Coast City wasn't a stranger to destruction, but there was a wrongness in it today. It might have been because it was after Independence Day and the flags were still littering the city. Burning like everything else around them. Or it might be because there were already three dead. Mason thought it had to do more with the walking abomination of all things natural in front of him. The cause of it all.
In the bright west coast sun, the pale, putrid, corpse-like skin of the large Solomon Grundy stood out. So did the wave of green bullets Hal was shooting at him with his machine gun construct.
The battle had already raged on for more than an hour with no end in sight and everything was showing the wear. There were more cars tipped over than upright, and every building had at least some damage. Mason could even taste the copper in his mouth.
He went in for another blitz attack while Hal distracted the monster. A green fist pounded Grundy into the torn-up streets, but the man got back up like it was nothing.
Grundy was missing a lot of things: brains and attractiveness coming to mind first, but he wasn't weak. There was rarely such a thing as a prolonged battle with green lanterns, but Grundy did it. He got hit with missiles, hammers, trucks, trains, and everything Mason and Hal could come up with. Nothing could hold the man down. He stood uninjured, unshaken, and unstoppable.
"Hold him down!" Hal shouted as he took to the skies. Above him, an armory of green weapons came into existence.
Mason tried. Chains tied themselves to each of the villains' limbs, and a bubble swallowed him, but he ripped them apart.
The beast was strong. Able to last for rounds against Superman. Tying him down was hard; keeping him down was harder.
Free from his bindings, the abomination launched himself towards the nearest target, Mason. He only had time to throw up a thin sheet of shield before the brick that Grundy called his fist made contact.
Like a bullet, he shot backward. His back meeting a street pole with enough force to bend it.
The copper taste was back, along with the Orion's Belt.
The monster was on top of him in seconds, but Mason was faster this time. A dome protected him from having his body tenderized.
It didn't stop Grundy though—it was safe to say nothing short of death would—it only made him angrier and stronger. Another punch made the dome crack.
Mason mended it. Grundy smashed it. The cycle repeated until Grundy cocked his fist back again. The pale fist was high in the sky until it zipped forward, tearing apart the air.
The dome would've cracked like glass, but Mason changed it. Grundy's fist didn't meet a shield, but a twelve-inch spike.
Tearing away the mangled flesh that was his arm, Grundy buckled back with a strangled cry. Taking advantage, Mason expanded the dome in a flash and sent him flying.
As soon as the monster hit the floor, the young lantern trapped him in a cube. On every side was a spike that touched his skin and immobilized him. Soon enough, his blood was covering his skin, but he wouldn't stop. Grundy was already breaking the spikes, even as they ripped open his muscle and tissue.
Outside of Grundy's breaking prison, Mason had already created dozens of constructs. Armored warriors with swords, all waiting for their chance to strike, surrounded him.
The preparation proved useful because it didn't take Grundy long to shatter his cage.
A sword struck through the air toward the tree trunk that he called an arm, but he caught it.
"Grundy hate green men!" the monster roared as he threw the one he caught into another, breaking both.
Mason constructed a gun as he faded into the background. Every time one of the armored men created an opening, a shot got fired that would send Grundy staggering.
But the monster didn't slow down. He wasn't human. He could do this all day, Mason couldn't.
The armored constructs got destroyed, and Mason got another fist crashing into him. In the city square, a loud crack sounded out. The green lantern only hoped it was because of the wall he hit and not because his side was aching.
"Anytime now, Hal!" Mason said as Grundy ran at him, a thin brick wall the young hero created as the only obstacle.
The bricks were already falling apart as Grundy's shoulder made contact. He didn't expect the green lantern's alternative to the nuclear weapon, though.
In the sky, a hair away from landing on Grundy, Hal had constructed every weapon he knew of. Weapons that stabbed, slammed, smashed, hit, and vaporized. When they hit, even the abomination couldn't withstand the emerald might.
In one of the many craters now decorating the major streets of Coast City, Grundy laid smoking and broken.
