Hound55

Young Justice Renegades: A Team Worth Dying For

*Red Sadly Crawls back in his tube*

Young Justice Renegades: A Team Worth Dying For

Hey, it's been a year since mission 1 finished...

I'm up for Mission 2:

The time for fun, whimsy, and cups of tea had been shattered.

@Bonnie

If anyone else is...

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 3- Shattered Dimensions

Then...

These were the moments he lived for.

The rhythmic pummeling of his fist into the bone and cartilege of the last Arlaaekan soldier. He kept wailing even after the invader fell. Black-green spray marking a point of difference from the usual sanguine splashback.

Far ahead, but closing fast he heard the shrill sound of another alien blast, from further within the depths of the ship. He scrambled for cover once more.

More blasts echoed down the passageways, before eerie silence, penetrated only by a strange new alien sound.

The Vigilante angled from cover and discovered what it was, with another sigh. This time in relief. It was the original Aquilifer. The old man floating slowly, but purposely through the deck in a protective hard-light bubble shield.

"You're lucky I realised it was you. I was about to give you more than you could handle."

The old man turned his head sharply in surprise at his sudden appearance, before relief and a smile crossed his face.

The ones in black... always playing in the shadows.

"I'm sure you were." The old rod wielder said with a chuckle that the Vigilante found to be oddly short of actual warmth.

Is he-- Is he playing a role..? His voice, his mannerisms... he's changed everything from the old man I met in his house.

The Vigilante's face screwed up in consternation, hidden well behind the balaklava. But before he could probe the elder hero for an answer to his questions, a bulkhead door opened and an officious voice broke his efforts. In overly crisp, learned english, but with an accent all his own.

"I think not." A polished boot emphatically touched down on their deck, followed by the rest of Admiral Keelan from the shadows, his officer's suit buffed to a sheen. "I have come to take everything; That which you freely gave as well as the power which was loaned to you. The term of our agreement has conclude." A wicked glower crossed his face. He was enjoying this. So seldom does one get to face the man who sold a world.

A shiver ran down Alan Coghlan's spine as he saw what Keelan held. One of the rods taken from a conquored world. He'd seen so many flicker across his vision in that desolate place which changed his life, he couldn't even place which rod or which world it was. And that made it worse. Staring down the face of what seemed fated.

Keelan's rod glowed bright, and seemed to pulsate with the power, will and intent of a driven man.

The Vigilante took one look across at the old Aquilifer and took a measure of the man. Seemingly staggered and frozen by this Arlaaekan officer's appearance.

"Were you aware your compatriot sold your world, sold you, for a brief glimmer of power?"

Frozen. Guess I'd better unfreeze him. Moving first against a man with the power to take a world.

"...Tuesday." He uttered. Confusion seemed to cross the Admiral's face, until a flash of bright white teeth flickered from his balaklava in a leer as he moved almost as fast.

He drew nightsticks from his pack and swatted at the rod, he managed to connect, but not firmly enough to knock it from the Arlaaekan's clenched fist.

"I've fought demons rising from Hell, I've bested a literal god. A GOD! And I'm booked in to take out something which is planning to devour the goddamn multiverse! Alien shit-prick with designs on the Earth..? You're a sneaky Tuesday appointment at 11:45! I'm in-and-out and off to an early lunch in five minutes!"

The Vigilante tried his best to wrestle the rod to directions it could do no harm, pincering it with the two nightsticks and anchoring it to the floor with help from the gravity gauntlets. Pausing briefly he elbowed the Admiral in the teeth, with what little purchase he could get. The Admiral's alien physiology had raw strength on him, for all his toys and tricks.

"Of course if you want to BLOODY CHIME IN AT ANY POINT, YOU OLD BASTARD, you're welcome to it!" He yelled out to the Aquilifer, who until now was still frozen in place.

Alan was about to seize the advantage when Keelan kneed the Vigilante in the chest, pushed him off and aimed the Off-World Rod at his head, before holding up a remote with his other hand and pressing a button which projected a hologram next to the trio.

