Green Lantern

The door to the spacious house opened and Hal walked through with his bags, looking around. "So, Dad, where's my room going to be?" He asked. Thomas followed him in with the Social Worker.

"Well, i prepared a room for you upstairs" he stated, staring at the Social Worker.

"I'm so happy to see Hal getting along with you." She smiled, before leaning into Thomas "He's a tricky one, he'll try to escape the first chance he gets." She whispered.

"I've dealt with rebellious children before." He replied, pushing her away a little.

"Ah yes, the daughter you mentioned. Where is she?" She looked around.

"I had to leave her back in..." He paused for a second.

"England?" the Social Worker asked.

"Yes! Yes, that's right." Thomas replied. The Social Worker watched Hal head upstairs. The house was a small, two-story house in the suburbs of Coast City, about 10 minutes drive from the ocean.

"How the hell did you afford all of this?" Hal yelled from upstairs.

"I have a lot of connections in the world, as well as some back home." He replied. The Social Worker looked at her clip-board.

"Alright, i have some other clients to see, but that should be everything." She smiled. "If he gets loose, call us." She then turned around and walked out. Thomas closed the door behind her.

"Green Lantern, get down here!" Thomas called. Hal skipped down the stairs to see Thomas stood in the hallway. "Time to get you up to speed on how this is going to work." He walked into the dining room and Hal followed. This room had no windows to the outside, just a large fire-place and a table with chairs. Thomas scrunched up his fist and the Golden ring appeared, before he transformed. Exploding in a flash of golden light. He then stood gold and black uniform and now looking decidedly less human.

"In blackest day, in brightest night!"
"Beware your fears made into light"
"Let those who try to stop what's right,"
"Be burned by the power, The Golden Light!"

"Wow..." Hal stood, staring in total awe at Thomas. "So... You're an alien, like Supergirl?" He asked.

"Supergirl? Ah yes, the Kryptonian, sort of, but my people are more like yours, lacking any real power on our homeworld." He replied.

"And Thomas isn't your name, is it?"

"My name is Thaal Sinestro. I am the Gold Lantern and the champion of all that is good and just in the universe. My homeworld was constantly raided by slavers and warlords, till i showed them how to feel fear. That was when the Golden Ring chose me. It represents the power to instil fear into the hearts of those who would transgress. You wield the Green ring, it represents the power of Will, to keep going forward and never stop, regardless of what stands in your way." Hal scrunched up his own fist

In brightest day, in blackest night,
No evil shall escape my sight!
Let those who worship evil's might
Beware my power, Green Lantern's light!

He yelled as he transformed too. "So, you said that you were the leader of "The Lanterns" Is it just the two of us or are there more?" He asked. Thaal nodded.

"Yes, The Lanterns consist of 7 Lanterns in total." His ring glowed before projections of the other rings appeared. "Blue represents Hope, the most incorruptible force in the universe. Orange represents Averice, for those who's heart is filled with an insatiable need for justice and an inability to stop until it has been despensed. Indigo represents Compassion, those who cannot help but always see the best in everyone and help them become the best they can be. Star Sapphire, Love. The Lantern who fight to protect everything they hold dear and true in the universe. And Red, that represents Rage, for those who can harness the greatest rage at the existence of evil in the universe."

"So, we're going to go fight bad guys and save the universe?" Hal asked, unable to contain his excitement.

"No." Sinestro replied, bluntly. "The other Lanterns are dead. This fault lies with an immensely powerful villain by the name of Despero." A hologram of him appeared from Sinestro's ring, before the hologram came to life, it showed Sinestro and the other lanterns silently attacking despero, but him defeating them with his eye-blasts, fire power and sword, until only Sinestro remained. "I took the rings and fled. But he wasn't going to give up that easily." He said. "He destroyed my barrier." the Hologram followed Sinestro's every word. "And the rings were scattered in this direction, they all landed on this planet. I have been tracking the rings down, but haven't been able to find them bond with anyone... Until i found out about you."

"I feel honoured." Hal chirped.

"You should... You should also feel afraid, because Despero is coming." He said. "He wasn't able to give chase immediately, but it won't find him terribly long. I have until he finds us to whip you into shape, make you superior to my old friends and gather the other rings. Then, we may be able to stand a chance against him. Your training shall start tomorrow, for the moment, it's a lot to take in, you will find me a hard teacher, but a fair one."

"Alright, and don't worry, this Despero guy seems tough, but he hasn't met Hal Jordan." He pumped his arm.

"That's what Abin said..."

"Who?" Hal asked. Sinestro looked down and breathed a heavy sigh of sadness.

"Abin Sur... Your predecessor... And my oldest friend."

"I'm... Sorry." Hal whispered.

"Don't be sorry, be willful." Thaal ordered. "Abin died doing what he knew was right, we all knew the risks and i know he had no regrets. If you want to show me that you are sorry that he died, then you will not die. You will show him that the man he passed his ring onto will surpass him and do a better job than he ever could."

"Alright." Hal nodded. "Where do we start?" He asked.

"Not going to take time to adjust?" He asked.

"Never have before, don't ever plan to start. Despero is on his way and taking time for myself is only wasting precious time. How do we find the other rings?" He asked. Thaal smiled a little.

"Alright, the rings are going to start looking for whoever exibits their trait the most and try to latch onto them. I've spotted a few attempts from the last few weeks, but the Rings haven't been able to bond properly and have moved onto a new target." He said, a golden map of earth appeared. He pointed to Gotham City on it "First was a large crocodile mutant that the Red Ring chose, but it wasn't able to bond properly, i fought the man until he was forced to let go of it, but the ring slipped through my fingers." He then pointed to a small island off the coast of Malaysia "The locals call this place "Madripoor" I tracked the Orange ring here to some criminal, he caused a lot of damage before it escaped.

