Star Burst

Chapter 4

By: BigToFu

Beta:

Smiling at the assembled masses, I waved with a glowing green arm for all to see. As I waved and soaked in the jubilation of the masses, a gigantic meaty hand slammed down on my shoulder. The force of the impact caused me to wince a little as I landed from the hover I was using to be seen.

Turning to look at the giant orange horse-headed man, I took the shoulder pat since it seemed to be very well-meaning as he directed me towards the leaders of this ship. Head held high, I walked before Beta Ray as he walked behind me as the path parted. Here and there arms came forth to pat me on the shoulder, those actions only gave me more of a reminder of how fragile the human body is.

It was strange, here I am amongst all of these people as even the smallest of them stood at least a head taller and all I could think about was what I was going to get out of this situation. Not only that, but my other idle thoughts were on what type of improvements I could make to my body. It's not like I hadn't thought of it before. I had used the time dilation after all, to a lesser degree than the one in Dragon Ball Z, to help myself train.

Those thoughts fluttered right out of my head as a very very leggy Korbinite crossed my path. My gaze trailed up from her legs covered in a red shoal-like dress to setting on her feathers. They were obviously soft, denoting that this one was a female even if she had no hair on her head and her skin was of a soft orange to the more earthy tones around me. Then again, with legs like those leading up to killer thighs, it was hard not to notice that stride or the mounds on the chest.

Chuckling at the side, Beta Ray gave me a quick bump before stepping before the man that was clearly the elder of this ship.

"Come offworlder, let me introduce you to the Imperial Leader." Beta Ray said as he waved an arm at the man standing before me on a mini podium. The leader had the same orange skin as the others with the same almost featureless face, yet he stood tall with his back straight. The leader wore a blue shirt with a high purple color that went down into a purple cape that hung off of his back.

Those that gathered around then a thump ran throughout the room as everyone placed a fist over their heads and bowed their heads. The Imperial leader stepped forward before performing the same salute himself.

"On the behalf of my people, I thank you." The Imperial leader spoke his voice resounding throughout the cargo hold.

Instead of letting things get awkward, I helped the older gentlemen up, "Thank you for such a showing, but as a Green Lantern of Sector two eight one four, it is in my duty to assist those in need."

The older Korbinite gave me a smile as he lowered his arms, those around us also raised up and let out a cheer. Things progressed from there as people started to split off and do their own thing. Interestingly enough, I heard the name of the ship and I almost let out a laugh at it.

Turns out the ship was called the Skuttlebutt, now that was an interesting name. We walked and talked for a moment and I tried not to act like I noticed Beta Ray acting as the power muscle as he walked around smiling and interacting with the people around.

This went on for some time and I acted as if I was a prized pony at the show, we did three more rounds before making it to the room the Imperial leader wanted. Drifting along in an easy glide, I acted as if I hadn't noticed what the Imperial leader was doing.

Honestly, I was alright with where this might be heading if I could get a nice prize out of it. Hiding my thoughts, I took the seat across from the Imperial leader as he directed. The door swished closed behind my location and I ignored the way Beta Ray posted up as if he would be able to hold me. Yet, I guess if I wanted what I wanted, I had to let him believe that he had the upper hand.

Taking my seat across from the imperial leader, I smiled as I played my part.

The Imperial Leader leaned back in his seat before deciding to speak while the hologram sprang to life showing the Korbinite homeworld. "Before we get to the formalities, let me share with you how the Korbinite people arrived here today."

The Imperial leader was a skilled orator and his story had my rapt attention as he shared the exploits of his people. His story continued until the fire demons came and then with that the destruction of their planet. A few things stood out to me as I listened to his tale.

One was that they came from somewhere close to the center of the universe. And the other was that the descriptions of these fire demons match Sutor and his ilk, well damn. That's not something I would like to tangle with so soon. But I was certain that such information would work out for me in the long run.

"Sorry to interrupt, but do you happen to have any images or scans of these fire demons so that I may be aware of their abilities," I asked with a slight raise of my hand interrupting the Imperial Leader of the Korbinites.

The Imperial Leader nodded his head as he then started to press a few keys. The hologram changed and I was greeted with a three-dimensional form of a giant ugly bastard.

"Let's start with the leader, his name is Surtur and he is the leader of what we know to be a mixture of planetary masses and a dimensionally displaced flame domain." The imperial leader said, then with a wave of his hand, my ring flashed. Tilting my head to the side.

Athena notified me about the information packet that just came over with a burst from the local subspace band. Smiling at the Imperial Leader, I projected some of the information that he was providing into the air before me in the form of a hand tablet.

On the sly though, I was having Athena checking all of the information that he had sent in a sandbox program. The sandbox was a micro quarantine zone to make sure that I didn't just accept anything from these advanced civilizations. I was after all just a puny human that's very squishy. There was also the fact that I didn't grow up with such advanced tech at my fingertips, but also being careful keeps me from losing everything.

