Soon, it was already nighttime. As suspected, Green Lantern and Midnight Hope got a distress call at a foundry not far from Coast City. And guess who was causing trouble?
"Is it the moth guy?" Green Lantern asked.
Midnight Hope looked out a window to see a familiar blue figure. "It's him, all right."
"Then let's go." Green Lantern said.
The two Lanterns advanced to get inside the foundry...unaware of one figure outside doing something while another just arrived.
"Okay, we'll split up," Green Lantern suggested. "You go forward and I'll go to the back."
"Good. Because I've got a lot to say to Mr. Grumpy," Midnight Hope stated, nodding before flying to the front to face the Mothman.
Midnight Hope can hear metal being crunched. So, she went to go see.
To her surprise, Midnight Hope witnessed the same moth creature eating more metal before going over to have a big drink of heated lava like it was nothing. But what really shocked the Blue Lantern heroine was three security guards frozen in place.
"Here. Let me help you," she said, using her ring to cut open the ice to free the trapped guards. "Go! My partner and I will handle this."
"T-T-Thank you." One of the guards said, as they both got out of the factory.
With the innocent out of the danger zone, Midnight Hope made her move to get the Mothman's attention by encasing him in a box.
"Mothman! You've got some explaining to do!" the Blue Lantern called out, not happy. "I tried being nice to you yesterday, but after the stunt that you pulled at the pet shop today and blinded me from your large animal circus, I've had it!"
"I don't trust you," The voice of the moth creature said, not looking at the Blue Lantern.
"Same to you. But I want answers. So, unless you want to end up in jail, maybe cut the attitude and start talking," Midnight Hope suggested, not losing her construct focus while bringing him closer. "Why are you eating that much metal? Why attack a pet store in broad daylight instead of night, like the other hits you made that weren't populated with civilians?"
"I don't like the daylight. What you're saying... That was not me." The moth creature said, folding his arms with his back still turned.
"Oh, come on! You honestly think I'm a fool?" Midnight Hope remarked, taking out a piece of blue wing in front of the case. "THIS was left by you at the crime scene after you sick some feral monster cat at my partner and me. Along with you escaping us while riding on a lizard monster and escaping us!"
The moth creature then turned around to see Midnight Hope and the blue wing piece. "That is a fake," The creature said.
"Fake?" Midnight Hope questioned, looking at the wing piece.
"Hope, stop!" A voice called from behind. "Let him go!"
Turning around yet still keeping her closed construct case around the Mothman, Midnight Hope was surprised to see a familiar smoothie lover boy from Bellwood.
"Ben? What are you doing here?" Midnight Hope asked, still confused. "You shouldn't be here! It's dangerous enough with that Mothman freezing people!"
"That's not a Mothman. It's an alien creature called a Necrofriggian," Ben confirmed.
"...I'm sorry, what?" Midnight Hope questioned, almost losing her construct hold on the alien creature. "Necrofriggian? How...?"
"You know... What I am? How?" The moth creature asked a bit surprised about a human knows his race.
"I did some research," Ben said. "I learned that Necrofriggians eat raw metal and lava."
"So... It's his natural diet?" Midnight Hope asked, before looking back at the alien. "You're really telling the truth about not attacking me at the pet shop?"
"Yes. That wasn't me. I don't eat other creatures," The moth creature said.
"I never said you did. And if you weren't really a threat, then why didn't you just say that to me the other night in the first place? Instead of giving me the cold shoulder?!" Midnight Hope asked, a little annoyed by that.
"He can't help it. This Necrofriggian is going through...an interesting stage his kind does once every 80 years that makes him moody and in a time crunch to gather a lot of metal," Ben explained, rubbing his neck sheepishly.
"You are...correct," The moth creature said, looking away in slight embarrassment. "I am trying to build a nest so I can lay my eggs."
The news left the Blue Lantern girl stunned to process the information until...
"WHAT?!" Midnight Hope exclaimed in complete shock. "You're telling me...that you're pregnant?! I've been stopping a pregnant alien that's trying to have hatchlings!?"
"Pretty much," Ben said. "The Necrofriggian was determined to build a nest, but it kept getting delayed by everything."
"Ugh," Midnight Hope groaned, pinching her nose after ending her construct in freeing the Necrofriggian. "So, my instincts of this alien not being a threat were right the first time. I am really sorry for the inconvenience...Do you even have a name?"
"I do have a name. Fro'Gieon." The creature introduced itself.
"Okay...Sorry for misjudging you, Fro'Gieon," Midnight Hope said, rubbing her temples. "I better call GL and tell him to cancel the ambush attack."
"No need," called a voice, as Midnight Hope, Ben, and Fro'Gieon see the hotshot Green Lantern floating behind them. "I heard everything after the pregnant thing. Good thing you didn't hurt him."
"Yeah...Guess, deep down, I knew Fro'Gieon wasn't entirely bad," Midnight Hope said, yet was a little disappointed. "But I got derailed in believing he was bad news because of…the pet shop...incident..."
The Blue Lantern then slowly realized something. One a certain teen boy was catching on, as well.
"So, if Fro'Gieon wasn't the one who attacked the pet store, then who did?" Ben asked.
"Me," a voice said, walking up to the 4 individuals and activating his trap.
"It's that cloaked guy that got away," Green Lantern said.
