Ch.6- Green Light Cavalry
Malcom Duncan watched the other kids he'd just ushered out of the building run towards the soccer field and scatter once they hit the parking lot to different cars or bikes. He started to jog out of the building to catch up with them when he felt something check his spirit.
Malcom turned his head and looked up and behind him. He saw a thin, yellow comet streaking through the air. The Voice inside told him to catch that falling star.
Instinctively, he obeyed. Malcom put on the breaks and changed direction, kicking up dust as he broke into a run towards the shooting spark's landing position.
The star was losing altitude and speed fast- It was going to crash!
Malcom dove, catching the flying streak in his outstretched hands and rolling to a stop!
Once the adrenaline wore off, Malcom realized that whatever he'd caught was really, really hot! "Ouch! Ow-ow-ow" Malcom hissed. The young man opened his cupped fists and looked at his hands… and stared. In his shock, he fumbled his catch, letting the small yellow form slip through his fingers!
He watched it tumble end over end, arms and legs flopping.
PIIINNGG!
Malcom Duncan cringed at the sharp sound. Like a pebble or metal coin striking the linoleum the floor next to his feet; like a single screw dropped from a great height, or a knockout bell from a title fight. He stared, dumbstruck, at the tiny hero on the floor. He had no words. It was beyond weird... beyond wrong to see a superhero knocked out at his feet. Hopefully just unconscious. Gingerly, Mal lifted the minuscule metal doll off of the floor, feeling how uncomfortably life-like and still the small heroine was.
Everyone who had attended the fair had gone by now, evacuated the building. He was alone in the wreckage with a hero in his hands, and there was nothing he could do.
"Heeeelp! Somebody help!" Malcom cried out. He cradled the fallen hero in his hands again, numb to his stinging palms, helpless.
He cried out again, hoping for a hero- hoping to be heard.
Jessica Cruz, Green Lantern, and Hal, also Green Lantern flew in through the hole in the side of the school building. On the way, they'd seen giant holes in the road and fished cars out of craters. They'd also seen the escaping panicked crowd running towards a soccer field, and knew they'd found their perp. Inside, a few stragglers who hadn't made it out of the cafeteria yet were still trying to escape through the main entrance, clearing wreckage with desperate, clumsy hands and arguing. Between the trapped citizens and the hole in the wall, the clear and best escape, was a hulking robot that could turn around and blast them at any time. Right now, the robot was distracted it seemed, walking towards a tent.
"Jess, the robot-!" Hal started.
Jessica pointed to the citizens. "We need to get everyone to safety, first!"
It was a tough call, but Hal eventually nodded to Jessica and they flew to the rescue.
Green Lantern looked around. "Hey, I don't see Bumblebee!" called the male lantern.
Green Lantern roped as many people as she could, enveloping them in gentle tentacles of light that grew into hard light bubbles, and pushed them outside through the hole in the wall.
Jessica turned to Hal, who was scooping people up with a giant shovel. "I don't either but, huh!, Zavanna!?"
The female lantern flew down to her injured friend, created a gurney of light, and lifted the battered actress to safety. Meanwhile, the male lantern blasted the heel of the metal robot, attempting to trip it. The Lex- bot simply absorbed the light energy and kept walking.
"Ho'Oh boy...we're in trouble" Hal whistled. With the civilians cleared out, Jessica flew behind him, her ring glowing brightly, ready to fire at the robot, as Hal had done. Hal threw himself in front of her. "Wait, don't!"
Jessica stopped. "What!? Why not?"
"It eats energy!" Hal exclaimed, flashing his ring. Jessica frowned. His ring looked faded.
"Well, what do we do then!" Her face was perplexed, but she was open to any ideas.
Hal put his thumb to his chin and looked around. Luthor was getting closer to the famed laser! Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of his scrimmage buddy, Malcom, crouching down in a corner behind some debris and it hit him! "Throw rocks!" Hal shouted, lifting a chuck of school building, and making a slingshot of light. He launched the rock at the head of the machine, making it stumble and fall to its knee, leaving a small dent in the linoleum floor.
Slowly the machine rose up again and Luthor turned his giant mech around, indignant. The villain stared down the heroes through the window of his robot's clear, dome head
"What?! D-did you just throw a rock at me! You insipid Cromagnon!" Lex scoffed, but his eyebrow was twitching, and his smile was thin.
"It worked, didn't it!" Hal shot back. Pride dashed, Luthor stomped towards his adversaries, his robot glowing green with lantern energy, ready to retaliate. However, Jessica joined in the wreckage-flinging and Luthor was forced to crouch, put on the defensive now. "You have no right to steal that machine, Luthor!" Jessica declared as she flung concrete blocks at the robot's knees and torso, refraining from hitting the head, and Luthor, directly.
Luthor sneered "Yeah? Well maybe a group of genius scientists shouldn't advertise about a gold making machine in a town full of super villains in a public newspaper!"
Hal paused mid throw. "He's kinda got a point, you know. I mean stealing is totally not cool and all, but, ya'know, in hindsight..."
Jessica cuffed Hal on the back of his head. "Hal...shut up and keep firing!" Jessica snapped.
The rocks came harder and were more numerous now, followed by metal pipes, tables, chairs, trashcans, and even the school's vending machine.
Jessica eyed Hal with annoyance. "Hal, that was public property!"
Hal shrugged. "I thought he'd short circuit- it's a soda machine"
Jessica sighed with frustration and continued to hinder the robotic menace across from them.
Luthor's POV
The Lanterns' worked together, one loading, one firing from a gatling-slingshot hybrid. Hal was aiming, so he was less concerned about where the rocks made contact with the suit. Too dangerous; too unpredictable. The Midas Ray would have to wait for now. A scratched hull couldn't cleanly disperse the energy needed to nix these supers! The Lex-bot threw up a green energy shield and hid behind a growing nest of rocky rubble. Lex threw the odd chunk of cement back at the pesky lantern duo and hunkered down amongst the growing pile of rubble. The Lanterns would run out of energy eventually. They'd done this dance before. Luthor smiled- the gold was his, one way or another.