After John was led away the team was left to think about the situation.
"Three billion gone… I can't believe it!" said Flash looking at Superman who now held a thinking position with his hand on his chin of his thumb on his cheek
"Well I don't believe it."Shotaro said as he was also in a thinking pose.
"Neither do I" he returned walking away from the team and looking at the rocky remains of the planet Ajuris 4. "I want to take a closer look at what happened."
"Why? John admits that he's guilty. No one is disputing the facts" responded Hawkgirl questioning his hunch.
"That doesn't mean a thing. I agree with Shotaro, something is wrong with this whole thing." answered Phillip running over the scenario in his head.
"All right, so we are going to investigate what really happened. J'onn, I need you to come with me. The rest of you think you can buy us some time in court?" added the man of steel making a plan.
"You're asking the world's fastest man to slow things down? It won't be easy…" Flash was not very sure how to accomplish this.
Shotaro just smirked and said "Then we'll just have to think of a plan while on the move."
"That I can do" responded Flash with a smile.
While Flash and the others returned to the stands, Superman and J'onn were on their way to the Javelin.
Reaching their destination J'onn broke the silence. "So, what are you expecting to find on this moon?"
"I don't know. There's something bothering me…" responded the hero. "Just call it an…"
"Intuition?" completed the martian.
"Exactly."
They didn't notice that they were followed by the space pirate that testified against Green Lantern.
As the heroes departed, Ken'Ja Ro returned to the trial.
-Several minutes later, at the court gallery-
The court was ready to resume with John, on a floating disk, in front of the monitor of the three judges and Ken'Ja Ro being on a similar disk, ready to be questioned.
"John Stuart, you may now question your accuser" proclaimed the judge.
"No questions…" responded John without hesitation and lowering his head at the judge in shame.
This shocked the entire gallery, even his teammates looked at each other and all had one thing on his mind. 'Is he that crazy?'
"None? Don't you intend to defend yourself?" asked the female voice of three judges, shocked herself at this turn of events.
"No, I don't." answered Green Lantern with his will broken.
'Yes he is.' they all thought.
The disk that was holding the pirate in the air floated down effortlessly.
"I object! You call this a trial?" demanded Flash determined to not let his friend give up.
Everyone else were now talking amongst themselves and looking at him. "I say this is a joke."
Hawkgirl, shocked at her friend's choice of words, pulled him down questioned silently "Are you out of your mind? What do you think your doing?"
Phillip said. "No, he's right. John is too broken up to buy us time, someone has to. " He quickly nodded to Shotaro who put on the Double Driver.
As Phillip's driver formed around his waist he grabbed onto Flash and said "Get me down there."
Flash nodded and as he ran down Hawkgirl asked Shotaro "Why did you put on your...what was it called?
Shotaro turned to her and said "The Double Driver. As long as we've haven't transformed Phillip and I..."
"Can speak to each other telepathically. Like how J'ohn does it only it's just between the two of us." Phillip said as Flash had asked the same question as Hawkgirl.
"What will the others be doing?" questioned Flash.
"Hawkgirl and Shotaro will be questioning the people around to try to find any lead about what really happened."
"Right" assured Flash understanding.
"Remove them!" their conversation was interrupted by one of the judges. Two reptilian guards were already closing in on him, but Flash's superior speed allowed him to escape and evade the other guards bringing the center of the gallery facing the judges.
"Listen to me. With something this important, you have to hear both sides" he tried seriously to get them to understand the implications.
"Flash, Phillip, I told you not to get involved!" voiced Lantern trying to keep his friends out of trouble.
BONK!
"Ow!" John said holding his head as Phillip waved the Spare Green Slipper of Doom.
"Be quiet. You've already proven the age old adage...A man who defends himself in court has a fool for a client."
"They're railroading you, pal! Huaaagggaahhh!" Flash tried to reason with his friend again but was grabbed into a headlock by one of the guards with two more reaching him.
"Wait! This being may have a point! We don't want any lingering thoughts about our final judgment, do we?" interrupted the female voice stopping the roughhousing.
"Of course not" responded the other male voice of the robot of the far left of the screen.
"But who will speak for John Stuart?"
