Post by Alan Scott gl on Feb 25, 2012 1:05:34 GMT -8
Power: Those who don't have it are envious of those who do. They think that once they have it, all of their troubles are over. For many, Power is a means to an end. What end, you may ask? I guess it all depends on whom you ask.
Some seek out power to benefit the lives of others, while some seek it out for their own selfish reasons.
Then, there are those who have power thrust upon them purely by chance. When this happens, most people react like they've won the lottery. Others view it as a responsibility.
I never sought out power. IT sought ME out.
Ever since I found a magic lantern and carved a powerful ring from it in the early 1940's, I've tried my best to use that power to safeguard the rights and freedoms of all innocents from those who would use their power to take freedom away.
My friends call me Alan, but when dark evil makes its presence known, I shine a righteous light on it as the Green Lantern.
At least, that's how my life seemed to unfold before I went to bed last night.
My life has had its ups and downs, to be sure: I've been an engineer, the owner of my own television broadcast station (only to eventually go bankrupt), a loving husband, a widower, a loving husband again, a father, and oh, did I forget to mention a card-carrying masked crime-fighter, armed with a magical ring of power?
With all of these various roles to play, it's not surprising I forgot becoming a power-mad maniac, but still....
Oh, wait. I'm getting ahead of myself.
Let me tell you how today started.
I "awoke" to what were, at first, unfamiliar surroundings. It was dark, and I couldn't make out everything in the room, but it was a BIG room, as the echoes of footsteps coming towards me seemed to take forever to reach my ears. What little light there was came from beneath distant doors, or from the moonlight shifting position slowly across the room through the windows.
Of course, there was also the green, glowing light emanating from the power ring on my left hand.
I decided I'd had enough of the darkness, and willed my ring to bring light to the room, as only it could, but before I could flood the room with green light, I noticed the first body. That's right, I said BODY. It was lying at my feet.
As I tried to focus on who it was, lying at my feet, my blood ran cold.
Lying on his back, his wings mostly burnt to ash, was the now dead form of past JSA chairman, Carter Hall, better known to the world at large as Hawkman. Beside him lay the corpse of his soul mate and wife Shiera, clad in her familiar yellow, green and red Hawkgirl uniform.
The shock of seeing my two friends dead wasn't what chilled my soul to the core, though. THAT happened when I was finally able to focus on the flames that were making a feast of their wings: the GREEN flames.
I found myself grasping at straws for possible explanations: Maybe the light from my ring made the flames merely appear to be green; Maybe it was all a crazy nightmare, caused by eating that leftover pizza I found in the fridge before going to bed; Maybe those were evil robots of my friends, sent to kill me, and this was the only way I could stop them.
There HAD to be a reasonable explanation for what I was seeing, something beyond the obvious idea that I had killed two of my oldest friends in cold blood.
But there wasn't. The stench of burning flesh and wings sobered me up to that fact.
Before I could come to terms with what I'd apparently done (and thankfully, before I had a chance to identify the other corpses littering the room), a loud voice BOOMED from the darkness.
The voice seemed familiar, and yet... Why was it getting so hard to focus? I could hear the footsteps from before growing louder, getting closer, but the closer they came, the weaker my will became...
My eyelids were getting heavier, and the darkness was closing in, but I could finally make out who was approaching me. There was NO mistaking that Golden Helmet, or that blue and gold uniform....
Suddenly, I recognized where I was. It was the room where a sniveling, evil little man and his cohorts did what the axis powers and numerous megalomaniacs had failed to do: DESTROY the JSA.
I can still remember it like it was yesterday. The House Un-American Activities Committee had called the then current roster of the JSA to testify. We had no reason to doubt their motives for calling us, so we came.
THAT all changed when we found ourselves on the receiving end of several leading questions that called into question our loyalty to the United States of America.
The final straw, though, was when they insisted we reveal our true identities to the committee members, or face congressional sanctions for being alleged communist sympathizers. With that, Hawkman told the committee they'd never see us again, and I teleported us all out of the building in a blinding flash, into forced retirement... at least, until recently.
What was Fate talking about now, though? I would never...
"Have you forgotten your passionate plea to the rest of the JSA, to 'stand up for ourselves and make the committee PAY?' Nobody agreed with you, but that didn't stop you from coming here to set things 'RIGHT.' The committee never stood a chance!"
My head was reeling, and I still couldn't focus....
"And YET, here we stand. Were it not for the fact that Inza was in danger, I, too, would have borne witness to your wrath. As it is, I have only recently been able to enter this building, due to the magical fallout caused when you, many years ago, engulfed not only the committee, but your friends and colleagues, in a flaming green inferno, as testimony to your rage!"
