Bonus Content
Raise your Lantern to the Sky, and roar your defiance to the heavens
Raise your Zanpakuto to the moon, and mourn your lost country
So says the Guardian of Souls and the Reaper of Memories
So say the Refugees of scythe, wand, and bow
200 years before...
The Oan Transport touched down in the Black hills. The hatch opened. The Green Lanterns that exited were escorting proud, powerful black and white robed figures, glittering with reishi, magic, and kidou. "Thank you for taking us home Ganthet." The witch at the lead turned and bowed politely to the guardian.
"What will you do?"
"Build a new home. We will be a new tribe, a new family, a new clan!" A tall, broad shouldered native american man declared boldly. "I am a Sioux Dog Soldier, I drive my picket pin and I do not retreat. Our new shinigami, quincy, and magic using allies will help to bring a protective force to this world."
"But Oa is the center of the universe, and the rift that brought us here could open again. Its thin, spidery threads wind throughout the universe. Along those lines, anywhere along their length, another rift could appear. I will leave with you the ability to close them. Do what you do best, Guardians of the universe." The witch bowed politely, and levitated a small, glittering object into the guardian's hands. "Please, hold this close to your heart. You will most certainly need it again someday."
"And I will give you treasures for your newly formed squads. You have distinguished yourselves as warriors. All of you." Ganthet levitated a quartet of charms, white, black, green, and red to the witch, who smiled at him.
"Thank you my friend. And I am sorry, you shall not see me among the living again. Now I believe two of my comrades must say their goodbyes."
"It will be hard living without the soul society." A woman in the omnikitsudo uniform muttered. "Little Soifon will have to go on without me."
"As will my Otooto." A tall man in the green lantern uniform replied from behind Ganthet. "But Byakuya is a stubborn little one." His Kensaiken had been tinted green with his ring energy. "Farewell Michelle. Take care of my cousins Meirin Fong, they are precious to me."
"Every so often Anonri will be given leave to visit earth, ten years on earth, ten on Oa, given his lifespan, he will have plenty of . When that happens he will be coming to perform his shinigami duties and live a normal life. Leave will be for years at a time. So he will have a chance to raise a family."
"Indeed, thank you Ganthet." The man smiled.
"Anonri..." The woman in the omnikitsudo uniform smiled.
"Hmm?"
"Congrats on becoming Oa's shinigami. You'll make a great green lantern. Ganbatte!" (1) The woman beamed, giving her former comrade a hug.
"Thank you, Meirin, if you see Byakuya again, please tell him where I've gone. That I've never stopped doing my shinigami duties. I just do them on another planet."
"I will, I promise." Meirin smiled at him. "You will be missed my friend, I will be waiting for you!"
Ganthet sat up straight in his bed when the Guardian's name was called. "hmmmm?" He'd been dreaming about that dratted human witch again! Impish impish woman she had been. Mischievious, fun loving, but she took her duties seriously. This was the third night in a row he'd dreamed of their farewell. The woman had predicted her own death.
"You've slept late my friend." The green lantern at the door, glittering green Kensaiken in his door, replied. "Two whole hours after the work day has started."
"Anonri, I dreamed about Michelle. You must ready yourself. Another rift will open soon. We must begin locating it."
"Very well." The Lantern Kuchiki nodded and turned to leave. "Ganthet..."
"I must ready myself, please hurry and find the rift."
"Yes sir."
Earth, normal chapter, two days after chapter five...
Static wasn't happy with the situation in Gotham. He was stuck helping to build primative infrastructure and small, free standing oasis of solar and wind turbines, something called a "Gasifier engine" the smelly disgusting business of making biodiesel for the local ambulence garages, and shifting supplies around on specially made pallets of thinly hammered steel.
And all around he saw people in confusion over the lack of electricity, grumpy, irritable, but confused and tired all the same.
"Hey Atom?" He asked as he set the current pallet down.
"Hmm?" The professor was counting supply crates as Static unloaded them from the javelin.
"Do you think we're too dependant on electricity?"
"Me? no. I think we've lost the ability to function in day to day life without it. But I don't believe we're too dependant on it."
"What's that mean?"
"Well... our ancestors got along without electricity for thousands of years. The information we store on computers, they learned by word of mouth and scribe at the feet of the elderly. Almost everyone worked on farms and in fields. It left very few people around for scientific research and artistic or cultural pursuit. Believe it or not, 500 years ago an actor was a shameful profession to have, and while a difficult profession, farmers were well respected in their communities because they fed them. Now, everything's reversed. Very few people alive today know how to cope without the power grid. The electricity isn't the bad thing, its losing the ability to cope without it thats bad. Your friend Gear for example, what would happen to him if he didn't have a computer anymore. What would it do to him?"
"he'd probably go crazy." Static replied.
"Its the exact same way here." The Atom chuckled. "I'm a nerd, I don't do so well without electricity and computers and their conveinances."
"Ah..."
"Somethin wrong kid?"
"Its that cloud, and the blue lightning that came out of it. Even though I have doctor fate's explanation of what's known about it, I'm still feeling really uneasy." Static replied. "The whole situation makes me nervous."
"I unde..."
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The burst of blue and black flame across the sky ripped through the Gotham Knights dome and tore a huuuugeee path all the way to the diamond district.
