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Chapter 340: The Man Without Fear
Heroes are always forged from scars.
At least for everyone in the Justice League, they all had pasts they could never forget. Although cruel to them personally, it was those traumas and darkest moments that created great heroes.
For Hal Jordan, it was the day his father fell to his death during his childhood.
When Hal opened his eyes again, he had returned to that day. He realized he had become that child again, skipping class to run to the edge of the airfield, just to witness the moment his father's fighter jet took to the sky.
To him, his father was his hero, the ideal he had sworn to pursue from a young age.
"No... no, this is all in the past..."
Hal struggled to resist the images flooding his mind, but to little avail. They seemed so real, as if he were right there, once again that helpless child.
He felt his father's hand stroke his head for the last time, and could even feel the warmth from his palm.
He yelled desperately as his father turned toward the cockpit, trying to warn him not to board that aircraft, but it was useless. This was a pre-scripted "history," developing along the established trajectory of destiny. He was merely an onlooker trapped within, forced to watch the tragedy unfold once more.
"No, this isn't real..." Little Hal pounded his own head, trying to wake himself up.
But it all looked so real. He saw his father get into the cockpit, saw the army's General and the owner of Ferris Aircraft. And his daughter, Carol; even the little girl looked identical to his memory, her snow-white skin appearing almost transparent under the sunlight.
"My dad's flying that plane," little Hal said proudly.
Little Carol pouted and said with pride, "My dad owns that plane."
It was identical, even the words were the same as all those years ago. Hal knew what was about to happen. He screamed silently, but no one heard him. He tried desperately to move forward, but his body wouldn't obey.
He could even hear his father's final transmission.
"This thing's going down, Ferris. It's gonna land on your head, on Coast City, but if I bring it down here... no one else gets hurt if it's here."
That was the pilot's final act in life.
He gave up the struggle, and to avoid the possibility of more people getting hurt, he deliberately piloted the burning aircraft into a nosedive toward the ground.
In the final moment before the explosion, he said something.
But it was drowned out by the supersonic boom and the ensuing explosion.
"What did you say? Dad?" Hal screamed, "Tell me, what did you say!?"
Explosion. Everything was swept into it, as if the entire world was falling apart. Hal collapsed to his knees, enveloped by an unprecedented Fear, as a voice echoed in his ear.
"So, great Hal Jordan, this is your Fear."
"You'll never know what he said, will you? Was he truly fearless his whole life?"
"Or was he, in the final moments of his life, actually surrounded by Fear?"
The yellow of Fear, like an endless sea, had unknowingly seeped into the space of his consciousness, flooding the entire Domain.
"Perhaps at the end of his life, he ultimately succumbed to Fear... just like you?"
"There is no such thing as a fearless man. Fear is the answer to everything. Because Fear will always have the upper hand. No one can rise above it, not even you, Hal Jordan!"
The entire space was submerged, leaving only the spot where Hal was. He was on his knees, surrounded on all sides. It was a concentration of the fear energy of a hundred Yellow Lanterns, enough to swallow even the one with the strongest Willpower.
Or, that's how it should have been.
But Hal Jordan opened his eyes.
The yellow tide stopped, seeming unable to advance another inch despite its full effort. The hollow voice couldn't help but sound stunned.
"What... why can you still resist? Why do you still refuse to accept Fear?"
"You should have become one of us!"
Hal looked up and said coldly, "So this is your plan? To drag me down to your level, to make me stoop to the same level as Sinestro? Sorry, but I'll pass."
He stood up, looked around, and spoke, his voice cold but firm.
"You don't understand anything at all. Yes, I'll never know what my father said in his final moments. Could even a man like him feel fear when facing death? Perhaps. But what's important isn't how he felt, but what he did. He made the right and difficult choice. He gave up his own chance at survival to avoid harming the innocent. Even if he was afraid, he still made the right decision, and that is exactly what he taught me."
As Hal spoke, he raised his voice and abruptly lifted his right fist.
At that moment, on his right fist, where the Power Ring had been shattered and where there should have been nothing, a green light burst forth out of thin air!
The green light seemed to coalesce under the guidance of his Willpower, gathering in one spot and transforming back into the shape of a Power Ring, its brilliance even more dazzling than before!
The Yellow Lanterns who witnessed this scene were all shocked beyond words.
"Th-th-th-this... how is this possible???"
"Did he just create a Green Lantern Ring himself!?"
This was a situation that defied the common logic of the emotional spectrum, a state beyond its "laws". Even the strongest will needs a weapon to be unleashed, a channel to command the spectrum. No matter how sky-high Hal Jordan's Willpower was, he was ultimately just a Lantern; without a Power Ring, he was nothing.
If he could just conjure a Power Ring at will, then what was the point of those Guardians?
"You know nothing about my father, and you know even less about what a Green Lantern is!"
Hal's body erupted with green light as he bellowed.
