THE DCFutures Underground Fan Fiction group acknowledges that DC Comics owns the concepts behind Green Lantern and all DC characters that may be used here. These concepts are used WITHOUT permission for NO PROFIT, but rather a strong desire to peer into the future of the DC Universe. However, the original concepts presented here are the intellectual property of the author.
GREEN LANTERN:DCF #7
"Fireflies in the Spring"
Written by David Lee
Edited by Jason Tippitt
NorAm: New Coast City, Downtown
The corporate high-rises in Downtown New Coast City were rocked by the force of multiple explosions as blaster fire resounded in the streets and in the skies. Pedestrians ran, screaming with fear, as they attempted to dodge the millions of dollars' worth of steel and concrete falling from on high. A battle was being waged between Patriot and Justice League forces, and as usual, it was the normal citizens of the city who were suffering for it.
"HELLO. THIS IS LANI LING, REPORTING FOR KNCC NEWS, LIVE FROM THE SCENE AS THE JUSTICE LEAGUE STRUGGLES IN COMBAT AGAINST A TERRORIST FACTION OF PATRIOT FREEDOM FIGHTERS CALLING THEMSELVES THE 'FIREFLY FORCE.' DETERMINED TO DESTROY NEW COAST CITY UNLESS THE JUSTICE LEAGUE ACCEDES TO AS-YET UNKNOWN DEMANDS."
High above, the Patriot leader confirmed the reporter's announcement as energy blasts ricocheted futilely off the defensive screens generated by his powered armor. An unusual design, it sported external circuitry and wiring that gave it an insectoid appearance and oddly bullet-shaped helmets. Apparently, the suits relied entirely upon the force fields they generated for defense, force fields that were all too effective.
"Our demands are simple! You will hand over control of this city or be destroyed!" exclaimed Richard Garfield, the leader of the so-called 'Firefly Force,' who was calling himself 'Firefly One.' Supposedly a direct descendant of the original Firefly, a minor adversary of the Dark Knight back in the TwenCen, Richard had apparently decided to try and restore honor to his family name through terrorist action. "Better to die than to live under the heel of Justice!" he finished, one fist upraised to accentuate his point. All around him, Fireflies two through fifty sounded off with a resounding chorus that echoed throughout the city in agreement.
"Down with Justice!"
And on the streets below, Lani Ling could only smack herself on the forehead in response. Luckily, she was off-camera, but she knew that. She was far too professional to make such an amateurish mistake. "Damn it, you'd think they'd stop spouting the same old rhetoric every once in a while," she said, somewhat disgusted. "If they just changed their demands as often as they changed their costumes and leaders, I'd have at least a shot at a Pulitzer."
"Sorry, babe," said the robotic holocam, continually readjusting its focus as it panned from battle scene to battle scene. No living cameraman was willing to risk life and limb on Lani's quest for another Pulitzer any longer, and the station had been forced to provide her with an artificial one. "But them's the breaks."
"Don't call me babe!" Lani yelled, mildly irritated. She had no idea who at the station was responsible for programming her automated holocam with an outdated, chauvinist personality, but one day, she would find out. And then, that person would pay. "When I want answers from you, I'll let you know."
"Anything you say, babe."
"Aaargh!" grumbled Lani, searching the scene for a likely interview candidate. Several blocks away, she saw two Leaguers in quiet conversation, one of whom she recognized as Bryan Starr, otherwise known as Particle Man, the commander of the local Justice League forces, or so she thought. Activating the boom mike on her remote listening device, she attempted to eavesdrop on their conversation, despite the intervening distance.
NorAm: New Coast City, Downtown [JL Mobile HQ]
"Bloody hell, how'd you let things get this far out of control?" asked Frost, taking a drag on his cigarette and blowing smoke in Bryan's face. None too pleased, Particle Man wanted nothing more than to bombard himself across Frost's pathetic, British little face, but he restrained himself. Unfortunately for him, Frost was a superior officer, sent by Justice himself to check up on his unit, and, apparently, to put them through hell. But more than a dozen JL troopers had already fallen to the advanced weapons of these Firefly soldiers, incinerated instantly, and Particle Man really didn't need any of Frost's snide comments.
