Story Collaboration - Part 1 of 3 - Then There Were Three

“I really don’t like this idea Mina…..Oa is not a safe place right now and with Guy in the state that he is in right now, it makes it even more dangerous. I am not really wanting to entertain the idea of anyone, let alone you being placed in harms ways.” Mina smiled lightly at the mention of her emerald flame, Hal Jordan’s concern of losing her. It had been some time since the two were intimately connected with each other but Mina still held to the memories of their love. “Hal, I understand that, but there is a lot going on right now and the league is scattered across numerous areas trying to deal with these black lanterns that are showing up everywhere. The corps are in trouble the league needs all the help it can get to get a handle on this.” Hal looked at his former lover glowing in the pink light of the star sapphire energy and took a deep breath, preparing for what he was about to say “Fine….but you are not going alone….that is the deal….ok??” Mina looked puzzled and replied “who do you have available from the league to spare, everyone is either on a strike team or leading a group anywhere between Central City to Qward….” Hal generated a small communication device with his ring and punched a few buttons, a moment later a hologram of a blue skinned humanoid figure rotated slowing. The blue skinned figure had spiky red hair and wore an assortment of metal wrist plates and small chest pieces in the form of buckled straps. A long thin cape hung off the side of his back. The figures face was stoic and focused. This is Gallius. Star Labs and the league have been monitoring his movements for some time now, he is part of an alien race related to Kryptonians, hence the interest in this one. Their physiology responds in similar ways to sun light. Gallius possesses other abilities of the quantum type such as energy projection, teleportation, gravity and time manipulation. He is also no dummy, this guy was a top physicist on his planet. Star Labs has dubbed him the “Alien Nomad” as has been keeping to himself lately but they have found him to be residing in Metropolis for the time being and working on a plan to engage him in a non-hostile manner as to not provoke him. Mina listened to Hal give the run down of her soon to be partner in this rescue and containment mission she was embarking on and offered a nod as to show agreement with with the selected individual. Hal explained the message that was being beamed to Gallius’s last known coordinated via a reprogrammed and de-weaponized Brother Eye Satellite.


Mina listened as Hal explained the second individual who would be joining this mission and watched as Hal punched a few other keys on the hard light constructed communication device. “In addition, you will be joined by Bernard Conners, though he goes by the name Bern Unit. Currently residing in Gotham near the Freight Yard, he spends most of his time ‘branding’ street thugs and sipping coffee on one of the roof tops of the buildings there. Conners was one of the humans caught in the exobyte shower and came in contact with a byte containing powers gathered from Etrigan.” Mina looked at Hal concerned “Etrigan?? Is this Conner’s guy safe to have around anyone??” Hal nodded “Yeah, he’s powers are fire based, but he doesn’t have Etrigan’s……..demeanor”, Hal continued “Conners developed a hard, nearly impenetrable lava rock skin as well as pyro-kenetic type powers. He can create hard fiery constructs similar to a lantern but only ones that he can manipulate, he can’t make something that can act on its own. Conners is shown to have immense strength on top of his pyro-type abilities. The guy is basically was walking tank with a flame thrower with that armor he wears.” Mina looked confused “if this guy is impenetrable, why is armor needed??” Hal, as if recalling a missed detail “Ah, right, the armor protects others more than him. If he gets out of that armor, the heat radiating off his body is liable to incinerate the area he is and everyone in it should he feel inclined to do so or losses control of himself.” Mina nodded “got it……” she looked at Hal, a tinge of that love, once overt peaked through and the two nodded quietly to each other. “Ok…..I am ready for transport…..have the others rendezvous with me in Oa. Hal nodded and watched Mina get bathed in the transporter lights and then fade from his vision. Hal exhaled, as if holding in feelings he didn’t want to let out in front of Mina, he simply said out loud in the quiet room of Watchtower “Be careful my dear…”.

