Disclaimer: I own nothing, this is purely for recreational purposes.

XXX

"Fucking Hell!" I screamed as consciousness came back to me for a moment, only to find myself floating, weightlessness being a new sensation to me as I saw a sea of black dotted with shining lights as I spun around, my initial movements causing me to suddenly twist and turn as gravity seemed to be a non-factor. As I spun, I felt anger welling up within me, I stopped at that for a moment as I counted slowly to ten, the anger not going away, rolling under my skin as, while what was happening was annoying, and I was freaking out, the level of anger I was feeling was... Off.

Slowly, I stopped spinning as I felt my anger cool off before I glanced at myself and really took note as I spotted a faint outline of red around my hands before spotting a ring. I frowned at that as I noted the design of the basic ring before spinning it over and I felt my frown becoming even more pronounced.

It was a Red Lantern Power Ring. Bloody Brilliant.

"Ok... Let's take stock of the situation, shall we?" I asked myself as I muttered under my breath, sighing as I kept calm and tried not to go hysterical at the fact that I now seemed to have an actual power ring strapped to my right ring finger. Looking back, I tried to think of what the hell was going on, my memories coming as vague images that showed places fine, but anything beyond that was just not their, hell, I couldn't even recall my own name as I frowned at that. Images of my parents flashed along my mind, yet I couldn't remember them, I could envision them easily enough, but their faces always appeared... Hazy, for lack of a better term. I felt my frown grow more pronounced at that thought as I continued floating around before noting something as I looked up...

Only to look straight down onto the Earth, seeing the oceans, the clouds and what looked to be North America as the I glanced over my shoulder to see the sun beaming away at me. Glancing back down to my Ring again, I considered what to do.

"No memories of what happened, most of my memories have been scrambled to hell and back, a Red Lantern Power Ring, and I'm currently stuck in Earth Orbit... Shit." I muttered before looking back at the ring in thought. Power Rings were brilliant things as I tried to remember what I had read about them, mostly being the fact that they were supposed to have some kind of integrated AI system to assist the Lantern in their useage. I shrugged at that point as I figured that I had nothing to lose.

Ring? I asked mentally before I felt something in my head, pain flared for a moment as it shifted into what seemed like an understanding, pain flared a second time, this time filling my body as I felt like someone had poured liquid fire into my veins... Oh wait, Red Lanterns had their veins filled with rage Plasma, stuff was like a cross between Plasma and Napalm, would even burn in vacuum so long as rage was supplied to it, useful stuff.

Affirmative. I heard the voice from nowhere, loud as a thunder clap and sounding like whoever was speaking ate gravel for breakfast with a hint of sandpaper. I didn't mind it that much, but I did jump in surprise at the sudden voice screaming through my mind.

Ring, tell me the current status of charge and access database for any kind of tutorial information regarding the Red Lantern Power Ring, functions, features and limitations, both in line with the construction of the Ring along with the guidelines of the Red Lantern Corp.

Define 'Tutorial'. I raised an eyebrow at that one, mostly because I would have considered it as something of a basic item that should have been included.

A tutorial is series of lessons designed to teach someone how to do or carry out a specific task via instruction. Confirm?

Definition confirmed. Accessing. Tutorial found, initiation direct cerebral download. I felt my eyes grow wide at that before I tried to throw an objection through before it commenced. Unfortunately, I was too late. An instant later and I was watching a massive chunk of data being rammed through my skull and into my brain as I watched information about dozens of races, events, planets and pieces of technology all flying through my head to give me a basic overview of things before moving on to other things. Memories of previous users of my Ring flashed into my mind's eye along with those that came before, other events showed up as well, somethings that I knew while others were given context by the memories that I now had. Blackest Night, the Third Army, the New Guardians, things like that all flashed through my mind, among other things, before it all finally stopped, leaving me panting for breath as I felt a drop of sweat roll down my forehead as I sneered, gritting teeth in anger.

Ring. Next time the option of a direct cerebral download is available, wait for my instructions before carrying out further actions. Confirm?

Confirmed.

I sighed at that, glad to prevent that from happening again as I frowned slightly, my rage bending as I refused to allow it to control me, having long since gotten over my old anger management problems when I was younger, I was not planning to regress back to that point, let alone the point that most Red Lanterns went to after getting their rings. Rubbing the bridge of my nose, I sighed once more as I looked down at the Earth, flipping over to do so as I frowned, quickly taking things in for a moment as I enjoyed the quiet peace of the void. A flicker of a thought later and Red energy condensed around me as thoughts turned into actions, memories of a veteran Lantern coming to the foreground as I knew what I was doing as I isolated radio signals with ease before starting to look for things. It was clear something was up, something big, but I didn't know what that was as I could guess.

Ring, run a search algorithm over the local internet and find any information relating to an organisation called the Justice League, if present, list and display all members, their publically known abilities, strengths and weaknesses. Do not attempt to hack through any large scale firewalls for more information of a classified nature based on local species definition, remain discrete. Confirm?

Confirmed. Search beginning.