"Look, it's not my job to ferret out Patriot's plans," said Bryan, gritting his teeth. "I'm a Peace Officer. It's my job to protect the people of this city, not spy on them. And as a matter of fact, gathering covert intelligence on them is your job, if what I've heard about you is true."
"Is that a fact?" asked Frost, mildly impressed by the display of backbone. But not much. "Well, you should have asked right off then, eh, mate?"
"What the hell are you talking about?" exclaimed Bryan, exasperated beyond belief. "Do you mean to say that you've got intel on these Firefly freaks that you've been holding back? Grife!"
"I was sent here to evaluate you New Coast City types, not lead you by the nose," retorted Frost, looking smug and leaning out with his chin, practically daring Particle Man to hit him. For his part, Bryan was sorely tempted, but Mulligan beat him to the punch, sending Frost sprawling to the ground.
"Ask and ye shall receive, you thieving English bastard!" yelled Mulligan, his face red with rage. Standard operating procedure dictated that the troopers assigned to the Justice League go in first whenever some new enemy presented itself because they were both more expendable and more easily replaced. But Kieran O'Kennedy just couldn't accept standing on the sidelines while people he played poker with and went drinking with were being decimated all around him for no good reason. "Who do you think you are, coming down here like the Lord of the Manor, putting people's lives at risk with these games of yours! Well, we don't need your intel, and we don't need you!"
"Mulligan, stand down!" ordered Particle Man, barely suppressing a smile. "Like it or not, these Fireflies just might be able to make good on their threats, and we need to know as much about them as possible."
Propped up on his elbows and spitting blood, Frost just smiled. "Well, Kieran O'Kennedy, as I live and breathe!" he exclaimed, raising a hand for the young, Irish Leaguer to help him up. Grudgingly, Mulligan complied, not smiling at all. "It's been a long time since you were the schoolboy, and I was the schoolmaster."
"Not long enough, you conceited old sod," said Mulligan, turning away as quickly as he could. "So what brings the Vicar all the way to New Coast City? And why'd you have to bring damnation and hellfire with you?"
"Well, it's nice to know I've been missed," said Frost, shaking his head negatively in an exaggerated fashion. "I'd love to reminisce about old times, but I believe your commander has finally decided to start asking the right questions, more or less. What you're up against is a terrorist faction of the Patriot cells operating in this area."
To Kieran's eyes, Frost was visibly falling back into the role of schoolmaster for the purpose of disseminating his intel and seemingly taking great pleasure in it. He was a bit less long-winded than he remembered, but he was otherwise still the harsh schoolmaster with the riding crop who had once overseen his early education.
"Last year, all of the Patriot cells in this area were united under the leadership of that so-called 'Green Lantern' that you defeated," began Frost, actually giving Particle Man and Mulligan an approving nod. "And without strong leadership, the chain of command here broke down almost immediately. All of the various factions started bickering, the subsequent in-fighting allowed the NAF and the League to thwart their plans at every turn, and fairly easily at that."
"Thwart?" whispered Mulligan, wondering whether Frost had actually said that. His reward was a quick elbow in the ribs from Particle Man to knock it off. Indeed, his school days were suddenly coming back to him very clearly.
"In fact, we've been picking them off one by one, and we believe that this is nothing more than a last-ditch effort to rally the remaining cells," said Frost, ignoring the brief interruption. "The Firefly gimmick is a lame but seemingly effective attempt to replace that Green Lantern guy as a Patriot symbol, an attempt by one Richard Garfield to solidify the remaining Patriot cells under his own leadership. They don't want the bloody city. They just want a military victory against the League. They're just saying that so you'll be the ones what shoot first."
"So what you're saying here," began Particle Man, rubbing his chin in what he hoped was a heroic pose, "is that if we defeat these guys here, we stand a good chance of wiping Patriot out in New Coast City..."