"You're right, no one can be without fear. Not my father, and not me. But being a Green Lantern isn't about being fearless, it's about having the resolve to face Fear, and to overcome it!"
A green glow burned in Hal's eyes, and the surrounding yellow sea was driven back by the green light. The dark background vanished with it, and the Planet's original landscape reappeared.
A Yellow Lantern, feeling the immense Willpower feeding back through his Power Ring, stammered, "Impossible, his Willpower is... but there are over a hundred of us, and only one of him..."
Even if his Willpower was off the charts, was it not a bit too absurd for one person's will to contend with—no, to suppress—the collective fear energy of over a hundred people?
The first batch of Yellow Lanterns to arrive finally understood Sinestro's order: "Retreat immediately upon sighting Hal Jordan."
This Lantern was a complete and utter monster!
"Evil minions and treacherous fiends, fear my divine light."
Hal brandished his Power Ring.
"...The Green Lantern's light shines on, with eternal radiance!"
An eruption of green light, even more exaggerated than before. It was as if the previous Power Ring issued by the Guardians had been a hardware limitation on his performance. Now, the new Power Ring Hal had manifested on the spot through a sheer force of will was twice as powerful as before!
The yellow flames were extinguished as a surging green light shot into the sky, piercing the atmosphere and rushing into the boundless Space.
A moment later.
"Hoo~"
Hal let out a long breath, floating in mid-air and looking at the large swathe of fallen Yellow Lanterns, then down at the Power Ring on his hand.
"This is certainly... a new situation."
He had fought entirely on reckless instinct, acting before any plan could form in his brain. Now that he had steamrolled the entire field on instinct, he looked down at his new Power Ring, and even Hal himself was belatedly surprised.
"Right, only Guardians can forge Power Rings, so where did mine come from?"
Hal was starting to get dumbfounded.
Although he seemed to have crafted his own ring, and a badass one at that, he couldn't figure out the principle behind it at all. It felt like a programmer face-rolling on the keyboard, creating a bunch of bugs, yet somehow the program inexplicably started running on its own...
"Warning," the Power Ring alerted. "New enemy approaching. Enemy power level is far higher than previous individuals."
BOOM!!!
A heavy crash, as if it would shatter the Planet's Surface. A shockwave of golden-yellow energy spread out across the ground, and a short figure floated in mid-air, wreathed in roiling yellow smoke and light.
"Your skills have grown, Hal Jordan."
Hal's pupils contracted as he saw the newcomer's face.
It looked like a Guardian.
A Guardian possessed by the Light of Fear.
(end of chapter)
Heroes are always forged from scars.
At least for everyone in the Justice League, they all had pasts they could never forget. Although cruel to them personally, it was those traumas and darkest moments that created great heroes.
For Hal Jordan, it was the day his father fell to his death during his childhood.
When Hal opened his eyes again, he had returned to that day. He realized he had become that child again, skipping class to run to the edge of the airfield, just to witness the moment his father's fighter jet took to the sky.
To him, his father was his hero, the ideal he had sworn to pursue from a young age.
"No... no, this is all in the past..."
Hal struggled to resist the images flooding his mind, but to little avail. They seemed so real, as if he were right there, once again that helpless child.
He felt his father's hand stroke his head for the last time, and could even feel the warmth from his palm.
He yelled desperately as his father turned toward the cockpit, trying to warn him not to board that aircraft, but it was useless. This was a pre-scripted "history," developing along the established trajectory of destiny. He was merely an onlooker trapped within, forced to watch the tragedy unfold once more.
"No, this isn't real..." Little Hal pounded his own head, trying to wake himself up.
But it all looked so real. He saw his father get into the cockpit, saw the army's General and the owner of Ferris Aircraft. And his daughter, Carol; even the little girl looked identical to his memory, her snow-white skin appearing almost transparent under the sunlight.
"My dad's flying that plane," little Hal said proudly.
Little Carol pouted and said with pride, "My dad owns that plane."
It was identical, even the words were the same as all those years ago. Hal knew what was about to happen. He screamed silently, but no one heard him. He tried desperately to move forward, but his body wouldn't obey.
He could even hear his father's final transmission.
"This thing's going down, Ferris. It's gonna land on your head, on Coast City, but if I bring it down here... no one else gets hurt if it's here."
That was the pilot's final act in life.
He gave up the struggle, and to avoid the possibility of more people getting hurt, he deliberately piloted the burning aircraft into a nosedive toward the ground.
In the final moment before the explosion, he said something.
But it was drowned out by the supersonic boom and the ensuing explosion.
"What did you say? Dad?" Hal screamed, "Tell me, what did you say!?"
Explosion. Everything was swept into it, as if the entire world was falling apart. Hal collapsed to his knees, enveloped by an unprecedented Fear, as a voice echoed in his ear.
"So, great Hal Jordan, this is your Fear."
"You'll never know what he said, will you? Was he truly fearless his whole life?"
"Or was he, in the final moments of his life, actually surrounded by Fear?"