The hologram was of the Earth entire, which then rotated and zoomed in, rotated and zoomed in, rotated and zoomed in... until it showed an overhead image of a colossal matte black spire standing over Lost Haven.

"I trust you know what that is?" Keelan said to the Rod-Wielder. To his surprise, the response came from both Earth-men simultaneously.

"Yes." Both men sighed, feeling the full weight of the Purifier's presence.

"There's no-one else there." He said gently. "Is that realtime?"

"Yes." Keelan lied.

"Go." The Aquilifer said. His voice full of starch.

"Are you sure?" The Vigilante was hesitant. There was a play here, and he wasn't sure of exactly what it was. The world was in peril... It was in peril OUT THERE. One man, even a high-ranking officer in war-time couldn't countenance that.

"It's fine. I can take him. I've been using this thing since he was in diapers." For some reason Keelan's glower widened with curiosity at this comment.

The Vigilante picked up on deceit within the comment, but its cause was unclear and ambiguous. The former hero was a bad liar. But it wasn't a statement said without some level of confidence.

And time was running out.

"I'll save the world. You stomp his face in." He growled.

The Aquilifer smiled, as the pair of cross-generational heroes were finally on the same page. He turned and with one blast from the Golden Rod bore a hole clear through the side of the ship. A strong breeze rippled Alan's sagging suit, but he didn't feel frail and small within it anymore. In fact he felt better than he had in years.

The Vigilante fired a grapple line out to a rooftop far below, and with a short salute left the pair of Rod Wielders to their own fight.

---

---

Now...

The tides were low, here on the leeward side of the Terrarian coastal city of Cooktown. On the other side of the island, the nation's capital Georgetown had been levelled by a tidal wave, caused by early implementation of an Arlaaekan weapon which caused an initial strike of devastation, and then kept the city's survivors off balance with floods and electrical issues.

That left Cooktown as a strategic target of invasion, however. With less support coming from the eastern cities, it very much had to fend for itself against alien incursion. And without the help of the city's less than lawful self-proclaimed crime fighter, who seemed to have gone Missing in Action at the worst possible moment.

Less threatening civilians were being rounded up, all resistance annihilated. The invaders worked systemically, moving from the city center's highrise building to highrise building moving outwards, their influence sprawling across the city to the outer suburbs like an infection. Once this smaller locale was taken it would operate as a guardpost whilst straggled survivors from the eastern coast were brought in.

It only took a small cohort, there were no superpowered people here. No caped saviours. No cowled champions.

Only people.

The terrified. The small. The helpless.

And that's how Tony Morris felt as he was herded with the rest of his colleagues from his office into the transport vehicle. Accountants, financial planners. Suits, ties, long sleeves.

---

Knaves Motor cycle gang leader Russ Williams, found himself cornered in a drug den. Tables of automatic and semi-automatic weapons had allowed them to hold out against the invaders. They'd been cut off from their energy-weapons at the clubhouse closer to the Dockyards, but the conventional weaponry still held form.

The regional contingent would counter and converge on their point, but for now they remained one of the most stout hold-outs in the city. Pockets of holdouts with suicide-runstyle attacks by members of the Jesters Motor Cycle gang kept the Arlaaekan insurgents off-balance with chaotic shows of force, but the Knaves hold-outs seeemed to be the singular point of organised revolt.

---

Renee Stevens was being held in a facility north of Murrayfield, the high-rise building in the CBD which held the city-planning fundraiser was one of the earliest buildings hit. Food was scarce, as it had been in the compound for the last three days, which wasn't a good sign for their captors long-term plans for them. They seemed to be provided with barely enough basic essentials for survival to prevent a focused rebellion/escape attempt, but little enough that lethargy had settled in. The atmosphere was rich with hopelessness and a general malaise had set in.

Early on they had pooled their food, to ration it according to need, but now selfishness was starting to set in, with desperation for survival. Renee had given a quarter of her ration to a newly captured young girl who was scared some 12 hours ago.

As her stomach gurgled she began to wonder if she'd regret that decision.

---

Gunny watched on at the numerous screens from the Warroom, watching the consequences of decisions he was making, as men he commandeered died for the world in varying degrees of success.

