| Date | DCB | View | Read the... |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12/07/15 | Book of Oa: The Last Five Seconds of Hal Jordan's Life | (Blog) (Forum) | Disclaimer |
| Rating | Rating explanation |
|---|---|
| T | Death of a hero. |
| Intro: |
|---|
I have a lot of fan-fic notes from the late 1990's, and just a few scenes that I wrote. Mainly focusing on DC, I wanted to write a generational fan-fic, where the DC characters aged, died, and were replaced. This involved a lot of name-switching and history-tweaking. For DCB, I made big changes to the GL Corps. For starters, the only Green Lantern Earth ever had was Alan Scott. Hal Jordan joins a group of space cops called the Star Corps, becoming Starman of Sector 2814. Losing Coast City during Reign of the Supermen, he goes crazy and absorbs the source of the Corp's power, becoming the Starheart. Forming a green dome over the Engine City that replaced Coast City, it becomes his Fortress of Solitude, where he uses his power to watch over the Coast Cities of the entire multiverse. To his shock, he observes a very similar incident to the one that destroyed Coast City in the main DCBU. There’s one extra little detail, though: he sees that Brainiac has shrunk the City, and put it in a bottle! (And here’s a thought: it’s part of a collection of alien cities- all of which are destined for a patchwork planet called “the Mosaic!”) He catches this after the deed is done, which is why he didn’t intervene. However, he goes to that universe, and battles Brainiac (a short battle, considering the power of the Starheart) for possession of the BottledCity. The only problem is, the Hal Jordan (AKA Starman) of that universe was also involved in the battle, and when it becomes clear that the Starheart intends to take Coast City back to our universe, Jordan opposes him. Which leads us here... |
Jordan charges, “Is this really what you want? You lose CoastCity, so you’ll just take one from another reality? Do you really think it will be the same? Those are my loved ones. My friends. They don’t know you. They won’t recognize you as me. This goes totally against what the Guardians have taught us. It goes against everything being Starman stands for!”
Starheart fires back, “The Guardians! Don’t talk to me of the Guardians! What do they know of the responsibilities they doll out? The Guardians of the Universe! Feh! I’ve been the Guardian of the Multiverse! An entire multiverse of Coast Cities, and I’ve watched them all from that monstrosity called Engine City! But I missed it! I missed it, because I was busy saving all of the universe, instead of just watching Coast City! But no more! These people are safe now, and I intend to see that no harm ever befalls them again!”
Jordan pleads, “No! They belong here! I’m grateful that you rescued my city from Brainiac, but this is their universe! I can restore them to their rightful place!”
Starheart shouts angrily, “Their rightful place is where they are safe! You couldn’t protect them with the power of a Starman any better than I could! But I’m not Starman anymore! I am the STARHEART! I AM THE POWER! With me, they won’t have to worry about whether their protector has been called to another sector of space! They will know they are safe!”
“But they won’t be home! You will not leave with my city!” Jordan advances towards the Starheart, but is stopped by the grip of a huge green hand, emanating from the Starheart’s real hand.
“You can’t stop me,” says the Starheart, teeth gritted.
“Maybe not,” says Jordan, glaring, “but if I can’t, the Guardians will.” With that, an emerald beam escapes from Jordan’s ring, slicing through space, heading for the center of the universe.
A pipe with a hairpin turn appears in front of the beam, and funnels it back in the direction of the Starheart, where he apparently absorbs it into his chest. “Again with the Guardians! How long are you going to sing their tune, Jordan? How many times have you quit that circus act, only to come crawling back? How long is it going to be before you wiseUP?!” Starheart seemed to be ranting at the air, now; not even really focused on this reality’s Hal Jordan. “I’ve been there! I did what they asked! I went where they sent me! It cost me my life! All of my friends and loved ones are gone! GONE! I come back from protecting Oa, and find my city is just a crater! Why was I on Oa? The Guardians have the power to save themselves! Why did they need the Corps?! Because they refuse to get involved, I lost my entire life to an alien with a grudge against Superman! If he wasn’t dead already, I’d kill him for this! I’VEEARNEDTHIS!!!” The glowing green hand gripping Hal Jordan squeezes a little harder as it pulls him in closer to the Starheart.
Hal Jordan looks at the Starheart in horror. He’s looking at his mirror image. Every word hits him like a sledgehammer in the chest. This remarkably powerful version of himself knows just what he’s been through as a Starman, and conversely, he understands the anguish the Starheart must have felt at losing his friends and family. After all, he’s on the verge of losing them himself. With a calm voice, he regains the Starheart’s attention. “But Hal, if you take this Coast City back to your universe, how does that make you any different from Brainiac?”
