To whose who actually waited and didn't lose interest due to the almost year-long gap between chapters, I thank you for your patience. I did lose interest in this project for a pretty long time, which explained why it came to such a slug for a long while. I've made many excuses to myself over the years, but the reason ultimately comes to this other project I was thinking about and planning out much more than this fic. I do not want to give any details on that project yet, especially since it might end up being too ambitious to actually happen. But this project isn't, and I intend to finish it by summer. I used to be very passionate about Age of Wonders, and even if many of you aren't left to read it (which I understand), I feel I have come too far to not finish it.

"What do you mean? Are Thawne and Minerva here now?!" Carol demanded as Sinestro simply stood there, arms crossed.

Sinestro shook his head. "Of course that's what I meant. I see you are as dense as ever, Danvers."

"Spare me your insults!" Carol snapped at the yellow Lantern.

And it was just then that a familiar face, donned in a gold and blue uniform, floated down to the ground. Carol recognized the familiar appearance of Richard Rider, Nova, underneath his golden helmet. His face looked weary, a few cuts around his chin visible as he spoke. "Jordan. Danvers. I meant to greet you both earlier, and I wish it was under better circumstances. There's a situation regarding the actions of two supervillains from Earth."

"We already heard." Hal walked over and patted Rich's shoulder. "Good to see you, Rider. But I doubt we need the assist. We've got plenty of heavy hitters in our group already."

As he said that, a thought did creep into the back of his mind. There were a vast number of immensely powerful objects and artifacts in their universe that were capable of crippling even the mightiest hero. Even the average person on the street knew that a small chunk of Kryptonite could completely turn the tables against Superman. None of them had any weaknesses like that, unless one counted waxed floors for the speedsters. As powerful as Eobard Thawne and Minn-Erva were, they had to know that they stood little chance against numerous superheroes here, plus Sinestro if he would actually help. In that moment, Hal braced himself for Sinestro inevitably mentioning that they had acquired some new power boost.

Sinestro's face darkened, coiling as he contorted his lips into a frown. "Your overconfidence is misplaced, Jordan." Of course, Sinestro wouldn't let an opportunity to criticize Hal's attitude slide, the latter thought to himself. "They have gained access to the Reality Stone."

'Damn it,' Hal swore to himself, hoping that for once, Sinestro's superior attitude was unfounded.

"How in the hell did they manage to do that?!" Carol demanded to know. "Isn't the Reality Stone supposed to be safeguarded on Hala?"

Sinestro let out a snide scoff at the mention of Hala. "The Kree, evidently, are not as good at protecting such valuable artifacts as they want the galaxy to believe they are. It would also appear that their countermeasures were not enough to deal with a speedster such as Thawne."

Hal considered that for a moment. Speedsters did seem nonexistent outside the planet Earth, so it was possible that Thawne and his connection to the Speed Force blindsided the Kree.

Barry sped over to Sinestro, standing about a foot away from him as he asked, "How do you know this? And why haven't you confronted them yourself?"

"First of all, Flash, I only know this because Minn-Erva tracked me down and approached me for, how do the humans say it, a 'team-up'. But I have little interest in working with a petty psychopath like Thawne or an unambitious clot like Minn-Erva. And I did not fight them because, quite frankly, this is not my fight."

Hal sneered at that last remark, even if it didn't surprise him in the least. "Your concern for others truly knows no bounds, Sinestro."

"I see you haven't lost your impertinence, Jordan. Despite my best efforts to teach you otherwise. Regardless, I came to warn you, did I not? I could have easily let them annihilate you all."

Now it was Carol's turn to take a jab at Sinestro. "And now the penny drops. You're not doing this for any altruistic purpose. You just want us to owe you a favor in case the time ever comes for it."

Alan, Jay, and Jessica had all taken a backseat to this conversation, though Jay and Jessica in particular bore grim looks on their faces given everything they had just found out. Alan, on the other hand, bore a stern and determined look, the look of a man who would not go down without a fight.

Alan walked over to the others. "I know I'm in no position to lecture others given my actions on this trip. But now is not the time for chit-chat. If they truly do have one of the Infinity Stones, we need to be preparing for their arrival!"

