Young Justice: The Gold Corps: Shattered, Chapter 11: Choices

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I don't own either Young Justice or the Green Lantern Corps. Please read and review!

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Chapter 12: Choices

Rose found out what Brother Smith had in mind for her: an almost laughingly easy (for her) martial arts course, coupled with basic infiltration tactics. Again, child's play for one who'd been trained by Deathstroke himself. But she didn't let him know that.

And the training wasn't effortless; she found herself tiring at the end of the day, relishing the chance to get back to the room, shower off, and change clothes, in preparation for dinner.

Ragnar had been his usual silent self. She came out of the shower, dressed in a clean pullover and jeans, and saw him sitting on the bedside, staring down at his hands. She knew his gold ring was on the right hand, but invisible until he willed it to be otherwise. Must be neat, she thought, to be able to conjure up anything you wanted with just a thought. Though lately that hadn't seemed to help him much. She decided it was too much of a crutch, at least for somebody like her.

She felt the need to talk to him, to explain some of the hard truths about their job, about accepting her leadership, about…a lot of things. But she wasn't sure how to go about it. "Collin? Let's talk."

"Certainly, Kim. What do you want to talk about?" His voice was almost a monotone.

"Look, I…maybe I've been sorta harsh about…some things. It's just…you have to learn to, to listen to me. Okay? To accept my leadership." They kept their voices low, to avoid the sound pickup on the far side of the room. "It's very important that you do. Maybe…maybe if we'd had time to get to know each other, you'd know that I know what I'm talking about, about…these things. But we were kinda thrown into this…I guess I can't blame you for not trusting me."

He was silent for a long moment. Then, "It is not just you I don't trust. I also…do not trust myself."

"Huh?" Where had that come from? "What do you mean?"

He shook his head. "Kim…I think I may be losing my mind."

Great, thought Rose.

…..

The Hunter moved silently throughout the shelter, seeking its master. Its master, his ancient enemy, might not be here now, but he would be, and soon. And the Hunter would be ready. Just as he'd been ready for nearly a thousand years.

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Rose dreamed of fire that night.

Everything was burning, as though an atomic bomb had gone off. Everywhere, as far as the eye could see, was nothing but rubble and flames.

Wait. What was that, over there?

She saw a figure, dressed in a uniform strangely similar to Ragnar's Gold Lantern outfit, laughing riotously, as though this holocaust was his doing. He had his back to her.

She clambered over the hot, smoking ruins, and ran up to him. There could be no doubt as to who it was….but why?

But before she got to the laughing figure, something tugged on her scaled uniform she was wearing. Looking down, she saw a child, a little girl with blond hair, who couldn't have been more than eight years old, grasping her belt. The child's clothes were torn and bloody, but the little girl herself seemed okay. "Hey, kid, leggo. Who are you? And where are we?"

"You've got to stop him, Miss Rose! This is only the beginning! If you don't stop him, it'll be like this everywhere!" The girl was on the verge of hysterics.

"Stop him? Stop who? What are you talking about?" Even though she knew damn well "who".

"It's Mr. Ragnar. Or, rather, it's what he'll become. You've got to stop him. You've got to save him, Miss Rose.

"'Cause if you don't, he'll burn. He'll burn forever."

…..

"So you're sure you sensed the presence of something there in the shelter? Something…abnormal?" Nightwing was listening to Batgirl's report.

"Yeah, I am. And Ragnar and Rose need to know. There's something there…and I don't think it's affiliated with Smith's organization."

"Could it be a yellow lantern?"

"When have you ever known a yellow lantern to be subtle like this? That's not their usual MO. Besides, they'd have no business inside the complex, would they?"

"I guess that would determine what their arrangement with Brother Smith is. But yeah, lurking in darkened hallways…isn't usually their style."

"So now what?"

"I'm sending in Red Arrow. Rose and Ragnar won't know he's there, not immediately at least, but he'll be on the sidelines, just in case they need backup. And he can slip them the information about this mysterious presence you've sensed—if they haven't already encountered it themselves. And I'll try to figure out some way to get some more of the Team members in there…damn. I sure miss M'gann for an operation like this. Shape shifters are naturals for this sort of thing."

"Just as well she's not on this mission." Batgirl wore an amused expression. "Rose and Ragnar are sharing a room, as 'brother and sister.' I imagine M'gann wouldn't like that one little bit."

"Ah, yeah, I think that's a given. Still wish she was here, though."

"I know you do, and so do we all. Have you heard from her?" The Team communicators were secure.

"Only that 'progress was being made.' I get the impression it's progress of the microscopic variety."

"Damn. I hate to hear that. I guess there's nothing we can do?"

