#21 (32): Infect, Pt. 1 (HoM / Byrnes)

"I need to speak to a Guardian." Hal Jordan sat in his apartment, looking directly at the floating holographic head of Salaak that loom out of his ring. His power battery sat on the sofa next to him, and he needed to get this done. "Now."

"Hal, the Guardians are busy-- can I take a message?"

"Sal, did you just make a joke?!" Hal shook his head, and then ran his hand through his hair. "Look, I know that the Guardians don't grant an audience to whoever asks, but this is important... it's been so long, I need to debrief them on some of the stuff that went down in the galaxy since they came back from their...let's call it a vacation."

"'Debrief'? Are you listening to yourself, Hal? What could you possibly--"

"Zamarons."

"The who?"

"Salaak, are you playing me? Zamarons. Female--"

"Green Lantern 2814-- Hal Jordan." The vision of Salaak was disrupted by a new hologram, and then suddenly Hal sat in the main chamber of the Guardians, on Oa. He looked down at himself, and realised he was a shimmering green construct.

"Holy... did you just drag my consciousness across space?"

"During our hibernation inside the Torchbearer--" There was a murmur of uncertainty that permeated the chamber, Hal detecting a hint of what felt like guilt rumbling through the Guardians assembled. But that wasn't possible, was it? The Guardians of the Universe feeling guilty? Hal wasn't going to ask, but before he could focus his vision on the floating blue alien that spoke, another continued the sentence. He hated it when they did that.

"-- we were apart from the Universe. The very thing we vowed to protect all those millennia ago."

"Look, that wasn't your fault-- not at all-- and I'm not here to argue that. Darkseid's agents destroyed the Central Power Battery, you had to save yourselves, heal, and the way to do that... well. Kyle Rayner is gone now. He sacrificed himself using the power you gave him to save the Universe. I... I... well..."

A Guardian floated down to address Hal directly, and placed his feet directly on the cold steel floor of the chamber floor. "Hal. You have saved the universe time and time again from threats beyond our ability to battle. Without the Corps, we would be nothing--"

"--Ganthet!" interjected another Guardian, but the other Guardian simply put up his hand.

"The Green Lantern Corps is one of the few good things we have done in this Universe. Sometimes, I fear we do more harm than good. But the Corps is a beacon of hope, one that show compassion and will where rage and terror would reign supreme. The shining light in the darkness of the universe."

Hal Jordan had never heard a Guardian speak like this before. They were normally so aloof-- and yes, he had to admit, that the other Guardians weren't exactly looking as if they were approving of this 'Ganthet's' words, but they allowed it to continue. He thought that they were a council-- but was there a hierarchy emerging in the ranks of the Guardians? "The Zamarons approached me in the years that you were absent. They tried to make me battle their champion, a woman they called 'Star Sapphire'. They tried to use the love I have for a woman against me... they said they were female Guardians."

"It has been so long since we have heard from the Zamarons, but their enmity for us must still burn bright."

Yet again, another Guardian interrupted. "--Yes, Ganthet. But surely it is best we discuss this in private before we address the Corps--?"

"Hal Jordan is of the Honour Guard, one of the highest honours that a Green Lantern can have bestowed upon them. He is ready to hear our words. If anything, we should allow the rest of the Honour Guard to be present...!"

"Acceptable."

"Yes."

All around Hal, other Green Lanterns started appearing; though, unlike him, they were in their corporeal forms, not yanked from across space to hear the Guardians' words. Hank Henshaw looked at Hal, and grinned. He appeared as confident as ever, and Hal saw something in his partner's eyes that impressed him. Honour Guard training was doing him good, focusing that already impressive willpower into a weapon honed to perfection. Kilowog, Tomar Re, Salaak, Katma Tui were bemused by their transportation from their quarters on Oa, but they didn't say anything.

"Hal, what you doin' here? How was the situation on Earth?" Kilowog patted the Hal construct on the back, and the Earth GL shook his head. "What?"

"S'why I'm here, 'Wog. Some stuff came up. Thought it best to talk to the Guardians, and, well, they were willing to listen. Makes a ch--"

"Honour Guard," said Ganthet loudly, his words hushing them into silence, "it is time we shared with you lore that has been hidden inside the Book of Oa since before the formation of the Corps. The hidden history of the Zamarons, and of our race."