I watched as it did so, multiple screens around me flashing as more information was fished out of the internet as I watched with interest. The Justice League's presence was rapidly confirmed, members quickly showing up as I noted other details becoming apparent as I looked at their style of dress and costumes before comparing them to my memories of the few DC Comics I had read before... This. I frowned slightly as I started to narrow down a few things, noting that the Justice League was actually rather larger than I thought it was, a total of seven people founding the League with the Green lantern being Hal Jorden rather than John Stewart, not to mention the inclusion of Aquaman as a member of the Founders. Other details came quickly as I noted other things, mostly the lack of the numbers of Superheroes that were members as I noted the data as January 5th 2010, I frowned a bit at that as I noted other things as being off. Namely those being the style of some of the Heroes and how they dressed, the design of their costumes differed slightly, but the inclusion of the sidekicks was rather pointed as I saw the differences before looking a bit further afield to narrow things down. I was at least partially happy to have narrowed down where I was to a parallel reality more than anything else.

Ring, run a search for specific names, link them to files and current activities, same parameters as last time.

Confirmed.

Search for the names Amanda Waller, Vandal Savage, Lex Luthor, Ra's Al Ghul and Doctor Mark Desmond.

Confirmed.

A moment later, I started seeing results coming up with interest as Amanda Waller appeared, looking slightly thinner than I was expecting, but not as thin as the one in recent Suicide Squad Movie, kind of a middle ground as I raised an eyebrow at the fact that she currently wasn't working as a member of the CIA or FBI or whatever other government agency. Currently, she was playing the part of the Warden of the Belle Reve Penitentiary in Belle Reve Parish, Louisiana, a place that I knew hadn't existed in my old reality, as I had started to think of it, another difference as it seemed. Lex Luthor was exactly as I expected with a massive, multi-billion dollar company that covered the globe while Vandal Savage was the immortal villain that had been around for over a few centuries. Desmond, on the other hand, was a shot in the dark and a guess as I raised an eyebrow at what I found.

"Doctor Mark Desmond, current head director of Cadmus Labs in Washington DC..." I smiled slightly at that as I thought I had a good idea of where I was.

Ring, do you have the DNA Profile for a Kryptonian?

Confirmed. I smirked at that, that was going to come in handy later.

Carry out a high-level scan of Cadmus Laboratory, tell me if you detect any sign of Kryptonian DNA, ignore single cell structure and look for complex lifeforms such as full grown subjects, hybrids with Kryptonian DNA are also to be included.

Confirmed. Scanning... Scan complete, One Kryptonian confirmed; Secondary Kryptonian-Human-Unknown Hybrid also present. I nodded at that as the data appeared before me for a moment, showing me the current locations of them before I dismissed it along with all the other things like what was currently happening around them before I closed those little things down. At least it had confirmed what I had guessed when I first looked at the data about one Mark Desmond, along with confirming where I was, namely that I was apparently in the Young Justice Universe. It was useful to know, but it didn't particularly help me, though I would admit that I didn't know a lot about what was going on beyond the Earth.

Ring. What is the current charge levels of the Power Ring? Do I have access to a Lantern Power Battery? And can you detect any form of communication signals coming from the Red Lantern Corp? I asked mentally as I had a few things I wanted to confirm, mostly because I had records swimming around in my head that told me about what happened in Sector 666, along with the shit that the Manhunters did and how the Guardians decided to cover it right up. I was actually surprised to see that the Ring had other data about things that the Guardians had done, like how they had altered the Burning Martians into the White and Green Martians, the genetic codes of all three being present within my ring was oddly convenient for me.

Confirmed. Current status of Power Ring capacity is at One Hundred percent charge. Confirmed access of Lantern Power Battery located in subspace pocket for future use, along with Central Power Battery. Negative, no Red Lantern signals detected, secondary signals show no activity and confirm zero Red Lantern Corps present. Current Red Lantern Corps numbers: One. I felt my eye rise at each announcement from the ring before I frowned, the fact that I had the Red Lantern Central Power Battery was useful to know, but the fact that I had it was also rather disturbing. For me, along with my memories, it implied that the Manhunters were a bit too thorough before the Guardians finally pulled the plug on what had happened, just another thing to think about, but that was for later. Pulling my legs up, I looked down at the world below me and frowned. I literally didn't exist here, no records of any kind existed of me, but that also had it's uses as it allowed me to work around things and start from scratch as I wanted.

I grinned slightly at that. Oh, the fun I could have by giving people the runaround...

But before I even considered doing anything like that, especially by trolling Batman for the hell of it, I looked down at myself and frowned, noting that I was only in my Boxers that I had fallen asleep in last night. Said frown turned into a smirk as a few ideas came to my head.

"Time to get to work..."

XXX

Turns out that most Green Lanterns didn't actually have a proper costume, mind you, the Rings automatically generated the uniforms, which didn't actually offer all that much protection, before generating a Shield that, frankly, could have allowed them to survive a Supernova if they had enough Will to reinforce it with. Red Lanterns actually didn't do that, most of their uniforms were made with the idea of actually being able to survive a serious amount of damage if their Shields failed with a series of backup devices to prevent them from dying in vacuum if the Shield failed. I definitely thought this was a good idea as it meant that they had one less thing to worry about, at least to worry about as much as the Greenies.

