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!
Lantern – Part 1
(Yes we all know Green Lantern's story, but here's my take. It would've been fun to see Green Lantern interact with the Smallville characters.) All's Fair ch 2
Kara flew into New Mexico under the cloud cover of a rare line of thunderstorms that stretched across the vast open spaces of the western United States. Bart had already zipped to the coordinates that Chloe and Oliver had set up for them.
"Roswell Tower, this is Newton Air, Flight 363. We are monitoring a small object moving at a rapid speed across our flight pattern, please advise." The electrical interference of the storm garbled up the tower to plane message. "This is Roswell Tower, Say again, 363?"
"Never mind, Tower, it's gone." The experienced pilot of the medium sized passenger jet said. "It was probably just the reflection off the lightning. Newton 363 out." The response crackled across the airwaves. "Copy that, 363, proceed to Santa Fe International, and stay out of that thunderstorm. You might get your tail fried."
"This is one of the worst electrical storms we've ever encountered." Captain Stanton confided to his copilot. "Maybe we saw a UFO!" James Corolla joked. "After all, we just passed Roswell!" Captain Stanton laughed. "Copy that, Jimbo!" The flight continued on without any further incident, but about thirty thousand feet below them, the scene was chaos.
Black helicopters circled around an old garbage strewn bay, bordered by a filthy retention pond. Lightning crackled all around them. A convoy of black SUVS, unmarked nondescript cars, and a group of fatigue clad foot soldiers all zeroed in on the mostly deserted area.
Bart slowed to a stop beside a rusty blue garbage scow. Kara's exceptional eyesight enabled her to locate Impulse quickly, and she darted down from the dark clouds, through the drenching downpour, landing lightly behind Bart. "What's the scoop, Impulse?" She inquired quietly.
"Something big definitely came down here, K Girl." Bart replied as he poked his head around the edge of the garbage scow. "You don't see this much hardware, or this many Jarheads in one area. You also don't see this kind of a military show for an ordinary meteor strike."
"I don't like the looks of this, Impulse." Kara pushed some of her lengthy blonde hair away from one ear. She concentrated, and focused her hearing on the conversation between two military leaders. She guessed that they were the brass that Bart spoke of, based on the myriad of medals on their chests. The leaders directed their subordinates to seal off the area.
"K Girl! Look at the trench that leads to the edge of the retention pond!" Bart said excitedly. "Would a meteor dig in a straight line along the surface, or would it just go down, causing a crater?" Kara followed Bart's gaze. "I'm no meteor expert, but I'd bet on 'no'."
"We'd better let Arrow and Watchtower know." Bart suggested. He touched the hands free earpiece that connected all of the heroes to Watchtower Base. Impulse quickly retracted it. "On second thought, we'd better maintain silence. I don't know how good Oliver's stuff is as compared to the military brass. They might pick up on it and triangulate our position."
"Now what?" Kara asked impatiently. "Do you have Clark's super vision thing?" Bart questioned. "X-Ray vision? Yes. Why?" Kara crouched down next to him. "X-ray the area, and see if any of the choppers or trucks are carrying any large or unusual objects." He directed.
Kara quickly stood up and scanned the scene, remembering to scan the helicopters as well. "No, they've got nothing. All I see are soldiers, guns, and electronic devices." Kara informed him as she stooped back down. "Is there anything visible at the end of the trench?" Impulse asked.
Kara refocused her vision and hearing in that direction. "No, but something was there." She began. "Whatever it was, the object was about the size of a school bus. I see traces of purple goo along the base of the end of the trench. There's no sign of a machine, or blood…"
Kara hesitated before continuing. "Impulse, what if the purple goo was blood?" Bart frowned. "That's a bit of a reach, isn't it K Girl? How about some kind of machine oil, fuel, or fire dousing solution?" Kara shook her head. "I still don't have an answer. Maybe…" Kara cut herself off at midsentence. "Wait a minute! What's that?" She pointed towards a bright green light.
The green light shone like a beacon, several miles away from the scene. Bart followed her gaze, but missed most of the light show. "That seems odd!" He commented after the green light faded. "Most beacons I've seen were usually white, yellow, or blue." Kara tapped him silently on the shoulder and gestured towards a half dozen approaching soldiers. "Time to blast!" Bart urged.
"I've got a general direction on the green beam!" Kara said excitedly, adding: "Get clear of the soldiers, and call Watchtower, while I track the light show to its source. I can cover more ground from the air." Bart scowled. "That's debatable, but where can I meet you?"
"I flew over an old airfield about two miles from here, in that direction." Kara pointed behind them. "I'll check it out and meet you there." Bart nodded, and sped away. Kara immediately darted up into the dark and stormy sky, and flew at an angle away from the soldiers.
"Sergeant Maddux, what are you staring at?" An obviously angry army officer growled. "I'm not sure, sir." Maddux hesitated. "You'd better be sure, soldier. Report!" The superior barked. "Sir, I thought I saw a, well, a cute blonde girl…jump into the sky." Maddux replied sheepishly.
"Really?" The commander scoffed. "Do you want to file a report?" He mocked his subordinate. "Sir, no sir!" Maddux stood rigidly. "Fine. Focus, Maddux, focus!" The officer rebuked. "Yes, Sir!" Maddux saluted. Behind him, a lower ranking soldier gave him a curious look.
"Flying girls, indeed!" The commander grumbled as he passed the rest of the troops. The lower ranking soldier made a mental note of the reference to a flying girl. Bart assumed that he was safely out of the army's electronic listening devices range. He touched the earpiece, and filled in Oliver and Chloe on their impromptu recon mission.
"You just let Blurette go?" Oliver scowled. "Geez Arrow, what was I going to do, restrain her?" Bart groused. Chloe snickered. "Just like her cousin." She quipped. "Let's just hope that Blurette doesn't come across some type of Green K." Oliver grumbled.
