Green Lantern #023.5 (Sentinel #001) Villains Month
"A Green Lantern for a Golden Age"
Sciencells on Oa.
A blonde man with heavily shadowed eyes sits in one of the deepest sciencell of Oa with his hands clasped, elbows pressed onto his knees, and feet planted. His cell remains bare with the exception of a chair and a picture taped to the wall just past his shoulder. He plays with two young children in the picture.
I can never forget who I am or what brought me here.
I am Alan Scott, one of the Green Lanterns' most feared enemies.
Afghanistan: 7 Years Ago.
"That's it for me," Alan Scott says walking through the Afghani village. "I think I just shot my last terrorist. No more big, bad villains for me."
"Hanging up the boots, Scott?"
Alan Scott looks to the lieutenant with extreme incredulity. "I'm pressing thirty with two kids at home that love me to death. I can't do too many more of these big, bad, Uncle Sam bloodbaths without pushing my luck. It's time to stop kicking in doors of terrorist and time to start practicing kicking in doors of boyfriends."
"Jeez... Captain Alan Scott, resident SF badass, calling it quits to be a family man," the lieutenant says. "I'll believe it when I see it."
"Watch me, battle."
"But off to Gotham?"
"Yeah. I have a friend or two on the GCPD. They can get me into the police academy. Maybe fast track me to the top." Alan innocently shrugged. "Maybe I'll be the World's Greatest Detective. Or how does 'Commissioner Alan Scott' sound?"
"I like 'Captain' better, sir. You might like it better too once you hit Gotham. Believe me. The horror stories I hear about the corruption and organized crime... Make the sand pit seem like a freaking playground."
Gotham City: 2 Years Later.
I should have listened. But I flew into Gotham like a meteor. I shot through the police academy and every other thing they put in from of me.
I ended up on urban task forces working with the only type of cops besides Jim Gordon that Gotham couldn't corrupt...The Feds.
Soon enough, it was back to door-kicking... assault rifle-shooting... and ass-kicking.
Exactly what I retired from.
"So you're taking a step back?" Commission Gordon says as he leans back in his chair.
Sergeant Scott ran his hands over his face over his face. "Yeah. I'm gonna take some time off and then move to something less vendetta-inducing."
"I don't know much about this mission Waller had you on, but taking the family on a vacation and then sitting behind a desk for a while might do you some good."
"Yeah, my health would improve. I think my better half is a bigger stressor than the terrorists and the international assassins."
"The Feds had you working with international hitmen, huh?"
"My lips are sealed, Jim. Operation Sentinel is under wraps. You gonna tell me anything about this Batman?"
I cashed in a couple month of vacation time and took his family aboard. They wanted to see the world. I gave it to them. Los Angeles. Sidney. Tokyo. Hong Kong...
Hong Kong: 2 Months Later.
By Hong Kong, they tracked me down. I didn't expect it. The Feds said our identities were so classified that no one but Waller could touch us.
They did more than touch us. My children. The love of my life. Cut down in China. All of us left to bleed out. Like everyone else related to that operation.
Gotham: 1 Month Later.
By the time Alan woke up to realize his family was gone, Amada Waller was already over his bedside discussing witness protection. Every tear Alan Scott could cry dried days ago. He sat in the hospital room with his soul hanging on by a tread. Alan Scott never thought he would feel such compassion for anything. If he could take his son's pain onto himself, he would. His heart burst for the last vestige of family that remained for him. He hoped Todd would pull through, that he would know his father was still here.
But then the rage crept in. He wanted to destroy the people that did this, destroy the people that forced him to watch his loved ones die. They were his! The feeling corroded everything in hm. He always feared what his life would do to his family. Witness protection...! No! Waller said he would have to leave his son in federal care unless he wanted to risk the League of Assassins tracking him down to finish the job. Suddenly, Alan Scott wanted nothing more than to exact his entire will over they broken forms. More than anything, he wanted to rip open the people that crossed him and show them what their own nightmares.
I walked out. I wasn't the most emotionally stable guy with one dead kid, one dead husband, and another kid in a coma.
I went to the rooftop and called someone that could talk me down. But I made it a few words into my call with Jim before I lowered the phone and locked eyes with him... Batman.
Suddenly, I was filled a thousand emotions. But more than anything, I wanted to know what he feared.
"You. I know you. You're Batman."
"Yes."
"You disgust me. Beating up criminals. Beating up cops. What good do you thing you're doing by hiding behind that damn mask? Try living the life of a cop, where no matter what you do, your face is out there. You and everything you love is always a moving target." Alan Scott stepped forward. "Do you know what it's like to lose a family? To see them bleed to death in from of you?" Batman didn't move. He stood like Alan's shadow, only growing larger as he approached. "My family was shredded by criminals because I did the right thing. I stood for justice and did it the right way. I didn't hide behind an urban legend. And I think it's time someone humanized you. I'm going to every ounce of will in my body to drown you in your own fear."