I decided to go the same way, but instead of going with the traditional Lantern Uniform, I decided to be a bit different, what with being the first Red Lantern that seemed to exist in this parallel of the Justice League Universe.

For the design, I, being a fan of Sci-fi and a lover of things like Star Wars, decided to base my uniform on the armor of the Jensaarai from Star Wars, specifically, armor based on the Reek as I had a dark red helmet with a T-shaped visor covered with a black glass-like substance while the red metal alloy curved to form three horns, one coming from my forehead and pointing straight up from just above the T-shaped visor while the other two came from either side of the helmet and curved into the space in front of my face. All of them were pretty short, but all three of them were razor sharp, letting me use them as weapons if I needed to head-butt someone that is clearly strong enough to take it. The plates of armor overlapped with animalistic designs, short, curved spikes coming up and pointing up from the top of the biceps, aside from that, I also had small spikes coming over the elbows, knees, knuckles and feet, the latter two looking like animal claws while the knees had the same kind of spikes as I had on my upper Biceps, a bit shorter though.

Everything was covered by armor, being made from an extremely tough alien alloy that was made from something like two parts Iridium, three parts Titanium, one part Tungsten and five parts Mercury, as odd as that last one sounds. The stuff was actually rather impressive, having a brilliantly high melting and boiling point along with the ability of being a damn look conductor of thermal and kinetic energy, spreading it over the interlocking pieces of the armor rapidly, causing strikes to rapidly lose power where other materials would have been ripped apart. My undersuit was threaded with thin filaments of the stuff along with thick layers of padding and radiation absorbing or deflecting materials, all of which was sealed shut with a gel layer that rapidly hardened when exposed to literally anything. It was stored in micro pockets within the undersuit that held it in stasis with a pure nitrogen mixture that would rapidly leave as the pockets were breached. This stuff would expand and harden following that, no matter where this was happening, even in vacuum or underwater. Life support systems were added, a recycling system to keep me alive with air and water to last for over a few days, an Anti-grav flight system and a miniature Fusion-based trinity reactor that created, as the name implied, a trinity of miniature suns in Pinch Fusion reactions. Of course, with my choice of materials, this had the unintended, though not unwanted, side effect of making me next to invisible to most types of non-Power Ring scans. Rather useful for stealth, plus the added colour shifting paint system meant that I could change the armor colour at will, mostly to disappear in a hurry.

Aside from all that, my armor had the Red Lantern insignia engraved and painted into the chest plate, not straight on the centre, but slightly below the left side of my collar, mostly because while I wanted it to be obvious who I was, I didn't want a giant target like that sticking out on my chest. Finally, the armor had dozens of pockets covering the thing, mostly around the thighs, waist and lower back, but I did have a few between my shoulder blades for larger items and a few hidden under my forearms, all of them being rather well disguised and protected from scans to appear invisible. Of course, because I was wearing gauntlets, that also meant that I had to fit them to my hands while wearing the Ring, not that I minded after a bit of work.

Honestly, the entire thing took me less than a few hours to make after I buggered off to the Mars-Jupiter Asteroid belt and started harvesting asteroids for all they were worth, not to mention picking up large amounts of Gold, Silver, Platinum, Titanium, Tungsten, Mercury and Iridium, the last four were incase I needed to repair my armor while the first three were for money, mostly by selling them to precious metal brokers. It was actually rather impressive that all of that only took about fifteen percent of my total charge, going that distance before coming back, using a Ring-based FTL jump. I was just glad that I had gotten the equivalent of a User Manual dumped into my head now as I knew how to work this Ring.

Oh, another thing that I found rather interesting was the fact that I was sixteen again instead of nineteen, not only that, but I was bloody ripped, well above average for my new age range with a flippin' six pack now, even though I was only about 182 centimetres, definitely above average for my new age, but not something I was complaining about. Especially not since I had been given a rather impressive overhaul to be tougher, stronger, smarter, faster and all around better with what amounted with a high-level regenerative ability so long as I still had rage going in me.

Oh, this was going to be fun...

XXX

Over looking the Earth, I looked down and listened, I had the Ring patched straight into my optic nerve so that I could see various things playing out in front of me as I looked down at the world. Looking for anything that could happen that I might get involved with, hell, I was listening to every single communication signal over an entire planet like it was nothing, that just shows you how Bullshit a Power Ring really is. Glancing around, I noted a few things before narrowing my eyes, spotting nothing else as I saw a bank robbery in progress that had turned into a car chase through the streets of Metropolis. Superman was currently dealing with stuff on the other side of the city and I had nothing better to be looking at since most of the other events were already being dealt with by the Justice League. I smirked at that.

"Time to make an entrance." I muttered to myself.

Ring. Transition to this location.

Confirmed.

I smirked as I felt red energy coursing through me, coating my body before I appeared high above the city, not even bothering to activate my flight ability as I kept my Shield active as gravity did it's part, my mind working as calculations quickly ran through both it and the Ring. Focusing my rage, I altered my flight path, increasing the pull of gravity for a second as I accelerated to the ground.

