NOVEL NEXT Star 15
Star Burst
Star 15
By: BigToFu
Green Lantern Recruit
Jessica Silver
Kilowog was a monster, a devil-given flesh! Now that their bodies have been tuned up and brought up to peak human capacity, the drill sergeant was now determined in his testing their willpower through their endurance and grit. Jessica was running on the indoor race track, not letting herself stop for a moment; completely ignoring her fellow cadet Ben, who was following behind her.
They’ve been running for over two hours now and the light of the sun was beating down on them from the skylight in the ceiling that looked like a diamond dome; and Kilowog looked at them with a placid expression… Well, as much as Jessica could decipher his expression on his alien face. She was starting to really hate the pink-colored giant alien mastodonte. Kilowog must have heard her inner thoughts or some shit like this as he suddenly disappeared from under the walkway he observed them from.
ZAP!! A wave of green energy surged out of nowhere and put the two recruits down on their asses.
Jessica looked up, only to see the eight-foot tall alien looking down on her with his red eyes boring into her. “Now that you pozers have marinated enough in your own sweat, y'all are going to dance! Surprise obstacle course! Now git!”
There was a whistling in the air and suddenly an explosion went off behind Jessica and Ben, forcing them to run away like scared rabbits. What Kilowog called an obstacle course was a harrowing experience for the duo; Jessica almost got taken out, right from the start by the turret cannon firing at her feet, but she quickly discovered that there was a firing pattern when the cannon fired the strange slime-like substance at their limbs.
Far away she could see the goal, it reassembled the final line in one of those car game movies. For not paying attention, Jessica almost got splattered in slime but had time to roll forward and evade; then everything changed when old Ben passed Jessica on the track. He too must have realized that there was a set pattern to the turret firing… but suddenly the pattern changed as he reached for the goal.
Ben saw too late the shift in pattern and got shot down; he didn’t even have the time to scream as the turret shot him till they covered him with slime that covered his body and solidified in some kind of ball of transparent jelly substance.
Jessica wasn’t worried for Ben, he would heal; but she did the smart thing and not dash for the finish line and study the firing pattern. Eventually, she reached the goal by making the turrets fire at each other by dodging at the last moment and reaching the goal line.
Before she could even shout in victory, Kilowog pushed her and Jessica landed on her ass; she looked at the alien with a venomous glare. “Why did you push me?!”
Kilowog looked at her as if he was sizing up prey; he snorted in ridicule at her sorry state. “Disappointing, Silvers. Your enemy, he's not gonna play fair! Never let your guard down, pozer.”
The redhead’s face darkened as she heard the giant pink alien denigrate her. Kilowog used his ring to deploy a construct in the form of a hand to help Jessica on her feet. He sniffed her, she smelled of sweat and this made the redhead self-conscious; but Kilowog had a distinctive smell that didn’t appeal to her.
“You humans smell funny,” Kilowog commented.
If looks could kill, Kilowog would be dead a hundred times over by the glower Jessica kept sending him. She sarcastically replied, “I smell funny? Really?”
Kilowog strode toward her and kneeled to be in Jessica’s face. He looked at her face and said in a mocking tone, “So, pozer, you passed the obstacles; you’re really smart huh? Congratulations, you’ve won the right to be first in today's sparring session.”
“What?!” The human woman stepped back, a bit afraid.
Kilowog walked toward her with his massive frame, not letting her breathe for one moment. “You heard me, Silvers; Are you afraid, now?”
Instead of stepping back at those words, Jessica’s hands turned into fists and she looked into the alien drill sergeant’s eyes.
[Will: 150%]
“No… I’m not afraid, because I’m going to kick your ass!” Jessica shouted as a glowing green aura appeared around her and her eyes became completely green.
Kilowog smiled at her, as if proud of that fact. He beat on his chest and shouted, “Big words, Silvers! Come at me, puny little human!”