Noticing an electric energy net coming down towards the Necrofriggian, Midnight Hope quickly reacted by flying towards him and pushing him away.
"Look out!" she exclaimed, shoving Fro'Gieon out of arrange and got hit by the net to be electrocuted instead. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"
"HOPE!" Ben shouted.
"NO!" Green Lantern yelled. He then glared at the cloaked man, constructed a boxing glove, and tried to hit the man.
But the cloaked man came prepared. He had a device that counteracted Green Lantern's construct powers from reaching him.
"Okay…That's different," GL admitted. He then noticed some familiar silhouettes around the factory. "But that's not."
Ben immediately checked on Midnight Hope, who already collapsed to the ground when she got shocked. Much to his relief, she wasn't entirely injured. Just unconscious.
"She's okay...Thank the Plumbers," Ben muttered, noticing the cat mutants surrounding them. "Fro'Gieon, get out of here and-!"
He turned to notice the Necrofriggian was gone.
"He bailed on us!" Green Lantern said, still mad about his partner/kid hurt.
"No, he didn't. He's just scared," Ben reasoned, as he then looked at the cloaked man. "Who are you?"
"I am Dr. Animo. And that creature belongs to me!"
Once announcing his name, he got rid of the cloak to reveal his true mad scientist self. Dr. Animo had white hair, abnormal greenish skin, and clothes that belonged in a working garbage place.
"So, you're the one who attacked the pet shop hours ago," Ben stated, glaring at the villain. "Along with temporarily blinding Midnight Hope."
"That's right. I've been searching for that alien moth creature since the moment he made a few appearances in Bellwood," Dr. Animo explained. "For years, I have been collecting alien DNA to combine with other specimens to rule the world. I couldn't figure out how to trace it, so I decided to draw attention by dressing as the creature while picking up a few new test subjects. Who would have guessed that all I had to do was follow a couple of superheroes that would lead me to my prize?"
"Then allow me to return the favor!" Green Lantern exclaimed as he ran to whack Animo with a nearby metal bar, but the mad scientist came prepared and used the same mist bomb on Green Lantern as he did with Midnight Hope earlier.
"Ah! You've got to be kidding!" Green Lantern yelled, dropping the weapon and placing his hands where his eyes are until feeling giant claws pouncing on his back that belonged to the lizard mutant.
"Hold him down, my pets! We can use more test subjects for my cause," Animo commanded, having the mutant animals getting closer. "I always wanted to mutate superheroes."
Ben looked around as if to figure a way out and help the heroes.
'Come on, Ben, think! How do you beat a psycho madman and a group of mutant animal pets?' Ben asked himself in thought. 'What would Grandpa Max do?'
Ben then came up with a plan and pulled a small device from his pocket, and he aimed toward the electric net Midnight Hope was trapped in. He pressed the button, and it was neutralized.
"What?" Animo asked in shock.
"You and the Lanterns aren't the only ones with neat tricks," Ben commented with a knowing smirk, aiming the device toward Animo and pressing it again. "Especially something that disrupts all types of electronic devices."
Animo sees his tech plus gadgetry being torn to pieces and falling to the ground. "What? NO!" Even the mutant ray he had was destroyed.
When that happened, the lizard on Green Lantern's back became small and crawled forward to be on his shoulder. The dog and cat mutants even went from huge and terrifying to small and cute. All the animals were turned back to normal.
Midnight Hope was slowly waking up while feeling her head. "Owww...my head..."
"Hope, are you all right?" Green Lantern asked, running towards her with blurred vision that was slowly healing.
"Sort of...I felt like a million volts in my system before blacking out," Midnight Hope responded, slowly getting halfway up. "Did I miss anything important?"
"Yeah, junior here has deactivated the psycho doc's tech and it reverted the animals back to normal." Green Lantern said while patting Ben's back.
To prove a point, the no longer mutant dog and cat came closer to Midnight Hope in comfort which made her giggle. "Awwwww! So cute!" she said, already petting them.
"This can't be how it ends!" Animo said, as he runs away.
"Not so fast, Doc," Ben said. "Hey, Green Lantern, can you form a soccer ball?"
"Yeah?" Green Lantern replied in confusion, but then he noticed Ben's idea and formed a green soccer ball. "Get one for the team."
Ben kicks the green soccer ball really hard at Animo, hitting his head, and knocking him out. "Good guys; one, bad guy; zero."
Midnight Hope stared in awe at what happened. Her heart started to beat a certain rhythmic pattern for some reason. She hasn't even stood up yet nor acknowledged the pets getting her lovable attention.
"Good job, kid," Green Lantern said, now getting his vision back completely. "Now that he's down, we better call the police."
"Thanks...And way ahead of you on that, Green Lantern," Ben said, getting his phone out to call someone. "But not the kind of police force you two would know."
"Oh?" Green Lantern asked. "What do you mean?"
"You're about to find out," Ben said, already calling someone. "Hey, it's me. I was right before. Get the others at the Coast City Foundry to pick up our fake Moth Guy from earlier...And I have some company who helped me out, too."
A lot just happened that I mostly do not recall...Considering I was knocked out by an electric net attack. Luckily, GL filled me in on what happened later. Even so, I was curious about one last thing: Who is Ben Tennyson?
To Be Concluded...
So, that pretty much sums up everything. Fro'Gieon was created by Alvaxerox, who is also credited for collaborating with me on this story. Stay tuned for the last chapter.