Avenging Justice 2:
Caught Between an Ultron and a Doomsday
Part XIX
Sector 1416, The Milano
Peter pulled the Milano into a tight turn, and blasted off towards the floating Nova Corps personnel. Rocket, meanwhile was going to town on the yellow forms of the Sinestro Corps with abandon. The ships weapons were firing off in quick automatic bursts, while Drax slapped on an emergency space suit. Gamora stood by at the air lock, ready to open it and assist Drax in pulling in the survivors.
One of the Yellow armored Sinestro Corpsman spun wildly as two of Rocket's bursts caught them square in the chest. However, they were back on the attack, just in time for a green brick wall to appear before them. With a sickening thud, now unconscious Yellow Lantern was quickly rounded up by Hal Jordan.
Another two came at him, only to find Arisia there, using her power to fight them off. One of the Star Sapphires wasn't so lucky, as she was impaled on two yellow lances. Carol blasted the two Yellow Lanterns, and then had one of the other Sapphires rush the wounded woman back to Zamaron. Seeing two more about to attack, Carol decided to get to the action first.
Forming a massive mace, she used it to pummel the two Yellow Lanterns in one shot. Sending them spinning around, she brought it down upon them again, just as they stabilized. Behind her another appeared, a yellow dagger coming for her neck. Her reflexes were good, but even she wouldn't be able to stop that, she just hoped the armor was up to the task.
"Naughty, naughty," Hal called out as he batted the attacking Sinestro Corpsman away from Carol. "Nobody likes a rogue in the opposing party."
Carol smiled, "I can see why you can't seem to give this up, it's fun!"
Before he could respond, she was on another two attacking enemies. Hal found himself smiling as he too joined the fray with almost suicidal abandon. There were too many, and he wasn't sure the reinforcements launching from the planet would be enough. Knowing Sinestro, he found the most dangerous beings in the Universe, and taught them how to use this power. Hal knew Sinestro was dangerous enough by himself, and now that danger was magnified.
Kilowogg was handling three, just barely, of Sinestro's Corpsmen, when another came up behind him. In the attacker's hands, a dangerous looking yellow construct. It looked like a nightmarish version of a whaling harpoon, from Earth's history. Hal tried to shout out a warning, but that wasn't what saved the big Green Lantern.
A bright blast of energy slammed into the Yellow Lantern, and he turned to see a very angry Gamora stabbing her sword at him. His armor held, but fell as she brought a sticky bomb around and attached it to him. Tugging on her umbilical line, Groot retrieved her from space, just as the grenade blew. The Sinestro Corpsman gasped, the life leaving his eyes, and his yellow ring disengaging from his finger. Off it went, looking for another to wield its power, and none of the gathered Lanterns had a chance to stop it.
Two Star Sapphires fell next, their rings blasting off into space, as their sisters promised vengeance upon the Yellow Lanterns. The numbers though were just not on their side. Sinestro had planned this too well, and they would be overwhelmed. The only matter was when, and if they could retreat before the defeat became a massacre. Hope seemed lost, with only the Will to survive pushing the Green Lanterns on.
Lights, pinpricks of light came, and at first Hal thought it was the Nova Corps coming in as reinforcements. Some were, but these new pinpricks were too numerous for those that had gathered. No, these were a different type of reinforcements, and Hal nearly burst into cheering as he saw these small lights turn into blazing green orbs.
"Lanterns, aid the survivors, and form a perimeter," Green Lantern Leilani called out to the others. "Knight, do what you do best."
The Emerald Knight of Sector 1148 appeared behind one of the Sinestro Corpsman, his armor going from nearly pure black to its blue and green normal color. The Yellow Lantern caught off guard, didn't have a defense as Keith McCallister came at him. Moments later the Green Lantern of Sector 1148 not only had that one, but three others in tow behind him. Each bound and unable to use their powers.
With the introduction of more Green Lanterns, Sinestro called his forces back, and went to gather the ones being held by one of the newcomers. Instead, he ran headlong into a very angry Hal Jordan, and their battle began immediately. Meanwhile the other Yellow Lanterns began to leave. The order had been given, and they had other areas to attack.
"I've told you time and time again, Jordan," Sinestro growled. "The Guardians are fools. You are so much more than they allow, you could change the universe! Instead, you bow and scrape for scared, old and tired imbeciles."
Hal shot back, "You believed in their mission before!"
"Yes, before they locked us down with rules," Sinestro countered. "To be a true force of change, to bring lasting peace, one must be willing to take the measures necessary."
Hal sent a charging green ram at his former friend, "You hide behind tyranny and fear, using them to control people. That isn't peace.."
"No, that is obedience," Sinestro finished.
He sent out a yellow trap construct to catch the charging green ram. To his surprise, the ram broke through, but that just meant the next one was redoubled. Instead of trying to stop it this time, he just redirected the ram towards one of the nearby Star Sapphires. Just like he thought, Hal Jordan redirected his attention, focused on dismissing the construct.
That was all Sinestro needed, and he blasted off. The mission had been successful. Some of the Green Lanterns had been wounded, but the real score were the Star Sapphires killed. That and the Kree one the planet, obviously going about their mission. With everyone's attention up here, they wouldn't be looking for the Kree. Either way, the threat of the emerging Star Sapphires would be nullified.
"Always two steps behind, Jordan," Sinestro said as he disappeared into the stars.