"Don't you have any lawyers here?" asked Flash freeing himself from the guard's grip.
"We solved our lawyer problem a long time ago" answered the central voice of the judges.
"However you can speak for him, if you wish" added the female voice.
"But be aware. If you lose, you will share the same penalty as the accused" completed the last voice.
"The same penalty? That's crazy." Flash was starting to feel the stress already.
"No, that's how we solved our lawyer problem. What's your answer?"
"I'll defend him!" answered Flash determined.
"I wish to defend him as well." Phillip said
"Very well. Proceed."
"Right, sure." Flash cleared his voice and got on the disk that floated in front of the court.
Everyone watched as the red costumed hero started to talk about some random lawyer talk that didn't make any sense to anyone; actually it seemed to have created more confusion.
Hawkgirl palmed her face and signed while Shotaro chuckled as Flash was doing his best to create confusion.
Hawkgirl looked at where the John's fellow lantern comrades were supposed to be and noticed that they left. "Hey, the guys in green are gone" she whispered to Shotaro who looked where she pointed.
"Let's find them."
They left the gallery and looked around.
'Phillip, the other Green Lanterns are gone, we're gonna go look for them.' Shotaro said to Phillip through their mental link.
'Got it' Phillip replied back.
"Ok Phillip knows we're going. Let's track them down. Any idea where they could be?" asked Shotaro
"The local cantina most likely" she answered getting an annoyed/angry look on her face due to their lack of regret to leave a friend behind.
-Ajuris 5 Cantina -
Shotaro and Hawkgirl entered the cantina and immediately saw the lantern corps.
Actually it was kind of hard not to notice them.
'They don't exactly blend in very well, do they?' the detective thought to himself as he and Hawkgirl were making their way to the table.
"Waiter! Another round" ordered the short round one.
They both approached the table and both were barely holding on to their nerves to see such lack of concern for their friend. "Why aren't you at the trial?" asked Hawkgirl.
"Huh! We couldn't stand it anymore." Spoke the round one that raised his hand to make his point.
"John Stuart made us all look bad." This time the more humanoid alien spoke taking over
for his teammate.
Shotaro frowned at this. "And all of you getting drunk isn't gonna make the Lantern Corp look bad?"
Hawkgirl decided to add her two cents. "Huh, so much for the vaunted loyalty of the lantern corp."
"Huh, don't get so high and mighty, if you two are smart, you'll stay away from him too" returned the round one again
"Otherwise, you'll wide up reeking in his stench yourself" again it was the humanoid one to complete the round lantern.
"Funny, the only stench I smell is the cheap alcohol coming from your breath." Shotaro said holding his nose.
"COWARDS!" Hawkgirl tried to bring her mace down on the table. But Shotaro's hand grabbed the mace barely stopping it from connecting with the table. She turned to Shotaro with gritted teeth and looked into his calm eyes.
"Are you just going to let them talk about John like that!" she argued with him.
The other lanterns as well as the rest of the cantina had their eyes wide at him.
Shotaro finally releasing her mace looked right in her eyes. "And since when do we let the words of cowards matter to us?"
Hawkgirl looked down but still held a frown on her face.
"Huh" the rest of the lanterns had smirks on their faces seeing Hawkgirl get put in her place.
Shotaro then placed his hand on her shoulder. "Don't tell me you don't have faith in Phillip's abilities."
Hawkgirl raised her head up, maybe faster then Flash, and her eyes were as wide as dinner plates.
"Ha! Those two are gonna end up getting killed along with John Stuart." the round one said.
"They're fools trying to defend him." The humanoid one said.
Shotaro looked back at the lanterns that each raised an eyebrow. "I was willing to ignore what you said about John cause I knew that it would bite you in the ass when Phillip successfully defends him. However calling my partner a fool was a big mistake."
Shotaro then kicked his foot up into the air hitting their table and making the plate that had some sort of pasty substance jump in the air and land upside-down splattering the food on all the lanterns.
"Why you!" A fish-birdlike lantern called furious at the detective who made a "Come get some" motion with his hand.