The Imperial leader continued on sharing the information while I had to not roll my eyes at the mole program. The mole could gather what information it could before sending it back in a microburst whenever I decided to contact the Korbinite people once more.

Funnily enough, the Imperial Leader was sitting at avarice forty percent while Beta Ray was sitting at an avarice zero percent, yet his compassion was in the high sixties.

Putting aside my thoughts on wanting to recruit the big lug, I settled in for the long haul because it was clear that this leader had a set of pipes on him.

=][=

Two hours later….

Standing in the cargo bay, I stood off to the side as I watched as Clint brought my talon in for a landing. I had one hand up projecting large markers to illuminate the location assigned to my craft by the Korbinites. The meeting was just as rough as I had thought that it would be, but I had toughed it out since it allowed me the time to have Athena copy their entire network.

To cover that up, I had played it off by asking for a copy of their medical data so that I might help in assisting any wounded.

Dismissing the projections, I smiled as Clint came out of the Talon with a look of wonder on his face. He stood there in one of my spare space suits, but looking at him, I was starting to feel bad since I had dragged him all the way out here to the far reaches of space.

Floating over and landing just outside of his reach, I held my left hand up, a glowing green ring for those in the cargo hold to see if they turned and looked.

"Athena, training ring please," I spoke with clear commands in my tone. My left-hand middle finger flashed once before a ring floated upwards off of my hand. My main ring was still on my middle finger, but now there was a hovering green ring floating for half a second before it responded to my thoughts.

Clint jumped as the ring flew to him, his right hand came up automatically to swat it away, but the ring was just too fast for base human reflexes. My eyes tracked it as the ring slid onto Clint's fingers, once it was settled, a wave of green washed over the super spy.

Clint stood there in front of me shocked for a moment before he started to feel himself over. He checked his face, then his arms before looking down at what he was wearing. Clint was dressed in a classic green and black green lantern outfit with trainee written on the back. The outfit was one of the basic bodysuit options with padding that looked like under armor and no domino mask to hide his identity.

I found that interesting, but put that aside and just played it off as one of those effects I have been having on my ring. I had noticed that with the download of human psychology, the ring had adapted in numerous ways since most of its cues to human understanding came from myself. The no mask thing most likely fell under the psychological boost of coordination and empathy when you looked at another's face versus a mask.

Then again, I had read that paper a while back before I had even picked up the ring, it was what influenced me to not pull a tiny mask, as Hal did in the comics. Then again, I could also leave the planet at my leisure so it wasn't as if I had the looming hand of the government hanging over my head. Getting out of my own head, I turned my focus back to Clint.

I noticed how excited he was as he kept checking his body. "Woah, you gave me one?"

"Yeah, I did."

"But you said-"

"I know what I said, but it would be poor of me to force you to stay inside of that dreadful suit all week," I answered with a shrug. "Just understand that you are under trainee protocols, now flying is simple, but we are still going to practice a few things before I introduce you to the people you helped save. Also, I believe Kilowog is around here somewhere and he wants to meet another Terran."

With that said, I started to hover forwards as Clint did a weird horizontal shifting thing before his eyes started to flash green and he got a better handle on things. Nodding my head as Clint got a better handle on the flying, I took him to the side and tried to explain how the projections worked.

"Alright, let me give you the basics of how to form a projection," I said as I hovered before Clint with my arms behind my back.

Clint put up his hand and I had to wave for him to answer. "I appreciate this and all but why even give me one of these." Clint held up his fist for me to see and I gave him a nod in return.

"That's pretty simple, I agreed to escort the Skuttlebutt, to the Korbinites new homeworld," I answered with a shrug. "That's going to take a week and I don't think you want to stay on my little ship the entire time."

Clint's eyes widened before he stowed whatever it was that he was thinking. "But why the ring?"

"Ohh that's an easy one, the environmental shields will allow you to survive in any environment, it will also allow you to partake in foods not suitable for human digestive systems," I replied before projecting a hologram between us. "Out in space, there are many unique species, but not everyone eats the same thing. The rings expand upon us being omnivores allowing us to digest just about anything while also protecting us against poisons."

"Neat," Clint muttered as he looked at his ring.

"Yep, you can also call home if you get homesick, video chat also, just don't go trying to fly back. Wormhole functions are locked for trainee's and you can't go further than a system's distance so keep that in mind. Your ring will also charge off of my own."

Clint gave his hand a harder look when I had mentioned that he would be able to call home. Letting that slide right by, I gave Clint some time to think about it before I made an interruption. Allowing Clint to have his moment, I then called him over for some instructions.

"Now, the ring has the basic knowledge on how to create projections but that's just in a nebulous universal understanding, what I'm going to share is my way on how to do things," I spoke as I placed my hands on my hips superhero pose style. "So to keep things simple, I am going to use your bow as an example, the one you were using when we met."

