Gold Justice, Chapter 4: Recognition

"—don't understand," Kid Flash was saying, as he walked down the corridors of Mt. Justice with Nightwing, "How can these guys be looking for an extraterrestrial genetic component in kids here on Earth? I mean, isn't that kinda a contradiction in terms?"

"Not really. Many scientists believe the reason there are so many humanoid races out there—races that, for all practical purposes, may as well be human—is not an accident. It may be all the humanoid races in the galaxy are interrelated in some way. A common ancestor or ancestors or something. Anyway, the similarities are just too great for it to be simply a product of converging evolutionary lines. The simplest answer is that we're all descended from some other race, some race that went about the galaxy, spreading its people to this planet, then to that. Different environments produced slightly different genotypes, but overall…we're all related, basically."

"So these guys…." Kid Flash struggled to wrap his mind around the concept. "…are basically looking for a genetic pattern that, that could be literally anywhere?"

"It seems so. And that means...their organization must come from off-planet."

Wally mulled that one over a bit. "So…now what?"

…

So immense was the black hole's event horizon, that the monster was sucked in immediately. The creature's incredible constitution was hardly affected by the massive gravity well, and the inertron held firm. At first.

But no matter how strong the monster was, no matter what its adaptation level was, it was still made of matter. And matter was subject to some strange effects, there in such a warped area of spacetime.

So the monster's tissue actually began to lengthen, to stretch out as though it were Earthly taffy, being pulled between two points. Anything else would have been killed outright, but the monster was not able to feel pain in the conventional sense. But it could sense opportunity.

And so while its body elongated, there, falling towards infinity, it took that chance to shuck off the bands that had held it, to discard them like a pair of old socks. The bands themselves remained unaffected by the tremendous gravity pull, but now they enclosed nothing….

If the monster could be said to have any emotions in any way similar to that of humans, it might be said that it looked forward to coming events with eagerness. What would it get to kill this time?

And how many?

…..

On the flight back to Earth, Ragnar stood at the bridge of the ship. Arisia was the only other person on the bridge at the time, and she noticed he looked steadfastly out at the ever-changing panorama of stars depicted on the screen.

She studied him from out of the corner of her eye. The blue skin made it hard to judge his age, and, of course, Ragnar himself had never bothered to figure up just exactly how old he was, the whole function of Earthly "years" still being a relatively new concept to him, but, no matter what his physical age, she could nonetheless detect that particular aura that people exude who are simply young and inexperienced. "So, Ragnar. Were the Guardians able to tell you anything about your parents?"

Sigh. "No. Evidently, they knew no more than I. And I know my ship's records were damaged in the crash…so it may well be that such answers will always elude me.

"But they were right about one thing: what answers I seek lie more in the time to come than times past."

She leaned back against a chair. "M'gann told you?"

"Yes. But she told me nothing I didn't already know. Why such a thing should bother her, I do not understand."

Arisia chuckled. It was hard to see the former yellow lantern as being anything other than the confused boy she now perceived him to be. At one time, she had been authorized to use deadly force against him. Now that seemed like way overkill. "Don't sweat it, as they say on Earth. Give it time, you'll understand. But people—people everywhere—tend to be a bit caught up in outward appearance, sometimes. It's a, well, I started to say a human thing, but it seems to go beyond that. Whether you're biologically human or not hardly matters." She changed the subject, sitting down in the chair. "Where there any star charts on your ship's computer? Anything at all that might be used to trace its line of flight?"

"None I could decipher. That doesn't mean they weren't there, only that I lacked the skill to decode them. Perhaps…" A faraway look came over his face. "Perhaps, at some point, someone might-*" But the alarm took that exact second to go off, a strident claxon that demanded attention.

"Warning. Warning. Extrauniversal incursion detected. Alert. Alert. All Green Lanterns in the vicinity of sector 0875 are directed to the following coordinates." A group of numbers ran across the holographic screen. Arisia took one look at it. "Hm. That's off the beaten path…looks like Tamar Roj and 'X'lyn are already on it." A frown marred her perfect features for just a moment. "But for it to be announced like this…it had to be something of considerable import. Well," She straightened up from the console, "Once we get you two back to Earth, we'll swing by and take a look, just to see if they need any help."

