"Here," John said, passing what looked to be a standard Green Lantern ring to Alan.
"I have my ring and the other one you gave me stuck up my nose," Alan said, "what do I need a third for?"
"This one is charged off the Lantern I got from the Guardians," john explained, "it'll work on wood. Between the two of them it removes any weaknesses."
Alan chuckled as he put it on. "I'm surprised you aren't trying to give me a blue on as well."
"The blue ring can't copy itself the way my ring can or I would," John replied. "Where are we off to today?"
"IHOP," Alan said, "Kent and Ted are going to meet us there."
"Dr. Fate and Wildcat?" John asked, just to be sure.
"You really do know everyone's secret identities," Alan said in disbelief.
"Probably," John replied with a shrug. "Support means working with heroes, so it's only natural I'd have met everyone."
"Good point," he conceded. "Kent is going to take a look at the black ring and Ted is bringing your new ID."
"I never pictured Wildcat as the type to do paperwork," John said.
"He has contacts in the government," Alan replied, "I'm pretty sure he doesn't actually file anything himself."
"Makes sense," John said thoughtfully. "What about warding your Lantern?"
"Kent's going to come by after breakfast to handle that," Alan replied, "It's not something you wanna do in IHOP even if you get a booth."
"And it may be simpler to ward the room you keep it in so he has time to create something to ward the Lantern itself," John said thoughtfully.
"Yes, now try to copy this," Alan said, holding up his hands to show his rings which promptly vanished.
"Did you just subspace your rings?" John asked.
"No, I made them invisible," Alan replied, "it takes a bit of concentration… but subspacing them is actually more useful, since I can just pull them back out at will thanks to my nose ring." The rings reappeared and then vanished again. "That is easier. I could even keep charged copies of the ring you gave me in there as a backup."
"That… is really obvious in retrospect," John said, "and not something I had considered even though I kinda do that, just with more steps."
"Live and learn," Alan said with a grin. "Man, it's going to be so much easier to get in costume now."
"Are we flying over or driving?" John asked.
"Flying," Alan replied, both rings reappearing. "Well, teleporting while invisible and finding an unobserved niche to change into civvies. I was planning on showing you how to make your ring invisible so you'd be able to have it ready for an emergency, but the nose ring makes that kind of technique moot."
"To quote Batman, 'paranoia for the win," John joked.
Alan grinned. "I'm pretty sure he's never actually said that, though I will concede he's probably thought it a time or two. Anyway, let's go, I don't want to miss the senior's breakfast special."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Ted, Kent," Alan greeted the pair as they joined them at a booth in the back of the restaurant with a view of the entrance.
John looked over the pair. Ted Grant looked to be no older than his late thirties thanks to the Nine Lives spell that had been cast on him and could probably have challenged the latest heavy weight champion for the title and won. His short, cropped hair was still dark with just a touch of silver at the temples, that would have made him look distinguished if not for his nose which had obviously been broken several times and not set correctly. Kent Nelson in comparison looked like a well-preserved scholar in his sixties, which was impressive since he'd begun training with Nabu in the 1920's.
He briefly wondered if he could get an Odd Couple reboot green lit with the pair before pushing the idle thought aside.
"Alan, you're looking… younger," Kent noted.
"Magic pit or did someone hit you with some kinda ray?" Ted asked.
"Neither," Alan replied as he picked up a menu, "turns out my lantern leaks and over time it's turned me into some sort of elemental being. I was only growing older because I stopped using my ring."
"Shouldn't Nabu have caught that?" Ted turning to him much older teammate.
Kent shook his head. "Nabu would have had to scan for it and it's not something that would have concerned him."
"And speaking of scanning," John said, "is it alright if I give you two a health checkup and touch up your joints a bit?"
Alan chuckled softly as the two retired heroes turned to give John a confused look. "My… sidekick here, has a knack or two for healing and specializes in support of active heroes."
"A Green Lantern running support?" Ted said. "Never thought I'd see that."
"I became a Green Lantern because I like to help people, at least that's my guess," John replied with a shrug.
"Guess? Alan did say you lost your memory," Ted remembered, answering his own question.
"I think I can do more good helping others than doing it all myself," John explained.
"That checks out," Ted agreed, "but we're retired from the business."
"And I have beachfront property in Montana to sell you," John said with a smirk. "Heroes don't retire, they just shift to helping people closer to home unless there's an emergency. How many muggings have you stopped in the last year?"
"Couple dozen, but I live in Gotham," Ted pointed out.
"Still doing good work, just because you aren't wearing a mask doesn't mean anything."
"Fair enough," Ted agreed as the waitress arrived and took their order.
"Besides, I have no doubt you'll be training the younger heroes and it's a lot easier if your joints aren't crackling like a campfire," John said. "Beating common sense into them is a tough job."
The older heroes laughed.
"Ain't that the truth," Ted agreed with a wide grin.
The four fell silent as their food arrived and they began eating.