"Get the civilians to safety..." Atom ordered Static, pushing him and Gear from their posts and towards the local crowd. "... Watchtower! This is Atom! Gotham's just been firebombed!"
"WHAT?" Batman's pissed off voice demanded over the com. Atom heard the sound of foosteps running for the nearest javelin bay. "I'll be there in twenty! Who's guarding the place!"
"That would be me and Hawkgirl!" John Stewart shot into the sky. "Everyone else get the civilians underground! NOW!"
Up in the infirmary, Ichigo sat up straight in bed. "What the hell? I feel almost fine! What's going on?"
"ICHIGO!" Zatanna ran in. "Something just firebombed Gotham!"
"firebombed? What color?"
"I beg your pardon."
"THE FLAMES! WHAT COLOR WERE THEY?" Ichigo demanded.
"Blue and Black..." Zatanna replied. "Why?"
"I have to go! They're gonna need me!" Ichigo yelled.
"no way!" Zatanna shoved Ichigo back. "GL and Hawkgirl will take care of it."
"You don't understand! Whoever fights that guy will die!" Ichigo yelled.
"Calm DOWN Ichigo!" Zatanna cried as he struggled against her grip.
Four medics had to subdue and sedate Ichigo, not realizing until it was too late how accurate and how dire his warning would be.
John Stewart surveyed the damage to the city, and then he got a visual for the watchtower on the individual that was floating above the carnage. He could see charred or partial skeletons below, signs of life cut brutally short. "Who are you?"
The man wore white robes, had short black hair and a bone like helmet on the left side of his head. His eyes were unearthly green, his alabaster skin had a faint jade green, otherworldly glow to it. Two tear streak like markings reached from his eyes to his chin. He had a hole at the base of his throat near the collar bone.
"Ulquiorra Schiffer... your death... you are a green lantern?"
"So you know of us, what I want to know is how?"
In an instant the man was right in front of John, looking up at him with eyes full of disgust. "Because Lantern Trash, 200 years ago I nearly killed one of your guardians." BOOOOOOOOOM! Ulquiorra punched John Stewart /through/ a nearby charred wall. Straight through it.
Hawkgirl swept in and beamed Ulquiorra across the back of the head with her mace.
Ulquiorra caught her wrist. "You are fast, and that mace actually hurt me. You will be a far worthier opponent than your friend." He didn't even turn around, and Hawkgirl could see greenish black blood flowing from the wound to his head. "However, it will take more than that to dissuade me. You are fortunate in one aspect though..." BOOM! Another earth shaking punch as the fight began in earnest, a punch that Hawkgirl caught bare handed at the cost of her knuckles and hand bones crunching at the effort."
Above them, a series of brilliant golden streaks of light fell from the rift, one, two, three, four, five...
"you think you can dissuade me reaper SCUM?" Ulquiorra roared in rage. "YOU'RE NOTHING BUT GARBAGE, TRASH TRASH, EVERYWHERE TRASH FROM THE ANTS ON THE GROUND TO YOU DAMNED BIRDS TWITTERING AROUND MY HEAD ALL OF YOU, HUMAN AND REAPER, YOU ARE ALL TRASH!" Ulquiorra fired a burst of bluegreen light at the cluster of lights.
They were forced to scatter about Gotham. Only one of the lights actually made it to the battlefield. Ulquiorra put on a burst of super speed to catch the last, which bounced once, twice, three times and then... "OUUUUUCHIIIIIEEEE!" A girl with a large bustline and brilliant orange hair fell from the light burst. She got up and dusted herself off. The girl was wearing a Japanese school uniform and mumbling something in Japanese.
"Well well well, pitiful little princess Orihime." Ulquiorra snickered, he put on a burst of super speed and used it to push Orihime off of the rooftop where they'd fallen. Hawkgirl darted to catch the girl. When she came back up again Ulquiorra and John were furiously trading blows. She could tell, John was at a major speed disadvantage. Ulquiorra wasn't giving him time to form a clear construct. All John could do was punch, kick and blast. Ulquiorra met every burst of hard light he gave with bursts of some kind of red energy and some he even stopped with his bare hands. All John could do was react, react, throw a blow into a split second opening, and react some more.
Hard light was clearly not strong enough to cause much damage to Ulquiorra. Not by blunt force trauma, not by piercing wounds, not by burning or slashing.
"STOP! SANTEN KESSHUN I REJECT!" Orihime yelled. A triangular orange shield blocked Ulquiorra's next blow to John Stewart's diaphram. The shield held, and then shattered. Ulquiorra grabbed Shun'o and squeezed her. The fairy screamed in agony. Orihime gasped in a mixture of shock and pain.
He's moving too fast. John realized. And his skin is being hardened somehow. I can see the impact sites, he isn't even bruised or cut. But I have to try and drive him off, look what he did to Gotham... if he's allowed to roam freely in our world he'll burn it to the ground!
"Heh, just as I suspected. Weak Justice League scum... do you know what the difference is between you and me?" Ulquiorra grinned as he powered up another Cero Oscuras.
"I don't char people to death for no reason." John snarled in defiance.
