Hey guys, it's been a long time. I have no excuse for how long this took to come out. I find that I get an idea in my head, and usually it's only certain scenes that I find that I can write really fast, and the rest of the time, I have some writers block. I also got caught up in a little game called "Star Wars: The Old Republic", and as with any MMO, it's kind of a soul-stealer. But anyway, thanks for your patience. Here is chapter 2 of "What Do You Fear Most?"
-=WDYFM2=-
"What do you fear most, Fatso?" asked the menacing voice of the Batman, now with a black and yellow color scheme. Yellow flames danced around his body.
Terry looked down at his body checking out his yellow-construct created uniform. He also noticed that his feet were a few inches of the ground. He felt the power rushing through him, empowering him more than he could ever imagine.
"Shit! Shoot him, you idiots!"
Terry looked up at Fatso's scream of panic. He relished their fear of him. The two twins, who he could only assume were the DeDe's, along with Ghoul and Woof had removed beam rifles from their packs. He was slightly confused about the absence of Bonk, but ultimately, he was unconcerned. He knew that with this yellow power, they had no chance of even touching him, let alone hurting him.
"Ugh…" he heard a pained moan behind him. He turned, and saw Dana lying on the ground, still unconscious. His eyes widened. He had forgotten all about the girlfriend he was trying to protect! He turned back to the attackers as he heard the sounds of the beam rifles firing. He rose his ring hand, and imagined his first construct. Yellow energy poured from the ring. It formed in front of him, in the shape of an oversized yellow shield, shaped like the bat insignia on the suit he had stolen from Bruce all those months ago. In the center was the same insignia that he now bore on the ring and his chest.
The weapon fire splashed against the shield, but the shield gave no indication of weakening. Soon enough, the blaster fire ceased, and the tell-tale clicks of the beam rifles told him all that Terry needed to know. Their energy cartridges were depleted.
Maintaining his concentration, but doing his best to look intimidating at the same time, Terry puffed out his chest, and lowered his arms, holding them at his side, floating just a tad higher. His golden aura shined a bit brighter. The shield construct did not dissolve, but instead, shattered before reforming into a cloud of yellow bats. The bats rushed at the Jokerz, several grabbing each of the weapons, and disassembling them right before the other teen's eyes. The rest of the bats swirled around the Jokerz, who had begun to panic, swinging their arms wildly as they tried to hit the bats. They did not prevail as several of the bats picked them up and lifted them into the air. The bats that destroyed the weapons left the debris and swarmed the Jokerz as well. Many of the bats turned into solid back walls behind each Joker, and a few more bats landed on each of their ankles, wrists and necks, immediately morphing into straps, binding the Jokers to the yellow construct walls.
The Jokerz struggled, but Ghoul managed to calm enough to start yelling at Batman.
"Bats, you may have us this time, but we know who you are now! There's no way we won't be able to get you, McGinnis! Your friends and family will all die because of you! We, the Jokerz, will make sure of i- oof!"
"Yeah, yeah, shut yer yap, ya knuckle-dragging Joker wannabe's!" called a red glowing man as he punched Ghoul in the back of the head, knocking him out. Everyone looked towards the newcomer who had just knocked Ghoul out with almost no effort.
He was a man, roughly as tall as Terry. He wore blood red armor, almost like a samurai's armor. But on each piece of armor, there were streaks of glowing green. The chest piece was black, except for wide grooves that glowed a bright red. The grooves came down over his shoulders, and at the base of where his pectoral muscles were, the lines started coming towards each other at a forty-five degree angle, before going straight back down to the end of the plate that covered his stomach. Connecting the two lines was a circle of red at his stomach. The same pattern was mirrored on his back. He also wore a blood red helmet. It was uninteresting except for the horns on each side that started below his chin, and ran up the sides of the helmet, as soon as it went an inch above the top of his head, they jutted out at forty-five degree angles and went straight back up another four inches. He also wore a Green Lantern ring on his right hand.