"I'm beginning to see a pattern..." Hal sighed.

"I'm not able to do this alone. With the two of us, the next time a ring appears, we should be able to stop it, and capture the ring before it escapes." Hal looked down at his own ring.

"So... How do these things even work?" He asked. "I know i can make swords and hands and stuff, but-" Sinestro looked at him with a face of utter disbelief.

"You mean... You've had the ring for 2 weeks and you haven't even used it, outside of the first time yet?" He asked. "Who knows you have the ring?"

"Well, Detective Stewart. He's been my best friend ever since i can remember. He told me not to use it so i don't draw attention to myself. I hear there's some shady government agencies like the Illuminati that kidnap young people with super-powers and brainwash them." Thaal rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Uuuuuuugh... We have a lot more work to do than i thought..." He grabbed Hal's ring hand and picked it up. "This ring is powered by your emotions and your imagination."

"So, if i imagined-" At that point, a giant green sandwich appeared in front of him.

"Always a sandwich..." Thaal sighed "Just once, i'd like someone's first construct to be something other than food... Anyway, yes. You need to be able to use this as if it was a natural reflex." He explained. "For example-" At that point, a yellow sword jumped from Sinestro's ring and sliced the sandwich into several pieces.

"Is that why Despero wants the Rings so badly?"

"He wants the Rings, because with all 7 rings, he will become invincible."

"How?" Hal asked.

"Look, don't ask so many questions about what Despero will do if he gets the rings, let's focus on making sure you never have to find out." Thaal grunted. Thaal then walked towards the back door and into the back garden. He then rocketted into the sky.

"We can fly?" He asked. "Super-cool!" He then jumped and, by instinct, rocketted up after Sinestro. "SO AWESOME!!!" He yelled, flying past Sinestro. Sinestro sighed as he followed Hal into the clouds. "I've never felt anything like this! Can we go fight bad guys? Can we save some people from a sinking ship? Can we-"

"HAL!!!" Sinestro snapped. "Get ahold of yourself. We have pressing matters. Yes, we will stop evil as we find it, but our top objective right now is to get you trained into the true Green Lantern and finding the other 5 rings. Hal stopped and nodded.

"Yeah, alright, show me how." He asked. Sinestro summoned a golden sword in his hands.

"Defend yourself." He ordered.

****



****

Sinestro helped Hal up the stairs of the appartment, arm over his shoulder. "Let me back in, coach... I'm good for one more round..." Hal grogily mumbled, his eye was black, his lip and nose bleeding.

"You did well. I remember when Abin first taught me like this. Consider yourself lucky that you can walk on the one leg."

"But that social worker... She'll take me away... If i look like this..." Sinestro nodded.

"Don't worry about that." Sinestro replied. "Get some sleep. Tomorrow, we go on the hunt."

"I'll be ready at dawn..." He groaned, rolling onto the bed and falling asleep almost instantly. Sinestro made his way back downstairs, sitting down at the computer, he began typing away at it.[

Deep Space, just outside Kree Territory

"This is K.M.S. Kortosis of Merchant Floatilla Ruul, we are under attack from multiple enemy vessels, our shields have failed and we are being boarded. Mayday, MaydAAAAAAAAAAHH!!!"

"For the last time... Where is the Green Lantern of this sector? We know that you rendered him help 3 days ago. You can tell me, or you can tell Lord Despero when he arrives. I offer you a quick and painless death. Milord will not be so kind." The Skrull asked the captain. The bridge of the ship was completely torn to shreds with weapon fire having destroyed most of it. The Kree captain staired daggers at the Skrull. "For the last time, it's my bullet, or Lord Despero's Pyre..." The Kree spat in his face. "Well, don't say i didn't warn you." He punched the Kree across the face hard, a tooth flying free from the Kree's lips.

"As amusing as it is to see you hurt this man, my underling, it is not going to get us anywhere." Said a deep and powerful voice as the door opened and Lord Despero walked through.

"L-l-l-l-lord Despero..." The Kree stammered, he began to shake in his bonds. "Please, Skrull, i beg of you, end me now. I'll tell you everything." The stepped away before transforming into a beautiful Kree woman, he blew the captain a kiss, before transforming back into Skrull form and kneeling at Despero's feet.

"Yes, little Kree, you are correct to be afraid. But you wound me with your begs to die so quickly. Does my magnificence not please you? Does the entropic nature of my splendor gouge at your very soul?" he asked, there was a laughter from the SpaceKnight in the corner.

"Milord, i suspect this one thinks he is superior to you. Maybe he thinks that he is too good to bask in your presence." The colour drained from the Kree's face. "Give the order and i'll send him to have fun with the Dire Wraiths." He said, pointing the Neutralizer at him.

"Oh come, come," Despero began "This man is an honoured guest. His people now belong to me, those smart enough to surrender have a place in my fleet. After all, a ruler who scorches the earth of every conquest rules naught but a kingdom of ashes. Don't you agree?" He asked, walking towards the captain and picking him up by clamping his hand onto the side of the captains cheeks. He nodded the Kree's head for him. "See? This one is smart. And you said that he wasn't smart enough to take my offer. Now, to seal the deal, you just need to tell me everything about the Green Lantern that you helped." The Kree stared at him, too afraid to speak, too afraid to move. "Come now, this is a very generous offer on my part. Do you not wish to live?"

"I'm... Sorry... He saved my daughter... You can do what you want... But i cannot give him up... On my honour..." At that point, Despero slammed the Kree's head into one of the broken consoles.