<Infect.>

Guy Gardner was curled up in a crater upon a dead moon orbiting a dead star. He couldn't remember how he got here, but he couldn't stop shaking. He was covered in a cold sweat, he felt like he hadn't eaten in months-- and then he realised, quite simply, he hadn't. His ring had been feeding him in deep space. He'd crashed the occasional bounty hunter bar, had a few space-brews, but his ring had dealt with the alcohol, if that's what you could call it. He hadn't needed to eat. He hadn't needed to drink. His ring had kept him going. "What... what... what's going... on...."

What was the last thing he could remember? He was on Oa, he was in the main chambers of the Guardians of the Universe, and they were handing out awards and promotions to the Green Lanterns assembled. But he wasn't a Green Lantern, was he? He was a freak of nature-- <Force of nature.> -- not green but yellow, his ring that of Sinestro, the first Green Lantern to be infected by Gnaxos, of the Anti-Matter universe, with the Legion Virus, all those years ago. <The first. The greatest.> Why couldn't he think straight? <Assimilate or destroy.>

Guy Gardner looked down at his hand, and saw that his yellow power ring was glowing, little beads of golden energy appearing from nowhere and slowly seeping inside the central gem of the ring. His body was absorbing some kind of ambient energy, he couldn't think to guess what, and as it continued to occur, as much as he thought to tell his ring to stop, tendrils of yellow energy began to creep across his wrist, thne his arm, then up across his body.

"Godddd... no... get... get this... off me..." Guy tried to pull the ring off. Better to die in the vacuum of space then to be taken over by whatever was attacking him from inside his ring. The tendrils shot into his head, and into his ear, and then voices began to fill his mind. Terrible voices, telling him to commit terrible acts of violence, of hatred. His personality began to twist and crack, and then a massive explosion shot out from his ring, and obliterated the moon he was sat upon. As the debris floated silently away from the source, Guy Gardner stood grinning. "This is more £$%^ing like it."

<Infect.>

"Yeah, I hear ya', you stupid piece of junk. Ring, get me the coordinates of Hal £$%^ing Jordan. I can't think of a better £$%^ing way to get started than to begin with him. Y'hear that, Highball? I'm coming for you! An' it ain't gonna' be pretty."

<Infect.>


<Infect.>

"Whu--? Did anyone hear that?" Hal looked around, and then realised he had no ears. "I coulda' swore...?" He shook his head. He was on edge as it was, and being a shimmering green construct wasn't doing him any favours in the sanity department.

Ganthet waited for Hal to settle, and then began to speak. "There are pages inside the Book of Oa that are hidden from the Corps-- if anything, for their own safety, at the least... to hide our shame. We were not always 'Guardians of the Universe'. We were once 'Scholars', and before that... Maltusians. We were the most evolved and intelligent beings in the universe, and we banded together to conquer disease and poverty. We gained immortality-- but at a cost. We could no longer procreate. The women... they left the planet. We were so focused on our science, we abandoned so much..." Ganthet paused for a moment. "We call ourselves 'Guardians' for the ideological belief we hold when it comes to the Universe itself. 'Oans' were a people. 'Guardians' are a society. Can we agree on that, my brothers and sisters?"

"Acceptable."

"Fair."

"I am glad. We are not willing to tell you now how we became immortal. That is a secret we hold in our hearts and minds till the end of our days, when the light of the universe dies. But we believed that the emerald light of will-- of order-- would hold the Universe in focus, keep it safe from the harm that others might do. This tribe of women, henceforth known as Zamarons, disagreed with this proposition. We went forward with our experiments whilst they believed that whilst will may be powerful, love... an emotion that we had purged from our lives in the billions of years before the destruction of the Central Power Battery... could hold the universe together, and do the same as will but so much more efficiently. We disagreed, and the Zamarons left after we had become immortal. They travelled the universe for untold eons, until they found their own power... focused inside the Star Sapphire. This is our supposition after we reviewed the data garnered by Green Lantern 2814.1's ring. We know of their efforts to instigate a war between their champion and ours. This is not something we can allow to come to pass."

"I can agree with that completely, but what can we do?" Hal looked to the other Honour Guard assembled. "We're police officers. Law enforcement. We can't go out there and confront any group with a grudge against us. We can't blitz world after world just because they don't appreciate our efforts."

"Can't we?" said a Guardian, causing the others to turn and look at him in surprise. "The Green Lantern Corps has saved the universe from destruction time after time after time. Crime must be punished. Evil must be snuffed out."

"This is not a discussion to be had in front of our Corps!" snapped Ganthet, before turning his attention back to the Honour Guard, "We must not act too rashly. To ignite a war out of spite for the past would be... exactly that. Rash."

