Reading settings
Since his second defeat and imprisonment in the Green Lantern Prison, Sinestro had been constantly reflecting on why he had lost.
He had racked his brains, trying to find the reason for his defeat.
The quiet prison gave him ample time and space to think things over.
Sinestro wasn't worried at all that the Guardians would kill him. He knew these despicable Little Blue Men too well; as long as he still had value, they would only defeat and imprison him time and again until they had squeezed every last bit of information from his mind.
"My grasp of timing was beyond anyone's expectations, and my research into the Emotional Spectrum is no worse than yours. I've been constantly thinking, where exactly did I lose?"
Sinestro was bare-chested, the humiliating Green Lantern Corps symbol seared into his back by the Little Blue Men's own hands, dating back to his first imprisonment.
That was many years ago. His reckless pursuit of Parallax had ended in a disastrous defeat, leading to the deaths of twelve Lanterns who possessed the Yellow Impurity.
He himself became the scapegoat. To prevent their secret from being exposed, the Little Blue Men threw him into prison for the first time.
The magma-red face of Sinestro twisted into a grimace before suddenly relaxing, like a sane madman. He looked at the Guardians who had appeared before him at some unknown time and revealed a cryptic smile.
"You were never the ones who defeated me. It was someone else. A great hand is covering the Prime Universe, pushing one catastrophic event after another in a direction of its choosing."
Five Little Blue Men stood expressionlessly outside the prison, watching Sinestro in silence.
The rectangular prison, formed from concentrated willpower, was sturdy enough to securely contain someone like Sinestro, who was almost powerless without his ring.
"Are you talking about Tony?" one of the Little Blue Men asked.
Sinestro gave a noncommittal shrug and sneered, "Maybe it's him, maybe it's not. But something is definitely pressuring you... It's truly surprising that I can actually sense an intangible anxiety from you living robots."
One of the Little Blue Men said coldly, "Sinestro, we can make a deal."
Sinestro dug at his ear.
"We'll give you your freedom and the chance to rebuild the Sinestro Corps, but in return, you will work for us," another of the Little Blue Men said.
"Done."
Sinestro slowly walked to the edge of the cell, raising his shackled hands.
One of the Little Blue Men pointed a finger. The shackles opened, and the prison slowly unlocked. Sinestro was free once more.
Squinting for a moment at the dense cluster of prisons, each thousands of meters tall, Sinestro said coldly, "I need more warriors."
He had figured it out long ago. He knew why he always lost.
No matter how meticulous his plans or how perfect his timing, he was still lacking something.
People.
He was short on people.
The more people, the more warriors. If he couldn't gain the upper hand one-on-one, then he'd make it ten-on-one, or a hundred-on-one.
However, recruitment was also a problem. But Sinestro clearly had his own plan and had no interest in sharing it with the Little Blue Men.
He looked at these five. With Ganthet and Sayd gone, Sinestro knew something had happened.
Because those two would never have compromised with him before the situation worsened.
Sinestro caught a Green Lantern Ring tossed to him. He studied it for a moment before putting it on with a smirk, just as he had when he was a leader of the Green Lanterns.
Boom!
Just as Sinestro was flying out of the prison sector, a Green Lantern attacked him in a rage.
Laira roared, venting her grief and indignation, "He's a criminal! Why are you letting him out!"
The Guardians watched Laira with indifference.
Sinestro easily used the Green Lantern Ring to crush Laira's attack. He grabbed her arm and said with a low laugh, "Laira, you really should learn to be smarter."
Laira slammed a fist into Sinestro's face, sending him flying. Then, she looked at the Guardians with an expression of disbelief. "What are you doing?! This is wrong! Wasn't it enough the last time he was let go?! Aren't the deaths of our warriors enough of a warning for you?!"
A bald Guardian clasped his hands together, his wide robes concealing them, his face grim. "Laira, in the face of a greater disaster, one must sometimes make unconventional decisions."
Laira covered her face and wept. Her comrades had died in the Sinestro Corps War, and just a short while ago, her entire family had been slaughtered by a Yellow Lantern named Amon Sur.
When it came to hatred, no one's was greater than Laira's.
