"You are looking a lot younger," John said as Alan slid a couple of eggs onto his plate from the skillet he was holding.
"I slept with my lantern next to my bed," Alan replied. "Rather than absorb a chunk of power here and there, I told my new ring to feed me as much as I could safely handle while I slept. The best way to charge a battery is with a trickle charge."
"Well it worked, you look a couple of decades younger," John said, before digging into his food.
"I haven't felt this good in decades," Alan said as he filled his plate with eggs, hash browns, and bacon.
"You are a good cook," John said as he leaned back in his chair. "I probably haven't eaten this well in a while."
"Probably?" Alan asked.
"Paradox child," John reminded him, "I may or may not have existed according to reality, but I definitely have no memory of a meal like this."
"I'm still surprised you aren't more upset at that," Alan said, before drinking his coffee.
"I'm just glad I'm not," John said, "can you imagine spending all your time brooding over things? I think I'll pass on that."
"Probably for the best," Alan agreed. "I've called a couple of old friends and they should have an ID ready for you this weekend."
"Excellent," John said with a smile. "After breakfast we get you some clothes. Any idea what you'd like to do after that?" Alan asked.
"Well," John considered it, "I'll probably spend most of the day catching up on the news and who's who. I'd hate to arrest someone for being a criminal only to find out that here, they are a noted criminal investigator."
"That would be embarrassing," Alan agreed.
"You should go through the training programs on your ring to see if any of them are useful," John said. "There should be at least a couple that offer a better way to do things and a couple where your methods are superior. I'd like to know which ones are superior so I can use your methods rather than the standardized forms designed for all sentients."
"That's a good idea," Alan said, "I've always been curious what the standard training was like and how I'd do."
"I think the standard training of a Green Lantern might now involve an alien drill sergeant that looks like a humanoid bulldog barking orders at you and calling you a poozer," John said thoughtfully, "but the ring still has the basic courses on it."
"What's a poozer?" Alan asked.
"No idea," John said with a shrug. "I don't remember my own training, but the standard set up is getting called to Oa to be trained."
"Huh, I'll have to ask one of the other lanterns and find out," Alan said, his eyes glowing as he called up the appropriate files.
0o0o0o0o0o
"You got a job for me?" Guy asked Batman as he entered his office on the Watchtower.
Batman looked up from the monitor he was using. "The original Green Lantern has been seen working with another lantern user, one not in our files, I wanted your opinion on it." He turned the monitor around and hit play, showing all the footage they'd captured, spliced in with additional footage from the officers' body cams.
"His ring's kinda chatty," Guy noted curiously. "Whoa! That is some impressive ring use. Not sure I could heal someone like that."
"His insignia matches the original lantern, but his ring use doesn't match anything we have on record," Batman said. "He appears to be working as support for Green Lantern. Have the Guardians of Oa reconsidered their hands off position or is something else going on?"
"Let me check," Guy said, turning to address his ring.
Batman nodded and turned the monitor back around to face him, trying to figure out what else was different about the scene that he was missing. There was very little footage of the original Green Lantern in action and all of it in black and white, but bringing up one of his few fights that was caught on film by a news crew and comparing the two, he finally noted another change. "His aura… it's smoother, less flame like."
The green hologram of one of the Guardians of Oa vanished and Guy turned to Batman. "No, we are still supposed to avoid casual contact with him and the Guardians have no record of him or his ring. They want me to investigate and make sure it's not an Anti-Green ring."
"Anti-Green ring?" Batman demanded.
"Us Lanterns have our enemies," Guy said, "and some of them made their own versions of our rings to fight us."
"What are the chances this is an Anti-Green ring?" Batman asked, mentally going over his own defenses against ring users.
"Well…" Guy said thoughtfully, "Anti-Green rings are very chatty, but it's mostly ordering their slaves around. See Anti-Green rings enslave people and force them to fight for them on pain of death. If that's an Anti-Green ring then they've learned subtlety."
"You can't rely on your enemies to always use the same tactics," Batman said thoughtfully. "How long will it take you to verify if he has an Anti-Green ring or not?"
"Don't know," Guy replied, "Hal mostly dealt with them, I just saw the after action reports."
"Contact Hal and see what you can find out," Batman suggested, "if he is an Anti-Green ring user Green Lantern is in danger."
"I'll see what I can find out," Guy promised.
0o0o0o0o0o
"You dress like a farm hand," Alan said amused.
"I'm a simple guy," John replied. "Maybe I was a farm hand, all I know is boots, Levi's, and a t-shirt suits me fine."
"We should get you some flannel," Alan joked.
"Do they have a section?" John asked, looking around the thrift store.
"I was joking," Alan said as he followed John who had spotted a section of plaid flannel shirts and was heading for them.
