Chapter 2

Back at the Watchtower...

"Ow! That really hurts!" Lea/Hope exclaimed harshly, rubbing her scratched wounds being bandaged up. "Can't you be more careful next time, Mr. Delicate?"

"I am being careful, Hope," Superman said before looking concerned. "Are you alright, kid?"

"Sorry. I don't know what got in to me," Midnight Hope said, placing a hand on her forehead. "I just...have a very bad headache."

"I'll give you some medicine for that in a bit. Can you tell me what happened out there?" He asked.

"I'll tell you what happened when I feel like it, okay?" Lea/Midnight quickly responded roughly, feeling her stomach now. "Ugh...and I really don't feel so good."

"Okay, that is concerning," Superman said. "How about you stay here and rest a bit? One of us will come check on you a bit later."

Nodding, Lea/Midnight Hope lied down on the medical bed to rest. Flash and Fire met up with Superman as he exited the med bay. "How is she doing?" Flash asked.

"I think that fight took a lot out of her," Superman said. "She's resting right now. We'll check on her a bit later."

The other two nodded. "I hope she'll be okay," Fire said in concern.

However, after the heroes left, none of them noticed that Midnight Hope was tossing and turning in discomfort before stopping. Along with her ring start to dim a bit.

Batman was filling out the report and was talking to Manhunter about the battle. "I'm not sure who she went up against, but she got hurt badly," he said.

"She must have been surprised by the person then," J'onn said.

Suddenly, the heroes heard a lot of crashing going on in the infirmary where they quickly investigated. After opening the door, they were shocked to see not only a mess there but no Midnight Hope.

"Where did she go?" Flash asked.

J'onn used his telepathy. "She's still here in the Watchtower," he said.

"Maybe we should go find her," Fire said.

They split up with Batman going to find Atom to analyze the residue from the scratch Hope had gotten from the battle. The Atom looked at it through a microscope and looked worried. "It's some kind of liquidated mood toxin," he said.

"You mean it affects her emotions?" Batman asked.

"Yes," Atom said. "From the looks of it, it seems to promote aggression in the victim's mind."

"How can you tell?" The Caped Crusader asked.

"Just got word from J'onn that Hope is on a rampage and it's not like her," Atom said.

Batman was concerned. "Mood toxin," he said. "Sounds like Scarecrow's work, except he deals in fear."

"Altered batch of Scarecrow's fear toxin?" Atom asked.

"I'd say no, but I've seen enough to know that anything could be possible," the Caped Crusader said. "How fast can we get an antidote ready?"

Atom looked thoughtful. "I'm not sure an antidote will help in this instance," he said. "But, if it's related to emotions and she's feeling angry right now from what J'onn said, maybe if we can help her feel happy and positive enough, then the chemicals our brains release when we are happy and positive should flush the anger toxin out of her system instantaneously."

"We better find a way to do that fast then," Batman said. "Because if we don't, she's is going to get herself and people hurt. Physically and emotionally."

"Considering that Midnight runs on hope; the polar opposite of rage. If she keeps feeling nothing but rage, then her powers aren't going to work well enough to fly, construct, or anything," Atom agreed.

In the Watchtower, Midnight Hope was going off on several of the heroes, who were surprised to see her so angry. "You all really annoying me!" She growled.

"Hey kid, relax." Guy Gardner said. "You've made your point."

"Don't tell me what to do, Guy!" Lea/Midnight nearly yelled, bumping into a small ad about Captain Atom where she growled and kicked it down. "And these pictures of that selfish wannabe blowhard make me sick! How is he even a hero at all?!"

"Simple, I was a nobody until an energy accident gave me powers and I use them to fight for justice." Captain Atom said. "That's what makes a true hero, young lantern child, not some silly space ring or advanced gadgets."

"You call yourself a hero, Captain Atom?! A real hero wouldn't always rely on powers and belittle people for not having any, whether they're civilians or even heroes themselves!" Lea/Midnight exclaimed in anger. "I know plenty of heroes besides Batman that don't need them to be super when battling tough challenges! You're nothing but a selfish, arrogant, lowlife worm that can't process the humility and brain capacity of a human being! I'd rather work with a rock that has more humble feelings than you!"

Aquaman, Blue Beetle, and Booster Gold started laughing at how Midnight Hope talked savagely to Captain Atom. "Boom! She's got you good, Captain!" Booster Gold added.

"Oh, you think you guys are any better? Last I checked, most of you couldn't tell the difference between our Batman and an evil doppelganger from another universe where the heroes are villains and vice versa!" Lea/Hope exclaimed. "And the sad part is that the only person who did wasn't even a hero at all! It was Batman's number one arch enemy of Gotham; Joker! Talk about insult to injury that shows how incompetent you all are and still get your butts handed by an imposter!"