Hawkgirl instantly grew a sly smile on her lips. "Now, you're speaking my language. AHHH!" She instantly went on the offensive with her mace and tried to attack the closest lantern that powered his ring. She proceeded to keep striking at the lantern even with his ring activated, though she couldn't break the shield she did manage to push him back till he hit his round friend that fell out of his seat.
The bartender saw the commotion, who was a small blue alien, a meter high, with six tentacles instead of arms or legs, slid on the floor and got between them. "My friends, please. No weapons, no weapons."
"You think I need this mace to take you down?" asked Hawkgirl before throwing her mace in one of the support columns making it stick in there. The bartender slid to safety, and the lanterns powered down their rings.
"Grrrrr!" growled the small round alien, while Hawkgirl moved her index finger back and fourth telling them to bring it on.
The humanlike alien with fangs attacked the heroine with a punch that she evaded followed by a left hook in his chin then his upper chest and his face. She pulled her right arm back and punched the dazed lantern in the face sending him on their table.
Shotaro on the other hand looked at the his small opponent who jumped trying to tackle him to the ground but Shotaro simply moved to the side as the alien passed him and landed on his feet. Shotaro then kicked the alien like a soccer ball sending the guy in the bar.
Another lantern, the fish/bird-like lantern tackled Hawkgirl on the ground but she used her foot to push the alien off her and into the neon sign above the bar shattering it.
Another lantern, this one being the most different, he had a fish like shape with four short tentacles, one eye and four feet, tried to pounce on Shotaro but he dodged to the left and with both hands forward grabbed the alien and threw it in his comrades at the bar.
"GRRR!" The short alien was getting more and more annoyed as it tried a jump-attack on Shotaro but the detective simply ducked while making the little lantern miss, knocking off Shotaro's hat and almost hit the window had it not been for the quick reflexes of the last lantern that remained at the table. He had been watching the fight, and lifted a hand to grab his comrade to stop him from breaking the window.
The lantern that Hawkgirl first fought was back on his feet and speeding to get back in the fight, but was meet with a hard right hook from her that sent him flying through the thick window that his comrade missed seconds ago.
As Shotaro stood up he noticed that his hat was gone. He saw the fish/bird-like lantern standing on his hat. Shotaro stomped over there pushed the lantern over his hat before giving the Lantern a roundhouse kick knocking him down and putting him out of the fight.
The little guy tried again to attack Hawkgirl again but she just grabbed him and lifted him up in the air before throwing him to Shotaro, who seeing the lantern from outside get back in, once again kicked the round lantern like a soccer ball. The little guy gained speed and collided with his comrade sending them skid on the ground a good 10 feet away. Both the lanterns were down for the count again.
Kilawog, the last lantern saw enough. "No more, they're right. John Stuart is one of us, and I'm going to help him." He turned to the exit and flew at the gallery.
While the winged heroine pulled out her mace, Shotaro picked up his hat, dusted it off, and placed it on his head. He turned to the bruised lanterns and said "Took him long enough but at least one of you finally decided to be a man and stand up for John."
He then turned to Hawkgirl who offered her hand to him.
"Need a lift?" she offered with a smile, glad that she was allowed to let off some steam.
"Sure" he accepted and took her hand.
Hawkgirl was now flying with Shotaro in her hands when she noticed something in an alley. "Hey isn't that the scum-bag pirate. Why is he with a ManHunter?"
Shotaro looked at where she pointing. "Hmm, I knew he was up to something and he might not be working alone. You follow the pirate, I head back to the courtroom."
"What about the Manhunter?" Hawkgirl asked as Shotaro pulled out his camera and what looked like an Ipod.
"BAT!"
"FROG!"
The camera turned into the Bat Shot while the Ipod turned into the memory gadget know as the Frog Pod.
"Follow that Manhunter but don't let yourself be seen or heard." Shotaro said as both memory gadgets acknowledged his command.
The Bat Shot grabbed the Frog Pod and followed sliently after the Manhunter.
Hawkgirl put Shotaro on the ground and flew off to follow the pirate.
Shotaro returned to the gallery where Flash was still confusing the shit out of everyone.
-Moon Ajuris 4-
While the others were buying time Superman and J'onn were exploring the moon.
"See anything wrong with this picture?" asked Superman looking at the ground.