"Wrong... I'm willing to kill, you, green lantern of earth, /you/ are disgusted by the demons of war, constrained by mortal morality. You are therefore weak, and do not deserve to live." Ulquiorra replied flatly. He leveled the cero oscuras at Hawkgirl, who snatched Orihime out of the way just in time. "The truth is that in the end, /everyone/ dies and the universe is a savage terrifying place. Humans like you simply delude themselves into thinking they're somehow better than that and therefore worthy of continuing on."
Though she had avoided a direct blow, Hawkgirl's right wing... the piece of anatomy that had given thenigarians an advantage over many opponents over the centuries, was singed painfully. The wingtip, a piece of it about the size of her hand, simply charred. The flesh was turned to ash, the bone sticking out of the gruesome wound. The flames were so hot there wasn't even any blood.
Orihime screamed in fear, dragging Hawkgirl under the cover of a nearby alley.
Ulquiorra shoved John Stewart repeatedly into the pavement on the other side of the building, kicking, punching, pummeling him with this and pure reiatsu. There were bursts of hard light and reiatsu exchanged, Orihime couldn't see what was going on. But to Hawkgirl it was clear without direct line of sight. Ulquiorra was barely giving John an opening for a counter attack.
Hawkgirl got up, raising her mace with her one good hand. "NO DON'T GO!" Orihime cried, calling out her shun shun rikka.
"I have to, he'll kill my friend if this keeps up. John is giving him pretty good but..." Hawkgirl knew when her comrade was outmatched.
"Let me heal you..." Shun'o groaned quietly. She floated, wings battered and broken. "it will leave me very weak for awhile... but I... should be able to... please... you'll die... Orihime wills it..."
Orihime added, trying to swallow her tears. "I can... heal you... please save your friend..."
She called her Shunshun rikka to heal Hawkgirl, it didn't take long, seconds really. But all Hawkgirl could think about in that time was getting to John and trying to protect him somehow."
"You know why I hate the Green Lantern Corps?" Demanded Ulquiorra. "You remind me of the high and mighty reaper scum that decided my kind were too disgusting and vile to be allowed to exist. Who gave the guardians permission to protect the universe hmm? Well? If it was God I would gladly like to have him tell me so."
John was struggling by the hand at his throat and the clawed foot on his gut. Ulquiorra kicked, hard, then punched against the lantern's sternum. "KOTEN ZANSHUN! I REJECT!" Ulquiorra suddenly found himself minus a hand. He whirled on Orihime. The rage in her eyes would have been terrifying to her human friends. "ULQUIORRAAAAAAA!" The shield that Orihime normally used to protect clobbered Ulquiorra headlong like a battering ram. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU TRYING TO KILL PEOPLE IN FRONT OF MY EYES JUST TO SHOW ME HOW WEAK I AM! I'M TIRED OF BEING THE DAMSEL HELD HOSTAGE BY YOU, THE DRAGON, AND NOW I REJECT YOU!" Orihime shrieked, a look of loathing on her face and tears of anguish rolling down her cheeks.
Ulquiorra had little effort holding back Orihime's shield. But Tsubaki was ripping huge gashes across his back. When Orihime finally ran out of breath to scream she stood there, panting exhaustedly. Her shunshun rikka were utterly drained.
THUD! John fell to the ground, holding up his ring hand feebley. He had no choice. This creature had come for his life and there was a good chance he'd get his wish. "Ring search..." A blur of green light as the ring slipped from his hand and John Stewart slipped from consciousness. And his ring didn't have far to search.
The ring floated over to Orihime. Tap, tap tap... it tapped against her back as if to say 'hellooooo here I am!'
Orihime jumped, bringing her hands up to protect herself from what she thought was another attack, only...
The ring slipped onto her hand. A burst of brilliant green light enveloped her. Orihime blinked. She was wearing a skin tight green, black and white uniform. Orihime had a knee length skirt and tights, and thin, but none the less sturdy boots. A thin, delicate mask, just a simple bar of green covered her eyes. Paler green whisps of material floated from the back of her uniform, vaguely resembling fairy wings. Ulquiorra sneered. "Yet more proof the Green Lantern Corps is useless, weak, sentimental trash. Look at their newest member. Do me a favor and let me know when his funeral is... I do so look forward to dessecrating his grave."
Ulquiorra flew back towards the rift over the harbor. Hawkgirl stood there for a moment in absolute shock at the creature's hostility and disregard for life. This was worse than the false god that had terrified her people for so long. The false god had desired worship along with his souls, this creature didn't care about worship, just destruction and carnage.
Then Hawkgirl roared in a fit of abject rage. "YOU MONSTEEEEEERRRRR!" Ulquiorra stopped her mace with the palm of his hand, dark greenish black blood flowed from the wound. "Enclose, Murcielgo..." Ulquiorra sprouted bat wings, his helmet flattened out and reached across his entire head. "... at least you may one day grow to be a worthy opponent. But if you face me like this, you will die." He punched Hawkgirl, and she went flying backwards. Ulquiorra paused as she righted herself.
"I am an Espada..." He continued. "The fourth strongest of ten especially skilled and accomplished killers. Each of us Espada stand for a different cause of death for mortal beings. Do you know what /I/ stand for? Despair. Plain and simple. Its an odd, odd form of death. Despair can kill, but it can also drive warriors to become more powerful." Ulquiorra said quietly. "I learned that the hard way... perhaps you will too." And then he was gone. Just gone.
