One Week Later
"Woah..."
Wally had to admit, the intergalactic arena was pretty impressive. It had, like, over a million spots, and several food stops. He was actually excited to watch the tournament, even though it was a trap and three of them seemed so depressed that it almost made the ride up here as miserable as the moment they found out.
"The first match, Rage against Compassion, will commence in fifteen minutes. I repeat, the first match, Rage against Compassion, will commence in fifteen minutes."
They quickly found their seats. Wally sat between Robin, who was still moping, and Roy, who also decided to come. Kaldur was next to Conner, who was sitting next to Megan. Artemis was up a row with Wonder Woman and Hawkwoman. On Roy's other side was Cyborg and Zatara, who had decided to show up just in case things got out of hand. Other members that decided to show up were behind them, which included Captain Atom, Guy Gardner(Who was actually supposed to be sitting with his corp, but decided to annoy the League instead of the Guardians), and Orion.
The rest of the League stayed on earth just in case something bad happened, but they decided it might be a good idea to keep a large group here in case they can end whatever disaster that could be created here.
"The tournament shall commence. Please be seated."
The entire stadium started to quiet down as strange alien music started to play. Guy started whispering to Orion.
"The music's supposed to be this new combined corp anthem or something. It's terrible."
Orion punched him, and Guy started whisper-yelling profanities. Wally snickered, but found the information interesting. They really were running for inter corp unity.
"Beings from all corners of the universe, welcome to the Corp Unitation Tournament. We greatly appreciate your attendance. Now, please welcome our beginning match Corps. The Red Lanterns, led by Atrocitus."
The Red Lantern seating section erupted in yells, whoops, and hollers. The Large red being walked onto the field with some sort of evil smirk.
"The Indigo Lanterns, led by Indigo."
The Compassion section stayed quiet, merely smiling and watching the field as their leader walked onto the field. The rest of the stadium burst into cheering, much like they did for Atrocitus. The attendees started to quiet themselves as the two walked off the field.
"Now for your battle contestants! For our first inter corp tournament, we are proud to show that our representatives are from Planet Earth! For this match, we bring you Red Lantern representative Green Arrow!"
Running onto the field was an Oliver that unnerved Roy and Artemis. The others might've only noticed the change in color scheme (Really, they didn't need to keep pointing out that Green Arrow was now Red Arrow. It wasn't that funny). No, the two proteges might've been the only one's who noticed the cruel smirk, or the shifty way he stood.
It reminded them of the very criminals that they fought.
"Something's wrong," Artemis whispered to Roy from behind, frightened. Roy could only nod in shock.
"I know."
"On the other side, we have the Martian Manhunter!"
The arena erupted again, and Me'gann only sighed in relief. She watched her uncle, who was dressed in an uncharacteristic shade of purple, walk out onto the field. She concentrated on reaching him.
"Uncle J'onn, are you ok?"
"I am fine, Me'gann. Are you alright?"
"Yes, I'm fine. Are you ready?"
"...No. I fear something is...unstable with Oliver. I do not wish to hurt him."
She frowned, and she tried to talk with her uncle's opponent. Suddenly, she was blasted back by a beam of red light. She opened her eyes in shock, and then contacted her uncle yet again.
"I felt it. What are you going to do?"
"...I do not know. I will try to defeat him, and we will see if it breaks him from whatever they have done to him."
"Be careful, Uncle J'onn!"
"I will, Me'gann."
She opened her eyes, and then tugged on Conner's shirt. He looked at her. "What's wrong, Me'gann?"
"They did something to him!" She whispered. "Oliver! Something's wrong!"
Connor's eyes widened, and then he looked at her. "Maybe your Uncle can fix it. We can't do
anything from up here."
Me'gann nodded, and then looked down in fear.
"Be careful."
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After the formalities, both candidates were led to a corner. The flat field changed, revealing a colorful jungle. Everyone was in awe of the sudden change, and soon they started stating rules. The minute that was over, the countdown started.
"Three...Two...One...Go!"
The two were off, but it was Oliver who disappeared first. J'onn made himself invisible, and started to wander around the small forest, hoping to find his opponent before his opponent found him. If there was one thing that the Martian had learned about the Green Arrow, it was that he was good at hiding.
...and if you didn't find him first, you were going down.
It was almost eerily quiet. This was not good for the Manhunter. His super hearing should've heard the Emerald Archer by now.
Suddenly, heard the twinge of a bow, and it was too late. His cape was stuck to the ground, and the moment he turned to look at it, he was met with a fairly large red fist to the face.
