"So Richard, how did you say we can use this… space stone?" Sam asks, watching as Richard holds the said stone. He could've sworn that the man was about to kiss it or something. Richard was ecstatic.
"This one can track every other stone, makes it a nice piece of cake." Richard explains, "Again, there's six."
Well, Sam actually didn't get to hear that part so Richard was just reminding Hal. Sam would have to play knowledge catch up if he wanted to understand anything.
Quickly and unexpectedly, Richard places the space stone in the palm of Sam's hand. It was just big enough that he could curl his fingers around it like an oval shaped baseball. "Here Sam, I want you to concentrate on your Nova helmet." Richard instructs. He wanted to see how Sam's memory would test, mostly for his own sake. He didn't want to be the only one who remembered their past lives.
Sam's brows knit together as he tries to picture the helmet. It was black and semi different in shape when compared to Richard's own helmet. Just focusing on it made his synapses click. He could see it… it was-
"Do you see where it is?" Richard asks, breaking Sam out of his train of thought.
Sam groans, "I was just about to, no thanks to you."
Richard gives a sheepish grin, "Er, sorry."
"Wait, wait, wait!" Sam puts his hands in the air as if he were summoning an apparition, gaining the sight back. "I saw it in the Hall of Justice!"
"The what?"
"The Hall of Justice, a pseudo museum, slash meeting place for Justice Leaguers." Hal explains to Richard. "Have you… not been on Earth at all?"
Richard shakes his head, awkwardly running the back of his neck. "Well… I've been trying to find friends of mine who really didn't live on Earth as I knew them. But I uh, at least know what the Justice League is."
"There's like… a lot of them." Sam adds.
"Justice League of America, Justice Society, Justice League Dark…" Hal adds as well, not helping. He lists each one on his hand.
Richard rolls his eyes, beginning to grow fed up. "Okay, okay! Let's go to this, 'Hall of Justice' and snatch up the black ops Nova helmet, alright?"
Hal readily constructs a bubble around the other two, preparing for travel.
"Oh great…" Sam could already feel his stomach lurching.
"Oh great what?" Richard asks, tapping the construct curiously. What came next caught him off guard. Hal was definitely not going to miss the chance to spite somebody for fun and games, even if his son had to be thrown into the mix too. He bolted up into the air, knocking them up off of their feet and onto their rear ends.
"Oh." Richard mumbles, "That's what. You're a real funny guy Hal Jordan."
Hal grins wholeheartedly. "Yeah, so I've been told. But seriously, we're going to go really fast to Earth."
Richard shrugs and gets comfortable. "I'm used to it, full speed ahead." he commands.
"Aye aye." Hal plays along, following instructions to go full speed.
Sam on the other hand was not used to this and sat tight for a little while. When he gets thay Nova helmet he will definitely not miss this.
They were off, and in a matter of time they were on location. The grandeur that was the Hall of Justice loomed ahead of them. It was rather impressive in Richard's eyes, but he's seen better. The man's been places. But for Sam, this was like a class field trip. Oa was amazing, and extremely surreal, but the HoJ had its own kind of charm on the boy.
Once Hal set them down on the steps, he went ahead and gained access indoors. One of the perks of being a Leaguer.
Immediately they were met with a large array of statues and artifacts from the various heroes that has saved the world countless times. And much to Richard's surprise, he even spotted some things that were sporting Avenger's logos and artifacts. From what he could gather, the Avengers were a subdivision of the Justice League (the JL itself being an umbrella team.) The original members of the Avengers, Iron Man, Thor, Antman, Wasp, Hulk, and Hawkeye had earned their spots right next to the founding members of the Justice League. That being Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash, Martian Manhunter, and Green Lantern.
Of course, no one could forget Captain America or the Captain Marvels either.
On a grander scale, it was hard to see the damage that was done.
"Like what you see?" Hal asks, breaking Richard out of his thoughts.
Richard blinks, "Er, yeah! It's stellar! I just can't believe the universe decided to abscond the Nova Corps when I see all this happening!"
And well, other instances of Spider-Man no longer living in New York, and Catwoman no longer existing, but still.
"The universe likes to play sick pranks." Sam advises good-naturedly.
Hal didn't know where he got this from, and was about to inquire about it, but ended up saying nothing of the matter.