Orihime knelt by the fallen Lantern, holding his hand and sobbing near hysterically. "Santen kesshun! I reject!" Nothing happened. Her Shunshun rikka, with the exception of an extremely fired up Tsubaki, floated listlessly in the air, simply unresponsive.
"SANTEN KESSHUN, I REJECT!" Orihime could feel a faint pulse under her fingers, why weren't her Shunshunrikka working? "SANTEN KESSHUN, I REJECT!" Still nothing, Orihime was starting to panic now. Orihime's shriek of rage and anguish pierced the gloom of the smoke from Ulquiorra's cero.
"SOMEBODY HELP PLEASE!" Orihime yelled her despair to the heavens.
And somebody came...
The Batplane made it first, circling in while Hawkgirl tried to assess the damage ulquiorra had done to John. "Get me something to stem the bloodflow!"
Orihime nodded, getting up and stumbling over to a singed shop banner. She grabbed it and started tearing it into strips even as she hurried to Hawkgirl. "Lucky for you I took a course in battlefield medicine back on Thanigar. Your healing technique didn't work?"
Orihime shook her head. "The shun shun rikka that channel my power aren't responding."
All of a sudden the six fairy like beings that had been floating around Orihime disappeared. The final piece of her green lantern uniform floated into place. Two brilliant, emerald green hairpins, one on each side, and shaped like brilliant green stars with long points that stood up above her head.
Another figure zoomed into view... and another... first Superman, then Static, then Flash ran over the hill. Batman landed the bat plane nearby. "good god..." Flash's reaction was pure horror. Charred bodies, vaporized ruts cut into the city, obscene items flashing signs of life brutally cut short.
"He's still got a pulse, we've got to get him to the watchtower."
"I'll escort him. You aren't looking so good yourself."
"We'll investigate here." Batman added. "Get John to the medical ward quickly."
Flash tapped his communicator. "This is Flash, we have a medical emergency, Green Lantern is critical, get us up there now!" John Stewart and Flash disappeared in a burst of light.
Orihime's crying became quieter, but it didn't stop. She just huddled there in a ball, sobbing. "Not again, I was too weak again... why can't Ulquiorra just leave me alone... why...?" She sobbed softly enough that most of the others couldn't hear her. "Why's he have to hurt people just to hurt me?"
Superman heard though, he didn't have super hearing for nothing. He scooped Orihime up, "C'mon..."
Orihime squeaked. "Where are we going?" She sniffled through her tears.
"Someplace safe where you can rest." John's injuries were seriously depressing to Superman. First J'on burned his hand, and now John was seriously injured and Hawkgirl's hand was looking very, very swollen.
There was a flash of light, and Orihime was suddenly standing in some kind of shuttle bay. "Welcome to the watch tower. Wish it were under better circumstances."
There was a huge blur of red and gold. "Mission accomplished supes." Flash grinned, though it had a sad edge to it. "The docs are working on him now. Its not looking good though. The doctor says something got ruptured and..."
Orihime set up a fresh howl of anguish.
"Hey now don't cry." Flash dabbed at Orihime's eyes. "I'm Flash, cause I'm fast. What's your name?"
"O... Orihime..." Orihime hiccuped. "I don't have any real offensive powers, I'm just a healer, thats really all I can do... Ulquiorra keeps picking on me for it. Every time he attacks since last winter he's made a point of beating up my friends in front of me and calling me weak for it." Orihime whimpered.
"awwww, that sucks, you have no idea how useful a healer would be up here at the watchtower." Flash grinned.
"Really?" Orihime hiccuped.
"Uhuh."
"Flash, Amanda Waller is probably taking her tea and paperwork in the mess right now. Run ahead, make tea for two, and tell her we have a distressed visitor and a very serious injury. I'll have to tell her what's happened in Gotham I might as well do it now."
Orihime buried her face in Superman's chest, suddenly immensely shy. The tears wouldn't stop coming. The only one of her shunshun rikka that was responsive was Tsubaki and he was busy gloating.
"Got it supes." Flash darted off again.
"Yoruichi would love to race him." Orihime mumbled listlessly.
"She got super speed?" Superman asked.
"Uhuh, and she's a super awesome martial artist who can turn into a talking cat!" Orihime hiccuped. "I came here to find my friends but... I ended up being the one needing help." Orihime drooped.
Superman carefully flew the girl up to the mess hall. A tall, swarthy old man in a cat costume entered. "How ya doin Supes?" He asked in a crotchety, gravely voice.
"Escorting a guest Wildcat, things just went pretty far south in Gotham."
"yeh don't say. Batman swallow his pride yet and consent to have a full complement help him out?"
"Nope." Superman sighed.
"Dun worry Superman, if there's one thing thats certain its that Batman will do anything to protect Gotham even at the expense of his own health and sanity. Once he crunches the numbers and figures out he's out gunned he'll either turn to sabotage or ask yeh to send help on the condition that /he/ supervises whoever gives him a hand."
Orihime looked from one, to the other, confused.
