Chapter 483: The Simple Folk of Gotham City (1)
Chapter 483: The Simple Folk of Gotham City (1)
When discussing the background story of the Green Lantern Corps, one often hears about a key point: the Green Lanterns' fear of Yellow Lantern Energy.
In theory, even though the Lantern Corps have different colors, they shouldn't possess the same kind of attribute interactions as seen in video games, where one color restrains another. Each Lantern Corps represents different emotions, and their colors are varied simply to reflect this diversity. There's no concrete reason one should inherently counter another. So why are the Green Lanterns weak against the Yellow Lanterns?
This brings us back to the unlucky Guardians of the Universe.
As the earliest intelligent life to emerge in space and having developed an advanced civilization over countless millennia, they crafted the Green Lantern Corps using the emotional spectrum of light. They, like other intelligent civilizations, worried that their creations might betray them.
Hence, these super-powered and invincible beings came up with a brilliant idea to prevent a potential rebellion of the Green Lantern Corps – they placed the embodiment of fear, the Yellow Lantern Beast Parallax, inside the central power battery of the Green Lanterns.
The Green Lantern power battery could contain Parallax, but in doing so, the Yellow Lantern Beast Parallax infiltrated the Green Lantern power battery, creating a blind spot in the spectrum of green light. As a result, Yellow Lantern Energy became a weakness of the Green Lanterns. When exposed to this energy, they would become powerless at best and severely weakened at worst.
Following this, the Guardians of the Universe painted their homes yellow, believing that the Green Lanterns would hesitate to attack them.
This immensely advanced race that emerged in the early stages of space, with wisdom accumulated over millennia, didn't employ the strategies, class divisions, or leadership support that other intelligent life forms might use to prevent their creations from turning against them. Instead, they stuffed Parallax into the battery and painted their houses in their version of fan support colors.
No matter how many times this plan is repeated, it remains rather nonsensical.
Nevertheless, the Guardians of the Universe did succeed. After locking Parallax inside the Green Lantern power battery, Yellow Lanterns indeed became the Green Lanterns' weakness. Schiller, who knew the comic book plot well, naturally understood how to deal with the Green Lanterns.Previously, due to Parallax's absence, Pikachu had absorbed a significant amount of Yellow Lantern power, filling the void left by the absence of a Lantern creature. Pikachu had become a legitimate Yellow Lantern Beast.
Therefore, if Schiller were to emulate the Guardians of the Universe's approach and place the Yellow Lantern Beast back into the central power battery of the Green Lantern Corps, Yellow Lanterns could once again become a weakness of the Green Lanterns.
Of course, Schiller didn't possess a Yellow Lantern ring. While he could summon a Yellow Lantern ring, after Batman and Aisha teamed up to teach Sinessto a lesson and Sinestro fled the city, Batman certainly blacklisted the city overnight. Thus, Schiller might not be able to summon the Yellow Lantern ring.
However, they did have something even more powerful than a Yellow Lantern ring – the former Yellow Lantern Beast Parallax, now in the form of Batman's daughter, Aisha.
Aisha, transformed from Parallax to Aisha, experienced a rebirth, albeit not a complete one.
Using the shell of the Egg of Madness, she became a smaller version of Bruce. But at the same time, she retained Parallax's essence. This inherent duality granted her the ability to harness the "fear" emotional spectrum energy within Space.
However, to transform the emotion of fear into energy, she would require a power battery. Given that Gotham City lacked such a battery, theoretically, Aisha didn't possess energy. It was akin to a mobile phone with no battery charge – it could technically function, but without a power source, it couldn't activate.
Yet, let's not forget that Gotham City was home to the darkest source of fear in the entire DC universe – Batman.
When Schiller arrived at the top of the building with Aisha in his arms, watching the green Green Lanterns descend like auroras from the sky, Aisha didn't immediately rush forward to find her teething toy. Instead, she swiveled her small head back and forth, seemingly searching for someone.
Suddenly, her head stopped, and her gaze fixated on a certain point in the distance. It seemed she had found what she was looking for, and with a swift "whoosh," she disappeared.
At this moment, Batman stood atop another high-rise building, adjusting his Bat Wing. Upon seeing the descending green lights, he knew a tough battle lay ahead.
With a loud bang, a noise echoed outside the cockpit of his aircraft. Batman turned with a puzzled expression and pressed a button. After opening the cockpit door, a small figure darted in, leaping straight into Batman's arms.
"Wow wow wow wow! Wow wow!"
Batman: "...?"
Aisha kept exclaiming "wow" for a while, but Batman couldn't understand anything she was saying. Finally, Aisha grew impatient and opened her mouth, letting out a loud "roar."
In an instant, Batman felt a moment of dizziness. A series of fragmented scenes flashed through his vision – a dark night sky, narrow alleyways, muffled gunshots, scattered pearls...
These images passed by so quickly that he could barely make them out before they vanished from his sight. This illusion only lasted for a moment. Immediately afterward, his vision was filled with an intense yellow light.
Aisha, in Batman's arms, became like a radiant light bulb, emitting a dazzling yellow glow. Her eyes turned golden with slit pupils, two pointed horns sprouted from her forehead, and a large tail emerged from her back.
She floated in mid-air, detached from Batman's embrace, and in the next moment, she disappeared, reappearing in the center of the battlefield.
Just as Thaal, who had recently arrived in Gotham City and was observing the city's situation, was puzzledly looking around, a sun-like orb of light descended before him. Upon closer inspection, he saw a little girl at the center of the luminous sphere.
