Chapter Fourteen

Hi all - apologies for the delay. I have been getting some... unusual messages, as of late and it kind of freaked me out. I am honestly not sure if it is people messaging while half asleep, non native English speakers or what but a few were... weird. So I blocked a few people and am going ahead with the new chapter, but if something is a little off kilter let me know. Constructive criticism and useful feedback are always appreciated... random incomplete messages not so much.

Last Time, on Blue Moon Rising...

Oz felt the spikes scraping against the soft flesh of his wrist, blood trickling down his hands and making his palms slick. The angle of the round mace head against the bones in his wrist, the force of the vacuum trying to tear them apart, was all too much. He felt his grip began to slip.

His eyes he caught the gaze of the violently dangling hero as Shiara swung from the other end of the weapon. A particularly strong current buffeted against her broad wings, yanking the mace in his grasp. He felt the bones in his wrist finally give way and snap under the strain and let out an almighty yell, absolutely none of which was heard above the torrential roaring of the venting atmosphere. He didn't know how much longer he could hold on to her. He could feel the weapon slipping as blood coated his palms, dripping from the gashes the weapon was tearing in the flesh of his broken wrist. But something deep in his core, something that sounded suspiciously like a howl, would not let him relinquish his grip. Spots were dancing in his vision again when he saw a flash of green out of the corner of his eye, not sparing it so much as a glance with his attention consumed as it was by the simple task of remaining alive. When the light behind his now tightly shut eyes began to glow softly however, that caught his attention.

And just as suddenly as it had started, the vortex stopped.

Without the force of the vacuum pinning him violently to the column Oz slid clumsily into the ground beneath him, hard. Lying there, slumped over, his death grip on the base of the mace still very much intact, he gasped almost to the point of retching as sweet clean air filled his lungs and waited for the spots dancing in his vision and the ringing in his ears to fade.

Oz could have sworn he heard someone call out Shiara's name, but it sounded muddled somehow, as if it were very far away or underwater. He struggled to sit up without the use of his hands as he still refused to let go of the mace, but his vision swam and his head sank down to the ground with his eyes shut tightly. Something yanked on the mace in his grasp, though he did not relinquish his grip, and he cracked one eye open enough to see a shape that looked suspiciously like Green Lantern at Shiara's side, trying to get her into a sitting position as she too, presumably, tried to shake the spots from her eyes in a world that was no longer tilting in the wrong direction.

'Oh,' Oz thought quietly to himself. 'No sideways? That's nice…'

'Shiara is well Oz,' Oz's head shot up again from where he was laying on his side as a voice he most certainly did not recognize as his own echoed inside his head. His vision swam and his eyes narrowed but he was able to make out the form of J'onn J'onnz kneeling quite close to him but being very careful not to touch him. 'You may release her now.'

Oz nodded slowly, careful not to move his head too quickly, and let the mace slip from his grasp, but the grimace remained. "Don't do that again." Oz said with a soft groan.

"Do what?" Now it was Superman's voice, but thankfully it wasn't in his head this time. Oz sighed tiredly and propped himself up on his elbows. He dragged himself up off the floor and towards the pillar, being careful not to disturb his wrist as he leaned back against his new favorite piece of steel. Claw marks littered the pylon just a few feet above his head, but he hoped there would be enough going on in the foreseeable future for no one to think of questioning them just yet. Oz hummed in exhaustion and pointed vaguely between himself and J'onn. He kept his eyes closed as he answered, still trying to center himself, and also to avoid the vomit inducing waves of vertigo he was experiencing.

"Thinking, in my head. Think talking. Talk thinking. Whatever," Oz relented quietly. The assembled heroes seemed to be content to leave him as he was leaning against the pillar as they discussed something that sounded very important, though J'onn still hovered protectively. It sounded like Superman was trying to explain to the Green Lantern exactly what had happened, Shiara adding in very occasionally as she herself recovered from their little experience. When a vibration of almost supersonic footsteps screeched to a halt in the hanger however, Oz finally sighed and forced himself to open his eyes. The Flash had arrived with Wonder Woman in his arms, though the Amazonian quickly dropped down from his grasp as if nothing had happened. A soft glow caught the corner of Oz's eye and he turned to see a shimmering Green force field stretched across the gaping open bay doors. Green Lantern was projecting a shield across the still wide open hanger bay doors, the translucent shield of green energy the only thing stopping them from being sucked out into space. Oz watched the dancing colors briefly, the colors and ripping vacuum making his head swim and his stomach twist. Oz forced himself to look away and focus on rising slowly to his feet. J'onn was still watching him closely, but made absolutely no move to touch him or help him stand.

There was a control panel on the wall about thirty feet away. It was where he had first noticed the flashing red light moments before the hanger bay doors had opened. Oz's stomach churned and he fought off a compelling wave of vertigo that nearly sent him crashing back down as he thought again of the gaping open void calling to them, trying to suck anyone caught in its terrible grip into the ever expanding nothingness. Oz slowly but steadily pushed himself off the pillar supporting him, shaking off the tremors that thoughts of the open doors had left him with. He clutched his injured wrist close to his abdomen, ignoring the way the blood dripped from his skin where the mace had dug into his flesh. He rolled down the long sleeves of his shirt, catching and, hopefully, hiding the majority of the red liquid, though a small amount was slowly smearing across the heel of his hand across his palm. Oz grimaced as the bones in his wrist ground up against one another every time his jostled his arm. It was most definitely broken, but there was very little he could do about that now. He could still feel the wolf settling beneath his skin, and knew he didn't have the mental strength to fight it back should it attempt to seize control. But right now, at this moment the wolf seemed content to just sit back, wait, and watch. So Oz focused what remaining reserves of mental strength he had left on centering himself and, slowly but surely, working on blocking out the pain from his arm. He had to focus and stay sharp if he were to be of any use at all. And he could not do that while rolling waves of agony coursed through him.