The truth was, the war effort was looking far more positive than it had been when he'd taken command. Forces were rallying, and even the non-military metahuman forces he had no control over had found ways to counter and start making focused attacks on critical targets even without military oversight.

The Arlaaekans had shifted their point of attack to make a more pointed target of some seemeingly random street corner in Lost Haven, presumably countering a hero contingent they'd marked as high value. Since then it cost them a large ship with a sizable primary energy weapon, which had surprisingly been torn from the sky by the younger new Aquilifer.

The newest high value target on the Warroom's screen was a large black plinth that was in downtown Lost Haven, by Sherman Square. Metahuman heroes were converging on it and...

---

...the Purifier was less than a kilometer away now, Isaac thought to himself, as he threw gravity enhanced punches that sent him flying across the city-scape.

A dreadnaught gave chase, and the black-clad Vigilante took to the streets, remembering his last run-in with one of these overmuscled warriors a whole world away. He turned a corner and waited. He was the mouse, when he last faced these monsters. He had never had the gravity gauntlets then.

The ground shook as the brute approached the corner.

It seemed to block out the sun, as an uppercut with the force of a howitzer exploded into the teal beast's eye, sent it sailing across the skyline.

A wry grin flashed from his balaklava, before dropping just as fast as he saw one building from that skyline rapidly drop from view. He continued his end-run to Sherman Square at double-time, and the giant black tower that awaited the heroes congregating there.

When he finally found his way there he was met with a familiar group of heroes, who had suffered a greater battering than he was usually accustomed to seeing.

"Can't say I care for their architecture." He said, dwarfed by the colossal black monolith.

"Time we returned this bastard to sender..."

One Universe: Unlimited - A Marvel/DC Comics Roleplay

The short man in the dapper green suit was led casually into the adjacent legal office.

"Mr Tawny? This gentleman is Mr Oswald Loomis, he says he's brought a new case for us." Mary Marvel announced the spritely gentleman's entry.

Bobo tailed them at a careful distance on his skates and sat, as discreetly as a chimpanzee on roller skates is capable of sitting, on the lounge in the corner of the office.

"Linoleum? That's an-- interesting choice-- for a legal office." Mr Loomis said, inspecting the floors.

"Oh, uh-- yes. Please forgive the floors. We're between legal offices at the moment." Mr Tawny stammered, his covering as poor and convincing as the linoleum itself.

"Yes. Between the legal offices on the western and eastern sides of the building. Located in this slum right here." Detective Chimp thought to himself, not wanting to deter the business they could ill afford to lose.

"Now, what can our Firm do for you today, Mr Loomis?"

Mr Loomis took another look around the inauspicious workspace of the "Firm" before openly discussing the case in question.

"Well, as you may be aware, I recently spent a-- length of time, under the accommodation of the state..."

"You were in prison. Because you're a self-proclaimed supervillain." The private investigator said from the couch in the corner, to glares from all in attendance.

"What? You're here for our legal services, right? There's not much point playing coy and beating around the bush here for reasons of politeness and civility. If you decide to push forward with the case, he's your lawyer, right? Besides, you were already convicted and served your time, yes?"

"Apologies for my investigator's abruptness, as uncouth as he may be, I assure you he is very good at his job. Please continue." Mr Tawny interjected, before instructing Loomis to lay out his case.

"Yes, as you both may well know, I have graced this city with joy and jocular japes as the supervillain known as The Prankster, and that's part of the reason I'm hear." He began. "You see, I believe I've been wrongly imprisoned on a count and that my own reputation has led to my being persecuted by the state. I wish to sue the Metropolis PD and/or the district attorney's office for this."

Detective Chimp rubbed his face, it was too early for this conversation without scotch. "This isn't about that thing with the pennies is it?"

Both lawyer and potential client in their tweed green suits turned and stared at the Chimpanzee investigator.

“No.”

Detective Chimp arched a solitary eyebrow from his lounge.

“Alright, YES, but I had a valid point with the pennies.” The Prankster jabbed a pointed finger down, tapping hard on the desk. Detective Chimp rocked back on the couch, a smug, self-satisfied grin of confirmation spread across his face.

