Blue Lantern's Plight
The sun at the center of the current Solar System had just started to peak around a large planet as John stared out into the vastness of space, sitting in the Captain's chair with his head rested against his arm. He had been sitting in the chair for hours, going over what they knew about the Manhunters and the missing Lanterns, hoping that there was something, some clue, that he had missed. But nothing came to him as he stared at the planet's two moons, causing him to change his thoughts.
'The real question here is, who is the operation behind the Manhunters? Could the Anti-Monitor be back? Perhaps the Sinestro Corps found a way to reactivate them and wanted to use them as additional forces? No, the Manhunters have taken Yellow Lanterns as well,' John silently mused, absentmindedly flipping through holographic images of the Manhunters and the list of missing Lanterns as he thought. The ship let out a beep to inform him that they were closing in on the destination and John figured it was time to wake the rookies.
"But first...ring, create a new entry," John ordered, watching as the ring created a blank image before him. "Green Lantern of Sector 2814 entry number 3 since mission began. On the trail of a Blue Lantern that has gone missing for a while with hopes that we can find him before the Manhunters do. But if my hunch is correct, he has already been taken, and whoever is pulling the Manhunters' strings now has at least one Lantern from every Corps. I currently do not know who this mastermind...man there's an old school villain...is or why he is gathering the Lanterns. But whatever the reason, it cannot be good. Stewart out."
As he finished his log entry, Stewart rose out of the chair and floated into the living quarters, where to his surprise he found Sweetie meditating in the center of the room, floating just above the floor with a strong blue aura encompassing her.
"Morning, John," she muttered absentmindedly, her eyes half open and her hooves resting gently on her knees.
"Morning. Surprised to see you up so early," John muttered before checking the time to make sure that it was indeed morning. Sweetie let out a sigh as she lowered herself to the floor and the blue aura vanished, but it was replaced by a smile as John pressed a button and a table appeared out of the floor.
"I'm always up this early. Early morning meditation can do wonders for both the physical body and a pony's mental strength," Sweetie explained as she walked over to the lockers and drew forth breakfast for both herself and Spike. "I'm actually surprised that you're up this early." John cast a glance at Spike's door, which was still firmly closed and showed no signs of opening any time soon.
"I was part of the military, Sweetie. Sleep was the least of our concerns. But do you meditate all by yourself?"
"Well, Rarity does it with me as well, but she thinks it'll keep her younger," Sweetie explained before flicking her head towards Spike's door with a smirk. "Or if you're asking about Spike, unless the town's on fire that dragon will sleep in till noon, provided Twilight or I don't wake him up. Speaking of which." She used her ring to open the door to Spike's room and John caught the image of a blue megaphone construct right before the door closed. A smirk crossed his face before a moment later, the sound of crashing could be heard, which was followed by the door opening and one very wide-eyed Spike walking out with a giggling Sweetie behind him.
"I wish to Faust you wouldn't wake me up like that. You're going to give me another heart attack one of these days," Spike muttered as he sat down and dumped a number of gems out of his lunch container onto the table, picking them out and popping them into his maw.
"Another?" John asked in between bites of a donut.
"Almost. Bad fight with Sombra. Put Sweetie in a coma for a week. We...weren't certain if she was going to make it," Spike answered with both rage and hints of fear, his tone telling John that the incident must have been worse than he was letting on. "I couldn't be beside her because I had to find Sombra and...it was hard on all of us."
"Fortunately Blue Lantern rings can heal, so I was perfectly fine when I woke up again," Sweetie reminded Spike, who still shook his head with anger as he thought back to the battle with Sombra. Sweetie placed a hoof on his hand and the anger dissipated, allowing Spike to smile at her a moment later.
"Well, eat up quickly and get ready, because we've...just finished entering the planet's very thin atmosphere, so we'll be arriving any moment," John ordered with a far more professional tone as he finished off his breakfast, the other two following his example. "The ship has detected hints of Blue Lantern energy down below, so we know that the Lantern was at least here once, if he isn't now."
"And here comes the 'but'," Spike muttered, getting a smirk from John before he continued.