Laira tried to attack again, but the bald Guardian directly deactivated her ring, revoking her control.
"You need to calm down. Using force in front of a Guardian is an extremely poor choice of action."
As he spoke, he sent out a signal. A Supreme Green Lantern arrived, its mechanized voice announcing, "Laira, you have violated Article 147 of the Third Charter of the Green Lantern Corps Code. You are hereby sentenced to one month of imprisonment."
Laira resisted with force but was escorted into a prison by the Supreme Green Lantern.
"Scarred Guardian, there was no need for that," another Guardian said.
The Scarred Guardian said indifferently, "We are the Guardians. We must maintain our prestige at all times and allow no act of defiance against us."
The other Guardians exchanged glances and remained silent.
Only then did Sinestro slowly fly back, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth where Laira had hit him, and let out a sneer.
"With Ganthet and Sayd gone, is the Scarred Guardian in charge now?" Sinestro quipped sarcastically.
The five Guardians' expressions were ice-cold; they did not respond.
The Scarred Guardian, however, touched the burned side of his own cheek, seemingly lost in thought.
"Is the anti-matter energy still eroding your body? You should be grateful that Duzun showed you mercy," Sinestro taunted.
The Scarred Guardian kept his head down, flying forward in silence as if he hadn't heard a thing.
However, not even Sinestro noticed that deep within the eyes of the Scarred Guardian, who was suffering from the anti-matter assault, a black light so profound it was heart-stopping flashed for an instant, like an abyss that could devour all thought.
No one noticed anything strange. Not even the Scarred Guardian himself had enough clear sanity to realize something was wrong.
Meanwhile, on the distant planet of Cybertron, Tony, who had been lying quietly on a sofa, shot to his feet and looked up in a certain direction.
That was the direction where the sunlight was fading. Darkness was eclipsing the light, gradually sweeping over everything, as if heralding something to come.
"Too fast..."
Tony's expression was grim. He rose, vanished from the spot, and followed an intangible feeling, flying towards an unknown region of the Prime Universe.
The second update will be late, I'm at the cinema watching Captain Marvel...
(end of chapter)
He had racked his brains, trying to find the reason for his defeat.
The quiet prison gave him ample time and space to think things over.
Sinestro wasn't worried at all that the Guardians would kill him. He knew these despicable Little Blue Men too well; as long as he still had value, they would only defeat and imprison him time and again until they had squeezed every last bit of information from his mind.
"My grasp of timing was beyond anyone's expectations, and my research into the Emotional Spectrum is no worse than yours. I've been constantly thinking, where exactly did I lose?"
Sinestro was bare-chested, the humiliating Green Lantern Corps symbol seared into his back by the Little Blue Men's own hands, dating back to his first imprisonment.
That was many years ago. His reckless pursuit of Parallax had ended in a disastrous defeat, leading to the deaths of twelve Lanterns who possessed the Yellow Impurity.
He himself became the scapegoat. To prevent their secret from being exposed, the Little Blue Men threw him into prison for the first time.
The magma-red face of Sinestro twisted into a grimace before suddenly relaxing, like a sane madman. He looked at the Guardians who had appeared before him at some unknown time and revealed a cryptic smile.
"You were never the ones who defeated me. It was someone else. A great hand is covering the Prime Universe, pushing one catastrophic event after another in a direction of its choosing."
Five Little Blue Men stood expressionlessly outside the prison, watching Sinestro in silence.
The rectangular prison, formed from concentrated willpower, was sturdy enough to securely contain someone like Sinestro, who was almost powerless without his ring.
"Are you talking about Tony?" one of the Little Blue Men asked.
Sinestro gave a noncommittal shrug and sneered, "Maybe it's him, maybe it's not. But something is definitely pressuring you... It's truly surprising that I can actually sense an intangible anxiety from you living robots."
One of the Little Blue Men said coldly, "Sinestro, we can make a deal."
Sinestro dug at his ear.
"We'll give you your freedom and the chance to rebuild the Sinestro Corps, but in return, you will work for us," another of the Little Blue Men said.
"Done."
