My name is Lucas Stewart. (It means light bearer.) I am the son of John Stewart and Mari Adams a.k.a. as the Green Lantern and Vixen. I'm fairly tall, have coco colored skin and eyes, and black hair in a block style. My favorite outfit to wear is a pair of blue jeans and an orange sweatshirt with the Green Lantern logo on it. I am known as The Green Lantern J.
I grew up in my father's hometown of Blacksmith Alabama, (I don't know the real name of his town so I made it up,) with my parents. My mom was still a supermodel, but she was also helping new models get their carriers started. My dad worked at the Army Reserve office recruiting new officers for the Army, Navy, and the Marines. I had a lot of friends growing up, but there was tension in the house to. My parents had given up their superhero life and kept certain secrets from me. There was also the matter of how I should be raised that caused friction. But for the most part life was happy.
I loved listening to my Dad's tales about his life in the Marines. I thought that they were cool. But I at the same time I didn't think that life was for me. I also loved going to the fashion shows and watching my mom gliding downs the runway. She looked like an angle. I thought I was the luckiest kid in the world to have such great parents.
When I was three I started preschool. Both my parents agreed it would be a good way for me to start my education, but my mom flat out refused to send me off to military school when I was complete with that. "John, you promised me that when we started a family it would be a blending of our two lifestyles. How can you even think about sending our son away? He's to sweet and kind to survive military school." Mara pointed out.
"I'm only looking out for his best interests. I mean I know he's only started preschool, but soon the time will come when he will start attending regular school. A military school will teach him a lot. I wish I could have attended one when I was a kid." John replied.
"That was you John not Lucas. He has to find his own path in life. You can't force him down the one you wanted for him. Tell you what I'll agree to sending him to regular school till he's in high school. If he wants to go to military school then we will send him, but only if he wants it. Agree?" Mara asked. John agreed and kissed her on the lips.
I didn't understand then what they were talking about. At that age I didn't understand a lot of things. I didn't know they had been superheroes; I had no idea that they were hiding the truth of my destiny, and I had no idea why for a few days near the end of the month my Dad would disappear for a while then come back. All I knew that things where about change for me big time.
I was four years old and a bundle of energy. My mother had just picked me up from preschool after her African Animal fashion show. She was really pleased. After we got out of the car she told me to go play quietly in my room while she made a few phone calls. I did what she asked but I soon got bored. I decide to go exploring in my mom's room. I wanted to see if she had anymore interesting outfits to wear.
When I got to my parents room I was amazed at the split. One side of the room clearly showed my mother modeling accomplishments, her interest in tracking, and finally there were photo's of are family doing stuff together. The other side of the room showed my dad in his Marines days and also showed his personal interests along with our family. When I opened the closet I saw a lot of pretty dresses and stuff belonging to my dad, but nothing that looked as great as that African zebra dress she had been wearing a little while ago. Closing the closet I was turning to leave when I spotted a green jewelry box on my mother's stand. I walked over to nightstand and picked up the box. It was all green and had gems dotted all over it.
I swear that I heard a voice whisper into my ear. It said, "Open it. Open the box and find your destiny." I opened the box and lying there on a blue velvet pillow where two pieces of jewelry. One was an animal necklace the other a green ring. I also noticed some photos stuck to the lid of the jewelry box. I sat down on the bed and looked at the photos. One was of my mom and dad dressed up in some strange costumes. A Halloween party perhaps? Another showed them with a lot of other people in costumes aboard some sort of space station. The last photo was of my dad with some women with wings. They were smiling. What were these photos and who were these people?
"These pieces of jewelry look like something for a costume party. This necklace looks like something mom might wear, but why would dad have a plastic ring?" I muttered trying to pull the ring apart. Suddenly the ring levitated into the air. I stared in wonder as a green light emitted from it and started to scan me. I giggled because it tickled so much.
In the kitchen Mom was on the phone with her agent going over her schedule. Dad walked in with dinner in his arms. She blew him a kiss and went back to her conversation. "No Cindy I can't travel to Paris next week because I can't leave my son alone. No, his dad will be away for a few days and I have no one else to watch him. Unless you can find something closer to home you can forget me doing any high priced work. I got to go bye." She turned to face my dad and gave him a huge smile. "Where've you been handsome?"
"Work. Man it just gets harder every day. Remind me again why I thought working and the Recruiting and Reserve office for the military would be a good thing." John asked his wife.
"Maybe because it meant you got to spend a lot more time at home and help contribute in some small way to the safety of our country. Here look at what Lucas made with finger paints today. It's a picture of you." Mara said handing him the painting.
John took the painting and smiled pleased. "So where is our son anyways? I thought he would come bounding into the kitchen the moment he heard I was home."
"Your right it is strange. I sent him to his room to play while I made a few phone calls, but now I'm getting worried. I'm having one of those motherly intuitions. Something is very wrong." Mara said standing up. That's when they both heard me screaming. They took off running towards the sound of my voice.
