Carol could see the bar exploding, but only barely. She was beginning to lose consciousness, and as smoke brewed from the building, she faded away, but not before images of a memory of Broome and Colan's began popping into her head...
Two Years Ago
Carol suddenly found herself next to the bar she frequented after work, and she had no memory of what had occurred in the past few hours. None.
She hadn't been drinking; Carol had tried to only drink at the bar, to avoid sinking into alcoholism like her cousin or grandfather. But something had happened. Her hair was a mess, her long-sleeved shirt was a bit tattered, her right pant leg had a big hole in it, and she was missing one of her boots; only a black sock with white stripes on it was visible.
She saw a few men walk out of Broome and Colan's. She recognized most of them from work, but only one name popped up right away: Hal Jordan.
Hal and three of the other men - one a dude with a shaved head and a distractingly big nose, and another a guy with gray eyes and pearly white teeth, and the last one a man with shades, slick black hair, and an all-black attire, walked up to her, eyebrows raising on all of their heads.
"That chick…she works with us, doesn't she?" the man with shades asked.
"Yeah. Carol Danvers." The man with the shaved head replied. "What the hell happened with you, lady? You look terrible."
Carol opened her mouth to speak, but wasn't sure of what to say. Because she still couldn't think of anything that had transpired in the last few hours.
"I, uh….I have no idea, gents."
Hal and the other guys looked at each other, and everyone but Hal began inquiring her further.
"What, are you drunk?"
"Her speech isn't slurred, jackass. She's probably just hungover."
"He's right. I mean, look at her. This is not how a guy should look, let alone a lady."
Carol was not sure of what to make of that remark, but she decided she would deal with that later. Some images were beginning to flash through her mind…but she couldn't believe any of them. She saw flashes of various figures; some of them were tan-skinned, but others donned blue on their flesh. And they all wore some combination of green and white. She didn't know what to make of any of these images. Then she remembered the sound of herself screaming in pure and absolute agony. That made Carol even more confused, as she didn't feel any semblance of pain now, and she didn't even feel sore from anything.
"Carol, what all can you remember?" Hal asked, finally breaking his silence.
"I…I…aliens….I remember aliens…and some sort of abduction…I…" Carol was thinking aloud, and she honestly hadn't realized she said those words out loud until everyone but Hal began to laugh out loud.
"You're not serious! You cannot be serious!"
"Oh, you must've gotten so drunk!"
"Lord, this has made my night!"
"PFFFFT HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Carol felt really embarrassed. She couldn't have believed she said that out loud. Hal simply looked baffled, and everyone else was laughing their asses off. She looked down at the ground in shame, a feeling only worsened when the other guys brought in another lad to get a load of this.
"So what were these people?" The man in shades said in a mocking tone. "Little green men? The grey dudes? Reptilian monsters?!"
Carol groaned loudly, but she could hardly blame them for not believing her. She probably wouldn't believe this either – although she wouldn't laugh at them like this.
So what Hal said next surprised her. "Hey now, guys! That's quite enough! Just give her some time to clear her head. Nothing good ever comes out of laughing at people like this."
The man with a shaved head turned his head and spat in Hal's face. "Oh look at ol' Hal Jordan here, trying to be a big man and stand up for the defenseless lady. Get lost!"
Now Carol knew exactly what to say next. "Excuse me?! Did you just call me defenseless?! I know more than a few ways to kick your ass, buddy!"
The guys began to laugh again.
"Don't push me!" Carol said, scowling.
Hal was still standing there, his eyes narrow. Carol appreciated him helping out, but they weren't that close. Carol could only recall having a few full conversations with him, and none of them were ever that deep.
Carol didn't have that much time to think about it, though. She was a little busy trying to resist the urge to punch out all of these guys.
Eventually, the guy in all-black stopped laughing. "Alright, we should probably get going. Thanks for the laugh, Carol."
All of the men walked away, leaving Hal and Carol just standing there. Carol narrowed her eyes at them, and a death glare appeared on her face. She wanted so badly to kick these guy's asses, but a small part of her pondered over whether it was really worth her time.
In the end, whether it was worth her time or not didn't matter, because Hal seemed to think it was worth his time.
"You're all just a bunch of cowardly assholes, you know that?!" He shouted out, pointing towards them.
Carol was still surprised to see Hal being like this. Well, she rethought that. From what conversations they had had, Carol knew that Hal wasn't always one to think things through. And that seemed to be the case now. And she couldn't help but notice the green ring on his finger. He had never worn any rings before, not that she had seen at least.
The four guys all turned around, and the one with shades began to crack his knuckles. "Oh, so you want an assbeating, Jordan? Oh oh hoh, Christmas came early for you, pal."
"Alright, I've had enough of this! Back! Off!" Carol said, pointing towards them.
But she couldn't believe it when yellow energy blasts came out of her hand and fired right towards that guy. He was sent flying a few feet away, and the others just looked at Carol in horror and disbelief.
Carol herself was in horror and disbelief. The guys just ran away.
"What the fuck was that?!"