"Where should I start?" asked J'onn "The loss of life? The echoes of our own pasts?" asked J'onn.
"No, not that. This" he pointed at the moon.
"It can't be!" the martian widened his eyes
"But it is. This moon is still orbiting a planet which doesn't exist."
"It should have flown off into space the moment the planet was destroyed."
"But it didn't, did it?" Supeman made a conclusion rather then a question.
-Ajuris 5 Tribunal Gallery-
Kilawog was just finishing a story in which he and John were paired together and the hero risked his life to save Kilawog.
Flash had a good idea to ask the alien about his past with Stuart but Phillip wanted wanted more and whispered into Flash's ear.
Flash turned to Kilawog. "Kilawog, in all of your experiences with John, has he ever expressed any aggressive tendencies?"
"No, he never did more then he needed." Responded the alien.
Phillip again whispered to Flash who then asked the alien "Did John ever used his powers for self-gain?"
"Not in my whole life have I ever seen John use his powers for anything selfish."
One more whisper...
"What is John's Stuart's relationship with the rest of the Corp?"
"John was respected by all Lanterns around the Universe, his reputation is one of the best. And when you're in a team with John, you know you got a real friend watching your back."
John continued to look down, still feeling guilty. While the rest of the court were impressed, even though they didn't show it, while the prosecutor was impressed as well, he still looked at the his screen and studied his option.
Flash concluded his questions "No more questions. Thank you Kilawog, John couldn't have asked for a better character witness." Then he turned to the prosecutor. "Your turn."
The alien looked at Kilawog and asked. "Kilawog, can you tell me exactly what a green lantern does?"
"Simple, we catch bad guys."
"Commendable, but how do you know who the bad guys are?" forced the prosecutor again forcing his point.
"How? I just know" Kilawog was taken back by this question and looked undetermined.
"Oh, so you're saying you use your obviously superior intellect to rottenly sort out matter of life and death." This time the prosecuter raised his hand out to the judges to make his
point known.
"I didn't say… Well… yeah… kind of. " Responded Kilawog getting confused.
The prosecutor continued. "And then you and the other green lanterns enforce these decisions with those incredibly deadly rings." He was obviously trying to tarnish the reputation of the lantern corps.
"I guess you could put it that way."
Flash looked defeated. Even he saw how easily the prosecutor twisted the truth to his favor. He turned to Phillip and noticed the young man staring at the moon outside.
The prosecutor decided to push on. "Who said you could do this? WHO GAVE YOU THE RIGHT?"
"We did…" answered the voice of a new character. This one along with others were the size of a small humans with bluish skin and robes with black going from the collar to the shoulders and chest going in a V shape stopping at the center of the chest, ending at a symbol of the green lantern, and going down covering their legs with red. They all were the same size but had different faces and hairstyles. There were 5 in total.
-Moon of Ajuris 4-
J'onn and Superman had been scouting the planet and finally discovered a huge device that they suspected was designed to create illusions over objects or space.
They concluded that it was the cause why the moon had remained in orbit. They were wondering who could make such a machine when they were fired upon by a ship. The ship piloted by the pirate Ken'Ja Ro. And he was determined to bury the heroes along with the device.
He was about to escape when he was attacked by another ship this one was piloted by Hawkgirl who followed him.
They had a quick chase but the thanagarian's hard and quick tactics brought his ship down. Luckily Superman, who along with J'onn survived the rockslide, saved him from crashing.
Landing the ship Hawkgirl rejoined her teammates and answered their unanswered questions. " I followed him here from Ajuris 5. I had to…uhh… borrow one of the defense's fighters."
"So he was the one responsible for this?" asked Superman.
"Not exactly" answered Hawkgirl.
-Somewhere in a barracks of Ajuris 5-
"It is time brothers, time to avenge a thousand years of grievances, time to regain our power and dignity!" preached the head Manhunter to a room full of manhunters.
"YEAHH!" they cheered.
"Our plan has worked flawlessly so far. We have created distrust in the lantern corps and stained their reputation forever. But beyond that, we have succeeded in luring our most hated enemy away from their home planet of Oa, yes they're here! The guardians!" he preached to them.
