January 9th, 2026
Rock of Eternity, 8 am

It was hopeless. Totally hopeless. Wilhelm dragged himself to the corner of his cell, placing his hands on his lap and staring at his limp, painful legs. He had only been here a week, and already he wanted death more than ever before. He'd beaten on all the walls, looking for even the tiniest weak point, but there was nothing, not a damn thing.

He stared out the window, humming Erika to himself. He hadn't even tried to read one of the many books that had been provided to him, he knew he'd just end up ripping the pages out in impotent rage. His breaths came pained, more pained than usual even. He instinctively reached for his oxygen, but quickly realized that he hadn't been provided with it.

Goddamn her, goddamn every thing about her, she'd broken him, over and over again, and now she'd trapped him in hell, forever, without even the small reprieves that his freedom had allowed him.

He suddenly felt absolutely horrid, breathless, unable to catch a breath for a moment. Oh god, was he finally dying? Thank god, he didn't think he could last another hour of this. He gasped but felt nothing. He had heard that drowning victims felt a small bit of ecstasy once their breath finally ran out. Maybe that was what he was feeling, maybe it was just joy at finally being free. He didn't quite know, but the difference wasn't important. His gasping came quicker and shallower, his chest burned, but he felt delighted. He'd be back beside his Fuehrer once again.

---

Deep Space

The Ring floated in empty, dark space. It had been ejected from its home, the Lantern Battery near the core of the universe. It had been sent out on a mission. To find others. Recruits. Those who could serve. It had been years. So long since it had left home.

Candidate detected.

The Ring altered course, slipping into Lantern Hyperspace as it homed in on the potential recruit. A trapped soul, but one that had not given over to terror. A soul which delighted in its demise. Unorthodox perhaps, but the Ring could sense no trace of fear in the heart of its mark. Zipping down through an area of space barely charted by the star maps, the Ring danced and twinkled in the light coming from the far-off stars floating lazily through the vacuum. The Ring zeroed in on the shiny obsidian pillar, illuminated by the glowing hieroglyphs on its surface. It slipped inside, navigating gleaming corridors and escher-like staircases and doors to seemingly nowhere.

Finally, the Ring found its recruit. Phasing through the wall, its powers being activated by its internal programming, the Ring hovered before the old man.

"Wilhelm Silber." The Ring intoned in a robotic voice. "You have shown great determination in your last moments. Fear is a stranger to your heart." During its speech, the Ring was scanning Iron Eagle, accessing it's databases of information and finding his history.

"You have used terror as a weapon your whole life. Your experience with creating order out of fear is notable. Fear is a stranger to your heart, but an ally in your hands. Welcome, Wilhelm Silber, to the Sinestro Corps." The Ring proclaimed before hovering forward and darting for Wilhelm's hand.

Wilhelm barely had time to figure out what was happening.

There was a voice talking to him, and for some reason there seemed to be a floating ring in front of him. He wasn't concerned about the fact that it could float, that was old hat to him. What did concern him was the fact that the voice somehow knew his name, his history. Maybe he shouldn't have been, he was in what seemed to be Karen's all seeing eye dimension, but the fact that the ring was even addressing him was concerning. Karen herself had yet to speak to him except for to feed him and ask if he needed anything else.

It talked about fear, it seemed obsessed with that word in particular, speaking of how he had none of it and how he had used it as a weapon... It was quite boring to be quite honest. He knew all of this, he was the one who had done it for god's sake.

And then it said something about... a Corps. Before he had time to even wonder what the hell that meant it shot at him. Immediately he recoiled with a shocked grunt, but the ring found its way to his hand anyway, resting itself upon his right middle finger. He quickly grabbed at it, tugging at it confusedly. What the hell was this thing? He grabbed at it one last time before it released a huge flash of light, near blinding him.

He could just barely see a yellow and black fabric appearing over his hand and making its way up his arm. He gritted his teeth and tried to keep his head as far away as possible, but it was no use, and quickly the fabric closed. He closed his eyes for a second, and when he opened them, the light was gone.

He looked at his hand. The ring rested there, comfortably, so comfortably he didn't even feel it. It was like a part of his skin. His body, all of it, was covered in a black and yellow uniform, stuck tight to his body. His breaths came easily and freely, for the first time since Arcana had beat him. He gaped at the ring as he hoisted himself to his feet, not even noticing that he had his legs back.

"Sinestro Corps...?"

The Ring had plenty of work to do. In addition to fixing the man's spine, which had been expertly severed, it was working on repairing basic cellular damage from old age as well as more advanced damage to the neuron connections in Wilhelm's brain. Though unable to turn back the biological clock for the elderly Nazi, the Ring could make him feel as though he were in the prime of his life. At the question, however, the Ring paused in its work to interface with Wilhelm's mind.

A collection of peacekeepers and soldiers. Founded by Sinestro, formerly of the Green Lantern Corps. Founded on the belief that peace throughout the universe can be attained more effectively and quickly through fear than through other methods. Each member is equipped with a Lantern Ring. It will allow you to fly, protect you from the vacuum of space, travel through Lantern Hyperspace, and create physical constructs out of yellow light. You will be able to see the fears of your opponents and materialize them, allowing them to act on their instinct or exterting more direct control over them. You are to report to Korugar, the location of the Yellow Lantern Power Battery and speak with Sinestro. I will take you there.

Immediately, a compulsion filled Wilhelm's mind. Korugar. Sinestro.

Despite all the nonsensical absurdities in the ring's statement, he felt like it all made sense somehow. An intergalactic police force, meant to keep the galaxy's people in line, through any means necessary. It made a great deal of sense to him.

And his body, he felt better than ever before. It was almost like that first time he and Karen met in Hub City. He flexed his fingers, his toes, all of it, no pain at all. He felt the top of his head, and was surprised to feel the soft fuzziness of shaved hair. He hadn't had hair since his battle with those Americans when they had tried to assassinate his Fuehrer.

He was in this "Sinestro"'s debt, so he felt obligated to do as the ring said, and he supposed testing out what power it gave him could be an interesting experiment.

"Hah! Hahaha! This is fantastic! Yes, of course, take me to Korugar, I'm simply shaking with anticipation!" he said giddily, holding his arms out wide and staring at the flashing of the ring on his finger.

With a flash of light, the Ring extended its protective field around Wilhelm. Glowing brightly, the Ring shot of pulse of concussive force at the nearby window, blowing the magically-enhanced glass and parts of the wall out as well. Now exposed to the vacuum of space, the Ring could guide Wilhelm into what would be certain death for most other people in the universe. A bright pulse of light would guide the elderly Nazi through the void of space, through intense and beautiful sights on its way back home, to deliver the newest recruit of the Sinestro Corps.

--------------------------------------------

A few hours later, the Ring and Wilhelm exited hyperspace. Before him, the brilliant reddish planet spun slowly in space. Homing in on an artificial moon, the Ring directed Wilhelm to touch down near a large structure. It appeared to be a compound, with many large buildings to house the myriad of strange aliens all clad in the same yellow and black uniform Wilhelm found himself in.A few of them gave him some odd glances, but for a moment, nobody approached him.

Coming from a large building ahead of him, a tall purple-skinned alien began striding towards Wilhelm. His uniform was more elaborate than the rest, and he moved with a certain unsettling confidence as he walked up and appraised Wilhelm.

"Interesting..." He said smoothly, flashing Wilhelm a half-smile. "Human, if I'm not mistaken?" The voice would be familiar to Wilhelm, it was the voice of the Ring that had been speaking to him through the journey.

"I've yet to find a human capable of generating the kind of fear we usually require, but I'm always pleased to bring someone new into the fold. Tell me friend, what is your name, and what could you possibly have been doing on the Rock of Eternity?"

Wilhelm read the man's mind as soon as he realized that this was the Sinestro the ring was talking about. It seemed that this alien valued efficiency, so he'd make it quick, no small talk, just to the point.

"My name is Wilhelm Silber, of the country of Germany on the planet Earth. I have had a long rivalry with the Wizard, Karen Hernandez, the current inhabitant of the Rock of Eternity. She had brought me there to imprison me, but your ring retrieved me."

He flexed his hand once again, looking at it as he clenched and opened his fist repeatedly.

"I'm quite grateful, I had been crippled up until your ring arrived, and I probably would have died if not for its intervention. So I am in your debt," he said, offering a curt bow. "I'm also quite intrigued by your operation, so being a part of it is certainly an experience in which I'd like to partake," he said. His words were as polite as he could possibly speak, he was truly grateful for all this alien had done.

Sinestro chuckled at the explanation, though he did raise an eyebrow at the mention of the Wizard. "Of course. I'm glad that we were able to help you in your moment of need. I hope that you will be able to repay us in kind, Wilhelm Silber." He said, turning and motioning for Wilhelm to follow.

Sinestro walked in silence for a moment, leading Wilhelm towards the towering building in front of them. "If you have any questions in specific about my Corps, please feel free to ask. Until then, I suppose I should give you a bit of a rundown on how we came to be and what we stand for. There in an ancient order in this universe known as the Green Lantern Corps. They stand for peace and justice, just as we do here. Their abilities are very similar to ours. I used to be one of them. Their methods however are... Different. They have a lighter touch. They do noble work to be sure, but often it can be ineffective. I discovered how to truly weaponize fear. Condensed that power into the rings we now all wear." He said, lifting his left hand and flashing his own Ring.

"I was scorned and exiled for my experiments, cast out of the Green Corps for being a 'traitor'. Their words, not mine." He said, a bite coming to his words now. "And so, I began the Sinestro Corps. We campaign for more effective control over the universe. Fear is a powerful weapon, as you know. To wield it one must be above it. And one must be willing to use it to stamp out any resistance from those below it. This is our headquarters, the fourth moon of Korugar. In this place, we are at our greatest." He explained, opening the door to the large building slowly.

Inside the structure sat a huge yellow power battery, glowing with an intense, warm light. Sinestro stepped inside and motioned for Wilhelm to follow. "The Rings are the source of our power. And this Lantern is the source of the Rings. We all draw power form here, this is our greatest stronghold. Though we are still small, we will continue to grow. We will take more sectors. And one day, we will control the universe, using our power to keep peace and reign over our sectors in fairness."

"Green... Lanterns..." Wilhelm mumbled while listening to Sinestro's explanation. Everything this alien said made sense to him, it matched his own ideals to a tee. This Sinestro Corps seemed to understand what true power was, how to control it, and how to best manage the people.

The resonance between their values was enough that Wilhelm only grew more fascinated as Sinestro's story went on.

"I see, so they tossed you aside for stating an inconvenient truth, how disgustingly 'noble' of them. Your strength and mine are the same, our resolve to see order come through and dispel the chaos. I admire you, Sinestro. I would be happy to follow you, and I see this... this battery, this... this is power the likes of which I've never seen," he said, awestruck "Although I do have one question. On Earth, I know of a figure, clad in green, who calls himself the 'Emerald Knight', is he one of these Green Lanterns of whom you speak so poorly?"

Sinestro paused, basking in the glow of the power battery as he considered Wilhelm's question. "He is, yes." Sinestro said slowly, glancing down at his Ring.

"However, let me clarify. The Green Lantern Corps is ultimately run by a cabal of ancient creatures known as the Guardians. They are totalitarian and closed-minded, stuck in the old ways. It was them who cast me out, them who I hold animosity towards. Emerald Knight of Earth is my friend. He defended me, even if he did not agree with my experiments. His testimony is the only reason I was not imprisoned on Oa. Emerald Knight is the reason I was allowed to leave with my research, and with the few Green Lanterns who agreed with me." Sinestro clenched his fist as he turned his head and regarded Wilhelm.