A power armor looking suspiciously like the one from Adepta Sororitas out of the 40k universe manifested around Jessica, making her as tall as Kilowog. She punched the pink alien in the face. She was able to get two hits in before Kilowog caught her fist and punched her helmet off, then blasted her away from him with a condensed cone of energy.
Jessica rolled away, and crouched, trying to create a construct in the form of a bolter; only to be stopped by the construct in the form of a foot kicking her in the breastplate, shattering it.
“Your constructs are only gonna be as strong as your WILL, and your WILL is pathetic Silvers!” Kilowog roared.
The drill sergeant didn’t let off and grinned evilly at Jessica who had a bad feeling. Kilowog pointed his ringed hand at Jessica and constructed a sun; Jessica looked behind her as she was immediately pulled toward it. Hastily the redhead had to construct an anchor to save her now well-formed behind.
“Ha-ha! Feel that, Silvers? That's the gravitational pull of your average star. Makes flying through space very dangerous. The bigger you are, the quicker you burn.” Kilowog snarked, then snorted at her expression. “Gravity's a bitch, huh.”
As she looked at Kilowog, Jessica started to want to really really hurt him; so much so that she pulled another trick from her geeky mind.
[Will: 200%]
Jessica manifested another armor, with a jetpack and jet boost in her armored boots and hurled toward Kilowog, escaping the gravitational well of the sun the alien manifested. Kilowog smiled at her devilishly and cut the energy to his construct which disappeared suddenly. Without the gravity pulling at her, Jessica gained speed and passed the pink alien who dodged her, only for her to end up crashing into a wall.
She was about to lose consciousness as she heard Kilowog laugh at her and then shout, “Parker! It’s your turn; get up, pozer!”
Everything went dark after that.
[ SCENE BREAK ]
Green Lantern Prime
Commander Domonic Wolf
My breathing came in a jagged hurried mess with flame following each of my exhales, my hands were heavy from the chains wrapped around them burning with an unholy intensity. They slipped from my forearms to pool onto the floor, blades sprouting from the ends. With a jerk and twist, I sent the blades flying outward. The smaller broodlings jumped out of their paths but the main one wasn't so lucky as they stabbed into the Hive Lord that was trying to rally the Broodlings. Then with a savage yank, I pulled myself towards the Hive Lord ignoring the surroundings with the tunnel vision provided me by the action.
With a mighty thump, I slammed into his front, a claw went up my side leaving a gash in my suit that leaked lava down my front. Standing on his insect-like carapace, I pushed my blades deeper into his belly before slowly forcing my arms wide. The Hive Lord hissed, spat, and screamed, his claws leaving a long mark across my face. Yet, there was no quenching my rage as I savagely ripped my weapons from his body bisecting the creature. The parasites trying to crawl underneath my skin burned at the lava flowing through my veins.
The howl of the creatures surrounding me was music to my ears and I knew just one way to make it sweeter. Throwing both arms outwards, I let the blades fly along with the chains that bound me to them. My blades flew free before digging deeper into the buildings as the Broodlings scampered out of the way. With my arms outstretched, they took this chance to attack on multiple fronts, some grabbing onto the chains to pull me apart. The others decided that with me anchored down, my body made for the perfect target and came right at me.
My grin was a cruel, cruel thing and they had a chance to wonder why. Spikes popped out of the chains as I jumped and spun, none had a chance to escape as I became a tornado of red. After six rotations, I stopped in a high hover with my arms thrown up over my head with the chains in my hands and brought them down hard in a cataclysmic force cratering the area, Kratos would be proud.
Pulling both my hands back, I held my blades, reared back, then let one fly. The blade snaked through the air to latch onto some unsuspecting brood trying to run in the other direction.
Fear 34%
My legs braced and I dug deep and called out with all that I had while bracing myself and flicking my wrist.
“Get over here!”
