Another collab between myself and Redbat132, who owns Lea/Midnight Hope. :)
Justice League and Green Lantern: The Animated Series both belong to DC Comics and Warner Brothers.
Hopeful Speed
Lea as Midnight Hope flew beside Hal, ready for another mission. She also brought her backpack with her things just in case.
"What do you think our mission will be, Hal?" She asked.
"Not sure, kid," he said. "The Guardians of Oa didn't give me all the details. Just told me to get you and get to Oa as soon as possible."
"Wow. The Guardians want to see me? That's a first," Lea stated. "Hopefully, I'm not in trouble."
"Didn't sound like it," her mentor said reassuringly. "If that was the case, then they would have appeared before you in your room. If we're going to Oa, then there's a mission involved for sure. Might be a top secret one, hence the urgency to get there quickly."
"Let's hope so," Lea said, feeling unsure. "From what you told me, the Guardians aren't as nice and understanding as Ganthet. And he's the one who got kicked out of the Guardians council for starting the new blue Hope energy to boost the Green Lanterns."
"True...And yeah, the Guardians can be sticks in the mud, but I'm sure it'll be fine," he said as they made it to the planet Oa.
Lea looked around in awe when flying down to study the planet "Whoa...you weren't kidding about this place being a futuristic city homebase. My cousin would love all this high-tech stuff."
Hal smiled, as he and Lea touched down and he guided her to the headquarters. It wasn't long before they ran into Kilowog, who looked a bit pensive. "What's up, big guy?" Hal asked.
The alien took a deep breath. "Hal...I...I don't like to be the bearer of bad news, but...well...," he trailed off.
"What? What's wrong, Kilowog?" Lea asked, growing worried.
Kilowog sighed. "The Guardians want you to go on a mission alone, Hal...And they want Lea to go to the Watchtower," he said. "They didn't say why, but they demanded that I tell you and they demanded I escort Lea there."
"What?! Why did the Guardians do that?" Hal asked. "They're basically putting Lea in a time-out."
"I know what you mean," the alien said. "They said her mission is to stay there and be a lookout. There's another hero there, so she won't be alone." He shook his head. "I'm sorry, Hal. Sorry, Lea. I tried to convince the Guardians to not do this, but...they didn't listen. Even Saint Walker was furious with their decision."
"I can't believe this," Hal said with a sigh, shaking his head before looking at Lea. "Lea, I'm so sorry."
"It's fine, Hal. I've never been to the Watchtower before," Lea assured, finding the silver lining in this. "You focus on the mission while I wait until you get back. At least, I won't be alone there."
Hal didn't like that the Guardians were doing this, but he nodded. "Okay," he said. "I'll make it up to you when I get back. Be careful out there, okay?"
"I will. See you soon," Lea said, already leaving with Kilowog.
The Blue Lantern girl kept a calm and brave face to avoid how hurt she felt on the inside. She couldn't help but think that Hal's on a solo mission because of her. Because Lea is a Blue Lantern and not green.
'Might as well prove that I'm still a great hero Hal taught me to be at the Watchtower,' Lea shrugged to herself mentally.
Kilowog stopped and turned to Lea. "I don't need to be telepathic to know you're hurt by the Guardians' decision, kid," he said. "I'm sorry. I should have gathered all the Green Lanterns to rally up and make the Guardians change their minds."
"No, no, no! It's fine, Kilowog," Lea assured raising her hands up halfway. "There's really no need for troubling the other Green Lanterns about this. It's not worth it. After all...I'm not a 'Green' Lantern like you and Hal. Just Blue. The same energy that got Ganthet in trouble despite saving a whole planet from destruction."
"Hey," he said, gently holding Lea's shoulders comfortingly. "Just because you're a Blue Lantern doesn't mean you're any less important than any of the Green Lanterns. You're just as important as the rest of us. Honestly, I'm glad you're part of the Blue Lanterns. You guys give everyone else hope when they need it." He smiled at her. "Don't let what the Guardians say get you down, okay?"
Letting a gentle sigh, Lea smiled before responding. "Okay. Thanks, Kilowog. Hopefully, my time in the Watchtower can show I'm not some awkward klutz on the first meet."
He smiled. "I don't think you're an awkward klutz," he said. "You're a rookie who's applying herself to the job and you're doing better than most rookies I've seen and trained. Don't sell yourself so short, kid."
Lea nodded in understanding, as she put her hood up to hide the blush forming on her face.