"I do not know your history with Emerald Knight. But I know he is allied with the Wizard. I will do my best to clear your name with her, and to get you back into good standing. But know this, Wilhelm: I will not stand against Emerald Knight without very good reason. And your mental prowess may not be enough in this instance." Sinestro said, tapping his temple as he regarded the new recruit.

Wilhelm chuckled slightly.

"Then you must underestimate my mental prowess," he said with a smug smile. He held out his ring to demonstrate that it was not the source, and then proceeded to hover slightly, his feet pointing downwards slowly as they left the ground. "This is why your ring found me. I am the most gifted psychic on Earth's surface," he boasted with a shrug.

"I won't stand against him either, if that is your wish; I know my place," he said, returning to the ground softly. "And of course, should I meet them, I will give the Guardians a fight that they won't soon forget."

"Now, if there are any further stages to my initiation, I am quite excited to get on with them."

To say that Lady Arcana was livid would be an understatement of monumental proportions.

She had intended Wilhelm Silber's stay at the Rock of Eternity to be a permanent one. It was to the be the end of his pathetic grudge against her, the end of her having to deal with that ancient relic of a disgraceful period in mankind's past. She had imprisoned a number of others in the Rock, and never had any of them been able to escape from her. She had thought it to truly be an impossibility.

And yet after a mere week in her custody, he had broken out. Worse still, according to the Historama's footage of the incident, he had done so with the help of a Lantern Ring.

Emerald Knight was one of her closest allies, so the idea that a weapon affiliated with him and his corps had been behind the escape of that mass murdering old fart made her stomach turn. It was for that reason she had called for him to meet her in the station this day. Seated alone at the round meeting table that centered the control room, she folded her arms impatiently, her eyes trained on the elevator.

She had a great many words for Preston.

January 10th, 8:35 A.M.
Justice League Tower; Low Earth Orbit

His time on earth was rather quiet. No one had even been at the watchtower when he had come knocking, so he made himself right at home. One would say that was rude, but this was his station just as it was Arcana's, Grim's, or even Orin's. For ten days he had shown Catalea the earth and gave her a taste of the life of an earthling. His time was rather peaceful News about the Hub and Coast City popped up here and there, but it was nothing that he was called in for, or even close to being dangerous enough for him to need to step in to fix. He was a home-vacation with his wife.

Image his surprise when he came back up to the Watchtower to find Lady Arcana sitting alone at the grand table. She had called him for a meeting, and she sounded none too pleased about it.

"Well." Preston watched the doors open and walked right in. Catalea was nowhere in sight, choosing to stay on the ship while Preston dealt with Justice League Matters. Taking a seat, his eyes did not leave hers. It was almost like she had some sort of power over the air itself, given how heavy it felt being alone with a pissed off sorceress. "Can I just say, that whatever is going on isn't my fault in the slightest. I've let you all in on the updates, the war on Sotra is over, by the way. Peace talks without their most celebrated war hero are a little more stressful, but Cat wanted to see earth."

He paused, the slight smile on his face fell. This was no time for jokes. "Okay, Karen. What's going on? Where's everyone else?" His mask faded away, but his Green Lantern costume stayed the same. There were no need for secrets here.

"I didn't invite them; this matter only really concerns the both of us," said Lady Arcana coolly, leaning forward in her seat and resting her arms on the table. With a wave of her hand, a screen manifested in the naked air between them; it showed an old man in a four-wall room, with only a window breaking the otherwise smooth surface.

"You're familiar with Wilhelm Silber, right?" she asked, nodding towards the image. "He returned after five years a little over a week ago. Long story short, I captured him again, and decided to imprison him where I knew he couldn't escape--or so I believed at the time."

The image showed the old man slumped in a corner of the room. Then, what looked to be a small, glowing ring phased through the wall and found its way onto his finger. He then proceeded to blast the window out and escape. The image then faded, leaving only the piercing glare of Lady Arcana.

"Why would one of the Green Lantern Corps' power rings break into the Rock of Eternity and rescue a man like Wilhelm Silber? I find that very disturbing."

As the image of Wilhelm appeared between them, Preston nodded and examined it. He knew of Wilhelm, the psychic Nazi. The problem that a Nazi was loose was a problem all on its own, but Preston's look of horror came when he saw the yellow beam of energy pass through one of the walls and attach itself to Wilhelm, allowing him to escape.

"Son of a bitch." Preston muttered underneath his breath. "If that psychopath has a Yellow Power Ring, we're all in trouble." It was in this moment that he remembered that he had actually told the Justice League rather little about the Green Lantern Corps and how they operated, much less the drama that had gone down a few years back regarding a friend of his, Thaal Sinestro. He regretted not keeping them up to speed, but he never thought things would turn up like this.

Preston raised his ring to show Arcana, his hand in a soft fist as he pointed to it with his free hand. "This is a Green Lantern Power Ring, but I don't need to tell you that part. Long story short, Karen, that Yellow ring isn't ours. When an old friend of mine defected from the Lantern Corps, he set off to use fear itself as a tool for power, like mine uses Willpower. The Guardians didn't like this at all, and nearly imprisoned him. He wants peace and justice just like you and me, but he's a little harder about how he gets it. I can't tell you this enough, this isn't my doing, nor the Guardians'."

Cradling his head in his hands, Preston sighed in thought. He needed to talk to Sinestro about this, about the atrocities that Wilhelm has committed. The nut would probably try to enforce eugenics. Wilhelm should not be allowed to keep his power ring. "Let me talk to Sinestro, see if I can't sort this out. A war almost broke out before regarding these rings, I'm not going to let it happen now."

Lady Arcana nodded, having listened intently to his explanation. While she was relieved to hear that the Green Lantern Corps wasn't involved in the freeing and empowering of a genocidal maniac, it didn't make her feel any better about Wilhelm having a power ring of any kind.

"If the Yellow power rings are as powerful as the Green, then we absolutely have to get it away from him."

She really wanted to go and personally apprehend Wilhelm from this Sinestro guy (seriously, what kind of cliche villain name is that?), but she understood that Preston was going to resolve the situation peacefully. Her presence would probably just escalate the situation.

January 10th, 8:36 A.M.
Justice League Station; Low Earth Orbit

"True, but I'm not going to be the one to explain to my wife that we're cutting our earth-cation short to deal with Lantern Business." Now that everything was said and done, plans were made to prepare for the future, it was time to crack a smile. He stood and motioned to the door. "That'll be your honor, Lady Arcana." His smile only grew wider as he stepped into the elevator and waited for him to join him. "Plus, none of you have met Cat yet, she's a riot when she's not leading armies and fighting for peace. Well, I guess even then she's a riot but in a much different way."

The doors closed and Preston tapped his ear, using the little communicator Grim had given him when they had first started this mess. "Cat? I have some bad news, I have to go and talk to Sinestro. On the up hand, I've landed you a tour guide for earth!"

Lady Arcana couldn't hear or even understand what was being said from the other end of the earpiece, but Preston's wince said more than enough. When the yelling finally died down, Preston sighed. "Karen, I'm totally blaming you for her mood right now."

January 10th, 10:22 AM
Fourth Moon of Korugar

It didn’t take Preston very long to find Sinestro’s home. Using the records of former green lanterns from his ring, he knew exactly where to fly to reach the planet Korugar. Despite his speedy journey to the planet, Preston knew he had to be careful. This wasn’t his territory anymore. Sinetro was manufacturing and sending out Power Rings left and right to put a Yellow Lantern in every sector that had a Green counterpart.

He was lucky that things were as good as they were. Had anything gone worse, he probably would be killed on sight, or maybe none of them would have survived the boiled war between SInestro and the Guardians of Oa. It was all hard to say, but he wasn’t here to think about that right now.

He slowed to a near halt as he reached Korugar. It wasn’t incredibly easy to find a single life form, so Preston did what he knew would capture attention. With his ring held high, he created a giant green beacon at the edge of the planet’s atmosphere, waiting for Sinestro or any of the other Former Green Lanterns to show their faces to him.

A moment later an answering call came from one of the small moons surrounding the reddish planet. Two rapid pulses of yellow light. A Green Lantern signal to wait there. After a few tense minutes, a trio of figures came into view. Thaal Sinestro, flanked by two unfamiliar Yellow Lanterns. Upon seeing Preston, Sinestro’s tense expression softened a bit, though he did not dismiss the escort.

”Ah, Emerald Knight!” The former Green Lantern called, coming to a halt in the void of space near Preston. ”My apologies for the delay, I didn’t know who was coming. To what do I owe the pleasure of your unexpected visit? Here to discuss those peace talks, get an old hand’s advice?” He asked with a smirk, crossing his arms as he regarded his old ally.

Though Preston’s expression had been hard on the way here, seeing Sinestro again and mentioning the now settled war of Sotra brought a small smile to his face. Of course Sinestro would want to help, thats why he came to him in the first place.
”A recruit of yours, actually.” Preston tried keeping his tone light, but nothing on earth would spark more ire than the mentioning of the Nazis. ”His name is Wilhelm, and it’s come to my attention that one of your rings broke him out of a special prison.” There was no easy way to say any of this, but it needed to be done. Preston had learned this by fighting, and he hoped that SInestro would understand.

”Ah yes, Silber.” Sinestro said with a nod, his own expression becoming serious. ”First, let me explain that I am not attempting to hide anything from you or the Wizard back on Earth. I was going to contact you once we’d gotten his recruitment underway. I’ve gathered that the Wizard can be quite understanding and forgiving, and so I was hoping to understand Silber’s transgressions and attempt to make them right. He has quite a lot of potential you know, more so than most of my recruits. And well, you know how the Rings works, Knight. They’re not ‘sent’ to anyone in particular, they simply ‘find’.” Sinestro paused, studying the face partially hidden by the green mask.

”However… I somehow get the feeling that this is to be less of a conversation than I was hoping for, am I correct?”

”I’m sorry, Sinestro. I wish our meeting was about something a little better.” Preston eyed the two lackeys carefully, but not for more than a few seconds at a time. He wouldn’t resort to battle, not here, and not with one of the more formidable lanterns in the universe. ”I can’t tell you how to lead your group, nor who to include in it, but I want you to know exactly the kind of person Wilhelm is.”

”On Earth, about, maybe eighty or ninety years ago, there were men called the Nazis. They committed genocide, killed millions in the name of blood purity. Wilhelm, if you can believe it, is one of those men. As I understand it, he lived through the war that the Nazi’s inspired, being one of the very last to hold such beliefs. He will kill all in his way, I can promise you that. If I can’t persuade you into letting him go, killing him even, then I’m going to beg that you at least keep an eye on him and keep him in check. He’s dangerous, immensely powerful, and has a history of murdering millions.”

That was all he had. Everything was up on the table, and the turn was Sinestro’s. Preston only hoped that coming here to talk to an old friend would be enough to avoid repeating the second World War on a cosmic scale.

Sinestro had fallen still and silent through Preston’s explanation, his expression growing hard. In the silence that followed, he turned to his guards and fixed his steely eyes on them. ”I need you to go keep an eye on our newest recruit. Don’t approach or engage. Don’t even let him know you’re watching. Me and the Green Lantern have business to discuss.”