The Starheart is stunned. He looks at Hal Jordan in silence, and Hal Jordan looks back, hoping his words will get through to his counterpart. The seconds seem like eternities. Starheart looks at the bottled city held stationary next to him in a green field of energy. He considers the seven million people inside it, and the friends and family he could be reunited with, even if they aren’t exactly the same people. One second passes.
He thinks back to the sight of the smoking crater when he first saw it from space, and the green domed Fortress that now stood in its place. He thinks of the threat the Guardians had called him away from Coast City for, and thinking of the Guardians makes him think again of the Hal Jordan he holds helpless. Two seconds pass.
He looks at him angrily. Grinding his teeth, he seethes; at war with himself, figuratively and literally, weighing his desires against his doppleganger’s, and even through his anger – despite what he’s said – questioning his right to deprive him of his home; his loved ones. This internal conflict just makes him angrier. All his life, he’s done what was right. He’s accepted the responsibility of the most powerful weapon in the universe, and served as one of the universe’s protectors, distinguishing himself as the best of the Corps. He’s given up so much for the Corps; so many opportunities he’s had to pass up or postpone, because of the demands of the Guardians. Three seconds pass.
What has it gotten him? His whole life has been defined by the code of the Corps, and now, everything has been taken away from him, because of it. All his life, he’s had these fights with himself; doubting his own decisions; questioning if he’s done the right thing; endlessly debating whether he should do this or that. And now, just like always, he stood facing himself, with Starman in the role of conscience just as sure as Jiminy Cricket were on his shoulder. If only there were some way they could both get what they wanted. Some way he could regain Coast City, but Hal Jordan wouldn’t have to suffer the loss as he had. Four seconds pass.
The Starheart blinks once, looks at Jordan, and speaks. “Y’know… I never liked you.” There is a sound like an old flashbulb going off as the giant hand squeezes, disintegrating Hal Jordan. Five seconds pass.
The Starman’s ring drifts, slowly tumbling away from the Starheart, but a thin green beam plucks it out of the void, and pulls it back towards his waiting hand. It lands in his upturned palm, the insignia of the Star Corps facing him. He looks at it for only a few seconds, and thinks that it feels much lighter than he had remembered. “Ring, how much charge do you have left?”
“Twenty-one hours remaining.”
“What’s the location of the power battery?”
“The power battery is located in its subspace pocket, within Coast City.”
“Penetrate subspace, and retrieve the battery.”
A green beam lances out two feet from the ring, and widens as it slices into subspace. A moment later, there is a quick flash of green, and the power battery floats before the Starheart, supported by a green bubble created by the ring.
“Now, in the event of Hal Jordan’s death, what are you supposed to do?”
“In the event that the Starman of sector 2814 has not appointed his own replacement, the ring searches the closest planet for the most fearless living sentient being, and appoints it as the new Starman.”
“Then go.” As a bright flash signals the battery’s return to subspace, the ring rises from the Starheart’s hand, and arcs away from him towards Earth, and the area of subspace the power battery has traveled to. The Starheart watches, and the ring glows brighter as it enters the atmosphere. Still watching, the green aura surrounding him and the bottled CoastCity extends to include Brainiac’s headship, and the three of them fade from this reality to the one that the Starheart calls home.
Back in the Fortress of Solitude, the Starheart observes the universe he just left, and watches as the ring streaks past skyscrapers, taking turns at right angles, and rising and dipping to avoid obstacles. It takes a right angle turn into a building, and zig zags past passersby in the lobby. Shooting into an open stairwell, it soars to the twentieth of twenty-one floors, and passes itself through the stairwell door. It shoots for a corner office where a businessman is reading a finance report, and eating spaghetti from the top floor restaurant. The ring enters the room, and stops a foot from the man’s face, but unnoticed. As the man twirls spaghetti around his fork, and pushes a large spool of it into his mouth, the ring says, “John Stewart.”
John looks up in surprise, his left eyebrow arched, and the same eye bulging at the ring hovering before him. After a second, he slowly sucks a dangling strand of spaghetti into his mouth and chews, never taking his eye off of the ring. After he swallows, he wipes his mouth with a napkin, and reaches out to take the ring between his thumb and forefinger. Holding it there for a second, he turns it like a jeweler inspecting a diamond, and then draws it a little closer. Slumping back in his seat and sighing, he quietly says, “Ahh, Hal. I’m gettin’ too old for this.”
The Starheart allows the view on John Stewart’s universe to fade, and sitting in a large, thronelike chair created by his emerald energies, he is also slumped. Looking down at the bottled city next to him, he whispers, “Believe me, old friend, I know what you mean.”
| Please let me know what you think, and thanks! -cb | Originally written 01/18/00. |
Story, original characters and content are owned by Chris Bishop. Copyright Chris Bishop 2000, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022.
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