Chapter 53 - My SI Stash #53 - I want to play a Game by Chairtastic (Teen Titans/Justice League) (2/2)
”I suspect that the Guardian's method of destroying the ring is at fault here; it could be that they use a means that apparently vaporizes an object, but in reality displaces it.” She turned to Sinestro's back, her light chain not making a noise as it moved. Freaky. ”Or it may be an inherit power of his universe, that things destroyed in other universes manifest there.”
”I say,” okay, this Arkillo thing's voice was off-putting; like two rocks grinding against each other, and it made me want to clench my teeth for hearing it, ”that the Weaponers have hidden a few features in the rings, so that they could build up a number of them and use them against us.”
”Both equally likely,” Sinestro admitted, looking up at the central battery's glowing core. ”Boy, TiBalt, was it? Describe your universe, in detail this time.”
He sounded long-suffering, and I forgot my fear and narrowed my eyes at his back. ”No rings, no heroes, no villains, no magic. Earth hasn't gotten out of its solar system yet.”
”That is hardly in detail, but useful nonetheless. You say we're a story, describe that then.” Okay, I was now going to explain to a potentially real and very powerful man that I didn't follow his existence closely. A sudden parallel between this and me standing on a mugger's neck earlier came to mind, and I cursed karma as a sadistic bitch.
”Um. Well,” I rubbed the back of my neck, and looked away. ”I don't really follow your story closely. The main medium is comic books, and I don't...didn't live near a store for them. I know this story in general started in...the nineteen-forties? After Earth's second world war.”
”Your planet had two world wars?” Arkillo said, making me wince from his voice. ”What, did you not do it right the first time?”
”Arkillo.” Sinestro's tone was light, but the giant man stiffened, ”business first.”
”Yeah, well,” I resumed, ”I didn't go back and read those comics, but the mythos has been restarted a few times anyway. There have been a few new Earth Green Lanterns, anyway.”
”Name them.”
”Um, Hal something, Guy Gardener, him I know virtually nothing about, and John Stewart, him I know the best because he was most recent.”
”Was this from a high turnover rate of Earth's lanterns, by chance?”
”No, Hal and Guy got too busy fighting...someone to actually police the sector, so John took over.” Sinestro made a hmm sound, and I continued while shifting on my feet. ”You used to be a Green Lantern, one of their best, but you split from them for ideological reasons that ultimately proved wrong-” The pink man whirled to glare at me again.
”Wrong how?”
”I don't know, but recently you were shown to be a Green Lantern again-”
”How recently?” Sinestro was approaching again, looking agitated.
”I want to say like a year ago, maybe two?” This time I had control enough to back away, but only for one step. ”The Indigo Tribe tried to force you to atone for the wrongs you did, I know it resulted in their central battery being broken, but not much else, and you went back to the Green Lanterns.”
”Who are the Indigo Tribe?”
”You don't know?” A claw of yellow energy formed from the air and lifted me by my neck, squeezing hard enough that I couldn't breathe for a second, before slamming me down on my back, the small pink man looming over me. For that moment he looked taller than Arkillo, and half as pleasant.
”I am not in the business of asking questions for which I already know the answer, boy, now let's try this again. Who are the Indigo Tribe?” I coughed for a second, hurrying to answer.
”Wielders of the Indigo light, it's compassion based, it's infectious, targeting people with high compassion or extremely low to fill the empty space in them with compassion or something.”
”Where are they based?”
”A planet called Nok, I think? I looked them up on the wiki, I don't think it was shown where Nok was, though.”
”What is a 'wiki?'”
”Digital encyclopedia of knowledge, sir.”
”What is the state of the Sinestro Corps when last you checked?”
”I think you relocated them to your homeworld?”
”And why did I do that?”
”There was a war, um, I think Qward,” was I pronouncing that right, ”was invaded?” Sinestro moved out of my sight, and I tried to stand, to see Lyssa looking intently at her book, while Arkillo bared fang -ye gods those things were huge- at me.
”This is your opportunity to atone for making me repeat myself, boy.” Sinestro spoke slowly, face turned into a considering expression. ”Volunteer some information that I would find useful.”
”The white lantern power battery is somewhere on earth?”
”The what?”
”White lantern power battery, white lanterns are derived from the power of life. They oppose black lanterns who draw from apathy and death.”
”Good enough, I suppose.” He shared a glance with Arkillo. ”What is the status of the Green Lantern corps last you recall?”
”Um, at war with the Red corps, I think? A super-android destroyed Oa once, I'm not sure if they happened in the same version of the story, though.”
”Amusing. But none of this addresses that you possess a ring that was dest- why are you shorter?” I blinked rapidly, unable to comprehend that statement, however Sinestro's reaction to repeating himself earlier was stuck in my head, so I took a moment to phrase my counter-question.
”I don't understand, sir.”
”You are shorter than you were a moment ago. In fact, you are increasing to grow shorter now. Explain this.”
”Um...”
”Useless,” The pink man- Korugar, I remembered, that was his home world, so he must be Korugaran- snarled, ”Ring of Sinestro Corpsman 2814, diagnosis.”
”Anomaly,” a robotic voice from my hand said. So the ring...my ring, could talk. Yet another weird thing to happen today. Given my ease of accepting that, I believed I had gone into shock. ”Corpsman is venting mass at an accelerating rate. Vented mass being converted into negative chronotons then decaying. Cause unknown.”
”Magnificent. Corpsman, I no longer have time for this 'riveting' conversation. Arkillo, Lyssa, return to your duties. Come to me when the corpsman is ready for deployment, or the ring has been dispatched to find someone else.” He paused a moment. ”And lower Earth's priority rating in its detection, if needed.” Then he was enveloped by a faint yellow glow, and rose off to the cavern's ceiling.
Lyssa closed her large book, and elected to walk rather than fly, and Arkillo cleared the space between he and I with one massive step. ”Alright, meat. Until I say otherwise, you are a dead man walking.” The massive elephant-thing's voice was even worse when he was trying to be intimidating, which he turned out he was. From where I was, I could tell that he had a lot more teeth than I had originally thought, and a very unpleasant equivalent of a smile. ”I'm the drill sergeant for the Corps, means I have to make you into a functioning warrior. You know how the ring works?”
”Um.” Suddenly Arkillo was all in my business, snarling something fierce.
”No more of that 'um' bullshit. I ask a question, you give an answer, or I take your face off. Got it?”
”Yes, sir.”
”And that sir stuff isn't going to get you any points. Respect is good, but you also need a spine. And I'm going to beat that into you.” I was not a good, kind man. Sinestro got away with talking down to me because he was legitimately smarter than I, and I respected him as a person. This Arkillo, I had no knowledge of. I ran through my mind, reviewing what I knew of the rings; they were limited only by imagination, and required the user to will items into being.
I clenched my hand, pictured the first big gun that came to mind; the gatling-shield from Gundam Heavyarms, and willed it to me. Yellow light surged around my hand, forming a heptagonal shield over my forearm, and a long gattling gun from my hand, pointed at Arkillo, revving up. ”And you, sir, need to learn to tell the difference between respect and being polite.” Arkillo looked at the whirling barrels in his face for a moment, and started laughing.
A full laugh, like it was the best joke he had heard in his whole life. ”Damn, meat, you're the first newbie that made a construct before training. Maybe you're not worthless.” And then he lashed out with one of his meaty hands, which had claws on his fingers, I found out, and struck me across the side, sending me up into the air, and across the courtyard, to hit the ground twenty feet away. ”Don't do it again.”
I g_r_o_a_n_e_d, as the construct I made dissolved. Landed right on my keys.