"DESTROY! DESTROY!" the crowd of ManHunters screamed as they released their staffs that extended.
"No my brothers, not here, not now. Our destinies lay elsewhere, but rest assured. The guardians will burn. For we are the ManHunters!"
"NO MAN ESCAPES THE MANHUNTERS!" They cheered and were already leaving not noticing the robotic bat and frog hiding in the rafters
-Ajuris 5- Tribunal Gallery-
Flash and Phillip ran out of questions and though they had managed to reveal that the ring doesn't have the power to cause such destruction, and that the Guardians trusted John.
They weren't able to get anything solid.
The representative of the Guardians was questioned by the prosecutor.
"It's true that we guardians control the lantern power-source, but the individual lanterns have complete autonomy."
"So if one of them does something wrong, it's not your fault" responded the prosecutor trying to twist the answer.
"I object your honor. These questions have nothing to do with this trial. The prosecution is trying to turn this trial into a witch-hunt to hide the fact that his case against John Stuart is flimsy at best and non-existant at worse." Phillip said as his disk rose to meet with the screen.
"How dare you..." the prosecutor started before he was interupted.
"Let him speak." The left judge said.
"We wish to hear what he has to say." The right judge said.
"But do not waste our time." The middle judge said which was Phillip's cue to start.
"When I said his case was flimsy at best was that his only evidence against John Stuart is a mind probe from a pirate." Phillip said
"He willingly let himself be probed." The prosecutor said.
"Too willingly if you ask me. It makes me wonder if the memory in question is the genuine one or perhaps an altered memory. Can your probe determine that?"
"We won't need to. We could just probe John Stuart's mind and it'll be the same thing." the prosecutor said with a smirk on his face.
"And if they were the same it would prove that Ken'Ja Ro and his pirates were as much the cause of Ajuris 4's destruction as John Stuart." Phillip said which stirred up the courtroom.
"If it wasn't for the pirates attacking John Stuart then he wouldn't have fired back. Also everyone saw that he never even aimed his ring at Ajuris 4. It was after his beam was bounced off a ship's shields that Ajuris 4 was apparently destroyed. Which raises the question why Ken'Ja Ro and his comrades aren't on trial alongside John Stuart." Phillip said.
Shotaro in his seat smirked as he watched his partner work. He barely register Kilawog sitting next to him. "That kid's pretty good." The alien said.
"He's only getting started." Shotaro said as he noticed Phillip staring at the moon outside again
'Hey Phillip, what's with you staring at the moon all of a sudden?' Shotaro asked his partner through their link.
'Something is bothering me about it.' Phillip said.
'Like what, it's just the moon floating in the sky.' Shotaro said.
Phillip gasped 'That's it. Shotaro, you just stumbled upon something important.'
'Huh?'Shotaro asked but was ignored.
Phillip turned to the Judge and said "Well I guess he had his reasons for not prosecuting them because he may have known what I just deduced. That Ajuris 4 was never destroyed."
That one statement brought gasps from the gallery.
"Are you delusional? Can't you see the debris field that was once Ajuris 4?" the prosecutor asked.
"Oh I see it. But are we sure that it's for real? Do you have any physical evidence that proves that what we are seeing is for real? Did anybody go to see if there were survivors? I don't mean those stupid manhunters cause I saw their handiwork on Earth. I wouldn't trust them with a possible rescue operation. I mean people of flesh and blood" Phillip said.
"This is ridiculous! First you say Ajuris 4 wasn't destroyed and now you insult our most elite hunters and guardians. Okay smart guy where's your evidence that supports this claim of yours? The prosecutor asked snidely.
Phillip smirked and pointed outside. "Exhibit A: the moon of Ajuris 4. Still orbiting a planet that is supposed to be gone. I'm sure anyone who knows about gravity and what not would realise that if Ajuris 4 was really gone the moon would have floated away by now. And yet it's still there."
Several more gasps were heard indicating to Phillip that others realised that he was right.
"WE WILL HAVE ORDER!" the judge said silencing everyone.
"Having heard all the facts, we will now consider" responded the judge, the monitor shutting off
Phillip landed next to Flash and John.
