A tiny blue orb suddenly became huge, and Hal realized he was staring at the Earth. The ring automatically brought Hal out of hyperlight and dropped him straight into the sky above Coast City. Convenient, Hal thought.
After quietly changing back into his civilian clothes, Hal cautiously stepped onto Ferris Air Base. He wasn't even sure if he was allowed on the base at this point, but the officer at the gate didn't seem to object.
Hal walked into the cadets' lounge. Across the room, slouched in a chair, sat Cowgirl, her deep blue yes peering out from under her hat. "Wonder'd when you'd be back," she said.
"Jillian," Hal said. "I—"
"I told you before to call me Cowgirl," Jillian interrupted, walking over to Hal and playfully poking him in the chest.
Hal nervously stepped back. He should have been nervous because Cowgirl was a fellow pilot, and relationships between pilots was against regulations. But what he was really nervous about was Carol walking in and seeing the two of them in a flirtatious position. He wasn't sure why; he hadn't had feelings for Carol since they were kids.
Cowgirl caught him glancing down the hallway and cracked a smile. "No one's gonna come find us in here; they've all run off for the day."
Somehow, that didn't help. For some reason, Hal felt like backing away even more. He mentally slapped himself in the face. Why was he acting like this?! Jillian, one of the hottest girls Hal had ever seen—with an adorable-yet-hot country accent and eyes that almost literally dared Hal to try something—was standing in front of him, clearly making her move, and yet all Hal could do was feel that he should step back.
Cowgirl gave him a puzzled look. "What, you get a girlfriend in the week you've been gone?"
"A week?"
"...Yeah, Highball, you've been gone a week."
Hal must have lost track of time while he'd been on Oa.
"Huh. Anything important happen while I was gone?"
"Well, Hammond got kicked outta here. They finally traced the technowhatchamacallit back to him. Oh, and Carol's been missin' since yesterday. Some of us figured she and you musta run off together."
"No, I didn't... no, I didn't even know she'd gone."
Cowgirl's eyes and lips narrowed mischievously. "Can't say ah'm disappointed."
"Wait, you said Carol's been gone since yesterday?"
"Yeah."
"When did Hector get fired?"
"Day before yesterday."
The sound of a blast shook the whole building. Hal and Jillian ran to the hangar, where two unmanned aerial drones were taking off, their jets activated before they'd even cleared the doors. Hal glanced up at the sky outside; two other drones had already taken off. Suddenly, the drones' jets engaged their afterburners, flooding half the hangar with flames. As the wall of fire nearly overtook Hal and Jillian, Hal raised his arm and projected a shield of energy, sending the flames rolling away like water on a rock.
The drones took off towards the sky, leaving Hal and Jillian alone in the seared hangar.
"Uh... Hal?" Jillian asked. "What was that... that you just did?"
"Long story. Why would those drones be taking off?"
"They shouldn't be. Their weapons test isn't til' tomorrow morning."
"...Tell me they're not armed."
"Of course they're armed! It takes the grease monkeys a whole day just to get the cluster missiles attached right so they fit under the stealth plating."
Hal turned to the sky, focused on his ring, and let it sheath him in his Lantern uniform. Without another word, he lifted off.
Just as Hal caught sight of one of the drones, it turned and fired off a cluster missile. As the large missile separated into twelve separate smaller missiles, Hal instinctively blocked them with a shield. He felt seven hits vibrate through the air as the missiles collided with his construct... but five others flew straight past. Hal mentally cursed his own stupidity. The missiles weren't even aimed at him. They were aimed at Ferris Air.
Carl Ferris ran outside and instantly flew forward through the air as the building behind him exploded. He tumbled across the ground, landed on his back, and opened his eyes to see a swarm of missiles headed straight downward. Before they hit, however, a dazzling green light flew into their path, obliterating them in mid-air. Carl strained his eyes, but he couldn't see what the green object was, exactly. It looked like a man, but it was so bright that it was impossible to make out any details. A thunderous whine made Carl cover his ears as he turned to see what was happening. An F-35 was taking off, apparently heading up to join the drones.
The drones were now targeting Hal. He dodged and wove through the air, trying to avoid the missiles and he couldn't block. He lashed out at one drone, firing a blast straight through its center. Hal was able to smirk at its explosion for a half-second before immediately turning to face the other three. Unexpectedly, however, the drones stopped firing missiles. Hal looked closer, and realized the drones were switching to their onboard gatling cannons.
