So, as we left off, GL and I were investigating the pet shop in Bellwood. And what happened next was beyond crazy.
Midnight Hope used her ring as a flashlight to see what looked like...a wolf. A very horrific and more than large wolf. The wolf was the size of a car and was snarling at the heroes.
"That's not how wolves normally look like, right?" Green Lantern asked.
"Nope. And I'm not even sure if that is a wolf," Midnight Hope stated, noticing something else. "Also, he's not alone. Look!"
The Lanterns then see a bug mutant cat monster, and on its back was what looks like a man in a strange-looking cloak. "You don't belong here!" the cloaked man exclaimed.
"It can't be..." Midnight Hope said, not believing what she was seeing. "GL... that guy looks like the same Moth creature I saw last night. At the factory."
"If that's true, then does that mean he has to be some kind of cryo-maniac?" Green Lantern questioned.
"I don't know, but I'm getting to the bottom of this," Midnight Hope said, activating her ring to try to knock the cloaked man down with an energy construct.
However, the mystery man became prepared. The cloaked man shot some mist with his hand at Midnight Hope's eyes, losing her concentration.
"Hope!" Green Lantern exclaimed, forming a fan the mist away before constructing a green boxing glove to hurt the cloaked man.
"Ugh! It stings!" Midnight Hope said, unable to open her eyes at the moment. "I can't see!"
Just then, the giant wolf and giant cat both lunged at the two Lantern heroes while the cloaked man was escaping.
"Hang on!" Green Lantern said, wrapping an arm around his Blue Lantern partner's waist before flying out to dodge the creatures. "Your gonna need some water to cool down your eyes."
"It's one of those days I wish I knew how to do that healing trick on myself," Midnight Hope said, opening her eyes a little. "Don't lose him, GL!"
"Okay, then. You wait here. Once you recover, let me know." Green Lantern said, as he found a safe place outside at the top of a roof next to the pet shop to drop his partner off and was about to fly off. However, he started to hesitate. "Can I trust you to stay where you are until I come back?"
"I'll be fine, GL. Just go before he gets away!" Midnight Hope exclaimed, still covering her own eyes.
"Okay. Be careful," Green Lantern agreed and flew off to go after the cloaked man.
As he left, Midnight Hope tried using her ring to heal her own eyes. Unfortunately, nothing happened and she groaned in frustration.
This was a fine mess for me. I'm temporarily blinded by possibly the same Mothman who I thought was not a criminal while Green Lantern is out dealing with those wild animals. My day felt like things have gone from good to worse.
She then heard footsteps behind her. Not sure if it was Green Lantern or one of the large creatures, Midnight Hope had her ring ready to fight blind.
"I know you're there! Show yourself!" Midnight Hope commanded, as she then shoots her construct blast.
The stranger ducks down while giving a short scream, avoiding the blast after making it to the roof. "AH! Hold your fire! It's okay! I'm unarmed and mean you no harm! Relax!"
Recognizing the voice to be Ben Tennyson, Midnight Hope calmed down and lowered the ring. "Oh...I am so sorry. I thought you were one of those creatures or that guy in the cloak who left me temporarily blind. What are you doing here?"
"I noticed that the local pet store was demolished, and then I noticed you and Green Lantern here," Ben said
"You know Green Lantern? ...Nevermind, don't answer that," Midnight Hope replied. "Do you think you can hand me a towel and water? I can't see at the moment."
"Sure. One wet towel with water coming right up," Ben said, already getting the items from his own jacket plus pants pockets. "Good thing I carry those around when practicing my soccer skills."
Soon, Midnight Hope was sitting down with the items Ben brought to help clear her eyesight.
"I know I should be telling civilians not to be around danger...but I'm glad you're here," Midnight Hope said, placing the towel on her face to get the gunk off her eyes. "You must be very brave or very foolish to come here."
"Brave? Yes. Foolish? I'll take that as a compliment," Ben said, smiling gently. "I wanted to help."
"And you're already being a major help to me," Midnight Hope stated, using the towel to massage her eyelids.
"So, do you have the same powers as Green Lantern?" Ben asked a little curious.
"Sort of. Besides the different colors, he's powered by Will while I'm powered by a different emotion," Midnight Hope explained.
"So, if Will is green, then what's blue?" Ben asked.
The female Lantern gave a small chuckle before pulling the towel out to blink her eyes a bit in seeing Ben in front of her with a smile.
"Hope. Blue Lanterns like me are powered by Hope...Which is kind of my name, actually," she answered, smiling at the teen boy. "I'm Midnight Hope."
"Well, nice to meet you, Midnight Hope," Ben said. "I'm Ben Tennyson."
"Nice to meet you, too, Ben Tennyson," Midnight Hope said, her cheeks becoming a slight pink. "You're the first human here on Earth who knows I exist. I'm still pretty new to being a Lantern. The only mission I went to happened in space."
"Wow, that's got to be lucky," Ben said. "What was space like?"
"Surprising, at first. A little scary, but exciting," Midnight Hope answered. "It's a long story."
"It's fine. I understand. You got to catch up with GL and stop whoever attacked the pet shop," Ben said.
"Right..." Midnight Hope said, sounding unsure. "Ben, this is gonna sound like a dumb question, but have you heard about strange attacks by a Mothman creature in Bellwood?"