The yellow of Fear, like an endless sea, had unknowingly seeped into the space of his consciousness, flooding the entire Domain.
"Perhaps at the end of his life, he ultimately succumbed to Fear... just like you?"
"There is no such thing as a fearless man. Fear is the answer to everything. Because Fear will always have the upper hand. No one can rise above it, not even you, Hal Jordan!"
The entire space was submerged, leaving only the spot where Hal was. He was on his knees, surrounded on all sides. It was a concentration of the fear energy of a hundred Yellow Lanterns, enough to swallow even the one with the strongest Willpower.
Or, that's how it should have been.
But Hal Jordan opened his eyes.
The yellow tide stopped, seeming unable to advance another inch despite its full effort. The hollow voice couldn't help but sound stunned.
"What... why can you still resist? Why do you still refuse to accept Fear?"
"You should have become one of us!"
Hal looked up and said coldly, "So this is your plan? To drag me down to your level, to make me stoop to the same level as Sinestro? Sorry, but I'll pass."
He stood up, looked around, and spoke, his voice cold but firm.
"You don't understand anything at all. Yes, I'll never know what my father said in his final moments. Could even a man like him feel fear when facing death? Perhaps. But what's important isn't how he felt, but what he did. He made the right and difficult choice. He gave up his own chance at survival to avoid harming the innocent. Even if he was afraid, he still made the right decision, and that is exactly what he taught me."
As Hal spoke, he raised his voice and abruptly lifted his right fist.
At that moment, on his right fist, where the Power Ring had been shattered and where there should have been nothing, a green light burst forth out of thin air!
The green light seemed to coalesce under the guidance of his Willpower, gathering in one spot and transforming back into the shape of a Power Ring, its brilliance even more dazzling than before!
The Yellow Lanterns who witnessed this scene were all shocked beyond words.
"Th-th-th-this... how is this possible???"
"Did he just create a Green Lantern Ring himself!?"
This was a situation that defied the common logic of the emotional spectrum, a state beyond its "laws". Even the strongest will needs a weapon to be unleashed, a channel to command the spectrum. No matter how sky-high Hal Jordan's Willpower was, he was ultimately just a Lantern; without a Power Ring, he was nothing.
If he could just conjure a Power Ring at will, then what was the point of those Guardians?
"You know nothing about my father, and you know even less about what a Green Lantern is!"
Hal's body erupted with green light as he bellowed.
"You're right, no one can be without fear. Not my father, and not me. But being a Green Lantern isn't about being fearless, it's about having the resolve to face Fear, and to overcome it!"
A green glow burned in Hal's eyes, and the surrounding yellow sea was driven back by the green light. The dark background vanished with it, and the Planet's original landscape reappeared.
A Yellow Lantern, feeling the immense Willpower feeding back through his Power Ring, stammered, "Impossible, his Willpower is... but there are over a hundred of us, and only one of him..."
Even if his Willpower was off the charts, was it not a bit too absurd for one person's will to contend with—no, to suppress—the collective fear energy of over a hundred people?
The first batch of Yellow Lanterns to arrive finally understood Sinestro's order: "Retreat immediately upon sighting Hal Jordan."
This Lantern was a complete and utter monster!
"Evil minions and treacherous fiends, fear my divine light."
Hal brandished his Power Ring.
"...The Green Lantern's light shines on, with eternal radiance!"
An eruption of green light, even more exaggerated than before. It was as if the previous Power Ring issued by the Guardians had been a hardware limitation on his performance. Now, the new Power Ring Hal had manifested on the spot through a sheer force of will was twice as powerful as before!
The yellow flames were extinguished as a surging green light shot into the sky, piercing the atmosphere and rushing into the boundless Space.
A moment later.
"Hoo~"
Hal let out a long breath, floating in mid-air and looking at the large swathe of fallen Yellow Lanterns, then down at the Power Ring on his hand.
"This is certainly... a new situation."
He had fought entirely on reckless instinct, acting before any plan could form in his brain. Now that he had steamrolled the entire field on instinct, he looked down at his new Power Ring, and even Hal himself was belatedly surprised.
"Right, only Guardians can forge Power Rings, so where did mine come from?"
Hal was starting to get dumbfounded.
Although he seemed to have crafted his own ring, and a badass one at that, he couldn't figure out the principle behind it at all. It felt like a programmer face-rolling on the keyboard, creating a bunch of bugs, yet somehow the program inexplicably started running on its own...
"Warning," the Power Ring alerted. "New enemy approaching. Enemy power level is far higher than previous individuals."
BOOM!!!
A heavy crash, as if it would shatter the Planet's Surface. A shockwave of golden-yellow energy spread out across the ground, and a short figure floated in mid-air, wreathed in roiling yellow smoke and light.
"Your skills have grown, Hal Jordan."
Hal's pupils contracted as he saw the newcomer's face.
It looked like a Guardian.
A Guardian possessed by the Light of Fear.
(end of chapter)