Suddenly, a whirling sound emanated throughout the air, and everyone checked the surroundings to find the source of the noise. It was only a few seconds later that a blue portal appeared, whirring in a circle. The power of the Space Stone was presented before them, and then a yellow being sped around them all, red lightning crackling around him. He was followed shortly by Minerva, who was clad in mostly red while sporting black gloves and boots.

"Hello, Barry!" Thawne greeted his archnemesis with an almost sincere tone, seemingly burying the pure, seething hatred he bore for the Scarlet Speedster for just that one moment.

Barry jeered. "Did this camping trip make it into the Flash Museum in the future or something? How the hell did you know we'd be here?!"

Thawne grinned. "I've been tracking you for a while, Barry. What, did you think I was going to move on to someone else?"

Carol stepped in, cracking her knuckles. "Let's cut to the part where we wipe the floor with your smug faces, shall we?"

Minn-Erva began the fight by blasting out energy beams against Hal and Alan, both of whom created shields to deflect the blasts. But Minn-Erva had anticipated this, as while they deflected the blasts, she sped past Hal and slashed at him with her clawed hands before biting him on the shoulder. Alan created a pillar with his ring and swung it against Minn-Erva's blast. She braced against the backlash, before using her laser vision to destroy the pillar construct. Jessica glided over to the two and unleashed venom blasts against Minn-Erva, with Hal taking advantage of the distraction to create a boxing glove that smashed the Kree Warrior's face.

Meanwhile, Jay and Barry were starting to literally run circles around Thawne, yellow lightning emanating all around from the two heroic speedsters. Red lightning started to mix into the yellow lightning as Thawne chased after them. Cackling sounds filled the air as the lightning grew larger and larger in size. After a few moments, Thawne lunged towards Barry and grabbed him, the two falling down onto the ground below. Jay raced over, removed his helmet, and begin slamming his hand into it. This resulted in several sound waves bursting through Thawne's eardrums, and while he stopped to cover his ears, Nova and Carol both shot concussive blasts towards the villainous speedster, sending him reeling before he had recovered.

Sinestro had done nothing this entire time. He had just levitated in the air, his arms crossed and his face contorted into an amused smirk as he watched the whole battle play out before him.

"Well, it appears that all you heroes have this under control," Sinestro stated as he began to inch further and further upwards. "It looks like my work here is done, seeing as this doesn't affect me any longer. Just make sure to secure the Reality Stone afterwards."

But then Minn-Erva turned her attention away from Jessica and the Lanterns, and flew to intercept Sinestro. Her hands had started to glow red. "Thaal, you spoke far too soon." And with that, red lines of energy converged out of her hands and all of them shot out towards Sinestro, and before anyone knew it, he had been transformed into a clay-like substance, not unlike playdough. He quickly fell to the ground.

Thawne began to glow a sinister crimson as well. It was only then that the heroes noticed the small, silver gauntlets that Thawne and Minn-Erva were wearing. Clearly, the gauntlets were meant to harness the power of the stones. Not only was the Reverse-Flash surrounded by his scarlet lightning, but the power of the Reality Stone flowed through him, as well. He swung his leg down and tripped over Barry and Jay, before shooting out red blasts that made them both flicker in and out of existence momentarily. As Carol rushed to help, Thawne turned over to her, and he grinned.

People seemed to underestimate Thawne, time and time again. He had never been considered one of the biggest threats to the world. Carol suspected this was because he spent most of his time battling his fellow speedster Barry Allen, and there were few other speedster villains for the superhero community to contend with. This meant not everyone realized how terrifying Eobard Thawne could really be. Carol was fully aware, and she watched him like a hawk as he zipped around. He began circling Nova, and it wasn't long before Thawne delivered a massive flurry of blows before Rich could blink. Jessica was a very capable and powerful fighter, but that mattered little when Thawne could blitz her dozens of times before she could even react to what was happening. Thawne brought his fists down upon Nova countless times, red lighting cackling from all around his body as he did so. Energy began oozing from Carol's own hands, and she seized her opportunity, blasting at the Reverse-Flash as he remained distracted. But then, once the energy beam struck Thawne, he shattered like glass. As cathartic as it would have been for someone as vicious and despicable as Thawne to meet his end so easily, this was not right in the slightest.