Hovering backward, I then held up a hand, "To create a projection, the ring will just tell you to will your thoughts upon the world. Yeah, that sounds easy, but it's not so simple."

Clint gave me a nod with a raised brow.

"You can't just push your will unto the world because that's just going to waste energy and wasting charge is just a no-go when you don't even know what the situation might call for."

"That's basic combat awareness and preparedness"

"Correct in one," I said as I pointed a finger at him. "What you want to do is create an image in your mind before pushing it outwards. There are two ways to do that."

Saying that I projected a simple bow and arrow between Clint and myself. He gave a low whistle. Clint looked at me and I of course gave the go-ahead and let him hover around the projection to take a closer look. Once he had more than enough time to examine the projection, I dismissed it.

"As you noticed, a quick thought projection isn't worth much," I said, getting a nod from Clint. "So, what you want to use is something that you are extremely familiar with like that bow."

Then before us, the compound bow that I had witnessed Clint use started to form in my right hand. The string, cables, the double cams, then the upper and lower limbs, I went for as much detail as I could remember to make it seem as real as life.

Then once I had it complete, I held up the compound bow and flexed it once to show Clint a shining green arrow notched. Clint flew closer to take a look, surprise clear on his face. If he only knew that I could use matter materialization and make it far more than just a power ring construct.

"How? What... No way." Clint breathed as he took a closer look.

"Yeah, basically the rule of thumb is if you can think of it, you can use it, but the best constructs are those made with alot of detail. The trick is being able to pull this off during combat." I said before my aura shifted allowing my battle armor to appear for a brief moment. "The key is to already have a few designs in mind that can run multifunctional roles."

I gave him a gesture and Clint got a look in his eye that spoke of massive determination. Turning in the air, I flew over to my ship before landing on the top and forming a nice recliner for me to relax in. Kicking a leg up, I projected a tablet to use in today's viewing. Ignoring the flashes of green, I pulled up the videos that Clint was recording while I was with the Imperial Leader.

I could say never trust a super spy, but that would be redundant since I never trusted him to begin with. The Marvel Cinematic Universe might say he was trustable on the big screen and the Marvel comics might also give the same credence, but I was living this life now. I might be able to bullshit in the SHIELD HQ since I had the advantage, but these were still super spies and at the end of the day they worked for Fury, not myself. Sure, I might give Fury a bone, but that was to save me all the hassle, nothing more.

Leaning back in my chair, I allowed things to progress as I reviewed all of the footage.

=][=

After about four days into the journey, I had finally decided to speed things up since I had started to get a bad feeling. The feeling that I was getting wasn't around the Skuttlebutt and the voyage, but it did strike anytime I thought about earth or had the solar system up.

So with that feeling, I decided to talk with the Imperial Leader about getting the show on the road. Of course, a man like him in such a position did not want to risk anything. It took hours of talking, and him trying to make subtle plays for my ring and its database.

It wasn't until I decided to play hardball with leaving that Beta Ray finally stepped in and made the call since his leader would not. So here I was at the ass end of the other side of the galaxy because I wanted to be the hero of my tale.

Standing behind me in an air bubble were Clint Barton, Kilowog my Lantern, and Beta Ray the champion of the Korbonite people. The trainee ring that I had given Clint had pulled in the big man something fierce. It also helped that Kilowog was a nice sparring partner for the big lug, but like they said you can catch more with honey than vinegar.

It was clear for any who was watching to see that I was making a soft sell for Beta Ray to join my team. It was also of course why he was standing out on the top of the ship's hull with us in the vacuum of space. Bracing myself as I looked out towards the stars, I held both hands forward before letting the coordinates of the Korbonites new homeworld flow right through me.

Both arms grew heavy with power, yet, I dug before willing the energy forth into the world forcing a wormhole to appear.

[Stabilized...]

Grinning, I then turned my left towards the ship allowing my environmental aura to extend downwards to excuse the Skuttlebutt.

"Kilowog."

"Got it boss," Kilowog replied as he took up a position at the back of the ship before expanding his own environmental aura.

With my attention turned back towards the wormhole, I waited for Kilowog to get into position. My ring flashed and I knew that it was time. Bracing myself, I had Athena take over the controls of the ship before having her guide us in.

I could feel the wide-eyed gaze of those behind me, but I kept my head straight and shoulders squared. The rule of the game was to fake it till you make it, but here right now, I was saving an entire species from extinction and meeting some of my favorites from the comics.

Honestly, I wanted to say life was good, but I had to swallow that back since it would be invoking the name of that asshole Murphy. Instead, I settled in for the grind as the Skuttlebutt slowly moved through the stable wormhole in space.

Five minutes of agonizing back and forth that felt somewhere in the range of too damn long was what it took to finally get the ship through and onto the other side.