The brood came flying backward towards me, then as they reached me, I slammed down with all that I had with my right. The brood disintegrated underneath the onslaught of lava and rage flying everywhere as I roared for the world to hear me; the buildings shaking from my vocal shockwaves projecting outwards.
Rage 9000!
Rage 6345%
Rage 4532%
Rage 2564%
Rage 1233%
Rage 958%
Will 675%
The chains and blades transformed into a large and blocky shotgun as I fired from the hip, well past the point of caring. My eyes bloomed wide as a chainsaw shit outwards from the hip and cut deep into the broodling and then raced up its chest. I squeezed the trigger again and again as blades flew left and right, demolishing all within my path, my laugh was absolutely manic.
Rage 700%
Will 700%
HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
Nothing felt better than being a kid in a candy store, and I was here to share how our Lord and savior, Mr. Shotgun, could guide these brood bastards onto the righteous path.
Boom!! Bzzt!
Boom! Bzzt!
Boom! Bzzt!
The glee I felt washed away my tunnel vision and brought clarity back to the world as I went on a killing spree with my chainsaw shotgun. Penta-kill bloomed across my vision and was instantly ignored for the blue and red form flying towards me at speed. Something at the back of my mind wondered when Athena had the chance to add that function. Then it curved around my body and fell onto a brood, mauling it to death. I couldn’t really care more for the parasite since it was trying to sneak up on me from behind.
Honestly, I wasn’t going to get that far since I was already shifting to take him out with a behind-the-back shot. Was it stylistic, maybe, but he would have been dead and that was all that would matter in the end.
Now that I had finally calmed down enough to take in the situation, I could only huff and shake my head at the predicament. With a mental grunt, I set my shotgun to automatic then left it floating as I scooped Dex-Starr up in one hand. This did two things, one it stopped his actions, even as he tried to savage the chest cavity of the brood he had mauled. And two, it gave me something to do with my hands now that I wasn’t on a murder spree and my rage was subsiding.
Also, animal therapy was always going to be a win.
Trying hard not to cringe at the memory, I ran a hand over Dex-Starr’s back, “Such a good kitty.” I cooed at him with one hand absentmindedly scratching the sweet spot behind his ear.
Rage 432%
Will 543%
My rage was slowly cooling, but my WILL was firm as steel. The ups and downs of being a human and those were being able to express and feel all emotions from the spectrum. That was a positive and a negative, the real positive though was that being human meant that those emotions could also work themselves out. I could feel the rage, the need to rip and tear. To bring the fate of hellish hate to all that stepped before me, but I could hold it back for now.
Boom! Boom! Bzzt!
Boom! Boom! Bzzt!
Dex-Starr purred as we both ignored my chainsaw shotgun putting in work as I idly enjoyed the soothing effects of animal therapy. My cute little murder beast purred as I showed him lots of affection.
“Meow,” Dex-Starr stated for my ears, with my green ring translating it for me into English. “Foolish hooman.”
I hung my head and sighed of course, “I know…”
Meow, Dex-Starr purred then stretched in my arms a little. “You ruined hunt.”
“I know,” I replied even as I used a free hand to rub underneath his little blue chin.
Meow, Dex-Starr rubbed his face against my chest before hovering over and settling onto my shoulder, “Killed all good prey.”
Okay, that made me chuckle, because of course the cat would be worried about his hunt. “I’m sorry.”
Meow, Dex-Starr rubbed his face against my cheek before settling down onto my shoulder. “Gib belly rubs, and tasty foods.”
Taking to the air, I took in the decimation wrought on the surroundings even as I made a confirmation for my little murder kitty. “Deal.”
Meow, “Best hooman.”
With a smirk on my lips, I hovered for a moment in the air as I gathered green aura in one hand and red in another. My rage ebbing and flowing, yet tempered by my WILL, the inferno ever encroaching upon the world, my flames burning just beneath the surface threatening to erupt.