Gallius, residing in an undisclosed location in Metropolis, found himself standing in front of a small metallic ball rocketed from the skies and landing at his feet. A moment later, a projection of The Justice Leagues data manager, Oracle floated in front of him stating a need for his assistance on Oa. Oracle relayed the information about Kyle Raynor sacrificing himself as a means of helping other lanterns escape a growing threat of Black Lanterns and how Guy Gardner had become overwhelmed and consumed by rage at the loss of his friend and is now a rampaging Red Lantern, laying waste to anyone and anything on Oa. Oracle stressed the need for Gallius’s assistance due to the league being “short staffed”. Gallius, considering the present circumstances and weighing it with his desire to be left alone, gave into the morals engrained deep within him and agreed to the mission. Moments after the hologram disappeared, Gallius took to the skies like missile, making his way to Oa. A second metallic communication device landed in an alley of Gotham’s Burnley district. The hologram lit up the dark, cold alley and Oracle hovered in front of Bern Unit who was lying next to a dumpster. Bern sat up and examined the device and the hologram. Oracle explained the situation and stated the request for Bern’s assistance in the matter. Bern dropped his head down “Ugh…..uh….yeah, sure…….” Oracle explained to Bern how to prepare for transport and had him teleported to Oa.

Mina, taking the scene on Oa, felt a wave of sadness wash over her as she took sight of the fallen Lanterns scattered across the Oa landscape. The moment of mourning was interrupted by the sound of Gallius entering the Oan atmosphere sonic speeds. The blue skinned humanoid thundered to the ground and rose to greet Mina. Mina nodded “you must be the Nomad, thank you for the assistance in this. Gallius surveyed the area and took in the body count, “Looks like we have a bit of work ahead of us….” Mina nodded and replied “Yeah, Guy Gardner, a known Green Lantern, has succumb to the rage of the Red Lantern light and is on a rampage across this planet. Guy is tough enough on his own, but the Red Lantern light makes this situation that much more of a urgent matter. Gallius nodded, “So long as we can keep the body count where it is, I will do what I can” and extended his hand to Mina. Mina shook his hand and saw the teleporter light flickering behind Gallius, “looks like our third is here”. Emerging from the teleporter was the large rock skinned brute known as Bern Unit. Looking around at the land having waste laid to it, Bern looked over at Mina and Gallius “You the contacts that Oracle lady was talking about?” Mina and Gallius nodded. Mina replied “Bern Unit, correct?” Bern nodded. The three gathered around each other, Mina took point on the explanation of the threats afar and the threat near, she explained the issue of the emerging black lanterns across the galaxy and the current matter of an enraged Guy Gardner somewhere on Oa with them. “There are still Green Lanterns somewhere out there that need to be extracted and we need to find a way to get Gardner back in control of himself.

Mina paused and looked towards her power ring with a concern darting across her eyes. Bern and Gallius looked at the Star Sapphire and Bern spoke “Um…..hey, where did you go there just now??” Mina looked at around and then at her partners “ok, change of plans, we need to split up a little, I am sensing that we have a bit of company about to join us…..” Gallius looked around confused “what are you taking about??” Mina explained that there were incoming Black Lanterns looking to claim the bodies of the fallen Green Lanterns among them in Oa. “Divide and conquer is going to be the plan here….I will handle getting the other Lanterns out of here, Gallius I am going to need to you to hold off and deal with the Black Lanterns that are approaching and Unit, I need to find Gardner and keep him contained as best you can….remember he is not in complete control of himself at the moment.” Bern and Gallius nodded and proceeded in the direction that Mina pointed them in while she made her way towards where the other surviving green lanterns were taking shelter. Gallius was knocked out of the air by an explosion erupting from a nearby wall and upon the dust settling, observed several black lanterns stepping through the large hole. Rising to his feet, Gallius’s hands emanated a blue energy signaling to the black lanterns that he was ready for a fight. “let’s go…..” and black lanterns lunged towards the being known as the Alien Nomad, the shrieks of the black lanterns echoed through the halls of the Oan strong hold. Gallius met their weapon constructs with blasts of energy from his hand and fields of gravitational force that stopped the crowd of black lanterns in their tracks. Darting from one side of the hall to another, Gallius disposed of one Lantern after another. Despite his best efforts the Black Lanterns continued to rise again and again. Growing concerned and increasingly frustrated, Gallius felt that drastic times called for drastic measures. Making his way down the hall, it appeared he was retreating from the large horde of Black Lanterns who proceeded to follow him as he has hoped. Gallius stopped and watched as the horde approached him. The black lanterns began lurking towards him, their shrieks echoed among the emerald walls and Galllius smirked as he gathered every ounce of energy he had in him, his body flashed a quick and bright blue but the energy, as quickly as it appeared to radiate outward, began slowly pulling towards Gallius, growing in its intensity and brightness until a massive blast of blue energy hurled out and through hall and the black lanterns that once crowded the blue skinned being, were reduced to mere vapors. Gallius dropped to a knee as this sapped him of much of his energy and needed time to collect himself.