"That was a gutsy move you did. You think they'll call your bluff?" Flash asked.
There is no bluff. Ajuris 4 wasn't destroyed." Phillip said.
"You can't go around saying..." John started to say before Phillip smacked him with the slipper again.
"Be quiet." Phillip said.
The judges returned minutes later. "We have reached our verdict. With compelling arguments from both sides We have decided to call for a mistrial." The middle judge said.
"While the prosecutor's case was compelling..." The left judge began.
"The young advocate brought up points that even we ourselves can't ignore." the right judge finished.
"Until a thorough investigation is complete. This will be a mistrial. John Stuart is free to go. However if after this investigation we find that you are responsible..." The middle judge began saying.
"We understand your honor." Phillip said as John was released from his handcuffs.
Shotaro jumped down and was about to congratulate his partner when...
CRASH!The glass that was placed over the hole Superman made when they first arrived was shattered with the said man of steel charging and J'onn with the pirate in his grip.
Superman turned around "John is innocent." He then whispered in his earpiece "That's your queue Hawkgirl, I hope you can hear me."
"Load and clear" she answered before throwing her powered mace at the device on the moon destroying it.
The image was suddenly clearing and where the debris of a planet used to stand, now stood the planet itself, full of life and undamaged.
Everyone in the gallery was shocked, too shocked to say anything.
Superman decided to answer their unasked question "Ajuris 4 was never destroyed. It's right where it always was. It was all an illusion, a frame-up, as they say on my planet."
Shotaro grabbed the slipper from Phillip, walked over to where Superman was and smacked in the head.
"Baka! Phillip managed to get them to call a mistrial and let John go." Shotaro said at the Man of Steel who just blinked after being bonked in the head.
"YOU!" John saw the pirate and tackling him to the ground as hard as he could. Finally losing his temper at how easily he was fooled "WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO ME? WHY?"
"…for… for money" answered the pirate frightened.
"WHO'S MONEY?"
"I can answer that for you. It was the ManHunter's money." Shotaro said shocking everyone.
Superman noticed that the guardians were leaving.
"Come on!" he voiced and everyone followed them.
"GL!" Lantern wanted to smash the bastard's face in but Flash's call stopped him. Letting go of the scum, he signaled his ring to come to him and it obediently did get on his finger. He was ready again.
Phillip quickly asked "It was the moon that tipped you off, right? "
J'onn quickly answered "Yes. We found a holographic projection device on the moon that should have fallen out of orbit."
"I wonder where they're going." Flash asked.
"Oh. I think I know where they're going." Shotaro said
-Manhunter barracks-
The guardians had already reached there first. "We're too late; we have to go back immediately."
"Not so fast." voiced Flash.
The Guardians ignored him and floated past him only to meet Superman "What's going on?" he demanded.
Meanwhile Shotaro and Phillip collected their memory gadgets
"We don't have time for this." They were met by John this time.
"Where are the Manhunters?" he asked.
"Back to Oa."
"Back to Oa? You mean they'd been there before?" John asked.
"Yes, we… created them there?" confirmed the lead Guardian.
"Say what?" asked Flash.
"It was before the Lantern Corps. We thought robots would make good peacekeepers, but they were flawed. They couldn't understand the subtle gradations between good and evil" he answered.
Superman asked next "Why didn't you decommission them?"
"We reprogrammed them for lesser duties: tracking, hunting, guarding. They didn't seam to object."
"Not out load they didn't" finished John.
Shotaro looked at them and said "They really don't like you and the Head Manhunter said something about getting back their power, glory and revenge."
"How do you know this?" asked the head Guardian.
Shotaro pulled the Frog Pod and hit the replay button which replayed the head Manhunter's speech.
"Some trackers.,,couldn't even tell that they were being tracked." Shotaro scoffed
"If you knew that they were up to no good, why didn't you say anything?" asked John.
"Oh yeah sure, go in front of the court and tell them that their elite guardians went bad and could've had a hand in destroying a planet, while at the same time planning revenge on a bunch of people I've never heard of. Yeah, I think I would've been laughed out of court or at the very least thrown in jail alongside you." He answered being sarcastic.
"Shotaro..." Phillip said while holding up his Cyclone Memory.