"Short of rolling back the hands of time, I don't know what." He paused a moment, then deliberately changed the subject. "Anyway, get me those datafiles you got, and we'll go over them with a fine-tooth comb. If Smith's dirty, we'll find it."

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Friday: Rose was once again summoned to Brother Smith's office, and once again wearing the ubiquitous yellow robes that he seemed to expect her to wear when meeting with him. By now they no longer bothered her, though she suspected the yellow coloration had something to do with Smith's covert connection to the Sinestro Corps. Like a signature. "You wanted to see me, Brother Smith?"

"Yes, Kim, I did. Please. Come in and have a seat." He turned away from his terminal. "How are the martial arts classes coming?" Watching her face the whole time.

She refused to meet his eyes. "Q-quite well, I think. I got pretty sore at first, but I'm learning."

"Yes, yes, you are. And so is your brother." He touched a button, and a large flatscreen monitor lowered from the ceiling on the far wall. Another touch.

The scene depicted Ragnar fending off dozens of black-garbed fighters, some of whom were already on the ground, with a couple on the sidelines, clearly injured. The rest attacked in formation, obviously well-trained and well-coordinated attacks.

Some of those blows landed, and Rose winced as she saw one in particular, that should have driven a normal man to his knees, smack soundly into his neck. Ragnar shrugged it off, and countered with an attack of his own, never taking his eyes off his opponents, and maintaining as defensible a position as he could, there in the middle of the amphitheatre. It was the same one where he'd fought the bear.

For her.

Shut up.

"I-I really, I really wish you, you wouldn't, wouldn't do this to him! I mean…it's like you said, he, he has problems…that was one reason we had to leave…"

Brother Smith spoke soothingly. "Calm down, Kim. He's fine. His attackers have been ordered to attack to the fullest, yes, but not lethally. He, however, has been given no such orders. It's a good thing we have some excellent medical care here, affiliated with the shelter; some of those men are going to need it."

"But why are you doing this? Wasn't the bear enough?"

"The bear was merely a test. Your brother needs training, Kim. Oh, and by the way, you should know I told him you'd be watching him fight, this day, and, although I didn't actually come right out and say it, I, well, heavily implied, shall we say, that your well-being was once again on the line, should he lose. Therefore, he will not lose."

"You keep manipulating him…."

"I keep training him. This is necessary if he is to fit into my organization. Even as your training is necessary. But the reason I've called you here is this. Young Mr. DeMato has done exceedingly well here, exceeding my expectations by a considerable margin. I think he deserves a special reward for his battles, his successes. You will choose her."

"Ub…come again?" Rose's mind was derailed by the sudden unexpected shift.

Brother Smith picked up a folder and passed it to her. Rose opened it, to reveal picture after picture of various pretty girls, some of whom she'd seen around the shelter. "These young women have been selected for their natural physical attractiveness, and their willingness to serve in this capacity. All of them have expressed a personal interest in your brother, as well. You are to select one—or more than one, as you deem fit—for him to be with, tonight. His reward, for doing so well. And before you ask, rest assured they are all disease-free. Those constant drug screens and blood tests we run on all of you serve more than one purpose."

Okay, Rose, said a smirking part of herself, you're the professed "expert" in covert affairs…how are you going to handle this?

She looked over the files in the folder. With a sinking sensation, she realized that this was pretty much what she'd predicted: Brother Smith would want Ragnar to be loyal to him and to his organization. Naturally, he'd use sex as a bond. She just hadn't been expecting to be placed right smack in the middle of it. Oh, shit.

She'd thought it would take the form of some personal seduction on the part of one of the girls at the shelter, one of them just "coming on" to Ragnar, whereupon he'd explain that he was coming out of a relationship and didn't feel like getting into another right then….or something like that. At least, that's what she'd coached him on doing, and it wasn't totally untrue.

But she hadn't figured on being required to find a girl to get him laid. That had never entered the equation.

Why couldn't Nightwing have arranged for them to just be presented as a married couple? That would have worked out just fine, and would have avoided this whole, unexpected complication. But nooooOOOOoooo…. Maybe he thought they were being presented as too young.

He'd never be unfaithful to M'gann, even though they were apart, not even in order to maintain their cover. "I—I don't think he'll go for this," she faltered, and for once, the stammer wasn't faked.

"But he must," Brother Smith insisted. "It's an important part of his training, the training you're both undergoing. If you won't pick one, I shall have to."

Rose thought fast. This was totally unforeseen, in any of the scenarios they'd gone over. She could only think of one way out of it, only one way to save them both. "Very well." She sat back, arms folded across her chest. "In that case, I pick me."

It was mildly rewarding to see the normally unflappable Brother Smith's eyebrow raise by a fraction of an inch.

To be continued…