"...And that if we fail," finished Mulligan, spitting into the ground, "we'll have a whole new crop of power-armored pub-bombing types to reckon with. And all we can do is wait for them to start blowing things up and killing people. Bloody marvelous."
NorAm: New Coast City, Downtown
Several blocks away, Lani Ling was practically jumping up and down for joy, the word 'Pulitzer' dancing through her head.
"WITH THE CITY POISED ON THE BRINK OF DESTRUCTION, THE FUTURE OF PATRIOT HANGS IN THE BALANCE. WILL THE JUSTICE LEAGUE GIVE IN TO THIS FINAL ACT OF DESPERATION ON THE PART OF PATRIOT? OR WILL THEY SUCCEED IN THWARTING THIS TERRORIST ACTION? STAY TUNED. THIS IS LANI LING REPORTING FOR KNCC NEWS."
Brushing her hair away from her eyes, Lani broke into a huge smile now that she was off-camera, and her countenance no longer had to reflect the seriousness of the situation. "Well, how was that?"
"Thwarting?" queried the robotic holocam, giving her the mechanical equivalent of a raised eyebrow.
"It seemed appropriate."
NorAm: New Coast City, Downtown [Aboard the Anne-Marie Godwin]
"...Lani Ling, reporting for KNCC News."
The news report on the holomonitor did little to improve the mood on board the Anne-Marie Godwin as it raced to the scene. This was going to be a bad one. Things were going to get real ugly real fast, and they all knew it. They could feel it in their bones.
High above the city streets, the fire-fighting hover weaved between skyscrapers, just barely avoiding collisions with civilian hovers fleeing the battle scene. The procedure was not unlike trying to race a semi-truck against stock cars at the Daytona 500 and somehow being able to win. The opinion of onlookers below was that the pilot was either phenomenally good or just plain crazy. Both opinions were valid.
"Eyes wide, hep cats. We're moving in," said Jackson, doing his best not to spill his coffee while at the helm. "Get ready to groove."
But that was easier said than done. Statistically speaking, they were long overdue for a fatality, and this seemed like a likely situation for that to happen. The tension was so thick that you could cut it with a knife, but luckily, the Deputy Chief knew exactly how to hack through it completely.
"You know, after this one, I think I'm going to need a drink. Maybe we should all head for Schuyler's. It is flaming night," Hal said, chuckling, his words almost instantly lifting their spirits. Laughter soon erupted from all the other firemen as well, except for Juan and Martin, the latter turning to Juan for clarification, a look of confusion on his face. Disgustedly, Juan just shook his head.
"You accidentally take a bunch of firemen to a gay bar just once, and they never let you live it down." And that was all it took for Martin to join in, his own laughter mixing in with the rest of the chorus. "Et tu, Martin?"
"Tell you what," offered Hal as he did one final systems check on his F-2000 battle suit. "If you'll hold back on the puns, then we'll forget all about that incident. Deal?"
A hush settled over them all. Would Juan accept? Would he finally put an end to their torment?
"Nah, no thanks," said Juan, a mischievous grin plastered across his face. "It just wouldn't be worth it."
Some sighed. Others winced. While still others held their stomachs. Still, they'd all known it was too much to hope for, and they knew that they would soon have more important things to worry about. It was time to save some lives.
NorAm: New Coast City, Downtown [Firefly Command Post]
"...Lani Ling, reporting for KNCC News."
The news report went over even worse with the Firefly Force. Naturally, they were monitoring all local stations, and it was doing more than just making their leader angry. It was making the troops nervous, and that was something that he couldn't allow.
"Damn it, they know!" exclaimed Garfield, making a fist. Naturally, he'd known from the start that the Justice League would never give up the city. That demand had been nothing more than a ploy, something he'd said to force the Justice League into initiating hostilities with his Fireflies, but apparently, they weren't going to give him what he wanted. What? Did they think he wasn't willing to make sacrifices? That he wasn't a strong enough leader to sacrifice the few for the sake of the many? Well, he'd show them. He would make them pay. In the name of the Garfield family, he would make them all pay.