Mason got up with some effort, wiping a line of blood away from his eyes. "Ring, run a self-diagnostic," he ordered as he walked over to the defeated villain.
From his hand, the intergalactic tool reported in a mechanical voice. "Lantern has minor hemorrhaging, rib contusions, and several lacerations contributing to blood loss. User is not currently in imminent danger."
Listening to the report, Mason looked at Hal, who was floating down. "Couldn't have been a little quicker?"
"In my defense," Hal replied, "I told you to hold him down. Not keep him occupied by acting as his personal punching bag."
"Grundy will be back," the monster groaned from the bottom of the hole, interrupting them. "Grundy always comes back."
"Not this time, Grundy," Hal said as he constructed a bubble around him. "Belle Reve has already prepared a nice little room for you."
Mason looked around. The city somehow looked even worse than it did before. One building was already mimicking the Tower of Pisa. "Go on ahead, Hal. I'm going to help with the cleanup."
Hal's head swiveled, surveying the area, then he nodded. "Okay. Meet me later, though. I'll send you the coordinates."
The veteran hero floated to the clouds and, in a burst of green, left the area, Grundy in tow.
Mason spent the next couple of hours helping the emergency construction crew. Then he followed Hal's lead.
The coordinates led him to some town in Rhode Island called Happy Harbor. It wasn't anything special.
"Hal," Mason said, communicating with the ring. "I'm here."
"Great. Meet me at the eastern base of the mountain."
Mason went there, but Hal wasn't there.
He raised his hand to his mouth, about to use the ring to call Hal again, when the mountain wall shifted. A hangar door appeared and Hal gestured him in.
"What is this place?" Mason asked as he looked around. Off to the side, he spotted a martian bio-ship. Those were rare.
"It used to be the original Justice League headquarters," Hal explained. "Some of the League members have been renovating it for a new team."
"New team?"
"The sidekicks wanted independence, the League wanted to keep them safe. Creating a team for them was the answer."
"And let me guess: you want me to be a part of this?"
Hal nodded.
"You know I don't have time for this, Hal."
"Mason," Hal said, his voice in a rare tone of seriousness. "John and I have orders to get back to Oa. The Guardians need our help. Unless you want to patrol with Guy, the team's all you got."
"Why do they need your help?"
The Guardians of the Universe were the creators of the green lantern ring. Ancient aliens capable of harnessing will power into energy capable of warping reality. They were bordering on omnipotence. What could they need help with?
"I don't know, and that's what worries me. So what's your choice?"
Mason already knew. It wasn't even a choice. Guy Gardner was one of the four green lanterns of Earth, but he was no friend to the young hero. After all, the ring on Mason's hand used to be his. It was only because the Guardians saw fit to give him another that he wasn't powerless. He always hated Mason for that.
Mason couldn't even patrol alone because of the United Nations' laws about heroics. If you weren't with the League, you were a vigilante, open to prosecution. And the League didn't allow anyone under eighteen to patrol solo.
"Let's go," Mason sighed as he trudged forward. Good thing he cleaned up before he came here.
"Great."
They reached a wide room, and Mason could see John Stewart levitating some machinery as he flew by.
In the center of the room was a group. Seven costumed figures and four teens. Mason knew most of them. They were all heroes. There were some fresh faces he paused at, but his attention was soon on Batman. The caped crusader, who was commanding the room, and the only one without superpowers.
"The six of you will be that team," Batman said.
"Cool," the kid with the pair of sunglasses, Robin, remarked, "Wait, six?"
Two figures emerged from the hallway opposite of Mason and Hal. They were both green, and Mason recognized the taller one. He was the Martian Manhunter. The small girl beside him was a mystery, though.
Batman introduced her, "This is the Martian Manhunter's niece, Miss Martian."
She waved, "Hi."
The redhead next to Flash, Wally, chuckled, "I'm liking this gig more every minute."
"Our time to shine, Mace," Hal said as he walked over.
"And this is Green Lantern," Batman continued as Mason entered their sights.
Aqualad, the dark-skinned teen, looked at the group of six, and the heroes surrounding him. "Today's the day."