I wanted to bring my arms down and lay waste to everything beneath me, instead, I left the final flash to my imagination as my HUD lit up with sensor pings all over the area. With everything picked out beneath me, I unleashed my stored energy attack with a mental command. Within seconds, hundreds if not thousands of little energy orbs showered out then downwards.
Each energy orb was made with the power of rage balanced by my will allowing for hunter seeker-style projectiles. A barrage of laser fire continued to fire off as I flew over the battlefield heading in the direction of Diana. I didn’t make it there though as I stopped and pulled myself into a hover to look down at the ring on my finger.
One was GREEN and the other was RED, a crimson red pulsing with the beat of my heart. Something about that was important and I knew it more than instinctually. I might have been a con-man before my relocation but I was very much into DC and Marvel comics since that was my childhood and the red ring was extremely important aside from the rage issues. Red and the Orange ring of avarice were the only rings capable of killing their wearer.
*Snap*
That was the important thing that I was forgetting, the rings were capable of killing new users.
“Athena, scan,” I mentally called out even as I tried to ignore the whispers in the back of my mind. The little voice told me to rip and tear. To bring Hellish hate because that is their fate. OH, how it whispered sweet, sweet words into the back of my mind. There was a beat of silence as the ring processed what I was asking along with the mental image that I had sent.
It took less than a second for a green wave to run across my form and come back with bad news, all the bad news. Because how else could you think that it was good news to be missing a heart, blood, and other important bodily fluids. And that was when the second all too important information of the ring finally came to mind.
The ring showed a hologram of my body and in the location where my heart used to be pulsed red light, through my veins and other organs flowed lava and that was only the tip of the iceberg. All throughout my body green was fighting with red and from the readings, minor clashes were the least of my worries. Instantly I was of the mind to say fuck all this and go home, at least there, I had the main central power battery to dip myself into and get myself a full body cleanse of the good stuff.
Unfortunately, momma raised no quitter and I wasn’t about to throw in the fucking towel now. If that fool Hal Jordan can survive something like this along with Super-Girl, then so can I. And I knew just what I was going to do. My drones in the arctic had finished their spectrographic scan of one Steven Rogers and the medical bots had gotten a full scan of Peter while he was in the HQ.
Will 1443%
Rage 156%
It was time to go all advanced human with this shit and combine both of what they had in their bodies for a little upgrade on myself along with a new more powerful heart. And I would need to do it soon with how my Rage was finally flowing away.
Again, the readings were telling me exactly why I wasn’t dead yet and that was also two-fold. One I was far too spiteful, sorry, WILLful to die. That's why my power readings kept rising and even though I was calming down. That was only because I knew that overwhelming Rage wouldn’t do shit and that was the second reason I wasn’t going to die. I was just far too angry at myself for my body to just be consumed by the ring and for my death to take. So, in the end, both rings were being fueled by my stubborn ass and both rings were keeping me alive because they both wanted me to wear them.
Sending a message to Diana to stay in charge and keep handling things, I flew upwards and into space for my ship. And that was another issue, it seemed that someone had decided that they would rather park a fleet at the edge of the solar system and observe instead of helping, but that was for later. Even if I had Athena working on breaking their encryption now, I would leave it to Diana and handle it in a bit once I was a lot better.
Slowing down, I arrived at my ship's port side and took the emergency hatch that was open for me at a mental command. As I stepped through the hatch, Dex-Starr jumped down from my shoulder and proved that he was very much a cat even with my enhancements as he went over to stand by the door and meowed. Leaving him to do that for a second, I went over towards the wall and stood in the armor carrier section, and waited for the multi-functional arms to figure out how to get me from this thing. My armor would get repaired while I was down in medical.
When I arrived at the armor rack, two massive data cables flew out and connected to the back of my armor before the arms came down and started to cut away at the parts that wouldn’t open properly. The arms and the armor fought for a bit before I got tired of being handled like a toy and burst out of it with a flex of Will and Rage, spikes and blades appearing from the inside towards the outside cutting the armor apart and leaving me in just my flight suit.
