IN BRIGHTEST DAY - Mod Plot [LOG POST | 2 | IN BLACKEST NIGHT]

[wieldtherainbow]

Who| Everyone involved in the plot
What| A space battle
Where| In the space sector around Cargg
When| If relevant, like if you want to note it's after an event.
Warnings/Notes| Things may get violent/gory!

Unfortunately, even the last Green Lanterns didn't know where the yellows or reds had hidden their central power batteries. Their long lost bases were still lost to the universe. That meant the only way to find them was to wait for them to attack.

In the space sector around the planet Cargg, reports of an asteroid mining freighter getting attacked clued the Legion and their allies into where the yellows were. By the time they got there, the red Lanterns had also joined in -- attacking all comers, including the yellows themselves. As the different groups of Lanterns collided in combat, the deaths started almost instantly. New rings started seeking owners, including those of the reds and yellows.

By now, they'd all received at least enough basic training with their rings to function in battle, and they all still had use of their normal powers.

A squad of Green Lanterns led by Kilowog gathered around the freighter, trying to shield it from attack.

"Listen up, poozers!" Kilowog called out to his greens, leading them into the fight and setting up a perimeter. "We need to give this ship time to evac. Hold the line! If it's yellow or red, it's not getting through!"

Kid Quantum, wielding a blue ring, called out to the Legionnaires, "We need to protect that freighter! Everyone move in to support the greens. Hit and run tactics! Hit 'em fast and hit 'em hard. Let's go, Legion!"

Comments

[iamresponding]

Rich, meanwhile, was taking advantage of his extreme speed and Prime not having a good grasp on situational awareness. Sam was finally getting front row seats to him working to his full capacity. As Prime fought and was disoriented by all their combined constructs, Rich was rocketing around the fight, the Nova force adding to his speed, attacking him from all different angles, moving so fast that he was difficult to visually track, at times just a yellow and green blur.

He managed to snipe Prime in the head with a tightly focused gravimetric beam -- a lot of force, a lot of energy, all narrowed down into a tiny beam for extra punch.

"I did this little thing called growing up. And I lost my arm saving the universe from some Lovecraftian juju. And he's not my sidekick, he's my protege. Subtle but very distinct difference. He deserves being called Nova just as much I as do, because he's every bit the hero I am."

Every time Prime had a chance to recover and aim, he was already gone, rocketing to a new position.

"That's why he's helping me kick your sorry S. We don't care about all this nonsense with us being different than you expected, or comic books, or any of that. What we do care about is that ship is filled with civilians and you're helping the people trying to murder them all. And one thing that is the same is I'll always be a cop."

Another twirl in the void, another quick turn, another focused gravimetric beam.

"That's why you're under arrest. You have the right to issue a statement or remain silent at this time. For everyone's sake, I encourage the latter. If you don't have a legal-rep the Science Police will provide one. Do you understand these rights as I have explained them to you?"

[headinjuries]

Sam had started bristling at the word "sidekick," but Rich's rebuttal was all it took to put the grin back on his face as he kept the pressure on, giving Prime a few dozen more things to think about on top of trying to deal with Rich's attacks. His onslaught wasn't as strong as Rich's, but it was busier, more of a distraction meant to help give Rich more openings to deliver the real whammy.

"Nobody can really make anybody do anything. Doesn't every teenager know that?"

Maybe there'd been pressure, or some weird circumstances, but it was never a matter of no choice that led people to do things like this. It was a matter of a bad choice or a worse outcome. His father's dilemma didn't make Sam miss school or land himself in trouble; he just decided that the trouble and the suspensions were worth finding him. Moffet had never made him get detention with all of those fights; Sam just decided that detention was worth getting a punch in instead of taking it quietly.

Whatever Prime thought the heroes of other worlds had done to make him throw in with these guys, Sam wasn't buying it for a second.

"Just make this easy and give up. Seriously. Did your comic books show you Rich when he gets mad? Because Annihilus sure ain't around to tell you about it."

[cocktimusprime]

"You killed someone, too?" Prime cried out, getting bombarded by hits of Nova Force and construct. He sounded like he almost wanted to cry. "Of course it happened to you, too. It's the same everywhere, isn't it? Heroes don't know how to be heroes anymore."

A massive blast of heatvision, directed all around, broke through most of the constructs.

"And I bet you're teaching your sidekick to be terrible, too."

[iamresponding]

When the heatvision blast came his way, Rich threw up a construct and then dodged before the heatvision broke through.

Then the constructs of the Corpsman faded and he changed it up a bit. Instead, he tossed up constructs of the New Warriors -- the original team. Speedball bounced around the battlefield, slamming off of other constructs and into Prime, moving around completely unpredictably. Firestar blasted green ring energy at Prime that looked like flames. Night Thrasher and Namorita got right up in his face, fighting him hand to hand, and Marvel Boy put up green shields that looked like teke to protect Rich (and sometimes Sam) as they shot around the battlefield.

"I fought in a war where an omnicidal maniac was trying to destroy all life in the universe. He killed billions of innocent people. Whole worlds. You're damn right I killed Annihilus. But it wasn't because I was mad."

Sure, he'd been furious. After a war where he'd led the resistance against him, after trying to counter his every move, after failing to stop countless acts of bloodshed initiated by him, after losing the Corps and Xandar to him, he'd hated Annihilus. But that wasn't the only reason, and Rich figured this here was something of a teaching moment, for both Sam and this lunatic that claimed he wanted to be a hero.

"I did it to save all life in the universe. I did it because no prison would've held him, and because the billions of spacebugs that were his troops would've kept fighting unless he was dead. No one that calls themselves a hero should kill someone just because they're mad. Hell, I was mad when a war criminal almost killed my little brother, but her, I arrested, because life could go on if she was alive and there were tribunals to try her and a prison that could hold her."

Rich finally managed to pull off a shot that damaged one of the energy siphons on the suit. It was the same one that he'd noticed Sam get a few hits on, too. Between the two of them, the damage finally took.

"That's what I'm teaching the kid: that unless the goddamn universe is ending, unless there's no other way to save lives, justice is more important than vengeance. Seems like if you think you're supposed to be a hero, it's a lesson you need to learn, too. What you're doing right now? This ain't justice. This ain't saving lives. This is just you acting out your rage on everyone around you. I don't know why you have so much of it, but you're not protecting anyone or anything by doing this. You're just helping monsters that wanna see innocents die."

[headinjuries]

"That's a really nice way to say that if the irony of your situation is still escaping you, you've got to be delusional," Sam said, his tone surprisingly thoughtful for someone doing a hairpin turn at high speed and launching another barrage of constructs at Prime, the space around Prime, and pretty much anywhere it looked like Prime might move to next.

Sarcasm was easier than thinking too hard about what Rich was saying. Not the general idea of it - because that was right, and Sam felt a little stupid for needing the reminder.

But he hadn't known that, about Rich's brother. About Rich arresting whoever was responsible and playing it completely by the book.

Sam's family hadn't been hurt, when Kaldera came after them. He'd been pissed off enough that they were threatened in the first place, but if something had actually happened...would he be able to do that? Rein it in, do the right thing and not the thing he wanted?

He didn't know, and this really wasn't the time or the place to start questioning himself.