…

The monster had found itself on a barren, inhospitable world. It crossed and recrossed the globe, frequently at speeds of up to Mach 2. It could not fly, but it had infinite energy, and tore through the landscape on foot, looking for something to kill.

But it found nothing. Not so much as a blade of grass to uproot. What intelligence the beast had found that not only decidedly unsatisfying, but puzzling, to boot. Most worlds, similar to this, that it could—in its own limited way—remember had some form of life.

Lacking anything to kill, it tore into the nearby mountainside. Said mountainside happened to contain a dormant supervolcano, which, under such stress, refused to remain dormant.

The resulting eruption hurled the beast into the cold vacuum of space.

…..

Mt. Justice: M'gann and Ragnar had been briefed on the latest case the team had been handed, that of the oddly selective kidnappers. "And we've already sent the suspects on to the authorities, but that doesn't mean the case is over with, my any means. Megan, we may need your telepathy if we can manage to lasso any more."

"You know I'll do what I can, Nightwing. But you say these kidnappers were looking for some genotype or strand of DNA that's occasionally found in extraterrestrial races?"

"According to J'onn, yes. But why, we don't yet know."

"Hm….I wonder…."

"What?"

"Well, there are legends on Mars about a certain bloodline as being endowed with certain…qualities, I suppose you'd say. Nothing super, exactly, just….a sort of a predilection to being more easily manipulated. At one time, " and here she paused, clearly embarrassed. It was just her and Nightwing, Ragnar having taken this opportunity to get his living quarters in better shape. "At one time, it was rumored—never verified, mind you, just rumored—that a certain bloodline was desirable for eugenics experiments. But that was hundreds of thousands, maybe close to a million years ago."

"Well, there may or may not be a connection. I'll keep researching it, and add in your information as well. But these 'experiments'…just what sort of experiments are we talking about?"

She shifted, clearly uncomfortable with the subject. "It was primarily with the white Martians. Those records have been lost, but what has come down is that the experimenters were seeking to, well, improve, I guess you'd say, the Martian species." She held up her hands. "That's really all I know. Whether Uncle J'onn has any more information, that I don't know."

"Okay." He paused. "So what we have is—maybe—some interplanetary organization that is looking for a certain genotype. For purposes unknown."

"Basically."

"Alright." Then, "How goes things with our new member?"

"Quite well. He's a fast learner, but, growing up the way he did, I guess he had to be. And he's already aced the entrance tests to high school, even though," and here she frowned, "even though he tells me he never really had all that much in the way of an education. The basics were really all his ship taught him. Yet…he managed to figure out calculus, just from the problems presented on the test. I had to promise Mrs. McGillacudy that he wasn't cheating."

"So he's a math-head?"

"He certainly seems to have a brain for puzzles, at least. I remember the problems calculus gave me." She paused. "Of course, other things still give him problems. Social situations, mostly. But that's hardly surprising."

"Did you two learn anything on Oa?"

"Nothing. The Guardians are apparently just as mystified as we are about his origins, or how his ring changed like that. And they had no information on this 'Sarah Marshall,' whoever, whatever she is."

"Hm. You said she told you…that the two of you had met? When could that have happened?"

She shook her head. "No clue. I don't know what she was talking about, but she stated that we knew each other, that we'd met, sometime."

"So it's a mystery." Nightwing had a love / hate relationship with mysteries. Part of him loved the challenge of solving a puzzle, but another part hated not knowing the answers, or even where to get the answers. He sighed. "Guess Hal and I will keep digging. Anyway, I guess that about covers everything. Where's our Gold Lantern now?"

Ragnar had taken this time to visit a place Megan had called the mall, which was apparently a center of commerce in the town. The enclosed area appealed to him, but the crowds did not. He had seen no reason to disguise himself, and nobody had told him to, so he was exploring the mall in his full Gold Lantern uniform. Several times, some people stopped and stared at the blue-skinned, golden garbed figure, but most of the people in town knew about superheroes, including extraterrestrial ones, by now.

