Chapter 8

Citadel Dome; Oa

Hal and Arisia zoomed through the air, destroying Manhunters left and right. Hal had sent a signal to every Lantern in the Galaxy, hoping they would at least receive it.

The message said "Listen. My name is Hal Jordan, I am the new Green Lantern of Sector 2814. I know you have no reason to trust anything that I say, but believe me when I say that the Central Battery on Oa is intact. There might be no one left to help me, but this has to stop. And I'm gonna do my best to stop it; even if it kills me."

The two continued fending off the Manhunters to the best of their abilities, but were quickly overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Suddenly, a blast of green light tore several Manhunters apart. When the smoke cleared, Hal and Arisia turned to see Kilowog floating in front of them.

"All we needed was a location." Kilowog stated, turning Hal and Arisia saw hundreds of Green Lanterns descend onto the planet, perhaps all that was left of the Corps.

"Alright, listen" Hal instructed them "We need to destroy that dome so that the energy can flow freely."

"You heard him, everyone" Arisia shouted "Concentrate your power on the dome."

The lanterns did as instructed, some targeted the dome, while the rest provided cover. Hal, Arisia, and Kilowog lead the group targeting the dome while Tomar-Re and Sinestro focused on the Manhunters. Eventually, the dome collapsed, exposing the battery and allowing the energy to flow into the Lantern rings.

Once that was done, all the lanterns gathered around the Central Battery.

"We exposed the battery, now what?" Kilowog asked.

"Arisia and I learned of something while inside that dome." Hal responded "Apparently a member of the Oan Council survived and gave us instructions on what to do. He said that we needed to blast the battery, that it would destroy both Oa and the Manhunters. But, there are many innocent people down in the mines, if we do that we'd be slaughtering them."

"If it is what needs to be done then that is what we must do." Sinestro spoke up "We'd be sacrificing these people for the safety of the entire galaxy."

"We can't do that!" Arisia retorted "These people at least deserve a chance to return home to their families."

"I believe there is a way to save these people and destroy the Manhunters." This time it was Salaak's turn to speak "The Manhunters have a built in flaw in their energy reserves, and we might be able to use the battery to overflow them."

"That might work" Kilowog stated "If one of us can get close enough to the battery and recite the oath, it will release a large amount of energy causing a chain reaction inside the Manhunters, frying their circuits and shutting them down."

"That might be easier said than done" Tomar-Re added "The resulting influx of energy might result in the death of said Lantern."

"I'll go" Hal spoke up.

"Hal, it might kill you!" Arisia objected.

"If it means saving these people, I'm willing to put my life on the line." Hal responded with an assuring smile.

"You are brave, Hal Jordan" Sinestro stated "We will cover you to the best of our abilities."

Hal headed towards the base of the battery while the remaining lanterns turned to face a large swarm of Manhunters heading towards them.

Once there, Hal pointed the ring to the central battery. Taking a deep breath he began to concentrate, only to remember that he never learned the oath.

Groaning at himself, Hal began scratching his head while the Manhunters began to overwhelm the Lanterns.

"Hurry up, Hal!" Kilowog shouted, blasting several Manhunters with his ring. Several Lanterns attempted to aid Hal as best they could, only to be cut down by several Manhunters, their rings flying off their fingers.

"Come on, Jordan, think!" he shouted to himself "DAMN IT! How am I supposed to repeat something I've never learned?!" just then, his ring began to glow brighter. Hal turned to look at it, almost as if it was talking to him. With a nod, Hal floated closer to the battery and began to speak "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!"

Once Hal was finished a burst of green energy was shot out of the battery before engulfing the entire planet. As it did, the Manhunters began to shake violently as they began to short circuit. Their heads began exploding one by one before collapsing onto the ground.

As soon as the light died down, the remaining lanterns turned towards the battery just as Hal floated towards them.

"Took you long enough" Sinestro scolded him.

Mogo (Sector 2261)

With the Manhunters defeated, the remaining lanterns gathered on Mogo. Hal turned towards Mogo's battery, only to notice a large number of Green Lantern rings piled around it. Arisia walked up to him from behind.

"You alright?" she asked.

"If you had asked me that a few days ago I'd say no, but now I don't know what to say." Hal responded.

"Yeah, that's pretty much the way it is for all of us." The two began to chuckle before Mogo's battery lit up, the gathered Green Lantern rings then began hovering around it. Before another word could be said, the rings were shot up into the air before spreading out in different directions.

Hal and Arisia then left to meet up with the rest of the Lanterns.

"What do we do now?" Tomar-Re asked unsure.

"I think the best course of action would be for each of us to return home and help rebuild or secure our home planets." Kilowog responded.

"And what should we do about that?" Hal asked, pointing to the rings. "Whoever those rings go to will need our help."

"You're asking us to rebuild the Corps?" Salaak raised a confused brow.

"That isn't something that is easily done" Sinestro stepped forward "We will need to decide who will lead us since the Oans were the ones responsible for all of this in the first place."

"I nominate Arisia to lead us." Hal stated, catching the young woman off guard, the rest of the lanterns turned to each other.

"I second that motion" Kilowog responded "She may still be young, but she was the one who coordinated us in the battle. If that's not leader material, I don't know what is."

"All in favor?" Salaak asked.

"Aye" the lanterns responded in unison.

"It is settled then, Arisia will be the leader of the new Green Lantern Corps." Tomar-Re added.

"Thank you for this opportunity" Arisia bowed to them "I just hope I don't let you down."

"You won't" Hal smiled at her, she smiled back.

Ruins of Costal City (Sector 2814)

Hal looked off into the distance at the ruins of his old home. He still couldn't believe that he was back on Earth, though it might take him some time to get used to it.

In his hand was a newspaper with the head line 'US President Lex Luthor under investigation'.

Placing the newspaper away, Hal continued walking towards what was left of his home city. As he kept walking he spotted someone he didn't expect to see.

"Captain Seaton?" he approached the dark skinned woman.

"Jordan?" she nearly yelped at seeing him "But how?"

"It's a really long story, but there's more out there than we expected." Hal then brought his fist out and a green glow began surrounding him "And now that I'm back, I brought the tools to make this world a better place."