"Its John that worries me now Wildcat. Batman only wanted two of us seniors in Gotham at once. Flash and I actually supersped ourselves in from our home cities."
"How bad was it."
"Bad enough he had to initiate a ring search. I've got to notify Waller and call Oa. I'm not looking forwards to either chore."
"Yep, notifying folks of that kinda thing is a chore. She the one the ring picked?"
"yeah..." Orihime squeaked, a pair of elderly grey blue eyes peering out from a cat shaped cowl were peering down at her.
"Cute 'un, doesn't quite look up to John's level." The man, Wildcat Orihime took note of the name, gently touseled her hair in a grand fatherly way. "Whelp, if she's staying for any extended period of time I expect to see her in my martial arts classes bright and early, 9 am every morning." He was smiling at her, Orihime was just too distraught to appreciate the sympathy he was regarding her with.
The lift opened, Superman got out, bidding Wildcat goodbye. Flash was standing by a table where a severe, heavy set african woman was sipping tea and working on paperwork. "Flash said things went south in Gotham."
"The damage is horrific." Superman set Orihime down. "Orihime you said your name was?"
"Hai, Orihime Inoue desu." Orihime said shyly. "Dozo yoroshiku onegaishimasu..."
"Amanda Waller, government liason to the Justice League. The job is primarily paperwork and people skills." Waller smiled at Orihime, trying to calm the girl down a bit.
"This girl knows who John's attacker is, appearantly the monster who did it likes to hurt and kill people in front of her just to mock her. As far as I'm concerned she's staying here until we sort this out. The watchtower is the safest place she could possibly be."
"Are you sure of that... how bad was it at Gotham?" Waller asked.
"Horrific." Flash replied. "I saw skeletons half vaporized in those ruins."
"Vaporized?" Waller's eyes widened in shock.
"yeah, half the skeleton gone and the other half /charred/ to a crisp." Flash shook slightly.
"Have some tea Flash. Who's on cleanup? I'm going to contact the "
"Bats, John and Hawkgirl were on duty. So Bats and Hawk Girl plus the lower level guys that were helping clean the place up. Diana went to visit her mother and should be back any minute." After some searching, Diana and Hypolytta had found a small islet near Themiscyra and built a small compound on it. Because it wasn't technically part of the island but also was still in Themiscyran waters mother and daughter could meet there to visit and talk.
"Does she know what goes on while she's gone?"
"No."
"Then collect your wits and think about how best to break the news to her. Where's Hawkgirl?"
"Down planet side helping EMS. Her hand wasn't looking so good."
Orihime drooped.
"Then make sure she gets something for the pain and swelling and to hold the limb still." Waller sighed, putting a headset on and flicking on her laptop. "Ms. Hall, I know you aren't planning on helping at a disaster scene when you're injured."
"Its horrific Waller, I can't just sit by for a sore hand! If it wasn't for that new girl I wouldn't even be flying. Saved my wing. Tell her thanks for me when you meet her."
"She's right here and she's not leaving the station till she's calmed down and had a good cup. /You/ young lady are to turn around, fly to the nearest ambulence, get pain medication to help with the swelling and a brace for your hand /before/ you do anything more. We have two senior members of the justice league injured, one of whom is stuck riding a desk, I will not have a third. Get that hand seen to or step out." Waller's tone was clearly that of a soldier's commanding officer.
"yes ma'am." Just as Waller signed off Orihime heard a feral scream of frustration from the laptop.
Waller smiled wanly at Superman. "When you're a woman trying to make it in what is traditionally a man's profession, sometimes a fellow woman will be listened to when a man will not."
The incident had gotten the attention of several of the superheroes currently eating in the mess hall, who now got to their feet and walked over to find out what was going on. Orihime blushed and bowed her head a bit as she realized she was getting a lot of curious stares.
"Supes what's happened?"
"Superman what's the matter with Hawkgirl?" A couple of others were doing their paperwork in the mess hall too. After Waller became the liaison between the Justice League and the government, paperwork in the mess with tea and some kind of light snack had become a refuge for some of the league's quieter members.
Orihime wilted as she heard Superman relate what had happened, and wilted even more when about half of those present ran out, presumably to go down to Gotham and help or find out what John's status was. "WHAT HAPPENED?" A tall, imperious looking woman with long black hair and wearing an brightly colored armored leotard of some sort strode into the mess. A lasso was clipped to her belt and large silver bracelets were on her wrists. Orihime looked up at her, reminded strongly of Soifon cloned with Rangiku and dressed like a rodeo performer.
"John's in the ER." Waller stated.
"WHO PUT HIM THERE?" demanded the woman.
"Ulquiorra." Orihime mumbled, tears welling up in her eyes all over again.
The severe woman sobered, looking down at Orihime, blinking in surprise as she noted the uniform and ring. Orihime squirmed, blushing furiously.
"You two seemed to know each other." Superman pointed out, looking over at Orihime.
"Ulquiorra doesn't like me, he seems to have a special grudge against me out of all my friends, like Grimmjow does with Kurosaki-kun."
"Kurosaki? As in Ichigo Kurosaki?" The woman blinked, looking over at Superman, a look of comprehension dawning on their faces.