Alan Scott struck at Batman. Clearly trained, the disgusting vigilante blocked Scott's attack. Soon enough, Scott had to use every ounce of his SF training to keep pace with Batman's strikes and throws. Alan landed several good strikes. Batman expected anger from a grieving father, but not a holds barred match with a Green Beret. He looked into the class for the Commissioner, but the body count hit home. He never wanted to expose his presence to Alan Scott. And reliving the fear he felt that night was also against the plan. However, his heart pounded as sync with that little boy in Crime Alley all those years ago.
The streak of yellow shot through the air like lightning. However, the golden gem of light darted around the two men in a whirl of confusion. "B-Br-B-Bruce W- Alan-A-A- Alan Scot- -ayne Scott of Earth," the ring called. Alan fought free of Batman's hold and instinctively caught the golden bullet headed for his face. He opened his hand. "You have the ability to instill great fear."
From there, it was history. I'm not sure where Batman went or what all the ring said. I just took the power. I can't say the fear drove me mad.
I was perfectly sane when I tracked down the agent that crossed us... I was sane when I went on my war against the League of Assassins. That Sinestro brought more of us when he somehow learned of my revenge trip... Somehow, he understood... One of the few things we saw eye-to-eye on.
And when the Green Lanterns got involved, I caught on fast that they were the good guys. I became their most dangerous and also most voluntary prisoner. They dragged my before their little blue guardians where I headed things about other earths, other Green Lanterns.
But those were the last things I hear while standing outside these walls.
They found me a quiet, isolated cell near the beating green heart of Oa. When they bring me food, I hear small things. Stewart. Jordan. Rayner. Earth. Black Hand. Parallax. Sinestro. I can't say I want to be a member of the Sinestro Corps. Not if there's a chance that yellow cancer will define me. I want to be out again, to see my son again. I want to return to the world and carry out justice. I'm done with fear. There is no fear that can cripple me.
And I know I'll never step out of this cell with a yellow ring on my finger... Never.
Oa: Now.
"Say it ain't true, Jordan," Lantern Kilowog said. "Tell me you didn't go through with it."
"Afraid so, Kilowog," Lantern Jordan confirmed. "The Guardians are leaving. No telling when they'll be back. In the meantime, I'm the new boss." Hal examined the rings locked in stasis. "The rings of the fallen. Just when I think I can't feel any worse... So many. I say we send them out for new recruits. Might do us some good to see some fresh faces around here."
"Where we gonna train them? Our facilities are wrecked. First item on the to-do list is shoring up our infrastructure..." Kilowog adjusted the small lantern-sized chair digging into his lantern-sized ass. "And finding me a chair I can - GNRF - fit in." Kilowog examined protocol for rebuilding mess halls and sleeping quarters on the hologram screens.
"I see your point. Besides, if I'm going to be a leader, I need to be less impulsive," Hal said eyeing the button releasing the rings. It's big, bright, and might help us rise out of this blackest night. "Have to crawl before I fly right?" He initiated the stasis release.
"Containment field deactivated," the computer announced. The voices of the rings followed. Scanning Sector 2387 for sentient replacement... Scanning Sector 0916 for sentient replacement... Scanning Sector 1122 for sentient replacement. The rings flew in every direction past Kilowog disbelieving face and grasping hands. Jordan actually looked proud of himself. It didn't last long as but Kilowog and Hal Jordan watched the hive of green rings disperse in to space and the cloud of Agent Orange closing in on Oa.
Scanning Sector 0000 for sentient replacement... Alan Scott raised his head as he felt it coming. The spark of green shot though the sciencell enclosure like a familiar bullet. Without leaving his chair, Scott cause the ring before it could make it far. The planet shook with battle. Scott flashed back to Afghanistan. Another shake of the building brought him back.
"Alan Scott of Earth. You have the ability to overcome great fear. Welcome to the Green Lantern Corps. You will report to training- Ring override initiated. Alan Scott recognized."
Alan Scott rose to his feet and walked forward as his new green suit began to cover his body. "Ring: mission brief."
"Larfleeze. Codename: Agent Orange. Sole bearer of the orange light of..." As the ring talked Alan Scott into the war raging above, he looked back to the picture of his family on the cell wall. He commanded his green light to bring it to him before tucking it away. The cell across from his bared a similar bullet-like mark. His long-time, anonymous cellmate also must have been blessed with the same gift. Prisoner turned soldier. Alan Scott walked over an read the mystery man's sheet. It read simple:
Hal Jordan
Earth-2
"See you above, Mr. Jordan. Ring, shut up and give me a gun." Alan rose off the ground and began flying up the hall, having remembered the path for a moment like this. "Let's see what I can do. 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!"
To be continued...