"HONOUR!? WHAT DO THE KREE KNOW OF HONOUR!?!?" he roared. "WHEN MY PEOPLE WERE DYING AND WE ASKED FOR AID, THE KREE WERE NO-WHERE TO BE SEEN, NOR THE SKRULLS, THE THANAGARIANS, THE SHI'AR, NOT EVEN YOUR PRECIOUS SPACEKNIGHTS!!! He roared, pointing to Bakin. He then began to laugh "Ah, you made me angry. I like that in a subordinate Now, here's your last chance, tell me, or i will keep on tearing your mind apart and stitching it back together, until i get what i want to know." The Kree's mouth gibbered and he wept, blood and snot flowing from his nose.

"I... I... I CAN'T!!!" He wept. Despero brought him face to face.

"Then you will die braver than most..." Despero's third eye opened and a red ray shot into the Kree's head. The Kree began to gibber and burble as the life drained from his face. He slowly began to melt, as if being hollowed out and made into nothing more than a lump of skin. "Well, how about that? He didn't know anyway." Despero laughed. He then walked out, being followed by Paibok and Bakin. "I liked that man, find his daughter, give her a nice position in the fleet." He smiled "Anyone that harms her has to answer to me." Walking down the hallway. before getting to the end, he nodded to his underlings, before disappearing in a roar of fire.

He appeared again back in the throne-room of his ship. "Milord, i question why you choose to interrogate prisoners personally."

"Because i rarely get to use my power these days. I enjoy the flexing of muscles" Lyssa nodded

"As is your prerogative."

"What does your magic book say about finding Sinestro?" he asked, sitting in his throne and staring out of the main viewport.

"I see a planet covered in water. I see... The hero who despises his own existence... The 1 who is 10... The last son of Krypton... I can see nothing more..." Her eyes glowed yellow as she spoke.

"Krypton? No wonder he has chosen to hide from us there. If it is protected by a Kryptonian, then we will have to tread lightly... Start searching the databases for a planet that fits that description. I am curious to see what little backwater stain on the universe he is hiding on." Despero grinned from ear to ear.

"Wait, milord... There is another... The son of Alan Scott..." Despero looked at her.

"You are certain of this?"

"Milord, i would not say so otherwise." she whispered. Despero's smile faded. He looked out at the field of destruction that the battle had wrought, fragments of ships still exploding as they drifted into each other.

The rain beat down on Michael's head as he slowly plodded through the street, looking for the address that he had been given. He looked at the phone screen, he could see the pixels enlarged by the rain drops on the front of it "Park Row parking lot..." He said, looking up at the multi-story parking lot. Finally getting into cover, he passed a woman on the way in, his fangs sharpened as he smelled fresh blood. He lightly chewed his own hand in order to try and distract himself. He walked through the parking lot, looking into the shadows. He began to whistle, their agreed signal. three low, short whistles, followed by two high pitched, before a long middle pitched blast. He stopped and listened. His amazingly sensitive ears picked up a replying whistle 3 floors up. He walked over to a support beam that ran towards the upper level through a hole. Climbing up, he jumped back onto the level that he had heard it, before letting out another blast of whistling to signal that he had arrived. He walked towards where he heard the whistling coming from. "HOI? HOI is that you?" He asked, his thick german accent clearly showing through.

"Be quiet, if you don't want to get caught..." Came a voice from the shadows, it was heavily distorted.

"HOI, it's bad." He sighed. He was about to take off his hat, when he saw a pair of glowing red eyes appear in the darkness.

"No faces..." HOI ordered.

"Alright. He reaffixed his hat. "So, did you complete the tests?" He asked.

"Yes..." HOI threw a USB stick to Michael. "That contains a complete analysis. The gist of it is that your blood has developed some form of metabolism. It needs to consume blood in order to survive. It's like nothing i have ever seen. But, from what i can tell, your cells have become EXTREMELY adaptive. Your DNA seems to be able to take the most desirable traits of your victims and change them to your advantage."

"Are you saying that if I bite Superman, i'd get the ability to crush a planet?" He asked.

"I have no idea. We don't even know if this will cause problems to your mental state. Although, i believe that this might be why you have the overwhelming urge to feast on blood. Your brain has figured this out the metabolism of your own blood and is now causing you to feast in order to keep your blood cells from killing each other."

"So, if i don't feed on blood-"

"A death so painful, i cannot imagine..." He then slid a briefcase across the ground towards Michael, who picked it up. "Take this. It will help in a pinch."

"Thank you, HOI." He nodded. "I owe you my life. Now i need to figure out the next move..."

"I believe i have that covered, i won't say it out loud, just read the documents on the pen-drive. It's not going to be easy, but i believe that it will work, i'll leave the logistics of the plan to you. Viel Glück." The red eyes disappeared into the darkness. Michael looked down at the briefcase, before picking it up and beginning to walk away.

The name Horace Wilks means nothing to you. In fact, it means nothing to almost everyone. Not that Horace see's this as a bad thing, he's a simple man with simple needs and desires. He was married straight out of highschool and has beautiful house with 2 daughters. Waking up this morning, he could hear the latest cheesy pop-song on the radio alarm. He looked at the alarm to see the time "10:01" He grabbed the clock as he quickly realized what was happening. This was the third time he had slept through his alarm this month, that was grounds for disciplinary action. Quickly leaping out of bed, he ran over to the wardrobe, pulling his clothes out and pulling them on as quickly as he could, before running out of the house. He looked around, not seeing his car. "What the fu... UUUUUGH!!!" He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed his wife. "Hello, dear, where's the car? What do you need it for? Well, i need it. Why didn't you wake me?" He asked. "AAaaaaaaaaahhh!" He roared, before running off down the street to try, in vain, to make it to work before he was fired. As he began to run, the heavens opened and sheets of rain pelted down.

