low enough to take a moment to blink into view. It was a purple haze, and Jim didn’t know what to make of it. He assumed one of the car's headlights was playing up, and he drove through the luminous fog without much thought.
Then the car sprang into the air, spinning with a mighty thunder. The purple light seemed to grab at the sides of the car, and Howie Jordan’s eyes blinked open as he was suddenly upside down. Jim looked to his son, panic in his eyes, and then reached out to him—just as the car was slammed down with a heavy metallic thud onto the highway. The car was then dragged by the violet light, and shrieked a hundred meters further, before being tossed down an embankment, and into the wet mud below.
Jim Jordan’s eyes didn’t open when they landed, and neither did Howie’s. They sat motionless, broken and bloodied as the purple light shifted from their vehicle back toward the highway, where a silver-haired man watched, the energy filling his being.
* * *
"How can you deal with it?" Chloe suddenly asked, as Alanna and herself watched their daughters play in the hard-light pen that contained them. "I mean, sorry, Adam's a hero, right? He protects this world. And, I don't know, isn't that hard on you?"
"Adam is a hero," said Alanna, smiling. "He didn't choose this life, it chose him. He does what he thinks is right, it's his way." She contemplated her daughter-- the spitting image of her mother, thought Chloe-- and then nodded slowly. "He's pulling back from it all. He's here all the time now-- Sardath inundated Adam's cells with mega-Zeta radiation, he won't leave unless he has to... and sure, it happens every now and then. I'm proud of him. He does something he loves, and he doesn't have to fight the giant dinosaurs that sometimes emerge from the caverns in the wastelands around Ranagar."
"It was a fluke, wasn't it?" Chloe asked slowly. "He was in the right place at the right time."
"Yes," said Alanna, "it was a complete coincidence that the Zeta-beam hit Adam. To think... if it wasn't for a fluke of science, I would have never met my soul-mate."
Chloe pondered that for a moment. "Soul-mate?"
"He completes me," nodded Alanna. "I was empty before him, and I didn't even know it. But he's here, and we've made something of our love, and she's every bit as amazing as he is."
"And every bit as amazing as you, I would guess," said Chloe.
Alanna smiled, and laughed gently. "She is more than the sum of her parts. Destined for greatness, perhaps. What of Hal and yourself? I know you aren't... a conventional couple. But is there something there?"
"Sometimes," started Chloe, "sometimes I think there might be. A look or a feeling... our hands touch, and we laugh and feel embarrassed and get on with it all. Sometimes he holds me, and I just..." She allowed herself a laugh, but Alanna frowned, well aware of her discomfort. "...I love him, and I don't think he sees me as I think he should. I think he sees Jessica, and this duty he has to honor. He's all about duty and honor, just like wearing that ring, and now being a 'good daddy'. But Hal Jordan is not destined for monogamy. I think that was of the first things I thought when I met him. Maybe he's going to prove me wrong, maybe... maybe... but I don't know."
"You should talk to him," said Alanna. "You need to. If not, you'll always live in a state of not knowing, and that's just as bad, isn't it?"
"Yeah. I guess it is." Chloe smiled. "So, when does the Zeta radiation fade?"
Alanna checked the small wrist-gauntlet she wore, and then shrugged to her right. "Soon," said Alanna. She leaned forward, and put the back of her hand in front of her mouth, feigning a whisper, “Adam could have put that little elemental incursion out by himself. He’s trying to impress you, I think? Take from that what you will.” She straightened up and continued to smile. "You could visit us again, if you like. It's nice to have someone I can just talk to." She laughed, and Chloe smiled.
"I would love that. I've got nothing going on right now but Jessica. My time is taken up with her, and I have to say... I do love it, but I could use the break sometimes."
"I'll have Sardath send a Zeta-beamer to Earth when he has the time to build one. Then you can just give me a call, so to speak."
"Great," said Chloe, and she meant it-- and knowing that made her feel just as good.
* * *
‘Ace’ Morgan headed home to his wife, the rain lashed at the streets, the cars on the roads kicking up the excess onto the sidewalks. He loved the pure emotional gamut of this kind of weather: the way it stung him, the way it made him know he was still alive on his time, his borrowed time. He walked home to his wife, and threw his thoughts back to the boys he now oversaw—he’d been promoted a month or so back to a special operations division, leaving the Air Force behind him. Now that Gardner was back, and Hal was thriving, his black spots were gone, and that’s all that mattered, that his boys were alive, and nothing else.