"Holy shit!"
"That freak!"
But there was one person not running, and that was Hal, who just stood there with his mouth agape. Carol just looked at him with another dose of disbelief.
"I-I-I – what is going on with me!? I swear, Hal, I don't know what this is!"
Hal raised his hands up. "Okay, okay, calm down. Follow me. Let's go into that alley over there."
"Wha – why?"
"Just follow me!"
Carol decided to just go along with it, and she followed Hal to the alley that was right next to Broome and Colan's. Aside from a few trashcans and piles of trash, there wasn't much here.
Carol was breathing heavily. "With all due respect, Hal, why aren't you running away! I have no idea what I'm capable of! I could hurt you! Bad!"
Hal let out a deep breath. "I know. And I know we're not that close. But we have something in common now. Something…." Hal said, before pausing and looking down at the ground. "Something has happened to me, too."
Carol raised her eyebrow, and her questions were answered when Hal lifted his hand and showed her the ring. And this time, it was glowing a brighter shade of green. Suddenly, a green boxing glove appeared over it, with Carol assuming that Hal was creating it with the ring; then, a 1950s television appeared; and then, an AR-15. All green.
"So...you're like Alan Scott?"
"In a sense. My ring has no connection to his. I…it's a long story, and it only happened a few days ago. I haven't told anyone else, because I wasn't sure anyone would understand."
He paused and looked side-to-side, before returning eye contact with Carol. "But it looks like I was wrong. Do you want to come by my apartment and discuss things there?"
"…Sure."
Present Day
Hal gritted his teeth as he held up a shield to defend everyone from the blast. Everyone on the other side of the bar had unfortunately died in the blast, but he was able to shield John, Sam, Cap, Barry, and everyone else on this side of the bar. It was insane luck that he did, too, given how sudden the blast was.
Carol was gone now, and everyone just looked at Hal in confusion and amazement. He had been forced to reveal his identity as Green Lantern to these people; he didn't like that, but it was a necessary action. He was never going to let innocents die just so he could protect his identity.
But worrying about these consequences would have to wait. Carol had been taken by the Kree.
He himself was thinking about that night, two years ago, right now. They went to Hal's apartment, where they discussed what had happened to each of them. Hal explained the whole concept of the Green Lantern Corps to Carol, and had to emphasize that Alan Scott had no connection to the Corps. Hal himself found it an unlikely story that Alan just so happened to take the name of an intergalactic police organization. In addition, Hal didn't imagine that Carol Danvers would be the first person he told about the Corps and his membership to it, but life throws surprises at people. And he narrowed his eyes, pissed at the surprise life was throwing at him and the Vanguard right now.
"Is everyone alright!" He said as Clark adjusted his glasses and looked at the other half of the bar, which had been blown up.
"Half of us are dead!" Sam replied, pointing at the burnt half of the bar.
Clark stared at the bodies, with Hal assuming that he was using his X-Ray vision. His assumption was proven correct when Clark said, "16 people. 16 people are dead!"
Hal narrowed his eyes. The Kree would pay. But then he noticed Clark walk up to Barry and nod, and then the reporter walked up to the pilot and whispered in his ear as well. "Barry and I are going to try and find a way to zoom out of this bar without anyone else noticing. You take Cap and Stark and meet us at the S.T.A.R. Labs by here, and we'll discuss what to do from there."
That didn't sound like a bad idea, Hal thought to himself. He nodded, and engulfed both Cap and Iron Man in a giant green bubble.
"Man, I wish I could kick those aliens' asses right here, right now!" John shouted out amongst all the commotion.
"Don't worry, John," Cap said to assure the Marine. "These guys will get what's coming to them. And then some."
And with that, Hal took Cap and Iron Man and flew away.
Hal, Cap, and Iron Man were waiting by the S.T.A.R. Labs in town, with Iron Man tapping his foot impatiently. Hal rolled his eyes at this, since Barry and Superman were speedsters. They would probably be here in a few milliseconds. And sure enough, before Hal could think another thought, the two had arrived, and they could discuss what to do now.
"Alright, anyone got a plan?" Barry asked.
"It's really quite obvious," Iron Man replied. "We go and rescue Carol, and then kick some Kree ass."
"Well, about that part about rescuing Carol…"
Iron Man showed confused body language, so Hal figured he'd step in and explain. "Carol can almost certainly save herself, Stark. She'll have probably busted her way out of those assholes' prison cells by the time we get to wherever their ship is located. Our real priority needs to be helping her fight off the Kree, and get them to answer to the Guardians of the Universe for the deaths of those innocent people at the bar!"
"I take it your Green Lantern Corps won't stand for the Kree have done?" Cap asked, his arms crossed.
"Correct. The Kree Empire is not to cause any strife like this outside the borders of their own Empire, which consists of about a thousand or two star systems. They have just murdered sixteen innocent people on a planet under the protection of the Green Lantern Corps. The Guardians will not be happy."
"All of that sounds good, Hal." Superman said as he walked up closer to the Green Lantern, before making eye contact with Iron Man. "Stark, where did you encounter the Kree?"
