6 Justice League the Corps
The Star Sapphires reached Accloda IV and suddenly found their path blocked by three members of the Sinestro Corps. The Yellow Lanterns arrayed themselves against the numerically superior Violet ring slingers and held their ground. Having been allied with Sinestro during her captivity to the star sapphire, Carol approached them.
"Greetings fellow Ring wielders," Carol's personal field transmitted and translated her words to the varied species Yellow Lanterns, "We come in peace and love. Let us pass."
"I don't think so, Violet Lighters. We've heard about your spectrum of 'Love' and it's laughable at best. Take your preaching and self indulgence elsewhere. The Sinestro Corps guards this world and none shall pass," The lead Yellow Lantern declared.
"We'll pass, whether by your loving grace or through you," Carol warned.
"Stand down or face fear incarnate," she was advised.
"Sisters, approach!" Carol commanded.
The Sinestro Corpsmen unleashed vicious ring constructs but they were vastly outnumbered and the violet light of love began to penetrate their fear. Carol gathered her forces.
"Construct conversion chambers," she ordered.
They were each encased in a violet jewel-like construct reminiscent of the original star sapphire that Carol bore on her mask. The Yellow Lanterns fought but they were overwhelmed by the emanations of love pouring over them. Soon, it encroached on their hearts and they too began to love.
The jewels shattered when their work was done. The Corpsmen's' eyes were now violet and they were blissful in their loving happiness. Fatality asked Carol if they should be presented violet rings.
"No," she pronounced, "They are converts not the Chosen. The rings select their wielders not us. The rings haven't presented themselves to these as worthy candidates. Let them accompany us but they shall keep their yellow rings and continue their mastery over fear. They shall do so in the name of our cause."
Carol turned to Arven. She wore the bag that contained the rings. Carol smiled at her eagerly faithful sister.
"Arven, Fatality, join me. The rest of you shall guard the planet and keep an eye on our newly acquired 'brothers'," Carol spoke.
The three Sapphires descended into the atmosphere. As they did so, they triggered an alert with the Accoladan peacekeeping forces. They had an agreement with the Sinestro Corps and the Corps was here by invitation. One of their tasks was to deal with ring wielders. They had failed so it was up to the natives to defend their world.
Aircars with open rear decks came at the trio. They had heavy weapons mounted in the rear and peace forcers were strapped to their cannons. The Accoladans opened fire and the Sapphires created directional shields. The heavy energy bursts tested the rings' strength but they held.
"Ladies, now," Carol said and she used her stone to grab the closest aircar with a claw. She held it until its engine blew and then she set it down on the surface. Fatality and Arven also followed suit. The Sapphires repeated this exercise countless times as they crossed the planet. Finally, the star sapphire led them to the appropriate dwelling place.
They landed at the front door and Carol used her stone to open the door. Inside Maewen Arquilla huddled in the corner in silence. Carol smiled benevolently, "It's all right, Maewen. We're here to help you."
"How do you know who I am?" Maewen asked, "I've never seen your species before. Any of you."
"Your love called to us," Carol's smile warmed, if that was remotely possible.
"M..my love?" Maewen faltered.
"It is so strong, and such an integral part of you that it called across the stars and we responded," Carol held out a hand to Arven and the other Star Sapphire handed her a violet ring.
Maewen's eyes grew as she beheld the ring. It pulsed twice with a glowing light. The ring levitated off of Carol's hand and flew to Maewen.
It floated before her and she had to reverently ask, "What is it doing?"
"Choosing you. Embrace the love within you and the choice will be made," Carol advised.
Maewen held out her hand and the ring slipped onto her finger and sized itself accordingly. A violet glow enveloped Maewen and she cried out, "Oh, yes!"
Her clothes were altered into a Star Sapphire uniform and the ring damped down its power. Then a burst of violet light issued forth from the ring and transformed the air into a subspace tear. A power lantern emerged. And she reflexively placed her ring hand into its opening. She recited the oath, which her sisters did with her as well and then she leapt up and floated in the air.
"I'm free!" Maewen delightedly laughed.
"Yes, you are. Now join us on our quest to spread love throughout the universe," Carol implored.
"Oh, yes!" Maewen feverishly agreed, "I feel so much love for every creature. It has to be shared."
"Then come. The stars await," Carol took her hand and guided her outside. The Star Sapphires took to the skies and headed for the ionosphere. Breaking orbit, the quartet gathered the waiting Sapphires, and their three Sinestro Corpsmen, and headed for deep space.
The Zamarons contacted Carol and gave her details of not one but two potential recruits and Denair V. The only problem was that the world was held in the sway of the Light of Fear. Sinestro's Corpsmen controlled the planet and all that went on or above the world.
Carol merely smiled. The Light of Love could overcome fear. They'd proven that and the Corpsmen would learn it to their everlasting joy. Having made up her mind, Carol opened up the spatial rift and inserted her Corps into Denairian space. She had sisters in need of fulfillment and nothing would stop her.
The Question and the Huntress entered the Postal Annex that they'd planted the camera in. Question jimmied the lock to a mail box and opened the little door. The camera was inside but it was in pieces. Huntress frowned.
"Well, that's just great," she complained.
"Yes, it is. Now we have fingerprints," Question enthused, "Did you bring the print kit?"
"No. Did you?" she asked tartly.
"Would I be asking if I had?" he asked in a reasonable tone.