Mina located the surviving Green Lanterns and proceeded to inform them of her purpose there and remind them of the urgency of the situation. “Please just follow me….I am going to get you all out of here but you need to follow my lead.” The survivors nodded and at that moment they all shook with the building, feeling the impact of Gallius’s energy expulsion. “What was that??” asked one of the younger looking Lanterns, “Mina looked over her shoulder as she steadied herself “A friend….” Mina proceeded to lead the lanterns to one of the main halls on Oa where she knew a teleporter was available. She created a construct of several hospital stretchers for some of the injured lanterns and lead the way to the hall. Mina’s senses registered that Guy Gardner was somewhere nearby and that the threat of the Black Lanterns was eliminated from this location. Her focus was centered around getting these survivors off the planet and to a safer location so that she could rejoin the others. Arriving at the hall where the teleporter was, she cued up locations where the Black Lantern threat had not been felt, and cued the teleporter to take the survivors there. One by one they were guided through and one of the Lanterns looked at her nodding “thank you, Hal was right about you….” And the lantern vanished from her sight before she was able to inquire about the statement. Mina felt a surge of emotion wash over her and focused herself back on the final task at hand, containing the enraged Guy Gardner.

Bern followed the train of debris and fallen green lanterns until a red light radiated in the distance. Bern made his way towards the figure, the red light growing in intensity as he got closer. “hey….Gardner…..why did you need to go all guns and roses on the place??” Gardner turned to face who had just addressed him. Gardner’s eyes shot open wide and the rage could be seen in them. Guy saw the large black armored figure and confused him for a black lantern. Without hesitation, Gardner darted at Bern and threw out a large morning star flail construct striking Bern and knocking him back. Bern looked up to see the lantern hurling towards him on the ground with massive boulder construct. Darting out of the way at the last minute, Bern’s hands lit up in flames and proceeded to create fiery rocks and hurled them one after the other at the advancing Gardner. The fireballs struck Gardner and seemed to have little effect on him. “Crap….” Bern thought to himself as Gardner rocketed towards him screaming like a mad man. A red energy blast struck Bern in the center of his chest and hurled him backwards into a building nearby. As Bern stood up, his chest plate split from the blast and fell to the ground, exposing his fiery rock skin underneath. Looking at the red lantern darting toward him, Bern removed his gloves and said to himself “Ok big boy, come and get it”. Bern channeled as much of his energy as he could into his hands and as Gardner became close enough, Bern slammed his fists into the ground and an explosion shot up and around them shaking the ground violently. Fire washed over the area and Gardner was hurled back onto the charred ground. Bern leapt onto the dazed and weakened Lantern and knew he needed to put an end to the fight sooner than later. With the Red Lantern in his weakened state, Bern created a fiery blade and raised it over his head to plunge it into the chest of Guy Gardner. “I am sorry for this….” Bern said quietly.


~To Be Continued in Part 2~

It's finally here and Bern did not disappoint. Yay!

Much appreciated Ms. Benz. Hopefully you feel like I did Mina justice.

You sure did. You perfectly split up the team to have each one something important to do. Also, great way to reintroduce each character. Kept imagining it being like the character introduction montage from Suicide Squad, lol. Top marks. I am planning to get Mina's story up to date to catch up to our 3 part collaboration since it intertwines with the Blackest Night event. Nevertheless....