The Yellow subordinates moved away without question, a testament to the iron will Sinestro imposed on his people. With only the vacuum of space to keep the pair company now, Sinestro floated closer to Preston. ”Perhaps I should have consulted an expert on Earth history when I discovered who he was.” Thaal admitted, his eyes locking with Preston’s. ”I admit however, I am… Confused by something you said. HE committed these atrocities for… Purity? Was there some kind of genetic plague among your people, Preston? Some reason to do this? Because if not… Senseless bloodshed and violence is frankly unacceptable in my Corps. I want to be clear about that.”

”Genetic Purity,” Preston corrected himself rather quietly. ”The wrong parents, the wrong skin tone, hair, eye color. The Nazis believed that… if your parents, your grandparents, came from a different land, worshipped a different god, that they were genetically inferior, and deserved to die in order to ensure that humanity continued in a certain way. It hurt to think about. To think about all of the lives lost in so many wars. All of the wars he wasn’t even alive to know about, those he had fought in. So much violence.

Preston sighed, setting a hand on Sinestro’s shoulder. ”Thank you for hearing me out. Everything back on Oa was pretty hairy, and I’m glad you made it out alright then. I don’t want someone like him ruining a reputation you have yet to truly garner.

Sinestro let the silence hang in the vacuum for a long moment, trying to make sense of the information Preston had shared. What kind of planet fought a war over something so idiotic as minor physical differences? Religion was understandable, it had caused wars throughout the universe, but something as simple as hair color or skin tone?

”I… Appreciate your patience with me, Preston.” Sinestro said finally, steeling himself again. ”You’ve been my greatest ally in my little project here. I would not want to ruin my reputation by accepting someone so despicable as you have described. I’ll need to extend my apologies to the Wizard as well, and ensure that my Rings steer clear of the Rock. Emerald Knight,” He continued, squaring his shoulders and setting his jaw. ”I invite you to the fourth moon of Korugar, into the stronghold of the Sinestro Corps to apprehend an escaped fugitive. I will accompany you, help your cause, and escort you and your prisoner back to Earth. What do you say, friend?”

Preston smiled widely at Sinestro. Had be been anyone else, perhaps Orin or maybe even Arcana, he would have taken Sinestro’s forearm into a hand, shaking like manly men on earth did. But that was stupid and Sinestro didn’t seem like one to be all that touchy-feely. Preston removed his hand from Sinestro’s shoulder and nodded gladly. ”Lets go get us a Nazi.”

The mismatched pair shot through the relatively small stretch of space, entering the artificial atmosphere of the moon with ease. Preston earned a few wary glances from the other Yellow Lanterns, but the sight of Sinestro with him kept anyone from acting outright aggressively. Sinestro guided the pair towards the Power Battery housing chamber, trusting that Preston would remember his original training and having to refill his Ring’s power bank before generating a miniature Battery of his own. Wilhelm should be there, currently being watched over by Sinestro’s guards.

”We’ll likely have to act quickly.” Sinestro said, placing a hand on the door. ”If he’s as powerful a psychic as he claims, we’ll only have a moment. I should work on building some mental resistance into the Rings…”

It was a smart idea to charge up before going into battle. Rings, no matter where they were, always latched onto the rotation of the celestial body they were nearest to. Being a small moon circling a planet, Preston most likely didn’t have a whole lot of time before he’d have to charge his ring.

He summoned his battery and chanted the oath before sending it away. He had forgotten that Wilhelm was a psychic, ”That fucker.” and hoped that they could deal with Wilhelm quickly before he dug his metaphysical nails into anyones brains.

”He’s given our wizard a lot of trouble, as I’m sure you’re aware. We need to get him as soon as possible and return him to the Rock of Eternity where he can’t feel a single soul.”

”The notion of purity, is one of true beauty. All peoples of Earth are naturally chaotic, but my people, the master race, are the only ones who could stand a chance at bringing true peace and justice. If any others remained, they would simply ruin what had been built, destroy the peace that Aryan leadership brings,” Wilhelm spoke, like a master teaching an apprentice, to a small number of Yellow Lanterns, who all nodded along with his statements. He’d already made friends here, maybe not through the correct means, but he had done it.

Wilhelm let out a “hmm?” as he heard speaking coming from the entranceway to the battery. He smiled upon seeing that it was Sinestro approaching.

”Oh, hello Sinestro, have you come to…” he let out a gasp from the back of his throat upon seeing the green clad figure beside him. His face hardened. ”And the Emerald Knight.” he tried to return his voice to a relaxed tone and offered another smile.

”Well, you had told me you’re friends, so I suppose this isn’t that big of a surprise.”

No matter where Wilhelm looked, the other Lantern’s eyes were quick to follow, their mouths drooped open and their bodies relaxed to an unnatural degree.

Don’t think act, don’t think, act. The mantra repeated itself in Preston’s head, trying to become the loudest thought he had in an attempt to keep Wilhelm out of his mind. His hand shot forward, his ring fired off a few energy shots as he dashed to the side.

Preston had never faced Wilhelm or anyone with a similar powerset. Talking and trying to peacefully apprehend him was out of the question long before things began. Any time for talking was time for him to weasel his way into their minds. “Sinestro! We need to take him out cold and fast! We can’t let him control us!” Preston took to the skies, acting as a distraction while shooting Wilhelm with many more energy bolts. If only they had some sort of concrete way to dealing with telepathic powers, that would make things infinitely easier.

”Was?!” was Wilhelm’s shocked reaction as the Emerald Knight suddenly attacked him. He swiftly made use of his new powers, generating a shield to deflect Preston’s attacks.

”What the fuck?!” he asked angrily, his teeth clacking into each-other. He looked over at Sinestro with a bewildered expression on his face. ”What is he doing? I’ve done nothing wrong, I’ve come here to serve you, faithfully! I’m in your debt!”

He pleaded, his ring glowing as his voice raised in volume higher and higher. He immediately began probing Sinestro’s mind to figure out what the hell was happening.

His eyes shot wide as he read Sinestro’s recent memories.

”This… this isn’t right, none of this is right, they don’t understand. My beliefs have always been what is best for order, for peace on Earth! If you listen to him, to her, you’ll never be able to bring peace, she will defend the status quo forever, she will always be your enemy! All that my people have done has been absolutely necessary! It’s only forces like her that keep Earth from being a place of peace and purity! Listen to me! Please!” his tone one of despair.

He attempted to use just the slightest of mental nudges to move Sinestro towards his viewpoint, he hadn’t been in his head long enough to do anything more.

There was that word again, purity. The mere thought enraged Preston. ”pure of what? Blonde hair? You and Hitler killed millions for the sake of purity, and the world still hasn’t recovered! Come with me quietly and it’ll be over.”

Had Wilhelm attempted to pry into Sinestro’s emotional state instead of simply his memories, he would likely have become even more desperate. Though his face was as placid as ever, and his body language betrayed nothing, Sinestro was a veritable volcano about to erupt. The confusion he’d felt before about the senseless war had transformed on their journey here. Now there was little left of the confusion; it had been replaced by that which made Sinestro so powerful. The indomitable will that had been the shining jewel of the Green Lantern Corps. And now a potent rage behind that, pure anger that a planet could erupt into civil war over something to stupid, and that men like Silber had been behind it.

Sinestro stepped into the room, barely glancing at Emerald Knight as his ally went on the attack. He spent a moment taking in the dimensions of the space, Wilhelm’s position, the odd vacant look about his other soldiers. And then he felt a nudge. As his newest recruit pleaded with him, Sinestro’s sharp mind felt a tug of pity towards the man, an attempt at compassion. The realization of what the old man was trying broke the dam.

The yellow-clad, purple-skinned master of fear strode forward, his long legs closing the distance as he raised his arm and held out his ring, pointed towards Wilhelm. Sinestro’s thoughts coalesced into a single, crystal clear thought as his face warped in anger.

”In Blackest day, and Brightest night
Beware your Fear made into Light
Let he who tries to stop what’s right
Beware MY power, SINESTRO’S MIGHT.”

The roaring chant was accompanied by a brilliant flash of yellow not just from the Yellow Ring on Sinestro’s hand, but accompanying flashes on the Rings of the enthralled Lanterns as well. As one, those Rings abandoned their owners, leaping to Sinestro’s outstretched hands and settling on his fingers. Armed with a dozen rings stacked on his fingers, Sinestro let loose a volley of concussive blasts towards Wilhelm, each exploding in a shower of bright light and sparks.

Immediately the other enthralled former lanterns moved in between Wilhelm and Sinestro, taking his attacks and being tossed into the wall behind. Wilhelm looked more annoyed than anything, letting out a sigh.

”I would have been loyal, you know that, right?”

Before Sinestro could respond, Wilhelm leaped off the ground and slammed back down, surrounding himself in debris and hiding his position.

”The weak link goes first.”

Wilhelm’s voice came from behind Emerald Knight, he flew upwards behind him, covering his face with his ringed hand to keep the debris out of his all important eyes. The air around him distorted, and a loud bass-heavy rumble filled the air as an invisible blast fired from his head towards Preston’s, powerful enough to shred a normal human’s body.

As soon as the voice from behind Preston sounded off, he created a small dome around him, hoping to protect him from whatever the Psychic had planned. The psionic blast impacted the dome he had made, cracking it from every angle and even being strong enough to move through it and rock Preston against the inside of his own creation.

The dome he had made unwrapped itself from around Preston and turned into a solid wall to be launched at where he had heard Wilhelm’s voice. Something burned inside of Preston just thinking about Wilhelm, a flare that made Preston’s desire for his capture almost as strong as the will of Mogo. Dust and debris coated the area only briefly. There was no more hiding for him. Preston created a fan to swipe away at the dust, leaving only the rubble that Wilhelm himself would find as his tomb.

Wilhelm let out a kiai as he formed a lance around his ring-bearing hand, driving all of the force of the weapon into a small point on Preston’s wall, shattering it completely, but doing the same to his own weapon. It seemed that the rings were equal in pure power.

”Everything this world has thrown at me, I have overcome!” he roared as he closed into melee range with Preston. ”My goals are backed by divine furor, I am the avatar of Odin! I am the end! I am the new beginning!” he screamed rabidly. He’d kind of lost himself in his anger, everything he’d been through, it drove him a bit mad.

Preston would feel his motion become impossible, and swiftly a massive golden fist was generated on top of Wilhelm’s own. He roared as he spun through the air in an attempt to drive it right through the Emerald Knight.

”Survival is not victory.” Sinestro snarled, turning on his heel and waving his right hand. The Rings there flashed, each creating a construct aimed to take advantage of the enthralled Lanterns fears. Alien shapes and monsters materialized, each one pinning or immobilizing a thrall. Focusing on Wilhelm now, Sinestro raised his left hand. The golden fist stopped abruptly.

”You have been opposed at every turn. Beaten. Vanquished. Barely clinging to life. My Ring found you on death’s door. It should have left you there.”

Sinestro clenched his fist. The golden construct around Wilhelm’s arm flickered and vanished. The Yellow Power Ring on Wilhelm’s middle finger cracked and disintegrated.

”You survival is due to the kindness of others. Not your victory.”

”Kindness for a soul like his is wasted. The only mercy he deserves is death.” Preston’s voice dropped, completely overtaken by an unspeakable rage from within him, fueling his desire to win over Wilhelm and remove this blight from existence. He paused, however, to breathe. He needed to still himself. He wanted to kill Wilhelm, right here, right now. It would be so easy with Sinestro’s help to do it. However, Nazi or not, it was evident that extra-terrestrial life cared little about such a title or even knew of the connotations surrounding it. There would be someone to answer to.

But this wasn’t murder.