"But clearly, if my helmet and you are still here, then that must mean something!" The boy continues, getting a look around. There were so many things he wanted to touch… Batman's cape… many of Iron Man's suit of armor… it was like a toy store for superheroes in the HoJ. The same could apply for supervillains as well.
The two men watch as Sam wanders before Hal gives a warning. "Remember son, we're here for something specific."
"Yeah dad, I know." Sam muses, eyeing Stormbreaker hungrily.
Hal sighs, face palming. "Kids…"
Richard nods in agreement, before heading a separate way to investigate. That just left Hal and Sam.
Hal was trying to scan for something that was emitting unique energies with his ring, but that could apply to many things in this room from Nth Metal to Pym Particles. He absentmindedly let Sam lead the way, while trying to pinpoint on the helmet's energy.
"Hm… if I were a helmet where would I-" before Sam could finish that thought, he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. "Um, dad, how many people come here on a daily?"
"Not many." Hal answers, his voice sounding farther away than he actually was. "Why?"
Sam scans the wing with his eyes, "I think that I saw something."
Now that got the Green Lantern's full attention. Hal curls his ring bearing hand into a fist, flaring his green light. "Alright, step into my light where I can see you." he says, and there was a small sound of movement.
"Warned ya."
Hal floods the room with light, shining it on a figure of a woman. The woman's stiffens and uses her arm to shield her face of the brightness. In her other arm was Sam's helmet.
"Hey!" Sam exclaims, "That's mine, where do you think you're going with that?"
The woman growls and draws a sword. "You would think wisely not to ask those words to the most dangerous woman in the universe.
"The what-"
She flips closer to reveal herself some more. The lady was quite beautiful in a green alien sense. She had yellow circles around her eyes, and purple ombre hair. She was prepared to fight Hal, recognizing the Green Lantern ring.
Hal creates a construct sword, and lucky for him, he didn't even have to know how to wield it. The willpower took care of that part.
Sam puts his hands up in immediate defeat. "Guys I'm sure that we could work something out."
"You want this helmet?" asks the woman.
"Well yeah-"
"Then we cannot come to an agreement." she makes the first move, aiming a blow to Hal's shoulder.
Hal moves quickly out of the way, only making strikes at the woman's sword. He didn't want RL injure her. "Most dangerous woman in the universe you say? How did you get in here?" he asks.
The woman parries, trying to push Hal out of the room. "I already had access."
"She's a Leaguer?" Sam pipes up. He had moved across the room, making himself useful by being out of the way.
"You could say that." The woman smirked.
She and Hal continue to fight, which earned Hal several nicks on his body. The ring continuously heals him, but they just keep coming. Hal keeps trying to push her back to the far corner of the room to trap her, but the woman was smarter than that. She propped her boot against his abdomen and shoves him back, causing him to stumble into a table.
In the thick of it, Richard comes bursting in, having heard all of the commotion.
"Gamora?"
"What? Who-" Gamora temporarily loses her focus and Hal gets the better of her. He constructs a tight cage around her to keep her I place.
"You know this chick?" Hal asks Richard, raising a questioning brow.
"Yeah! We have a lot of history together-"
"That's strange because I no naught of this… who is this a hobo?" Gamora asks, looking Richard up and down.
Richard groans, Gamora must not even remember anymore. Who knows what her new life was like.
In the scuffle, Hal had managed to snag the Nova helmet, and tosses it Sam. "Say… Gamora, what did you want with this thing anyway?"
"My father Darkseid wanted to get his hands on it, and I thought it would be in safe hands with me." Gamora answers.
Of course. Whoever this Darkseid was- for Richard did not know that much, he only heard whisperings of his name- had to have replaced Thanos.
"I see…" Hal dips his head, "Darkseid is a big issue but I'm afraid we have an even bigger one at hand."
Gamora gives them all questioning looks because what could be bigger than Darkseid?
"Well Richard could debrief you." Sam states suddenly, cradling the helmet in his hands. "Imma finally put this baby on!"
Growing excited, Sam's hands begin to tremble. He was literally dreaming of this moment for ages.
He cherishes the moment, slowly placing it on his head as everyone watched and began to feel the power course through his veins like electricity.
"I… am… NOVA!"