"They won't concede! They'll fight us to their last breath, leaving us with no choice but to strike the first blow!" exclaimed Garfield, making a sweeping gesture at the city. All around him, the Firefly Force started spreading out in a rotating, diamond formation. Their powered armor humming with gathered energies, they started picking out targets amongst the passersby and newly abandoned buildings, awaiting only Firefly One's command.
"Initiate phase two!"
NorAm: New Coast City, Downtown [JL Mobile HQ]
Beckett Baker was by and large considered the scientific genius of New Coast City's chapter of the Justice League. Whenever the team was faced with some new technology that they didn't understand, it fell to him to figure out what it was. Unfortunately, Beckett was a pacifist at heart, and he had difficulties comprehending the purpose behind anything designed solely for the purpose of destruction.
"Listen guys, I don't know how this armor works exactly, but it looks like it's modeled after that Green Lantern armor we went up against a while back," said Beckett, doing scan after scan, analysis after analysis, trying to home in on some structural weak points or design flaws. Anything would help. "It's not nearly as powerful, but effective nonetheless."
"That much we know, Brainiac," said Particle Man over the com, watching as one of his JL troopers just barely evaded one of the energy blasts that was quickly decimating their numbers. "What we need to know is what they're shooting us with and why our armor is ineffective against it."
"Well, that much I can tell you," said Beckett, mentally reviewing certain thermodynamic theories and their applications with the aid of his photographic memory. "Their blasts leave behind a mild radiation signature that's indicative of microwave heat. Justice League body armor is designed to defend against physical blows and hard energy weapons, but not extreme temperature variations. Not this extreme, at any rate."
"Terrific, a spontaneous combustion weapon," said Particle Man, gritting his teeth. "So they can incinerate our troops with impunity, and our weapons can't even dent their shields. Any suggestions?"
"Wait for the bloody cavalry?" suggested Mulligan, seeing the situation as hopeless.
"Cavalry? What cavalry?"
NorAm: New Coast City, Downtown
Sarah Conklin was thirty-four years old. She was born on November 10th in the year 2078, and she had one surviving parent, her father. She'd graduated from Gotham University with a degree in sociology, and she'd been employed as a social worker for more than ten years, relocating to New Coast City from Gotham only when the darkness had become too much for her.
Sarah had been married for less than seven years to a career high-school teacher, a loving marriage that had produced one child, her five-year-old daughter, Charlotte. And as she held Charlotte close, she could see all the events of her life passing before her eyes. Blaster fire was erupting all around them, and she knew that it was only a matter of time before she and her daughter were caught in the crossfire.
Caught completely off-guard, the Justice League was barely able to avoid the searing beams of microwave heat projected by the powered armor of the Firefly Force as they spread out past the troopers and started targeting the Leaguers themselves. But evade it they did, causing the beams to melt the buildings to slag instead of them. Huge chunks of superheated concrete and steel began falling to the streets below, one such mass hurtling directly towards Sarah Conklin and her daughter.
"Please... no..." mumbled Sarah, shielding her own eyes and covering her daughter's with her hand. Hours seemed to pass by as she waited for the deathblow to come, but it never did. And when she finally did open her eyes, she saw a robotic angel in black and canary yellow armor standing over them protectively, a super-cooled hunk of formerly molten debris held in its hands.
The cavalry had arrived.
"Are you alright, ma'am?" asked Christine, effortlessly tossing the debris aside. The medical scanners in her F-2000 battle suit quickly informed her that both mother and child were fine, at least for the moment, even though they were both too stunned to respond. "Don't worry; you're going to be alright."
High above, Siren and Rainbow returned fire, the former detonating a photonic blast that would at least temporarily blind the optics of the Patriot terrorists while the latter generated a shield of harmonics that would protect the pair against subsequent attacks. Both of them witnessed the firefighter's daring rescue of the two civilians, and they simultaneously breathed sighs of relief.
"You know, like, I really wish it could be us down there, saving lives instead of fighting all the time," said Siren, setting up a resonance in one Firefly's armor. It took a few moments for her to match the resonance to the frequency of his force field, but soon enough, his electronics were short-circuiting. A moment later, he was plummeting earthward.