"BUT the ship has also picked up traces of Manhunter energy as well, so I hope the both of you are ready for a fight when we get down there," John instructed the pair, who both nodded. John nodded as well before the three headed towards the exit ramp, waiting until all three Lanterns' shields were up before he opened the ramp's door. The three were greeted by the sight of white sand and nothing but white sand as the ship hovered just off of the ground, allowing the group to exit out of the ship and hover near each other as John began to scan the area, while also looking up to see the planet's twin moons above them.
"Alright, the Lantern could be anywhere, so we'll split into teams of two. I can go by myself, so Sweetie and Spike will-"
"He's this way," Sweetie said as she pointed in a direction. "I can sense him. Follow me!" Sweetie shot off ahead with a burst of speed, leaving John and Spike to catch up to her.
"Okay, here's the plan of attack," John began. "Spike and I will engage the Manhunters directly while Sweetie hangs back and provides support for us."
"What? But I want to fight!" she argued.
"Remember, the light of the Blue Lanterns can also charge the Manhunters as well as us Green Lanterns," John reminded her sternly. "If you were to directly enter the battle, it might put all of our lives on the line." Sweetie looked from John to Spike before sighing in defeat, nodding her head to show that she agreed. Before John could continue his instructions, an explosion of light greeted their eyes on the horizon, causing all three to race at full speed towards the battle.
The three immediately spotted the Blue Lantern, whose limp body was being held in the grips of one of five Manhunters. Spike looked down at the bleeding Lantern with wide eyes before he roared with rage and created massive dragon's head that he drove into the Manhunter holding the Lantern, causing it to drop its quarry as it was sent flying.
"What's the matter? Don't want to fight when the odds are evened out?" Spike snarled as the remaining four Manhunters turned towards their new targets, each of them extending two laser rods as they began to advance. "Come on you rust buckets, I'll take you all on!" Spike roared with a dragon's fury as he tackled another Manhunter and drove it away from the others.
"Damn it, kid we're supposed to fight together!" John yelled at Spike as the remaining Manhunters split up, two walking towards Spike and Sweetie while the third advanced towards where Spike was fighting. "Sweetie, focus as much of your ring's power into me as you can. I'm going to need the boost." Sweetie nodded as she sent a beam of blue hope into John's back, causing his aura to glow with incredible power that stopped even the Manhunters for a moment.
"No man escapes the Manhunters." With the battle cry said the two Manhunters lunged at John, firing all four of their laser rods at him in unison. John growled as he constructed an emerald shield tinted with blue energy that deflected the lasers with ease.
"Oh yeah? Well after today you'll never be able to say that again!" John bellowed as he crafted twin drills that wrapped around his arms. With another battle cry he hurled himself forward, driving one of his drill hands into the Manhunter's face. Half the metal was torn off as the Manhunter staggered back, but before John could press the advantage the other Manhunter unloaded all of its laser energy into him, forcing him to create another shield under the pressure.
John was just about to counter attack when Spike slammed into the ground not far from him, struggling to push himself back up as blood trickled from his mouth. He had just about made it up, when twin blasts from the Manhunters that he had been facing struck him in the back, causing him to collapse with pain once again as the Manhunters advanced in for the kill.
"SPIKE!" Sweetie called out desperately, looking over from Spike to John with absolute terror in her eyes and no idea what to do.
"Go help him! I can hold these two off!" John ordered and without a moment's hesitation Sweetie raced over to Spike, causing the Blue Lantern's boost to wear off of John. Without the extra support, John felt his shield shatter under the strain of the Manhunters' laser barrage. He launched himself backwards as he fired shots of his own out of his ring, but under the hellfire that was the Manhunters' laser fire he was quickly struck in the shoulder and knocked down.
"No man escapes the Manhunters," a Manhunter said as it walked over to him and placed its boot upon his chest, aiming its laser rod right between John's eyes. John snarled as he moved his right arm to take aim...only to hear something in his shoulder pop and for pain to flood his right arm.
'No! Move dammit!' John demanded as he tried to move his ring arm, but it only twitched in response. With fear starting to fill his soul, John looked up to see the power in the Manhunter's weapon glowing brighter and brighter as it prepared to finish him off.