Shotaro nodded and brought his Joker Memory.
"CYCLONE!"
"JOKER!"
"Henshin!" they both said.
"CYCLONE-JOKER!"
Flash caught the falling Phillip as Shotaro changed into Double shocking the Guardians who had never seen it before.
"Flash, take my body back to the Javelin." Phillip said as Double's right eye flashed.
"Got it." Flash said as he sped away with Phillip's body and came back less than five seconds later.
"We have to get to Oa, as fast as possible." Double said.
-Planet of Oa-
The planet was under attack and with no green lanterns and to protect them, the five Guardians that were left were slowly loosing ground.
BLLLZZZ! BLLLZZ! BLLZ! BLLZ! BLLZ! cannon after cannon fired but they were slowly taken over or destroyed by the manhunters.
The remaining Guardians in the core were weakening.
The Manhunters had finally reached them and they were about to signal their final attack when the Justice League of Superman, J'onn, Green Lantern, Flash and Double along with the remaining Guardians arrived.
Superman, who was carrying Double, placed him down and the fight was on.
"They can't stop us brothers! No one can!" voice the head Manhunter.
Double pointed at the manhunters and said "Now count your sins."
Superman flew through the robots breaking them to pieces while Flash and Green Lantern worked together as a team with Flash taking the front and John watching his back.
"HEAT-TRIGGER!"
Double switched from his green and black form to his red and blue form already firing his bullets at the Manhunters melting their armor as well as their insides.
J'onn in the meantime phased through the towers and disabled the cannon while Flash was trying to ascend the tower but the blasts from the Manhunters on the tower caused debris to fly everywhere, and one piece that landed on his forehead was enough to knock him out. John appeared on the spot and created a shield but the firepower was overwhelming him.
Two manhunters flew above Lantern and Flash and landed behind them. Lantern was now in trouble, he was flanked from both sides and due to all the lasers didn't even see the manuhunters fly above him.
The manhunters aimed their weapons at John's back.
"TRIGGER! MAXIMUM DRIVE!"
"Trigger Explosion!"
A stream of continuous fire manged to to hit both manhunters melting them into scrap.
Double looked to John and saw that he was having problems, he was on one knee and barely holding on. The energy shield that John had created to protect Flash was collapsing as holes from the Manhunter's attacks were slowly overwhelming him.
'Too… much... power. Must hold on…' thought the green hero.
"METAL!"
"HEAT-METAL!"
Just when he thought that it was over, Double had switched the Trigger memory for the Metal memory and was charging the manhunters, the Metal Shaft in his hand.
Double removed the Metal memory from his driver and placed it in the slot in the Metal Shaft.
"METAL! MAXIMUM DRIVE!"
"Metal Branding!"
The Metal Shaft ignited as Double charged into the group of manhunters swinging the flaming staff at each one destroying them instantly.
"You all right John?" Double asked.
"I am now, look!" John said pointing at the sky.
Just then Hawkgirl with the rest of the Lanterns form Ajuris 5 arrived.
"Hm. Looks like the cavalry have arrived." John said.
Double looked around seeing Hawkgirl and the other lanterns making short work of the manhunters. "Get going John. I'll look after Flash till he wakes up."
"Got it" agreed John as he flew to the center of the fortress reaching the source.
A minute later Flash woke up. "Oh. What hit me?"
"I didn't get the license number." Phillip joked.
Flash shook the cobwebs out of his head. "Wow, how long was I out?"
"About a minute. Can you stand?" Double asked.
"Yeah, I'm okay." Flash said
"Good. I'm gonna go catch up with John." Double said as he began to follow John.
When he got to the entrance three manhunters were guarding it.
"Guys I'm getting in there by you or through you, your choice" he threatened.
The response he got were several shots of energy as he began to dodge their attacks.
"JOKER!"
"HEAT-JOKER!"
Double was now in a red and black form as he faced the manhunters.
"I have no time for this." he said as he slipped the Joker memory into the maximum drive slot on his belt.
"JOKER! MAXIMUM DRIVE!"
Double shot into the air, split apart and shouted "Joker Grenade!" and he smashed his fists into each manhunter. After he reattached himself each manhunter fell down and exploded leaving the way clear for him.