Great start, looking forward to reading the rest

If anyone feels the need of an editor to help 'polish' things up, all you need do is but ask

Thank you. I really try to be respectful of other people's character's when I write them and portray them as close to the way the creator(s) imagine them. I am looking forward to reading Nomad's and your parts to this to see where it goes and how it concludes.

Awesome stuff Bern! Really great start here. I will definitely need a few days to crank out part 2. Hang in there guys.

Story is about 75% done. Will need a few pics as well. Did we decide on a title name for part 2 guys?

I don't know if there was a specific title, I was assuming that we just name our respective chapters whatever we wanted or felt like fit what we wrote. I think just indicating that it is part of the collaboration some how is the only "requirement" I suppose.

Nice. Can't wait to read it. As for the title, similar to what Bern said you can title your chapter how you like it and the collaboration part should be in the title of the thread for everyone to know. If you need pictures, you can use some that I posted. Let me know if you need something with Mina http://aurorabenz07.deviantart.com/

Cool. I appreciate the help. Actually this is kind of funny but I happen to have a female alt with 3 pieces of Heart of the Predator gear. Waist, legs, chest. I temporarily turned my alt into Lyubov. The only notable difference (I think) is that my alt has a Mesa body type (Amazon) but otherwise I really do think it looks 99% accurate. No she doesn't look like Stompa! lol. Stay tuned guys.

Ooo, would enjoy seeing Mina and AmaMina come face to face

Sizing each other up (or down), specially if Mina goes "My butt is not that big!!"

Oh yeah, one last thing I decided to retcon Gallius' origin without negating anything I've written down into a flipbook. This is something that I'm pretty excited about as it opens up a myriad of new ideas for stories for me.
So just like Daxamites are of Kryptonian descent, Nypreans are of Talokite descent! Hence the blue skin.

Do you need specific kind of pics ? I can look through what I have stored up and send some your way. Don't have a sub right now so I am limited in where I can take pics.

Well if you have a pic of Bern without his chest armor against a black background that would be great (and flaming sword in hand would be even better) I usually just enter the league hall and take a screenshot against a corner wall in there somewhere. It's ok if you don't have the time though I can pull this off regardless.

Is a flaming hammer ok?

Sure. I can always do some touch up.

Part 2 of 3 - "Divide and Conquer"

Mina heard an explosion from miles away and a black plume of smoke rose into the Oan sky.

"That has to be him!" exclaimed the Star Sapphire. Mina took flight leaving the injured green lanterns behind while streaking across the sky towards the rising black cloud. Moments later she descended upon an area where the air itself was hot and difficult to breathe. Two figures stood before her. Guy Gardner lay sprawled on the charred ground grimacing and Bern Unit stood before Guy with punctured chest armor exposing his glowing rock-like torso radiating tremendous amounts of heat.
"I am sorry for this ..." Bern Unit creates a flaming blade and holds it above his head.
Mina's eyes got big at this sight. The Star Sapphire shouted at Bern Unit to get his attention. Mina aimed her ring at Guy and blasted a concentrated violet beam at him. The big man plunged the fiery blade downward going for the sternum. The blade tip was instead met with resistance as a violet spherical shield enveloped Gardner. The burning blade cracked the shield and was halted mere inches from the red lantern's chest.

"Bern! What are you doing?" yelled out a distraught Mina. "Guy's a green lantern!"
Bern was now getting frustrated with this situation. "That's not what my eyes are telling me! Are we not trying to stop his rampage now??"
Bern dispelled his flaming sword and Mina let her shield disintegrate. Breathing heavily, Guy's eyes turned red once again and blood ran down his nose and mouth.
"I . . . I can't control it man!" pleaded Gardner while shaking his head. "You have to help me before it kills me!!"
Mina tried to reason with the 9 foot behemoth before her. "Bern we have to restore him to his normal state somehow!"
The blood on Gardner's face burst into flames as he went into an uncontrolled rage.

