"I'm not interested," Kara said, wearily eyeing the new arrival.
"Without hearing what I have to say, after so graciously helping you?" Bleez said.
"I didn't ask for your help," Kara said, crouching down to inspect Bloodsport's limp body. He was out cold. She had no remorse for his sickeningly loose haw. His gun lay by his side, how he got a hold of Kryptonite-based technology was the burning question.
"Your brand of help means I can't question him," she said. Bleez chuckled
"He deserves to suffer, I'm making him suffer. What more do you need?" she said. Kara got distracted by footsteps. Police were making their way through and investigating the scene. Standing in a backdoor to the carpark with an unknown woman in a matching uniform was suspicious. Add a heavily injured Bloodsport and it would not be an easy situation to explain. For a moment she thought about grabbing the gun, but with an expectant Bleez and the encroaching authority she decided it was easier to get out of there.
"I'm leaving," she said.
"So soon? We've barely even begun," Bleez said, the timbre of her voice made every sentence sound teasing and flirtatious.
"You've done enough. Follow me, or don't, I don't really care," Kara said. The other Red Lantern pouted at her, Kara held her gaze.
"Fine," Bleez said. The hostages could identify Bloodsport and the gun would undoubtedly end up in the D.E.O.'s possession. If anything, it could be a useful topic of distraction for her meetup with Alex. She knew leaving Bloodsport alone with the Red Lantern was a risk, she found herself not caring and took off.
After initially bursting high above the clouds, she kept her speed quite slow. The ring was satiated for the time being and her mind was settling back to the low hum. There was also the fact she was in no rush to return to her apartment for more frustrated attempts at a break.
Before long the other Red Lantern had joined her. Their red auras shone brightly over the grey cloud layer. The stars twinkled above them as the inky black of space stretched out into infinity. As Kara flew, Bleez gently spiralled around her, the wings of bone were even more impressive gliding in the breeze. Knowing full well the ring could do all the work with flight, she was sure she had her wings on full display merely to show off.
"You're awfully curt," Bleez said, still spiralling around her flight path.
"You took a big risk letting his thumb go. If there were more bombs, innocent people would have died," she said.
"He was too scared to lie to us. As you wouldn't let me take his hand it seemed like a good compromise," Bleez said, a quiet outcry emerged from the hum.
"Why are you following me?" Kara said.
"I haven't had a "thank you" yet," she said with a flamboyant flap of her wings. Kara grumbled to herself, wanting to steer the conversation away from the pointless prodding.
"Why are you really here? You're the first other Red Lantern I've seen in a long time," she said.
"It took me this long to find you, dear. As for why, you didn't really think that little display of yours on Ysmault went unnoticed, did you?" She said. Kara's eyes flitted away. Her time on that dreadful wasteland of a planet felt like an eternity ago. Without full control over her actions it had been a blur of heat, confusion and blood. It was one of the first thing's she remembered after Alex losing her arms and nearly being killed by Reign. She shuddered as she thought back to it and a sea of shouting rattled at her for a moment.
"I see it's a fond memory," Bleez said, bringing Kara back to Earth.
"I wanted to leave. I did. So what?" She said.
""So what?" She says," Bleez chuckled with another flap of her wings, a gentle wave of air brushed against Kara. "You challenge Atrocitus, win, and only have that to say for yourself?"
That fight had been the most intense experience of her life, Atrocitus' power was beyond anything she had known. The landscape of the already desolate planet of Ysmault took a severe beating when they went at each other. Some of the less attentive Red Lanterns had been caught in the crossfire of that fight. That raw power was enough to severely injure those bystanders. That same power had only slowed down Atrocitus until she got in a knock-out blow in with a construct. Due to her state of mind at the time and complete lack of knowledge of the Red Lantern Corps she had not thought much about that encounter since.
"I wasn't challenging him, he was just in my way," Kara said.
"Darling, I know you're quite new to this, so I'll spell it out for you. Any defiance to Atrocitus' authority is a challenge. He's always led the Red Lanterns and put anyone dumb enough to question that in their place, at least until you came along," Bleez said.
"The squabbles for power mean nothing to me," she said. Bleez swooped in front of her with gritted teeth, the flirty façade vanished and a look of pure fury burned at her. Kara stopped dead, her ring reacted to the outburst and Kara struggled to keep her thinking peaceful. She clenched her fists and met the glare of Bleez.