Eventually, the two Lanterns arrived back around Earth where the Watchtower was orbiting. Despite going in and out of Earth, Lea never honestly got a good look at the Watchtower up close...until now.
"Wow...It's incredible," she said, taking the hoodie down for a better view.
"Yeah. Batman really put a lot of thought into it," Kilowog said, before glancing inside. "Oh, good. The other hero is there."
Lea looked over to see someone there. "Huh...I wonder who it is? Batman? Martian Manhunter?"
"Neither," Kilowog said. "It's Flash."
Lea looked at Kilowog in surprise. "THE Flash? As in the protector of Central City, one of the main Justice League members, and all-time speedster Flash?!"
"Same one," he said, chuckling as he saw how surprised she was. "Sounds like you're a fan of his."
"I'm a fan of all types of heroes...Although, I'm not sure if I'm ready to meet him in person," Lea said, growing nervous. "I don't want to ruin his routine or anything like that. Hal always told me how he and Flash are close super friends helping each other out. The last thing I want is to have Hal hear from Flash about how I'm such a dork or something when being there. Maybe I should just head back home patrolling Coast City instead."
Before she could turn around, a clamp-like construct formed around her wrist and she looked to see that Kilowog was responsible for it as he had a sympathetic look on his face. "Sorry, kiddo, but you're not getting out of this one," he said. "The Guardians can check and see if you're here or not and...well, they were very clear that they wanted you at the Watchtower." He let her go. "I don't like it any more than you do, but at least you'll be with someone that Hal trusts. If anything, I think you two will become fast friends."
"Really? 'Fast friends'? That's not funny, Kilowog," Lea responded, knowing there was no way out of this. "Ugh, fine. I'll give it a go. But I'm hiding behind you until I know it's safe."
He chuckled. "By the way, that wasn't a pun," he said, smiling. "Come on. It'll be fine."
They made it to the Watchtower and Flash let them in. "Oh, hey, Kilowog," the speedster said with a smile. "Batman said he got a call about one of the Lanterns being my partner for watch duty but didn't say who."
"Hey, Flash," Kilowog said. "Your partner is actually behind me."
Flash looked confused and then happened to see a bit of white hair and a blue arm. He then saw the girl's face before she ducked a bit more behind Kilowog and he blinked in surprise. "A kid?" He asked in confusion.
Lea just put up her hood again to cover her face and looked down at the ground. "...Hi?" She muttered quietly, waving shyly.
Flash blinked before looking at Kilowog, who nodded. "This is Midnight Hope," he said. "Don't let her age fool you. Despite being young, she's an excellent fighter, and defender, and is learning more every day."
Flash nodded before looking at his new partner. "Hi, Hope," he said. "Is it okay if I call you that?"
"Mmhmm," Lea/Midnight Hope nodded in reply, still not looking at him directly while forwarding her hoodie to cover her glowing eyes.
Flash looked concerned and looked at Kilowog. "Is she okay?" He asked, concern in his voice.
"She's fine. Hope is just shy when meeting heroes who mean a lot to her and overthinks too much on first meets where she makes them...memorably interesting," Kilowog explained.
"Kilowog!" Lea/Hope exclaimed, feeling embarrassed.
Flash chuckled before sobering. "I kind of get how she feels," he said before smiling. "Well, I'll try not to scare her off, Kilowog."
"You better not," the alien said half seriously before turning to Lea. "Okay, kid. I'm heading out. Be careful and if any trouble comes up, you know the rest of us are only a call away."
"Got it," Lea said, giving a thumbs up.
After Kilowog left, Flash noticed that the girl hadn't completely relaxed and still looked tense. "Hey, Hope," he said. "You can relax. I don't bite."
"I'm relaxed! Just...keeping my guard up and taking this partnership thing seriously," Lea/Midnight Hope stated, giving a nervous smile.
Flash gave her a look that said he didn't believe her. "Uh-huh, sure. And I'm Martian Manhunter," he said, before shaking his head. "Kid, seriously, relax. The Watchtower has a state-of-the-art security system. All we do is keep an eye on the monitors."
Flash then saw Hope was still a bit tense and he smirked. "Well, looks like I may have to try another tactic," he said.
Not liking the sound of that, Lea reacted fast by constructing some rollerblades on her feet and skating off in a hurry.
Flash blinked and laughed. "Clever, kid. But very few people can outrun me," he said as he took off after her, catching up fast and keeping up. "What's hanging, kid?" He asked casually while running backwards and keeping up with her.
"EEK! I apologize in advance for this!" Lea/Midnight Hope said, using her ring to construct something on Flash's feet.
