[sup][h1][center][img]https://speedforce.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/relaunch-banner-gl.jpg[/img][/center][b][center][color=black] G R E E N   L A N T E R N[/color]
[color=green]G R E E N   L A N T E R N[/color][/center]
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[i][B][h3]Now[/h3][/b][/i]

[color=gainsboro]The emerald hue seemed to stifle the very air.  The box would get to a lesser criminal, but Kanjar Ro was beyond that.  He’d had run ins with the corps all across the universe – word was he was a dictator of his own home world, he just preferred the life that came with his “business” which took him across the stars.  He’d been separated from his sceptre, his side-arm, the Gamma Gong his freighter had been carrying, and any recognisable weaponry on his person.  Still, this was a major offender who was well versed in numerous forms of unarmed combat – Dhor Nam Ju, a flipping, aerial martial arts which took advantage of the lesser gravity of the planet of its origin, as well as the compound eyes possessed by most of its regional proponents.

Green bracelets anchored his wrists to the table and his ankles to the floor.

He’d been detained in this new reality for interminable hours, but he was familiar with Green Lanterns techniques and tricks.  They were held by rule and regulation of pale blue imps from their homeworld of Oa, so there was only so much they could do.  Even with all of the power bestowed upon them by virtue of their accursed green rings.

He’d bought and paid for many of them in the past.  This was nothing new.  Probably just some new swinging dick trying to establish his “superiority”, before they negotiated a pay-off.  That was how this kind of thing generally worked.  He just had to wait until this loser got tired of making whatever point he thought he was proving to himself and was ready to talk.

A door to the box opened and the big swinging dick floated in from above.

Of course.  From above.  The psychology.  Mind games.  Oooo-ooo, big man in charge.

Kanjar Ro lifted his head off of the table, barely able to take the bored expression off of his face.[/color]

[color=magenta]“Let me guess.  This is the point where you tell me that I’m entitled to an advocate of justice in accordance to Guardians of the Universe regulations, to ensure fair treatment and adequate jurisprudence, but in order for things to all go smoother we can keep this casual… a simple talk.  So that you can hear [b]‘MY SIDE’[/b] of things and get a better understanding of the situation without the mess of—”[/color]

[color=gainsboro]The Green Lantern glared at him with a barely amused smirk and said nothing.

Kanjar Ro was mildly put off by the expression on his face.  Something was…  Something was off about this situation.  Was he coming across as overly familiar?  Suddenly his wrists felt heavy.  The emerald hue seemed… thicker.[/color]

[color=magenta]“Alright, maybe that was a little too ‘folksy’ on my part.  Getting a  bit…  Wait—is it getting hot in here?  This is all—”[/color]

[color=gainsboro]Still the Green Lantern kept smirking away.  From Kanjar Ro’s count he still hadn’t stopped hovering, to lower himself to set a single foot down in the Box.

Kanjar Ro reached onto the table for the cup of water.  The only thing he’d been left with in here.  It was more than warm, the air was so thick he felt he could almost drown in it.  He was swallowing the air more than breathing it.  He grabbed the cup and raised it to his lips, only for the cup to disappear entirely, and the water fall.

But he never spilled a drop.  Suddenly the humidity spiked even more and the water evaporated in the air, leaving him no more quenched than the fine mist which quickly dissipated in the career criminal’s face.[/color]

[color=forestgreen]“You have had many run-ins with the Green Lantern corps before, have you not, Kanjar Ro?  Do I seem like a regular Corpsman to you?”[/color]

[color=magenta]“Wait… you can’t do--  Look I can deal?  I’ve always dealt in the past.  We can work something—”[/color]

[color=gainsboro]The perspiration on his head went from beading to running down his angular face.  None of this was right, sure they had the power… but there were rules.  He started to panic.  His compound eyes darting around the room.[/color]

[color=forestgreen]“Feels like the walls are creeping in around you, doesn’t it, Dictator of Dhor?  That’s because they are.”[/color]

[color=gainsboro]Kanjar Ro began to gasp, the air—the air just kept getting thicker.  His perspiration ran more.  He felt like he was drowning.[/color]