Preston flew around Wilhelm and created another construct to pin him down to the ground prostrate. Lantern rings were all about imagination and invention, and this was certainly a good way to apprehend him for the time being. The restraints around Wilhelm’s arms and legs rose, flipping him around quickly to shove his face into the ground. A fifth restraint locked his head into place.

”Sinestro,” Preston began, looking down at the pitiful life form below him. ”You know what the guardians would do to me if I offed him. He’s your lantern, but my escapee. What should we do with him?”

Sinestro looked on at Emerald Knight with approval. He had become much more powerful since the fight with the strange red-ringed child. A worthy successor to Abin Sur.

”As much as I hate to admit it,” He said, raising a hand to the sky and firing off a series of pulses to call in more Lanterns to contain the enthralled minions. ”I believe the Wizard wanted him alive, if his imprisonment in the Rock was any indication. You kept me from tarnishing my reputation. Now it’s my turn to repay the favor. Let him live. We’ll take him back to Earth. We are most likely unable to enter the Rock without her permission.”

”Well then? Let’s be off."

January 10th, 2:14 P.M.
Low Earth Orbit; Justice League Station

Lady Arcana had decided to remain at the Justice League Station while she awaited word from Preston--he had promised her it wouldn’t take long. Lantern rings were quite fast, especially in interstellar space. That didn’t mean she wasn’t still worried.

She had fought beside Preston enough times to appreciate the strength of a power ring, and there was simply no telling how much damage Wilhelm could do out there with one. He would easily be a threat to the entire Earth, or even their entire sector. Even she would have a rough time fighting both a power ring and his mental attacks working in tandem.

Exhaling, she paced anxiously about the control room, waiting for any sign of the Emerald Knight.

Her wait for Preston wouldn’t take all that long. As soon as he was in range, Preston made an effort to comminute using the earpiece he had. It started as mostly static and distorted words, but something understandable did finally some through.

”Watchtower, come in. This is Emerald Knight with Sinestro, reporting in with one should-be-dead nazi.”

He flew in close to the watchtower and looked through the glass of the main room. His wife, Catalea, was standing at the window, looking out at him and Sinestro with a bit of a glare. She kept her coat on, but her helmet and spear were nowhere to be found.
”Oh boy.” Preston muttered to himself. ”Sinestro, you remember Cat, right? She almost murdered some people on our wedding day?” He chuckled to himself and flew into the airlock, Wilhelm still in hand. Now it was just time to hand over the dead weight and get back on with their lives.

Sinestro gave a polite wave to the stoic figure glaring daggers at them through the window. ”How could anyone forget your lovely bride.” He quipped with a smirk before settling into the airlock. ”You and your allies have done well here. The last time I was here your largest satellite was that joint aeronautics experiment, but this is much more impressive. Are we sure I have the clearance to be here?” He asked with a small chuckle.

”I am your clearance, don’t worry.” Preston waved a hand and went quiet as the airlock hissed, filling their little chamber with air. Preston walked further in, the ring still holding Wilhelm in place beside him. ”K… Arcana? Lady Arcana? Where do you want me to put this bag of bones?” Surely she had to have seen them and be making her way over to the airlock. He had no idea how she was going to escort him to the Rock of Eternity, but he didn’t care. Just thinking about Wilhelm was giving him a headache. ”His mind powers are taking away more and more of my brain cells as we speak.”

”They’ll do that,” Arcana replied from the other side of the communicator. She couldn’t help but smile in relief at the sight of WIlhelm, in custody and ringless. ”Just bring him up to the control room--your friend’s welcome, since he presumably helped to re-capture Willy.”

Preston led Sinestro up to the control room where Lady Arcana and Catalea were waiting. One was rather happy, and the other was less so. Despite this, it was obvious to Preston that both were happy to see them back and with Wilhelm.

Preston let Wilhelm drop from about two feet in the air right at Arcana’s feet, Preston himself smiling at a job well done while his mask faded. Sinestro was a Lantern, and his wife and a trusted friend were in the room. ”How do you not kill this guy? Like seriously? You have more will than me, Karen.”

Shit.

”Sinestro you didn’t hear anything, you got that?”

”I don’t speak with the Guardians anymore, your secret is safe with me. Good to see you again Catalea, you’re looking as bloodthirsty as ever.” Sinestro said before turning his attention to the young woman who represented all magic in the universe.

”Madam Wizard. Lady Arcana, I believe? Allow me to introduce myself.” Sinestro said with a slight bow. ”I am Thaal Sinestro, Formerly of the Green Lantern Corps, now leader of the Sinestro Corps. I wanted to come here today… To apologize to you. I did not intend to ‘rescue’ your prisoner, our Rings are set on a sort of autopilot. I had intended on contacting you via Preston, but you sent him to me first. I appreciate that quick response. I had not previously known of his atrocities. I regret my trespasses, and I can assure you that I will not make the same mistakes again.”

Lady Arcana bowed her head in return, wanting to show the utmost courtesy to avoid causing an intergalactic incident. ”Thank you for working with Preston to return him to me, the important thing is that he is back in custody now--”

Her eyes had drifted down to Wilhelm, who appeared to be decidedly less broken than she remembered him. ”Hair, huh?”

The wonders of alien technology never ceased to amaze her. She reached out and ruffled her prisoner’s hair. ”Shame on you, Willy, breaking my window! This time you don’t get one.”

A groan came from the near-unconscious Wilhelm.

Preston walked right past the group to sling an arm around his unmasked wife. She smiled at his touch, but didn’t look away from the man on the ground. ”This is the one you were so worried about? He seems like hardly the threat you described him as.” Catalea tilted her head, wondering what the big deal was about him. Then again, any problem big enough for two Lanterns was quite the problem indeed.

”Alright, first thing’s first,” said Lady Arcana, her hand still on Wilhelm’s head. A flash of azure light descended over the room, right where the Wizard and her prisoner were. When it faded, only Arcana remained, dusting her hands. ”Right, much better. Now, Mrs. Catalea, I think I owe you a tour, don’t I?”

She nodded. Of course she wanted the tour promised to her to sate her anger. Sinestro had been joking about her bloodlust, but was not incorrect about her temper. ”Husband, you should catch up with the rest of your friends here on earth. I’ll never be too far away.” She said to him, walking effortlessly out from under his arm.

He nodded away, understanding that it might be for the best for someone who was a little more well versed with this modern day Earth to show her around.

”Sinestro, I’ll show you out, unless you want to take the tour as well.” Preston cracked a smile Now was the time for laughs and jokes, now that the psychotic psychic was taken care of.

Sinestro cracked a smile and shook his head, chuckling. ”Another time, Preston. It appears I have some brainwashed former Lanterns to attend to, as well as setting into place some mental resistance training. Once that is settled, however, I would love to. Catalea, always a pleasure. Lady Arcana, it was an honor.”

---

---

Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn
January 11, 2026
12:20 A.M.

---

---

Rain in Brooklyn was seldom this time of year; gelid New York winter clasped the city. Snow hushed violent green grass and made the crush of shoe and boot into music, a music only a native could appreciate. The city was pulsating, melanoid sky be damned. On a bus stop sat Terrelle Pryor, 19. Black bubble goose jacket, fur hood pulled atop his head; a black skully rested atop his cranium. His hands were shaking inside his coat, the plated .357 was cold against his right thigh.

Pryor rubbed his hands together, attempts to bring warmth to his cupped hands as though it would suffice to heat the rest of his shivering body proved questionable as his presence on this bus stop in the middle of a city he barely knew. Nevermind it, he was supposed to wait until a black SUV picked him up. Headlights flashed twice and then pulled up to the bus stop. A door swung open; Terrell stood up and looked both ways before he was hurried to the car’s interior by the beckoning of a baritone voice,

“Hurry up, we ain’t got all gahtdamn day.”

Pryor stood, pulled up his sagging jeans, and got inside the vehicle after a skinny bald headed fellow exited the back left side so Pryor could get in. A low light emanated from the car’s interior lights and Pryor pulled the hood from his head, the only thing shielding his skull now was a black du-rag. Beside him sat one medium size man with rose colored aviators and a grey hoodie, a single gold tooth and a patchy beard were the most interesting things about his otherwise languid countenance. On Pryor’s opposite side sat a woman in a purple dress, hair kept up in long thick locs, she wore regular reading glasses. They looked to be prescription; a newspaper was unfolded and she was scanning its headline,

VIGILANTE SILENT, WHERE IS ‘THE TIGER’?

Pryor was still warming his hands frantically, the sound of skin and friction grated Lavelle Hammond’s ears. He pulled the rose aviator’s from his face and grabbed onto Pryor’s wrists,

“Boy if you don’t cut that shit out. I put on the AC for a reason!” Lavelle leaned forward and spoke to the woman who wore the purple dress,

“Cherry, baby, put down that damn paper! We got the mothafucka; his ass ain’ goin’ nowhere. We gon’ make sure dat. Well,” Lavelle’s eyes moved toward Pryor,

“You gon’ make sure of that, righ’? Big Lou tell me you the finest out of town help we can get and I payed ‘best-out-of-town-help’ money for your black ass, so he betta be good and right ‘bout it.” Hammond licked his gold tooth, a surly affirmation of his own gall and conceit. From the silence between the gross sloshing of Hammond’s tongue along his teeth, Cherry spoke up,

“Don’t ever call me ‘baby’ in front of the help again or I cut off your other finger, Lavelle.” Pryor’s eyes went wide; being licked with the flame of a tumultuous relationship was unsavory--being licked with the flame of a tumultuous metahuman relationship was deadly.

“Mr. Pryor,” Cherry began as the black SUV reached the abandoned steel mill on the other side of town in an inhuman amount of time, what felt like five minutes, “your friend Dupree tells us you are particularly skilled with dispatching gifted individuals.” for the first time, Pryor got to speak up,

“Yeah, yeah, som’ like it, fo’. Y’all tryn’ make me hit that Tiger nigga?” Pryor shook his head,

“‘Ono, fo’ be on heels. Ain’ really trynna turn pack.” a bit of a southern drawl, but the dialect was distinctly Midwestern. Cherry and Lavelle raised eyebrows in sync, both emitted a mocking laugh as they exited the vehicle; Cherry grabbed Pryor by the ear,

“Aye, fo’, fuh’y’doin’? AGH!” a snap of her fingers and the trio was inside the abandoned steel mill and inside of a dark room. It smelt of crimson and water. A man’s intensified breathing could be heard amongst the musk. A buzzing sound from a generator and then the whole room lit up. What Pryor saw before him was a man clinging to life, an assortment of needles breaching his body from the neck down; tubes lodged into his biceps and quads.

Marvin Hayes, reduced to a living science experiment. When the wounds would close, another injection of the anti-healing serum was given from each needle lodged into his skin, and an electrical shock to make sure each time he healed was slower than the last. Behind the trio that watched the dangling Hayes was a giant monitor which kept track of his vitals and gave a true percentage as to how fast he was currently healing. A small red bar teetered from one end of the color-coded chart all the way to the other side where a giant ALERT sounded loud to indicate that the patient was near death before it quickly bounced back to the other side to indicate that he was fine.

“Our problem, Mr. Pryor, is that our serum proves ineffective; the samples CADMUS sent are… missing something. You, Mr. Pryor, have just what we need to finish what CADMUS started.” Cherry gave a subtle grin, the dark lip gloss gleaned against the light and almost matched the ebony of her skin.

“You simply need to kill him.” it was more than that; Terrelle Pryor was walking venom, his blood corrosive to the touch, black and thick.