In spite of his discomfort with the crowds, he couldn't help but be fascinated by the bewildering variety of shops he encountered in the mall. Not to mention the food courts…he still didn't have any money, but noted several establishments that seemed promising, once he acquired some.

There were several shops, or kiosks, as Megan had called them, right out in the middle of the mall's spacious expanse. As he passed by one of these, he heard, "Sir? Would you like to try some imported hand cream?"

Hand? Cream? "Er, I don't know. What is it?" He didn't wish to seem rude or impolite, and was acutely conscious of his ignorance of proper cultural customs.

The speaker, an attractive young woman with a dark tan, came up to him. "It's the finest hand cream marketed in the You Ess. You see…." And she went on to explain, or so it seemed.

But she came up to him, closing the distance between them to a point that made Ragnar uncomfortable. He didn't mind when Megan, his friend, got this close, but he didn't know this person, and his natural caution made him uneasy. She was literally only a hand's breadth away from him, looking him straight in the eyes, intently, while she extolled the virtues of this "hand cream" she'd mentioned. So he took a step back.

She took a step forward. He took another step back, and she took another step forward. Again, a backward step on his part resulted in a forward step on hers.

Now he angled around the kiosk, endeavoring to get away. He didn't have any money, anyway, so it was pointless for her to waste her time in trying to sell him something, especially something whose purpose he was unclear about.

She took another step forward, adjusting her advance to accommodate his retreat. He took yet another step back and away, and she followed. He was beginning to get very nervous about this whole thing. "…made from tiny pearls, mixed with rare, secret ingredients from the far east…"

He'd backed around the entire kiosk one full circle, with her following his every move, when it occurred to him: go into another shop. "Excuse me, but I must go in here." He strove to be polite, as he understood it; from what he knew or could determine, she was only doing her job, and he had no wish to just shove her away. "Uhm, I, I w-will be back. Excuse me." And he turned and practically ran into the closest shop available. As he did, he noted the sign over it.

Just what was "Victoria's Secret," anyway?

…

"He left? Where'd he go?" Miss Martian asked Wally.

"Dunno." Kid Flash spoke around a mouthful of leftover pizza. "Just out. I didn't think to ask him where. Why?"

"Well, it's just….he's so new here. I guess I worry he'll get into some kind of trouble."

"Ah, it'll be okay. I mean, you know the guy; he's Mr. Caution himself. I mean, what's the worst that can happen?"

…

"Yes, sir? Can I help you, sir?" A sales clerk approached him as he looked around the store, utterly baffled by what he saw.

She wasn't much older than he was, or Megan, he thought, but she was by no means "older" in the usual sense, with wavy brown hair falling down past her shoulders. He still didn't have a good grasp of Earthly years, but, judging from what he had gleaned, she couldn't have been more than two or three of those years older than he was. Probably less. "Well, actually," he began, embarrassed, "I came in here in order to get away from, uhm…" And he inclined his head outwards into the shopping mall, where the other saleslady still sought to sell her hand cream.

The girl laughed. It was a nice laugh, he thought. Laughter was something he was just now coming to appreciate, having never had much experience with it, either in himself, and certainly not in any others. "Oh, I totally understand. You aren't the first one to seek refuge in here." She nodded outwards, towards the hand-cream saleslady. "She's, uhm, rather insistent. Or perhaps 'dedicated' would be a more polite term."

"Yes, she is." He looked around. "I confess to some curiosity about this place. I am not from your world, and there is much about it I don't understand. This shop, for example."

"Hm." She eyed him, a hint of disbelief and bemusement in her eyes. "Well, we sell, er, specialized garments here, aimed at women. Usually when a guy comes in, it's to buy something for a very special girl in his life." She looked him up and down, noting the blue skin and gold costume. She moved closer, looking at him very closely. "You have someone like that in your life?"

"I have a special friend, yes. Two, actually. But…somehow I don't think that's what you mean by 'special.'"

"Well, you know. Dating. A girlfriend." She saw his blank look. "A, a mate, maybe?" Geez. This guy really wasn't from around these parts. A suspicion was beginning to form in her mind…

"Ah! Yes, now I understand. No, I do not have a mate in my life. I do have a friend, however, who is a girl. But not a 'girl friend,' as I understand the term."