Thaal was puzzled for a moment, but then he sensed a familiar energy. He shouted, "Yellow Lantern?! Oh no! It's a trap, Sinestro's trap!!!"
"Get away quickly!!!"
Accompanying his roar, rippling waves spread out from the center of the orb, and the yellow light pierced through the snow and clouds. In the quiet and soundless atmosphere, it illuminated the night sky over the East Coast.
Standing nearby and observing, Clark saw that wherever the yellow light extended, the green Green Lanterns descended like dumplings falling down. They landed on the ground, their green light blinking twice and weakening like a flickering lightbulb.
The light on the Green Lantern rings grew so faint that it barely formed a thin green film, protecting their bodies. The once dazzling green light became almost imperceptible, as if it could disappear at any moment.
Clark crossed his arms, looking down at the rolling Green Lanterns on the ground, then lifted his head to gaze at the only Green Lantern who hadn't fallen – Thaal, the current leader of the Green Lantern Corps.
Being the leader of the corps, Thaal's power shouldn't be underestimated. Even after Aisha's powerful attack, he managed to maintain the flying ability of his Green Lantern ring. However, as he was feeling dizzy, he saw a red destructive energy beam hurtling toward him...
Thaal tried to dodge, but he was grazed on the arm. The green light on his ring shattered for a moment, and the light started to blink. Energy warnings kept sounding off. Thaal shouted, "Who are you? Oh, wait! Are you a Kryptonian? How did you appear here?"
Hearing Thaal's words, Clark was puzzled. He didn't understand the term "Kryptonian" that Thaal used. Just as Thaal was about to continue speaking, a yellow light sphere crashed into his back with a loud "thud," and Aisha sent him flying.
Two light spheres, one yellow and one green, streaked across the sky like meteors and crashed onto the central roundabout of Gotham City.
Clark and Batman, who had just flown in with his Bat Wing, lowered their heads together, watching the mushroom cloud rise from the center of the roundabout. Then, in perfect unison, they shook their heads and sighed.
"Hey, Batman, what are you doing here?"
Clark waved his arm toward the Bat Wing and then flew to its side, speaking as they flew together. "Wow! That's a cool aircraft. Can I get inside?"
"No." Batman, piloting the aircraft, refused him quite promptly and decisively.
"Oh, come on, I acknowledge, you're a genius, and your aesthetics are really fantastic. This aircraft is awesome! I've only seen planes like this in model books. I dare say, if you make it into a model, you'd win all the awards!"
Batman's attitude visibly hesitated, but just then, as if unable to wait, Clark approached and gently tapped the wings of the Bat Wing with his hand.
And then, the Bat Wing spun and flew out.
Inside the plane, Batman desperately pulled on the controls, but he couldn't steer the plane that had been forcefully tapped away. A black meteor streaked across the sky and crashed into the central roundabout of Gotham City.
Schiller stood on a rooftop, watching the mushroom cloud rise from the central roundabout again. He shook his head and sighed.
At this moment, the green Green Lanterns who had been knocked down by Aisha's attack finally started to recover from their dazed state.
Just now, Aisha's EMP attack had consumed most of their ring's energy. Their rings were even damaged, rendering functions such as flight, teleportation, and phasing through obstacles unusable.
The disoriented green Green Lanterns got back up, and in front of them were the barrels of the guns of the angry Gotham Gang members.
One after another, streetlights lit up, streets became brightly illuminated, and groups of people emerged from their homes. This prosperous scene wasn't a celebration of any kind. In this city of sin, the only activity that united the citizens was hunting.
In the dark streets, the rumbling sound of engines could be heard. When a green Green Lantern with a faint green light sensed this sound, he immediately turned around in alert. At the end of a dark alley, two lights resembling eerie eyes suddenly lit up.
The headlights of a truck illuminated the alley as if it were daytime. The only darkness was the shadow behind the green Green Lantern. By using this intense light, he could see that the man sitting in the truck's driver seat had a full beard and held a shotgun...
The Fisherman opened the car door and stepped out with the gun, and unlike the novice before, the green Green Lantern didn't flee in panic. Instead, he assumed a defensive stance, ready to counter an attack.
With a "bang," the muzzle flared up, and deadly buckshot was fired. However, at the same time, an even brighter green beam of light momentarily blinded the Fisherman. By the time he lowered his arm, the green Green Lantern had already flipped over the alley wall and disappeared.
Fisherman stepped forward, looking at the shotgun shells on the ground. He examined them for a moment, then turned to the skinny man who had come down from the passenger seat and said, "Go back and call the boss. Regular weapons still don't work against them. I didn't expect that even with their weak green light, they could still block bullets."
Fisherman got back into the truck with the gun, and the skinny man closed the door. As they heard the sound of the truck starting, the skinny man lit a cigarette and said with resignation, "They knew about this already, but there are too few of those new weapons called freezing guns. Everyone wants one. The North District is probably already fighting over them."
Fisherman also lit a cigarette, exhaling a puff of smoke. With a smirk on his face, he steered the wheel and said, "Don't worry. Even if all the people at East District's Piers come together, I'm still one of the top gunfighters. I'll definitely get my hands on a gun. By then, hehe..."
Inside the cockpit, the flickering light of the cigarette illuminated Fisherman's face, covered in muscles that made him look more sinister. His smile gradually turned cold, and with the engine's tremors as it accelerated, he asked, "Are you afraid of ghosts?"
The skinny man raised one corner of his mouth and sneered, "Ghosts? There are no ghosts in Gotham, only corpses."
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