It took a week to fully recharge both rings.

 

 

 

During that time Jake spent most of his time doing research and attempting to figure out exactly what he had been doing. He took time away from the casino, far from prying eyes to examine his 'default' equipment. It looked all the world like he was a knight of some sort. What nation or government he worked for? Unclear.

 

Full suit of shiny armor, but of metal that didn't detect as any known metal that the rings could understand. Jake knew that it was some sort of magical alloy, but he'd be damned if he understood the details. He kept running into a wall in his head. The more he tried to bash the wall down, the more it became apparent to him that he had it put up on purpose. For some reason or another, he was deliberately hiding information from himself. Unfortunately, he didn't know why.

 

"So I have a spell in my head segregating my memories. A suit of mythical metal, magical pouches that access subspace storage, A couple of folded up wanted posters drawn on actual parchment, a magic sword that mumbles about killing the infidels, a collection of magical grimoires, what appears to be an actual dragon's hoard, including said dragon's bones..." He rubbed his forehead, "And the distinct feeling I'm forgetting something really important."

 

Yellow confirmed Jake's assumptions, ~From what data I have left from The Sinestro Corps, it would appear you have some sort of anti-demon weapon. However, the material it is made of is plain, simple steel. I am not sure why it isn't the same material as your armor.~

 

Red commented ~Both are vastly inferior to me, of course.~

 

Jake rolled his eyes as he sat on the edge of a rather worn-down building overlooking the streets of Gotham, "It's not a dick-measuring contest." He pulled out one of the dragon's claws and looked at it in his hand, turning it over and over, "Something went wrong. I know it. I need to get inside my head. Thoughts?"

 

Yellow chimed in, ~Your memories seem to indicate that Wonder Woman would have the solution. Either her or Martian Manhunter.~

 

"Yeah... but I don't trust those guys. Something is off. I don't know what timeline this is. Everything seems a bit jumbled. Nothing is-" Jake paused as he caught something out of the corner of his eye. A slinky, black-clad figure on a rooftop about a mile away gracefully flipped up over the edge of the building in the docks district and in one smooth motion disappeared into an air vent. Jake wouldn't have noticed the figure normally...

 

If she wasn't glowing with rage.

 

"Well, crap." Jake thought for a second, then activated his Red ring's predator mode and effectively became a blur as he flew across the city skyline to investigate, "That's just too tasty to pass up." He arrived at the building, feeling more than just a mere spike in local hate and fear levels.

"This is what I hate about Gotham. Nothing is clear cut." He followed in through the vent to emerge in a vaulted room full of various crates and poor lighting, ~Rings. Emotion-vision.~

 

Red grumbled, ~I hate it when you call it that.~

 

Creeping across the top of the crates was his target, dressed up in a catsuit. She was blazing red with rage, with hints of worry. Not for her safety, but for the safety of someone else.

 

~Oh crap. Do I want to get in...~

 

That's when he saw about a dozen female forms, obviously restrained, stacked like cordwood in one of the larger shipping crates. Each one was softly glowing yellow.

 

~...Volved. Crap.~ He shook his head slightly, ~Guess there's no way out of this now.~ He brought his red ring up to eye level and looked over it at who was the one and only Catwoman, ~Think you can tap into that rage and give me a telepathic connection?~

 

Arrogantly the red ring replied ~Child's play.~ Jake saw her head jerk slightly as he felt the connection click.

 

~Why hello, Kitty-Kitty. Could not help but notice your tail was twitching quite furiously as you stalked your prey. I assume it has something to do with those... fourteen women bound, gagged, and sedated in the shipping container over there.~ Jake projected an illusion to make the crate in question flare for a second, then shared his 'fear-vision' to make it clear exactly where the women were located inside.

 

Selina pulled back from the edge of her perch and looked around, ~Bats, did you call in your friend Marvin the Martian?~ She thought back.

 

Jake nodded approvingly as he replied, ~Odd. Most people don't have experience with telepathy. And no. Not the Manhunter.~

 

Selina sighed and kept looking around, ~I meant it. I'm going to murder these fuckers. I won't have you talking me out of it.~

 

~I'm not with Batman.~ Jake went quiet as he suddenly had a bit of a flashback. Less of an experience, and more of a general overall feeling, ~I've killed more than I care to remember. It's a burden. How about instead we give them a fate worse than death?~ Jake took the time to feel out the rest of the building. There were about six men in total. Three were up in the office that overlooked the entire warehouse, two wandering the warehouse, and one in the shipping container itself. Jake outlined them with red auras that she could see through intervening objects, ~But I'm not a hypocrite. I'll outline them for you if you wish to handle this yourself.~

 

~If I was the only one on this job, maybe I'd take you up on it.~ Catwoman turned to look right at Jake, ~But my partner already made up her mind.~

 

Jake pulled his head back slightly in shock, then turned to look behind himself to see if she was looking through him at someone. Turns out she was. Well, not a someone, a something. It appeared to be a cross between a spider, a ball of vines, and a snapdragon flower about the size of a cocker spaniel. It breathed a blast of swirling pinkish dust directly at Jake. He remained motionless, trusting his environmental shielding to protect him from whatever effect it would have.