By the time he had gotten to the city center, he had given up. Looking at his phone, he saw the time was 10:26 and he was hungry. Well, if he was going to be late and soaking wet anyway, better be late on a full stomach. Horace entered the McDonalds and waited in the que for several minutes, leaving immense puddles of rainwater dripping off of him, before finally being seen.

"Hello, can i please get a sausage and egg McMuffin meal? Large coffee." He asked. The woman behind the till pointed to the clock. 10:31. "Look, i'm not having a good day, can you please just give me an egg McMuffin meal?"

"I'm sorry, sir, but i'm not allowed to serve breakfast after 10:30am." Horace grunted in frustration. He then saw someone getting handed a pancake breakfast meal.

"Well, then why is he getting served?" He asked.

"That customer obviously made the order before 10:30." The woman replied with a smile. Horace's face soured even more. He looked at his phone to see 10:29 on it.

"Hey, it's not even 10:30 yet, look." He showed her his phone.

"I'm afraid that your phone must be running slow, sir."

"Have you ever heard the expression, the customer is always right?" He asked. He then saw the clock on his phone flip over to 10:30.

"Yes i have, and your phone now says that it's 10:30, i'm afraid that i cannot serve you breakfast. May i offer you a Big Tasty?"

"No you may not offer me a big tasty, i don't want a big tasty, i want an egg mcmuffin." He growled.

"Well, i'm sorry, i'm afraid that there is nothing i can do." She replied, big smile still across her face. Horace looked around, before looking behind her and seeing a whole row of egg mcmuffins on the pre-made bench behind her.

"Wait, can't i just buy one of those? You're going to throw them away anyway." She turned around and looked at the row.

"Ooooh, i'm sorry, but it's past 10:30, i am afraid that i could lose my job for selling you one of those."

"BUT YOU'RE GOING TO THROW THEM AWAY!" He yelled.

"Sir, if you are not satisfied with the lunch menu, then you can speak to the manager, or call our offices." She said. Horace didn't even care that he was getting later for work by the second, this was a matter of principle.

"Yes i would. Get your manager down here right now." He ordered. She spoke into a mic and a few moments later, the manager arrived.

"Hello sir, can i help you?" Asked the manager.

"Yes, you can, i want to buy an egg mcmuffin, one of those ones sat right there and about to get thrown away!" Horace demanded.

"Was this employee refusing to sell one to you?" The manager asked.

"Yes, she kept on saying "BuT iTS pAsT 10:30!!!" Despite the fact that it was 10:28." He growled.

"I'm sorry, sir, but it's past 10:30 and we aren't allowed to sell them anymore. We could lose our license." The manager replied.

"SELL ME THE FUCKING BURGER!!!" Horace snapped.

"Sir, if you will not remain calm, i'm afraid that we are going to have to call the police." Horace wasn't paying attention anymore as he watched an employee picking up the tray of muffins and taking them to the back to throw them in the dumpster and all he could feel was the purest of anger. He only wanted this one thing to brighten up his already pretty shitty day.

"Horace..." A voice said. Horace looked around, he could see the manager still talking at him, but he couldn't hear a word the man was trying to say. "Horace Wilks, I sense in you great rage. Say the oath and join our ranks." As the manager continued to talk at Horace, he saw the mans eyes starting to turn red, before his teeth sharpened, red foam started to pour from his mouth.

"Umm... Sir... Are you alright?"

"With blood and rage of crimson red,
From the corpse of the innocent, so freshly dead,
Together with our Righteous hate,
We'll burn all evil--that is your fate!"

Horace's clothes exploded, revealing a crimson red business suit, with black lines and the Red Lantern Logo over his breast-pocket. his eyes were now a burning red. Red fists of energy lanced out, punching the till operator and the manager in the face, before he let out a roar and a shockwave of red energy erupted through the McDonalds, throwing over tables and smashing the windows. Horace stomped through the carnage outside, before red hands of energy launched up to the golden arches and pulled them down and throwing them across the street. People were now running away screaming.

"BURN EVERYTHING!!! BURN!!!" He roared as he opened his mouth and a beam of fire shot from it, setting the McDonalds sign on fire.

****

The Green Lantern

****

Hal awoke in his bed, he patted himself over, remembering yesterdays training session with Sinestro. He crawled out of bed. "Shit, this is bad..." He groaned. If the social worker saw that he was injured, they would remove him immediately. Rushing over to a mirror to see how bad it was, he noticed that his face was fine... As was the rest of him, he looked down at his bare chest... He was more... Well toned than he remembered being. "Umm... Tom!!!" He called. Sinestro strode into the room in his human disguise.

"Excellent, you must have sensed it too. Quick, charge up and then we'll go."

"Go? Go where? Look at me, i've got pecks!" Hal chirped.

"The Ring heals your body and makes sure that it is in peak condition to wield it." In a flash of light, Sinestro was now in his Gold Lantern form.

"Oh, yeah!" Hal ran out of the room and downstairs.

"Wait," Sinestro called after him. Hal donned his costume in a flash of green light and ran out the back before jumping into the air, but this time, he just fell straight back down.

"What the... Come on, ring. Up-Up and away! Come on!!! To infinity and beyond! In brightest day, in blackest night no evil shall escape my-WHY IS THIS NOT WORKING!?" He called to Sinestro.

"Because you didn't give me the chance to give you this." Sinestro handed him a Strange lantern "Where do you think we got the name "Lanterns" from?" he asked.

"Ok... Weird, but i'll take it, how do i use it?" He asked.

"Put the ring in the torch and speak the oath." Sinestro replied. Hal did as he was told.