“Nobody appreciates good satire anymore…”

“Certainly don’t appreciate bad, ham-fisted satire, either.”

The Prankster scowled at the chattering investigator. “Are you going to get your monkey in line?”

Behind his desk, Mr Tawky Tawny winced. He’d seen how this kind of thing had played out before. All of the mirth drained from Bobo’s face.

“Do you see a tail, sir?”

“Pardon?” The man in the green tweed suit uttered, with confusion. He looked at Tawky Tawny, but he’d pushed himself away from his desk and held his paws out in a gesture that suggested he wanted no part of what was happening.

“Do you. See. A tail. Sir?” Detective Chimp repeated, deliberately and with no small amount of venom in his words.

Detective Chimp held the uncomfortable silence for a few extra beats with malignant ferocity as he bared his teeth in full.

“Great. Ape.” The words whistled through his domineering grin. “If you see no tail, it's a great ape. Emphasis on the 'Great'. I am no man's 'monkey', least of all yours, or his.” And with that, the small-statured detective skated grumpily from the room.

...Around the corner, where he held an extended finger to his lips in Mary's direction as he listened in to the conversation which continued without him.

“Well, anyway. As I was saying, my satirical commentary may not have been well received, but the Metropolis Police Department had no connection between my actions and those of the supercriminal known as Toyman besides speculation and hearsay. They heard claims from Superman - a witness who never took the stand in my own case - which sent them on a tunnel-vision path where they determined I was guilty from the outset and set about ensuring I fit that frame.”

Tawky Tawny leaned forward and tented his paws from behind his desk. “So you... want me to sue Superman..?”

The Prankster had rocked back in his own chair by now, as he regaled the tiger with his own side of the story. “Hmm..? What? No, Superman is just a concerned citizen, albeit a superpowered one. It's not his responsibility to investigate and solve the crime. No, I intend to address the people responsible. The Metropolis Police Department and District Attorney's office. They're the ones who wrongly convicted me.”

The tiger attorney considered this. He wasn't going to have to press anyone from within the superhero community. And everyone deserved their day in court... If he could prove that due process hadn't been undertaken, that assumptions had been made, then maybe...

“I'll take the case!” Tawky Tawny said, reachin a paw across the table.

The audible slap of a primate's palm against a chimpanzee's forehead could be heard in the room as the handshake consummated the agreement.

“What was that?” The Prankster asked, about the loud sound that punctuated their deal.

“Oh, it was just the plumbing. I hear that noise around here all the time...”

One Universe: Unlimited - A Marvel/DC Comics Roleplay

<Snipped quote by Hound55>

Hope that was an amazing time for your family!

@Ruby

It was...

...but she picked up hand, foot and mouth disease and was sick later that night. Had to look after her all week until she could get better (day care obviously won't), but she's better now and had her first half-day back at daycare today after getting cleared at the doctors.

So she'll be back there tomorrow, and I'll be home.

So I should finally finish up this Tawky Tawny post.

One Universe: Unlimited - A Marvel/DC Comics Roleplay

I'm going to be completely absent for a few days as my youngest turns one.

One Universe: Unlimited - A Marvel/DC Comics Roleplay

Looking to get caught up and hopefully drop a post.

One Universe: Unlimited - A Marvel/DC Comics Roleplay

Call me a senior citizen, because I have a hard time getting it up.

[Insert excuses here]; new goal is tomorrow after I return from work. I'm beyond the deadline at this point, so I should technically be moved to inactive. I already know what the contents of the post will be, I've had that planned out since the start, but I've found it more difficult than anticipated to carve out a solid chunk of time to type it out and edit. The latter is what takes up the majority of the required time. I do have the beginning of the post already completed; it's the expositionary bits that need to be worked on.

Anyway, just giving an update on my failures and repeated false promises. Still intend on being a part of this and getting a post up ASAP.

@Retired

@Master Bruce: Don't mention the deadline!

One Universe: Unlimited - A Marvel/DC Comics Roleplay

Thoughts/Notes on Shining Knight: Arc 1 - Piety

- The Spectre was supposed to be there instead of the Gurt Hound.