When that happened, Flash felt himself trip...yet landed on a blue soft mattress construct to keep him from getting injured while Lea kept roller-skating away as fast as possible. Confused, Flash looked down to realize she constructed high heel stilettos on his feet.
He laughed, as he realized this. "Okay, that was very clever," Flash said, before getting up and he suddenly grabbing onto a railing above his head. "But it's not just my feet that can move fast," he finished, as he began moving fast as if he was on monkey bars or vines in the jungle, still chasing after Lea.
Lea kept rollerblading until she found an open room and decided to hide there. She ended the blade constructs and flew inside one of the stacked boxes from above before catching her breath.
'...I can't believe I just did that,' Lea thought in panic, placing both hands on her face. 'Hal is so going to scold me for messing with Flash! Ugh! What is wrong with me?!'
After feeling the constructs gone on his feet, Flash stopped when he saw Lea wasn't anywhere to be found. "Hope?" He called out. "Hey, come on, kid. I'm not mad."
Lea didn't say anything or moved. Around hiding, she felt a charley horse on her right leg where Lea let out a yelp in pain before covering her mouth quickly.
Flash grinned, as he pinpointed her hiding spot. "Gotcha," he said, as he zipped up to her before noticing she was in pain. "Hope? You okay?" He asked in worry.
Lea grunted, feeling her lower calf in slight discomfort. "Yeah...just a charley horse. Probably should have stretched before moving. Or picked a less cramped hiding spot."
He grew worried when he heard that. "Come here, kiddo," he said, reaching up to help her down.
Carefully and reluctantly, Lea got out to reach for Flash's hand where she steadied herself in climbing down.
Flash made sure Hope didn't fall as he helped her down. "There you go," he said, before zipping away and coming back with a water bottle and carefully taking her backpack off her back to place somewhere else. "Here, that'll help."
Lea grabbed the water bottle and drank from it. This helped with the cramp on her lower leg. "Thanks, Flash...And sorry for giving you such a hard time. Guess I am a walking disaster on first meets."
"Aww, it's no big deal, Hope," he said. "Besides, I don't think you're a walking disaster."
"Really? Did you not just see me skate out of there?" Hope remarked, rubbing her head sheepishly.
Flash shrugged. "You were nervous," he said, but his tone wasn't teasing or offended. "It's natural to want to get away from a situation that's making you nervous." He smiled. "You want to know a secret?"
"What?" Lea/Midnight Hope asked.
He looked around before looking at her. "I was nervous about meeting you," he admitted.
"Huh?!" Lea exclaimed in shock, looking at Flash in disbelief. "You were nervous about meeting me?! But Flash, you're...well, The Flash! You have millions of fans as big as any other heroes! How could you possibly be nervous with anyone like me!?"
Flash chuckled. "Because I've heard a lot about you. You may be new to the Blue Lanterns, but you've done a lot of good and even had successful missions." He smiled. "When Hal told me you'd be arriving here, I, at first, was wondering why the Guardians would be sending you here instead of on that mission with him. But he didn't know either. I was actually worried I'd make a bad impression on you. So, I debated on asking someone to switch with me, but everyone else is on their own missions or on time off that they asked for with their families and I didn't want to pull them away from that. So...," he scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Guess we were both worried about making a good impression, huh?"
Lea blinked, totally speechless before laughing at how funny this was. "I'll say. Seems we got a lot more in common than I thought. From how GL described you being his best superhero pal, I didn't think it would be possible."
Flash chuckled again. "How about we restart those introductions?" He asked, holding out a hand to her. "Flash, the fastest hero alive, and pleased to meet a fellow hero."
Smiling lightly, Lea/Midnight Hope put her hoodie down to reveal her face and long white hair before taking Flash's hand. "Midnight Hope, the first Blue Lantern human in training, and the same goes for you, too."
"Human, huh?" He asked with a smile. "Guess we do have more in common than we originally thought."
"Technically, you're a metahuman with powers that are from you naturally. I'm just completely ordinary with a fancy alien ring that has the power," Lea remarked, bringing up her hand with the Lantern ring.
He chuckled. "The rings don't pick ordinary people," Flash said, gently. "They pick people who are extraordinary."
That compliment made Lea blush and look away. Almost tempted to put up her hood again. "I'm not that extraordinary. More like extra-ordinary."
Flash realized that while Hope was humble, she seemed a bit unsure. He then got an idea and suddenly zipped behind her, poking her sides playfully.