"In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night
No Evil Shall Escape My Sight
Let Those Who Worship Evil's Might
Beware My Power, Green Lantern's Light!!!"

As Hal finished the oath, green energy permeated his entire body. "Wow..." Hal smiled. "That felt pretty good."

"Good, then let us go." Sinestro said, before launching into the sky. Hal following him.

"So, if the rings need charging, then this should be easy." Hal said "We wait for the rogue rings to run out of juice and find them then."

"An astute observation and a good plan!" Sinestro replied. Hal put on his smug grin. "If that was how the rings worked." Hals smile faded. "Everyone is filled with these emotions and the rings are attracted to those who have a lot of their specific emotion. When they attach to the body, they drain it of all of that emotion, focus it and then use up the body until it's completely spent. If that person doesn't have an affinity for that emotion, like we do, then the ring will move on. If it does, then we will have our new recruit." He replied.

"Cool. So, what are we doing?" Hal asked.

"The Red Lantern Ring has shown itself. Tearing up downtown." The two finally arrived to see Horace advancing on a pair of police that were emptying clip after clip of ammunition into him, a red shield blocking it. "Damn, he's not got an affinity."

"How can you tell?" Hal asked.

"He's not in control, the Ring is just forcing him to feel nothing but unbridled rage. We need to stop him before he can do any real damage." Sinesto and Hal swooped down towards Horace. Horace looked at them.

"More misbegotten brethren!" He roared, before a red TeC-9 appeared in each hand and he pointed them firing wildly. Hal immediately created a shield, but Sinestro simply dodged out of the way of the bullets.

"Green Lantern, we need to flank him, get the ring off of his hand!" Sinestro called.

"Right, Gold." Hal replied. Hal lunged straight for him, deflecting bullets with his green shield, before Horace opened his mouth and a beam of blood-like energy blasted at Hal, breaking through a part of his shield and sending him to the ground. Hal rolled, before getting back up and began running. The green energy formed into a bazooka as he pointed it at Horace and pulling the trigger. Horace grabbed the green missile with one of his red hands and pulled it to his face, he gripped the missile between his teeth and bit down until it exploded. At that point, Sinestro grappled Horace into a full-Nelson.

"GET THE RING!" He yelled. Hal began to fly towards Horace, but his mouth opened and Hal was hit by a beam of red energy, sending him sprawling backwards as he got a shield up at the last moment.

"GET OFF OF ME!!!!!!!" Horace let out an ungodly scream, Sinestro was forced to let go and grab his ears as Horace turned around and began punching Sinestro back and forth across the face with the red fists, before summoning a pair of baseball bats and continuing to hit him. Hal rushed fowards again, just as Horace grabbed onto Sinestro's head by the temples, before opening his mouth and his mouth glowing. There was a loud bang as Horace stopped and turned around to see Officer Stewart.

"Drop the magic ring and stand down, sir!" He yelled. Horace stared at Stewart before dropping Sinestro and rushing for him, getting body-checked mid flight by Hal.

"Get back, officer!" Hal yelled. Steward fired a few more shots at Horace, before running back for his car. Sinestro was now back up and rushed over to Horace, a clamp made out of golden energy slammed around Horace. Hal reached a hand down and grabbed his hand, before finally managing to wrench the ring away. He held it in his hand before the ring began to wriggle and writhe, Hal clamped both hands around it. "Gold, we got a live-one!!!" He yelled as the Ring desperately tried to get away. Sinestro shot a beam around the ring, wrapping it in gold energy. Hal pulled his hands out and sighed. He looked over at Horace who was laying naked in the street. "Officer, want to give Nature Boy here your coat or something?" He called over to Stewart. John walked over to Horace and stared at Hal the entire time. He put his coat over Horace, before cuffing him. He then leaned over to his radio

"Stewart to dispatch, we need a bus and a wagon on West Phillimore street. Suspect in custody." He walked over to Hal and Sinestro, shaking their hands each. "Thanks for the save." He then leaned into Hal "We are going to have a talk later..." He then leaned back, before walking over to Horace and staring over at Hal as the two Lanterns slowly raised into the sky.

"So... We have it... Now what?" He asked.

"Little choice in the matter, we're going to have to wait for the Hero of Rage to show himself. I'll bleed some of its energy off to keep it from escaping. If we can calm it, then the next time it goes active will be when the true Red Lantern makes himself known."

"Convoluted... But it makes sense." Hal sighed.

"Tell Detective Stewart whatever you like, but do not tell him about me. As far as he is to be concerned, i'm just a regular human." Hal nodded as they flew back towards the house.

Morbius walked into a backalley in Crime Alley, looking at his phone, he saw an address, he saw a grafiti tag of a pair of fangs with a cross through them. He rapped his knuckles rhythmically on the door. A slit slid open.

"Is that a dead cat out there?"

"Fuck you, asshole." he replied. The door opened "Don't freak out when you see me, Jimmy." He said, before stepping in and lowering the hood, immediately, the doorman, a young asian man, grabbed a stake and pointed it at him. Morbius put his hands up. "It's me, Morbius."

"Prove it!" The man yelled. Morbius tensed his fingers, before pulling the mouser from his jacket.

"This was my Grandfather's, Cpl. Friedrich Hans Morbius. We met last year when me and Rachel came to visit your wife and daughter, Rachel was pregnant at the time... He gulped loudly "We lost the baby... Look, i'm not a vampire" Morbius holstered the gun, before he took out his own silver stake and drove it into his chest. He let out a low roar, but didn't turn to dust.

"What the hell?" He asked.

"It's a long story..." He said, pulling the stake out, wincing and reholstering it. "I need somewhere to crash and get my bearings, maybe figure some of this shit out." He breathed heavily. He walked through to the back with the man and they walked into a room with several other men, a little girl with dark skin and an african woman. They both backed away as Morbius walked in.