Blue Beetle and Aquaman felt shame about that moment. "Uhh... Well... We never really think of a universe where we're bad guys. It doesn't like it made sense." Blue Beetle said. "But you are right. We should've believed him instead of thinking he could turn against us."

"But we did apologize big time to Batman for Owlman's deception. But you have to admit, his actions do sound like being a bad guy," Aquaman noted and Batman smacked him in the back of his head. "Sorry, old chum."

"And you..." Midnight growled lowly, going back to Captain Atom and not leaving her hard glare.

"Me? But you got me already," Captain Atom replied, both confused and somewhat worried.

"Did I, though, Captain? Did I reaaaaally get you?" Lea/Midnight asked, sternly and annoyed. "Have you learned anything at all from being human again or the last few minutes of this conversation?!"

Captain Atom looks at the ad he picked up from the floor, and then looks at the young blue lantern girl and remembers the time he got his powers taken by Major Force that one time. "Yeah...you're right... Probably not."

"Phew. Glad she didn't say anything bad about me," Booster Gold stated in relief.

"I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOU!" Lea/Midnight yelled at the dumbfounded future hero, after coming back to the room before leaving immediately.

Booster Gold was startled and then was distraught that Midnight Hope never heard of him. "Do you want to know?" He nervously asked.

"Can't you leave me alone for one day?!" Lea/Midnight shouted, throwing a nearby chair at the hero who spoke.

Booster Gold shrieked and made a forcefield around himself so he wouldn't get hit by the object.

"Okay, that's it," Wonder Woman said. "Hope, I'm sorry we have to do this." She turned to the others. "Restrain her!"

The heroes nearest to Midnight Hope quickly grabbed her. "Don't hurt her!" Blue Beetle cautioned them.

"Get...OFF ME!" The angry Blue Lantern shouted, using any Lantern energy she had to push back her hero captors and get free. "You guys are really getting on my nerves here! I never want to see nor deal with you ever again!"

After saying that, Lea/Midnight used her new skates to leave in a hurry and block the doors in the room keeping the heroes inside.

Bat-Mite suddenly popped in front of Lea, a look of worry on his face. "Oh, no," he said, his cowl ears drooping.

"Bat-Mite?! Ugh, I don't have time for this!" Lea/Hope groaned, face palming before skating away. "If you're looking for Batman, I haven't seen him!"

"I'm actually here for you, Hope," he said quietly.

"Me? Hello! You're Bat-Mite! The most powerful little being from another world who only cares about Batman and not anyone else!" Midnight Rage remarked, stopping her skate-run while folding her arms. "Do you honestly expect me to believe that you'd waste your time and powers to visit a rando-heroine nobody with zero strings attached?!"

"I'm not wasting my time! There's something really wrong with you!" He said in concern.

"There's nothing wrong with me!" Lea/Midnight yelled, her anger growing. "I'm perfectly calm! The only issue I have at the moment IS YOU!"

When yelling that last part, Midnight pushed Bat-Mite out of her way while skating forward in a hurry.

"Hope, wait!" The small hero called out, quickly ensnaring her in spider-like rope, making sure she didn't get hurt as she tripped over the trap.

"HEY! BAT-MITE! What's the meaning of this?!" Lea/Midnight shouted, feeling herself trapped once again. "Let me out of here now, you flying little gremlin!"

"No, Hope," he said. "Let me help you. Something is really wrong."

He approached her, but seeing her so mad, he knew he was going to need help.

"Trapping me against my will is NOT helping!" Midnight yelled, struggling to get out. "I get that's your forte in seeing the world are your play things, but this is taking things way too far!"

"I don't think of you as a plaything, Hope," he said as he sent out a call to a few heroes he knew could help. Namely Martian Manhunter, Spectre, and Razer, since the latter knew all about rage.

"Really? Because it doesn't feel that way when you used me since the first time we met," Midnight remarked, not leaving her glare. "You showed up by coincidence to stop a tough baddie who randomly showed up at Odym and expect me to believe you didn't set that up just to help your hero?!"

Bat-Mite shook his head. "I had nothing to do with him showing up," he protested.

"LIES!" Lea/Midnight exclaimed, using her ring to float a nearby object to throw at Bat-Mite.

He dodged it and hoped the others would be there soon, because he was very scared that if Hope continued to stay like this, the outcome would be devastating.


Looks like Bat-Mite arrived in time, but will the heroes he called and himself be able to help Midnight Hope? Stay tuned. :)

And please leave Redbat132 and myself a review, but no flames!

GoldGuardian2418