"We just went through a war," said Kilowog, "an' excuse me for being rude, but I don't think the Corps can survive another-- not now, not at this moment."

Another Guardian put up his hand. "Now is not the time to make such decisions."

"We shall retire now, to discuss options, to talk of our next course of action.

Ganthet nodded slowly. "You are dismissed, Honour Guard."

Hank looked over to Hal, and nodded. "You alright back home, Highball?"

"Sure thing, Rook. Come back when Kilowog is done with you," Hal laughed as he felt the tug of his body back at home calling. The Guardians were done with him. "...I think my time's up, guys."

"Highball, I finished my training three weeks ago. I'm exploring the universe, sector by sector."

Kilowog laughed. "Graduated with top honours, Jordan. You could learn a thing or two from, heh, the 'rookie'."

"Well, I'll be," said Hal, as the sights of Oa began to fade, "Carol won't like this one-- bit." Hal was back in his apartment, his ring beginning to fade in the daylight. "Whoa."

"You alright in there, Hal? Finish your space-conference-call?" Carol Ferris' voice came from the kitchenette, and Hal stood up and headed for her. "You've been mumbling to yourself for a while now, was beginning to get worried."

"Yeah, done and done, I'm headed out for a while, everything fine here?"

"As fine as fine could be, Highball." She kissed him on the cheek, and watched as his ring transformed his jeans and shirt into his Lantern flight-suit. "Be safe out there."

Green Lantern shot out over Coast City, and felt better straight away. He felt too cooped up inside the apartment, his body felt heavy and cumbersome after having his psyche faxed across the galaxy, and the instant release of hitting the skies was a feeling comparable to none other.

"Power check?"

<Power levels at 97%. Weather optimum for flying.>

"Brilliant, let's open up our ears and see what we've got today--"

As if on cue, his ring sparked up. <Urgent! Distress call received: "Help! We don't know what hit us-- internal forcefields are holding, but-- he's here! He's still--#" Immediate deep space rescue required.>

"Light it up," said Hal, before his ring shunted him into space, and straight toward the source of distress, ducking into subluminal for mere seconds and blasting past the moon, and ended up abruptly outside the orbit of Saturn where the ship was drifting without main power. The spacecraft was smouldering in the darkness of space, emergency forcefields keeping air inside but the golden fires inside the ship still burning.

"Ok, let's fill up their energy cells, and extinguish the fires. Ring, I want the crew located and protected-- send out tracer beams as well, I want to know if the cause of this is still around." 

The ring abided, and went to work, strands of light phasing through the hull of the ship and searching for survivors. Hal himself used his ring to become immaterial, and ghost inside the ship as well, all the while his ringfixed the damage.

"Hello?" he shouted, moving his arm over his brow to shield his eyes from the glare of the flames. "I'm the Green Lantern of this sector, I'm here to help!"

Intergalactic commerce was rife in this sector, but the fact of the matter was, that the other races avoided Earth. In the grand scheme of things, the solar system wasn't anything important to their businesses, so why should they bother? Hal was fascinated by the politics, and he knew that some day Earth would be ready, but right now? He ignored the question. He shrugged off all unnecessary thoughts and zeroed his will into his ring.

"Hello? Ring, life signs?"

<Zero.>

"What did this?"

<Power signature unknown. Searching...>

"Power signature unknown?" The Book of Oa knew everything. That was the point. Every single life form a Green Lantern encountered, every minuscule trace energy signature that ever existed-- the Book of Oa knew. Catalogued. Recorded. "How is that..." There was one signature that sensors couldn't pick up. That the Power Rings failed to register. "...No..." Hal thought up an emerald flashlight, and shone a beam of light against the hull of the ship. Carved into the hull, the metal still glowing yellow, was a Green Lantern symbol, with a cross etched across it. "...Sinestro?"

The ship exploded, and Hal threw up a shield, but within seconds the entire craft was gone. Hal was alone in space, and saw no trace of the ship left, or the thing-- or person-- that attacked him.

"What was the source of that explosion?"

<Tracer beams footage upload--> Images flickered inside Hal's mind. A glowing, sickly yellow bomb construct had ticked away as Hal had searched the ship. And then it had triggered-- taking the ship with it.

"So we can't pick up on the energy signature?"

<Affirmative,> replied the voice inside Hal's ring.

