Green Lantern - Galactic Guardian [1]

Chapter Seventeen

Nothing happened. Hal stood facing a scientist that used to be his friend, holding out his ring, and trying to summon willpower against him. But this time no lasers came out, no fist, no shields. Hal shook his ring and glanced at it. He groaned. It was out of battery. I'd been roughly two days since he'd charged it. And with it at 0%, he couldn't even summon a lantern to charge it. He looked down to see his suit hadn't been on since he took it off at Carol's apartment. He'd used his last bit of power flying here.

Hector laughed.

"Not so tough now, are you, Green Lantern?" Hector jested.

Hal noticed B'Shi looking at him. She motioned at the door, gesturing for him to run. Hal shook his head. He wasn't going anywhere until B'Shi, Carol, and all of Coast City was safe.

"So," Hector Hammond continued. "Which of you ladies wants to be injected first?"

Hector must of noticed the look of Hal's face.

"That's right. Inject them. With Parallax's essence."

Hal was still confused.

"Oh, right. Parallax is-" Hector was cut off.

Hammond looked down to see a knife implanted in his left leg courtesy of B'Shi. Hal ran towards the two hostages as Hector tore the knife out. He grabbed Carol's hand, who was holding B'Shi hand, and ran away from Hector. Hal had only gotten a few steps when he felt the load he was pulling lighten. B'Shi was no longer running with them. Hector had grabbed her arm and tugged her away from Hal and Carol.

"B'Shi!" Hal pushed Carol towards the elevator and ran towards Hector, not sure what he was going to do when he got there.

But Hal was too slow. Everything was too slow. Like his life was in slow-motion. Hector took the bloody knife that he had pulled from his leg and plunged it into B'Shi's side. Hal watched as B'Shi collapsed, slowly falling from Hector's grip to the cold floor.

Hal felt a tug. Carol was behind him, pulling him towards a stack of boxes. They knelt behind them, out of Hammond's sight.

"B'Shi..." Hal mumbled, not wanting to believe that his best friend from the Corps was dead.

"Hal," Carol whispered urgently. "What's going on here? That's Hector. Our friend!"

"No," Hal responded softly. "That was Hector. Not anymore."

Hal continued to stare off into the distance. If he had only done something. Something other than just stand there.

"Okay, then explain to me this," Carol said. "Who is the monkey and why did it talk?"

"The monkey... she was my friend," Hal muttered. "And now she's dead."

  "Come out, come out, where ever you are.." Hector sang creepily.  

"Look, I'm sorry about your friend," Carol said, "but we need to do something. This hiding spot won't last forever."

"Right," Hal agreed. "But my ring, it's dead."

Carol just stared at him, not even wanting to ask.

"Come on, ring..."

Hal wondered if increasing his ring's commitment percent would kick start it, or maybe increase the battery power. It was a far-fetched idea, but he didn't have any others. But how would he increase the commitment. He could even use it.

"I guess I could start by giving it a name..." Hal said quietly, more to himself than anyone else.

"Ganthet told me you were loyal to another Lantern, what was her name? Rori Dag?"

To Hal's surprise the ring flashed twice, then went dark.

"Okay, great. So maybe you just miss Rori. Or maybe there's a piece of her inside you?"

Hal took a moment to realize that he was having a conversation with a ring. What had his life become?

"I think I'll call you Rori. Rori, the first power ring ever created."

Hal felt a burst of energy. He looked down to see the ring's battery level at 100%. He stood up and he felt the familiar sensation of being suited up. Hal stepped out from behind the boxes, pointing his ring confidently at Hector.

"Alright, Hammond," Hal said, drawing Hector's attention to where Hal was standing. "Time to have some fun."