"Don't worry, it's Michael." The little girl looked at Michael.

"Is this little Kerry?" He asked looking down at her. The girl ran over to her mother. "Don't worry, i'm not staying long." He looked over to Jimmy. "I'm going to need access to a computer." He said. Jimmy showed him through to another room, it was a small room with a computer and a desk. He sat down and put the briefcase next to him, he then logged in and put the data-stick into the computer.

_{"What the hell even is he anymore?"} Came talking from the other room. Michael shook his head, it was a whisper, but he could hear it as clearly as they were right next to him. He hunkered down and continued to watch the computer boot up. _{"Keep the silver bullets close, we can't trust him."} He shook his head. He felt hurt. He didn't want to, he actually completely understood and knew that, were the positions reversed, he would probably be acting exactly the same... But at the same time, he had known Jimmy for over a year. Knowing that your friend had a plan to kill you, regardless of whether it would work or not was irrelevant. Michael breathed heavily, he was feeling hungry. He opened the case to see a bunch of things in it, the suitcase looked rather high-tech. Several large, blue pill-looking things, kinda the same size as the capsule in the middle of a Kinder Surprise, there was a glowing blue liquid in it. The computer finally finished booting up and he looked at another capsule, this one with a glowing red liquid in it. He inserted the pen-drive into the computer and waited for it to boot up. _{"Red team is in position..."} He could hear as a whisper. He looked up to a vent in the wall. He then grabbed the pen-drive and the brief case and burst through the door to the next room.

"WE NEED TO GO NOW!" He stated with a harsh, yet hushed tone. "I can hear someone outside, they are getting ready to attack us." Jimmy immediately took out his phone and began to push a few buttons. He saw a SWAT team on one of the outside camera's.

"SHIT! They must have disabled the trip-wires. I knew GCPD were onto us, i thought we could stay at least a few more days before they locked down where we were. Were you followed?" He asked.

"No, i'd know if they were following." He pointed to his large ears. Jimmy nodded. "I'll go first, draw their fire, if there's a back-door, take the others and go." Jimmy nodded. He grabbed his shotgun.

"Thanks, man. I owe you one." Jimmy said, holding out his fist. Michael bumped it with his fist. Michael grabbed his hat and coat, as well as the brief-case and pressed his large ear to the door, he could hear quiet footsteps out the front and someone counting down.

_{"Alright, we go in 9, 8, 7, 6-"} Morbius took a step back and, with continued to count in his own head, as soon as the timer reached 2, her lunched, bursting through the door, sending it off its hinges and straight into a police officer with a battering ram. Jumping outside, onto the door, he heard a few startled cries, before jumping on one of the Police, grabbing the mans head and throwing him into the man on the other side of the door, One of the officer's began emptying the contents of the clip of an MP5 into Morbius, who cried with pain, before smashing the man over the head with the briefcase. He looked down at the officer and saw that, he had gang-tattoo's on his face.

"You aren't police..." He grunted, before he was shot 3 more times in the back. If these were gangsters, then he didn't need to hold back, he turned to see one of the "Cops" was shooting him, he jumped over to the man, catching 2 more bullets, before he landed on the man and sank his teeth into his neck, he let out a maniacle giggle as the blood began to flow. He could only see red as the sweet nectar of his his continued existence flowed. The gangster feebly tried to stop him, pushing feebly at him, but it was no use, even if the man wasn't now missing over 2 liters of his blood, he was no match for Michael's strenth. He felt another 2 bullets piece his back. He got up and pulled out his revolver, before pointing it to his victim's head and pulling the trigger. No blood splattered, there wasn't enough left, but it did guarantee that he wasn't going to turn. He turned around to see another gangster in SWAT gear pointing a pistol at him, Michael holstered the gun and threw the briefcase at the man, he ducked under it and tried to fire, but didn't spot Michael having gone high. Michael landed on him, claws going into the mans helmet, raking it from his head, before he bit into his skull hard and beginning to suck like a hungry baby, the blood lust had gotten him now and he wasn't going to be able to stop himself. The man went limp and he took out the revolver, shooting him, once again to make sure that he didn't turn. He picked up the briefcase, there didn't seem to be any damage to it, but he didn't want to risk damaging what was inside of it too much. He set off at a run, he heard the SWAT from around back running towards his location. "Um himmels willen..." He grunted, before setting off at a run down the street.

Dodging through the streets, he made sure to stop and make just enough noise to make sure that they were following him and try to allow Jimmy to escape. He rounded a corner and came face-to-face with a SWAT member, who didn't raise his weapon. "Excellent..." he said. "You performed even better that I expected." Michael squinted.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked. He didn't recognize the man. The SWAT took his helmet off and threw it to the side. Michael could now see a strange red glow from his eyes. He wasnt a vampire, his skin wasnt pale enough, but he did have a vampire-like smell to him.

"I am your best friend, you just dont know it." he then cocked his neck to the side "Come, my friend, I doubt you are full. And this meat is such a waste of potential. Murderer, rapist, drug trafficker, pimp, the worst dreg of humanity. We'll start you off with this lot and once you are used to it, we'll move you up to something a little more common." The man smiled a cruel, sadistic smile.

"Is it safe to assume that i am talking to some entity controlling this man?" He asked.