"I'm not," John said, "I like flannel."
"Maybe when it's colder," Alan said, "for summer, polo shirts and khakis are really more practical."
"Maybe for golfing," John joked.
"Do you golf?" Alan asked hopefully. "I could go for a few rounds."
John laughed. "I miniature golf, actual golf just confuses me. I think it's like fishing."
"Fishing?" Alan asked as John chose some flannel shirts. "I'm not seeing the connection."
"Fishing isn't about catching fish," John said, "it's about relaxing with friends and having a few beers."
"Do you fish?" Alan asked.
"I think I do," John replied, "I like the idea anyway."
"One good thing about being able to travel is that we can go anywhere in the world on a moment's notice," Alan said. "I've always wanted to try ice fishing."
"Camping out on the ice for a week in a small shack and fishing through a hole in the floor?" John asked as he considered it. "That does sound like fun. Might need a few more people for that, but I can get behind it."
An alarm went off and the sound of breaking glass could be heard outside. The two dropped the clothes they were holding and rushed for the front door.
"Someone's robbing the bank!" the cashier exclaimed, peeking out the front window before ducking behind the counter, her blue hair just visible above it.
Alan exchanged glances with John before looking down at his bare right hand, his usual lantern ring too noticeable to wear in public before tapping his foot with a grin to signal he was wearing the copied ring on his toe.
John crouched down and placed his right hand on the floor with a smile,
Alan quickly joined him. "What's the plan?" he whispered.
A couple of men exited the bank across from them as a car screeched to a halt right in front of them and they piled in, firing a couple of shots in the air to discourage pursuit.
"Just this," John said, his right hand glowing green for a second, before he stood up, "and done."
"What did you do?" Alan asked, standing up and noting the car hadn't moved and the firing had ceased.
"Just a couple of filaments through the ground so they wouldn't see them coming," John replied. "One good hard tap on the sleep centers of the brain and they'll be out for at least twelve hours."
"I don't recall that in the training files," Alan said with a grin as they saw several cop cars screech up to surround the vehicle as they turned to retrieve the clothes they were going to buy.
"Sending filaments through the ground is a well known technique," John replied, "as for the other bit, I learned that last night when I checked for a way to get to sleep quickly."
"We can use our rings to get a good night's sleep?" Alan asked, surprised.
"They like to call them the most powerful weapon in the universe, but really they're a tool," John said, as he picked up the clothes he'd decided on, "and tools are useful for a lot more than just blasting things."
"I'm going to have to look through the medical files to see what else they can do," Alan said with a smile.
"One of the first things I did when I got my ring," John said before frowning thoughtfully, "or rather discovered I had a ring and was naked in orbit, was to grab a couple of abandoned satellites and repair them. They can do a lot more than you think."
"Now that I believe," Alan said. "You really do look at things from a different perspective and that's not a bad thing."
"I like to think so," John agreed as they approached the counter. "Now, where are we going for lunch?"
"I'm an old man, I like IHOP," Alan said firmly.
"Everyone likes IHOP," John assured him, "and that sounds fine to me."
"This is a lot of Levi's and flannel," the old woman manning the counter noted, "planning on raising horses."
Alan laughed and John just slumped his head.
0o0o0o0o00
"I've consulted with Hal and had him expand on some of his report," Guy told Batman as he entered his office, "Anti-Green rings have to replace their users every twenty four hours as they basically suck them dry of energy and they are every bit as powerful as your standard ring, more so as they don't have a weakness against yellow."
"So he may either be draining energy off Green Lantern to extend his own lifespan or planning to take him as his next host," Batman said with a frown. "Green Lantern looks younger than he did before, not older."
"Maybe he wants to make sure the old Green Lantern is a perfect host," Guy offered with a shrug.
"Our suppositions don't match the facts of the case," Batman said with a frown.
"I don't know what to tell you," Guy said, "the only source of Green Lantern rings other than the Guardians are the Weaponers of Qward and the Guardians didn't make his ring."
"We need more information," Batman said.
"Best way to get it is to go to the source," Guy said.
0o0o0o0o0o
"Drink beer, fish, and grill burgers while sitting on a frozen lake," Alan said, "I don't know why I never tried that before."
"Because when you were young and had all that energy you were busy punching evil people in the face," John suggested.
"I think you're right," Alan said, "I never really got to take any vacations when I was active and I was too tired when I finally retired to do much more than golf."
"Well now you have the time and energy," John said.
"Where would we go?"
"Canada," John said. "All the movies I've seen about ice fishing were about Canada or were filmed there."
"Some of your memories coming back?" the older lantern asked hopefully.
"No, but my trivia knowledge seems to have stuck with me since it has nothing to do with my personal life and existence," John explained.
"So… you have the shape of your personality because of what you know without knowing who you are," he said thoughtfully.