I was screaming because the ring had finished scanning me. Now it was pouring all of its power into me. I was two feet off the ground and glowing an emerald green. My parents rushed in and my mom's face was plastered with fear, concern, and shock. "Lucas! Hold on sweetie." She raced over to me, but was thrown back by the emerald green barrier. "John do something!"
My dad held out his hand and tried to reign in his ring. But for some reason it wasn't listening to him. I screamed even louder. His face contorted with full concentration. He shouted, "Stop! Come to me now!" The ring stopped and slid onto his finger. I fell into my mom's arms crying. I was glowing green off and on and my eyes were now green. "Shuu baby, its okay. Your safe now Lucas. John what happened to him? What did your ring do to him?"
"I'm not sure but it's drained completely of power. I'll have to recharge it." He said. He walked over to the wall and removed a painting revealing a safe. With a few twists he opened it revealing a lantern. He pressed the ring to it in an attempt to recharge it. But it didn't work. He had to do it twice just to get it to recharge. "Take Lucas to his room. I'm going to contact some old friends and see if I can get some answers to what happened." Mom nodded and carried me out of the room.
My Dad then used his ring to contact the Guardians on Oa. They were surprised to say the least when they discovered who was calling. "John Stewart this is an unexpected surprise. We didn't think you would be contacting us since you requested us to place you on the reserve member list. To what do we owe this pleasure?"
"A few minutes ago my ring did something strange. It completely drained all its power into my son. I had to recharge it twice to get it to work. He was glowing and his eyes took up a greenish tint. He's returned to normal for now, but I would like to know just what is going on!" John demanded.
The Guardians looked at one another in surprise. They themselves were empowered by the energy but it didn't reside inside of them like it did with me. "This would explain the sudden surge in power we saw a few moments ago. It seems that your son has become a living vessel for the power of the Green Lanterns. In essences he is the ring. Never before has this happened. Your son will now be able to do all the things a Green Lantern can do and more. It would be best if you sent him to us to train him in how to control the power and be properly disciplined in the ways of a Lantern." The Guardian said.
"Over my dead body!" my mom's voice rang from the doorway. She had just returned from putting me to bed and didn't like what she heard. "Now you listen to me. When John and I married and decided to have a family we both agreed to the responsibility of raising our children together no matter what the consequences. Lucas is a little boy who needs the comfort and support of family and friends not some strange aliens telling him what to do. If you think I'm going to let you take my child away from me you got another thing coming."
"Perhaps then John Stewart can train the boy. He himself is a Green Lantern and knows how to use our power. Besides this fits well into our plans. Several older members of the Lantern Corps have expressed desires to have families and are planning on teaching their children to be Green Lanterns. We were thinking they could be cadets, the Junior Corps of the Green Lantern Corps. Your son would fit well into that category. Very well then John Stewart will train the boy in the use of his powers. But if we feel that he is any type of threat we will come and take the boy to Oa were he can cause no harm. With that said good luck John Stewart." The Guardians said and then terminated the connection.
"John you can't even be seriously thinking of letting them take our son from us. It would kill me. I know that when we had Lucas things would be different, but this is too much. We have to tell him the truth about what happened. We already keep more secrets than most people do. About our past, his destiny, his you know what. He has a right to know the truth about what's going on." Mara told him.
John nodded and both of them headed for my room. I was playing with this new toy that I had just created out of thin air. It had stayed real. When my parents came in to my room I sat up straight and listen to them. They told me all about their lives as superheroes and what had happened to me. Dad told me that he would teach me how to control my powers and that it would be our little secret. I couldn't tell anyone. I agreed to that.
Four years passed by quickly. I was a star student at school. I loved to put things together like models. I had friends I hung out with. But what I really wanted to do was play basketball at the local YMCA. But my Dad was totally against it. He was having some difficulty teaching me to control my powers. I still was struggling with multi tasking. "You need to be concentrating on your studies and practice controlling your powers. You don't have time to play basketball."
"But Dad please. Basketball can teach me teamwork and discipline. Besides I'm really good at it. Please Dad I want to do this. To be a normal kid." I begged
"Of course you can play basketball. In fact I'll sign you up tomorrow. Why don't you go to your room? I need to talk to your dad about something." Mom told me. I left the room and she turned to face my dad. "John I know how much you want him to have control of his powers, but he's just a child. Let him be a boy. If he wants to play basketball let him. I see no problem with that."
"I want him to play basketball to. He's really good at it. Its just his powers need to be under control otherwise they'll come and take him away. You did see what he did to lawn when he tried to mow it with his powers." John pointed out.
"He will learn in time. You just have to give him a chance." Mara said plainly.
As the years passed I learned more and more about my special abilities. I learned how to multi task, to make things real, and to recharge. But I still had difficulties retaining my life force field and flying. I still hadn't managed to go full Lantern. My mom was they're always supporting me. Through out it all I wanted to please my Dad. He was so hard to please. He still wanted me to attend military school. So when I turned fourteen he sent an application to Starkwell Military Academy. He hoped the school would teach me the discipline I lacked. He was shocked when I turned down the school. "Lucas I don't understand. This school would greatly help you with your training."