"You think you're above this," Bleez snarled.
"I am above this, you Red Lanterns and Ysmault are no concern of mine," Kara said, speaking loudly and slowly in an effort to stay calm.
"There's no "you" in this. Only "us." You took that ring just like everyone else in the Corps," she said.
"I use this ring to protect this planet, nothing more," Kara said.
"You can deny it all you like, but as long as you wear that uniform you're a Red Lantern," she said. Kara's whole body shook and her eyes began to glow, the ring was reacting fiercely to Bleez's rage. Her heart began to boom and the boiling heat roared around her body. She sucked in the air through her teeth as she to level herself. She latched on to any calming thoughts she could muster. Bleez had backed off in fear, the fire in her eyes extinguished. Supergirl's aggressive posturing had her cowering and bracing herself for an onslaught. Kara took short, sharp breaths and focused on the decreasing volume of her heartbeat, a pang of curiosity struck Bleez' expression after Kara's eyes faded and her posture returned to normal. She shook off and ran her hands through her hair.
"You didn't hurt me…" Bleez said.
"Don't push me like that," Kara said, slumping and slowing down her breathing.
"First the construct, now restraint. No wonder Atrocitus is so scared of you," Bleez said, still weary. Kara rubbed her forehead, no doubt the headache that had emerged was going to hound her for a while.
"Scared?" She said.
"Before your attitude… set me off..." Bleez looked at her ring. "I was intending to tell you that Atrocitus is very much up to something and you're at the core of it."
"I don't want anything to do with him," she said.
"You aren't the only one, darling, but I'm going to have to hold that thought," Bleez said, putting a finger up and looking intently into the distance. A green glow was hurtling toward them. "Your arrogance was getting to be enough for one day, now we have to deal with a Green one." Kara raised her eyebrow at the comment, but let it slide as the Green blur got closer. This Green Lantern looked human, but as he closed in she saw he wore a different pattern to Hal Jordan and his features were covered by a full facemask.
"It's bad enough one Red Lantern operates in my sector, imagine my annoyance when my ring tells me that another has shown up," he said. His voice was familiar, but Kara could not quite place it.
"You're not Jordan," Bleez said, narrowing her eyes.
"It doesn't matter who I am, what matters is what's going on here," he said. Kara stayed quiet, watching them both carefully.
"We're just talking, I assume your precious Guardians wouldn't have a problem with that," Bleez said. Kara's ring seemed to be picking up more anger from the Green Lantern than Bleez.
"My precious Guardians would have a problem if you Reds are planning something," he said.
"Even if we were, I'd like to see a rookie try and apprehend us," Bleez said, that tone of hers added heavily to the mocking vibe.
"I want no part of whatever this is," Kara said. A narrow glare from Bleez cut through her smooth façade once more. Her smile returned quickly as the Green Lantern spoke once more.
"I won't do anything unless you give me a reason, but I'll be keeping a close eye on the both of you," he said. Kara was frustrated that she could not place his voice, it was on the tip of her mind but just out of her memory's grasp.
"Aww, the new Green Lantern wants to act tough," Bleez said, folding in her wings.
"Don't you have better things to be doing than throwing empty warnings at us?" Kara said, she could only hold her disdain for the Green Lantern Corps for so long.
"As a matter of fact, I do, but tread carefully Supergirl. The Guardians of the Universe are still watching Earth very closely," he said.
"If you and your friends hadn't utterly failed to find the Daxamite Prince, then Earth wouldn't have this problem," Kara said with a snarl. Bleez's smile only grew wider when Kara spoke. The Green lantern folded his arms, it was hard to read his thinking behind the facemask. Whatever had popped into his head, he had decided it was not worth it.
"You try anything that's a threat, I'll be there," he said. He flew off quickly, clearly wanting to be the one to have the last word. The Green blur faded into the distance. Kara groaned and turned to a smiling Bleez.
"What?" Kara said.
"Looks like you and the Green Lanterns have an interesting history," she said.
"I don't think I know that one. But Jordan and the Guardians think I'm too dangerous," Kara said.
"Yes… News would spread quickly if Jordan had died… Two Green Lanterns per sector, it really is true," she said, caressing her chin.