 

Boy was Jake surprised when he started to feel tingling all over.

 

~What the Hell is going on?~ Jake lost his concentration and abruptly dropped out of the air, falling into a wooden crate and caving the top in on impact. He heard the sound of running feet as guards started to rush to investigate the sound. Jake found himself coughing as he curled up, ~How did that affect me?~

 

Yellow scrolled text past Jake's vision as it analyzed the effect, ~That attack tapped into The Green. Because we have both been reconfigured to absorb ambient emotions, it seems we're vulnerable to emotion-based attacks.~

 

~It appears to be trying to make you fall in love. However, your lack of a heart to target is causing an unexpected side effect.~ Red seemed almost happy about this. As Jake listened, he could hear the first guard reach the crate he had fallen into. The crate was large and tall, so the guard couldn't immediately see what happened. Jake was struggling to regain control of his mind when he heard the sound of a submachine gun's bolt being pulled back as the user prepared to fire. Jake assumed that meant he'd soon riddle the box with bullets.

 

"SOLUTIONS!" Jake croaked his demand as he tried to ignore the pain wracking his body.

 

Red smugly replied, ~Let me take control.~

 

Jake didn't have time to formally agree. As soon as he even thought of letting Red take over, he felt himself transform. His body became feral. His mouth seemed to become more snout-like as his teeth changed completely to that of a predatory carnivore. Jake's whole body started to expand even as the bullets ripped through the side of the crate and his body.

 

Not that it made a difference.

 

~So Much To Work With...~ Red thought as Jake felt something click in his head. It was as if he had spent years fighting, learning how to kill, and suddenly all that muscle memory was unleashed at once. His elongated arm shot through the side of the crate. A claw-tipped hand slipped effortlessly into the thug's chest. Jake felt his fingers slip around the man's cardiovascular pump and squeeze. In one smooth motion, Jake finished bursting out of the crate to shred both it and the man into chunks that flew away in an ever-expanding cloud of splinters, blood, and gore.

 

The red lantern ring had managed to purge him of the offending emotion that was invading his mind. The price was that Jake was now just a passenger in his mind. He got to watch in horror as his body tossed the heart up into the air, followed by his mouth snapping shut on it to swallow it down in a single gulp. He could feel it slide down his throat, only to be processed by the acidic plasma that permeated his entire body.

 

The result on the rest of the occupants of the warehouse was quite astounding.

 

Poison Ivy, because of her plant nature, didn't give off any emotion on the spectrum that Jake was capable of detecting. Her connection to The Green rendered her invisible to Jake's Emotion-Vision. She had already charmed the three men in the office and was planning on something a bit subtler than what Jake was doing at the moment. She had just stepped out of the office and was walking down the stairs to the floor of the warehouse when she got to watch Jake dismember and eat a man's heart.

 

She had expected a different result from her pet's attack.

 

~SheAttackedSheDies!~ Red grunted in Jake's mind as he felt himself focusing on a new target. At the same time, Yellow was giggling in his mind, clearly reveling in the elevated levels of fear of those witnessing the horrific murder.

 

~Stand DOWN!~ Jake shouted in his head, but all he could hear from Red was, ~KillKillKillKillKillKillKillKillKi-~ Over and over. He coiled up and leaped through the air, mouth open wide as he was aiming to bite Poison Ivy's head off. Fortunately for Ivy, her thralls were more than happy to fight and die to protect their new queen. They pushed her out of the way as they drew pistols and opened fire. Jake couldn't understand why Red wasn't activating any defenses, but it didn't take long to figure it out. The pain of the bullets ripping through his body was fueling Red. Jake's body effectively no longer had any vital organs, with the possible exception of his head. The red ring regenerated his body at a stunning rate, so all a headshot did was take Jake out of the picture and let the Red ring control his body even longer.

 

 

 

 

 

The moment Jake realized this was when a forty-five slug entered his right eye, went through the left side of his brain, then made a hole about the size of the Holland Tunnel going out the back.