It was over in an instant as I slammed into the ground... Right through the engine block of the car that the robbers were driving. The car tipped up, the rear suddenly flying into the air as all that remained of the engine block was scrap metal and literal powdered metal. None of the four people inside even had a chance to react as they all fell forwards, the two in the front falling forwards and slamming into the window in front of them, smashing it as they flew forwards before I caught both of them by the collar, using Red Energy to cushion their impacts so that I didn't snap their necks by accident. The other two, one being half way out the window as he was firing at the pursuing police forces while the other was currently lying on the seat inside the car, reloading his gun. The former of the two of them was flying, looking for all the world like he was about to become road pizza as I manipulated the matter around me, grabbing a piece of concrete and reshaping it as it shot out like a whip and wrapped around the man's neck, waist, pinning his arms, and his legs. The latter of the two remaining men was stuck inside as I used Red Energy to cushion his impact as well, he'd live with a concussion and no brain damage, not that it would be a major improvement.

All of this took place in slow motion to me, but to everyone else, it must have looked like I was moving at speeds similar to the flash.

When the dust settled, everyone saw me standing over the remains of the robbers' car, two of them being unconscious while the last two were struggling to get my hand off their throats, literally as they dangled above the ground on my arms. I didn't even feel bothered by their weight as I looked them both over, raising an eyebrow at their generic appearance of dark clothes, ski masks and what looked like AK-47s lying around before I looked over at the police that had stopped a good distance away from where I was standing. I saw a few of them looking between me and the men I was holding before I smiled, I quick tap and I was done, Red Energy working wonders as I manipulated the air to knock the remaining three unconscious before dropping the two I had in hand.

"They're all yours, Officers..."I spoke, my voice modulated as I looked at them before turning away, deciding to be a bit melodramatic as I caused the Red Energy around me to ripple, red flames suddenly consuming my body before I disappeared in an FTL Transition back into orbit. I honestly quiet liked the modulated voice I had chosen, having based it off of the voice of Prophet from Crysis 3, just because.

Still, I had other things to do, some dudes were currently holding a bunch of people hostage in a bank in New York, Wonder Woman was in bound, but she was at least five minutes out.

Ring. Transition.

Confirmed.

XXX

I will admit, I was having fun.

... Maybe a bit too much fun.

I had been around for two weeks, and for that time, I was mostly just going around, enjoying myself and doing what I felt was a good thing to do, I had already exchanged the various precious metals into cash at various locations across the world to get different currencies for my use if needed. Along the way, I had run into all kinds of trouble ranging from just random robberies and idiots doing stupid shit to genuine Super Villains being stupid.

I actually stopped Deadshot from killing a target in Moscow about five days after I first showed up, rather impressive stuff when I appeared in his target's office with the man pretty much hogtied. I left him for the Russian Prime Minister's bodyguards to deal with, though not before taking a picture of his face, along with those of his body guards when I showed up, it was interesting. Along the way, I also spent a fair bit of time combing through the networks of this Earth with my Power Ring, mostly working to establish myself with a cover identity, enough to pass a cursory inspection, but I doubted it would hold up all that well to a determined investigator like, say, Batman.

Enter Johnathan 'John' Grey, sixteen years old born on August 10th, 1994, in Stirling Royal infirmary, Stirling, both parents dead at the age of fourteen due to a railway accident in the channel tunnel with the bodies being marked as 'unrecoverable' due to the fact that a fire consumed most of the tunnel, taking their bodies with it. Sticking in a pair of names into the official reports wasn't difficult since said event did actually happen in this timeline, anyway, no next of kin and a will reading that left me to inherit everything they had in funds along with being emancipated as a legal adult. It gave me plenty of freedom to work with, next to no one looking over my shoulder, and a bit of 'creative' filing on the government's computer network made sure that nobody would find the file unless they either looked really, bloody hard or I showed it to them.

Honestly, it was rather good, though I will admit that I was surprised when I got a look at myself in the mirror and took a picture, namely for the fact that I looked like a younger, white haired version of Kyle Rayner from Prime Earth, a rather odd look, but one I didn't mind. However, with everything I needed set up, and with a few million scattered around in both bank accounts and various hard assets like discs of Gold, Platinum and other precious metals, even a few Diamonds, I felt secure in my funds. However, one thing I needed was skills, I knew which world I was in, but that just meant that I had a rough idea of what to expect from the Heroes, Villains were a wholly different kettle of fish. For that reason, I was currently standing outside a Pub in London, a hole in the wall place that I had never even heard of called 'The Groaning Scotsman'.

Stepping into the place, I immediately saw the appeal as the place was dimly lit with poor lighting and packed with booths, stools and exposed bricks, the bar was rather empty of people, what with it being the middle of the day, but there were still a few people present. Glancing around, it was easy enough to spot who I was looking for as I kept my mental barriers up as I walked over to him as he slipped away at what looked like a pint of Lager.

"Hello Mr Black." I stated as I came by the booth, looking in to see the man in question. Tall, skinny but well trained with combat trousers, thick boots, no T-shirt to show off the Union jack tattooed on his chest while I noted the purple hair, piercings and the heavy, open trench coat that he was wearing. Looking up from his drink, Chester Black glanced at me.