@Bork Lazer

Ok.

*Sees no comma between 'Gurt' and 'Hound'*

Ah.

One Universe: Unlimited - A Marvel/DC Comics Roleplay

G R E E N L A N T E R N
G R E E N L A N T E R N

---

Hal clamboured over subterranean rocks, stumbling and mumbling.

"In Brightest Day..."

"Hup-- In-- Brightest Day..."

He trips, rocks clatter. And suddenly the clattering of something else - chitinous legs - begin to clatter louder now.

_{"In Brightest Day..."} He whispers hoarsely. _{"In Brightest Day..."}

He looked behind him, as he continued to reach forward for his destination. _{"In Brightest day... In Brightest Day..."} Behind him, the rocks nearest the entrance to the cave still held enough light from the distant day that their photoluminescent glow dimly backlit the silhouettes of the clattering creatures. The Brood. They knew there was a presence here. And they scavenged on desperate for the new warm place to keep their eggs.

So... Aren't I the popular one? Hal Jordan. Cosmic cop of Sector 2,814. How'd I get myself in this situation where I'm scrambling, powerless for my life from what seems to be a small to moderate nest of Brood based somewhere off of their Homeworld?

Well, I guess to understand that, you need to understand some things about the ring...

---

A furry upright dog-like alien is chasing his tail, with frantic intent.

The ring's power, whilst being almost infinite in scope and limited mostly to the mind of the user, is not unlimited in it's duration.

When the Guardians of the Universe created the rings with the intent of empowering a law and order force to watch over the entire universe, they were mindful of the potential for corruption and abuse of power.

...although as what exactly their definition of corruption is that they haven't intervened already, I sure would like to know...

The doglike creature stands upright and scratches its head. "Umm..."

So what the Guardians did is they ensured that the rings required to be "Powered up" and charged, at regular intervals which they determined. They based these intervals on the gradual rotation of their home planet Oa.

It just so happened that the amount of time they landed on was roughly a day. Well... twenty four hours, three minutes and twelve seconds - I timed it out once at home just to be certain, because when the thing that provides you with all life support when you're flying through space... well, you want to be sure. You can't really "Get out and push".

Anyway, you might be thinking to yourself, "A day? That's not very long. My cell phone has more juice than that." Well, thing is that number never changes. The charge doesn't degrade. It's been twenty four hours, three minutes and twelve seconds as long as I've had the ring. It was twenty four hours, three minutes and twelve seconds for when Abin Sur, the guy before me had the ring. Twenty four hours, three minutes and twelve seconds when the guy before him had the ring, and it'll be twenty four hours, three minutes and twelve seconds when I'm long since returned to cosmic dust and the next spacecop has the ring.

I'm pretty sure your L-Phone can't claim that... And I get better coverage as well.

The doglike alien checks it's "pockets", and is looking under assorted rocks. Behind trees. Again it scratches its head. It holds it's hands out in despair, with a pleading look on its face.

Yes, yes, G'nort. We're getting to you.

So anyway... rings charge lasts a day pretty much regardless what we use them for... how do we charge them?

Well, that's where the "Green Lantern" name comes in.

There is a physical, solid charging device. Takes the appearance of a large light source. Humans, english-speakers, it translates out as a green lantern. Hence the name of the corps. Insert the ring into the lantern, repeat the oath we all Corps members received when given the ring, there you go, like magic - although, I don't know if it technically is magic... Huh... maybe it is..? - anyway, it charges the ring and you have yourself another day.

But it ties each Corps-member to a sizeable, and frankly cumbersome physical object.

So the question becomes, "What do you do with it?" and you have a few options.

You can keep your cumbersome physical object in a cumbersome physical space. Some leave it on their homeworld, some, like my predecessor Abin Sur, well, they chose to fly around in a ship rather than use the ring's power and then have their lantern with them wherever they may be. Now this has a few obvious shortcomings. The lantern can be lost, it can be in a place too awkward or difficult for the corpsmember to get to, potentially leaving said corpsmember stranded and powerless. Or its presence can also add risk to a Green Lantern's own homeworld - as, for that matter, can personal ties. But we'll get to that later...