The world was spinning, and the glow around my ring was growing in intensity, like an out of control forest fire. I was losing it. I couldn't let it happen again.
As I slipped into blissful unconsciousness and crumpled to the floor, a sigh of relief came across my lips and I dared to smile a little as I saw a yellow glove reach down and pick up the tiny green ring that had once been on my finger. Nobody ELSE would die because of me....
I awoke with a start, expecting to find myself handcuffed, shackled, or strapped down in an execution chamber.
What I saw when I awoke was far different from my expectations, though, and far more alarming.
I found myself in the brownstone that was the original headquarters of the JSA, deep in the heart of Gotham City, and my RING was MISSING!
Hanging proudly in a frame on the wall was the newspaper article detailing how the JSA disappeared in the middle of the committee hearings, never to be seen again.
In relief (and subsequent horror), I scrambled to find the phone, and thank God, it worked! I frantically dialed the home number of Jay Garrick, the Flash, and, after learning that he'd been searching for me all night (after a theft from his home made him paranoid --who steals a winged helmet, I wonder?), I told him where I was and what had transpired last night.
He arrived in the blink of an eye to take me home, when he paused and told me he could.... feel .... that an enemy of his had been there recently (Don't ask me, it's a speedster thing).
As it was the only clue we had to the whereabouts of my ring and what had really happened last night, I convinced Jay to take me with him to investigate.
Surprisingly enough, it took very little time for Jay and I to follow the "speed trail" his archenemy Rival had left in his wake to Keystone City.
It apparently took even less time for my friend Kent Nelson (a.k.a: Doctor Fate) to not only subdue Rival, but mystically "hogtie" him.
It took NO time at all, however, for me to remember what I'd been put through during the night. It was all Jay and Kent could do to keep me from choking the life out of that helpless maniac Rival.
Before I could get him to reveal the whereabouts of my ring, though, Rival found a way to vibrate out of the mystic chains Fate had bound him with, and was trying to escape.
Not wanting to lose him, Fate grabbed him with some kind of mystic "tether line", but before Fate could anchor himself to the spot, Rival bolted!
Jay and I tried to follow, but all we could do was watch in horror and dismay as both Rival and Fate vanished into thin air!
Some seek out power to benefit the lives of others, while some seek it out for their own selfish reasons.
Then, there are those who have power thrust upon them purely by chance. When this happens, most people react like they've won the lottery. Others view it as a responsibility.
I never sought out power. IT sought ME out.
Ever since I found a magic lantern and carved a powerful ring from it in the early 1940's, I've tried my best to use that power to safeguard the rights and freedoms of all innocents from those who would use their power to take freedom away.
My friends call me Alan, but when dark evil makes its presence known, I shine a righteous light on it as the Green Lantern.
At least, that's how my life seemed to unfold before I went to bed last night.
My life has had its ups and downs, to be sure: I've been an engineer, the owner of my own television broadcast station (only to eventually go bankrupt), a loving husband, a widower, a loving husband again, a father, and oh, did I forget to mention a card-carrying masked crime-fighter, armed with a magical ring of power?
With all of these various roles to play, it's not surprising I forgot becoming a power-mad maniac, but still....
Oh, wait. I'm getting ahead of myself.
Let me tell you how today started.
I "awoke" to what were, at first, unfamiliar surroundings. It was dark, and I couldn't make out everything in the room, but it was a BIG room, as the echoes of footsteps coming towards me seemed to take forever to reach my ears. What little light there was came from beneath distant doors, or from the moonlight shifting position slowly across the room through the windows.
Of course, there was also the green, glowing light emanating from the power ring on my left hand.
I decided I'd had enough of the darkness, and willed my ring to bring light to the room, as only it could, but before I could flood the room with green light, I noticed the first body. That's right, I said BODY. It was lying at my feet.
As I tried to focus on who it was, lying at my feet, my blood ran cold.
Lying on his back, his wings mostly burnt to ash, was the now dead form of past JSA chairman, Carter Hall, better known to the world at large as Hawkman. Beside him lay the corpse of his soul mate and wife Shiera, clad in her familiar yellow, green and red Hawkgirl uniform.
The shock of seeing my two friends dead wasn't what chilled my soul to the core, though. THAT happened when I was finally able to focus on the flames that were making a feast of their wings: the GREEN flames.
I found myself grasping at straws for possible explanations: Maybe the light from my ring made the flames merely appear to be green; Maybe it was all a crazy nightmare, caused by eating that leftover pizza I found in the fridge before going to bed; Maybe those were evil robots of my friends, sent to kill me, and this was the only way I could stop them.
There HAD to be a reasonable explanation for what I was seeing, something beyond the obvious idea that I had killed two of my oldest friends in cold blood.