"Ow, don't you think you're a mit bit young to be here, lad?" He asks with a raised eyebrow, I fell the not-so-gentle attempt and ripping into my head to try and put a compulsion into my head, I grin very slightly when he runs into the mental barriers, Red Lantern mental barriers having been trained to be rather... vicious compared to other Corps techniques. I see the minute widening of his eyes before he leans forward slightly, having grabbed his attention.

"Don't give me that load of shite. The barman doesn't give a toss as long as you pay for the drinks and you don't cause any trouble, people younger than me have been in here and he hasn't even looked up from the counter while serving them." I stated before looking at the empty booth. "Ya mind if I join? I just want ta talk is all." Chester looked at me for a moment, no doubt trying to test my worth before nodding slightly.

"Alright, lad, you've got my attention, now what do ya want?" He asked as I took a seat on one the opposite side of the booth to him, nodding to him as I did so. "And for cryin' out loud, call me Chester."

"Fine then, Chester. Simply put, I want to hire you as a kind of... Tutor, if you're interested, that is." I stated plainly as he raises an eyebrow.

"A tutor? For what?" He asks, curious as I'm sure he would be.

"To put it simply, Chester, you're a Telepath and a Telekinetic, and pretty damn good at both. I want to hire you to help me get better at defending my mind from intrusions, and not the gentle kind that the damn prancing ponies in the Justice League carry out but the kind that would rip a man's mind apart until he has nothing left but the mental capacity of a cabbage. Of course, I want to still be able to think, but each time that you break down my mental barriers, I want you to escalate for the next time. Think of it as a side job." I stated plainly as he looked interested at that.

"Alright, so you basically want me to rip your mind to shreds and then let you pick up the pieces until I can't do it any more? What kind of pay you offering?" He asked as I nodded to his first question, quickly accessing my slipspace pocket, I pulled out a duffel bag filled with twenty pound notes totalling to about five million pounds Sterling.

"Consider it a deposit for taking the time to hear me out and not going all out. I'm willing to pay six million per 'session' with you with each session being two hours at whatever time you're free to play. Sound good to you?" I asked as he nodded, I passed the bag under the table as to not catch someone's attention, he grinned at that before nodding.

"Sounds good to me. I've got a jig lined up later this week, so how about the 3rd of March?" I nodded at that.

"Got it, we'll make further plans before you start ripping into my mind, but I'll see you then Chester." I said as I stood up and walked off, getting a raised glass from him and a 'see ya, Mate' from the Metahuman. Still, that was going to come in useful.

XXX

Knocking on the door, I heard a distant 'Coming!' before the sound of locks being undone was heard on the other side of the door before said apartment door came open as I saw who it was on the other side.

Sylvan Scofield was a rather young woman in her early twenties with brown hair, brown eyes and with a figure that would have had men tripping over themselves to watch going down the streets, the fact that she was wearing little beyond a tight T-shirt that didn't cover her midriff and a skin tight pair of jeans just enhanced her appeal as I saw her leaning against the door.

"Yeah? What do you want?" She asked as she eyed me curiously as I smiled back at her, I saw her keeping one hand on the door while another was on the back of her hips, a quick Ring scan showed me that she had a Glock 19 holstered there, just out of sight, pretty good idea, especially since this was Gotham.

"Hi. I'm assuming that you're Sylvan Scofield, right? Daughter of the scientist Albert Scofield?" I asked as she nodded hesitantly. "My name is John Grey, I was wondering if I could come in and talk to you about some stuff, namely, about your Father's creation of a 'Miracle fabric', as I recall it being called." Sylvan raised an eyebrow at that.

"Why? My Father never got the patent, and the people that took it would probably be of more interest to you." She stated as she went to close the door before I caught it, taking advantage of the fact that I was a hell of a lo stronger than a person my size should be.

"I'm not interested in idiots that would gladly take the research and invention of another so that they can then spend the better part of a few decades sitting on it so that no one else can use it, that, and technically they don't own it anymore. You do." I stated as I felt her stopping to apply pressure on the door and look at me, her face going from a look of concentration at forcing the door shut to one of interest as she saw me pull out a small document from the inside of my jacket pocket, a rather nicely tailored trench coat made from thick fabric with sheets of teflon sewn into it to protect me from any kind of attack. Under that, I was wearing a pair of dark blue jeans, heavy steel-toed boots and a black hoodie with a Punisher-style skull on the front. I saw Sylvan's eyes stick to the document for a moment before I spoke again. "May I come in?"

That snapped her out of her trance as she pulled the door open once more and let me in before locking the door behind her, I looked around and saw the apartment and mentally shrugged, it was an apartment that looked like dozens of other apartments with a central corridor leading to the living area with a kitchenette attached with rooms coming off from there. I followed her in as she gestured for me to go and take a seat as she went into the kitchenet.

"So... Uh... Do you want anything to drink, Mr Grey?" She asked as I gave her a rueful smirk.