So what's the other option?

Well, as mentioned before, the rings are INFINITELY versatile. hey actually possess the power to open up a pocket dimension - a space OUTSIDE of space - in which the Corps member's lantern can be stored.
Corpsmembers are shown how to do this in basic training, because most come from species who don't perceive time and space in such a way that doing so would naturally occur to them.

The upright dog howls in despair.

Now the downside of this is the Green Lantern's own ability to charge his ring becomes tied to the notion of the Corpsmember's ring having power left to start with.

Take our friend G'nort here. G'nort has used the "pocket dimension" storage method, and foolishly--

"Hey!" The dog-creature objects.

--foolishly waited too long to produce his lantern from the pocket dimension, now leaving it stranded there since his ring no longer has power.

There is a third option... you can also, if both corpsmember's will it so, re-charge a ring off of another ring. But this is somewhat inefficient, since it can only do so at about a 33% loss. Or in other words, charging one ring 2% will come at the loss of 3% from the other ring. Of course since rings are potentially capable of FTL or Faster than Light travel, very little is needed to either get to the destination where the corpsmember keeps their lantern, or to simply open the pocket dimension to re-charge their ring in full.

...but let's not forget, there are currently 7,204 Green Lantern Corpsmembers and they patrol 3,600 sectors of space.

So... there's not that many to potentially charge a ring off of. It is recommended by the Guardians and at basic training that should two or more corpsmembers find themselves collaborating on a case, they should space out charging their rings at intervals to assure there is possible backup in case of emergencies. It is sensible policy--

"So... uh... Give me a jump?" The dog-creature asks.

Oh. Umm... Yeah, you're not really here though. You're a hypothetical G'nort. The real one's actually... Where are you again? I think you're in Sector 68.

"Beg y'rs..? I'm not here? Hypothetical? What do you mean?"

Yeah, you're not actually here. In this case you're hypothetical. I was--

"Are you kidding me?! I'm not real?! I'm a cosmic joke?! My suffering is just the result of some kind of some sick joke of a malevolent God's sense of humour?! A god that just seeks to make an example out of me!"

Well, I'm not a god. But yeah, I was just using you to make an example of what can potentially--

"Yeah, no, that actually checks out now that I think about it... My whole life. Things-- Things actually seem to kind of make sense now. Huh... It's not all my fault. I'm just-- God's just making an example out of me..." The dog creature starts to walk away, feeling revivified, with renewed confidence in his understanding of his place in the universe.

Wait--! No! Not your whole life! Just this occasion here! With you leaving your lantern-- Ah well. I'm sure he'll be alright. Anyway, where were we? Ah yes. Rings charge. Twenty four hours, three minutes twelve seconds. Keep your lantern either in the physical world or sub-space. Don't let the juice run out. So let's go back a little bit before...

---

Earlier...

Hal Jordan touches down on the planet's surface. A starfreighter crew been found with much of it's crew slaughtered and it's cargo stolen. They were hiding out somewhere on this wilderness planet, bereft of civilised life, as far as he could tell. Waiting him out for an opportunity to planet hop again, once it was clear to do so. The planet's yellow sun was scorching, so he took a moment's respite in the most remarkable cave.

The rock's in the cave seemed to be covered in some kind of photoluminescent material. It would absorb and emit low light back, like the glow-in-the-dark stickers his ceiling was covered in as a child. He walked in deeper and deeper and opened the pocket dimension for his lantern to charge his ring.

...and then he heard screaming.

Hal put his lantern down and clamboured, scrambling and running out of the cave where he then looked across the planet's wasteland... and he saw it. The shade was coming. And before it, the wave.

Due to some kind of gravitational anomaly due to the relatively close proximity to the great yellow sun, nightful was preceded by a colossal wave of a sandstorm. Like a giant tsunami, of less dense sand particles in the throes of the falling sun's gravitational pull.

Before the planet would enter the "great night" it's surface would be covered with sand anew. Hal ran and scrambled, he clamboured back into the protection of the well lit cave, just as the sandstorm sealed its entrance.