"I've got your ID all set up," Ted said, while picking up his coffee. "John Alan Wheland, age twenty-one, grew up in Gotham, so no living family, and the spotty and incorrect records are on account of various destructive acts committed by the local rogues. You graduated high school with a 3.8 grade point average and have a bachelors in Engineering and enough college credits in the medical field to get hired as a paramedic." He passed a large yellow legal envelope across the table. "There's also half a dozen minor things to round it out, like a Starbucks loyalty card, library card, and a well worn get out of jail free card from a Monopoly set. I used the picture Alan sent me for the photo IDs with a bit of digital alteration so they don't all look exactly alike. By the way, you screwed up on filing your taxes last year so you owe the IRS thirty some odd dollars, but the notification won't get to you until you get a new address since you had to move out of Crime Alley after Firebug torched your apartment building, destroying all your worldly possessions."
"I'm impressed," John said as he subspaced the envelope.
"Couldn't do much about giving you a believable online presence, not one that would hold up at any rate, but the excuse is that you were too poor to afford internet and all your time and money was put towards getting a degree and escaping Gotham," Ted added.
"Thanks, you're a life saver," John said.
"Don't mention it," Ted replied, waving it off.
"I understand you want me to examine your lantern and ring?" Kent asked Alan.
"My lantern and a Lantern Ring," Alan corrected him, "though I suppose there's no harm in checking mine as well."
"A Lantern Ring?" Ted asked. "How many ya got?"
John and Alan looked at one another and burst out laughing.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
In a burst of green light the four appeared in Alan's living room.
"Haven't done that in a while," Ted said, blinking the spots from his eyes. "So what was the joke about the rings?"
The two Lanterns called up their rings from their pocket making them appear on their hands.
"You are using two rings," Kent noted, seeing the additional ring Alan had on.
"And he's got three," Ted said, gesturing to John.
"Alan's already told you my backstory," John said, "but what he hasn't mentioned is that I can create duplicates of my ring."
"And since the rings the Guardians make are more advanced you've decided to use one of those as well," Kent guessed as he looked at Alan's two rings.
"Not only that," John said, holding up his right hand with its two Green Lantern rings, one with the symbol Alan designed on it while the other held the Guardian's Green Lantern symbol. "The Starheart is not a typical Lantern, it's actually fueled by The Green, not will."
"That's why it has a weakness to wood," Kent realized. "I can't believe I didn't see that before."
"Still in the dark here and what about the blue ring with Superman's symbol on it?" Ted asked.
"The Starheart was created by the Guardians sweeping up all the wild magic they could find in the universe, which was mostly composed of The Green," John explained.
"But that would prevent the development of life on countless worlds," Kent protested.
"They probably still don't realize that," John told him with a shrug.
"What's The Green and why's it different from Will?" Ted asked, knowing he was missing something.
"The Green is the will of plants to grow," Kent explained. "Poison Ivy has tapped into it. Will itself is slightly different as it encompasses all life."
"I traded some information from my old timeline about the various possible Lantern Corps for one of the Guardian's prototype chargers so we both have rings charged with the two separate energies," John explained.
"Which is better?" Ted asked.
"Neither," John replied. "Will has a weakness to the color yellow while The Green has a weakness to plant matter, so using both covers the hole in the other's protection."
"Good reason to use both," Ted decided. "And the blue ring?"
"Picked it up from the remains of Krypton," John said with a smile. "While green rings are powered by Will, blue rings are powered by Hope."
"And the Kryptonian symbol for hope is Supes' symbol," Ted said with a nod. "Didn't know they had their own corps of ring users."
"They didn't," John said, shaking his head, "the ring was a one off someone created that was stuck in a museum and ignored."
"So much for being an advanced race," Ted said with a snort.
"How does Hope differ from Will?" Kent asked curiously.
"Hope reinforces Will and while its constructs are weaker, it increases the power of nearby Green Lantern users and is the best color for healing," John said, holding the ring up proudly.
"So, it's a support ring," Ted decided.
"The best support ring possible," John agreed.
Kent nodded. "So, you are wearing two different types of green rings while John wears three, two green and one blue. Where does the black ring come into it?"
"The Starheart isn't just The Green, it also contains other wild magics, though in much lower amounts," John explained while Alan went to retrieve his lantern. "Since I didn't have a way to charge my ring at the time, we decided to charge a couple dozen rings to store in my subspace pocket so I'd be good for a month or more."
"How long did that take?" Ted asked.
"The same amount of time charging one ring would," John said, pulling the brick of green rings and solitary black ring out of his pocket. "The Starheart leaks powers like you wouldn't believe and charges everything in the area." He passed the black ring to Kent. "While the other rings charged up with Green energy, this one charged up with Black. We suspect it's connected to the Shadowlands, since he's been exposed to it before and his son taps into it."
"Doesn't look like a bunch of rings, it looks like Legos," Ted noted as he examined the large green rectangle.
"Lantern rings can alter their shape, so I made them into Legos and stuck them together," John explained.
Alan returned and set his lantern on the coffee table. "So what's the verdict?"
"It's definitely drawing power from the Shadowlands," Kent said as he gestured and little sparks of light were absorbed into it.
"Oh, thank god," John said, relieved.
The three heroes turned to look at him.
"The Shadowlands is not the worst source it could tap into," he explained. "Having it tap into the Shadowlands just means we can pass it on to Obsidian who can safely use it to regulate his own powers."