But there wasn't. The stench of burning flesh and wings sobered me up to that fact.
Before I could come to terms with what I'd apparently done (and thankfully, before I had a chance to identify the other corpses littering the room), a loud voice BOOMED from the darkness.
"Is this the JUSTICE you wanted?"
The voice seemed familiar, and yet... Why was it getting so hard to focus? I could hear the footsteps from before growing louder, getting closer, but the closer they came, the weaker my will became...
"You should have left well enough ALONE! NONE of them wanted this... this... bloodshed!"
My eyelids were getting heavier, and the darkness was closing in, but I could finally make out who was approaching me. There was NO mistaking that Golden Helmet, or that blue and gold uniform....
"Fate! Fate I.... What happened? What have I done? Why..?"
"SILENCE! It is FAR too late for you to make any pleas for leniency! Not after what you DID!"
"But,... But... I don't understand... How..?"
"How did it go so wrong, you mean? What did you expect them to do? Just LET you take out your anger on the COMMITTEE?"
Suddenly, I recognized where I was. It was the room where a sniveling, evil little man and his cohorts did what the axis powers and numerous megalomaniacs had failed to do: DESTROY the JSA.
I can still remember it like it was yesterday. The House Un-American Activities Committee had called the then current roster of the JSA to testify. We had no reason to doubt their motives for calling us, so we came.
THAT all changed when we found ourselves on the receiving end of several leading questions that called into question our loyalty to the United States of America.
The final straw, though, was when they insisted we reveal our true identities to the committee members, or face congressional sanctions for being alleged communist sympathizers. With that, Hawkman told the committee they'd never see us again, and I teleported us all out of the building in a blinding flash, into forced retirement... at least, until recently.
What was Fate talking about now, though? I would never...
"Have you forgotten your passionate plea to the rest of the JSA, to 'stand up for ourselves and make the committee PAY?' Nobody agreed with you, but that didn't stop you from coming here to set things 'RIGHT.' The committee never stood a chance!"
My head was reeling, and I still couldn't focus....
"But... my friends.... I would NEVER...!"
"And YET, here we stand. Were it not for the fact that Inza was in danger, I, too, would have borne witness to your wrath. As it is, I have only recently been able to enter this building, due to the magical fallout caused when you, many years ago, engulfed not only the committee, but your friends and colleagues, in a flaming green inferno, as testimony to your rage!"
The world was spinning, and the glow around my ring was growing in intensity, like an out of control forest fire. I was losing it. I couldn't let it happen again.
"FATE, take the..." -I was blacking out- "TAKE the RING!"
As I slipped into blissful unconsciousness and crumpled to the floor, a sigh of relief came across my lips and I dared to smile a little as I saw a yellow glove reach down and pick up the tiny green ring that had once been on my finger. Nobody ELSE would die because of me....
I awoke with a start, expecting to find myself handcuffed, shackled, or strapped down in an execution chamber.
What I saw when I awoke was far different from my expectations, though, and far more alarming.
I found myself in the brownstone that was the original headquarters of the JSA, deep in the heart of Gotham City, and my RING was MISSING!
Hanging proudly in a frame on the wall was the newspaper article detailing how the JSA disappeared in the middle of the committee hearings, never to be seen again.
In relief (and subsequent horror), I scrambled to find the phone, and thank God, it worked! I frantically dialed the home number of Jay Garrick, the Flash, and, after learning that he'd been searching for me all night (after a theft from his home made him paranoid --who steals a winged helmet, I wonder?), I told him where I was and what had transpired last night.
He arrived in the blink of an eye to take me home, when he paused and told me he could.... feel .... that an enemy of his had been there recently (Don't ask me, it's a speedster thing).
As it was the only clue we had to the whereabouts of my ring and what had really happened last night, I convinced Jay to take me with him to investigate.
Surprisingly enough, it took very little time for Jay and I to follow the "speed trail" his archenemy Rival had left in his wake to Keystone City.
It apparently took even less time for my friend Kent Nelson (a.k.a: Doctor Fate) to not only subdue Rival, but mystically "hogtie" him.
It took NO time at all, however, for me to remember what I'd been put through during the night. It was all Jay and Kent could do to keep me from choking the life out of that helpless maniac Rival.
Before I could get him to reveal the whereabouts of my ring, though, Rival found a way to vibrate out of the mystic chains Fate had bound him with, and was trying to escape.
Not wanting to lose him, Fate grabbed him with some kind of mystic "tether line", but before Fate could anchor himself to the spot, Rival bolted!
Jay and I tried to follow, but all we could do was watch in horror and dismay as both Rival and Fate vanished into thin air!