But the photoluminescence from the rocks and rockwalls near the entrance had caught so much light that they provided far more than ambient lighting. Exposed to more light, they had absorbed a great deal and when the light source is everywhere it was enough to seem artificially bright, even if the process was entirely natural.

Hal ran his hand along the wall half expecting it to be warm, with it's light, but it was cool to touch.

"Well-- I suppose I'm here for a while then..." He said to himself.

Only to be answered by a distant chittering.

Something else was here. And Hal was pretty sure he'd just tipped off that he was too. He looked down at his hand, and remembered he was about to charge his ring. And the Lantern was--

He looked further into the depths of the cave. It was darker there. The rocks further in the cave hadn't been exposed to as much daylight, for the photosynthetic process to absorb. Then in horror he watched as it got darker still. The creeping darkness approaching him. As rocks further into the cave had been emitting what little light they had already absorbed, and fell into darkness.

_"Shit!" He hissed out his curse in a hushed tone. The chittering reply told him it was not hushed enough. And around him, from directions unknown, he heard the clattering of exoskeleton legs falling on stone. Hal matched it, with his own boots pounding rock. He thought back and realised the scream he'd heard earlier wasn't one of anguish from the oncoming sandstorm wave, and the doom it presented, but one of pain. Of being overwhelmed.

How much juice was left in the ring? He didn't know. He knew he'd been cutting it pretty fine. Too fine. Stupid. He couldn't risk using it, making himself a bright obvious target as the light source and then having that light go dim when he might need it most. Sure, he couldn't see what was coming, but he hoped that cut both ways. He hoped.

He knew he was around the area where he'd laid his Lantern to rest. He started desperately reciting the start of the oath in hope of falling upon it and speeding up the whole process.

"In brightest day--"

Stumbling.

"Hup-- In-- Brightest Day..."

Looking behind him, he saw the rocks nearest the entrance still held enough light from the distant day that their photoluminescent glow dimly backlit the silhouettes of the clattering creatures. The Brood.

Hal remembered something about the Brood. They designed their nests in such a way that entrances and exits fell on the outside, so that prey would stumble its way deeper within the Brood-nest and the Queen itself. Of course before he got to the Queen herself he'd hit the nursery where the prey were contained whilst they-- ugh-- gestated, where he'd no doubt find himself dealing with the Warrior breed who protected the nursery, the weaker Nurse breed and of course the Queen herself. They were mustering him further into the nest, corraling him away from what their evolutionary process had taught them was any avenue of escape.

"So let's just find the lantern first." He thought to himself. "With that less than comforting thought..."

_{"In Brightest Day..."} He whispers hoarsely. _{"In Brightest Day..."}

He felt their presence closer now. They were on top of him!

"In Brightest Day--!"

He was warmed by a sudden emerald glow, which illuminated the cavern and caused all of the Brood to clatter back briefly at the new development. "Oh Hell, yes!"

"In Blackest Night,
No evil shall escape my sight.
Let those who worship evil's might,
Beware my power-- GREEN LANTERN'S LIGHT!"

Suddenly the entire cavern was filled with a flash of the brightest green light, and seconds later an emerald bottle seemed to fire out of the cave like a bullet from a gun. Three Brood was chattering and clattering their fanged jaws against the hard-light bottle's surface, as they still searched for a way in. The bottle took to the sky, before it exploded in a spray of verdant pyrotechnics, revealing Hal carrying his Lantern like a football. The Brood fell back to the planet's surface. Hal searched beyond for an ion trail, but found nothing. There was no sign of the space pirates having made any attempt at an escape. The sandstorm wave had swept over any all tracks and trace of life.

This "abandoned planet" had become a home for Brood. And in light of not seeing any other signs of recent civilisation, and with no escape route he felt he could safely assume where they were.

In a nursery in some unseen nest or another down below, housing the next generation of Brood.

Hal sighed, and returned his Lantern to its pocket dimension, before taking to the stars.

Far below, the last of the rocks at the mouth of the cave faded into darkness.