Libra strains as Sinestro tries to literally stare a hole through him.
"Must ... do two things ... at once!" he gasps. "But not too much .. power ... to let Sinestro ... win!"
He throws one hand up in a shielding pose, focusing the yellow and red energy into a shield of yellow and red concentric circles. The other hand points commandingly at his ruined machine, and directs Green Lantern energy to surround and penetrate the machine, and put it back together!
That happened very fast. It's running again, powered by Libra and wrapped in a green energy shield.
Quickly (very), Vina takes a shot from the side to rip the scale emblem from Libra's shirt. It might also sting a bit. Distract him.
The alien arrow curves slightly near the end of its flight, ripping the scales cleanly from his costume. The emblem, actually a flat antenna, falls to the floor and breaks.
"No!" shrieks Libra in a higher pitch than anyone's seen so far. And of course, he's so concerned that his concentration falters, allowing Sinestro's power beam to stab through.
Now, Libra hasn't completely forgotten his desire to not be stabbed, so his force field is still somewhat active. Therefore, the yellow spearhead blurs, becoming a yellow diffuse force that slams Libra across the garage and into the machine.
This, in turn, causes the machine to explode, again.
Yellow, red, and green rays burst from Libra's body, along with silver sparkles and golden blinks. The waves of different energies expand outward. As they pass through Vina, she suddenly feels immensely strong, invulnerable, quick, and aware. In fact, she momentarily hears atoms clink together, galaxies whirr, and magnetic fields buzz.
Then that surge of power fades as the stolen energies continue to expand. Silver particles of balanced power float around the room, drifting outwards, passing through the walls and ceiling, growing fainter and fainter until they disappear among the stars.
Sinestro experimentally forms an axe with his yellow ring, testing its sharpness with his thumb.
"Fires of perdition -- half my power is still gone!" he spits. "With Libra's machine gone, I had thought they might return to their owners. But that fraction of my power has evidently been alienated from me -- in essence, it is no longer mine. It will spread throughout the cosmic all until no one, NO ONE benefits from it! Pah! What is power if it cannot be used? Nothing!"
He then shapes his yellow axe into a pair of yellow swords.
"Without my stolen power, Libra will scarcely be able to survive one of my most practiced materializations, the twin sabers of Korugar. And with half your power stolen, Ladyhawk, you will hardly be able to stop me. Although if he still retains some of his stolen energies ..."
Sinestro strokes his red chin.
"... then this will take somewhat longer."
And he advances on Libra, with obvious evil intent.
MEANWHILE
An expanding wave of red, yellow, green and silver energy arcs into the sky from the suburbs north of Midway City. It is clearly visible from the Aerie, and in fact its exact mathematical center is easy to discern. Ian discerns it. So does Quinn.
And since he's near a porthole, Jimbob even notices it, faintly, from the Moon ...
Quinn had just finished strapping on the bronze greaves when he saw the strange arcs. "Hey, uh . . ." he says, momentarily mesmerized by the light show in the sky. "Uh, JimBob? Any idea what *that* is?"
ReplyDeleteJimbob is on the Moon. Quinn is in Midway City, in the Aerie. But it makes perfect sense that Quinn THINKS Jimbob's still around ...
ReplyDeleteDefinitely. Quinn was distracted by his love for weaponry. When JimBob doesn't answer, he'll wander around for a bit calling out, and when no one answers, he'll shrug his shoulders and start leaping his way toward the colors in the sky.
ReplyDeleteIan doesn't call back, because he has taken the teleporter tube back to the Watchtower to look for JimBob. "Hey, uh Chin-Su!" he calls out, then notices he was invisible. Feeling egg on his face he wills himself to be opaque. "We're in Midway City... could use your help." He waits a moment or three before impatience gets the better of him and he returns, flying off to the scene of the disturbance.
ReplyDeleteJimBob, on the moon, frowns at the names on the touchscreen. "Perhaps Elongated Man can teach me a few tricks about this strange power we seem to share..." He notices the location. "On a case in... Midway...?"
ReplyDeleteJimBob sprints for the teleport tubes and mashes the button for Midway.
After a minute of no one answering, Quinn says out loud, "OK, I'll, uh . . . I'll just take these things and go over there," nodding toward the flashing lights outside. "Soooo . . . OK. Goodbye."
ReplyDeleteHe looks for an exit. There's got to be one somewhere. He'd even settle for jumping out a window.