"ALRIGHT WHO'S THE IDIOT WHO SEDATED ME WHEN THERE WAS AN ARRANCAR ATTACKING GOTHAM!?" Ichigo burst into the mess hall, roaring at the top of his lungs. "I'VE FOUGHT THAT PUNKASS ULQUIORRA BEFORE I CAN DO IT AGAIN! AND I CAN BEAT HIM TOO!"
Orihime's eyes widened, her expression brightened. "KUROSAKI-KUN!" She pounced Ichigo, tears of joy flooding down her face instead of anguished ones. "OMIGOD I MISSED YOU SOOOOOOOOOO!"
"Orihime?" Ichigo's eyes widened. "What are you doing here?"
"We came looking for you and Yoruichi-san!"
"She's here too?" Ichigo blinked in surprise.
"Isn't she with you?" Orihime's eyebrows went up.
Ichigo shook his head. "No, though I wouldn't know if she was I've been in the infirmary fading in and out of consciousness for like, days now."
"Which is WHY I prevented you from going down planetside to an UNFAMILIAR CITY when you had JUST RECOVERED!" A black haired woman in a magician's leotard and a top hat strode in. "But do you listen to me? Maybe show a bit of gratitude? No, you go tearing the fuck off like the hounds of hades were on your heals!"
The other black haired woman took one look at the frustrated expression on the second woman's face and started laughing. "Zatanna you should see the expression on your face."
"Princess?" The magician woman looked confused.
"it was identical to mine a few minutes ago!" The first woman laughed.
Orihime blinked, utterly confused.
"I COULD HAVE HANDLED IT, I'VE BEATEN HIM BEFORE YOU KNOW! JUST LIKE I'VE BEATEN GRIMMJOW!"
"you didn't look like you'd beaten him." Zatanna said dryly.
"It was about three months ago. And /this/ time Grimmjow /ambushed/ me."
Ichigo argued with Zatanna the way he did Karin. Lately Hitsugaya had been visiting the Kurosaki house while he was on patrol and even sleeping over in Karin and Yuzu's room, sleeping on a spare futon. Ichigo had berated Karin for having a boy over and Hitsugaya for trying to "make moves on my sister you pervert!"
"Um..." Orihime blinked, still processing the events she'd been through that day.
"What?" Superman looked over when Orihime started to speak.
"What did it mean when Ulquoirra said he'd nearly killed a Guardian?"
Shock crossed the face of Superman, Zatanna, and Wonderwoman. "ulquiorra said he'd nearly killed a what?"
"Two hundred years ago. When he said it, John-san looked really frightened." Orihime said meekly.
"I don't know. But I have to call Oa anyway if you guys can give me enough time between pouncing on me and demanding the same bit of information one after another." Superman gave this wane smile. He wasn't in a good mood but he was trying to put on a brave face for the others. He was a leader, he had to keep an optimistic outlook on things for those who counted on him.
Orihime's eyes watered again. Ichigo hugged Orihime tightly. "Go, Orihime's my friend, I'll keep an eye on her."
"I will too." The taller of the two women sighed. "I'm no good at relief efforts, everyone knows this, as long as there's no action going on..."
"I wouldn't let you anyway, its not your shift, you start at 9 am tomorrow." Superman replied. "Diana I meant what I said about sticking to a strict schedule. Wildcat could have killed himself working to exhaustion during the flooding last month."
Diana sighed. "Wildcat is an honorable warrior for a man, but he's getting old, and he tends to forget that his body has limits like that of any mortal."
Orihime was very happy, even if she was distressed over the Green Lantern being beaten up by Ulquiorra. Ichigo was here, it was going to be okay again.
Then, a few minutes after Superman went to the next room to call Oa, Orihime heard a loud, baritone voice yell "WHAT?" in shock. "HANG ON JOHN I'M COMIN FOR YA!"
"Kilowag calm down!"
"BUT HAL HE'S ONE OF US AN HE GOT STRUCK DOWN BY A..." (2)
The voices had the tinny quality of being on a transmitter of some kind.
Orihime snapped, slamming her cup of tea down on the table and striding over to the video phone room. "YOU WANT YOUR FRIEND'S POWER BACK TAKE IT! I HAVE POWERS OF MY OWN UNDER THIS THING AND I WANT THEM BACK!" Orihime yelled, tears rolling down her cheeks as she tried to pry the ring off her finger, rather comically infact because the ring wouldn't come off and eventually all she ended up with was a sore finger. "I'M NO WARRIOR! ALL I COULD DO WAS HEAL AND SHIELD PEOPLE!"
"Orihime!" Ichigo dashed in, pulling Orihime back.
"Ichigo... my shun shun rikka... only Tsubaki can answer me! The other five won't say anything to me." Orihime sobbed into his chest. "And Tsubaki... look at him!" Orihime summoned Tsubaki, who promptly started doing a victory "booty dance" through the air.
"I'M THE BEST YEAH YEAH, LOOK AT ME, YEAH YEAH, WHO'S THE MAN? I'M THE MAN! WOOO OOOO." It didn't escape Hal's notice that Orihime's summons was wearing a green lantern uniform, and that the other shunshun rikka that appeared, floating unresponsively in the air as though catatonic, were glowing with green hard light.