Hayes body was lowered on the fly machine until his bare feet touched the floor. The mechanical arms which held the some one hundred pins inside of Hayes yanked each one out of him at the same time, and as violent as possible. Hayes let out a curdling howl,

”GRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!” he had jolted to life; but in his writing, a current of electricity shocked him once more; one could smell the hair frying atop his head and in other more private parts of his person. Marvin’s head hung down, blood soaked the floor around him in near an instant; his vigilante’s suit had holes peppered across it, some twenty wounds open at once and Marvin was bleeding out profusely. And then, just as before, they would heal.

Hayes heart was beating fast; blurred eyes viewed three images in front of him. He could not tell who these people were, but he knew there were some hundred more of them in this place, conducting the same experiments on others of his ilk in the same fashion. Reinforced walls muffled the other some hundred screams from the metahumans hung, caged, and being experimented on in the expansive steel mill. All CADMUS approved.

And Hayes would free them all as he had planned… Pryor stepped up to Hayes; the .357 drawn from his jeans and pressed to Marvin’s head,

...If he didn’t die first.

Arsenal re-adjusts the GoPro on his chest, then checks his phone to look at the chat. Messages fly by from the thousands of people watching, all trying to communicate with the man himself. Of course, Leo can't read them all, but some people opt to donate money in exchange for a special shoutout. That's what the bluetooth he's wearing is for. Arsenal re-reads a few messages.

CatchingZZZ ($20): Another action-packed night! Good Luck, Arsenal!

Bamboozled3395 ($15): Ey fam, any chance you could use a net arrow? Your trick arrows are the best ilu <3

Ligma420 ($1): Arsenal sucks Arsenal sucks Arsenal sucks wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww oh yes daddy

"Oof, looks like the mods gotta take care of that one..."

He puts his phone away and looks down from his rooftop perch at the meeting below. 10 guys, 5 from both groups. Two are meeting in the middle, a briefcase held by one as the other opens a trunk, showing the illegal contraband inside. What a lucky break, stumbling upon this. Arsenal readies his glue-trap and flash arrows, holding the two in his right hand as he steadies his shot.

"Now, as I've said before, what's about to happen isn't for the faint of heart. If you're under 18, you shouldn't even be watching, and if you're a real fan, you'll stop... Or at least watch with your parents."

As the trunk closes and the briefcase changes hands, Arsenal looses the Glue trap arrow. It hits the case directly and explodes on impact, trapping the briefcase and the men holding it against the trunk, in the special, quick-hardening polymer. The group doesn't even have time to be confused before Arsenal shoots the Flash Arrow, impacting the ground and exploding, blinding them all.

Arsenal fires a few broadheads in quick succession, hitting 4 grunts in the chest with arrows. Usually, that's enough to keep them down, but the third required a double-tap, another arrow flying into his abdomen. That put him down.

RETURNING FIRE

Arsenal moved out of the way as a volley of bullets sprayed his last location. Flash must've worn off. Probably wasn't bright enough. He made a mental note to add more aluminum, as he fired another arrow at the 5th criminal's arm, causing him to drop the rifle. The next one hit him in the chest, and he wasn't a problem anymore. 3 to go.

These last 3, however, were actually smart enough to take cover from the volley of arrows. They were hiding. Arsenal nocked an arrow, and made his way down the fire escape. He wasn't halfway down when he felt it.

SURPRISE ATTACK

Arsenal's arrow was already fully drawn when the man popped out from behind the nearby dumpster, and before he even pulled the trigger, an arrow was in his chest. That one was a little bit close to the heart. The hospital's gonna have a busy night. Arsenal continued his way down, hearing another message in his ear as he slid down the ladder:

Execute_iveAction ($50): My main man Arsenal, cleaning house! Doing what the cops wont.

Ah yes, a good donation to respond to. Arsenal readies another broadhead.

"Hey, guys, just because I'm risking my life doing this doesn't mean that the police-"

SURPRISE ATTACK

The 7th criminal charges Arsenal with his bat, only to be met with a quick arrow in the knee. He trips up and falls to the ground, shouting and clutching his knee.

"... Doesn't mean that the police don't risk their lives everyday to keep us safe. I'm just a bit more direct, that's all. Don't try this at home."

Arsenal approaches the car just as the two men shatter the glue. It can't even hold two men? He makes another mental note to change up the formula of the glue. It's still too brittle when it dries.

The two men look at Arsenal, then both start fighting over the briefcase. Well, at least they're still attached one way. He takes this opportunity shoot them both with his broadheads, firing both at the same time in a split. Both men go down, groaning in pain, and dropping the case.

"I wouldn't try to pull those out, if I were you. Very painful, and you'll probably bleed out. Just stay down."

Arsenal picks up the briefcase, sheathing his bow onto his back. Last guy probably booked it anyway. He opened it up and took a look inside, making sure the GoPro on his vest can see as well. The case contained a vast amount of money, with the case looking like someone really liked Benjamin Franklin. He could already tell the chat was going crazy. It is tempting...

SNEAK ATTACK

Arsenal had a hand on his pistol as he spun around, drawing it an instant and firing three shots into the man's chest, causing him to fall over and drop his tire iron. Those shots definitely punctured both lungs. Arsenal gets a better look, and the man can't be much younger than he is. Definitely not as smart, coming back instead of running.

"Oh, god damnit. You startled me! Look at what you made me do! You'd better pray the ambulance gets here quick."

As if on cue, the sirens came into earshot. Time to leave. Holstering his pistol and closing the briefcase, Arsenal takes out his bow and another Glue Arrow. He throws the case into the air and shoots it with the arrow, pinning it to a wall. It should hold, but this glue's ultimately flawed.

As Arsenal makes his escape, he addresses his fans.

"I know, I know. 'Arsenal, why didn't you take the money?! It's not even stealing! They probably stole it first!'. Yes. That's the point."

He takes off the GoPro and turns it to his masked face.

"That money is dirty. Stolen, Laundered, Counterfeit, Unmarked. Whatever. It's not right take it. That's just... wrong. I'm letting the police do their job as I finished mine. Stream's over, guys. See you later!"

And with that, he stops recording, and the camera turns off with a beep.

Work was never easy. If it wasn't for the fact that it was the only job he could get, David would have jumped at the chance to have a job that wasn't prone to making people go grey from stress. He had a hard enough time keeping his own anger in check dealing with customers who were clueless, obnoxious, rude, or, God forbid, all of the above, never mind trying to reign in the nigh uncontrollable anger of a certain psychopath he was sharing a body with. If he had to listen to Hood scream bloody murder in his head one more Goddamn time...

"Uh, excuse me. I'd like to order." David blinked, focusing his attention on the customer in front of him. An older man, a teenage girl glued to her phone beside him and a young boy on his shoulders.

"Oh, sorry. Zoned out a bit. Welcome to Big Belly Burger, what can I get you?" The teen looked up from her phone at David's voice, looking him up and down and biting her lip slightly. David blinked, avoiding eye contact. This was not a thing he needed right now.

"I'll take two Big Bonus Burgers, a Little Belly Meal, one large fries, two large cokes, and a small chocolate shake."

"And will that be for here or to go, sir?"

"Here."

"That'll be twenty-six dollars and seventy-six cents." The man handed Dave a twenty and a ten, and David put the money in the register before handing the man his change. "You're order number... Forty-two, sir. Have a nice meal." The man nodded to David, before taking his children to a booth, the girl looking back at David and winking at him. The young man pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. Save for the unwanted flirting, this was pretty routine, not too bad except for the obvious. But it always got worse.

After about half an hour, things started to go bad. A larger man approached the counter, a particularly dopey look about him.

"Welcome to Big Belly Burger, what can I get you?"

"Can I get... Uh..." The man looked up at the menu, tapping his chin in contemplation. This continued for close to a minute, the man tapping his chin and occasionally saying "Um..." while staring up at the menu items.

David quirked a disapproving eyebrow. "Sir. You're holding up the line."

"Oh, sorry. I'll take... Um... Hm..."

David's brow furrowed. Sighing slightly, he put on a false grin, saying, "Sir, if you're not sure what to get, I suggest the Big Belly Combo Meal. You get a Big Bonus Burger, one large fries, a box of four buffalo wings, and a large drink of your choice. All for only twenty dollars."

"Sure, I'll take that." The man pulled a twenty out of his wallet, handing the money to Dave.

"You're order number fifty-seven, sir. Have a good day." The man went on his way. David took in a deep breath, counting to ten before releasing it. This was bad. But it could only get worse from here.

Worse came twenty minutes later in the form of a slimeball clad in a grey suit, hair slicked back, tie neatly held in place by a clip, phone pressed to his ear and endlessly jabbing away to the person on the other end of the line. A fucking businessman. "Welcome to Big Belly Burg-" David's typical greeting was cut off by a slender finger being held up and a sharp "shhhh". David fought back a sneer of disgust.

"Look Charlie, you'll get your Goddamned paycheck when I see those reports on my desk... Oh don't give me any of that 'oh, it's been two months since I've been paid' or 'I have kids to feed at home' bullshit, Charlie, we both know that second one's a fuckin' lie." He pressed a hand against the phone. "Big Bonus Burger."

"Right sir, that'll be nine dollars." The man slid David a ten, and David handed him back a dollar. "You're order sixty-six." The man nodded, heading to his seat.

That went... Surprisingly well, actually. David allowed himself to breath in a sigh of relief. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad after all.

Ten minutes later...

The businessman marched up to the front counter, looking positively furious. "I told you no lettuce!"

David blinked. "What? No you didn't."

"Yeah, I did. Are you calling me a liar?"

"Sir, I'm sure if we just talked this thro-"

"Don't back talk me, boy. Now, I want some compensation for the poor service here."

David gritted his teeth. "Sir, can't you just, oh, I don't know, take the lettuce out of the burger?"

"The point isn't that I can take the lettuce out of the burger, it's the fact that you didn't listen to my instructions in the first place. Now, I want a refund, and a burger with no lettuce to make up for this."

"Sir, you're being unreasonable."

"Unreasonable, eh? Are you sure you wouldn't like a talk with my lawyer? About the fraud you pulled?"

"Fraud? What fra-"

"The fraud you pulled by telling me there would be no lettuce in the burger!"

David was practically grinding his teeth to a fine powder at this point. Deep breaths, David. Deep breaths. "... Fine, sir. I'll talk with the cooks."

Spoiler alert: the guy walks away with his nine Goddamn dollars and another burger, looking smug as a snake. Inside David's head, Red Hood's cries for retribution were left unanswered, and he returned to work.

Fuck the lunch rush.



"FUCK YOU!" David shouted as he slammed his fist into the mugger's ear, sending the man to the ground. Crawling on top of him, David began to beat relentlessly on the thug's face. "FUCK YOUR SUIT! AND YOUR TIE! AND YOUR HAIR! AND YOUR PHONE!" Each sentence was punctuated with a fist pounding down onto the crook's face. "AND FUCK! YOUR! NO! LETTUCE!"

The poor guy probably had a fractured skull, but he was alive. David pulled himself off the mugger, letting out a long breath. He turned to the would-be victim, who was staring in shock at the bloodied and bruised face of her attacker as he squirmed around and whimpered in pain. "... Sorry you had to see that. Been a long, long day at work. You, uh, need someone to walk you home?"

"U-um, no t-thanks, I'm fine w-walking on my own..." With that, the woman began to speedwalk away, before breaking out into a sprint once she reached the sidewalk.

David shook his head, massaging his temples. He still had a headache from work. "... Fuck businessmen."

’Yep. Gonna be one of those days.’