His faceless visage simply stared at her. She knew he was staring because after being involved with him for so long she could feel his hidden eyes, "What? You expect me to go and get it?"
"It would be nice," He replied.
"Nice this," She flipped him an obscene gesture. He was completely immune to it. Frustrated she threw her hands up, "Fine! I'll get it."
"That would be lovely dear," He called to her back. She replied with another gesture. Question was greatly amused.
Five minutes later the love of his life was back with the print kit. He dusted the camera and used the film strips to acquire prints. His ministrations to the post box door yielded another matching set, as well as a few others. He'd run them through the files but he expected these were just stray brushed with the door.
Gathering everything up he turned to the Huntress, "Now to allow the computers a crack at these."
She smirked, "So back to Batman's abandoned paradise?"
"Exactly. The monitor womb is linked to every Federal and State computer and those of the ISA," The Question eagerly replied.
Her smirk became a grin, "Good. I want to see who slept with whom last night."
"Maybe I shouldn't have shown you those files," Question ventured.
She backhanded his arm, "What happened to sharing everything?"
"Of course I want to share," He protested, "I just don't want you to go mad from the power. Therein lays the path to Batman's madness."
"I'm nothing like Bat-boy," She huffed.
"Of course not," He placated her.
"Did you just placate me?" she asked.
"Of course not," He said.
"You bastard! You just did it again," She accused.
"Shall we be going?" he moved to the exit and held the door open for her, "The sooner we get back the sooner you can spy on everyone's nocturnal activities."
"Now you're talking," She grinned once again.
Huntress used her half of the monitors to screen last night's callers. Only three rooms had been occupied by couples. Roger had stayed over at Gavyn's dorm room. She wasn't normally a fan of watching gay men but damn, they were creative. There were a few pointers Q needed to see.
Kara and Kyle had stayed over as well. Men weren't allowed to stay overnight in the Women's Dorm on 5th Avenue. Mostly to allay jealousies from those that were partner-less. After all, what was to stop Fire from joining in unexpectedly? Then there would be a murder and the League would be down a member. Too much bother. So the prohibition stood. It wasn't tested because Beatriz shared a room with Tora and even Fire wouldn't sear Ice's brain.
It was obvious that they weren't very experienced but they made up for it in raw, savage passion. It reminded her of her and Q, only the older couple had skills to go along with all of the enthusiasm.
Then came Shayera and John. They had it all, including Shayera's damn wings which blocked the view half the time. Of course, those same wings were trashing the room. Huntress had never noted how muscular John was until now, seeing him stark naked and exerting himself. She could tell Shayera knew she was lucky and she felt something akin to camaraderie with the Thanagarian for the first time really. Shayera's wings spasmed out and knocked what was left on the night stand off. Huntress had come to realize that meant that she'd climaxed for the 4th time.
Huntress was jealous. That hadn't happened to her since the honeymoon. She turned to the Question, "Q, they've thrown the gauntlet. You have some hard and fast lovin' to do."
"What?" he was utterly baffled.
She returned the feeds to their live input and rose and draped herself around his shoulders, "I'll explain later. What've we got so far?"
"We are just getting the results from the fingerprint analysis. The photos transmitted to the womb by the spy cam yielded a facial recognition match with the Driver's License of one Jerome Ordway. Ah… here we go," Question happily pulled up the results on the big screen, "Here are his credentials. He's a stocks and bonds trader at Berkshire, Hamilton, and Worth. It just so happens that the company is a wholly owned subsidiary of LexCorp and therefore under the nominal control of Talia Head."
"And Talia's under the control of Luthor and her father, Ra's al Ghul," Huntress finished for him.
"I think it's time to have a chat with Mr. Ordway," Q gleefully said.
"Good," Huntress agreed, "I haven't terrorized anyone yet today. And on the way I can explain the challenge John and Shayera laid out for us."
A dozen Sinestro Corpsmen guarded Denair V. They'd mastered their fear and the yellow light and they unleashed it upon the Star Sapphires. Carol's forces held their ground and then advanced. Using conversion chambers they swayed ten of the Corpsmen to their side. The remaining two resisted and evaded the formation of the chambers.
"Sinestro will hear of this!" they swore before they lit out of the system.
Arven approached Carol, "Should we take precautions?"
"What precautions are there to take?" Carol asked, "Sinestro needs love too. Trust me, I know him almost as well as I know Hal Jordan. Sinestro will be converted as well and then he will know the love within our hearts."
"What of the recruits?" Fatality asked.
"Select a handful of sisters to watch over our converted brethren and then the rest of you shall come with me and spread our message across the planet," Carol instructed.
"How will we know…?" Fatality began to ask.
The warmth of Carol's smile stopped her, "The rings will know."
After gaining two more recruits and spreading their message of love across the planet, the Star Sapphires and their converted Sinestro Corpsmen gathered in Denair's orbit. Carol paged the Zamarons and discovered yet another recruit had been identified, this time on her homeworld of Earth.
"Sisters, gather `round," Carol implored, "We have a new target and a new sister to recruit. This world is our biggest challenge yet. Unlike these united worlds. My world is fragmented between warring nation-states. Hunger, violence, and hate permeate existence there. They need our message more than any other so far. Are you with me?"
A rousing chorus of, "Yes!" echoed through their personal fields. Carol took heart, "I knew I could count on you. When we reach Earth we shall recharge our rings because we'll need all of our might gathered for this task."
"What task is that?" Maewen inquired.
"We're going to convert the Legion of Doom," Carol happily declared.