Carol darted over to Nova and helped him up. Nova groaned loudly as he held his head. "What the hell was that? That was way too easy."

Before Carol could realize that Thawne was behind her, Carol felt her body split together into thousands upon thousands of pieces. She could still feel every part of her body even as it was sprangled apart. Thawne was using the power of the Reality Stone to essentially turn her into spaghetti. She never knew Thawne to be one to do that.

She could not move, and she could not speak, but somehow, Carol could still hear, and she heard Thawne say the words, "Alright, Minerva, she's all yours," before speeding away, presumably to hunt down Barry Allen.

Then Minerva's voice emanated above Carol. "Look at you, Carol. Reduced to this pathetically hilarious state." Even though she could not see Minerva, Carol could picture the grin she must've bore on her face. And whatever Minerva was about to do to Carol, there was nothing she could do at that moment. Carol hated feeling like a damsel in distress more than anything, but she was still completely immobilized. She had to swallow her pride and hope one of the other heroes would save her ass. And luckily, she heard the sound of a gigantic hammer clashing against Minn-Erva. She recognized Hal's voice, but she couldn't make out what he was saying. She did, however, feel a hard hand scoop up her bits, and she sensed the sensation of being carried off into the air by Hal.

"Alright, Carol, be careful not to move around too much," Hal quipped. Carol loved this man, but she was going to blast him in the face for that remark when she was put back together.

Most of the heroes were bloodied and bruised. Barry in particular had several tears and cuts across his costume, with the left half of his mask being completely missing, As Jay and Barry continued to run around the two menaces plaguing their camping trip at that moment, Jay bore a worried frown on his face. "I think we're going to have to call in the rest of the Vanguard for help, Barry! I don't see how we can fight against the sheer might of the Reality Stone.

When Jay said those words, they stuck with Barry for a moment. 'The sheer might of the Reality Stone' clung to Barry's thoughts like an intrusive parasite, and it took nanoseconds for the Scarlet Speedster to figure out why. Because the Reality Stone was arguably the most dangerous of the individual Infinity Stones. Due to the radical nature of its powers, it needed the sensory input and balancing of the other Stones – particularly the Space or Time Stones – in order to safely function on a larger scale. And therein, Barry believed, lay the key to Thawne and Minerva's defeat.

"Alright, Jay, I have an idea," Barry said, the idea having formulated his mind at a hundred times the speed of thought. "Minn-Erva and Thawne have to know how dangerous the Reality Stone is, but if we can trick them into overusing the Stone, we can set up their own defeat."

"And just how do we do that?"

"We take out Minn-Erva first. She's not stupid, but she'll be easier to trick than Thawne!"

After running around, they looked over to see Minn-Erva, who was still engaged in combat with Alan and Jessica. When Jessica was briefly sent flying to the ground, Barry went over and lifted her up. After asking if she was alright, he explained the plan to her. When Alan came crashing down as well, Jay sped over to him and did the same. The general agreement to focus on one target at a time was also discussed, briefly. And with that, the four superheroes all turned their attention towards Minn-Erva, who roared as a burst of red energy erupted around her.

Jessica let out the opening taunt. "It's a damn shame that you need an Infinity Stone just to seem half as impressive as Carol!" she smugly let out, her face contorting in a look of superiority. "Carol doesn't need a power-up in order for everyone to know how great she is!"

Minn-Erva gritted her teeth so hard that the veins in her neck looked as if they would burst at any given moment. "How dare you, you insignificant human! It figures that your kind wouldn't be able to grasp the power I wield!"

Now it was Alan's turn to showcase some smug self-righteousness. He began flying around Minn-Erva, laughing as he did so. "Lady, I've been around for nearly a hundred years, and if I were to name everyone I've met who's more impressive than you, we'd be around for another hundred years!"

Barry placed his hands around his hips and forced a smug smile upon his face. "I fought a man named 'Rainbow Raider' once, and even he was more dangerous than you."