"Yeah. Somewhere near a refrigeration factory, there was word of a moth-like mutant scaring off the workers while eating some metal." Ben said. "But that's all I know."
"There wasn't any word of this Mothman hurting the workers or anyone?" Midnight Hope asked, starting to get something. "Also...did you see any evidence of bite marks on metal when being here?"
"Just one," Ben said. "A claw mark on a wall, and I've mostly heard that the workers were, but not injured."
Midnight Hope was feeling doubtful about her instincts but decided to do one last thing before leaving. She used her ring to create an image of the alien she saw last night. "Did it look something like this?"
Ben looked at the illustration. "Yeah, kind of like this."
"That's all I need to know. Thanks, Ben," Midnight Hope said neutrally, ready to leave. "You better get to safety...And possibly tell the store clerk that I might not be getting that rabbit after all as my reward since I failed to catch the guy responsible for attacking the store."
The female hero said that last part in a sad tone before leaving.
"Bye…I guess," Ben then walked back down from the rooftop...while hatching an idea from his head.
Back with Green Lantern...
Green Lantern made quick work of finding the moth creature and tying him up. However, just before taking him in, GL found himself struggling with the cat mutant.
"Where's the cat nip when you need it," He said to himself.
The large cat continued clawing at Green Lantern's shield until seeing a blue light used as a laser pointer moving around the ground that got the creature to follow/try capturing it with its paws.
"Looks like I came just in time," Midnight Hope called out, her ring light as the source to distract the cat mutant and lead it away from her partner. "Did I miss anything?"
"Not much," Green Lantern said, getting back up and quickly constructing a shield to protect himself from the giant cat clawing at him. "I was able to take down that moth monster. Now I'm dealing with this thing. Mind lending me a hand?"
"Not at all. And remind me to get a closer look at the Moth Man you defeated," Midnight Hope said, creating a construct of a lasso.
"Sure thing," Green Lantern said, seeing his shield break. "Might want to do it now."
Nodding, Midnight Hope lassoed the creature attacking Green Lantern and steered it away from him before riding the thing.
"Whoa, buddy! Calm down!" Midnight Hope exclaimed, holding on tight.
"Okay, hold it down, I'll tie it up." Green Lantern said as he forms chains around the cat mutant. "There we go.
As the Lanterns were distracted, the cloaked villain managed to summon a large mutant gecko that was invisible and help him escape.
Green Lantern took notice, while everyone thinks the cloaked man was flying or floating. "That's gonna be tricky." he said, already using some lamp posts to wrap the cat creature's legs from escaping.
The female Blue Lantern turned around to see the cloaked moth escaping. Although a bit disappointed, she noticed a blue piece caught between the ground and went there to grab it.
"He's gone, but not for long. We can still try to catch him before we lose him entirely," Midnight Hope stated, placing the piece in her pocket. "Let's hope the authorities Ben called come and pick up the wildlife."
Green Lantern and Midnight Hope then chased after the cloaked man while trying to shoot their green and blue energy blasts at the invisible mutant gecko...but it kept evading the blasts. "Even if it's invisible, its agility is top-notch," Green Lantern said. "We'll have to slow it down."
"Right. And make sure it doesn't hurt any innocent people," Midnight Hope noted, using her ring to create a big construct wall in front of it. "Let's see them try to dodge this!"
The invisible gecko used its tail to throw the cloaked man over the big blue construct while the gecko just went through it; not shattering but just going through...completely like a ghost. "It's intangible now?" Green Lantern asked.
"What?! How did that happen?!" Midnight Hope said in complete shock.
Before doing anything else, the cloaked figure landed back on the creature and made a quick turn to alleyway. The Lantern followed that turn...only to see both the figure and the lizard gone without a trace.
"Drat! They both got away!" Midnight Hope groaned, upset that she and GL lost the bad guy.
"I know. We were this close," Green Lantern said, feeling defeated. "Now what, kid?"
"We go back to the original plan. The Moth Man has to still be hiding in Coast City," Midnight Hope said, folding her arms. "And whether he likes it or not, I am going to get him to talk on what in Odym is his deal to steal and mutate pet animals like that!"
"All right, then." Green Lantern said. "We better find that moth man."
"While we head back home, I should call how a certain Smoothie Boy is doing," Midnight Hope said, getting her phone.
"Okay…?" Green Lantern said. "Hope he didn't get hurt."
"I have hope that he's all right," Midnight hope said, looking away with a small smile. "I did just talk to him, after helping me get my eyesight back."
"Oh, so he was okay. And he helped you. That was nice of him." Green Lantern said.
"Yeah...Ben was pretty awesome back there," Midnight Hope said, unable to stop smiling back at that event. "Remind me to come back here, after this mission is done."
"Noted," Green Lantern said, as they fly back to Coast City.
I was so conflicted. I didn't know what to believe anymore. The old evidence showed that the Mothman meant no harm, but the recent incident at the pet store had the Mothman doing the opposite. Was I wrong about him being good? Did I just give myself false hope for not seeing the real Mothman as a villain? I had to confront him immediately! Otherwise, innocent people are gonna get hurt.
To Be Continued…
Rest assured, the answers will be revealed in the next chapter. No flames, please.