"Well, I mean, if you two aren't, y'know, intimate, you probably should hold off on getting anything for her from here." She looked around, nervously, it seemed to him. "My boss would probably kill me for saying that, but, but sometimes, I've noticed, guys tend to, well, wanna rush things a little."

This was all making only partial sense to him, but some of the meaning was beginning to percolate through. These garments…."I am mystified as to what the function of these clothes could be."

"They're for intimate couples. Unless you're intimate, or maybe want to be?..., it…might be best to hold off on buying anything in here."

"I shall take your advice."

She looked at him, tilting her head first one way, then the other, as though seeing him for the first time. "Say. You…you aren't just pretending, are you? That's not make-up on your face. You really are that new superhero, aren't you? The one who fought the Joker?" Nightwing had, in keeping with the covert nature of the team, seen to a press blackout regarding Ragnar. But word still got around…

"The Joker? Yes. He was trying to hurt my friend."

Her mouth twitched, and her expression became very somber. She came up to him, and, completely unexpectedly, put her arms around him, and squeezed. "I thought…I thought you were just cosplaying or something. But you…you're real." She pulled back, looking at him through eyes that were beginning to spill over with tears. "You saved my parents that night. They were in that PTO meeting, when that piece of shit tried to murder them all. You stopped him." She sniffled, hard. This made him uneasy, too; he didn't really know how to respond to that. The girl was clearly getting very emotional, and he barely knew how to handle his own emotions. Abruptly, she turned, and reached across the glass countertop. "Here." She handed him a small glass or crystal bottle with a spraying mechanism on top. "Give your friend this. This won't create any problems, I mean, all girls like perfume. Just give her this."

He stepped back. "I cannot buy anything . I have not been here long enough to acquire any of the 'money' that these items cost."

She shook her head. "I wouldn't have taken money from you anyway. You saved my family. You're a hero. To me." Suddenly, she leaned forward, and pressed her lips against his blue cheek. "It's on the house. Give her that. And," and here, she drew back, a little shyly, he thought, smiling at him, even as she dropped her gaze. "And, and, if by some chance she doesn't appreciate it….I…I know someone who would. Someone real close by."

The pair stood there in the middle of the store, both of them unsure what to do next, albeit for different reasons. Then, after a moment, she turned towards the back of the store. "Now as to getting you safely out of here….there's an employee entrance, a back door, right back through here..."

…

The beast had made another planetfall, and this one seemed more likely to produce more satisfying results. Already it had detected signs of civilization here, though, of course, the creature did not think in those terms. The closest approximation to that concept that went through its head was things to kill. Nourished by cosmic radiation, needing no air or water, the creature lived only to destroy.

In this last, it was making good headway. Already, the planetary defense forces had managed to get themselves extremely dead by going up against the monster. Reinforcements had been sent for, but said reinforcements took time to arrive, and the creature was not idle.

The living incarnation of pure destruction had already demolished two cities, in spite of the valiant attempts by the planet's military to halt its destructive rampage. It turned towards the next city. Dimly it could hear the sounds of beings in distress, some, it seemed to the creature, quite young. A savage grin split the monster's face. They'd get no older.

But even as it hurled itself forward, a ringing challenge came from above. "Halt, creature! Your destructive ways end, today!" Tamar Roj's challenge went forth, as did a blast from his emerald power ring. The crystalline entity known as 'X'lyn observed, and, with the vast processing powers his kind were famous for, sought any sign of weakness or handicap in their foe.

He wasn't finding any.

"Go back into the deserts that spawned you, and trouble these good folk no mor-*" He got no further. The monster leapt at him, catching him full on, and proceeded to literally tear the Green Lantern limb from limb. Horrified, albeit in his own unemotional way, 'X'lyn watched, still striving to see some hint of a weakness that they could exploit.

But there was none. Whatever damage the monster suffered healed in microseconds, not minutes, and at no time did it display any indication of even being inconvenienced by what few injuries they had inflicted upon it. It was as if it just didn't care what happened to it, as long as it could kill.

The remaining Green Lantern, wielding the most powerful weapon in the universe, lasted a full half-second under the monster's onslaught, before shattering into innumerable crystal shards.

To be continued…