On the other side of the wormhole was a bright orange planet that reminded me of Saturn, that was if Saturn didn't have any ice rings and read as habitable to my ring's sensors. Bringing the ship around, I allowed it to settle into orbit over the new homeworld, but before I could say anything. I was swept up into a mighty hug.

"Thank you, Green Warrior, you have lifted a great burden from my shoulders." Beta Ray spoke with clear joy in his voice even if it sounded a bit on the stressful side. Giving the big man a smile, I gave him a few pats before he let me go.

"Think nothing of it, it's what Green Lanterns do," I replied with a kind smile before leaping up off the hull of the ship. "I'm sure that your leaders are excited, we should talk them into sending down a science party first."

Beta Ray nodded his head before turning to head for the airlock. Hovering over to Clint's side, I was about to talk to him about the Korbonites landing down on the planet first when my ring started to blare an alarm.

Instantly I took up a combat stance before allowing a HUD to form showing me the incoming subspace communication.

[Cosmic Anomaly, Earth attack imminent, New Mexico.]

Well, dip me in grease and call me slick.

Opening comms, I contacted Kilowog letting him know that he would be taking the lead on the situation here. Twisting around I gave Clint a hard look. "I hope you're ready for this."

Then before he could answer, I wrapped us both in a green force field with layered hexagonal plates. One hundred meters to our right the space warped and then we were off. My shields rattled from the speeds but held firm under my will as the space around us warped and shifted.

We went from billions of light-years away from the planet Earth to right outside its upper atmosphere within moments. Comms traffic slammed into my ears, but it was all ignored as Athena filtered out the more important parts that were relevant to this attack.

It would seem that the Destroyer armor was the thing that had tripped Athena's emergency protocols. The thing had popped up but she ignored it until the blasted robot started to shoot up the place.

"Clint, I am going to let you out as I swing around the left side of that diner. Evacuate that scientist lady and her cosplaying Vikings." I told the man as I thought out what I would need to knock that thing on its ass.

"Got it," Clint replied as he was released from my shields.

The energy that I had used to construct the shields turned into liquid power as it coiled into a massive mace gripped in my left hand. Before the massive destroyer from Asgard was a beaten and bloody blonde form that I had to protect.

I couldn't tell who it was due to how broken the body looked, but that didn't matter right now. The important thing was to get the robot off the civilian and get them some medical attention while I handle the automaton.

With a resounding BOOM, my foot dug into the ground planting me firmly allowing a solid base to swing from. The mace with all of its spikes formed and I could feel the weight settle within my grip. Mu muscles shifted from the construct as my will brought it into reality. The made wasn't anything fancy, but it was sturdy, solid, and would get the job done. With my weapon gripped by both of my hands, I twisted and swung upwards with all of my enhanced Lantern might.

My construct shattered upon impact with the jaw of the destroyer as I sent the automaton flying ass over teakettle. Breathing hard, I turned to the civilian only to catch the smell of ozone and the crackle of electricity.

Author's N:

Boom, that's all she wrote folks, hope you all have enjoyed it.

Someone posted a review on why he had to lie to Fury and Thor, it like no one reads or uses common sense, or context clues anymore. When you deal with major powers never deal from a position of weakness. Anyone on earth would be able to pick up the green comet that flys around the solar system and the giant green battery sitting on the surface of mars.

He is human, even if he visit periodically to earth, he would still need a reason for his power etc, etc, because SHIELD or any other powerful government agency would be a pain in the ass. With that one meeting with Fury, things are set so no one would bother him because if they somehow make him vanish. There is a team of superspace cops that will come to find out what has happened.

Besides the whole keeping everyone on the backfoot, this also dangles bait in front of Fury and anyone in positions of power that read it. Since you know Dom is the leader so they might be able to get alien tech out of him or push one of their own into the Lantern Corps.

Just by being a con-man, Dom is now able to come and go from the earth as he pleases while also getting a leg up with the royal family of Asgard. Yeah, both Fury and Odin are bastards but they know where the bread is being buttered when they both won't have access beyond their atmospheres. Fury will always be a spy's spy so just giving out everything to the man is just asking him to sell your booty and helping him count the cash. Odin is the same way, the best you can do is toss then both a bone so they stop being grumpy dogs, plain and simple.

Shrugs, there is alot more going on than what the surface level of things always shows. Anyway, I generally dont reply in such a fashion but man I had to choose between dropping an insult or just shrugging and explaining myself.

Then I realized that I dont have to explain myself to internet people, but I did and it's for those that had their big brain moment and figure it out. It's also for those who dont understand the WHY of what Dom is doing.

There is always a method to the madness, and I would hope that treating folks as if they are wearing their adult pants since this is a mature story, they would be able to sort things out with context clues buffed by the lore already out in the wild.

Happy Holidays Folks.