Minn-Erva sneered. "This…this has to be some kind of trap…" She bore a weird and conflicted inflection in her voice, as if part of her knew exactly what the heroes were trying to set her up to do, but the other part of her was suffering from a wounded ego.

Barry looked over to Jessica, who returned his glance with a smirk. And Jessica was better at looking smug than Barry was.

"Whatever gods you believe in, I'd pray to them now!" roared Minn-Erva, who proceeded to glow red all around as she tried to use the power of the Reality Stone again.

A dozen feet away from her, red fire formed and circled around, and an object was forming in the center of this ring of fire. After a few moments, it seemed as if she was trying to create a spherical object. A massive spheroid object, to be precise. The closest thing it could be compared to was the Earth's moon in terms of appearance. And the object grew bigger and bigger, expanding wider and growing taller. Minn-Erva had sweat pouring down her face like a flooded river as she created this.

Finally, she let out a cry of agony. Alan was the first to seize the opportunity, creating a gigantic hammer with his ring and swinging it towards Minn-Erva. The hammer. Which only left Thawne.

And it was only then that Barry noticed a clay-like substance on the ground. A substance that took the form of Sinestro, who groaned as he regained his form. "I tried to stay out of this conflict, but now I am highly irritated."

Hal and Nova flew down to the ground, Hal having a pile of red and blue spaghetti floating in an orb created by his ring next to him. And that pile began to piece itself back together, the noodles intertwining with each other and morphing into the shape of a person until, finally, Carol's body had recovered.

"For Christ's sake, let's just end this already!" shouted Carol, yellow energy glowing from her hand.

It was then that Thawne sped over. Thawne seemed unfazed by the sheer number of opponents he currently faced. Or, more likely, he knew his situation was dire but tried to maintain a façade of confidence. "You may have tricked Minn-Erva into overusing the Stone, but that won't work on me!"

Carol gritted her teeth. "Then we'll just give you a straightforward asskicking! Alan! Hal! Sinestro! Give me your energy!"

All three of them fired energy beams towards Carol so that she could absorb their power. Jay sped over to him and kicked him in the knee, while Nova grabbed him, decked him in the face, and then threw him down to the ground.

Barry briefly recalled when he, Carol, and Hal had united against Eobard Thawne years ago, and Carol absorbed the power of Hal's Green Lantern ring, which she could make limited constructs of. And such was what they were doing again. Only this time, Carol was absorbing the power of, Hal, Sinestro, and Alan all at once. Three different Lanterns, with three different sources to their power, and Carol was about to combine them both in one spectacular show.

As Thawne regained his bearings and began vibrating, red lightning emanating from himself as he did so, a green aura began to surround Carol. Then she flew down towards Thawne, and shot out green energy from her hands.

First came the power of Alan Scott given to him by the magic of the Starheart. As Carol felt Alan's power flow through her, she noticed how the Starheart's energy seemed wild and chaotic, yet it had been tamed by Alan's sheer determination. Second came Sinestro's power forged by the Weaponeers of Qward. Almost immediately, Carol experienced a chill run up her spine. Sinestro's cold, precise command over the Fear Spectrum was the true source of his terrifying power. And last came Hal Jordan's willpower from his ring. His energy was by far the simplest compared to Alan or Sinestro's power. Yet Carol knew Hal, and she knew the man had the greatest willpower of anyone on Earth. When combined with her own resolve, she felt like she was capable of anything.

From her right was the power given to Hal Jordan by the Guardians of the Universe, and from her left was the power given to Alan Scott by the magic known as the Starheart. In-between was Sinestro, his power given to him by the Weaponeers of Qward.

Barry never realized the subtle differences in how the different energies looked until Carol combined them simultaneously. Hal's power had a white shine to it and was completely straight, as was Sinestro's, while Alan's was fiery, the green flames surrounded by a darker emerald shade. And Thawne was stopped in his tracks by the two blasts, being brought down to his knees as Carol charged closer and closer. She exerted more power and intensified the blasts, and Thawne struggled to stand back up.