Malcolm surmised in his own noggin, taking in the scene before him and to his credit, keeping himself from openly weeping or screaming at the sight of it-

For before him sat the immense, armoured bulk of the Grimmobile; literal tonnes of armour and guns and a some of the most sophisticated machinery on the surface of the goddamn planet on four flat tires in a puddle of virtually every fluid you could ever conceive of being in such a machine.

Also, the hood and most of what was under it was missing.

Also, it may or may not have been on fire just before he got here- If the pointed silence the scar-faced teenager’s Ma maintained about the plume of smoke that greeted him as he entered the garage was anything to go by.

...And the loud ’BANG!’ that resonated in the background of the phonecall that brought him home early from a friend’s.

No, no. Malcolm kept the pure, unadulterated horror of the immense workload in front of him in a tightly locked box in the back of his psyche like he did most things, instead responding the only way he knew how-

”Sooo… the new hybrid-magitech drive has some kinks, I see...”

-By being a sarcastic little shit.

Of course, hoarding things inside like some kind of feelings dragon wasn’t mutually exclusive to Malcolm either. A soft hum was the only response he received from his Ma, Zoey’s steel-blue eyes focused on the mess in front of her. The billionaire was dressed in stark difference to her usual public persona, in oil-stained jeans and her favorite science camp t-shirt, not to mention the patches of smoke on her pale skin from this unfortunate incident. The metal encasing her left forearm beeped in distress.

”Perhaps a few,” The redhead finally conceded, only for a slight chuckle to build up in her throat. The fingers that before had been tapping against her chin thoughtfully dropped down as she stepped forward, fearlessly beginning to scavenge what remained of the engine amidst the tell-tale foam of a fire extinguisher. ”Though, you didn’t have to come home early from your friend’s, Malcolm. Working out the problems in this won’t be nearly as hard as maintaining the Justice Station.”

… That was, of course, followed by a low muttering that sounded somewhat like cursing. No doubt from remembering one of the other six Justice League member’s latest rough handling of extremely delicate pieces of machinery.

With a slight shrug, the boy removed his old bomber’s jacket and hung it off the handlebars of his bike, popping his knuckles as he walked over a little smirk and a shake of his head.

”Eeeh, I was kinda being the third wheel anyhow. So I was actually pretty happy for the excuse to bail.”

“Well son, the answer to that is to steal his girlfriend.”

”Oh, c’mon, after all that time I spent nagging Anatoli to ask her out? that’d just be a waste.”

”Polygamy, then.”

”Unacceptable!” Malcolm replied with mock outrage and a raised shaking fist… plus a wry grin as he grabbed a hold of his trusty wheeled tool box and pulled it over, removing his glow-hiding contacts and then slipping on a pair of leather mechanic’s gloves afterward. ”I refuse to be a sidechick!”

With another little chuckle and a shake of his head, the wifebeater-clad teenager cast his eyes down towards the stagnant, outright depressing puddle of mixed vehicular juices at their feet, cocking a brow in a particularly Kasimir kinda way as he did so.

”’Spose we should start by draining whatever’s left in the car then, yeah?”

”It’s probably the best option,” Was the calm response, even as Zoey pulled out a hanging part with a disgusted noise. It glowed an otherworldly orchid, faint though it was, but rather than treating it with the respect of a magical artifact she just tossed it aside. ”Don’t want the dogs getting any stupid ideas.”

They both knew she only meant one of the dogs.

”Right, you work on draining the oil, I’ll grab the sand.”

”Gotcha.”

Came the boy’s simple response as he lifted the top cover of his toolbox and flicking a quartet of switches on the small console wired into its underside, summoning a quartet of drones from the far corner of the vehicle bay, who dutifully wheeled themselves into the four corners of what was left of perhaps the single most badass thing ever to be placed on four wheels, deployed their built-in outriggers and began to lift.

”So how’s work, anyhow?” Mal asked, pulling a small ratchet and socket out from the third shelf of his toolbox and casting another glance at the now raised Grimmobile as he stepped away to grab hold of a... surprisingly mundane plastic oil drip pan with a long leck and a funnel ”...Aside from, y’know, having to fix everything all the damned time?”

The clomping of metal on metal came back as Zoey came back, a large bag of sand not over her shoulder, but rather on the back of one of the security dogs. The mechanical beast’s head came up to her waist, dutifully following with glowing eyes scanning everything in sight.

”The usual. Honestly I’m just thankful we had the foresight to install that magitech barrier - if I had to deal with outside debris along with everyone’s monthly accidents I think I’d go insane.” A flick of Zoey’s wrist had one of her ever present blades in her hand, and with a simple motion she cut a line into the sack of sand. Immediately the security dog began to pad forward, circling around the Grimmobile to begin soaking up the spilled fluids.

While it did so Zoey leaned against the vehicle, uncaring of the grime it left against the back of her shirt. ”Though, Preston’s wife is apparently visiting Earth for the first time. Let’s see… and Harris’ little sidekick is up from stasis. Apparently Karen unintentionally gave him a bit of a hard time, but at least she was there when he woke.” A frown tugged at the billionaire’s painted lips, another absent hum building up in her throat.

”A... hard time?” Mal echoed with a slight furrow of his brow, even as his glowing orange eyes locked onto the oil pan under the car and he stepped forward through the now-soiled sand, producing a muffled crunching as he wheeled his drip pan in behind him ”That seems a little… Un-Karenish...”

Well he said that, but truth be told, he hadn’t actually seen Karen in just over a year now- And frankly, the last time he did, there was a whole thing involving a cult, some guy who talked too much and had fetish for Ancient Rome and of course, as a slight itch along the lines of the scar above his brow reminded him, a gigantic goddamn bomb in the middle of the Gotham Underground going on that kiiiinda took priority over kicking back and shooting the shit. At Zoey’s tone, however, the boy’s eyes swivelled in their sockets to peer over at her, focusing in on the translucent blue apparition of a woman that was his mother (as his brain comprehended her, anyway) against the roiling fiery effect the rest of their surroundings. Suffice to say, having eyes like his made it awfully easy to read people, even stoic types like his mother- though he didn’t need any of that to tell that something was troubling her.

Flicking his eyes back to his task and setting about undoing the screw on the oilpan, he bit the bullet and asked the burning question-

”...How is our ol’ Magic Kare-Bear, anyhow?”

”Karen-like.” Was the immediately reply, followed by a humorless laugh. Zoey rolled her shoulders, tense as they always were, and raised a hand to rub at her temples. ”Putting too much responsibility on her shoulders, and remembering less and less to just be Karen Hernandez. Growing up too fast can do that to a person.” She huffed, pushing off from the car only to quirk an eyebrow at Malcolm, which he returned in kind. She was sure he could relate, but wouldn’t say that part aloud.

”Though, at least she’s still a teenager. She’s taken to calling the Historama ‘Godtube’.” The billionaire snorted lightly at that, shaking her head. Finally Zoey moved, purposely going to the front of the armored car to begin examining the damage done in closer detail, now that it was lifted. ”And I may have told her to go join a sorority. Might keep her busy outside of her magical form.”

Mal let out a low whistle at that.

”A sorority?” Malcolm asked with a snort, but with slightly less of a smile now ”Jesus, that’s just asking for a reenactment of ’Mean Girls’ with a quarter of the run-time and an ending with a lightning bolt instead of a bus.”

Letting the plug-screw drop into the oil pan, knowing that it wasn’t going anywhere anyhow and stepping away to let gravity do it’s work, Mal moved back towards his toolbox as he pulled off his gloves and hit a few buttons on the console built into it’s lid- doing all this seemingly on autopilot as he kept talking. Brow furrowing slightly in a minute slip of actually showing the concern he was feeling.

”So do you ever see her outside of work anymore?”

”Not as often,” Zoey rumbled lowly, huffing lowly with agitation at the fact. ”At times it feels like I’m trying to lure her outside the Rock of Eternity like shaking a bag of treats for a cat. She’s her own woman now, but...” The Gotham hero trailed off, shaking her head. Finally she lifted her arm, the metal encasing her wrist lighting up as she prodded at the built-in keyboard, and soon she was left examining a diagram of the recently exploded magitech drive.

Malcolm could only grunt and give a nod at that, even as his fingers danced across his console to try and get a diagnostic read on if there was anything left of the Grimmobile’s computer after all the car’d been through- There wasn’t exactly a whole lot of meaningful words he could say to express his thoughts on that statement, or his mother’s worries. But, casting a glance back towards the look on his Ma’s face the boy internally pondered what he was being told.

He mulled it over a bit, shifting his tongue about his closed mouth as he did before sighing audibly; both at the conclusion he reached and the fact that the console was telling him the car’s blackbox had actually been melted in the extreme (and possibly magical) heat of… whatever the hell went wrong with the magitech drive.

One of these things called for drastic measures. And it wasn’t the one he could fix with a few hours of solder and twice his weight in caffeine.

”Malcolm?” Zoey’s voice once more cut through the room, the noise of groaning metal and their own thoughts. Her steel-blue gaze had moved over to him, seemingly examining the boy more than the car. Finally a small smile tugged at her lips, and she stepped closer to reach up and mock-ruffle his hair, shaved short as it was. Maybe it was all this talk of being a shut-in, maybe it was just this brief lull in the stream of work that Grim used as a distraction, but... ”I’m glad you’re here, son.”

At that, Mal didn’t even bother hiding the grin that made it’s way back onto his face, his free hand idly rising up to catch hers and give it a little squeeze.

”Glad to be here, Ma.”

”Historama, let’s cycle through all of the prisoners again,” said Lady Arcana, laying her cheek against the knuckles of her hand. The screen began to cycle through all the monsters--human or otherwise--that she had confined in the Rock of Eternity. ”Sabina’s okay...Oggar’s reading...Kull’s trashed his room again, of course...Wilhelm’s sleeping…”

Easing back in her throne, Arcana let out a heavy sigh. For the past two days she had been afraid to leave the Rock for very long, in case there was another unexpected break-in like last time. Even when there had been breaches in the veil, she had made certain to resolve them as quickly as possible. She was starting to understand now why Shazam had never left to do hero work.

She knew that Zoey really wanted her to start attending the University of Poseidonis later this month, but this latest incident with Wilhelm and the Yellow Lantern Corps had really opened her eyes to just how easily things could go wrong if she wasn’t being constantly vigilant. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t been looking forward to University, but she had far more important responsibilities here--she saw that now.

”I guess I should tell Orin I won’t be going,” she muttered to herself.

---

’Mal… what the hell are you doing?’ Mal heard an annoying little voice that sounded suspiciously like doubt sound off within his own head as he stared down at what he was told was a magical hotline directly to the physical embodiment of all magic in the universe in his hand. ’You have no idea how this thing works, do you?’

Glancing down again at what appeared to be just a freaking rock (albeit, fuzzy and opaque to his eyes), he couldn’t help but agree.

’Nyooope. No idea.’ The teen conceded to… well, himself. Hefting the thing up to eye-level and giving it a downright constipated glare, as if trying to will the damned thing into working ’Buuuuut, let’s try anyway and see what happens’

Clearing his throat and trying to ignore the fact that, on the slim chance he was actually successful, he was going to be having a long conversation with a goddamn rock, Mal finally spoke.

”Err… hello?”

...Nothing.

He felt his brow twitch. Clearly, his mum’s boy.

”Dog Boy to Kare-Bear. Come in, Kare-Bear.” He tried again, with a bit more feeling (and snark) this time around ”Ya there, blondie?”