As the Jokerz gazed in horror at the red-armored man, Terry's ring decided to remind everyone that he was still there.
"Power levels at 2%. Immediate recharge required," said the ring.
The constructs holding the Jokerz dissipated, but Terry's yellow aura and uniform still held, despite flickering.
As the Jokerz started to fall back toward the ground, ready to make a break from the Lanterns, five indigo colored tentacles wrapped around their midsections.
"Don't worry Batman, we got these guys," said an African-American man. He wore Marine-style camouflage, except the green in it being replaced by an indigo color. He wore a head band of the same style. On his right hand, he too wore a Green Lantern ring, in addition to carrying a staff that had a stylized head, from which an indigo light shone. His left arm, which was gestured out to the Jokerz, had the five tentacles that seemed to just seemed to come out of his arm, as if they were a physical part of him.
Swinging the staff around, the indigo-camo clad man knocked the rest of the Jokerz in the back of the head, knocking them out as well, before setting them all down and letting the tentacles dissipate in wisps of indigo light.
The red-armored man grabbed the front of Terry's uniform, and got right in his face. Terry could finally see the man's face clearly, even with the helmet on. He could see a little bit of the man's red hair, and his glowing red eyes. His face was contorted with rage.
"And who the fuck do you think you are?! Huh, punk-ass?! What the hell are you doing with that ring?!" yelled the man as Terry's uniform faded. The other man put his hand on the armored man's shoulder.
"Guy, come on. Give the kid a chance to talk. After all, I don't think some regular punk could have just stolen that ring from Bruce. And besides, you saw the uniform it generated. Something else is going on," said the black man. He turned to his ring. "Ring, scan and identify."
"Sentient Terrance McGinnis of Earth, a.k.a. the Batman. Current Yellow Lantern of Earth. Age: Sixteen. Parentage: Father: Warren McGinnis, deceased. Mother: Mary McGinnis. Terrence McGinnis is currently a student at Gotham City High School. Please note: Terrance McGinnis of Earth is NOT part of Earth's Justice League."
Calming down a little bit, the man now known as Guy let go of Terry, setting him back on his ground. He then removed his helmet, and it too faded into wisps of red light. He gazed at Terry with his intense red gaze before sighing and crossing his arms.
"Awright chucklehead, I guess introductions are in order. As I'm sure you've gathered, we're both part of the Lantern Corps. Th' name's Guy Gardner, the Butcher. I lead the division of Red Lanterns," Guy then gestured over his shoulder, where the black man stood also gazing at Terry, with indigo colored eyes. "That dude back there is John Stewart. Or you can call him Proselyte, or Destroyer of Worlds, or jarhead…"
"Guy?"
"Yeah, John?"
"Shut up."
With that, Guy smirked and went to inspect the unconscious Jokerz. John walked forward and extended his hand to Terry.
"Don't mind him. Guy is kind of a jackass sometimes. Who's the girl behind you?" asked John.
"This is my girlfriend, Dana Tan. The Jokerz knocked her off an edge three floors up, I think she's probably hurt pretty badly. I need to get her to a hospital!"
-=WDYFM2=-
None of the Lanterns noticed that Chelsea had come back in after hearing the gun fire stop. She was cautiously looking around the corners, unaware that the Jokerz had been stopped. She was fearful that they had killed her best friend and her best friend's man. She peered around the corner, and let out a soft gasp when she saw two floating men and Terry together, around an unconscious Dana and the group of Jokerz. She watched, mesmerized as she heard the floating man with the Indigo aura tell Terry to relax, as he knelt down, placing his hand on Dana's head. Incredibly, three tentacles of indigo light slowly came out of his arm. One tentacle touched Dana's chest, right over her heart. Another touched Terry's chest, over his heart as well. The last one stood up, and the tentacle formed almost a shepherd's crook shape. At the end of it, indigo light began to swirl, forming a symbol of a circle, a "V" underneath it, and an upside down "V" over top of it. From the green ring on his right hand, green light flowed in little wisps towards it, and inside the circle of the Indigo symbol, formed a replica of the Green Lantern symbol.