Hal's brow creased. "Then we think around it, don't we? I want to trace the absence of regular energy signatures in space. Let's check the negatives of this thing. Full spread--"

<Energy trail picked up-- direction-- > Hal knew the direction before his ring spluttered out the results. <--Earth.>


There were no stars in this sector of space. Sector 3601. These were the fringes of space, those not classified by the Guardians of the Universe, those not patrolled by the Green Lantern Corps. There was a reason for this. Dead spaces. Deep quarantine. The worlds inside were uninhabited-- or, if they were inhabited, not inhabited by anything sentient or civilised-- and a barrier was erected by the Guardians to prevent access... in, or out.

For over a year that barrier had dropped. Two ships entered. None emerged back out.

Deep within Sector 3601, there floated a world. This world was a charred husk and readings would tell any visitors that it had been as such for thousands of years. There were no oceans, no forests, no cities or towns, only ashen deserts that overtook the entirety of the planet. The craft shunted into orbit within seconds, and the captain of the vessel looked down at the place.

"There are legends, my crew," he said, as he drew his jagged cutlass from it's sheath, "that a treasure far surpassing any of our dreams resides within the core of this planet! And we've navigated Sector 3601, one of the forbidden sectors of space, to capture it! To make it ours!"

A chorus of cheers rang out. Then came silence. "We begin excavation immediately--"

"Cap'n!" shouted one of the helmsmen. "Another ship has just warped into orbit!"

"Another..." the Captain mumbled, "... no! No! All weaponeers! To stations! Kill and kill and--"

The ship was vaporised within seconds.

Mongul smiled on the bridge of his craft, and looked to his crew, his scar of a smile bleeding across his face. "There are legends, my crew. And I can tell you this-- those legends? Are true."


Hal's mind went razor sharp and he darted back home-- this was a trap! He'd been led away from his home-world by an obvious trap and now, whoever had done this-- that rat bastard Sinestro-- was on Earth doing God knows... Hal ducked into subluminal, and his ring ticked away the seconds-- until his arrival was marked on Earth by an explosion of concrete as he collided with the foundations of a new building in Coast City. Hal had arrived hot, and he was thinking frantically, his ring sparking and spluttering as he did so... "Where? Where is he?"

The ring answered the question silently into Hal's mind, and there was an explosion of dust and rubble upwards as Hal shot through between the buildings, and exploded into his apartment, where the source of the negative energy signature resided.

"Alright, Highball?" Guy Gardner was sitting on Hal's sofa, his ring aimed at Carol Ferris' skull, tears streaming down her face. "We been waiting." Guy was a mess. Black veins throbbed from the flesh beneath his ring finger and twisted and thrashed up his body, up his neck, and into his temples. "Waiting for you."

"What the Hell, Guy?" Hal knew the answer. Legion. Somehow-- someway-- Guy's ring had taken control. Behind Hal's forcefield, he allowed a strand of his ring's energy to slip through the floor below them, and move forward, slowly, silently.

Yellow sparks flashed behind Gardner's eyes. "Jus' remembered what I was here to do, Highball."

<Infect.>

Guy smiled. "That. From me to you and across the universe." His ring dribbled ichor down his hand. "So I'm gonna' put it out there clear and simple, Hal." A tiny beam of golden light graced Carol's temple, and she yelped as her flesh began to sizzle. "Disengage your ring's defenses. And let's get this over and done."

"I'm sorry, Guy."

Guy grinned. "I'm not."

"Oh, not for that." An explosion of emerald energy engulfed Guy Gardner, and Hal whisked Carol away, and straight out of the apartment. "I got to get you to safety..." He looked at Carol, and grimaced, imagining a small bandage for her temple, and seeing it come into being. Hal landed at STAR Labs Coast City, and handed Carol a small, glowing CD-like construct. "Hold on to this. If all else fails, you'll know what to do, but right now... I'm going to try and end this."

"Hal, I--" Green Lantern was already away, leaving Carol in the courtyard entrance of Coast City's STAR Labs division. He was ramping up power distribution to his armour-- he needed as much protection as he could get against the yellow ring of Gardner's. If it got in contact with his emerald weapon...

Guy Gardner was circling the air above Hal's apartment, and when Hal came into view, his voice was distorted, as if he was screaming through a fan. "JORDAN!"

"Guy, I don't know what's going on, but I'm going to help you. Whether you want me to or not."

"--NOT!"

Guy Gardner shot forward, and Green Lantern followed suit. The explosion of light that erupted over Coast City was beautiful-- and for those who saw it, ignorant to the cause, were impressed. Hal Jordan, on the other hand, thought about one thing, and one thing alone-- and that was putting Guy Gardner down... anyway he could.