A/N: As promised, here is the final full chapter of the story - a mere 3 days after the last one! Now, I didn't receive any reviews on the last chapter (unfortunately), but I did stalk the traffic stats, so I know some 20 or more people have visited it. At least I know people are reading...so here's your chapter :D
Chapter Twenty-Five: Gold Standard
Hal and Tom Kalmaku gathered at Ace's grave on the afternoon of Sunday, the 24th of October. The former carried a bottle of whisky and the latter brought three glasses. Tom arranged the glasses in a row on Ace's tombstone, and Hal poured a measure of whisky into each. The two men each took one glass, leaving the third for their fallen comrade.
"Happy birthday, buddy. Here's to you." Hal raised his glass towards Ace and downed his drink in a single gulp. Tom followed suit, but didn't drain his glass. Hal nevertheless topped it up when he refilled his own.
"I still keep expecting to see him at work," Tom commented.
"I don't." Hal was nursing his second shot of whisky slower than the first, but he definitely looked like he'd be taking a third drink before they were done here. It was just as well that Tom had driven them to the cemetery. "I'll never be able to forget that I saw him die, and I couldn't do anything about it."
"Hal, you can't still be beating yourself up about that. If Ace were here he'd tell you to shut the hell up. Wouldn't you, Ace?" Tom asked the silent headstone.
Hal shook his head. "I'm not taking the blame, Tom. I'm owning up to it. I know Ace's death wasn't my fault, but I was still there — and I was helpless. That's not the first time it's happened and it's not going to be the last, because no matter how hard I try, I won't always be good enough," he stated matter-of-factly. "I will have to live with that. I'll do my level best to keep the number damn low — but there will be more Aces, and I'll have to accept that. And I'll have to move on each time, and make up for it with the people I can save. Like Carol."
Tom smiled back. "Yeah, you did good with her. It's a shame you're not Green Lantern anymore while she's flying around as Star Sapphire."
Hal chuckled. "It wasn't a role reversal I was expecting, that's for sure. But we're making it work."
"Good. I'm glad." Tom smirked. "Even if I did lose the bet."
"What?"
"Ace always thought you two would eventually get it together. I was less optimistic. I figured you'd both cut your losses at some point," Tom confessed. "So we made a bet. Now I owe him fifty bucks."
"Bit early to call it, isn't it?"
"Nah. I've got a feeling." Tom set his glass on Ace's headstone and pulled out his wallet. Very deliberately, he withdrew a fifty-dollar bill and, with a meaningful look at Hal, laid it under Ace's whisky glass.
Hal's smile was wide and genuine. "Thanks, Tom." He glanced at the money weighted under the glass on the tombstone. "Though you know someone's gonna come along and pick that up?"
Tom shrugged. "I'm not gonna miss it. Besides, it's the sort of thing Ace would do."
"That it is."
There was silence for a long moment, save for the whistle of the autumn wind and the rustle of red and gold leaves on the trees in the cemetery. Hal finished his second whisky, and — just as Tom had predicted — poured himself a third, albeit smaller, portion.
Presently, Tom asked, "Did you find out why Hardy wanted to kill you?"
Their investigation into the sabotage of the Peregrine had stalled after their only lead was teleported away by the Star Sapphire gems. Debbie Darnell had been the only clue they had as to what had really happened to the ill-fated plane, and after she'd disappeared somewhere into the cosmos — Carol couldn't (or wouldn't) tell them where she'd been taken — Hal and Tom had reluctantly resigned themselves to the fact that they wouldn't be solving this mystery.
That is, until Carol had returned from S.T.A.R. Labs and informed Hal that one of the men she'd freed from crystal was U.S.A.F. Captain Vince Hardy.
True to her word, Carol, as Star Sapphire, had gone after Hardy after the failure of the second Peregrine. His was the only crystal she had contributed, but it was still evidence of how her emotions, combined with the Star Sapphire gem, had overcome her sense of morality. She'd felt badly about that until Hal told her about the Peregrine sabotage — which he now knew Hardy was responsible for — and then she had seethed, indignant and full of determination to restore the contract with U.S.A.F. in light of the new information. Negotiations were currently ongoing, but a final decision would only be reached once the Air Force ruled on Hardy's crime.