Finally, Barry sped around the planet, increasing his velocity and building mass as he drew on the energies of the Speed Force. After a couple of laps, Barry raced towards Thawne who barely managed to see Barry's arrival. His fist crashed into Thawne's jaw with a tremendous BOOM! Thawne was unable to stand up to this combined onslaught and finally lost consciousness.

"Flash fact: The faster an object moves, the more mass it attains. I've been meaning to try this move for a while."

Finally, Barry sped over to him and gave him a clean punch to the face, knocking him senseless. The fight was over. They had managed to defeat the power of the Reality Stone, after a hard-fought battle.

"My work here is done," Sinestro uttered, his face one of complete indifference. "See to it that these lowlifes pay a terrible price for what they've done."

"They will stand trial," Nova said. "They will be imprisoned on Xandar, and the Reality Stone will fall under our possession."

"I think the Reality Stone would be better suited to be under the guard of the Sinestro Corps."

"This is not up for debate!"

"Oh, but I think it is. The Nova Corps are woefully unfit to safeguard such a powerful item!"

What would happen to the Reality Stone was unclear. But as long as it was safeguarded, all would be well.

Sinestro and Nova had left for now, to continue their debate over what would become of the Reality Stone. The other heroes would join them soon, but they wanted to take a moment and breath.

Hal tried to make a call with his ring, holding his hand up closer to his face. It wasn't long before John Stewart answered, who looked worn and fed-up in the hologram.

"This better be important, Hal!" John stated, looking over his shoulder. "I only have about a minute!"

"Oh, you'll get through it," Hal responded, chuckling and shaking his head. Everyone knew John Stewart's determination, to the point that Hank Pym and War Machine had both questioned why Abin Sur's ring didn't go to him first. "Two things. First, we have recently acquired the Reality Stone, which we'll need to talk about when you're done with whatever it is you're up to. Sinestro and Richard Rider are furiously arguing over who gets to keep it. Also, Carol and I are finally together."

In spite of his precarious situation, John did briefly smile, before replacing it with a frown and an eyeroll. "That's great, Jordan! And yes, we'll need to discuss the Reality Stone later. But I have other matters to attend to! Damn Guardians of the Galaxy…"

And with that, they ended the call. Seeing as how it was a bad time to call John, everyone discussed it for a moment and decided to wait until they were done with their vacation to tell the rest of the superhero community.

"So…how much time do we have until we have to go back to Earth?" Jessica said as she brushed some dust off her shoulders.

Jay was helping to clean up the mess, speeding around and picking up rubble. He stopped for a moment, standing by Jessica. "I say we have about two more days. Of course, I'm retired, so I could stay here as long as I want."

Barry chuckled. "As if you could last a day living outside of Keystone City."

Hal looked over to Carol, who was back in her civilian outfit just like most of the others were. Hal was now the odd one out still wearing his superhero uniform, and he quickly used his power ring to dissipate his outfit and turn back into his camping clothes. He went over to Carol and pecked her cheek. "So, do you have anything in mind for the rest of the trip? Well, after we catch up with Sinestro and Nova?"

"Not gonna lie, I almost just want to go back home and kick some more ass."

Hal snickered at that comment, as it was something that had actually crossed his own mind. "Yeah, you know what? I think the others would have a pretty good time without us." Hal and Carol proceeded to put their arms around each other, smiling and laughing.

"Nah, we can't," Carol said, rubbing Hal's shoulder. "We didn't come all this way for nothing. And plus, Jessica isn't as close to Alan and the Flashes as we are."

"Who wants hot dogs?" Jay excitedly said in the distance as he began to rev up the grill that they had brought with them. "I don't make them as good as Joan, but I've had nearly a century of experience myself!"

Hal and Carol looked over at each other and nodded. They could certainly stay for hot dogs, before fighting over the future of the stone. It was then that Alan walked up to them.

"I want to apologize again for my behavior. I was completely wrong to jeopardize this trip just to prove a point to you. I promise you I'll make this up to you."

Hal patted Alan on the shoulder. "Oh, you owe us a lot of favors for this. But let's worry about that another time. I'm famished!"

And with that, the three of them walked over, ready to enjoy the rest of their trip.