He moved steadily, one foot in front of the other, trudging his way across the hanger bay floor towards the panel on the far wall, trying to ignore the unsettled feeling of his stomach as he did so. No one would confuse him for an Olympic athlete at this moment in time. Not that any of the still arguing super heroes had taken any notice of him or his slow journey across the large empty space. J'onn was still very aware of his location, he was sure, but other than that the collected supers had barely spared him a passing glance. Which was just as Oz would have preferred it.

It was always so much easier to work without someone in Kevlar tights peering over your shoulder.

Oz grimaced uncomfortably as he got close to the panel. Despite having managed to block out most of the pain from his shattered wrist, it hardly tickled. He would have to do something to stabilize it, and soon. But for now? For now he just furrowed his brow and got to work.

It took him a little longer than it normally would have, considering he really only had the use of one arm, but he wasn't one of the most sought after computer programmers for nothing. Within moments he was into the system. This particular terminal was primarily used for hanger diagnostics and maintenance, and as such, was frustratingly limited in its capabilities and access to the rest of the station, but eventually he found what he was looking for.

A blip in the code. A Bug in the Machine. Something that should not be where it was.

Tiny, shifting pressure differentials in the systems internal regulators, mostly offline in the absence of a functioning life support system but present enough to tell Oz what he needed to know.

There was something moving in the lower levels. An amorphous blob, a small pack of roving space pirates, an invasion of super intelligent hamsters- Oz had no way of knowing which of those may or may not be true (though smart money would be against the invasion of hamsters, but Oz preferred not to make assumptions). All he knew for sure, was that something was down there, and that it was moving. Steadily, but slowly, towards the center of the station.

He read through a few more lines of code, tapping casually against the screen. A final click, and then an outrageous hydraulic whoosh sounded from the far end of the hanger, only to come to a swift end with an all mighty mechanical clang.

The gathered super heroes had stopped talking at the sudden and alarming sound of the hanger bay doors sealing shut again. They glanced at the doors, at each other, and then finally noticed Oz's position having taken up next to the computer screen.

"Sorry, the view was freaking me out." Oz shrugged, being careful not to move his injured arm too much without drawing attention to it. Green Lantern glanced back at the sealed metal hanger bay doors just beyond his glowing green shield where, just moments ago, one could clearly see through to the vast chasm of space beyond. Lantern 'humphed' at it for a moment before eventually, and somewhat reluctantly, lowering his own force field, the green light receding back into his ring. Eventually, Oz broke the silence, if only for lack of an interest in maintaining the protracted awkwardness. "So, are we gonna get going, or…?"

Again, he was met with a variety of blank stares. Except for J'onn, whose face was always blank. Anyone else would have buckled self-consciously under the attention. But Daniel Osbourne was not 'anyone else'.

"Go where, exactly?" Flash finally burst out. Oz should have figured it would be the guy who moved at a million miles a minute who wouldn't be able to take the extended stillness. Oz just jerked a thumb back towards the computer terminal he had been typing at only moments ago.

"Level 4. That's where whatever this is is probably coming from."

"And just how in the hell do you know that?" Green Lantern snapped. His eyes were narrowed again. But Oz didn't have time for his suspicions.

"Differences in air pressure picked up by the sensors. There's movement going from exterior port 27 on level 2 moving up and in to the center of the station. Right now it's on level 4, near bay 13. If we move, we can cut it off before it gets to the next level." Oz was walking as he talked, not quickly, but still walking. He had turned away from the heroes, no longer really concerned if they were following or not, as he made his way towards the service hatch and back into the next hallway. But he kept talking, irrespective of whether or not they believed what was being said. "Without the life support systems, which I'm guessing you weren't able to fix as they still aren't running, given the amount of oxygen needed for seven people, not counting whatever else is in hear, and the fact that we just vented about half our atmo, there's about 4 hours of breathable air left. So unless you guys have something better to do, I would very much like to figure out what the hell is going on and fix it while we're still able to breath."

Six rather stunned, alarmed, and suspicious looking supers exchanged various looks as Oz made his way towards the service hatch. Well, five did anyway. J'onn was floating serenely after the programmer without so much as a glance back at his still uncertain compatriots. It was only as the two disappeared through the doors into the darkened hallway that the remaining supers cast a last glance around at each other before following them through the doorway.

Crossing through the empty hanger bay, the Green Lantern felt it prudent to give the space one last quick look over. The doors looked securely sealed down at the far end. This particular hanger bay had thankfully been mostly empty, though undoubtedly some equipment had still been lost in the vacuum. The remaining bay was a barren mess of twisted steel, warped paneling, and bent metal. Most of which had begun buckling under the pressure of the vacuum before he could block off the air pressure. There were only two exceptions. One was the massive hole up ahead, torn through the metal flooring from where Shiara had anchored her mace before it had given way. The second was the one he was standing next to. A metal support column, the same column that computer guy had been standing up against, had been torn into by what looked like several long, parallel gouge marks. Aside from the fact that the marks had been torn into solid steel, John could almost believe they looked like-

"Lantern," John Stewart looked up to find Superman still standing in the hatchway to the next hall, the others long since gone. "You find something?"

John paused, but then pressed forwards. "Nothing that can't wait until after we get this mess sorted out."

Superman nodded and the Green Lantern soared through the empty hanger bay, closing the gap quickly as he and Superman fly ahead through the halls to catch up with the other.