Sinestro slowly walked to the edge of the cell, raising his shackled hands.
One of the Little Blue Men pointed a finger. The shackles opened, and the prison slowly unlocked. Sinestro was free once more.
Squinting for a moment at the dense cluster of prisons, each thousands of meters tall, Sinestro said coldly, "I need more warriors."
He had figured it out long ago. He knew why he always lost.
No matter how meticulous his plans or how perfect his timing, he was still lacking something.
People.
He was short on people.
The more people, the more warriors. If he couldn't gain the upper hand one-on-one, then he'd make it ten-on-one, or a hundred-on-one.
However, recruitment was also a problem. But Sinestro clearly had his own plan and had no interest in sharing it with the Little Blue Men.
He looked at these five. With Ganthet and Sayd gone, Sinestro knew something had happened.
Because those two would never have compromised with him before the situation worsened.
Sinestro caught a Green Lantern Ring tossed to him. He studied it for a moment before putting it on with a smirk, just as he had when he was a leader of the Green Lanterns.
Boom!
Just as Sinestro was flying out of the prison sector, a Green Lantern attacked him in a rage.
Laira roared, venting her grief and indignation, "He's a criminal! Why are you letting him out!"
The Guardians watched Laira with indifference.
Sinestro easily used the Green Lantern Ring to crush Laira's attack. He grabbed her arm and said with a low laugh, "Laira, you really should learn to be smarter."
Laira slammed a fist into Sinestro's face, sending him flying. Then, she looked at the Guardians with an expression of disbelief. "What are you doing?! This is wrong! Wasn't it enough the last time he was let go?! Aren't the deaths of our warriors enough of a warning for you?!"
A bald Guardian clasped his hands together, his wide robes concealing them, his face grim. "Laira, in the face of a greater disaster, one must sometimes make unconventional decisions."
Laira covered her face and wept. Her comrades had died in the Sinestro Corps War, and just a short while ago, her entire family had been slaughtered by a Yellow Lantern named Amon Sur.
When it came to hatred, no one's was greater than Laira's.
Laira tried to attack again, but the bald Guardian directly deactivated her ring, revoking her control.
"You need to calm down. Using force in front of a Guardian is an extremely poor choice of action."
As he spoke, he sent out a signal. A Supreme Green Lantern arrived, its mechanized voice announcing, "Laira, you have violated Article 147 of the Third Charter of the Green Lantern Corps Code. You are hereby sentenced to one month of imprisonment."
Laira resisted with force but was escorted into a prison by the Supreme Green Lantern.
"Scarred Guardian, there was no need for that," another Guardian said.
The Scarred Guardian said indifferently, "We are the Guardians. We must maintain our prestige at all times and allow no act of defiance against us."
The other Guardians exchanged glances and remained silent.
Only then did Sinestro slowly fly back, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth where Laira had hit him, and let out a sneer.
"With Ganthet and Sayd gone, is the Scarred Guardian in charge now?" Sinestro quipped sarcastically.
The five Guardians' expressions were ice-cold; they did not respond.
The Scarred Guardian, however, touched the burned side of his own cheek, seemingly lost in thought.
"Is the anti-matter energy still eroding your body? You should be grateful that Duzun showed you mercy," Sinestro taunted.
The Scarred Guardian kept his head down, flying forward in silence as if he hadn't heard a thing.
However, not even Sinestro noticed that deep within the eyes of the Scarred Guardian, who was suffering from the anti-matter assault, a black light so profound it was heart-stopping flashed for an instant, like an abyss that could devour all thought.
No one noticed anything strange. Not even the Scarred Guardian himself had enough clear sanity to realize something was wrong.
Meanwhile, on the distant planet of Cybertron, Tony, who had been lying quietly on a sofa, shot to his feet and looked up in a certain direction.
That was the direction where the sunlight was fading. Darkness was eclipsing the light, gradually sweeping over everything, as if heralding something to come.
"Too fast..."
Tony's expression was grim. He rose, vanished from the spot, and followed an intangible feeling, flying towards an unknown region of the Prime Universe.
The second update will be late, I'm at the cinema watching Captain Marvel...
(end of chapter)