[color=forestgreen]“You seem to have this mistaken notion that you’re here to negotiate.  To make a deal.  Some kind of meagre pay-off from a local Ring-Rattler who’ll send a career criminal like you on your way to [b]INFECT[/b] another corner of this galaxy with your presence once more.”[/color]

[color=gainsboro]Kanjar Ro found himself floating off balance, he was turned upside down, the sweat began to run back up to the point of his helmet.[/color]

[color=forestgreen]“I am here to dissuade you of this notion.”[/color]  [color=gainsboro]A cup materialised and caught the drippings as they fell from Kanjar Ro’s head.[/color]

[color=forestgreen]“You are not a legitimate businessman.  Negotiation requires you to have some form of pittance that I’d be willing to barter for with you.”[/color]

[color=gainsboro]Kanjar Ro gasped.  The cup upturned and poured down his gullet.  A green gag covered his face, he couldn’t breathe![/color]

[color=forestgreen]“You are [b]NOT[/b] out there.  You are in here.  With me.  And in here I control reality.  I [b]AM[/b] reality.  I am [b]NOT[/b] some common Green Lantern who you pay-off with a trinket or a cut to look the other way.”[/color]  [color=gainsboro]His words seemed to reverberate and come from the very walls themselves, echoing through the thickness of the air.  From everywhere, all at once.

Kanjar Ro started to thrash, he couldn’t breathe!  This can’t be happening!  There are rules!  They’re supposed to have rules![/color]

[color=forestgreen]“Who was the Green Lantern who detained you and enforced Regulation 772.5, when you were running weapons near Scylla?”[/color]

[color=gainsboro]What?!?  Kanjar Ro could barely believe what he was hearing?[/color]

[color=forestgreen]“Who diverted you!  A Green Lantern attempted to by-pass the agreements you’d made with the Green Lanterns of sectors 1,295 and 2,374!  What Green Lantern arrested you!”[/color]

[color=gainsboro]Suddenly the hard light gag was removed just enough for air to escape.  Kanjar Ro seized the moment of salvation, he didn’t try to exploit it to foolishly gulp air, he threw out the one name which might change this situation.  The name which might let breathing continue to be a regular occurrence.[/color]

[color=magenta]“[b]*Glug*-DAN![/b]  Something Jordan!”[/color]

[right][color=seagreen][i]Hmm.  Hal Jordan.  Green Lantern of 2,814.  The name fit and made sense.  “Jor-Dan” was an uncommon and awkward phonetic pronunciation for a Dhorian as well.  Not something he would have said out of pure desperation, just to say anything to save his own skin.  This was good.  He had a name.  The troublemaker.  The one who would have to be brought in line.  To understand just how the universe works.[/i][/color][/right]

[color=gainsboro]The hard light construction dissipated and dropped Kanjar Ro to the floor.

He was free!  Well no, he was still here.  In the Box.  But he could breathe again.  For now.  What was it this maniac wanted.  Torture?  This was way out of line for any Green Lantern corpsman.  Even the dirtiest that he’d run into.  And he’d known quite a few in his business…[/color]

[right][color=seagreen][i]But now, what to do with this one..?  Kill him?  Well, he was just common vermin.  He’d killed dozens just like him for less before.  But this one had some value…  He feared their will now.  He knew their capabilities, and he sensed it in the Dhorian.  An informant who truly feared the Will of the Green Lantern corps, and had his inner-knowledge of the workings of his own criminal element?  That had value.[/i][/color][/right]

[color=forestgreen]“I am not some common Green Lantern who you can pay-off, Kanjar Ro.”[/color]

[color=gainsboro]The Box started to dematerialize.[/color]

[color=forestgreen]“Just as the farmer does not negotiate with the kloxiyan for milk.”[/color]

[color=gainsboro]The world around them restored once more.[/color]

[color=forestgreen]“I am Thaal Sinestro, and I [b]OWN[/b] you entire…”[/color]

[hr]

[i][b][h3]Then[/h3][/b][/i]

[color=gainsboro]Hal soared through space towards the pale green dot.

