Chapter 5

Bolling Air Force Base; Washington DC (Sector 2814)

Captain Amy Seaton walked down the halls of the base, completely stunned by what she had heard. Apparently the President was out of his mind. Why would he want to divert precious resources to take down one man?

It made absolutely no sense, and the fact that the NSA would support this made matters worse.

No wonder Jordan wished to remain in space.

"Captain Seaton" said a voice, Seaton turned to face a woman approaching her "May I have a moment with you?"

"Is something the matter, Miss Waller?" Seaton asked rather uneasy.

"From what I understand your expedition seems to be one member short." Waller said as the two continued walking "I would like to know what happened to this Harold Jordan."

"I honestly don't know how to answer that. Hal had doubts about returning here to Earth, I tried to explain that we had orders to return but-"

"Oh, so he was planning to desert." Waller interrupted "Well, it's a good thing he died then." Seaton flinched at that last part, she knew that Amanda Waller wasn't what one would call forgiving, but to downright say she was glad someone had died was something else entirely.

"Was there something else, Miss Waller?" Seaton asked, holding back the urge to smack the robust woman.

"Well, yes there is." Waller spoke "I've read your report of that massive object that attacked the station. I would like to know more about it."

City Ruins; Slyggia (Sector 1418)

Hal and Kilowog walked towards a large, mostly intact building where they believed they could find the next Lantern.

It was similar to the one where they found Penelops' corpse, though it was in admittedly better shape. Hal looked at Kilowog as they continued walking towards the building.

"I take it this is the right place?" Hal asked as they reached the large door.

"Trust me, if there's any place Salaak would hide it's here." The two lanterns knocked on the door, after several seconds, it opened and a rather tall figure with four arms and a large head stepped out.

Hal noticed the creature was wearing a particular suit, though didn't think much of it.

"Good to see that you're still standing, Salaak." Kilowog stated.

"You shouldn't have come here, Kilowog" The creature, now identified as Salaak spoke, he then turned to see Hal and, Hal assumed, raised a brow. "And who are you?"

"I'm Hal Jordan" he responded "We came here looking for help"

"Then you came to the wrong place" Salaak responded before going back inside. Hal took a step forward and stopped the door from closing.

"Listen, Kilowog's planet was taken by Manhunters, we need your help to take it back."

"And for how long would that be, Mr. Jordan?" Salaak turned to face him. "The Manhunters are relentless and their numbers are infinite."

"They must have a weakness." Kilowog stepped forward.

"Must they? We both know the truth about the Manhunters, Kilowog. We both know they cannot be destroyed, as well as the purpose they were assigned to fulfill."

Hal turned to look at Kilowog "What's he talking about?"

"He didn't tell you?" Salaak stepped forward "Kilowog and I were both part of the Green Lantern Honor Guard, and as such, we are among the few who know the truth about the Manhunters."

Hal stood there in silence "You knew?" Kilowog simply nodded in silence.

"The Oans told us that the Manhunters were indestructible, but when I found you I thought we had a chance to prove them wrong." Kilowog responded.

"Wait, the Oans made those things?"

"They were designed to aid us" Salaak continued "And for a time they did, but then one day they turned on us. I lost a lot of friends to the Manhunters that day, and have been here ever since."

"You always were a loner and a pessimist, Salaak." Kilowog stated as he and Hal began to walk away "I see you haven't changed."

Mogo (Sector 2261)

"Where did you say we were again?" Hal asked as they kept walking through the rocky slopes.

"Mogo" Kilowog responded, admiring the landscape "One of the few places untouched by the Manhunters."

"Why is that? Is there a really powerful Lantern here?"

"You could say that."

The two then stopped at a large plain. Hal looked around, but all he saw was a massive canyon with large rocks, several of them jagged, he turned the other way and saw a narrow stream.

"So, where is this Lantern?" Hal asked, Kilowog let out a loud chuckle.

"We're standing on top of it?" the large alien responded.

Hal raised a confused brow "Come again?"

"The planet that we're on, Mogo, is a member of the Corps." Kilowog explained, sitting on a nearby rock "It's one of the most powerful members of the Corps."

Hal looked around, feeling the ground beneath his feet rumble.

"Mogo says 'hi'" Hal sat in front of Kilowog "It'll let us rest here for the night."

"Are we safe here?"

"The Manhunters would have to be malfunctioning before attacking Mogo, it's willpower is unbreakable."

"So, what does Mogo do?"

"Usually, whenever a lantern dies, their ring is sent here to Mogo. The planet then sends the rings out to search for a suitable Lantern, someone worthy of the Corps."

Hal looked at his ring.

"Why do you think mine chose me?" he asked.

"Not sure, maybe something in you reminded it of Abin Sur. Maybe it saw something in you that it didn't see in anyone else."

Hal pondered for a minute, remembering when he and Captain Seaton found the ring. Day turned to night, the two continued talking.

"Wow, this Captain Seaton sounds really scary." Kilowog commented.

"You have no idea" Hal responded "But she can be inspiring if you're on her good side."

Kilowog began to talk, but Hal couldn't understand what he was saying. Sighing, Hal looked at his ring.

"Looks like their almost out of juice" he whispered. Getting up from his seat, Hal turned into the canyon, giving Kilowog the sign that he needed a moment to breath, the Bolovaxian nodded in understanding.

Hal walked up and admired the scenery around him. It was hard for him to wrap his mind around the idea of an entire planet being part of the Corps, not its inhabitants but the planet itself.

Suddenly, a cloud of smoke caught Hal's attention. The pilot turned in its direction and his eyes widened in horror. In the distance a large group of Manhunters were getting closer and closer.

Placing his ring on his finger, Hal turned back to the camp sight.

"KILOWOG!" he shouted "We need to get out of-" he was cut off as he felt a large object slam into his head. He fell to the ground and could only make out the image of Kilowog rushing as far away from Mogo as he could before everything went dark.