EMERALD REDEMPTION PART V: Beware My Power...

He turned his back on the skies, coming back to the warmth and safety that lay indoors. And then there was a flash of green light, and a heat that masked the vast, cold depths of space. And then for a time, there was nothing at all.

He awoke to find himself on the couch. "You alright?" his friend asked worriedly.

"Yeah," he rasped out, "just got a lot of information shoved into my brain. The Sinestro I fought was a duplicate the Guardians created, using the personality echoes left behind from Sinestro's imprisonment in the central battery. Kind of like the apparition of Alan that John, Guy and I met, only this one was given a ring and physical substance."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"He's back, Ollie. He's come back to destroy everything I ever stood for." He stood up and walked to the door. "Time to get back into the game."

Oliver Queen grinned. "About damn time." 

"Hello, people of Earth. I'm talking to you live, via the wonderful satellite network you've established and the amazing technology contained in what you so charmlessly called 'Engine City'. And I'm here to tell you you're all going to die.

"Your champion has tried and failed. His power now feeds my engines of destruction. You and your entire planet have exactly one hour to live."

Superman switched the monitor off, and turned to the rest of the Justice League. "This message was transmitted approximately ten minutes ago, to every station in the world. A state of emergency was declared in most nations; unfortunately, this has done little to control the panic levels."

Wonder Woman broke in. "This was undoubtedly his plan--to spread chaos and confusion, making opposition efforts more difficult."

Batman said, "Then why tell us at all? He could have simply kept silent until his plans were complete. No, he's telling this to spread chaos because he enjoys chaos."

"Either way," Superman interrupted, "we need to control the panic and stop Sinestro. I propose two teams. The first, led by Batman, will attempt to quell rioting and diffuse tension as much as possible. The second, led by myself, will attack Sinestro directly. I've already started calling in some of the more powerful heroes, like Captain Atom, the Ray, Firestorm--"

 "Call them off."

Everyone turned to look at the person who had spoken. Flash whispered, "Oh, my God."

Hal Jordan smiled. "No. No, I'm not. Nice gesture, though."

Superman said, "We thought you were dead."

"No. I was...thinking. Thinking about what Batman had said, about what I'd done in the name of right and justice--I talked a lot of stuff over with Ollie, he's been a real help--"

 Green Arrow broke in. "Oliver Queen? But he's dead!"

"Yeah. Yeah, he's dead. Come to think of it, so am I. So's Sinestro, the guy planning to blow up the planet. And so's Superman over there. And say, Batman, I heard you'll never be able to walk again, right? Face it, kid...it's damn hard to kill a superhero. Or a supervillain, for that matter."

"Then he's alive?"

"Yes." Hal thought back to the argument with Ollie. I refused to bring him with me--face it, he won't be much help against something as powerful as Sinestro. But he does know about you...he's proud of you."

Superman said, "You should let us come with you, Hal. You should let us help."

"I can't. This is personal, and more than personal. It's my job to stop him. I might have messed up the rest of that jobm I might have destroyed the entire Green Lantern Corps and every Guardian with them, but I can't abdicate my responsibility. I have to stop him. And quite frankly, I don't think anyone else can."

Finally, Superman nodded. "You have thirty minutes. If you haven't stopped him by then, we'll go in."

Hal nodded. "That's all I need," he said before he vanished in a blaze of green light. 

He walked towards the Engine, his worn-out boots kicking up small clouds of dust behind them. The sun had finally come out, and Hal was beginning to feel a little warm in his flannel shirt and blue jeans.

If I'm going to do this, he thought, I might as well do it right. "In brightest day," he whispered, "in blackest night..."

Destroying the Sun-Eater had taken a lot of his power. He still had some of the energy from Oa, and Ganthet's 'package' had left him quite a bit, but he didn't know if he had enough left to fight Sinestro. He hoped he did, of course, but in his heart, he was filled with doubt.

But not fear. Never fear.

"No evil shall escape my sight..." His voice was louder, now, more certain.

As he came closer, he saw Guy. He had been impaled through the stomach on a yellow spear, but Hal could see that he was still alive. The look on his face was one of indescribable agony.

"Let those who worship evil's might..." The air around him burned with green flame as he charged up his power.

"Beware my power..." The spear that pierced Guy dissolved and Guy collapsed to the ground, his power already working to heal him.

"Green Lantern's light!" With that final shout, his clothing transformed in a flash of light. He wore his Green Lantern outfit--not the armor he wore as Parallax, but his old Corps uniform.

Sinestro appeared before him. "Ahhh..." he breathed. "I thought you were going to miss all this. I thought that my triumph would go unnoticed by the one person who could truly appreciate it. And here you are.

"This...this will be truly glorious."

TO BE CONTINUED...

[ Part 4 | Home | Back to the Original Fiction | Up to Index | Part 6 ]