"For sure," agreed Rainbow, who turned her gaze away just before that Firefly went 'splat' on the pavement. Despite her training, she still hadn't become desensitized to the violence. "Protocol's a real drag, but that's our deal. We fight the bad guys, and the firefighters, paramedics, and policemen save the days."
"But that, like, totally sucks!" said Siren, alternating the harmonics of her shield to allow one of Rainbow's solid-light photon blasts through. It couldn't get through the Firefly's force field, but it still packed enough of a punch to send him crashing through the window of a nearby building. "Grife! When I signed up for this gig, they told me I was, like, going to be a hero, not a soldier...!"
"...Not a killer," finished Rainbow, who knew her teammate and friend all too well. She watched as Siren made that face she made whenever she was so upset that she wanted to cry but refused to let any tears flow. "As if. But don't think like that. Those fashion victims in the purple robot suits are the killers, not us. It's them or us. It's self-defense. And we've totally got no choice but to keep them from ever killing again."
"Thanks," said Siren, watching as the firefighter picked up the mother and daughter and whisked them away to safety, far from the line of fire. Then she watched as the Patriot terrorist just struck by Rainbow rallied and rushed back into the fray, yelling some battle cry that she couldn't make out over the hum of her active powers. "That, like, really helps. But I can't help wondering if the baddies aren't saying the exact same things about having to kill us."
NorAm: New Coast City, Downtown [Aboard the Anne-Marie Godwin]
Several blocks away, a full squadron of the Firefly Force broke through the Justice League perimeter. The center of town having been cordoned off and mostly evacuated, hostages and victims were scarce. So they raced towards the Southwest quadrant of the city with several Justice Leaguers hot on their heels. They were headed directly for New Coast Elementary.
"That's it. I give up," said Juan, taking one look at the bullet-shaped helmets on the Firefly armor and placing both of his hands behind his head. "When the villains start showing up in suppository form, it's time to quit."
Juan didn't even need to look to know that Martin and Kerouac were wincing. After all, he could hear the groans. Still, this was no laughing matter. Far below, two figures could be seen chasing after the errant terrorists, desperate to stop them before any children got hurt. The only problem was that neither Saracen nor Mulligan had powers that included flight, and they weren't going to make it in time, not without help. Luckily, help was close at hand - directly above them, in fact.
"Need a lift, Justice League type hep cats?" asked Jackson over the external speaker, slowing down just long enough for the two Justice Leaguers to grab a handrail and climb up on the Anne-Marie Godwin's sides. A moment later, they were barreling after the terrorists, rolling and diving to avoid beams of microwave heat.
"I think I'm going to be sick," said Mulligan, pinning himself as close to the side of the vehicle as possible. And that was the only thing that kept him from colliding with one of the Fireflies as they forced their way through their ranks, taking up position between the terrorists and the school. "Hey, you in there! Where'd you learn to fly?"
"Who says I ever did?" answered Jackson, wincing as one of the terrorist's blasts managed to connect with the Anne-Marie. Fortunately, the dense metal of his vessel had been engineered to withstand even more extreme levels of heat. "But don't get crazy, man. We've got other worries here. Dig?"
"Would they really be so ungentlemanly as to harm innocent children?" asked Saracen, brandishing his scimitar as he pulled himself up on top of the fire engine, somersaulting to avoid the blasts directed at him. Unfortunately, the blasts that missed him seared into the walls of the school instead. "Asked and answered," he continued, gritting his teeth.
Vaulting some twenty feet into the air, Saracen swung his sword at a Firefly trying to make his way past him to the school, his mystic blade easily bypassing the powered armor's technological defenses. The Firefly crashed to the ground, and Saracen would have followed suit had not one of New Coast City's finest firemen come to his rescue.