Lea/Midnight Hope squealed in surprise, standing up and covering her sides with one arm around. Not to mention her cheeks flushed in embarrassment, as she covered her mouth in holding a laugh with the other hand.
"Oh, you're ticklish, huh?" He asked with a grin.
"Uhhhh...no?" Lea/Midnight Hope lied while sounding nervous, taking a step back before making a run for it to try to quickly construct her skates again.
But Flash was faster, running behind her and poking her sides rapidly, yet gently.
"EEEEEK!" Lea squealed again, losing her focus and tripping on the floor.
Flash quickly caught her so that she didn't get hurt in the fall, but his fingers rapidly began wiggling into her ribs and stomach.
This caused Lea to snicker while covering her own mouth, trying to press in her laughter from coming out. Despite not yet laughing, Lea did squirm a bit and almost kicked her legs.
He chuckled. "Oh, trying to be tough, huh?" Flash asked, before getting a sneaky idea. "Wonder what is the one tickle spot you can't stand?"
The Blue Lantern kept her eyes shut, still resisting yet shaking a bit from letting her laughter out.
Flash decided to try tickling Lea's feet. "Well, I think I know where you are most ticklish," he said before moving fast, and before Lea knew it, her shoes and socks were removed and fingers wiggled all over her feet.
"AHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! NOOOHOHOHOHOHOHO! STAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAP!" Lea exclaimed in pure mirth, her walls coming down yet relieved to let her laughter free.
"Wow, you're really ticklish," he said, grinning before moving quickly and tickling Lea's neck, knees, calves, and feet with feather dusters and scrub brushes and his fingers wiggled into her ribs and underarms, listening to her laughter escalate by the second. "Cootchie, cootchie, coo! Didn't know Lanterns could be ticklish."
"AHAHAHAHALL RIGHT! I LIHIHIHIHIHIHIED! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, I AM TICKLISH! " Lea confessed, wiggling around to cover her tickle spots with little success. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Flash let her up, chuckling, zipping away and bringing Lea another bottle of water. "You okay, Hope?" He asked.
Lea took a moment to catch her breath, still having a few extra giggles lingering inside her before responding and sipping on the new bottled water. "...Well...besides feeling wounded by laughing so much from my Speed Tickler...I'd say I'm a lot better than before," she admitted, drinking more water.
"That's good," he said, before helping her stand up. "I was worried for a bit that you wouldn't want to stick around."
"And miss out on seeing the inside of the Watchtower for the first time? I think not," Lea/Midnight Hope remarked, finishing her water bottle drink and giving it back to Flash. "Besides, I still have an assignment to do in helping you out. And it's best that the Guardians don't know I was slacking off."
"I won't tell them," Flash promised, making a motion of zipping his lips. "Besides, watch duty can get kind of boring. Just checking monitors and such. Hardly anything happens that the others aren't already taking care of."
"Oh...well, I don't mind doing stuff to pass the time until trouble comes," Lea shrugged, folding her arms. "How much did GL tell you about me?"
"Well, he told me you like music and you keep a cool head in battle," he said.
"Yeah, that's part of it," Lea chuckled, rubbing the back of her head. "I don't always keep a cool head in a battle, but I still get the job done in helping others. I mostly listen to Electro Swing music as much as K-Pop. The last part in case I'm super stressed out. Basically, anything with a good beat to sing and or dance to."
"A girl after my own heart," he said with a grin. "I happen to like that type of music too. Maybe when our relief comes, you want to have a dance party?"
"Seriously?! You're not just pulling my leg here, are you?" Lea questioned, unable to hide her smile.
Flash grinned and zipped around her quickly. "No, but I am doing this," he said mischievously, tickling her ribs and sides again.
"EEEEEK, AAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! FLAHAHAHASH!" Lea exclaimed in laughter, moving around as if she was dancing. "NOHOHOHOHOT WHEN I DRAHAHAHAHAHANK WATER! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, I'LL WET MYSELF!"
Chuckling, he let her up. "Sorry, kid, couldn't resist," he said. "But seriously, if you're up for a dance party, just say the word."
"Yeah. I'm all right doing that after we accomplish our part here," Lea said, smiling gently. "I also don't mind sharing some skating pointers with you. Figured a speedster such as yourself can try more than run. Especially when it involves ice-themed villains or climates."
"Sounds like a fair trade," he said with a smile as he led her back to the computers.
Will Lea and Flash's mission be a quiet one? We shall see. :)
Please leave Redbat132 and myself a review, but no flames!
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