shatterverse | arrival

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arrival

A gate opens and slams shut again in an instant as a man in green comes tumbling through, carrying an equally green object in one hand.

Hal Jordan has his in-flight balance back in just over a second, narrowly missing impact with the expressway beneath him. He rights himself in mid-air, and makes a gentle touchdown on... Earth?

Well. It looks like Earth. But his ring is emitting a barrage of tech-speak, all of which could be summed up by a very heated, 'WTF?!?!'.

Not a good sign, Hal figures, but hardly the first time that's happened, so he's far from worried. After all, whatever happens next, he's pretty sure it won't be boring.

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Hal "hrm"s disapprovingly.

"Any idea what's causing them? Who's responsible?"

"No," is the simple answer. "We've been too busy trying to keep the immediate danger in check."

It's not an excuse, but it sounds a little bit like one. Still, Dinah glances at his lantern. "I'm glad you brought that."

"Really? Seems pretty quiet here."

He looks down at the lantern.

"Yeah, bringing it back from a maintenance check (http://overcame-fear.livejournal.com/750.html) back on Oa. They don't usually need that, but it seemed like a good idea considering what's been happening back home lately."

For a moment, Dinah considers asking what's been happening back home lately. But before she opens that can of worms, she suggests,

"Ask it where the nearest person in potentially lethal danger is."

He lifts his hand, "Ring?" A green and very expensive-looking speaker appears in the air above it, and Dinah can hear the ring reply, "Alert. Urban area, two miles NNE, corresponding to 'Gotham' in continental United States. Unidentified lifeforms endangering civilians in several areas. Lifeforms do not correspond to any known to Oa."

Hal gets that look in his eyes, "We'd better--."

"Alert. Rural area, two miles SE. Three civilians endangered by large creature, corresponding to metagene-enhanced bull."

"Well, that's--."

"Alert. Urban area corresponding to New York City subject to infestation by lifeform 'Triffids.' Numerous civilians currently under threat."

And the ring keeps going. Hal looks back at Dinah.

"Guess I see what you mean."

She gives an almost apolgetic wry smirk.

"As far as we're aware, the Gotham and New York situations are stable if not exactly optimal. You feel like bullfighting?"

Because now they're aware, they can't exactly chat.

"I do now. Let's find out how they handle a green cape."

Hal reaches down to get his lantern while he waits for Dinah to fire up her bike again.

Dinah can't help grinning as she revs up the Suzuki. She loves Zinda and Babs more than she can say, but this is Hal and they're off to save lives and it feels a lot like home.

She lets him lead the way, of course, but shouts over the noise of the engine; "how much did Oracle fill you in?"

"Not much, but it sounds like there's not much to know yet. She mentioned you'd been 'dimensionally marooned,' and that you're not sure how yet. That people have been brought here from several different worlds. And apparently that this place has no record of the Batman we know."

He smirks over at her. "I'm trying hard to be nice about how I feel about that part."

Dinah's laugh might not be audible over her bike's engine.

"Nightwing went spelunking in the old caves with - I love this, an alternate universe Robin calling herself Sparrow."

Hal shakes his head. This place will take getting used to.

"So Dick is here too? Good to have him around."

Most of Batman's skills--if not quite as obsessively well-honed--without Bruce's special personality. Hal is just fine with that.

"Did you all get here around the same time?"

"Oracle, Lady Blackhawk and I came through in the same flash," Dinah explains. "Nightwing a few months later. It's good for Barbara to have him around."

Hal nods with a smile. Green Lanterns might not be on Earth as much as other heroes, but even they can't help picking up on who's seeing whom.

"So if I just got here, this thing might not be over yet. We might be seeing even more people coming here."

Hal is unconsciously avoiding words like 'trapped' and 'caught'. He's not even close to accepting they might be stuck here.

It's refreshing, talking to someone who's just arrived. Dinah won't let herself consciously admit to stuckness, but finding a way home is way oput of her league.

Not his.

"I hope so. I don't mind saying I've been missing people. Though I'm still glad you were the first GL to turn up."

She'd be pleased to see, for example, Guy Gardner, but only until she refreshed her memory of what he was actually like.

"Kyle or John could've held their own just fine," Hal replies. And the only thing he's going to add to that is a smirk.

But as they round the curve, he blinks at something in the distance.

"That's some bull."

As he's flying and Dinah isn't, Hal gets a look of the bull before she does, but when she hears that, she grins. It's only a few seconds before her eyeline catches up and she's briefly impressed by the size of the animal.

Wonder is quickly turned to worry when she sees the three people, one of whom is already on the floor in what looks like a lot of blood. Two people - a man and a woman - are standing by their companion, too scared to run, as the bull turns around and looks ready to charge again.

"An angry bull as well. How about you find an underpopulated area it can graze in peace?"

She can see to the humans.

"Not going to have a problem finding that," Hal replies. With a burst of speed he soars above the bull, the ring enveloping it in a green bubble. With a furious roar, the bull feels itself jerked away from the ground, and Hal heads for an empty field a half mile away.

"Back in a minute!" he calls back to her with a grin.

She shoots him a hand movement that's half wave, half mock-salute and turns her bike to the humans, slowing down and coming to a halt a short distance away.

"Hi folks, can I help at all?"

...

By the time Hal returns, she has the worst of the bleeding stemmed with the victim's own clothes, and all three victims talked down from almost violent panic. So they only recoil a little bit from fear of the unknown as she waves him down.

"There are operating hospitals in the safe zone in Kansas," she says, talking to the civilians but also for his benefit. "The one in Metropolis also has a refugee scheme, so it's probably best for Ted here if we get there as soon as possible."

Yes, Hal. Metropolis is in Kansas. Dinah thinks it's weird too.

Hal nods, "Got it. Hold him steady, and I'll be as gentle as I can."

A green platform appears and slowly lifts off the ground under the four of them, the Hal's lantern, and Dinah's bike. Once he has them safely in the air, the platform morphs into a Sikorsky S-76 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_S-76), and Hal gets their Life Flight underway.

"...Kansas?" he asks her, as they head off.

She leaves the three together; they obviously know each other and are understandably wary of the strange man with green magic and his weirdly dressed companion; it's familiar enough even on the world where they're famous heroes.

Dinah and Hal can have a conversation in relative privacy.

"Kansas. Don't ask. Of all the way this world differs from our own, Metropolis in Kansas is easily the most random."

Hal just nods back. If that's the way it is, then they'll deal.

It does sound like they'll have plenty enough to deal with without worrying about shifting mega-cities.

"Then there's the fact that the farm most people are staying at appears to have been the Kents, once upon a time."

"It was theirs?"

"Any sign what happened to them?"

If Clark is younger than when Hal knew him, Hal has to wonder how he's holding up if they're gone.

"They sold it," she replies simply. "It's owned by someone named Lucy Cooper now. Nice girl. Quiet. Shapeshifts into a dragon."

"That's got to come in handy."

"Sounds like that farm is about as secure as the one we knew."

arrival

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