"That's why I like you, Michael. You are not afraid to ask the big questions. You'll learn who I am soon enough, but in the meantime, let's just say that I am a fan of your work and leave it at that. Now, come, come. Feed." he insisted. Michael was still hungry, and if this man was as bad as claimed, then he wasnt going to find a better target." He walked forward and grabbed his neck. "Dont worry, my friend. We will talk again soon." Michael sunk his teeth into the neck and began to drain it of its juices, his red eyes glowing brightly as he did, growing more and more satisfied, his blood settling down after this third feeding. He let the corpse go and it fell to the ground, he once again made sure that it wouldnt turn. He then realized that he couldn't hear the SWAT anymore. Entirely possible that he had given them the slip.

Questions raced through Michael's mind as he began to scale a nearby fire escape (without his disguise, he couldn't take the streets.) Was this attack always meant for him? Was whoever that was just taking advantage of the situation with these gangsters after Jimmy? What the hell had HOI even given him. He began making his way across the rooftops, he needed to skip town. He'd already left too much of a footprint. Making his way to the Train Station, he arrived just in time to see a west-bound train pulling out of the yard with a long freight load behind it. Waiting for the right time, he jumped effortlessly onto a large cargo container and fell down to the gully, where he could at least lay down. He shifted to get comfortable, before zipping his jumpsuit down and pulling his arms out, he could see the copius amounts of bullet wounds on him, they were healing over quickly, the bullets being pushed out of his body. That was a nice change from having to dig them out personally. He lay back and, with a full belly and nothing to do for the night, he allowed sleep to take him.

Green Lantern

Hal and Sinestro had arrived back home. Sinestro walked through the house to the cupboard under the stairs. the yellow energy surrounding the red ring beginning to show strain as the red ring constantly beat against the construct. "Um, Sinestro, that ring isn't looking so good. Looks REALLY pissed."

"It's the ring of Rage. i don't know how you expected it to act." Sinestro grunted as he pressed a finger into the door. After a few seconds, he opened the door and it was a staircase leading down.

"Wait, when did we get a lair installed?" Hal asked, staring down.

"I arrived on Earth a month ago, did you really think i spent the entire time sitting around watching this planets form of entertainment broadcast?" He asked. Hal shrugged, he was still coming to terms with the "Chosen one" thing that he had going on, he wasn't thinking too much about what everyone else was doing. He hadn't even seen several of his friends ever since he got the ring. Hammond was probably up to his eyeballs in trouble and Carol... Well, she was loaded, she'd be fine. The two of them headed down the stairs. At the bottom, lights flicked on to reveal a small room, about 20x20 with flawlessly, pearly white walls and a large glowing tube in the middle, the colours swirling around matched the 7 Lantern colours.

"Ah, the big glowing tube. Wouldn't be a sci-fi lair without a big glowy tube, really ties the whole thing together." He laughed. Sinestro walked over to a console and pressed a few buttons, before lowering the red ring to the console. A glass tube snapped up and around the ring, cutting the yellow energy. The Red ring seemed to growl as it beat mercilessly against the glass, but the glass was resilient, not showing any signs of cracking. Sinestro pressed a few buttons and the ring began to glow as it relentented its assault, the ring finally stopped glowing and floated peacefully in the tube.

"The Red ring is secured. The console will continue to keep its power at a constant. Just don't get angry around it. Now, time for my evaluation of your first mission." Sinestro approached Hal.

"Let's see, we beat the bad guy, nobody died, and we are now 3 rings down with 4 to go, i think i did-"

"Painfully average" Sinestro cut in, bluntly. Hal's face went from pride to shock.

"PAINFULLY AVERAGE?!" He yelled.

"I told you not to get angry with the red ring around." Sinestro continued "Yes, we won, but you barely used your ring for anything other than making fists. You have access to one of the most powerful weapons in the universe, you need to start using it." He said.

"I didn't see you using anything bigger." Hal replied.

"I saw no need to use anything else. I will give you points for creativity with the Bazooka and it's a good start, but for this mission, my final grade is a painfully average. I've seen..." Sinestro stopped himself.

"Seen what?" Hal asked. Sinestro walked away, back up the stairs.

"Charge your ring and follow me." He ordered.

****

****

Sinesto and Hal landed on the beach. Sinesto looked into his ring as projected a map of the area. "No human life around. Good." He said. He turned back to Hal. "Alright, now come at me, properly this time."

"Look, Sinestro, you didn't need to drag me out into the middle of the damn pacific to kick the shit out of me. We could have stayed home and did that."

"Not this way." He grinned, sinisterly. Sinestro's ring glowed as it began to project a 40 foot tall, golden version of himself. "Defend yourself." He ordered as the giant brought a fist down on him. Hal immediately surrounded himself with a green shield. "You keep using that ring for defense. I've seen you defend yourself pretty good, now use it to attack!" Sinestro called. The giant retreated its fist to bring it in for another swing. Hal broke his shield and rocketted into the air, creating a giant fist and punching the Giant. "STOP THINKING WITH YOUR FISTS, YOU CAN CREATE ANYTHING!!!" He yelled.

"I know..." Hal grunted as he swung at the Giant with the giant fist again, keeping it off-ballance. He then created another Bazooka and shot at it again. This time, the giant easily batted away the missiles.

"You're becoming too predictable. You need to think bigger." Hal flexed his fingers, trying to think, the Giant went to swing at him, he shot a shield towards the hand, but in response, the giant swung at him with the other hand, punching Hal to the ground. "TRY SOMETHING ELSE!!!" Sinestro snapped. Hal spat out a mouthful of sand, before standing up. Hal seethed at it

"Alright, you king-kong lookin'..." Something clicked in Hal's head before he jumped into the air, creating a Bi-Plane construct around himself. the plane flew out of the giants reach, before coming around and beginning to shoot at it with the machine guns.