The green dot wasn't an actual location, not Oa, nor Mogo, nor any real place, but a beacon produced by the internal intelligence of the ring's navigation control.  Far beyond any earthly GPS system, once a Green Lantern communicated with the ring a desire for a location it would plot a course, using beacons such as these, which would set a clear course free of debris allowing the Lantern the possibility for near light speed travel.  Well, technically, beyond light speed travel... but weird things happened to your perception when you messed around with things like that.  The beacon would move and adjust in accordance with the Lantern's speed in order to ensure a clear path free of collisions.  Then, upon reaching the beacon, a new pale green dot would light up to continue the plotted course.

As such, most Green Lanterns spent most of their time on patrol "chasing the pale green dot".

Hal communicated with his ring a desire to call a fellow Green Lantern to break the tedium.[/color]

[color=green]"Contact Green Lantern of Sector 674 - Kilowog."[/color]

[color=chartreuse]"That name does not correspond with the current Green Lantern of Sector 674, would you still like to contact the Green Lantern of 674 anyway?"[/color]

[color=gainsboro]Hal sighed, remembering why the communications problem existed.  Kilowog had been removed from the field, and whilst Hal still was used to that being the Bolovaxian's home sector, it was technically no longer his role.[/color]

[color=green]"No.  That was my fault.  Not Sector 674.  Disregard.  Contact Oan Drill Sergent - Kilowog."[/color]

[color=gainsboro]Somehow, beyond Hal's understanding of physics and communications, a real time hologram of the Bolovaxian appeared, which Hal positioned to his left with a mental command - keeping his view clear for chasing the pale green dot.[/color]

[color=green]"Kilowog!  How you going, you old Poozer?!"[/color]

[color=limegreen]"I told you before Jordan, if you can't use the word in context, don't use it at all."[/color]  [color=gainsboro]The weary Bolovaxian replied.[/color]

[color=green]"Right, right..."[/color]  [color=gainsboro]Hal said, having Kilowog's instruction wash over him undeterred once again.  He still had never once used it correctly, apparently, and was no more sure of correct context than the first time he heard it.[/color]  [color=green]"What have you been doing with yourself?"[/color]

[color=limegreen]"Nothing different than the last time you called me.  Enjoying a brief moment of solace before I have to educate the next bunch of preppy brats, and getting pestered from calls from an old former preppy brat.  Let me guess, bored again?"[/color]

[color=green]"How did you guess?"[/color]

[color=limegreen]"Because you only contact me when you're bored.  And generally with little regard for what I might be doing with my own time when you do..."[/color]

[color=gainsboro]Up ahead, Hal could see a strange aura, approaching slightly closer than the upcoing marker.  Hal communicated with his ring and determined it was radiation.  Curiously, gamma radiation.  He commanded his ring to further investigate and it determined that it was the result of a leak, from a Dhorian Freightrunner vehicle moving away at some not insignificant speed.  It was already at least one sector over, possibly two.  Hal plotted a new course in pursuit.[/color]

[color=green]"Well, I'm not bored anymore..."[/color]

[color=limegreen]"And why's that?"[/color]

[color=green]"Seems I might have just found myself a smuggler or contraband dealer of some kind.  Following his radiation trail now."[/color]

[color=limegreen]"Yeah?  What makes you so sure it's not just an old starship, leaving your ion trail?"[/color]

[color=green]"Didn't say anything about an ion trail, Kilowog.  What I'm following is Gamma..."[/color]

[color=limegreen]"Gamma?  Need special clearance to transport anything Ga--"[/color]

[color=green]"Yeah, I know.  And the kind of jalopy I'm looking at after getting a schematic approximation read from the ion trail?  No way it has papers.  Only thing is, it's a couple sectors over already...  Now the way it's gushing ion, it's almost certain to set down at the rest stop in 2,374..."[/color]

[color=limegreen]"Ah Hell Jordan, you're not planning on pissing in somebody else's pond are you..."[/color]  [color=gainsboro]There was no question in his voice.  They both already knew exactly what he was doing.[/color]

[color=green]"He's leaking Gamma all through my sector, Kilowog.  I've got probable cause..."[/color]

[color=limegreen]"Yeah, I know, alright.  I guess you should go after him.  Take care though.  I'll let you clear your channel for local backup comms."[/color]

[color=green]"Sure thing.  I'll give him Hell for you."[/color]  [color=gainsboro]The hologram of the large Bolovaxian disappeared.

Hal surged on, chasing the pale green dot.[/color]