"Dad I don't want to go to military school. It's not for me. I want to stay here with my friends and mom and you. I don't have plans to go into the military. I want to play basketball in collage then maybe invent stuff. Besides I got control of my powers." I yelled at him.
"Is that so? What about last week when I was teaching you in how to fly and you fell into the stream. Or two days ago when you were practicing with your life force field and it went down when I was bombarding you with lasers. I don't think you can control your powers by yourself." My Dad challenged me.
"Dad enough! I can control my powers. You have to stop trying imposing your dreams onto me. I want my own life Dad and I want you to believe in me. Now if you excuse me I'm going to shoot some hoops with my friends. My three pointer needs work." I yelled at him. I was so angry. I stormed out to the garage used my powers to yank open the door and zapped my bike out. I didn't care if anyone saw me. I just hopped on my bike and pedaled out of there.
I played for hours with my friends. I was having so much fun. Laughing hard I toweled off. "Enough guys I got to get home. My Mom will kill me if I'm late again." I told them.
"You've been acting stranger then usual Lucas? Everything okay at home?" my friend Carol Hunter asked as she removed her sweatbands. She was my best friend despite being a girl.
"Nothing that I can't handle. It's just my dad. Lately he's been more controlling then ever. I just don't know what to do." I confided in her as we rode our bikes home.
"Well things will work out eventually. One day you'll prove to him and the world just how great you really are. Your dad is only trying to do what he thinks is best for you. You have to tell him what you think is best for you. I got to go see you later." Carol told me. I sighed loudly and headed inside hoping things would work out.
The next two years my life were the most difficult times in my life. My dad and I would argue constantly. He still was trying to teach me how to control my powers, but I was to hurt to really listen to him. Mom tried to play peacemaker between us, but it wasn't easy. I couldn't go back to those early days were I adored my dad. All I wanted from him now was his respect and trust. How was I going to earn that?
I was watching the girl's basketball game cheering Carol on. She was the star forward of the girl's team. I cheered loudly waving my banner. Suddenly a bad feeling came over me. I swear a voice told me to leave the gym. Without giving an explanation I left the gym and stepped outside and hid behind the school building. Suddenly the gym erupted in fire! I could hear screaming. People were rushing out but there were several people trapped inside. I had to do something.
I took a deep breath and focused my thoughts. I had to do this and do it now or all would be lost. I had to become a Green Lantern. A junior Green Lantern. Clenching my fists tightly together I began to say the oath. "In brightest day. In blackest night. No evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evil's might. Beware my power Green Lantern's light!" Suddenly my clothes transformed into a Green Lantern uniform and my eyes had turned green. Engaging my life force field I flew to the rescue.
Once inside I saw that several people were disorientainted by the smoke. Spreading my palm wide I created a tunnel allowing the people to file out the gym doors. I then went over to the collapsed stands. Using my power I lifted up into the air to reveal a trapped little girl. Setting the stands down on one side of the room I flew down and scooped her up. "Don't worry. Your safe now." I reassured her. I flew outside and gave her to her mother. "Stand back! Everyone stand back!" I ordered. I focused my mind really hard and sent a flood of green energy into the ground ripping out two water mains. I thrust my hands forward showering the gym in a stream of water putting out the fire. I landed pleased with myself that's when I heard applause. Everyone was congratulating me on a job well done.
When the firefighter and paramedics arrived I told them everything I had done. After thanking me they asked me for my name. I told them it was Green Lantern J. I then turned and left only to remerge a few moments later. I ran over to check on Carol. She had twisted her ankle but was otherwise okay. She was glad that I was safe.
When I got home I found my parents watching the news broadcast of my heroics. I looked at them defiantly. "What? I only did what you trained me to do with my powers. I helped people. What's wrong with that?" I demanded.
"The problem young man is you could have been seriously hurt Lucas. This isn't a game. Did you think for a minute how your mom and I would feel if you got hurt or worse?" Dad asked me. "Besides now everyone knows who you are."
Before I could retort my mom spoke up. "Both of you look at the TV for a sec. Its footage of Lucas saving the day, but its not him!" She said pointing. We looked at the TV and where stunned. Some how the energy had matured my facial features, but the moment I went back to being plain old Lucas everything was changed back to normal. My parents looked at each other smiled then hugged me.
For the next year and half I continued to play hero to my hometown. I still was rebellious to my Dad, but our relationship had improved greatly. My social life was a little strained, but that was to be expected. After the JLU was formed we moved to Central City to be closer to my teammates. I live three houses down from my new best friend Gordon West and I love dating my girlfriend Max Gibson.
The journey I have taken in becoming the Green Lantern J. has been the most thrilling yet daunting in the world. It has put me at odds with my family and at times ruined my life. But I wouldn't change a moment of it for anything. I was select to do this job and I'm going to do it to the best of my abilities no matter what.