Chelsea watched in fascination as Dana and Terry were wrapped in indigo light, and she could see wisps of pink light now moving towards the other two symbols. The light formed into yet another symbol, looking like a pink star missing a small circle in the center. Something else caught her attention though… besides the pink light, Terry had wisps of golden light gently circling around him, centered mainly around his right hand, where she could barely make out something on his hand.
As she watched, all of Dana's visible injuries healed up and she slightly stirred. The man with the indigo aura said something Chelsea couldn't hear, and Dana's body relaxed, in apparent sleep. The man lifted his physical hand from her head, and the tentacles of light faded into nothingness. The man turned to Terry.
"She's healed," she heard him say. "Dana Tan of Earth will be unconscious for probably the next twenty-four hours, but after that, she'll be right as rain."
Terry visibly relaxed, sighing in relief. Chelsea, despite trying to get Dana to give other guys a shot, knew that Terry loved her. In truth, she only wanted Dana to try other guys to make Terry jealous, so they would spend more time together. Her heart went out to him, seeing how shaken he was at her injuries. She watched as he picked her up bridal-style, with apparent ease.
The man in the indigo camouflage nodded at the Jokerz.
"What do you want to do about them?"
"I don't know what to do about them right now. I can't keep them tied up down in the cave, and I can't just turn them over to the cops. As soon as they get out, they'll let all the Jokerz buddies know that I'm Batman," replied Terry, worriedly.
Chelsea let out a quiet gasp. Terry was the Batman?! Her eyes widened as she started connecting the dots. Everything made perfect sense now! Right around the time Terry's dad died was about the time that the Batman resurfaced, and also right about the time that he took that job for Mr. Wayne that kept out at nights and away from Dana… so… was Mr. Wayne in on it too? Chelsea's mind began whirling at all the revelations that just made themselves obvious to her.
The indigo man looked back at Terry.
"Don't worry. I'll take them with me. On Oa, we have some pretty good telepaths who can erase that info from their minds. I'll bring them back directly afterward. The thing is, even though they won't remember who you are, our telepaths have a strict code of ethics when it comes to things like this, so they won't mess with their minds anymore than that," he warned.
It was at that time that the man in the red armor decided to speak up.
"Stupid assholes are just lucky they try to pull this crap on a Red Lantern. None of the Red's would even give a second thought to killing all five of them. Come to think of it, neither would Agent Orange. Or most of the Yellows. Hell, even some Greenies might have taken offense to it."
The red armored man clapped Terry on the shoulder.
"Well bat-boy, let's pack it up. I think that we need to go see our good friend Brucie."
The indigo clad man went over to the five Jokerz. He tapped his staff on the ground, and a bubble of indigo energy surrounded the six of them. "I'll head in to see Bruce after we get these guys taken care of. It's been too long."
Chelsea was amazed as the six of them disappeared in a flash of indigo light. She decided that she would head outside and call the ambulance, just to make sure that Dana was alright.
-=WDYFM2=-
As Terry and Guy began to walk out of the building, Terry noticed that Guy's armor evaporated into basic civilian clothes of khakis, a red shirt and a black leather jacket. But the green ring did not fade. Instead, Guy hid it by placing that hand in his jacket pocket.
"Well kid, you got a ride?" asked Guy as they proceeded towards the exit, with Terry holding Dana.
"Yeah, a motorcycle. Won't fit two, unless you're a good looking girl," replied Terry, smirking at Guy.
"Bat-boy, I like you already," chuckled Guy.
As they left the building, Terry rushed over to Chelsea, who was on her phone. Guy had inconspicuously left his side and went to the parking lot. About that time, the ambulance pulled up, and several EMS workers jumped out, two of them pulling out a stretcher.
As Terry laid Dana on the stretcher, Chelsea came up next to him.
"What took you so long?" she asked quietly.