Bern Unit shifted his focus from Mina back towards Gardner and all he saw was glowing red contruct chains wrapping around him over and over until he could see nothing but glowing red in front of his face. Guy grabbed hold of the chains and hammer threw the big man some 100 yards away. Bern landed in the field nearby in a knotted ball of chain links. While inside, Bern intensified his radiating heat and using his incredible strength began to exert pressure on the construct chain link mass.
Meanwhile Mina was left alone to fend for herself against the raging lantern.



Elsewhere, the Alien Nomad was on a search and rescue for any remaining green lantern survivors amidst the masses of black lanterns. The number of black lanterns present seemed overwhelming.
Gallius decided he needed something while he recharged for another time bomb. He tore a hole in the fabric of space before him. What stood in front of him was a black void. A pocket dimension.

He reaches in the void and pulls out an otherwordly claymore. An oversized two-handed sword with a bluish-purple rock crystal right down the middle of the blade. The crystal shard glowed with quantum energy and Gallius added a heavy graviton weight to the blade. Running down the hallways with a long flowing cape he would ambush the zombified lanterns with the Claymore of Talados. With the magnified weight of the sword, Gallius would slice through his foes like a hot knife through butter.

He kept going until not a single shriek could be heard in the hallways. The blue alien cautiously entered a room at the end of the corridor. He looks around and noticed some green lantern core members sitting, slumped against the wall in the shadows. Gallius walked over to the lanterns who managed to remain conscious despite serious injuries. "Just the guys I was looking for." announced Gallius in a low tone.
Gallius got down on one knee and spoke with them at eye-level.
"So . . . you might know this one guy who looks after the city of Metropolis on planet Earth. They made a golden statue after him?"
The exhausted lanterns just stared at him. One of them nodded, and with eyes half-opened forced out a sound. "Soop . . . Super..." said the lantern through a strained voice.
"Yes. That guy. Incredibly strong. And he projects this . . . heat vision." stated Gallius.
The core members were now wondering what on Oa was this blue guy going on about?
"So that's kind of my plan here . . . except it'll be a cold laser having the opposite effect. Shield your eyes." Gallius tore their shirts open and used a bluish-white ocular beam on their wounds and their wounds started to close up. After being fully healed, the group of lanterns decided it was time to recharge their rings and rebuild Oa.
Gallius then made haste as he teleported outside the stronghold and rocketed across the sky in search of Mina and Bern.

"Fresh meat ... you're next!!" thundered Guy as attempted to chase Mina down in a furious aerial chase.
"I'm gonna dropkick you 2 bums on outta here!!", screamed Gardner in his rancor. Mina spun around and created a violet javelin construct hurtling it at Gardner with all her might. Gardner grit his red teeth in pain as the javelin pierced his right thigh. The red lantern pulled out the javelin tossing it aside in disgust. Guy vomited forth a stream of red hot plasma from his mouth at the Star Sapphire and Mina ducked her head behind a violet shield. Mina flung her construct shield at Guy the shield caroming off his head leaving him dazed. Seeing doubles, Gardner flew towards Mina while repeatedly shooting red concentrated cones of energy at her. One of the blasts hit her on her right arm sending her plummeting to the ground. There lay Mina on the ground wincing in pain. For a brief moment Larisa came to mind. "I won't leave you honey." muttered the Sapphire.

Mina leaning to her right clutched her right hand as her ring shone brightly. "You can do this. You CAN . . . . and you WILL!"

Guy Gardner holding a spiked mace with both hands dropped from the sky, aiming for a killshot on the Star Sapphire below.

*My Reaction*


Sorry for the late reply. Currently on assignment in Phoenix for work but I managed to read this on my downtime and Nomad, you have outdone yourself. Those images and that cliffhanger ending . It's going to be tough following up after that.

Nice addition friend. Can we just take a sec and applaud the image editing you do with your stuff. Well done sir. I like the notion of keeping the team split up as long as possible. It will be interesting to see how Ms. Benz wraps this up. In addition I also look forward to your epilogue to see where this all goes for Gallius when this is concluded. I like the use of Gallius's powers there with the black hole and pulling out the sword there. I agree with Benz, nice cliff hanger. This has been fun, writing with the two of you and I look forward to seeing how the three tackle their crimson foe/friend.