Suddenly it all came back to Sam in the form of a blinding light.
The Nova Corps, the Champions, teaming with Beta Ray Bill, Cosmo in a space suit… and yet, there was still a hole in his memories and he couldn't quite place it.
The black ops Nova helmet returned his memories of once being Nova, but it never regaled upon him who his parents really were.
Speaking of parents, Hal turned his attention to his son, growing worried as to what the helmet was doing to Sam. The boy shook and shuddered as the memories that once held a place in his head as dreams came into fruition.
The black ops armor appears around Sam, marking the end of the transformation.
"Sam…?" Hal inquires, reaching a hand toward his boy.
Sam pauses and looks at his hands as a wide smile spreads across his face. "Wow… that was… awesome!"
Hal visibly sags with relief. It was a good sign that Sam was able to give a positive audible reaction. Hal's eyes wash over this new visage of Sam, cool and calculating (it took a lot to not go overly fatherly and inspect Sam's well being in front of everyone.) The armor around Sam was different in variation to Richard's, which should've been obvious because their helmets were different. It was sleek and black with the three circled symbol on the chest signifying the wearer's high stature. To Hal it looked a bit much for a small teenager, but what can anyone do about it? At least it'll protect him.
"Well." Gamora cuts in, breaking the silence. Everyone forgot she was still there, gripping that bars of Hal's makeshift cage. "This has been quite the experience," she continues, raising a subtle brow on her pretty green face.
"Indeed." Hal agrees as he casts a sidelong glance at her. "Now that the helmet is clearly in our possession, what're you going to do now?"
The Green Lantern's stare goaded the woman to even dare attempt to get the helmet off of Sam, and so help her if she tries to hurt him.
Gamora glances between the two men and the boy with the helmet and considers the situation. The frown she wore slowly turned into an expression of bargaining. "Alright, I suppose that if Darkseid doesn't have it, my mission is complete. I won't try to take it from you, but it that ends up in the wrong hands, that's on you. I may have to kill that person and come for you next." Gamora proclaims with a cold air.
Yeesh.
"But," Gamora raises her hands in self defense with her weapon laid down. "as I said, I won't try to take it from you, let alone hurt you right now. So let me go."
Hal opens his mouth to protest, warning him a look from Richard. "I trust her." Richard states, "If Gamora is laying down her weapon, she means it. Well- she means it because she knows we're the good guys."
Hal narrows his eyes with discontent, "Oh really? That's very reassuring. How do you know her
again?"
"Doesn't matter." Richard strides over to Gamora in the construct cage. "My friend and I are letting you go. I know you have good intentions, don't ask why, but I do. This kid right here-" he points over to Sam, "- is going to take real good care of that helmet, y'hear?"
Gamora slowly nods in understanding. "I hear."
"Good." Richard smiles and taps the construct, "Free this bird Hal, we've got more pressing matters to attend to. She's one of us."
Begrudgingly, Hal obliges and frees Gamora who gives a small grateful glance. She'd never say it out loud but she was rather disappointed to have been caged in a battle. Guess she'll have to blame it on the strange Nova who somehow knows her name. Yeah, that's it. Perhaps she'll get to beat Green Lantern another day.
Gamora picks up her sword and walks with her chin held up high towards the exit. "Here's to hoping the next time we meet will be under better light." she says with a simple wave of her hand and in a few more steps she was gone, shrouded in the darkness that was the Hall of Justice.
"Wow…" Sam chimes, still wearing a goofy grin. "That was epic! Yo, I remember who she is! And how she wielded that sword… awesome! You really came in clutch with that cage dad?"
Richard furrows his brows, "Wait, hold up- you say you remember her?"
"Yeah!" Sam exclaims, "She's the one who delivered the helmet to me, she and that raccoon! What's his name… Rocket?"
Richard lets out one chuckle with pure glee. They were making progress!
"I find it very hard to forget Rocket." Richard jokes with a lopsided smile.
And of course, feeling left out in this conversation, Hal clears his throat.
"Oh, right." Richard composes himself. "Now that we have Sam's helmet, we need to retrieve the power stone. And with this little baby here-" he pulls out the space stone, "We can figure out just where it is."
Richard visualizes the power stone, it was purple and sometimes it could grow to a larger size. He remembered back when things were normal, Drax the Destroyer had promptly dropped it off with the Nova Corps and the little stone had grown to be a large wall of a rock that provided the corpsmen with extra power.
He concentrated on everything he had to get the space stone to transport them to where they need to go (this time because the stones were linked, rather than have the stone teleport them straight to Sam's helmet.)
But as he stood there with an expression that looked more like constipation, Hal and Sam stared at him like he had no idea what he was doing.
"Uh… you good there Rich?" Sam asks with a tilt of his head.
"Yeah, just hunky dory, give me a second."
"You don't look hunky dory." Sam points out, "What's the hold up?"
Richard sighs in defeat and rolls his head back to face the ceiling. "I don't know, like- I see the power stone, but I guess wherever it is is someplace unfamiliar to me. It's like the stone wants to go there, but something is stopping it."
"I'm fairly well versed on locations, how about I give it a try?" Hal offers, holding out his hand
As soon as Richard plopped the stone in Hal's hand, the stone filled in the empty gaps of Richard's knowledge with Hal's when they were both touching it at the same time.
The two men and the boy were teleported right where they needed to be, on a planet only Hal recognized.
Sam nearly doubled over from the teleportation, "Ah geez… wha-? Where are we?"
Hal glances around at the indigo tinged foliage and dark sky and soil. "This… this is planet Nok."
"What's a knock?" Richard asks with a puzzling expression.
"Nok." Hal reinforces, just knowing that Richard confused it. "Nok is home to the Indigo Tribe. The reason why the stone didn't react when Richard used it, is because Nok isn't identified on any maps. Not even a Lantern ring could locate it."
"Say dad, I forget, are the Indigo Lanterns nice or what?"
To answer Sam's question, there were several rustlings in the foliage and voices to follow. They all spoke in an untranslatable language that not even a Green Lantern ring could identify.
"Yeah… that's a hard maybe."