"That's how it's worked out," John agreed. "Want to hear a little piece of trivia I remember about Canada?"
"Sure, lay it on me," Alan agreed.
"One of the few predators for Moose… are killer whales," John said with a grin.
"Now I know you're messing with me," Alan said with a laugh.
"Turns out moose like to go diving for the plants in deep water," John said. "They dive twenty to thirty feet easy."
"Seriously?" Alan asked.
"Hand to god," John swore. "And orcas sometimes hunt in water that shallow."
"Imagine going scuba diving and running into a moose," Alan said with a laugh.
"And then an orca comes out of nowhere and eats it," John added causing them both to burst out laughing.
"Let's stick with frozen lakes," Alan said, "the last thing I want to deal with is an orca interrupting my fishing."
"Much less chance of an orca in a lake," he agreed.
"If we go in costume we don't have to wait for you to get a passport," Alan said with a grin.
"Plus if there's any emergencies on the lake they'll know to come get us," John added.
"Should we buy everything here or in Canada?" Alan asked. "Maintaining a construct to carry everything while flying at high speeds can be draining."
John grinned. "My friend, let me tell you about one of the most useful functions of a green lantern ring with an AI."
"What is it?" Alan said, when he realized John was waiting for him to ask.
"Subspace storage," John replied.
0o0o0o0o0o
"I've located them," Batman reported hitting a couple of buttons on his keyboard and displaying a frozen lake dotted with numerous wooden sheds. "Lake Simcoe, Ontario."
"They're ice fishing?" Guy asked in disbelief. "I've been searching all over the US and they're in Canada fishing?"
"They've also healed several cases of frostbite and pulled an SUV out of the water," Batman reported.
"Really not the actions of an Anti-Green ring host," Guy said, "though it could be part of a larger plan. The only way we're going to find out is if one of us goes down there and sees." He smiled. "And I can get there in an instant."
"And I'm much better at stealth operations," Batman said as he stood up and headed for the teleporters, seemingly unaware of the surprised look on Guy's face.
0o0o0o0o0o
"You don't have any bait on your line or a hook for that matter," Alan said as the pair sat on a bench inside the small shack on the frozen lake, both with fishing poles in hand.
"Didn't want to risk catching a fish, "John replied before taking a swig of beer.
"Doesn't that defeat the purpose of fishing?" Alan asked, before turning around to flip the burgers that were cooking on a small hibachi grill.
"I fish to relax," John replied. "I can't see catching fish and having to gut them as all that relaxing."
Alan laughed.
Someone knocked on the door to their shack and John waved a hand, sending a green thread through the door and the knocking stopped.
"Tom get a hook stuck in his hand again?" Alan asked.
"Two of them," John agreed as he released the filament, having subspaced the hooks and healed the clumsy man's hand.
"Thanks!" Tom called from outside before returning to his own fishing shack.
"Why cast out a line if you're not going to fish?" Alan asked.
"It's a zen thing," John replied cheerfully.
"Fair enough," Alan said before John's pole pulled sharply downward.
"Dammit, I caught something," John complained, making Alan burst out laughing. "Something big he added as he reinforced his pole, before giving it a huge tug.
An enormous woman, at least ten feet tall and four feet wide, that was a strange mix of human and killer whale, burst through the ice and was quickly wrapped in a net of green energy by John.
Alan used his ring to keep all their gear from falling into the lake and quickly refroze the ice under the shack.
John telepathically consulted his ring, ignoring the woman's struggles to free herself while Alan reset their poles and checked on the beverages. "Grace, use your smaller form," John ordered.
"Umm," the metahuman stared wide eyed as she saw she'd been captured by two green lanterns.
"Seriously Grace," John said, "this shack is a bit crowded with you beefed up like that and you're probably scaring away all the fish."
She nervously swallowed and began to transform into a slender blonde woman, completely bereft of clothes.
John pulled a pair of pants, socks, and a thick plaid flannel shirt out of subspace for her.
"I'm paralyzed from the waist down like this," Grace said as she pulled on the flannel.
John used his ring to dress her without looking, sinking several threads of green energy into her back as he settled her on the bench next to him.
"Now what?" she asked nervously.
"Now, we fish," Alan said, figuring John had caught her, so she was his responsibility. "Beer?" he offered.
"I could use one," Grace said, gratefully accepting a bottle and taking a drink.
The three sat in silence for a few minutes, John distracted by whatever he was doing and Alan just enjoying fishing when Grace's stomach growled loudly.
"Burger?" Alan offered taking them off the grill and slapping them between some buns.
"Thanks," Grace said, "those damn moose are surprisingly tricky."
Typing by: fyrewolf5
TN: Nothing like a bit of foreshadowing and completely confusing the good guys by accident.