[center][b]SARAKA KUTE
January 2nd, 1:15 am
Sector 32, High Earth Orbit[/b]

[@pyroman] [@Sir Lurksalot][/center]

Saraka watched the Kryptonian and the Green Lantern, his responsibility, with great interest. He'd received the alert about the great ship on its collision course about the same time as the rest of them, and had followed the pair back up into space. Of course, neither of them knew about his presence due to Saraka shielding himself and becoming invisible thanks to his Blue Ring. Since Grim had left the pair on the space station the previous day, Saraka had decided his best course of action was to observe until his assistance was needed. He wanted to learn more about Earth culture, and see how Preston responded to various situations. He hadn't had to wait long. The battle with the multi-headed creature had given him plenty of mull over, and he was seeing even more now with this ship. Preston was talented, to be sure. A strong will, impressive even by other Green Lanterns standards. But he was still new, still wet behind the ears. He was, perhaps, overconfident. In his haste, Preston seemed to have set the ship on a course that was perhaps not the wisest, and now the small group would have to deal with that. Fortunately, more experienced heads were prevailing. The Kryptonian, by the name of The Champion, was formulating his own plan, coordinating with Preston and the occupant of the ship. Preston, for his part, reached on on standard frequencies, finally resting Saraka's help. 

With a toothy grin, Saraka dropped his cloaking shield, appearing quite close to the flying pair and the trailing ship. [color=00aeef]"No worries, Green Lantern, you did not abandon me at all!"[/color] He said cheerily, turning to examine the ship behind them. [color=00aeef]"I've been observing to determine the best way that we can assist each other. In this particular situation, the solution is simple. I merely need to activate your Power Ring, and both our Rings will unlock their potential. This... May be intense."[/color] Saraka paused before continuing, this would be the first time he actually would be involved in a supercharged situation like this. Saint Walker had spoken about it at length, it was one of the greatest abilities of the Blue Lantern Corps, but Saraka himself was, perhaps, nearly as wet behind the ears as Preston when it came to Lantern duties. However, they hid a mission to fulfill, and the pair would need to establish their rapport soon, before worse things came...

[color=00aeef]"In fearful day, in raging night,

With strong hearts full, our souls ignite,

When all seems lost in the War of Light,

Look to the stars, for Hope burns bright!"[/color]

Reciting the Blue Lantern Oath, Saraka channeled his power through the Ring he wore, extending the emotional connection to Preston's own Power Ring. Instantly, it was as if the sky lit up with stars. Saraka had been experiencing the slow unlocking of his own Ring due merely to the presence of Preston's, but now, with the pair  of Rings fully connected, there was so much more in the shark-like alien's toolbox. Knowledge of how to create and manipulate constructs filled his mind, and he immediately began to do so, shoring up potential weak points in the green hardlight structure Preston had created, with his own Blue Ring Energy. The construct itself became more robust as well, completely covering the damaged ship in a new, protective shell. Saraka grinned at the newly reinforced ship before turning back to the pair of heroes beside him. 

[color=00aeef]"Oh yes, and Mr. Champion. I don;t believe we've met yet. I am Saraka Kute, Blue Lantern assigned to Preston. It is an honor to meet you."[/color]

[center]-----------------------------------------------

Custos Lolligo
January 2nd, 1:30 am
Basement bunker, Halifax Canada[/center]

Custos wandered the halls of the old WWII era bunker slowly, unable to sleep for the life of him. The bunker was a haven of sorts, built under the lighthouse that Duncan and his family maintained. After the Fall of Atlantis, with so many refugees needing homes and Custos being a member of the League, Duncan's family had been kind enough to offer part of the bunker to him. They were good people. They'd have to be for Mako to have married one of them, she always had good taste. And Custos had seen that too, the genuine love for each other that they all had, which now extended to him, years later. These days, this place was as close to a home as he had. Of course, with Duncan gone, it was unsettlingly quite. Which was what led to the wandering.

After having come down from the Station the previous day, Custos had attempted to help with the Hydra situation. He was a member of the damn Justice League after all. But his skills... Didn't really suit the fight. He'd helped evacuate people from the path of the creature, but he couldn't do anything to hurt it, slow it down, or even distract it. Champ, Wonder Woman, Morgan's kid, even Grim had all helped to take it down, and then... There was Kraken. On cleanup duty, as usual. Sighing to himself, Custos shook his head. He didn't resent his teammates, far from it. The group of them had saved the world on more than one occasion. It was just... Well, take Grim for instance. When he first met Zoey Kasimir, she was a reclusive shut-in who put on some body armor and beat up deranged criminals. Now, she had built the biggest planetary defense force the world had ever seen, and suits of armor that could kill a god. Duncan had been a teenager, scared to lift a finger until it was his family on the line. Now he was Earths Greatest Hero. In those days, Kraken had been an elite special agent, specializing in infiltration and underhanded techniques. Now... He was the same. Just a decade older. He couldn't keep up.

And that all was why, when Duncan had shot off into space to investigate whatever was headed for Earth, Custos had called his old teammate, Mako. He'd explained his plan. Revealed the secret he'd been keeping for half a decade. She'd barely believed him at first, but once he convinced her he was serious... She was on board. And that was good enough for Custos. Finally stopping his walk outside a locked door, Custos stared at it, fighting down the urge to debate himself again on if he should do it. Something needed to change. Pulling a key off his belt, Custos unlocked the lead-lined door, flicking on an old light switch inside. Rows of shelves stacked with boxes full of official-looking paperwork were illuminated. The lead was really a flimsy precaution, he'd explained it to Duncan as a way to give Atlantean diplomats plausible deniability once they eventually took control again that nobody, not even The Champion, had seen state secrets. State secrets Custos had stolen from the capitol city of Posiedonis during the siege. Things he'd been ordered to take, things, he thought were too valuable to leave behind, things that Mera would have used against all of them if she'd had her hands on them.

And wrapped in a thick cloth, hidden behind the furthest shelf, was one other stolen object. Pulling it from its hiding  place, Custos gently set it down on a convenient desk and unwrapped it slowly. The golden glint of metal seemed to light up the room as the Trident of Altantis was revealed. A literal gift from the gods, this Trident had long been in the possession of the royal family of Atlantis. Legends said with it, one could control the seas, command its creatures, manipulate the storms themselves, and more. The legends were true. Custos had seen King Orin wield the Trident against his enemies before. During the siege, when it became clear the city would fall, Orin's last command to Custos before disappearing was to retrieve the Trident, and bring it to safety. It had been hidden here in the bunker ever since. And now, it would see light of day once more.

Reach out, Custos slowly gripped the Trident, holding it aloft. He'd been the most magically talented of the Argonauts, though he never kept up with his arcane training. He knew enough though, and knew how to channel some power. Concentrating on the artifact in his hands, Custos willed his magic to bond with the ancient power. for a moment, the Trident seemed to resist him, reflecting his amateurish attempts to connect with the Trident, bu then... He made contact. Lightning sparked from the tip of the trident, blowing out the bulb and plunging the room into darkness. Custos could feel the energy stored in the artifact fill his body, overloading his senses. He felt the metal in his hands warp and twist of their own accord, though he could not see the result. He felt his own body begin to twist and change, the magic coursing through him causing [i]something[/i] to unlock within himself... And then Custos fell to the floor unconscious, the clattering of metal echoing through the bunker...