"Some water is fine with me, and you can call me John, I don't know how to feel about being called 'Mr' by a woman that has more than a few years on me." I remarked with a snort as she smiled at that, putting the kettle on before we lapsed into silence for a moment as she put her Coffee together. I observed her doing this from the corner of my eye as she did so. Mostly just reviewing what I had dug up about her as I did so. Sylvan Scofield, 22 years old and currently finishing off her final year in the local Gotham University as a Fashion student working with Textiles, she was also a member of a few different clubs, namely three martial arts that she was a black belt in, gymnastics and having a degree in Computer Science, along with Economics and Business, already from a college level. With that in mind, I had come here for a reason, I reminded myself as she took a seat opposite me.

"... So, no offence, but why did you get this, my Father's design? Why go through what must have been a massive amount of trouble to get it back and present it to me?" She asked as I nodded slightly, sipping the water as I checked for chemicals, mostly knowing that anything from Earth would instantly be burned out by the Rage Plasma in my veins before it could do anything more. I found nothing, but there was no point in dropping good habits.

"As for the trouble, getting the patent back for you cost over seventeen million US dollars and was the result of a week and a half of work on my part to haggle with the various company officials that owned the patent. As for why, well, that is rather simple." I explained as I put the glass down on the table between us. "The reason I wanted to give it back to you is because I knew that, unlike the companies that took it from your Father, that you would actually use it rather than leaving the designs lying in the dark somewhere and forget about them because they already controlled the market. I've done my research, I know that you could probably do a lot of good with this stuff, which is why I want to help, namely, I want to make a purchase of either the material itself, or tailored clothing made from the material. I assume that you know how to make the materials, yes?" Sylvan looked to be lost in a slight trance as I spoke, I could see the gears spinning in her mind at that before she nodded with a smile.

"Yes, when they bought the patent, the companies only took the finished designs and samples, they never bothered taking the original notes for each stage of development before Father reached the final product that they took. Though, I have to ask why you would be interested in this stuff, sure, if you wanted to have a good level of protection, you could go for Kevlar, but you didn't. Why?" She questioned as i smiled.

"May I call you Sylvan?" I asked as she nodded, not bothered by the question before I continued. "That fabric is amazing, there are no other words that I can use to describe it beyond that. It's got a tensile strength at least two orders of magnitude better than the next material, Darwin's Bark Spider silk, which is, again, an order of magnitude stronger than Kevlar. It's fully programmable with all kinds of abilities being able to be built into the stuff and, more than that, a single layer of the stuff could stop a bullet from a Smith & Wesson .500 Handgun, or a hit from a Barrett Anti-Material Sniper Rifle from over ten metres away. Not only that, but it has rather impressive resistance against other types of weapons like Lasers and Plasma-based stuff. Why on Earth wouldn't I want to get a hold of this stuff?" I asked with a raised eyebrow as she smiled, clearly happy that I had both done my homework and that I was praising her Dad's work. She nodded slightly at that.

"Alright, so, what were you thinking about, exactly? I mean, I can do a lot, but what kind of clothes were you wanting, in what styles, and what are you willing to pay for them?" She asked rapidly, her mind clearly spinning with ideas as I watched her, I mentally grinned at that.

It looked like I had found a good supplier of next generation materials.

XXX

Flying through the air, I mentally cringed as I saw another explosion ripped through the already burning hull of the Oil Rig in the Northern Sea off the coast of Scotland. Workmen were already being pulled from the place as I hovered overhead, details coming back from repeated Ring scans and more than half a dozen other sensors displaying more details on the HUD of my armor. Using a bit of manipulation of Red Energy, I was pulling air from the larger fires as Red constructs grabbed a few workmen that had been thrown clean off the Rig. Putting them on a platform I formed out of Carbon, having ripped the stuff from the CO2 in the air, it was pretty big and easy to put together as I quickly scanned the Rig and did a head count.

"Just over two hundred men..." I muttered as I nodded to myself, quickly accessing files before smiling, that was all of them as a Bio-scan showed no one else on the Rig before I turned back to it, quickly scanning it before looking for a cut off point for the Oil that was spraying up from the pipe going down to the sea floor. Looking around, three seconds may as well have been three hours to me as I backtracked dozens of pipes to a central conduit where all the Oil came from before I moved. With a bit of speed, I rushed in, Environmental Shields keeping the flames out as I moved through the Rig's confines, looking for the valve at the base of the central platform, near the very bottom of the Rig. The fires were of little problem, the constant explosions were annoying as I used my Ring to cut holes rapidly through fallen metal walls and flooring that had been dislodged before making it there.

Looking at it, it was a large red valve that had a number of sighs by it, pointing it out as the 'Primary cut off valve', not that I really paid them anything more than a secondary observation as I grabbed it with both hands and turned. The sound of protecting metal met my ears as I kept turning it as far as it would go as saw the difference rather quickly as a new image appeared on my HUD showing the dropping temperature of the surrounding flames as I smiled at that, the flames were going to die down from there, but I didn't put too much faith in it being stable for quite a while.

