arrival

[overcame-fear.livejournal.com]

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.

Comments

[serinusniger]

"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."

[overcame-fear.livejournal.com]

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.

[serinusniger]

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.

[overcame-fear.livejournal.com]

"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."

[serinusniger]

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.

[overcame-fear.livejournal.com]

"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.

[serinusniger]

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.

[overcame-fear.livejournal.com]

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.

[serinusniger]

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."

[overcame-fear.livejournal.com]

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.

[serinusniger]

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

[overcame-fear.livejournal.com]

"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.

[serinusniger]

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

[overcame-fear.livejournal.com]

"That's got to come in handy."

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

[serinusniger]

"With two versions of Clark around, it's getting there," Dinah says. "There's a small community setting up. Run by a single mom with metastrength. You'd like her."

[overcame-fear.livejournal.com]

"I guess I'll be trying to stay on her good side, anyway," Hal replies, flashing that kleig-light grin.

[serinusniger]

Once upon a time, Dinah was a bit of a sucker for that grin. But that was a long time ago and it lasted about a week. Now she's just amused by it.

"Try to stay on everyone's good side. Not just the pretty girls."

[overcame-fear.livejournal.com]

Hal shrugs good-naturedly.

"You have to start somewhere."