"Would it help with his mental problems?" Alan asked hopefully.
"It'll take a lot of the strain off him and can monitor his mental state and brain chemistry, letting him know what's real," John replied, "it can also prevent him from being mind controlled or possessed."
"I've seen Green Lanterns mind controlled or possessed before," Kent pointed out.
"Sir, you haven't instructed us on what to do in such situations," James spoke up, glowing so Ted and Kent would know it was his ring that was talking.
"It can if you program it to," John said with a sigh. "I knew I was forgetting something."
He took off his original Green Lantern ring and passed it to Kent. "Would you mind teaching it all the sigils and spells needed to remove possessions and protect the mind?"
Kent passed back the Black Ring. "I wonder why no one has had their rings do this before." He slipped the Green Ring on his finger.
"Because using Will has an effect on the minds of the user, making them headstrong and less likely to ask for help. As far as I can tell the entire corps and even the Guardians have extended that to the AI of the rings themselves."
"That is insanely short sighted," Kent noted.
"Well, before there were Green Lanterns, the Guardians of Oa created the Manhunters, androids that were used as a galactic police force… which went rogue and wiped an entire sector of space clean of life. The Guardians kind of went off the concept of AIs at that point, so even though the rings have an AI, the lanterns are discouraged from relying on them," John explained. "It probably isn't even a conscious decision."
"That's… horrifying," Ted said.
"Just a bit," John said. "Of course since they run on Will, the wielder can override anything the AI wants to do, preventing a repeat of the previous disaster even if an AI goes rogue once more. That's probably why the rings are programmed to seek out sentients with strong willpower."
"Wouldn't that prevent the ring from freeing someone who's been mind controlled?" Kent asked.
"No, mind control weakens their will which would allow the ring to override the wielder. If they're in their right mind the ring wouldn't be able to affect them after all," John explained.
"I bet you had that programmed into your ring before reality got re-written," Alan said. "You know too much about the subject, much like your knowledge of paradox protection."
"More than likely," John agreed. "It's just common sense."
"Only to you," Ted said with a chuckle.
Kent's eyes glowed green as he communicated with the ring. "These rings are very user friendly and intuitive," he noted, "and would make excellent archives for magical knowledge."
"Feel free to add any magical knowledge you think we should know," John said with a shrug, "it'll make recognizing magical spells and effects easier if nothing else."
"I'll provide the basic knowledge I think is safe for a novice to possess and all the signs needed to recognize when you need to consult an expert," Kent offered.
"While he's doing that, let's see about giving you a tune up," John suggested, turning to Ted.
"I see a doctor regularly," Ted assured him as a green light engulfed his body.
"Yeah, but a regular doctor can't remove shrapnel without operating or dissolve the traces of chemicals in your body," John said.
"Didn't know I had any shrapnel in me," Ted replied, "and what chemicals?"
"You've got grains of metal and rock from past injuries, not enough to tell without a full body x-ray and traces of Joker Gas, Fear Toxin, Ivy's Pollen, and god knows what else." He brought up his left hand and covered Ted in an aura of blue light. "Also your cartilage has gone through some heavy wear and tear over the years."
"Comes with getting old," Ted waved it off.
John snorted. "I doubt most old men spend their free time fighting men fifty years younger than them. And done." The aura around Ted snapped off as he lowered his arm.
Ted stretched and turned before bending and twisting, testing his body. "Damn, I feel ten years younger, there's not even a twinge!" He fell into a crouch and tossed out several punches at blinding speeds with a wide grin.
"That's as much as I can do without finding a way to make you younger or making physical alterations," John said.
"Alterations?" Alan asked curiously.
"Supplemental organs, adding alien DNA, cyborg enhancements," John listed off. "There are any number of ways to enhance someone, but most people are kinda leery of them."
"Supplemental organs?" Ted asked, wondering what the difference was between that and cyborg enhancements.
"A second liver made from your own DNA would allow your body able to filter out poisons much more efficiently," he explained, "or I could expand your lung capacity, so it takes more to tire you out. There are a lot of little tweaks that can be done using the tissues of your own body, but like I said, most people are unnerved by the idea of altering themselves so the most I do without explicit permission is remove cancerous cells and replace them with healthy ones."
"Yeah, if I went to the bathroom and discovered I had three balls I'd get a mite upset no matter how well it worked," Ted joked getting a chuckle.
"Done," Kent said, passing John back his original ring.
"Thanks," John said, sliding it back on his finger and scanning Kent. "You've done a lot less damage to your body, but then you've had access to healing spells when needed."
"One of the more positive benefits of knowing magic," Kent said with a smile. He gestured at the Lantern, sparks of golden light floating down to cling to its surface. "Now let's have a look."
"You modified yourself any?" Ted asked.
"Four balls," John said, managing to keep a straight face for nearly three seconds, before bursting out laughing at the looks on theirs'.
"Huh, you had me going there for a second, kid," Ted said. "Four balls…"
"That was a good one," Alan agreed.
"Oh dear," Kent said as he examined the Starheart, "we may have a problem."
Typing By: Abyssal Angel