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[b]March 20th, 2005
03:49am[/b]

It had taken Carol a few times to get her head around it but finally she understood how they were going to get to the Negative Zone. The Guardians would pool their power and open a slipstream through time and space for the pair of them to enter through. He’d stressed that it was a two-time deal only and that if they requested the Guardians open it for them on their way back and missed it they would be trapped in the Negative Zone for good. It was all a little daunting but Carol did her best to appear as if she wasn’t slightly intimidated by the prospect of being trapped in the Negative Zone for the rest of her life. She thought of home, of her mother sat waiting for word from her that might never come, and she felt doubly encumbered by the risk she was about to face. Kilowog seemed to sense her unease and paced towards her, placing his large hands on her shoulder as he leaned into her like a football coach giving a pep talk.

It was the first time since Carol had known Kilowog she’d heard him sound so visibly concerned. “You sure about this?”

“What’s wrong?” Carol smiled playfully. “Are you actually worried about me, Kilowog? I never thought I’d see the day.”

Kilowog grumbled. “Shut it, poozer, I couldn’t care less whether you came back in one pierce or not. It’s an inter-dimensional war with whatever’s dragging Lanterns off to the Negative Zone that I’m worried about.”

That thought had been playing on Carol’s mind too. If the Guardians only had enough power to venture to the Negative Zone by pooling their power it meant whatever had taken those Lanterns there against their will was very powerful. The four that had gone missing had all been new recruits but they had to be proficient ones to be granted sectors in the outer rim. If whatever had taken them found Carol and Sinestro and they couldn’t stop it there would be hell to pay. She shook her head, attempting to condemn her doubts from her mind, and chose to smile at Kilowog instead.

“You don’t have to worry,” Carol muttered with a practiced confidence. “About me or any kind of war breaking out. I’ve done this more times than I can count. Trust me on this one.”

Kilowog nodded and let go of Carol’s shoulders. She made her way towards Sinestro who was stood, one leg lifted against the steps of the Central Meeting Hall, looking as distant and as nonplussed as usual. As Carol approached him he looked up from inspecting his fingernails and shot her a glance that froze her to the spot.

She smiled at Sinestro and gestured towards the exit of the Central Meeting Hall. “Are you ready to go?”


Sinestro shook his head dismissively, took a glance down at his fingernails one last time, and then began to stride towards the exit. “I was ready to go long before you arrived, Terran.”

Terran. It was what almost all of the Lanterns referred to humans as and it had taken some getting used to. Carol remembered the first time she’d met Kilowog when he’d screamed at her for being a “lazy Terran” and she’d unknowingly ignored him. The assault course he’d made her for that act of unwitting defiance left enough of a mark on her body that she’d never forgotten to answer to it again. The way Sinestro said it was different though. His thinly veiled contempt for the people of Earth was never clearer than when he referred to Carol as a Terran. Still, there were worse creatures waiting for them in the Negative Zone and Carol could deal with his pointed references to her species until they had returned.

“I hope you’re not going to be like this the whole time,” Carol said with a wry smile as she followed after Sinestro. “I’ll have half a mind to leave you in the Negative Zone.”

Sinestro ignored Carol’s attempt at humour and continued to make his way through Oa towards the Sciencells where the Lanterns kept their most dangerous prisoners. It was here the Guardians had specified that Sinestro and Carol wait for them to create the stream. They couldn’t risk opening it near to the Central Power Battery because of the risk the singularity in the Negative Zone might drag Oa in with it. The Sciencells was caused the most expendable location for Sinestro and Carol to leave from. As unpleasant as the implications of that were, it broke none of the rules of the Book of Oa as far as the Guardians were concerned.

Standing there, waiting to hail down the Guardians to open the slipstream, Sinestro looked at Carol and said impassively. “Tell me what you know of the Negative Zone.”

“Not much,” Carol said with an absent shrug. “Energy is inverted there, it’s made out of antimatter, and it’s pretty much uninhabited. That’s about it. What more is there to know? The place is a wasteland.”

“You Terrans are as simple as you look,” Sinestro said, an annoyed sigh escaping from between his thin pink lips. “The Negative Zone is not uninhabited. Were it not for the singularity at its center its atmosphere would be more hospitable than our own for nurturing life. As it stands, there is a smattering of life on what few planets can resist the singularity’s pull and all but two of them answer to Supreme Commander Blastaar. If the Lanterns are somewhere in the Negative Zone, Blastaar will know about it.”

A single blonde eyebrow crept slightly into view from beneath Carol's domino mask as she was taken aback by the extent of Sinestro's knowledge. “How do you know all of this?”

“Mar-Vell’s people, the Kree, had knowledge of corners of the universe that the Oans dared not venture into.”

For a second Sinestro appeared reflective. Carol liked to think he was calling back to a conversation he'd had with Mar-Vell once and wondered whether Sinestro had been as hauty with him as he insisted on being with her all of the time. His expression shifted back into one of cool indifference within a few seconds and he stared at Danvers. 

"Do not think I was impressed by that display in the Central Meeting Hall," Sinestro sneered. "I would much sooner be venturing into the Negative Zone on my own than forced into the company of a simpleton that knows nothing of the power they bear or the universe around them."

Before Carol could respond, Sinestro was calling out to the Guardians. "Open the slipstream."

There was a loud crackle of blue energy and a portal appeared before Carol and Sinestro. The crackle had caught Carol off guard and she had stepped back, slightly started, but Sinestro remained unmoved. He shook his head, unimpressed at Carol flinching, and strode into the slipstream without an ounce of hesitation. Carol stood there for a few seconds, thought of home one last time, and followed after him.