"Good, but think bigger." He ordered. As the plane finished its pass, the Giant narrowly missing the tail of the plane as it grabbed. Hal stuck his ring hand out of the plane and, before he knew it, the Giant was being forced into the sky as a replica of the Empire State Building appeared bellow it. "Impressive..." Sinestro mumbled. The giant clung to the top of the skyscraper As the Bi-Plane came around again, pelting the giant with machine gun fire, the Giant went to swing at it, but the Plane disappeared as the hand swiped for him, Hal's smaller form now slipped straight through its fingers, before he made impact, he made a construct of a giant green gorilla around himself, as big as the Giant, before plowing straight into the Gold construct. The Gorilla punched the giant across the face. "You're starting to understand." Sinestro called. The gorilla grabbed the Giants head as its feel clung to the side of the building. It began to crush the giants head. The giant looked back at the Gorilla and shot lasers at it from its eyes.

"Wait, that's not fair, you can't shoot lasers from your eyes." Hal called.

"That's not me, it's a construct that looks like me. The only limits to its power is my imagination." Sinestro called. The Gorilla was forced back by the laser eyes, before it fell down the building a big, but began to climb back up, the Giant leaning over to shoot at it. The Gorilla was forced to put up a hand to stop the lasers from hitting its head.

"Well, in that case, looks like Kong is about to get some upgrades." He grinned. The Gorilla let go of the building as a cape appeared out of its back and it put one fist forward, bringing the other under its chest. A large shield with a K appearing on its chest as it rocketed towards the Giant, punching it in the face, then again, then blasting it with lasers from its own eyes, then opening its mouth and blowing at the Giant, Green energy launched from the gorilla's lips as large shards of green ice pelted the Giant, The Gorilla swiftly kicked the Giant, before flipping off of it and the Gorilla's fists changed to Gatling guns, a relentless barrage now blasting the Giant from its mouth, eyes and machine-gun hands. The Giant was forced to let go and Hal watched it fall to the floor and shatter as it hit the sand. Hal floated down to the ground as the building and gorilla disappeared.

"You finally are starting to understand, aren't you?" Sinestro asked.

"Yeah, me and Super-Kong are gonna go far." Hal grinned. Sinestro stared at him. "Go on, say it." Hal grinned.

"You want me to say it?" Sinestro prompted.

"Yes, of course i do." Hal laughed.

"Alright, 20 laps around the island, no flying, no running, use only your constructs." He said, patting Hal on the shoulder and walking away. Hal was left confused for a second, before turning around.

"Wait, wait, no. You're supposed to say "Good job, Hal, you're really starting to look like the Green Lantern" Not give me laps." He ranted.

"When you are team leader and training a Lantern, you get to choose how to compliment them. I compliment you by giving you more work." Sinestro smiled, before creating a deck-chair and sitting down in it. "Hop to it. We don't have all day. I've got you enrolled at Coast City Academy and you start tomorrow, we need to get to the shops and get your uniform.

Hal stopped dead in his tracks. "C... Coast... City Academy? How the HELL did y-"

"I'm VERY persuasive. The Social Worker will start to get suspicious if i don't get you into formal education. Coast City Academy is supposed to be the best in the city. Anyway, you were there before for about a week, weren't you?" Hal raised a fist and scrunched his lips. He was never one for high society academies, he had been there when he was living next door to Carol. He knew that she still went there. Maybe this was for the best. After all, the Air Force had a minimum qualification requirement for its... Wait, why was he still thinking about going into the air force. He was the air force now. He could make anything he wanted, he could be anything he wanted. But his dad was a test pilot for the Air Force. He needed to follow him. It was his everything he had ever wanted, it kept him going before he had the ring... Yes, when this was all over, he was going to need a cover story, he was going to need a civilian identity, he was goi- "And yet you are still standing there... You are currently at 0 laps..." Sinestro yelled, derailing Hals train of thought like a B-17 bomber.

"yOu Are cURrEnTlY at 0 LaPs..." Hal muttered under his breath. before putting his ring forward and a Green Monster-Truck appeared. He jumped up into it and began to speed away. The Monster Truck was fast, way faster than any he had seen and he was having a great time, finally finishing the laps, he got out of the Monster Truck and it dissolved. Hal walked over to Sinestro. "Done. You happy now?" Sinestro looked down at his ring.

"Ecstatic." He replied with an evil smile.

"You're planning something..." Hal replied. Sinestro put on his poker face.

"Of course not. Come on, let's go." He replied. He rose into the air and slowly floated back towards land. Hal tried to float after him, but didn't leave the ground.

"Ummm... Help!" He called. Sinestro turned around.

"Oh no... You're out of energy." He said, feigning shock and concern. "How are you going to get back to land?" He put a finger on his chin and pretended to think. "Well, i wish i could help, but i don't know how much energy my own ring has left." He lied.

"You bastard, you knew this would happen!" Hal yelled at him.

"Well, if i'm a bastard, then you clearly don't need my help to get back to land." Sinestro said, pretending to look hurt. He stared at Hal, showing him exactly how this had to go.

"Master Sinestro, if you would be so kind as to help me get back to land, i would be eternally greatful." He said in his sweetest tone.

"Well, since you asked so nicely." Sinestro smiled, before pointing his ring forward and producing a Small child's car that was barely big enough for Hal to fit in. Hal stared at it.

"My hate you so much right now." He grunted.

"This lesson is called humility." Sinestro replied. Hal climbed inside of the car and Sinestro made it raise into the air and starting to fly away with it, before turning around. "Cheer up, i'm not going to make you go all the way back in that." He then produced the green battery for him.

"How the hell did you have that?" Hal asked.

"That is a secret i plan to keep. Let's just say that, these costumes don't have pockets and i still need to carry things." He replied. Hal climbed out of the car in a most undignified manner, before he grabbed the battery off of him.