"Don't worry, I've got you!" exclaimed Martin, grabbing Saracen's outstretched hand and swinging him back onto the roof of the Anne-Marie Godwin, a maneuver that seemed strangely familiar to New Coast City's largest Justice Leaguer. "Try to keep them busy while we get the kids to safety... sir!" Martin added a little belatedly. Having been a Justice Leaguer himself for so long, the subtleties of station and rank often eluded him, especially when dealing with one of his former classmates.
"Jolly good!" exclaimed Saracen, brandishing his blade once again. Holding it before him in a meditative stance, he channeled his mystic energies through it before hurling it with all of his prodigious strength at the rapidly advancing Fireflies. It struck the lead Firefly with enough precision to ricochet off him into two other Fireflies, disabling all of their flight capabilities before returning to his grasp. "Off with you, then. You've lives to save."
Smiling, Martin activated the boosters in his battle suit's thrusters and rocketed off towards the school. As the greenest recruit, it had been decided that he should be the one to go on ahead and organize the evacuation of the school while Juan and Kerouac did what they could to help slow down the advance of the terrorists. Little did they know just how green he was...
NorAm: New Coast City, Downtown [JL Mobile HQ]
Particle Man watched as Saracen and Mulligan rushed off to engage the Firefly attack force headed for the elementary school, his fists clenched with impotent rage. Of all the Leaguers in New Coast City, he was by far the fastest flyer. It was only logical that he should be the one to intercept them, but as the Justice League commander, protocol demanded that he personally engage the Patriot leader.
Not that he didn't want to fight Garfield. The man had just put the lives of innocent children at stake, but wasn't he just as guilty of that by not doing everything he could to save them? And what about Frost? There he was, standing idly by, possibly even taking notes while the battle raged all around him. How could he justify his inaction? Shaking his head to clear it of these disturbing thoughts, Particle Man prepared himself for the battle ahead. There would be time for ethical debate later, or at least he hoped there would be.
Triggering his powers, Particle Man's body began to hum as it took on the properties of a wave, becoming partially insubstantial as the air around him became electrically charged, hardening to a nearly indestructible state. And he was just about to launch himself at Garfield at near-relativistic speeds when Beckett interrupted him on the com.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said Beckett, his voice frantic and anxious. "I've scanned Garfield's armor, and it's different from all the others. It's not just bigger; it's projecting some kind of energy wave out to all the other armors. I think it's supplying power to them."
"So if I take the head Firefly, then I take out all the other Fireflies as well?" Particle Man asked, somewhat incredulous. "Why didn't you tell me that before? And if that's the case, then why shouldn't I take him out?"
"Because if that's the case, then Garfield's armor will explode if it takes too much damage," answered Beckett, typing away furiously at the keys on his data pad. "By my calculations, based on what I've seen of the armor's capabilities and the numbers we've seen here, it could explode with a force of over 500 megatons, enough to destroy all of New Coast City. And that's the good news."
"Good news?" queried Particle Man, who had no idea how to handle an opponent he couldn't shoot at or hit. "If that's the good news, the what's the bad news?"
"The bad news is that Garfield's own armor will become more powerful with each external Firefly we take out, since he'll be able to use more of the power he's generating for himself," said Beckett, hurling his data pad away with disgust. "I've monitored a spike in Firefly One's power level with each other Firefly we've taken out. That means that if we take out too many of them, his armor could overload and blow up anyway, even if we don't blow him out of the sky."
"AND THERE YOU HAVE IT FOLKS. WITH THE CITY POISED ON THE BRINK OF DESTRUCTION, THE JUSTICE LEAGUE FACES AN ENEMY THAT CANNOT BE DEFEATED BY BRUTE FORCE ALONE OR AT ALL. WILL THE CITY BE DESTROYED AT THE HANDS OF THE FIREFLY FORCE? OR WILL IT BE DESTROYED AT THE HANDS OF THE JUSTICE LEAGUE AS A RESULT OF THEIR MISGUIDED ATTEMPTS TO DEFEND IT? AGAIN, AND PERHAPS FOR THE LAST TIME, THIS IS LANI LING, REPORTING FOR KNCC NEWS."
- End of GREEN LANTERN:DCF #7 -