Some explanation is needed. This story takes place during the Green Arrow/Black Canary storyline, where Connor Hawke is kidnapped and his family is looking for him, it's an OK story, I'm not a fan of Winnick but it's not terrible. Anyway, as a huge Kyle Rayner fangirl I was annoyed that his best friend was seriously injured and no one bothered to tell him. He's not that busy with GL stuff, he would've come immediately! All thoughts about DC ignoring Kyle aside, I wanted to write a version of the same story arc including Kyle. However, just so everyone knows I'm not just ripping off Judd Winnick, lots of stuff will be different. That guy Dodger will not be in this, nor the fake League of Assassins, and Shado is not the big bad guy.
Disclaimer: DC owns. I don't.
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It had been a while since Kyle Rayner had been to earth. There was some time after the war, but it's not what Kyle would call a 'vacation'. But now, after winning the Sinestro Corps ring pool, he had managed to wrestle some chill time from Salaak. Guy had some too, but he was off chasing Ice.
I wonder what she sees in him, Kyle thought, not for the first time. He pondered his impromptu plan:
First: Find a hotel room.
Second: Call Wally and Connor and see if they want to catch up.
After purchasing a single room in New York for a week, he dragged out a battered address book from his duffle bag. He flipped through it till he got to Connor's cell number. He grabbed the hotel phone and swiftly dialed. After several long rings, a female voice answered.
"Hello?"
"Hi," Kyle said, thinking: Connor's got a girlfriend?! "Is Connor there?"
"...Who is this?" the voice said coldly.
"Umm...Kyle Rayner?"
"Oh. My God." Now she sounded shocked. Then he heard muffled voices from the other side-she was covering the phone. Perplexed, he had little time to wait before the voice returned to normal range.
"Kyle -It's Dinah."
"Oh! Hi." As soon as he heard the name, he whacked himself for not recognizing Black Canary's signature voice.
"I'm sorry about that, it's not your fault you don't know..." she trailed off.
"Don't know what, Dinah?" Kyle prompted.
In the distance he heard a male voice say "Tell him to come in person. Maybe he can help."
"We should do this in person. We're just outside London."
"Alright...see you in a few." Well. That was far from normal, so much for a relaxing vacation, he thought.
When Kyle arrived, three brightly, well two brightly dressed and one less bright loitered next to a van. He landed gracefully adjacent to their gathering. Oliver Queen, the first Green Arrow, turned to greet him.
"Hey Kyle! How's it going?" he said, sticking out his hand to shake Kyle's. Most of Ollie's animosity towards Kyle had dissipated since the return of Hal Jordan.
"Hey Ollie, Dinah." Kyle said. He looked closer at the third figure. "Speedy, right?"
"That's me." Mia Dearden nodded. "No offense, but can we bring him up to speed and get moving? We're wasting time."
"Right." Black Canary said. "Cliff notes version, Kyle, Connor's been kidnapped and we're looking for him. New evidence points to the League of Assassins."
Kyle thought for a moment. "The League...as in Ra's al Ghul? Did you call Batman?"
"...No."
"Well, Ra's is his territory."
"We can handle it without him," Ollie muttered. Dinah laid a hand on his shoulder. "We were just waiting for our contact to call when you did."
"Ok..." Kyle arranged these new revelations in his head. "Anything else I should know about before we go Demon's Head hunting?"
"Well..." The three exchanged looks. Dinah took a breath and looked at him in the eye.
"When Connor was kidnapped, he was also in a coma."
Kyle stared at her. She continued. "See, Ollie had stumbled onto some weird business with the Amazons, and they eventually caught him, and on the way back from the rescue mission...Connor got shot...Superman took him to the hospital but there was a neurotoxin on the bullet that...that put him in a coma."
Kyle had a feeling this wasn't the whole story, but he was too angry to question further. "Connor was in a coma -and kidnapped- and nobody told me?! I'm his best friend!"
"Kyle, we know, but everything was so hectic that-"
"Even if it wasn't one of you, I bet Hal knew! Hell, I talked to him last week and he didn't say anything!"
"Look, we're sorry you weren't told," Ollie cut in. At the same time, Dinah's cell phone rang and she stepped away to answer it. "But you're here now. And Connor's the most important thing. So table this other stuff and focus." They glowered at each other for a minute until Dinah returned from her phone call.
"Let's saddle up, guys. I've got a lead in Cairo."
"Cairo?!" Mia exclaimed. "How're we gonna get there-"
She was cut off by the appearance of a huge, green airplane.
"Green Lantern Express," Kyle grinned. "All aboard!"
Kyle sat at the pilot's seat, though no controls were necessary to navigate the plane. As a ring construct, the plane responded to Kyle's thoughts and willpower. Behind him, in the rear passenger section, Dinah and Mia had fallen asleep. The last few days had taken their toll, and now was as good as any to catch a few. After a couple minutes, Ollie slipped past the women to join Kyle in the copilot's seat. He leaned back luxuriously and stuck his feet onto the dashboard.
"Comfortable?" Kyle asked dryly.
"You have no idea," he paused. "It's good to see you again, kid."
"Never thought I'd hear that from you," Kyle muttered.
"Yeah well, things change."
A semi-awkward silence settled between them. Then Ollie started again.
"I heard about what happened -during the war."
"Oh yeah?" Kyle replied, as nonchalantly as he could.
"Yeah. From Hal. ... That really sucks, kid. You doing ok?"
"...I guess so. Beating up as many Sinestro Corps members as I can find helps." He gave a half hearted smile. "At least everyone, well everyone except Laira, doesn't treat me like they do Hal."
"He still getting' flack?"
"Yeah. Not from the rookies, but the Lost Lanterns and their buddies."
"The who?"
Kyle quickly recounted the story.
"...I see. Well, they do have an excuse."
"Heh...yeah."
They passed over the Pyrenees Mountains, high enough to escape Spanish radar detection. Because the plane was a ring manifestation, there was no pressure or thin air danger.
"Forty minutes 'till Cairo. Who are we meeting?"
"An old pal of mine, and by pal I mean obnoxious ex-CIA agent I used to tangle with. He and Connor used to hang, so he's doing us some favors. Name's Eddie Fyers."
"Oh yeah, I know Eddie. He's a piece of work." Kyle remembered meeting him, on one of his first adventures with Connor. They had been tracking down Kyle's dad but found his uncle instead.
Forty minutes later, the plane 'landed' just outside of Cairo, where wandering eyes were few and far between. On a regular tarmac, a bright green plane would be just a little un-subtle.
Green Lantern, Black Canary, and Speedy climbed out the plane. Green Arrow followed a minute later, with a large duffle bag he placed into the ground and unzipped.
"Disguises," He said, pulling out a shirt, pants, and robe. His wife and side kick followed suit, while a green glow passed over Kyle's body and his costume changed into clothes similar to the ones Ollie had just pulled out.
"I wish I had a ring like that," Mia said.
"Doesn't everybody?" laughed Kyle.
"Alrighty, everybody, let's get a move on. We want to be in and out before any unsavory types recognize us." Green Arrow set off towards the city. The others followed suit.
End of Chapter 1