"FEEL MY MIGHT!" The Manhunter had just enough time to register the voice before a pair of massive green jaws came down and chomped the Manhunter right in half, leaving only its legs which john pushed over with his left arm. He pushed himself up with a growl of pain to see that Spike had turned into the Emerald Dragon and was proceeding to tear apart the Manhunters, ripping through four of them before all that was left was the one that he had struck first, which was now holding the Blue Lantern again.
"TIME TO PUT YOU DOWN!" the Emerald Dragon roared as it lunged towards the final Manhunter, prepared to tear it half...before a blast of red energy struck the dragon in its wing and quickly deteriorated it. All three Lanterns looked to the sky to see another Manhunter floating down to meet them, but unlike the other ones, this Manhunter had red energy coursing through its body and looked distinctly different from the other. It placed itself between the dragon and the Manhunter holding the Lantern, who quickly took off into the sky with its prize.
"NO YOU DON'T!" the Dragon bellowed as he tried to take off after the Manhunter, but another red blast of energy tore through his chest and blasted the Green Lantern Spike out of the massive construct. Sweetie managed to catch Spike as the giant dragon construct vanished, the both of them looking towards the new Manhunter with both surprise and uncertainty. The Manhunter scanned the three of them before it finally spoke.
"No man shall escape my hate." As it said this, it pointed both of its arms at Spike and Sweetie, firing twin blasts of red energy from its fists. Spike and Sweetie created a shield together that managed to deflect the blasts, but both of their eyes went wide when they felt what struck the shield.
"John! That Manhunter's power is...like a Red Lantern's!" Spike yelled before he and Sweetie were forced to take to the sky to avoid another barrage of red bursts. "What do we do?"
"Keep dodging and hold on!" John growled as he willed his ring to switch hands, clenching his left one with rage before pointing his ring at the Manhunter and shooting it in the back of its head. His plan worked and the Manhunter turned to face its new target, aiming at John with one of its hands and firing right at him. John dodged out the way while firing green bolts in retaliation, but the Manhunter's red energy caused the bolts to disintegrate right before impact. 'Damn it, the kid is right! That Manhunter is somehow channeling a Red Lantern's power!'
The Manhunter lunged forward and slammed its shoulder through the construct John created, allowing it to tackle him in the shoulder. John roared with pain when his focus was shattered and he collapsed to the ground, clutching at his right shoulder while the Manhunter slammed its fist into his chest.
"Lantern John Stewart," it said as it grabbed hold of the symbol on its chest and lifted him up, allowing John to see into its red eyes. "You are trouble. You will be destroyed," it decreed as it brought its fist back to finish John off. John swung his left fist up to defend himself, but at that moment a green missile drove itself into the Manhunter's back, hurling it off of John.
"NO! You're not taking any more Lanterns today!" Spike roared as he and the Manhunter squared off, glaring at each other before Spike turned his head to the side. "Sweetie! I think it's time we show this machine filled with rage what happens when hope and will truly work together!"
"Time to finish it off, huh?" Sweetie asked as she flew in front of Spike and smiled back at him. She then leaned back into him as Spike wrapped his arms around her, creating a field of green and blue so brilliant that John had to shield his eyes. The field then began to expand and take on a shape, creating a massive being that had dragon scales that were an emerald green. The scales covered a pure blue unicorn that was twice as big as the Emerald Dragon. Its cyan eyes burned with power as a mane of green fire erupted along its head and tail while it let out a bellow that shook the whole plant. Then, it looked down at the tiny Manhunter with narrowed eyes.
"No man shall escape my h-" The massive blue-green beast opened its maw and unleashed an inferno of cyan fire that consumed the Manhunter, which John could see melting into nothingness in the torrent of cyan fire. When the fire ceased, all that was left of the Manhunter was ash, causing the massive beast to let out a roar of victory before will and hope separated.
"Gotcha," Spike muttered as he caught Sweetie Belle in his arms, who gave him a tired smile before she rested her head against him and closed her eyes. Spike sighed in relief before floating down to John, seeing that John had created a green cast for himself. "You alright?"
"I'll be fine. What was that though? It looked like a more...powerful version of your Emerald Dragon," John inquired.