Ichigo tried to comfort his friend. Orihime wasn't a fighter, she was distressed, disoriented by her new abilities, and extremely upset. "Orihime was my team's healer. As she said, she isn't suited to the life of a warrior. I don't know exactly what happened down there but... I've never seen her this upset."
"Ulquiorra... he beat up... he beat up..."
"He beat up our friend in front of her." Superman finished. "John Stewart, green lantern, he's fighting for his life in the ER right now."
Ichigo bowed his head. "I'm sorry."
"He taunted me... Ichigo he keeps mocking me because I can't fight very well." Orihime sobbed. "He keeps hurting you, and Ishida-kun, and Sado-kun and everyone else because he's trying to upset /me!/"
"I believe the hollows call it marking someone as prey. Certain people they just feel an overpowering desire to pursue, torment, and generally just harm."
"What worries me is what Orihime overheard him say to John."
"And that was?" Ichigo asked.
"Ulquiorra said that 200 years ago, he'd nearly killed a Guardian, and that Stewart-san was trash compared to him and he'd kill him..." Orihime couldn't remember exactly what was said but...
"If thats so, he should be in the Green Lantern records, do you have his full name?" A bird like green lantern interjected from the edge of the camera's range.
"Ulquiorra Schiffer." Ichigo replied. "He's got black hair, wears white robes, helmet like mask on his head, hole near his collar bone, green eyes with slitted pupils and green streaks from his eyes."
The bird like lantern shuddered. "For an enemy who wears our color, he seems more interested in breaking wills than he is in using his own. Such a waste." And he was off.
"Wills?" Orihime looked confusedly at Hal for an explanation.
Hal smiled at her. "There are seven different colors of a substance called "hard light" plus white and black, which symbolize life and death respectively. Each color stands for a different emotion. Red is anger, orange is greed, yellow is fear, green is will, blue is hope, indigo is compassion and violet is love. Orihime is it? You look quite shy, but tell me, surely you have some will power in there. Some kind of inner strength. If you weren't worthy the ring would have flown to someone else, even if it had to search the entire planet. Over six billion people on earth and it chose you."
Orihime blinked, then looked down at the ground. (3) "I was so tired of it, so tired of people getting hurt to protect me. So tired of being mocked by everyone else. Of being the group's standing joke. I came to this dimension to find my friend. I thought he might need help. He was all alone without any of us there to comfort him. Kurosaki-kun, he fights because we're here, we're his will to go on fighting. If he didn't have us... I honestly think he'd have died a long time ago. Everyone else on my team has grown strong, and here I am, still having to be protected like a damsel in distress... I'm SICK OF IT! It makes me miserable every time I see them fight. All I can do is heal their wounds... I can't keep them from getting hurt in the first place. I'm sick of feeling helpless."
Orihime thought of the rest of her team, Ichigo, Uryu, Sado, of Rukia's pending promotion to Lieutenant and how Renji desperately wanted to be the one to present her with her lieutenant's badge. Of course, Rukia didn't know yet. Renji and Byakuya had called Orihime to visit them to try to figure out how the three of them could surprise her with the news. And then this mission had come up.
Tomar ran to the chamber where the Book of Oa was kept, nearly mowing down Ganthet he flew so fast. "Calm down Tomar, what is it?"
"Sorry sir, I'm to look up an enemy combatant called Ulquiorra Schiffer immediately in the book."
Ganthet's eyes widened. "no need, I was there and witnessed his attack first hand. Who is inquiring."
"The justice league sir! Ulquiorra's been spotted on Earth."
"I must go to them immediately. Tomar, run and get Anonri, tell him Ulquiorra's come back and to grab his go bag for immediate deployment! Hurry!" Ganthet tore off down the hall as fast as he could fly. If Ulquiorra was back, not only was the Justice League in trouble but so was all of earth!
"Dun worry lil Poozer, I've seen some pretty weak lookin Lanterns become strong, independent and capable." Kilowag told her. "Maybe Katma should go instead of me. After all, the ring went to a woman."
"Doing that on account of her gender is sexist." Hal told him. "Besides, you heard her, she's tired of being coddled. The ring chose her, for now she's just a temporary replacement for John. I'm sure he'll be okay."
"The transport will be ready for the two of you within the hour." A small man with blue skin and wearing red and white robes entered the camera's range, having flown at a very fast pace. "I'm sending a third lantern, Anonri with you."
"Ganthet! But I thought Anonri was your personal aide."
"Wrong, 200 years ago he saved my life from Ulquiorra. Since then he has been the Green Lantern Corps foremost hollow specialist, one of six." Ganthet settled himself in front of the camera.
"You know about hollows?" Ichigo blinked in surprise. "how..."
"200 years ago a garganta opened above Oa. Hollows and those that fought them poured through. From what I later learned, a war between humans and the species called shinigami had escalated out of control, tearing a hole in space and time. The rift merged with a powerful vasto lordes' garganta and dumped over three hundred combatants from that war and civilians from dimensions near to theirs into our laps. But we are guardians of this universe only. In the end we couldn't figure out how to get them home. Since they were from earth, we resettled them on this universe's earth. That was the last I heard of them."
"Then that vasto lordes..." Ichigo looked over at Orihime nervously.