A hailstorm of 20-millimeter bullets hit Hal from three sides. He wrapped himself in a hard-light bubble, but it began to crack under the pressure. After a mere few seconds, it shattered. The aura covering Hal's body gave him a certain level of protection, but it could only do so much. Every bullet that hit him felt like a punch from a heavyweight boxer leaning out the window of a car traveling at 80 miles per hour. Hal felt the breath shoved out of his lungs as he was battered from every angle—and then it stopped.
One of the drones exploded as a stream of gatling fire tore it in half. An F-35 flew through the drone's fireball, angling to take down the other two. Hal took a brief second to catch his breath again, then turned to the drones and focused. He forged the ring's energy into a replica of the drones' gatling cannons and fired a round of energy bullets that ripped the remaining drones to scrap.
Hal mentally switched his ring to match the radio frequency used by Ferris Air. "Cowgirl, that you?"
"You know it, super-hero."
Jillian tipped her F-35's wing at Hal, almost as if to wink at him.
"How could those things have been activated?" Hal asked.
"Musta been by remote signal. They weren't hardwired into the base."
"Can we trace the signal source?"
"Nuh-uh. They've got a new kinda transmission system that's made to be untraceable. It's impossible."
"Not for me. Ring: scan for radio signals matching the drones' operating frequency."
A beam of light shone from the ring down to the ground below where a drone's wreckage had crashed. A moment later, a voice echoed from the ring. "SCANNING... SIGNAL SOURCE FOUND. 5.56 KILOMETERS WEST."
Hal grinned. "Gotcha."
Hal crashed through the 32nd-story living room window of Hector Hammond. Hector let out a sudden shriek and fell backwards in surprise.
"Who are you?!" Hector asked.
Hal almost seemed surprised. He suddenly realized he was wearing a mask over his face; the ring must have created it when it sensed his identity needed to be protected. Not every Green Lantern made his identity public; many chose to be anonymous, mostly to preserve the privacy and safety of their loved ones.
Hal realized that if he talked to Hector out loud for too long, Hector might recognize his voice. Hal needed to make whatever he was about to say quick.
"Shut up!" Hal whacked Hector on the head with a green mallet construct, knocking him out.
A pile of computers with a half-dozen monitors and a large antenna were stacked in a corner of the room. Hal realized that this was how Hector was controlling the drones. He punched a large hole in the pile of electronics, sending sparks flying everywhere.
Hal heard knocking coming from a closet. He floated over, opened the door, and saw Carol inside, tied up with duct tape. He waved the ring towards Carol and the duct tape immediately glowed green and disintegrated.
Carol looked up at Hal, her expression somewhere between being intimidated and confused.
"Who are you?" she asked, squinting her eyes against the bright green light.
"...The Green Lantern of Sector 2814," Hal replied.
Hal and Carol sat together atop their old favorite hill.
"Hector was pissed beyond all belief when we fired him. Said we didn't have any right to fire him because he was the only one who actually knew what needed to be done. He was convinced that the UAVs, with his programming, were the future of air combat, and he said he only framed you because you got in the way of what needed to be done."
Hal grinned. "I was too good, basically."
Carol almost chuckled. "Don't get too cocky, Highball. From what I hear, Cowgirl's the one who's the real hero today. She and that Green Lantern."
Hal frowned. "So, Carol, why were you at Hector's apartment?"
"After Hector stormed off, I realized that he'd stolen some equipment from the base. I went to go get it back. When I found out he was putting together a remote command center, he tied me up and threw me in the closet."
"...That's it? He just duct taped you up and left you in a closet?"
"Yeah... funny as it is, I think he actually has feelings for me. I don't think he wanted me hurt, he just wanted me out of the way until he got his revenge."
"So... after tying you up for a day and trying to kill your dad, he thought, what, you'd end up falling in love with him?"
"Yeah. Not a real great plan."
"So... Hal," Carol said. "I'm sorry about what happened last week at the restaurant."
"It's okay. I—"
"No, it's not okay. You were just looking out for me, and I slapped you in the face because I thought you were jealous. I'm sorry."
Hal affectionately nudged Carol in the arm. "Let's just forget about it."
Carol slightly smiled. "Let's."
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