"Wanted to make sure it was safe to move her, but I think the fall looked a lot worse than it actually was," Terry lied. Chelsea looked at him intently for a long moment before asking the obvious question.
"What did those guys want with you Terry?"
"I don't know Chels. But I intend to find out," said Terry. He reached down and stroked Dana's face. "Will you stay with her Chels? I have some things I need to go look into."
"Of course," came her reply. As Terry started to walk towards the parking lot on the other side of the building, he felt a hand grab his arm. He looked and saw Chelsea. Strangely, she had tears in her eyes. "Promise me, and by proxy, Dana that you won't go off and do something stupid? We would be devastated if anything happened to you."
Terry felt his throat constrict. He felt that Chelsea probably knew more than she was letting on. At his curt nod, she let him go, and he jogged over to where Guy was waiting for him, next to his bike. Terry threw a leg over it, settling into the seat and pulling his helmet on. He threw a questioning gaze over at Guy.
"Don't worry, I'm not into cuddling up to guys on the back of their bikes," he smirked. Guy put his hand out, and red energy flowed out, and took the shape of a Harley-Davidson. The energy darkened in its shade until the construct looked like a real bike.
The two Lanterns rode down the road off to Wayne Manor. As they rode, Terry accessed the com in his helmet. He heard a small bit of interference, and looked at Guy, as a red single ear Bluetooth device materialized, for the logo, it held the same symbol that was on his armor, the Red Lantern symbol.
Terry had the com dial up Wayne Manor. The phone rang a few times before he heard a gruff voice.
"Leave a message," it said.
Terry glanced over at Guy, who he could see rolling his eyes at the voicemail system.
"Bruce, I was just attacked by the same group of Jokerz! Not as Batman, but as Terry. Something stinks here, and I think you know… wait a minute… Guy!"
"Yeah kid?"
"I think something's wrong, it's night time, where would Bruce go?"
After a long moment, Guy responded. "You're right Bat-boy. Hold onto your butt, we're turning on the afterburners!"
And with that, the construct that Guy was riding faded, and Guy was enveloped with green light from his ring. Guy extended his aura to envelop Terry and his bike as well, and the two of them flew above the trees towards stately Wayne Manor in a streak of green.
-=WDYFM2=-
The two landed in front of Wayne Manor, Guy taking care to set down Terry's bike without damaging it. The two rushed up the front steps, Guy using his green ring to form a hand construct ahead of them to open the doors.
Terry lead the way to the grandfather clock that hid the secret passage to the Bat Cave. Guy immediately generated a giant hammer of red light and knocked the clock out of the way. They rushed down the stairs, and what they saw, had them panicked. All the walls and several stairs and the floor had the word "HA!" written in different colored spray paints. They saw Bruce slumped over the keyboard on the Batcomputer. Terry and Guy pulled him off and lay him on his back on a clear table. They recoiled as they saw his face contorted in a toothy grin that was far too large to be natural.
"Ring, scan!" yelled Guy.
"Subject: Bruce Wayne of Earth. Formerly Batman. Vital signs are critical. Exposure to nerve gas classified as 'Joker Venom' confirmed. Cure needs to be administered immediately."
"Kid, where is the cure?" asked Guy.
"What cure?! I didn't know there was a cure! Hell, I don't even know what 'Joker Venom' is or does!" replied Terry, in a full-blown panic.
At that moment, Bruce took a large wheezing gasp of air. "Ha ha ha… under… ha ha… table… ha ha ha ha… there!"
Guy and Terry looked to the table Bruce was pointing to, and rushed to get it as the unnatural laughs that Bruce gave grew louder in volume, to the point where they could tell the laughing was physically hurting him. They quickly injected the serum into his arm, and within seconds, the laughter died down, and the smile on Bruce's face began to fall, and Bruce began to breathe easier.
The two took Bruce to his bed, and laid him down, and immediately returned to the Batcave in search of clues. Terry set about applying talcum powder to many surfaces and blowing it off, showing many sets of finger prints. Soon, it became very apparent that two sets were far more common than the last one. Using a piece of tape to life the finger print off the surface, Terry went to the Batcomputer to analyze it.