"Dumb robots." Double said as he walked inside
When he finally stepped in to the core, he saw John on the ground and the head Manhunter enter the core.
"NOOO!" screamed John who was on the ground, but to no avail the robot was already inside.
"AAAGGGAAAHHHHHHHH!" the Manhunter screamed as he entered the energy.
Bolts of green energy started to be released as the energy seamed to be gathering around the robot.
The Guardians finally arrived but they could do nothing now as the robot shed his metallic skeleton and became part of the energy itself. He continued to grow and grow till he was 100 meters tall.
"NOW I AM THE POWER!" screamed the giant as he continued to gather energy.
The energy of John's ring left him as well as the aura and energy of the Guardians.
Double picked up John and brought him to the fallen Guardians.
"All is lost." Spoke the leader of the Guardians weakly.
John returned to the core and said "Not while I'm still standing." John's energy completely left him; even his eyes were now black. John looked at Double and gave him a nod as the two faced the energy monster.
John pushed his arm forward and closed his eyes to concentrate. John started his chant "In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight!" It was working their efforts gathered the energy and the monster with it. "Let those who worship evils might! Beware my power! Green Lantern's Light!" Finally all the energy was gathered and it was released in an instant.
Green light engulfed both as the energy of the lantern was restored and cleansed from corruption, the monster having been destroyed by the flow of energy.
The Guardians could now gather the energy again and their power was restored. The approached both and the head Guardian looked at John "We choose wisely when we offered you the ring. Thank you, John Stuart." They bowed their heads. John didn't look too happy, actually he looked disappointed.
"Sheesh you get a compliment and you look like someone died." Double said.
The battle ended and the once majestic fortress of Oa was now littered with the remain of the
Manhunters and the rubble.
The lanterns were gathered around Hawkgirl. "You and that other guy are great fighters, lady."
"But we already knew that, didn't we?" responded the fanged one now laughing at their victory.
They turned around and saw Double and John return from the tower. John only glided down while Double jumped-flipped and landed in front of them.
They were both 'attacked' by praises and John by apologies. "I guess we were wrong about you John. We should have known better."
John turned to them and simply responded. "Yeah, you should have. Ow!"
He was smacked once again by the green slipper.
"Give me that." John said taking the slipper from Double
"Don't be mad at them because of this. After all you thought you did it too." Phillip said
"At the very least apologize to Kilawog because he came to your defense." Shotaro said
John sighed and after he apologized both he and Double walked back to Superman and the others.
"Are you alright?" asked J'onn.
Lantern just closed his eyes, opened them and looked at them all. "You believed in me, even when I didn't believe in myself."
Flash leaned on his elbow "what are friends for." He smiled and both exchanged looks.
"Let's go home…" John created a shield around all of them and it started to fly them back to Ajuris five and to the Javelin.
On the way back to Earth, Phillip asked if they could drop them off at their office because they wanted to give the League or rather John something.
When they got to the rooftop of their building Akiko was there waiting for with her other slipper in hand. "Where's my other slipper?"
"He has it." The two detectives said at the same time pointing at John at they walked inside.
John looked at Akiko and quickly gave her back her slipper. However he wasn't fast enough to dodge her hitting him with the other slipper knocking him down to the ground.
"She's scary." Flash said.
"I like her." Hawkgirl said
Minutes later Shotaro walked back inside and gave a piece of paper to Flash. "Give this to John."
Flash looked at it and started laughing which prompt Hawkgirl to look at the paper and she started laughing.
Then both Superman and J'ohn looked at the paper. Superman chuckled while J'ohn had a smirk on his face.
"Ok what's so funny?" John asked as he grabbed the paper from Flash's hand. "A BILL?"
Shotaro started to walk back inside and said "Consider it punishment for being a jackass. Besides we need to pay rent on this place."
Shotaro walked inside with Akiko following him asking about the bill leaving John on the ground holding a bill while his friends were having a big laugh.
After a minute John smiled and started laughing too.
Sorry I took so long but here it is. It'll be a while before the next one because I want to wait till the end of the series of Double to start the next chapter.