"Yeah, Sweetie and I call it the Cyan Kirin. Her name, not mine. It's a fusion of both of our final attacks, hers being the Cerulean Savior and mine the Emerald Dragon. And I don't need to tell you what happens when hope and will combine," Spike explained, getting a nod from John as he pushed himself back up to his feet with a grimace. "Come on, let's get back to the ship. Sweetie always gets exhausted after we execute that move and you need to get your arm looked at," Spike said as he started to fly off, but stopped a few feet later and looked back at John. "The Lantern...he's gone, isn't he? We failed."
"We might not have stopped the Manhunters from taking him, but if he's still alive then we haven't failed yet," John said with pain-filled confidence, getting a small smile out of Spike before the dragon flew back to the ship and left John alone.
'And things just get worse and worse,' John fumed as he looked at the ashes where the Red Lantern Manhunter had once stood, feeling a chill run down his spine as another piece of the plan fell into place. 'Whoever is gathering the Lanterns somehow managed to infuse a Red Lantern's power into a Manhunter. And if they could do it with one, who's to say that they can't do it with two...or ten...or an army.' John then looked up at the sky, where only a single moon rested above him.
'We're getting pretty deep in the rabbit hole, and yet I have a feeling it only gets deeper. I hope that we can save the captured Lanterns, but at this point...I'm starting to think that all life in the galaxy will need our saving soon enough,' John thought before looking at his right shoulder. 'If we can survive ourselves.'
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.....They're...... they're killing..... REDS?! DESTROY THESE DESPICABLE AUTOMATONS! DESTROY THEM IN THE NAME OF ATROCITUS!
Damn, the Manhunters just keep pulling new tricks out of their metal asses.
The Guardians aren't going to enjoy this little bit of news at all.
By the way, you've got a small typo.
Capitalize John's first name, and you're good.
6256954 We have no proof that they're killing any Lanterns.
Besides, if they had done that, the Rings would have searched for new users right away.
6257073
6257097 Um dude? YOU KILL A RED BY TAKING HIS RING.
6257136 But did they find a ring when they defeated that Manhunter? I don't believe they did.
So for all we know, the ring is still on its owner, and the Manhunters are just siphoning its power.
6257166 I just re-read that part. I thought it said ring.
Maybe whoever is creating the new manhunters is downloading the lanterns minds into the machines.hence why the rings haven't searched out new host and they can keep a lot of trump cards behind his standard manhunters.
6257188 Well, it didn't.
Meaning the Lantern was probably just captured and hooked up to a machine that's draining power from his ring, and using it to empower Manhunters.
6257194 God help whoever it is that locked up the reds.... there won't be much left of him.
6257206 Indeed not. Because they are going to taste the whole rainbow of emotions when everything is said and done.
6257216 Dude the Reds would beat them there JUST so they can have first dibs.
6257218 But Larfleeze would refuse to allow them to get revenge before him. Because Greed.
6257223 They'd promise him a Red Ring in return for getting first kill.
6257228 But what if the power of just one emotion isn't enough?
They'll need to combine their powers, just like they did on the Blackest Night.
6257248 You're assuming this is Nekron again... this is most likely Krona.... who is mortal and CAN be torn apart.... both by Lantern powers AND by claws.
6257256 How naive. What if it's someone else entirely? Someone who knows the rings and their powers inside and out, and knows how to counter them?
6257263 .... You just described Krona again dude.
6257270 But again, what if it's someone else?
Someone like, say, Brainiac?
6257274 Then Clark would get involved and this situation would be resolved. What's wrong with having a Rogue Guardian being the one who's the main villain? Don't wanna let the Reds have a day in the lime light?
6257278 Look, please...just stop. Stop insisting that the Reds get to hog all the glory.
Because the way this is shaping up, we're clearly going to get a finale where all of the Corps work together against this mastermind, even if it is Krona.
6257335 Thing about it? The Reds DESERVE the final kill if it's Krona. He's the one that caused the Manhunters to wipe out Sector 666... HE'S THE VERY REASON THERE'S A RED LANTERN CORPS AND THEY HATE HIM FOR IT.
Could it be Mongrel? I know there has been more then one but he is usually someone that is difficult to fight and his claiming different Lanterns could be a ploy of his, based off what I remember about him from Superman the Animated Series and the Justice League Cartoons.
6257782
You mean MONGUL.
So it seems the manhunters are taking the different lanterns to use their different energies in them. So likely we'll see manhunters using the other emotional spectrum powers as well.