"He's a traitor," Hal said with a scowl. "He was selling state secrets to Russia. Only, he ran out of all the secrets he knew, and he needed a promotion in order to gain access to more."
"He wanted your position?" Tom was confused. "But you're both captains."
"My clearance is higher than his. If I had died, he would've been the prime candidate to be promoted to my station. As it is, he's being court-martialled. He'll be lucky to just be discharged with dishonor, if not outright jailed."
"And Carl Ferris should be able to resurrect our contract with U.S.A.F. after that, right?"
"I think Carol's taking point on that. From what she's told me, apparently Carl wants to retire sooner rather than later. But yeah, hopefully the contract is revived. Ferris Air doesn't deserve to take the fall for one sleazeball's agenda."
"And you don't care at all that Hardy specifically wanted to murder you?" Tom sounded amazed.
"Well, that's obviously not great, but it's nothing new," Hal admitted. "And trust me, after I've been on the hit list of an omnicidal new god, an entity of sentient fear, and an obsessive control freak with a power ring, a treasonous Air Force pilot is a minnow by comparison."
"Your life," said Tom, "is really something else."
"I'll drink to that." With a wry grin, Hal tipped back his third (and final) glass of whisky.
When he got home, Hal was surprised to find John Stewart waiting for him.
"About time you got here," the Green Lantern told him as Hal shuffled up his porch, only slightly tipsy. "I've been waiting for almost half an hour."
"This is why you people should call ahead when you wanna visit instead of just dropping in like Batman all the time," Hal scoffed.
"I did. Did you even check your cell?"
Hal dug out his phone and blinked at the four missed calls from John. "Oops. My bad. I was taking care of…a thing."
"Did that thing involve alcohol?" John nodded towards the half-empty whisky bottle in Hal's hand. His tone was faintly disapproving.
Hal sighed. "If you must know, I was visiting a recently deceased friend of mine. It's his birthday. And I didn't drink that much, so quit with the judgment."
John's censure disappeared at once. "I'm sorry."
"Apology accepted. Why are you here?"
"Bit of a long story, that." John had a smirk on his face.
"Oh?" Hal unlocked his door. "Does that mean we're finally going to have a proper conversation in my house instead of out here on the porch like a pair of hobos?"
"If you feel up to it."
"You've piqued my curiosity. Come on in." Hal gestured magnanimously at his open door.
When they were both settled on armchairs in Hal's living room — John with a soda Hal had offered, Hal with water — John began.
"So, you know how I said there's been a bunch of things going on with the Corps lately?"
"Yeah." Hal couldn't figure out why John was still bothering to update him with details when he was no longer a Green Lantern nor connected to one of their situations like he had been with Sinestro and Star Sapphire — but he appreciated it, nonetheless.
"Well, the Guardians finally decided exactly how they wanna restructure the Corps."
"They're actually doing it?" Hal straightened. The Green Lanterns' organization hadn't changed for millennia.
"Yeah. I think the final straw was Katma Tui's report on the Star Sapphires. Supposedly they've been around nearly as long as the Green Lanterns."
"Seriously? And in all that time the Guardians had no idea they existed?"
John shrugged. "Guess not. And they're pretty ticked off about it, too. I think part of the reason why they took so long to get around to the actual restructuring was because they were too busy getting over themselves. For little guys, they have massive egos.
"Anyway, according to Katma, the Star Sapphires have a whole administration in place headquartered on Zamaron. Zamaron is apparently the source of some central reservoir for all the love in the universe or something like that. The Zamarons were the original bearers of violet light, and they collaborated with the female Maltusians who migrated there to build up a proper Corps. The native Zamarons — the original inhabitants of the planet — look after the Central Power Battery and make the Star Sapphire rings. The day-to-day administration of the Corps on Zamaron is overseen by a council made up of native and Maltusian Zamarons. The Queen is the Corps' leader in the field; the council report to her and carry out her orders. She can even appoint a regent to rule in her stead on Zamaron if she isn't going to be around much — she just has to check in at designated intervals."