Kara soared over the rain soaked landscape, carefully avoiding the most popular areas. Lightning crackled in the darkness behind her, as she made her way in the general direction of the mysterious green beacon. This still won't be easy to find, she mentally observed. I'll just give it a good guess, and hope for the best. She thought.
Suddenly a green light briefly brightened up an otherwise darkened condo. Talk about lucky! Kara mused. What was that Lois said about having a horseshoe up my… Her bawdy thought was interrupted as she heard a male voice speaking loudly from the room of the condo.
"I pledge allegiance to…a green colored lantern." The mature male voice said with authority. "Even I think that sounds stupid!" He commented as Kara drew closer, darting down onto the condo balcony. She flattened against the wall just beyond the sliding glass double doors.
The man examined a green ring. "Where's the on switch?" He asked aloud. Kara x-rayed the room and saw no one else. The man was indeed talking to a large green hued lantern. Kara began to grow disappointed, yet another wild hen…er wild goose chase, she corrected.
The man picked up the lantern and glanced inside. The emerald green light seemed dim, but he continued to fiddle with it. He held the green ring in the palm of his hand. His cell phone rang, and he placed the ring beside the lantern, reached over and flipped the phone on.
"Yeah, Carol, I'm home." He spoke into it, walking away towards the condo kitchen. "What? Yes the bars close around ten PM in this one cow town. They roll up the streets…no, nothing unusual happened this evening, why?" he lied as though he were an expert at it.
Kara slid the glass doors open and silently floated into the condo living room. She bent down cautiously, and faced the green lantern. By now, she'd realized that it wasn't made of kryptonite, because she'd felt no ill effects around it. Kara picked up the ring first, and felt some kind of a power coursing through it. To her knowledge, nothing like this existed on Earth.
Kara recalled that back on Argo and Kandor, rumors told of an all-powerful race of beings that might have been involved in the creation of the known universe. The scientific community on Krypton had dismissed the notion as absurd and illogical. She wasn't so sure, based on what her evil father, Zor El and BRAINIAC had done. They could've been covering something up.
Kara then picked up the lantern and felt more power building up. This device appeared to be recharging itself, in her opinion. She hurriedly placed it back down on the man's coffee table. This time the lantern was much closer to the ring, and both began to glow brightly.
Kara backed away quickly, unsure of what to do. Should I steal the devices? No, that doesn't seem right…she debated. Instead, she searched the room for the man's personal belongings, floating into his bedroom. The bed was a mess, clothes strewn everywhere, but she managed to locate the man's wallet. She read his ID silently: Hal Jordan – Ferris Aerospace.
"G'night, Carol! See you in the morning…yeah, I know, 0900, whatever!" The man said as he flipped off the phone. Kara was about to dash out the still open glass doors, when the man caught sight of her. "Hey! Wait a minute!" He barked, and nervously glanced at the lantern and ring. Kara whirled, and sped past him, out the doors. He chased her, but she seemed to disappear.
"What the hell have I gotten myself into, here?" He complained as he searched the other condo balconies, the quickly flooding sidewalks below, and finally, the storming skies above.
Giving up, he checked for any damage to the lantern or ring, and then checked to see if anything had been stolen. He spied his wallet and ID spread out on the bed. "Oh no!" He opened it and the money was still there. "That's good. What the hell was she looking for?"
The lantern and ring continued to glow ever more intensely. Hal finished checking the rest of the condo, and satisfied, returned to the extraterrestrial objects that he'd been given. "No one's going to believe any of this." He complained aloud. "What is an ABN SUR anyway?"
Hal placed the ring on his finger. "Nice fit." He inadvertently brushed the ring against the opening of the lantern. Immediately, a pulsing green light seized him. Hal felt like a thousand razors were cutting his skin, or that he was being burned alive. In a few seconds it was over.
Hal morphed into a muscular, masked, green clad super being, and floated above the floor. "Holy crap! I can fly!" He shouted, before realizing that he could wake up the entire building. "What a rush!" He exclaimed. Hal stepped out onto the balcony, briefly checking the area for either the female intruder, or a casual observer. The only sound heard was the rolling thunder, and pelting rain. Kara had flown behind the condo building and was on the way to meet Bart.
Across the galaxy, several small blue creatures with big heads stood stoically in a circle. "We have lost contact with Abn Sur. Sinestro! Recall all the lanterns!" One ordered.
Hal stood on the balcony debating whether to attempt to fly. What if those trigger happy flyboys of the Air Force decide to shoot me down? He mused. Would this ring and suit protect me? His debate ended with a flash of bright green light. Hal felt himself ascending. He screamed as the whole world seemed to fall away, and drag him out into the cosmos.
Kara whirled just in time to see the green light beam streak upwards, splitting the blackened skies. In a flash, it was gone, and only the rumbling thunder remained. She had no idea what all that was about, but she knew that she didn't like it.
Bart was impatiently waiting at the abandoned airfield, busily munching on a spicy smelling burrito. Kara floated down silently before him. He stopped chewing long enough to watch Kara's descent. "That is so cool, K Girl!" Impulse praised, as he gulped some of the food down.
"What is?" Kara asked innocently. "The whole flying thing!" Bart replied. "Why can't Clark do it?" Kara shrugged. "There's no reason for him not to. It must be a mental thing. I'll keep working with him. Anyway, did you call Oliver and the others?"
"Yup." Bart answered, swallowing the last bit of the burrito. "Did you find anything?" Kara nodded. "Yes, but I'm not sure how to explain it." She replied vaguely. "Does it involve little green men?" Bart joked. "No offense." Kara smirked. "None taken."
5