"Slow down there Bat-boy, I can do it faster. Ring, scan and identify owner of finger print," said Guy.
"Analysis complete. Fingerprint belongs to sentient being known as "The Joker". Real name unknown. No records found. Sentient is deceased."
"Aw hell," said Guy. "Ring, can you locate the Joker?"
"Unable to comply. Body has decomposed beyond traceable recognition."
"So," said Terry. "The Joker is in fact dead, and the body is no good, but he was able to somehow come down to the Batcave, poison Bruce and trash the place. This doesn't make any sense."
"Kid, I need you to tell me everything that's happened that involves the Joker. If he is somehow cheating death, I know one person who will be VERY pissed," said Guy seriously.
With that, Terry began telling Guy of everything that involved the Joker in the last couple of weeks. From the Jokerz suddenly becoming far more active, to their stealing things outside their usual objects of interest, to the Joker crashing the Gotham Gala. When he finished his tale, Guy stood up, and ran a hand through his hair as he began thinking.
"Come with me kid, we need to do a few things," said Guy after a few moments.
As they began walking back up the stairs, Guy looked at his green ring, and requested a connection to John. Within seconds, a green holographic visage of John Stewart appeared.
"How's it going with the prisoners Johnny boy?" asked Guy.
"Almost done. We'll be returning to Earth within twenty minutes."
"Good. I need you to bring Soranik with you. Bruce has been attacked and infected with Joker Venom. She'll be able to figure out how to synthesize the cure. If I know the Joker, he's got a large stash of venom ready to infect the city a moment's notice."
"Understood. I'll bring Lantern Natu with me."
And with that, the connection was closed.
When they reached the top of the stairs, Terry spoke to Guy.
"Who's Soranik, and why did you ask John to bring her?"
"Soranik Natu is the Corps best medic. She is the daughter of Sinestro, but don't hold that against her. She's a damn good surgeon, and one of the only regular Lanterns that can use two different colored rings. I asked John to bring her, because she can probably mass produce the cure in a short time. Enough questions for now Bat-boy, we need to find something. Ring, locate Yellow Battery of Earth."
"Yellow battery located. Retreiving."
A green beam shot out from Guys ring, and went up the master staircase into Bruce's room. It came back with a construct of a hook holding onto the handle of a Yellow Lantern. Like the yellow ring when Terry first found it, it seemed to be covered with decades of dust. With a thought, the green energy formed a fan and a brush, the brush sweeping the dust off and the fan blowing it away. Once it was cleaned off, Guy handed the battery to Terry.
"Charge up kid, the next person we need to talk to won't respect you unless you're a lantern."
After a brief demonstration, Terry's newly acquired yellow ring declared that its power levels were at one hundred percent. Guy led the way out to the back yard. With a burst of pure red flames, Guy donned his full armor again. Following suit, Terry concentrated on the yellow ring, and the ring wrapped him in yellow light, and when it faded, he was back in the uniform it had generated for him in his fight against the Jokerz.
Nodding to Terry, Guy then floated up into the air, before spewing a large amount of red liquid. As it impacted the ground, the liquid burst into flames. But it was in a pattern of an upside down triangle with five lines rising from it. Guy used his green ring to blast a small copy of the Green Lantern symbol into the center of the space inside the triangle. With that, the ground began to break apart, and the top of a large scythe with a black blade protruding from a Black Lantern battery atop the handle of the scythe broke the ground…
-=WDYFM2=-
And there you go. Now, before you get riled up, the other Lanterns are not going to be major players in this. Since Terry is new as a Lantern, obviously, someone is going to have to teach him how to ring-sling. And Bruce really isn't up to that, so the other Lanterns are here for now to help Terry get started.
Something that may not be so obvious, is that at this point in time, all the Lantern Corps have united into one big Corps. More on that later.
Again, I am an attention whore, I love reviews!