"Is there a point to any of this," Kara said, reaching the edge of her patience.
"It would be another reason Atrocitus has been so busy," Bleez said, more thinking out loud than speaking to her.
"Make whatever point you came here for, then leave me alone," Kara said. Bleez rubbed her hands together and leaned forward.
"When you cast doubt on Atrocitus' strength it caused quite the upset. Not only sheer power but the ability to summon a construct set you as a potential challenger to his leadership," she said.
"How many times do I have to say I don't want anything to do with the Corps," Kara said. Bleez swallowed hard, Kara could sense that such disinterest was angering her.
"Doesn't matter to them, and more importantly it doesn't matter to Atrocitus. After you left he had one of his blood rituals and flew off, muttering about the constructs and expansion. His ramblings didn't mean a whole lot to me, but he's been travelling all over the universe to gather every Red Lantern he can find. I'm firmly in the belief he's rallying them so he can kick you back into line," she said.
"Why are you telling me this, what does warning me gain you?" Kara said, unsure whether to trust what she was hearing.
"As I said, dear, you're a challenge to his leadership. There are a lot of us that would be glad to see the end of Atrocitus' reign," she said.
"And why's that?" Kara said.
"There are those of us who don't like how he operates, those of who are tired of his iron fist, and many of us who just plain don't like him. It wouldn't take much persuasion to get an awful lot of the Corps on your side," she said. Kara did not like what she was hearing, whatever discontent had built up amongst the Red Lanterns had come to a boiling point and now she might be in the centre of it all.
"I am not interested," She said, sounding out each word.
"You'll have to be interested, darling. He'll be coming for you sooner or later. With other members of the Corps on your side you might actually stand a chance," Bleez said.
"This begs the question, like him or not it sounds dangerous to be seen with me. Why have you picked me over him if it's such a risk?" She said.
"I've been a Red Lantern for long enough to know that change is needed. You're the only one strong enough to bring it," Bleez said. Kara sighed and looked out into the stars. She could only hope Bleez was exaggerating or being an alarmist. The last thing she wanted was Earth to be in danger because of some stupid grudge. Fighting Atrocitus one on one had pushed her to the limit, there was no way she could face him backed by the entire Corps of Red Lanterns. She reluctantly turned to Bleez. Her insistence had her worried this was less avoidable than she had initially hoped.
"What do you suggest?" She asked.
"You do the same as him. Find as many Red Lanterns as you can and convince them you're the one to follow. With me by your side it'll be an awfully persuasive pitch," Bleez said.
"I can't leave the planet. It needs protection," she said. The World Killers took priority above all else.
"Oh, how noble," Bleez said, sounding disappointed. "Although it also sounds like the Greens will start meddling if you get up to too much." Kara rubbed the bridge of her nose, nervous of the consequences of getting more involved in the situation. She came up with a compromise that would both buy her time and hopefully not ruffle any feathers in the Corps.
"I want more information, go out there and gauge everything you can. Understand that this is not a recruitment drive, I have no intention of starting a war" she said. Bleez shot a playful smile at her.
"You may not have a choice, my dear, but I'll see what I can do," she said.
"I want you report back to me regularly, if conflict can be avoided I want to know about it right away," she said.
"Your wish is my command, darling." She said, she stopped to think for a moment. "How do I find you again? I know to look for you on this little planet now but it's still quite the area to cover."
"How did you find me in the first place?" Kara said, hoping for a simple solution.
"A lot of asking around and a bit of luck," Bleez said. Supergirl frowned, it was an unhelpful answer. She considered having Bleez stay with her and giving her a phone, but until she had more information she wanted to keep this quiet and away from Earth. It was also a risk to show Bleez any of her life as Kara Danvers. For what it was worth she still tried to keep a degree separation between the mess of her identities.
"I usually reside in a place called National City, it's on the West coast of this continent. To reach me, go there, say my name enough times and I'm bound to pick it up," she said, making a mental note to herself to keep an ear out for Bleez's distinctive tones.
"Very well, Supergirl. It's been a pleasure," Bleez said. She rose into the sky, stretching out her wings once more. Twisting upward, her red shielding ignited in a swirl of flame as she rocketed away. Kara floated in place and stared down at her ring, it glimmered at her. The burdens of the ring always found a way to grow.