Hal nodded. "Yeah, Carol told me that. She said it was one of the major factors that made her decide to keep the ring."
"Well, I don't imagine she'd have wanted to relocate to Zamaron if the queen job had required that," John remarked. "Come to think of it, their queen contest is a pretty crazy way to pick a leader, isn't it? What if the girls involved aren't interested in leading a space corps?"
"I guess that's why they have the regent option." Hal wasn't going to pretend that the idea made sense to him — what was the point of having such an elaborate ritual if the chosen queen could then turn around and appoint someone else to rule for her, or even abdicate altogether — but it wasn't his Corps and it wasn't his business to do anything but support Carol. "Anyway, you were saying? About the Lanterns?"
"Right, the restructuring. Where do I begin?" John took a sip of his soda. "The home garrison on Oa is going up to fifty officers."
"There were only twenty before," Hal noted. "That's a big jump."
"Yeah. I guess Sinestro's attacks made them realize that Oa needs better defenses. They're also instituting an Honor Guard comprised of Lanterns who have exceptional service records. Honor Guard GLs will be just under the Clarissi on the hierarchy, and they aren't going to be assigned to particular sectors — they'll operate wherever they're needed, kinda like Special Ops."
"How many are they putting on this Honor Guard?"
"No clue. They're just going to have to find sector replacements for whichever senior Corpsmen they promote. And that's not even gonna be the biggest headache." Inexplicably, John grinned.
"What else is there?" Hal questioned warily.
"Only the biggest change in the history of the Corps," John said in a tone of great satisfaction. "The Guardians really dithered about this for a while, even after they spoke to all the GLs — but I told them to their face that one guy per sector was just not enough, and they finally made up their minds to double the Corps so they can assign two Lanterns to each sector."
Hal blinked uncomprehendingly for a second — and then a surging, rising tide of hope swelled within him.
"Stewart…you're not saying what I think you're saying, are you?"
With a wide smile, John produced a Green Lantern ring and held it out to Hal. "It's yours…if you want it."
Hal laughed in delight. Without a moment's hesitation, he plucked the ring from John's palm and slipped it onto his finger.
It fit like it had never left. Hal clenched his fist and inhaled deeply, feeling the familiar interface link with his mind and will.
Hal Jordan. Welcome to the Green Lantern Corps.
"That's the original, by the way," John informed him. "Mine's the new one. You get the screwball that didn't want another Lantern."
"John…" Hal's eyes were full of respectful gratitude. "Thank you."
John smirked. "Don't mention it. We're partners now."
Hal laughed again, feeling light and happy. "Partners," he agreed. He held out his hand, and John grasped it firmly and with camaraderie.
"Welcome back, Lantern Jordan."
Hal beamed. "It's great to be back, Lantern Stewart."
John chuckled and dropped his hand. "Oh, there's one other thing."
Hal's gaze turned questioning.
"They've invited me to join the League. I said I'd consider it — but also that they might wanna check whether their original Green Lantern is interested in reclaiming his membership."
Hal looked thoughtful. "You think they'd take me back?"
"I'm pretty sure the rest of them would outvote Batman, if that's what you're concerned about. Your buddy Flash was ready to race over and get you up to the Watchtower then and there. I told him to at least wait till you'd gotten your ring back."
"You were that sure I'd accept your proposition, huh?" Hal arched his eyebrow.
"One military man to another, Jordan — when we're called, we answer. It's that simple."
"It isn't always," said Hal. "But it is this time." He cast a contemplative glance at his fellow Corpsman. "What about it, Stewart? I'm sure the League can use two Green Lanterns."
"Like I said, Hal," John said with a smile, "when we're called, we answer."
"No getting around it, is there?"
"Nope."
A/N: Epilogue will be up in another couple of days. Please review? :D