Suddenly, my attention was taken as my sensors picked up a number of things, two fast moving objects travelling at just over Supersonic speeds and just under Supersonic speeds respectively, not to mention a few dozen lifeforms rising from the depths as I quickly checked them and saw that they were, apparently, a school of Hunchback Whales being lead by a man-shaped object. Quickly moving, Red Energy flared around me as I quickly jumped out of the Rig, flying out the way I came as I looked outside to see what was already happening as the Whales surfaced. From my place in the sky, I mentally caused my HUD to zoom in on the figure standing on one of the Whales and saw a man wearing yellow scaled armor and green pants with a Golden belt, an A-shaped belt buckle at the front. In the skies, I could see two people flying without assistance as I scanned them, one coming back as a Kryptonian while the other one came back as Human, strangely enough.

Aquaman, Superman and Wonder Woman, if I hadn't missed my guess as I saw the Hunchback Whales all making use of their blow holes and launching water high enough that it would hit the still-burning fires while Wonder Woman pushed the men on the Platform away from the Rig, having grasped the side of it while the Kryptonian drew in a big breath and used his Super Breath, blowing out most of the fires like a birthday candle as I watched. The Whales continued to spray water at the platform as I did another scan before looking down at the Carbon platform, accessing files from the company owning the Rig and comparing faces and physical descriptions to each worker. I frowned slightly, mostly at seeing that, in fact, not everyone had made it as the total number of people on the Rig had been 225.

Only 209 were on the floating platform below me.

"Hey there!" I glanced up from my thoughts at that as I looked around, seeing the form of the blue and red spandex clad form of Superman with Wonder Woman by his side. "You mind if we talk?" He asked as I was quickly checking that everything was working. I nodded as I gestured for them to lead on. Superman smiled slightly at that before flying over to the remains of the Helipad on the Rig, Wonder Woman joining him with a slight smile as I glanced down as the school of Whales disappeared from the surface, a water spout shooting up as Aquaman jumped onto the platform. The three Heroes landing and forming a Semicircle as I stood apart from them, keeping my sensors active as my Ring was running constant scans of the area around me.

"Alright, so... Introductions first, I'm Superman, this is Wonder Woman and Aquaman. You got a name that we can call you by?" He asked as he jabbed a thumb at himself before gesturing to the two Heroes on either side of him, each nodding in turn. I nodded in respect to each of them as I considered what to say before smiling, not bothering with the voice modulator.

"Red Lantern." I spoke simply as that drew a look from the three Heroes as Superman frowned while Aquaman raised an eyebrow.

"'Red Lantern'?" He asked as I nodded.

"Yes, believe it or not, but there are more than one type of Lantern in existence, the Greenies are just the most well known of them, Red Lanterns are pretty new, all things considered, I'm basically the first." I stated, which was a technical truth, the very best kind, as the Heroes nodded at that while Wonder Woman looked at me curiously.

"How old are you?" She asked as I raised an eyebrow behind my Visor.

"Sixteen. Why?" I asked with a raised eyebrow of my own as I got a concerned glance from the Kryptonian.

"Don't you think you're a bit young to be doing this? I mean, don't you have school and a life that you could be doing rather than risking your life?" He asked at that.

"Can't the same be said about you three, don't you have lives you could be living outside of a costume? As for school, I'm scottish by Birth, legally, I've already finished my required schooling and anything after that is voluntary. And, as for my life, well, that's kind of hard since I woke up in High Earth orbit a little over three weeks ago, in nothing but my Boxers, with my memories scrambled to the point that I don't even know my own name or the names of my own parents." I shot back flatly. "And for that matter, I should actually be older, since I can vaguely remember being three years older, physically, before waking up in orbit."

The two men glanced at Wonder Woman, no doubt to confirm it since I knew that Wonder Woman had an innate ability to tell when someone was speaking a load of Bullshit. She nodded very slightly at that, but said nothing about it as the two of them looked back at me before Superman spoke again.

"Ok then, maybe we can help you out if you'd be willing to follow us, that sound alright?" He asked as I nodded.

With that, we took off, I could pick up the rescue boats just about within visual sight of the Rig now as they raced towards the platform I had made, I said nothing as all four of us went off, I followed Wonder Woman and Superman while Aquaman jumped back down to the sea below, probably to help with the transfer of the workmen on to boats to take back to land. Again, not really my problem any more since the Lifeguard were already closing in and getting closer.

I did throw a glance over my shoulder as I flew away, but did nothing more than that.

Time to meet the Justice League.

XXX

"Who are you?" That was the first words that came from the mouth of Batman the moment the meeting between me and a few members of the Justice League started, accompanied by his deep as hell voice, flat expression and an aura that would have screamed 'tell me what I want or I will fold you like a piece of origami'. Of course, that was assuming that you were a normal person, I literally didn't have any kind of flight response, mostly since it was mostly consumed and ignored by the Rage that burned under the surface of my being, mostly at his attempt to cowl me with his intimidation attempt. Looking around, I saw the other members looking at me from their seats in the chamber within the Hall of Justice, a thankfully private room within the tourist trap with a circular table at the centre. Both Green Lanterns were present, Hal Jordan and John Steward were present and sitting next to me as I saw them both looking at me with focused eyes, Wonder Woman was sitting to one side with Superman and Batman with Martian Manhunter to the side, while the Flash and Green Arrow were both present as well, opposite the two Lanterns. Still, I paid them no attention beyond noted that they were present, as I focused on Batman, carrying out a quick scan of him and noting it down to the placement of the last atom, specifically for the brain, before I went to answer.