Taking another deep breath, I pulled my rage back under control before putting myself through decontamination protocols. With those finished, I placed my hands on the panel and waited for the biometric scans to finish before pushing the door open after the double beeps along with the three green all clear LEDs.
Zipping down the front of my flight suit, I walked past the galley, the observatory, and the armory to get to the medical bay. The CIC, command deck, and cockpit were all on different floors and I was happy to not have to deal with the disturbance right now.
“Commander, we are being hailed.” Jessica Drew’s voice came over the ship's systems and I just wanted to bang my head against the wall and call it a day at this point. What was I expecting, being able to relax and get my situation handled without any issues? As if.
Ignoring it for a moment, I proceeded to the medical bay and started to mentally command the facilities on what I wanted to accomplish. A round section opened on the counter and I placed my hand inside allowing it to harvest some of my genetic material. A timer came up with thirty seconds on the clock and I still couldn’t believe that it would take me thirty seconds or less to make a new heart with all the proper fixings and upgrades. Then again, in for a penny, in for a pound and I was going to be all in.
The door to the medical bay slid open with that mechanical hiss and in stepped the problem I wanted to handle another day. “Commander, we are being… what happened to you?”
Letting out a sigh, I eyed the other medical pods inside the room and said fuck it. I moved like greased lightning and got Jessica Drew in a full body bind before she could even react.
“What are you?!” Jessica yelled even as she started to overpower my all too human body.
“No more loose ends,” I replied before giving her the classic Spock pinch to the neck and having my ring put her to sleep. A drone came over and I deposited her in its arms so she could be placed inside one of the medical pods. “Athena, clean slate protocols please, we need her as a team player and I’m not about to tiptoe about shit while she plays double and triple Agent for Shield and HYDRA.
“Of course, sir, your pod is also prepared.”
With that, I stood there and watched the medical pod with my name on it and just looked at it. With all the knowledge, tech, and medical equipment at my fingertips, I could upgrade my body in about the same amount of time it took for water to boil. Yet, it always came back to the same ole thing for me. Would I still be me when I woke up?
It's why I wasn’t big on the serums or any of the other post-human advancements at my fingertips free for the taking. Now, here I was about to transplant myself a brand-new top of the line heart with all the bells and whistles. A heart with the combined improvements of both Spider-man and Captain America. Along with that, I was getting a fresh transfusion of blood to replace that metaphysical lava flowing through my veins.
Just thinking about it had me wincing from the amount of damage my body had suffered. All that damage would be a sum total of zero if I just gathered my balls and got into the pod. All I needed to do was put one foot in front of the other and go through the transfusion, and heart transplant, my body would get its own upgrade. The medical pod would suspend me inside a zero-gravity field as a ray would run from head to toe editing my base genetics to give me full benefits of the Cap-Spider combo.
I had never been very much a hard edge type since I liked the occasional drink, but drugs were a very hard no for me, and I felt like taking any power ups in a form of serum would turn into a very slippery slope. If all you had to do to get a boost was inject some boost juice, then anyone would do it.
Will 675%
Rage 236%
Getting mad at myself over my inane mental prattle, I clenched my butt cheeks and got into the damn pod. I had a near panic attack as mechanical arms came and strapped themselves to my limbs. One thought ran through my mind before the gas kicked in and put my ass to sleep.
Ohh by the grace of Stan Lee no tentacles.
Authors Note’s : Hard-edge is a term for people who abstain from everything. Drugs and alcohol and yes that includes medical drugs and allergy medication.
So yeah, Dom went there and came back down, the plot shall be pushed forward.
Yeah, the Jessica situation was handled and that was never going to turn into anything because no one likes a spy in their house.
Yes, that hailing might turn into a problem that no one was expecting.
Let me know what you guys think about the chapter.
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