He felt the hands on his back immediately, but couldn’t stop them from pushing him into the traffic. The first car swerved to miss him, but he rolled over the hood on automatic, the wet surface providing frictionless movement. He stumbled into the next lane, and his hands found the side of another car, and he threw himself over the top awkwardly, bounced off the other side and onto the sidewalk, knees first, hands second.
The people who had seen this display of hesitant and pained acrobatics gasped with surprise, and rushed over to see if Morgan was alright, but he was more concerned with who had pushed him, who had tested his life so roughly. He blinked, and saw no one sticking out in the crowd. He exhaled, and looked at his bleeding hands and his torn trousers, before mumbling to himself. “…Guess I’m still living on borrowed time after all…”
* * *
Adam Strange’s armor buzzed, and a small, blue, holographic head popped up from his wrist. Hal nearly jumped, and then laughed. “So that’s what it’s like for everyone else.”
Adam blinked. “What?”
Before Hal could continue, the head—Sardath’s-- began to speak. "Some kind of incident has been reported in Ranagar's main custom precinct. Nothing more has been told, no more data has been input. Adam, your presence is required! Bring your Green Lantern friend if you like, I’m sure he won’t get in the way."
The head dissolved, and the two men looked at each other. “So that’s Sardath,” said Hal, nodding.
"Let's fly," said Adam Strange, hurtling off the mountains, followed by Green Lantern.
Within seconds, they landed hard, followed by the Rannian police. Fire fell from the sky. Dozens of smouldering trails smashed with buildings, with the store fronts, and the people screamed in fear.
"The weather net should be protecting the city!" said Adam over the noise. "Something's wrong!"
"Scan your tech for faults in the system, I'm going to--" Hal projected a shield over the city with his ring, and ran a diagnostic on what had landed. He could hear things collide on the shield, but he focused on what was at his feet.
<Meteor impact. Previous possibility of impact: 2.5%>
“What? What does that mean?”
<Meteor swarm trajectory passed behind secondary moon of Rann. Readings suggest that the wave has been diverted by artificial means.>
"What?!" asked Adam Strange.
“Someone aimed this bombardment at Rann!” said Green Lantern. “Who would--?”
"No need to ask," said a booming voice, and the emerald shield around the city shattered, causing Hal Jordan to cry out in shock and surprise. The feedback through his ring rang in his ears, and he fell to his knees, clutching his head. "It was me, Green Lantern." A violet mass of energy surged as it approached the surface, and the air crackled all around it. "Do you have any last words?"
"Last... words?" gasped Green Lantern. "No need--" His ring sent a construct out under the city and erupted beneath the attacker, sending it staggering high up into the air and onto it's back. The floor beneath its body burned on impact. "Adam! Evacuate the--" The Lantern glanced down at his hand to see that he was suddenly transparent. The Zeta-Beam was wearing off. "Adam-- get clear-- evacuate the area--!" His voice dipped in and out, and Hal could see Earth coalescing into view. "Adam!" He shouted and shouted, but Adam didn't seem to hear-- the Man of Two Worlds levelled his ray-gun, and approached the invading force of one.
The thing pulled itself up from the floor, and met Adam Strange halfway across the street. "Adam Strange of Earth, and of Rann," it drawled, and Hal blinked as he realised that it was smiling "Your heart holds great love. To threaten that love would be a crime. To steal it, a worse offense. So, to save you, to protect your heart from the ravages of time and outside influences--" The man snapped his fingers, exploded in a blast of intense white light, and Hal threw up his arms, an ethereal voice whispering in his ear-- "is to end it."
Smallville:
And then they were home, the last of the Zeta radiation gone from their bodies.
Chloe looked at Hal, noticing the active ring-aura around his body and the look of concern on his face. Something was wrong. She remembered a tremor back on Rann, Alanna looking confused-- 'there shouldn't be any planet quakes today' she had started to say, and then, with Jess in her arms, they returned to Earth, back where they'd started. "What happened?"
"I... I..." Green Lantern blinked, and saw Adam Strange turn toward him as the light reached out-- and then vanished. A memory? He pulled his battery from it's pocket reality, and then grimaced. "Green Lantern emergency. All available units report to Sector 2682, major terrorist incident taking place on Rann." He turned to Chloe, who held Jess, and then shook his head. "We were fading, I couldn't... I couldn't..." He breathed in slowly, and then exhaled fast. "I need to get back to Rann under my own steam, right now, Adam needs my help-- Rann is in danger, and--"
"Go," said Chloe, kissing him softly on the lips, "save the universe."
"I..." started Hal, as he started to float off the ground... "I think I love you, Chloe Sullivan."
"Keep thinking that," said Chloe, as she watched him vanish into the night sky. "Because I love you too."