It threw the Martian back. Growling, he picked himself out of the rock he had landed in, and activated his ring. there was a large dragon, and it was heading straight for Oliver. However, the blonde had anticipated this, and he smirked. He covered himself in Red Light, and then made duplicates. One of the duplicates was hit by the dragon, but the others ran over to him.
They started to beat the Martian senseless. He was pushed around in the circle, making him dizzy. Suddenly, his eyes glowed, and he destroyed the duplicates in a flash of purple light. He brought himself up, but not in time to see the arrow aimed below his feet. He saw the archer let the arrow loose, and was soon enough surrounded by fire, his only weakness.
The Martian tried to stand, but was unable, and couldn't activate his ring. The Rage Wielder walked into the circle, and aimed one last arrow at the Martian. He cringed, and in a last ditch effort, tried to reach Oliver's mind again.
It seemed to be unexpected. The man had not been anticipating this, and for a brief moment, J'onn forced his way through the red reinforcements. He entered into what seemed to be a dark and endless room, and he suddenly found a beaten Green Arrow.
J'onn leaned down, and tried to wake him. That's when the man saw the Martian through hazy eyes, and looked quite shocked. That's when he started to freak out.
"J'onn, it's a trap! You need to stop them!"
That's when the Martian was forced out again, and when he entered the conscious world again, he saw a shaken archer drop the arrow. For a moment, the red glow around his eyes stopped, but were soon glowing twice as bright. That's when J'onn saw a fist.
He then fainted.
Oliver backed away, seemingly startled. That's when Atrocitus walked up behind him, and soon, Oliver was calmed.
"Good job, archer."
Soon, the intercom started speaking.
"Rage has won the first round!"
The stadium erupted in cheers. Soon enough, Indigo came to grab the Martian, but threw a well placed glare near the large red alien.
"I know what you have done, Atrocitus."
The Red Lantern laughed. "Is that so, Indigo? Can you prove anything?"
She knew she was beat, but she continued to glare. "Watch your back. What you have done will be your undoing."
The stadium still cheered as the Red group walked away. The Indigo tribe soon carried the Martian away to the medical room, and Me'gann, seeing the state of her uncle, jumped up.
"I...I'm gonna go help him."
No one stopped her, though Conner followed her through the crowd. The others suddenly looked worried. Wonder Woman was the first to voice this. "That was uncharacteristic of Oliver. Something is wrong."
Artemis huffed. "No, duh! That was not him... That was...I don't know what that was!"
Roy nodded. "Something happened to him. We have to go find him."
"No. We can't."
They turned to see Hal, and Roy almost punched. "What do you mean we can't?!"
Hal shook his head. "Listen, I know that wasn't Oliver, but the Council doesn't. Until J'onn wakes up, nobody can really say what happened. We have to wait for him."
"So we can't do anything!?"
"No, not yet. Please guys, I know it's not good, and people are looking into it, but one wrong move, and we'll create more chaos than we can handle. I'm begging you, don't do anything yet."
The archers seethed, but sat back down. However, Hal didn't escape Roy's anger.
"This happens again, I'm not holding back."
Hal simply floated there, and sighed. That's when Hal heard a familiar voice. "Do you think Batman is like that, too?"
Hal looked down at Robin, and then a sudden horrible realization hit him. What if he was...No, he can't think of that yet. An evil Dark Knight is the last thing they need right now.
Hal tried to smile reassuringly at Robin, and failed miserably. "We think it's just an isolated
incident. The Red Corp is known for cheating. I'm sure he's fine."
He didn't even sound reassuring to himself, but Robin turned around, seemingly accepting the answer. Guy Gardner looked up to Hal. "Hey, why aren't you with the Corp?"
Hal shook his head. "I could ask you the same question, but for your information, since I was the first lantern from earth, they decided that since there were seven lanterns, I could skip out on round one."
Guy smirked. "Not surprised at all that they'd give golden boy a free pass. Those council members love you, and for your information, I think the league might need me more than the corp today."
Hal shook his head, and then smiled. "On the bright side, the next round is Barry and Clark. I'm betting that it might be the best run today."
Wonder Woman smiled. "Now that is something I wanna see. How bought a bet?"
The adults and some of the teens started laughing and making bets of their own. Exempt from this was Robin and Aqualad, who were already worried about their mentor's fates.
Robin himself was already hoping that his mentor would still be coming back with no shark teeth embedded in his leg. Aqualad was frightened to think of what terrible plans Batman had for his King.
"The next match, which will be Hope versus Love, will commence in thirty minutes. I repeat, the next match, which will be Hope versus Love, will commence in thirty minutes."