"Was Ulquiorra. Before we sent him packing, I joined with the power of a very very powerful magical healer to curse Ulquiorra forever to be marked with the Lantern Corps color. He takes pride in his ability to bring people to despair, so we decided it was fitting to remind him of his exact opposites." Ganthet finished. "And that is why Ulquiorra is marked in green."
Orihime blinked. "Then he... then Ulquiorra's..."
"There you see Orihime?" Ichigo asked reasonably. "Ulquiorra attacking Stewart-san had nothing to do with you." Ichigo tried to comfort Orihime.
"Now your tea is getting cold." Amanda Waller stuck her head into the video phone antechamber to the mess.
"See you later little poozer, Hal and I will give you a call later! It'll take us a week or two to get to earth. And as for you Kurosaki, you protect her. If John dies she has to replace him, she becomes the Green Lantern of earth in his place and someone gets sent to train her. A rookie lantern is vulnerable because they haven't learned how to properly use their ring just yet. I'm a training officer, so I'll be coming to monitor her. Even if John lives, somebody's gonna have to pick up the slack while he recovers, hence why Hal is coming with us." Kilowag grinned. "Gosh she's cute, if I were there in front of her I'd be tousling that pretty orange hair like an overly protective big brother."
Orihime stood there, staring at Kilowag on the monitor in surprise.
"heh, you're right, okay, she'll be the corps little sister. Anyway, we'd better pack our bags." Hal grinned at his friend.
"Agreed. We'll call you later Orihime. See you!" Kilowag cut out the transmission.
Orihime blinked in surprise, blushing slightly, thinking of Sora, and a little bit, of Ichigo. "How many spirit brothers am I gonna get before the war's over...?" She wondered.
Uryu did something he normally did not do from atop the closed Iceberg lounge, he meditated. He could feel reishi flooding the city. All of his attacks were going to be more powerful as a result of this. He needed to get a decent idea of the amount of reishi /and/ the rate at which it was flowing in as well as where it was going.
Rukia needed to find a place to take shelter while she used Kido to heal her burns. She crawled into an empty stall in the police horse stables, pulling a straw covered wool blanket that smelled of horse fur and lanolin polish around her while she concentrated on healing the cero burns Ulquiorra had inflicted. She could sense the bursts of reiatsu from Ulquiorra, Hawkgirl and Green Lantern's fighting, then Orihime's reiatsu flare, focus and compress, and then fall back to a resting state. Then her reiatsu suddenly jumped a massive distance away, like trying to spot a single building in a city from atop a hill at its edge. "hang on Orihime, please stay safe."
Kensei had found his way to some kind of boxing gym, it didn't take him long to strike up a rapport with the trainer and get a temp job and a room while he was in the area. He'd quite a few bruises from Ulquiorra's attack, but had managed to use his reiatsu to protect himself. Not to mention, he was pretty hard headed. A gran rey cero like that? Fah! Ulquiorra would have to do better than that to put him out of commission.
Renji crawled into the frigid, ruined lab. Cryogenics equipment, shattered to shards and twisted scraps of metal as if by some bizzare show of force littered the darkened depths. Some searching revealed a medkit, which he used to bandage up and disinfect the laceration on his leg, the huuuugeee scrape on his shoulder from pavement burn, and the large, heavily bleeding cut in his forehead from the window the force of Ulquiorra's blast had shoved him through.
While he waited for the painkillers he'd injected into his wounds to start working, Renji looked around for any clues to the former inhabitant's identity, but the only truly undamaged personal item in the entire place was a snowglobe, sitting on a desk. Yeah, of all the keepsakes somebody had had in this damned place, a snowglobe had to be the one item they'd keep.
Renji managed to find a few useful items, flash lights, batteries, medicines, even some sort of nutrient bar ration. Clearly the owner of the lab had a kurotsuchi like mindset, so he left anything he couldn't identify and grumbled about the lack of comforts like say, a decent bed and pillow. Then Renji tripped over some kind of cord. "TEEEWWWWWW!" A large crystal of ice appeared on the wall. "Woaaaah..." Renji tried to touch the crystal and yelped. It was so cold it burned! His skin was red and blistering from the cold! Fumbling around the debris yielded a small pistol like device with a canister for an ammo clip that Renji hooked to his belt. Renji sucked at Kido, and he rather thought that this gun might be able to level the playing field a bit.
Using a thin linen sheet, Renji made a furoshiki pack. He put all of these into it, he had food and water in his backpack already. He found two more canisters that looked like they went to the odd looking pistol and added them. Then he tore the remaining sheets he'd found into strips for bandages, used what he needed for his wounds and rolled up the rest.
Five minutes later Renji slipped out of the ruined lab and into the crowd of people in the streets moving away from the burn site. He started heading in the direction he sensed Rukia's reiatsu in, moving with the crowd and blending in. "I'm coming for ya Rukia... hang on!"
1. Good luck!
2. Hal Jordan doesn't appear in Justice league or JLU, but Kyle Rayner does briefly in The Return. So because he doesn't have a JLU voice actor (and this is my Law and order fangirliness showing through here again) I'm using the Christopher Meloni voice from Green Lantern First Flight. 3333333 (fangirly lubbers on Detective Stabler.)
3. Cue Bleach OST "Will of the heart."