This time, he noted, the fuzziness his eyes registered within the crystal began to intensify- Perhaps this was actually going to work... Or perhaps he’d activated a security failsafe and was about to get blown the hell up- He wasn’t really sure. Raw magic like this was a tad beyond his understanding.

But, as the saying goes- ’There’s always hope.’

Even when talking to a goddamn rock.

---

Lady Arcana’s head jolted up when the Historama sprang to life in front of her. Her initial suspicion was that there was another intruder, but this was quickly dispelled by the flashing letters on the screen that spelled “KASIMIR CASTLE”.

Releasing a heavy sigh, Arcana waved her hand to answer it. ”What is it, Zoey?”

It had better not be more dog pictures; she wasn’t in the mood.

’Hoooly shit, it actually worked’ Malcolm couldn’t help but grin a little at that (and the fact that he wasn’t currently blowing up) ’Now, just try and answer in a way that most sane people wouldn’t immediately hang up on.’

”Surprise! You just won a free cruise.” The boy immediately responded to the tired-sounding Wizard in his typical joking fashion, almost out of reflex ”All you have to do is give us your credit card number and your mother’s maiden name!”

’Oh, for fuck’s sake Malcolm...’

Arcana hadn’t expected to hear any voice other than Zoey’s ever coming from the scrying stone. She had given it to her as a means of private communication. Every member of the Justice League (except Emerald Knight, as he had been away when she distributed them) had one, just in case they needed to get in contact with her for an emergency. Of course, Zoey more often used hers for far more trivial matters.

Thankfully, she was able to recognize Malcolm’s voice easily enough, so she wasn’t worried that something had happened there--especially since he was apparently trying to prank call her or something.

”Malcolm, give the scrying stone back to your mother,” she said tersely.

At that, Mal just audibly ‘Hmm’d’ and nodded along animatedly, as if actually considering it while idly tossing this artifact of a Lord of Order between his hands as if it were a mere tennis ball. Clearly unintimidated by Karen’s tone.

”Oh, I will... eventually,” He stated with a slight snort as he sat down at his workbench in the Grotto... and then very suddenly dropped the humourous tone ”...But before that, I was hoping we could talk.”

Turning the scrying stone about in his fingers and giving the unusual object an appraising glare, admittedly curious as to what the hell he was actually observing within it.

”If you’re not too busy doing Wizard things, that is.” He added plainly, perhaps a slight bit annoyed at Karen’s initial response, perhaps not. But knowing that joke would’ve gotten at least a snort out of the Karen he remembered all the same. ”In which case, I’ll let’cha get back to your work.”

Lady Arcana tilted her head to the side, still confused as to why Malcolm was contacting her with his mother’s scrying stone. What on Earth had compelled him to do such a thing all of the sudden? Was this perhaps about the University of Poseidonis? She did recall Zoey telling her that he was planning on attending it as well.

”I’m always busy doing ‘Wizard things’,” she said calmly. ”But if you’re calling to discuss school, then I’m afraid that I’ll no longer be going--I just don’t have time. With the recent breakout here, I realize that I’m needed on the throne.”

She knew Zoey wouldn’t be happy with her for saying that, but there was simply nothing for it. She couldn’t risk another unexpected attack on the Rock of Eternity. Just imagine if somebody like Kull escaped?

”Tell Zoey I’m sorry; I know I promised her.”

’Oh, right. School.’ While Malcolm was literally incapable of forgetting anything, that particular subject had been shunted to the back of his mind as of late.

And was now shunted even further back with what he just heard.

A low sigh escaped him at that as he ground his teeth together, his free hand moving to his scarred brow to try and subdue a fast-approaching headache.

Truth be told, it took him a good few seconds to gather his thoughts on… well, all of that, metahuman brain be damned. But finally, and after a series of unreadable expressions shifting across his face he found his voice-

”...Wasn’t calling about school, either. Ya might not believe it, but I don’t actually take mucking about with what is technically the artifact of several Gods lightly.” The Gotham crimefighter admitted, fingers clamping down on the stone that he’d been deftly turning with his fingers as The Wizard spoke ”-But that’s beside the point now.”

Standing up again and starting to pace a little, the boy took another few seconds to think on his words.

”Does this mean you intend to stay on that Rock of yours... forever? Just watching monsters in cages for the rest of your days?” He finally spoke again, his voice oddly contemplative now ”-Because that doesn’t sound like much of an existence, Karen. At least not one worthy of you.”

Lady Arcana hesitated for a moment. He had more or less put her on the spot with that question. However she answered, there was little doubt that it would find its way back to Zoey and then potentially the rest of the League as well. She didn’t like the prospect of having to explain herself to all of them, but…

”I am the Wizard,” she stated. ”My duty is to defend our reality from the creatures that lurk beyond the veil, or otherwise threaten it. I’ve also decided to defend my home, Earth. I can best do both of these things from the Rock of Eternity.”

She paused, staring through the Historama’s semi-translucent screen to the large pair of double doors behind it. They bore her crest--the thunderbolt.

”I…Karen doesn’t matter. Not next to the responsibilities of Lady Arcana.”

”THAT-” Malcolm almost started to yell, but managed to reign himself in, taking a deep breath and counting down in his head before continuing ”...That is a lie and you damn well know it.”

Now ceasing his pacing and leaning up against the workbench, Mal’s eyes locked onto the stone in his hand once again, scarred knuckles turning white with the force of his grip.

The Wizard had clearly struck a nerve.

”Karen Hernandez matters. And I don’t really care if you believe that right now or not. I do. So you’re gonna hear it and it can rattle your magical little blonde head for the rest of eternity.” The Kasimir ward spoke through barred teeth ”Because if Karen was totally irrelevant to the equation, she wouldn’t have been chosen to be the Wizard”

Mal’s eyes flicked down towards his free hand, covered in scars and resting upon a data tablet frozen on a news site touting the exploits of some new ‘Masked Hoodlum’ in the city. A slight grimace forming on his face as he clenched and unclenched his fist.

He, more than most, knew a thing or two about losing sight of who you are.

”So you’ll forgive me if I choose to believe there’s more to you than just a cape, a catchphrase and a giant magic rock in space.”

Arcana clenched her fist with enough force to crush coal into diamond, her eyes flaring. When she spoke, her words were saturated with indignation. ”Selfish, selfish, SELFISH!”

”Don’t you get it? Who is going to mend breaches and fight monsters if I’m away from the Rock frollicking around like a ditzy teen girl?” she asked, shaking her head. ”Who will watch over my prisoners? People could die, and you don’t even care so long as you get your friend back!”

He was acting like she hadn’t even thought this through. Of course she had. It wasn’t like she wanted to sit here for the next several thousand years, slowly forgetting who she once was. But there were things only she could do, and if she neglected her duties, the consequences could be catastrophic.

”If I slack off, there might not even be life for me to enjoy...” she said quietly.

Malcolm’s response was… oddly calm. Measured even. Though the audible exhale was as firm proof as any of some internal turmoil going on inside of his head.

”And what life do think you’ll have to enjoy if you never leave the Rock?”

Tongue clicking quietly as he absently used his thumb to pop the knuckles of his free hand one by one, he took another measured breath and spoke again.

”And yes, Karen. I do care. It’s why I choose to go out every night and do what I do.” Malcolm explained flatly ”But I guess choice is a luxury I’ve always had.”

Another breath. If there were ever a time for her to hang up on him, this was likely going to be it, and he knew it.

”And I choose to believe in Karen Hernandez. And nothing you or anyone else can say is going to change that.”

Lady Arcana remained silent for what must have been over a minute. She wasn’t quite certain how she should even begin to respond to everything he had said. It was all very touching, in truth, to know that he cared that much. But even so…

”Thank you, Malcolm. It means a lot that you feel that way, but…” She released a long sigh, her entire body lurching forward with the weight of recent events. ”It’s not about me. It’s about the people who count on me to keep them safe.”

She smiled sadly. ”How can I just kick back and relax, when I know people could be dying? People I could have saved? I know I can’t save everyone, but didn’t I promise that I would at least do my very best?”

At that, Mal, formerly starving child hellbent on saving the world armed with nothing more than his wits and a lead pipe could only don a sad smile all his own.

”To be honest- I have no idea, Karen.” He admitted without an ounce of embellishment, staring down at what the years and his choices had done to his own body ”...But I can tell you from experience, what we become when we forget who we are is not worth the sacrifice.”

The boy let out a weary sigh, the oppressive weight of this conversation hanging heavy on his mind, though he’d refuse to show it.

”Just… think about it. Please.”

After all that, it was all he could really say- It was her path to walk, after all. Her choice to make.

”...It was good talking to you again.”

”Yeah, it was. And...I will. I promise. I’ll see you soon, I’m sure,” she said. ”Take care of yourself.”

The stone in Malcolm’s hand then went dark once again.

”...You, too.”

Came Malcolm’s reply, echoing across the Grotto to be heard by no one.

Wilhelm Silber was here again.

This godforsaken rock.

He could breathe again, that was true, and stand up.

But...

He still felt broken. He'd gotten through so much, he had gotten so much more powerful.

Than in an instant, he'd lost it all. Not even able to fight it. He growled and pushed himself to his feet. With a roar he slammed his fist into the wall of his cell, again and again. It had been weeks, and this time it really seemed like there was no rescue.

His hand stopped after one last punch, blood dripping down the walls and letting out the soft tap that all liquid did when it touched the ground.

He collapsed back onto his ass, staring at the mess he'd made of his knuckles. He felt a pressure building up inside, and finally had no choice but to let it out in a manic laugh. He continued laughing until he hurt, then kept going a little longer.

He had broke, but he wasn't done having control over himself.

He thought of her... Karen Hernandez, who had always been there to stop him no matter what he did. Her and all the others who she associated with.

He was going to die here, that he knew for sure.

He looked down at his bloodied hands with a manic smile.

Well, if he was going to die anyway.

Then why let it be on her terms.

He stood and held up his hand.

He shook and sweated as he painfully turned it from a fist into an open palm.

He chuckled maniacally.

Then he speared his fingers through his chest.

The pain was incredibly intense, and he found himself collapsing to the ground.

He looked down at his bloodied body, and decided to finish the job.

Wilhelm Silber's body exploded into bloody chunks.

He licked at his knuckles a bit, clearing off the bits of his dried blood from them so no one could see it. He didn't need to be asked how that happened. He ate wordlessly, listening to his friend Rita chatter on about her own life, while only thinking about what he was going to do tonight. The Question picked at his foo- no. That's not his name...

Oscar.

He was Oscar.

Wasn't he?

It had been so long since he thought of himself as Oscar.

But he was still Oscar.

Oscar...

Oscar.

Oscar!

"Oscar!"

Oscar was shaken out of his thoughts by Rita's voice. "You okay? You're not looking too good."

"Yeah. Just been... A bit out of it, these days. Haven't gotten much sleep."

"Well, you need to change that. Staying up all night doing whatever it is you do isn't good for your health."

Oscar tried to put on a goofy grin, but it came off as far more forced than he wanted it to. "Right, because you're an expert on health?"

Rita rolled her eyes, apparently not catching onto the forced nature of Oscar's grin as she gave one of her own. "You know, you're right, it's not like I'm a nurse or anything. Oh, wait."

The pair chuckled at that, continuing to eat lunch. It was moments like these that made Oscar remember that there was something beyond kicking the shit out of criminals. It reminded him of better times, when he wasn't so absorbed in his crusade. Better times...

Arsenal shoots his net arrow at the fleeing ATM thief, the arrowhead bursting open mid-flight and covering them, trapping the scoundrel. The thief struggles in vain as Arsenal approaches casually.