"In Malibu," Iron Man answered, some static coming off of his damaged armor. "They must've not known exactly where in California Carol was, so they were searching around the state. I fought them all the way here. I…might've attacked first. Here we are, though. Now give me one minute."
Some beeping sounds could be heard from Iron Man's armor, and the other four just stood there patiently, waiting for Iron Man to get done with whatever he was doing. It was about thirty seconds or so before he stopped.
"Alright, my sensors and cameras are heavily damaged, but from what little I could gather, the Kree seem to have gone up in space. They are currently directly above the North American continent."
"Alright then!" Superman replied, raising his arm up. "Looks like we're going up into space."
Carol was out cold for a few minutes, but when she got up, she was in a glass with a glass bubble entrapped around it. The outside room was pure silver. It had an even more chrome tint to it than the Vanguard Tower. She looked around – there seemed to be little sign of any activity going on in this ship.
That is, until that Kree lady 'Minn-Erva' and three Kree soldiers entered the room and looked directly at Carol, who was unsure what to make of any of this. "After all these years, we have you in our grasp at last."
Carol pressed her hands onto the glass, and then backed away and unleashed an energy blast onto her cell to try and shatter it. She let out a 'huh' when that didn't work and the cell stood there as if she had but poked it.
With no clear escape in sight, she looked at Minn-Erva, confused. "What is this?! Why are you doing this?!"
Minn-Erva seemed confused, going by her raised eyebrow. 'Do you not actually remember?"
"…No." Carol replied.
"Ah, the translator microchip still works. You wear the symbol of the Kree on your suit, and you don't even remember where it came from, or who did this to you?"
"No. Not at all."
"Well, that uniform is still property of the Kree Empire. You wrongfully stole it from us when you were trying to bust your way out of our ship, even though you had know idea where you were! Danvers, did you even know that you could fly then?!"
That…sounded familiar, Carol thought to herself. She now had flashes of herself waking up and attacking the Kree in a state of panic. She found the uniform and stole it to give herself something to wear, as she thought she had something like a hospital gown on at the time.
"Okay, quick question, Miss Minn-Erva. Why did it take so long for you to find me if I am guilty of theft and damage to one of your vessels."
Minn-Erva just stood there for a brief moment before speaking. "A race called the Thanagarians began a revolt and tried to break free from our empire. They managed to drive us away…but know this. The Thanagarian Revolution is one of only a single-digit number of failures the Kree Empire has suffered. We have a very good success rate, so don't think you'll be breaking out of here anytime soon."
To that, Carol smirked. "Oh, just try me. But let's take in the unlikely event where I don't break out of here and hand you your asses. Where will you take me?"
"You will be taken to Hala, the homeworld of the Kree and the centerpiece of our empire. There, we will finally finish our experimentation on you, you pesky little lab rat."
It was then that one of the Kree soldiers piped in. "Excuse me, Doctor, but what should we do about the Green Lantern of this sector? We technically violated our agreements with them, and not only that, but Abin Sur is dead – and the new Green Lantern of this sector is from Earth."
Minn-Erva seemed to light up a little at the mention of 'Green Lantern'. "Ah, yes, Hal Jordan. I have heard of him. He's only been at this a few years. If he's even near Earth, then we'll handle him, and he won't live to tell the Corps of what we've done."
Carol laughed now. "Oh, Hal is much more capable than you realize, Minn-Erva! And it just so happens that he was at the bar where you guys abducted me! But he's not the only one you have to worry about, hon."
She then began to blast at the cell door some more, and now Minn-Erva was the one laughing. "Fool! You cannot break free!"
"Give me a minute," Carol replied as she kept blasting the cell. After a dozen or so blasts, the cell began to crack, and Minn-Erva's smug smile disappeared.
"She is more powerful than we realized!" One of the soldiers pointed out as the cell began to crack some more.
"I can see, you know!" Minn-Erva snapped back as the cracks began to worsen.
"Let me guess, you saw humans as nothing but pathetic little worms that you could experiment on without pissing anyone off, didn't you?" Carol asked, and she could see from Minn-Erva's shocked gasp that this probably was the case.
"Well, if that's the case," she added on, her right hand glowing with energy. "Then, boy are you in for a rude awakening."
She blasted the cell one more time, and now it had completely shattered, with glass falling all over the place.
"No! NO!" Minn-Erva shouted, before getting out a small circle-shaped device and pressing one of the purple buttons on it. "I want every personnel not flying the ship to get down here right now! Carol Danvers has broken out of her cell! I repeat, Carol Danvers has broken out her cell."
Evidently, some principles were universal, because sirens began to go off and the entire room was flashing orange. Before Carol knew it, dozens of soldiers were charging their way into the room, ready to take her out. She levitated above the ground, but then noticed that Minn-Erva was levitating above the ground, too, indicating that she was also superpowered.
That would definitely make this more of a challenge, but Carol wasn't going to back down to the Kree. In spite of their numbers, her fists continued to glow – she was ready to finish them right here, right now.