"Red Lantern, as you were no doubt already aware the moment that I stepped into the facility. My real name is unknown, as I don't even remember it given the fact that my memories are little more than paste at this point. As for assumed identities, I ain't telling you shit unless you feel like sharing your own." I snarked back at him, getting a snort from the Flash as I seemed unaffected by the infamous Batman death glareTM, not that I really cared.

"How did you get that Ring?" Hal Jordan jumped in at the way I shut down Batman, leaning forwards. I glanced at him for a moment, moving my helmet so that it was clear I could see him from the corner of my visor before I answered.

"I don't know. As I said, I woke up in High Earth orbit with it stuck on my finger after going to bed the previous night with large holes in my memories." I stated as I turned back to look at Batman, a clear dismissal in my actions, causing Lantern Jordan to dristle.

"That Ring is property of the Guardians, I'm going to have to ask you to hand it over to me while we conduct an investigation." He stated as I didn't even bother looking back at him.

"No." My answer was abrupt, and too the point. "First of all, Lantern Jordan, get you facts straight and actually do some research before you go claiming that my Ring is the product of the Guardians since I know for a fact that there are not the only group capable of creating Power Rings. Second, You can have this Ring... When you take it from my cold, dead hands." My voice dropped several degrees at that point as I noted him tension, the air was getting cold as I lowered the temperature myself, mostly to get the point across, so much so that the Flash actually saw his breath when he breathed out.

"Really? Because the way I see it is that an unknown Lantern is using an unknown Power Ring similar to that of a Green Lantern Power Ring in the space of at least three Green Lanterns. If you aren't going to hand it over, I'm more than fine kicking your butt to get it." I glanced over to him as I smirked coldly through my visor, ice suddenly forming as it shot up from the table and stopped just short of his nose and throat. The room delved into silence for a moment before I spoke again.

"Interesting... I did not know that the Guardians had rescinded the regulations against Green Lanterns killing people. Most interesting." I stated at that, keeping the ice there for a moment before letting it drop away, melting as I brought the temperature back up to normal room temperature. Jordan let out a breath of air as he saw the ice disappeared, Steward took over for him.

"They haven't, but what makes you say that, kid?" He asked with a raised eyebrow, not as gun-ho as Hal, but his body was clearly tense from my little display.

"Really? Because what Lantern Jorden suggested doing is literally a death sentence for me. The Ring I now wear, when I got it slipped on my finger, whenever that was, it replaced my blood with a substance that, when outside of my body, burns like a combination of energised Plasma and ignited Napalm, not only that, but the Ring has literally took over the function of most of my vital organs with a few exceptions. Therefore, taking off this Ring, as your partner suggested, would kill me." I stated clinically as I looked at said Lantern with an unmoving glare, my hands clasped on the table where they had been the whole time, a clear show that I was more skilled than the two Lanterns present as there had been no glow and no line to my Ring, something that the two Lanterns before me couldn't boast about.

"Perhaps it would be best if we move onto another subject." Manhunter came into things, breaking the tension easily enough before looking over at me as I turned to him. "You say that your memories have been scrambled, perhaps I could help you recover them?" He asked.

"Thank you for the offer, but it is less of them being scrambled and more of them being removed, I've scanned my own brain enough to see that several neural pathways have intentionally been broken through highly targeted electromagnetic pulses. There is simply nothing to recover... Besides, I've hesitant to let a Telepath look around my head with no idea of what you could do." I stated plainly as I looked at him, mental Barriers having never lowered the entire time, I had gone to see Chester and we had managed to get a solid eleven days together of his intense mental attacks as I spent the following night recovering and rebuilding until I was happy with the end result and kept practising the mental defence techniques in the Ring's database.

"J'onn has been a valued member of the Justice League for years, he has earned our trust and has never tried anything in our minds." Wonder Woman came to his defence as I looked at her with my helmet tilted to one side.

"That you know of. He could have easily implanted code words to carry out certain actions, trigger blackouts or even compulsions to do certain actions that you would never be the wiser to. Besides, just because you may trust him doesn't mean that I trust him, if anything, it makes me trust the lot of you a hell of a lot less." I shot back rapidly without hesitation.

"Look, Red Lantern, no one is going to try and brainwash you or anything, we're all just trying to get an idea of what is going on and see how we can help. You're a young guy risking your life where you shouldn't, and frankly a lot of us want to prevent seeing a kid in an early grave." Green Arrow stated as the Flash nodded by his side as I looked between them. A moment later, I looked straight ahead, where Batman had been looking straight at me since the beginning. I remained silent for a moment of thought before speaking once more.

"... Very well. I'm listening."

XXX

AN: Sorry to everyone looking forwards to the next Chapter of 'The Empire? Now after I'm finished with them!', but I had a case of writers block and this idea came up and wouldn't stop bugging me until I typed it out. Anyway, hope you enjoy, please give me a review to tell me what you thought about it and where I can improve.