"Crime doesn't pay, jackass. It only fills you with arrows. Trust me."

A subtle curb stomp to the face later, and Arsenal leaves the unconscious crook as he hears sirens approaching. A donation pings in his ear.

ButterMyBread ($10): HE SHOT THE NET ARROW. THATS ALL WE EVER WANTED. WE IN BOIS

---

Arsenal looses an arrow, hitting the would-be mugger in the his genitals. As the man falls to the ground, clutching his crotch in pain, Arsenal turned to check on the victim as another donation ringed out from the bluetooth:

BigDick6969 ($5): YO SHIT DID HE JUST SHOOT THAT GUY IN THE DICK?!

Arsenal lets out a bark of laughter at the donation before controlling himself.

"... Yeah, yeah, I did... Are you okay, miss?"

"... You're... You're that internet guy, right...?"

Arsenal perks up. Always good to meet someone who knows of him and his work.

"Oh, yeah, I'm Arsenal! I'm actually streaming right now! You want a shoutout, or-"

Another ping in his ear interrupts his thoughts:

Whistleblower887 ($1): The police are on their way. Stay right where you are.

Arsenal can hear the distant sirens. Great, another Stream Sniper. Really gotta deal with those guys...

"The police are coming, you'll be okay. Have a nice night!"

And so, leaving the woman and the man crying in the fetal position behind, Arsenal makes a quick and narrow escape.

---

As Arsenal fired another arrow into the another gang member in the warehouse, the leader must have decided to cut his losses and book it, if the car filled with drugs starting to peel out made any sense. Arsenal grinned under his mask, readying his latest creation into his bow.

"This guy isn't going anywhere! Not if my new Explosive Arrow has anything to say about it! Let's flip that bitch!"

Arsenal loosed his arrow at ground under the rear of the fleeing car. The arrow, on impact with the ground, exploded with amazing heat and force, causing the car to also explode in a great ball of flame. Arsenal stood deadly still for a few moments.

"... Less... Less gunpowder. Much less. Got it."

He quickly flees the scene, leaving the entire gang with more holes than they should probably have.

---

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

Leo hits the button as he lies in bed, half-awake and half-dressed. He lets out a sigh before getting up and going to the bathroom. The normal routine followed: taking a shower, brushing his teeth, doing some exercise, et cetera. He inspected his Arsenal gear he kept in his duffle bag, cleaning his guns and bow, and looking through his supplies.

He takes out his notepad and makes a list of things he needed to do today:

1. Pick up more food for trip to LV
2. Get more arrow materials
3. Redesign Arrows (Less Gunpowder)

With this, Leo puts a shirt on and walks out the door, exiting the motel grounds and taking a stroll to the nearby grocery store.

---

Leo sat at the motel desk, looking through his notepad and inspecting his trick-arrow schematics. The pencil tapped the paper a couple of times as he thought it through. He voiced his thoughts in a low tone.

"... Let's see... 3/4 gunpowder was too much, so maybe... 1/2? Worth a shot."

He flipped to a blank page and copied the schematic, changing the measurements and labeling it "Explosive Arrow V2".

"... Could keep the other one, rename it 'High-Explosive'... Yeah. Now, for the 'Greek Fire' one... Maybe-"

There was a knock at the door, interrupting his thoughts. He quickly put down the notepad and grabbed a pistol, sitting still. They knocked again. Can't take any chances. He approached the door and opened it slowly, door chain still in place, pistol behind his back.

"Hello?"

Outside was a man, probably in his early 30's. He looked pretty winded, and was wearing a tank-top, with a tattoo on his shoulder.

"Hey, man, you got any cash to spare? I need some money for gas, it's an emergency."

Leo paused for a moment, trying to sense if there was any danger near, but relaxed.

"Yeah, sure. Let me get my wallet."

As closed the door, his sixth sense kicked in, reading the man's intentions.

CAN'T BE LATE
CAN'T MISS IT AGAIN
NOT ANOTHER BIRTHDAY

Yeah, he was legit. Leo grabbed his wallet, holstered his pistol, and opened the door. The man looked relieved.

"Oh, thank god, you were the only person to here willing to do me a solid!"

"It's no problem. How much you need?"

"$20! It's all I need!"

Upon closer inspection, Leo saw that the tattoo was a military one. Looks like he was in the infantry. He hands the man a $100 bill.

"Thanks, so- Wait. This is a 100. I just need 20."

"Keep it. Always good to help a fellow soldier."

The man looks puzzled for a moment, then realizes and looks at his tattoo, grinning.

"... You served too?"

Leo rolls up his sleeve, displaying his own tattoo.

"Marines. Marksman."

"... Thank you, sir!"

They both give a firm handshake. Leo smiles. Good feels were had all around.

"No need for that, my good man. We're both civvies. Now, wasn't there something important you needed to do?"

The man, his smile quickly dropping into shock, nodded and bolted away in the direction of the gas station. Leo stood there for another moment, smiling, before heading back inside. He sits back at the desk and picks up the pencil.

"... Speaking of gas, can't use gasoline, too expensive... Maybe Lighter Fluid..."

By the end of the day, Leo had another prototype in mind.

????,January 19th, 2026
Somewhere in the Himalayas

The world was dark for a time. Then, a time after that, everything grew white and piercing. Around Ammutseba rose a landscape she had never seen before. Truth be told, her experience with landscapes as of yet was lacking.

Great white mounds grew up from below, and soft whiteness fell from above. In the distance, jagged rock formations overlapped each other as far as she could see. There was a sensation that felt biting and splintering, it was in the emptiness and in the substance around her.

She was without understanding. And without the language for anything she may have understood. If she were to have had it, she may have told you she was scared, she may have said she was cold, but the language she knew did not know those words. The language she knew only had words for hunger and power and for things beyond good and evil. She did not understand the sky above, the falling snow, or the mountainous range around her. She did not understand the cold.

She knew wandering, and wander she did, carrying her half-formed shape through the snow. How long she drifted through the snow, she did not know. She was ill-suited for travel, perhaps ill-suited for the world she now found herself in.

She was a white shriveled monstrosity, abhorrent, yet pitiable. Her form seemed to shift with every movement, growing limbs and absorbing them again, unsure of how to fit herself together. Sometimes she had eyes, but the eyes were bit by the cold so she took them back. She beat without a heart, and without blood she pulsed.

Then she sensed… something. Something else moved in the abyss of white. It was upright and tall with four distinct limbs. Two limbs they stood upon and two hung near its sides. Two eyes saw her, and a mouth gasped at her sight.
She reached out to it with her consciousness, and for a moment, she saw herself.

Hideous. Terrible. Misshapen.

Then she saw deeper. She learned he was a man. She learned he was cold, a feeling she recognized in herself. She learned he was scared, a feeling she also recognized. She learned the name for snow, she learned the name for the world, she learned mountains, rivers, oceans, and stars. There was good and evil, things beyond hunger and power. She learned how to build a body to hold herself with. She saw bones and muscles and sinew. And in the last seconds of her learning, she learned what it felt like to be destroyed. There were things inside of life and death, and things beyond.

She stood now, upright, and tall. Four distinct limbs. Two eyes saw what was left of the man, and a mouth gasped at the sight.

He was ripped apart, every part of him separated from the rest. Steam rose from the red stained snow. She had done this to him, though she had not meant to. If she had learned mourning, she would have exercised it here.

She scooped the red snow in her long, spindly fingers and stared at it for a time. Days passed.

Work went about as well as it usually did. David began to make his way home in full Big Belly Burger uniform, a burger clutched in his hand serving as his dinner. A part of him wished that he had enough money to afford driving his motorcycle everywhere, but it was always nice walking around the city... Well, most of the time. Gotham definitely wasn't as bad off as he remembered it being. He could probably thank... Them... For that. He shook his head to clear it of those thoughts, continuing to walk along the sidewalk and not paying much attention to his surroundings.

That is, until he heard a bark behind him. He turned around, seeing a dog sitting there, staring intently at the burger he held in his hand. Looking between the dog and the burger, David shrugged, took one last bite, and tossed it to him. The dog ate it up quickly, giving another bark. "Yeah, you're welcome." Sticking his hands in his pockets, he continued to walk home.

About a block away, he realized the dog was still following him. "Hey, don't you have an owner or something? Scram. Get. Shoo." The dog didn't move from his spot, staring up at David and tilting his head to the side as though in curiosity. David's shoulders slumped a bit. "... Fine. You can walk with me. But you're not going to come into my house." The dog barked at that, picking up the pace and walking side by side with David.

A block later, David found himself occasionally reaching a hand down to scratch behind the dog's ear. After another block, he began to kneel down and pet it a bit while waiting to cross the street. Another block after that, and David began to talk to the dog. Mostly just calling him a good boy, musing on what his name might be. "I'm guessing you don't have a family? No collar on you, you look kinda grungy too." The dog just stared at him with a smile, wagging his tail. "Yeah, I don't have one either."

Try as he might, by the halfway point of the walk, David was growing quite fond of the dog. "Hm... What should I call you?" Obviously, the dog didn't answer his question, but he did look up at him. David thought that the dog quirked an eyebrow at him, as if saying "really? You're asking me, the animal that can't speak?". "Well, yeah, but... I should come up with some kind of name for you." Okay, now the dog really did quirk his brow at him. "How about... Max? You like that name?" The dog, or Max now, barked. "Alright. Max it is."

And so, David and Max headed home. As soon as David opened the door to his apartment, Max ran in, jumping up onto the couch. "Yeah, don't get too comfortable or anything." David chuckled, heading into the kitchen and grabbing a bottle of whiskey out of the fridge and a plastic cup off the counter. "Gonna have to get you a bowl, and some dog food. Big Belly Burger isn't healthy for humans, let alone animals, so you can't be having that stuff." Max let out a small whimper at that.

David turned on the TV, watching the news. He began to drink. As he did, Max stared at him, almost like he was judging his new owner. David looked back at him, rolling his eyes. "What? You try living my life, see if you don't feel like falling into a bottle." The dog snorted at his owner, as if unimpressed. "Yeah, screw you too, pal..."

David continued to watch the TV. Eventually, the news faded into commercial break... And David immediately turned off the television at the sight of a Kasimir Realty commercial, featuring his mother. Max looked at David expectedly, as if to say "you're gonna tell me, might as well get it out of the way." David sighed. "That was my mom." Max continued to stare at David. "I... Haven't seen her in a while. Haven't seen my... My brother in a while either."

David remembered better times. Driving around in his Camaro with his brother, the radio blaring Queen at max volume, crumpled paper bags Big Belly Burger in the backseat. Everything was good. The world wasn't in the best of shape, but it would all turn out fine. As long as the three of them had each other, they could topple the world.

And then, everything went bad.

He's still trying to forgive himself for the things he did in the Middle East. But he doesn't think he'll ever be able to forgive himself for the pain he caused his family.

'They deserved it, Dave. Stop feeling sorry for yourself, and stop lazing around when we have a job to do.'

'Go to hell, Hood, I'm not in the mood.'

'Feisty, ain't ya?'

David didn't reply to the man riding shotgun in his brain, instead preferring to let him steam over being brushed off.

As if sensing David's uneasiness, Max scooted himself up a bit closer, resting his head on David's lap. Smiling slightly, David began to pet the dog, letting out a breath of relaxation. "... Maybe things won't be so bad from now on now that I've got someone to vent to." As he said that, he heard the quiet snoring coming from the canine, and chuckled. "Even if he doesn't care too much about hearing my complaints."