Down on Zamaron, Yon-Rogg led his team through the foreign landmass. Luckily for them, all they had to do was follow the energy above them, back to the newly made power core for the Star Sapphires. It was always nice when a target gave such clear directions to the objectives. As they got closer, Minn-Erva raised her sniper rifle up, and counted out the people around the battery.
"Only five, I should be able to take out one immediately, maybe another if they are confused," she said.
Yon-Rogg nodded, and prepared for the attack. Muscles tensed and beside him, his team did the same. Minn-Erva aimed, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, ready to fire. An explosion of action happened, but not what they were planning on, and by the end the whole operation had gone wrong.
A stave slammed into Yon-Rogg, and Minn-Erva barely moved away as a spear point nearly impaled her. The others found themselves fighting Star Sapphires, and without the element of surprise, on the defensive. One fell to a green net, that pulled him to the ground, and subduing him.
Yon-Rogg pulled up his arms, took two more hits by the stave to them, and then blasted at his attacker. The energy blast was parried away, and he found himself having to make a quick ducking roll. Slashing above his head was a spear point, that would have done serious damage if it had connected. He came back up blasting, and actually hit one of the Star Sapphires, but missed the woman attacking him.
Enraged, the Zamaron attacking him moved even faster and it was then he knew that he'd need more than his fast reflexes. Unfortunately for him, his sense told him someone was behind him, but not quick enough to dodge the stun blast. He fell to the ground, watching as the Star Sapphires took a kicking and biting Minn-Erva away. Above him, the Zamaron woman attacking him, brought down the butt of her staff and his vision went dark.
"Green Lantern," the incensed Zamaron said. "You have my thanks, and my admiration."
"Don't worry about it, but I better be getting back to my sector," Green Lantern Keith McCallister said. "The Guardians don't like it when I stray away from it."
The Zamaron bowed slightly, "We are glad you came down to investigate the crashed ship. We had thought the occupants had been killed in the impact."
He smiled at her, "Well, sometimes people are just hard to kill. Till we meet again!"
He blasted off back into the atmosphere where Leilani was waiting on him, and they made their way back to Sector 1148. As they left, the Milano was coming in to land, given permission so they could have the Nova Corpsmen looked at. The surviving Star Sapphires and the Green Lanterns followed suit.
However, it wasn't meant to be, as each Green Lantern received a report their sector was under attack. So, in the end, the peace envoy were the only ones left on Zamaron. It seemed that the battle had changed stages. The attack on Sector 1416 was just the beginning, it was quickly becoming apparent. How long before systems began to fall? To Hal Jordan, not while there were Lanterns out there willing to fight, and he knew he'd be right beside them the whole way.
Earth, Atlantis
Orm, sat biding his time. The former Ocean Master stewed as the half breed mongrel sat on the throne. Worse, Mera had joined him. She had been meant to be his wife. Arthur had taken his throne, his people and his wife. Orm knew when he escaped, he would make the imposter pay. The problem was getting out, as he was several layers under the ocean floor. His jailers were rotated out, and were fully loyal to the false king, Arthur Curry.
He rose and started to pace around his cell. Left alone, there weren't any other prisoners nearby. It was probably to keep him from finding allies, or building a network if he were ever to escape. Probably Mera's idea, Arthur wasn't that smart, Orm knew that. He could only hope the imbecile wasn't running his kingdom into disaster.
Above, Mera was looking over the maps of the oceans. Arthur beside her, was trying to look interested, but politics really bored him. The lines on the map showed each kingdom of Atlantis, with one dark realm detached from the others. That he knew was something of an anomaly, and was one area his half-brother had been unable to get support from less than a year ago.
"We've been receiving reports of attacks along our border," Mera explained. "We've been unable to locate the forces doing it."
"I thought all the kingdoms of Atlantis had unified," Arthur was curious now. "Is this another threat, or those monsters from the Abyss?"
Mera shook her head, "Unlikely, there are clear markings of weapons on the body. Claws and other natural weapons would show up differently."
"How many lost?" Arthur asked.
Mera's voice went soft, "So far eight. We've doubled up our patrols, but I fear it is something that is only going to get worse."
As she said this, she fiddled with the map again, something catching her eye. She had studied the lines around each of the Atlantean kingdoms, and found something new that she hadn't noticed before. After each attack, there had been sonar signals reported off the borders of Atlantis. There had been no reports of a missing city or state in that area, but if she looked at the sonar reports right, almost looked like another civilization.
"Arthur, are you up for a little trip?" Mera asked, her mind chewing over what she was only beginning to understand.
He smiled, "Let's go. I was wondering how long till you got curious about those reports." She gave him an odd look, so he explained, "Just because I find politics boring, doesn't mean I don't pay attention. You've gone over that same area on the map over and over again. Let's head out. Should at least be fun."
"I keep forgetting you are more than you seem," she warmly said. "However, let's be careful. We don't know what we're looking for."
Arthur let out a loud whoop of glee and Mera realized everything she had said, went in one ear and out the other. Despite herself, she found herself feeling relaxed by it. It was simply how Arthur was, despite how much it aggravated his advisors. One thing she could say, he sat on the Atlantean throne, doing things his own way. For better or worse, he was their king, and was doing well despite what some thought as his deficiencies.
Mere moments later they were taking her aquatic vehicle out to the mystery site. Unaware that what they are about to find, could lead to a civil war. History long forgotten, was coming back again, and with a vengeance. As with any secret revealed, how it would affect the civilization would be up to a variety of sources. One can only hope that the coming change would be one of positive change, and not one of destructive change.