Leaving the pirate ship, I headed back to the trial still in costume. When I arrived, I heard flash speaking to the Judges. "Have you asked yourself, why this rush to judgement? If the ring wasn't lit, you must acquit"
Flash was channeling his inner Johnny Cochran, but it was apparent he had not been winning over the judges. At this moment Kilowog came juggernauting into the court room. "Out of my way"
The judges yelled out "What is this?? order in the court!"
Kilowog slowed down to a halt and spoke "I just wanted everyone to know what kind of man John Stewart is, before you make your decision. John Stewart has saved my life on a couple of occasions and has put his life on the line to do so for more people than just me. That's the kind of man he is".
Flash put his hand on Kilowogs shoulder. "Thank you Kilowog, John couldn't have asked for a better character witness" He then turned to the court speaker "Your turn"
The court speaker with a frown on his face turned to Kilowog and questioned him "Kilowog, can you tell me what a green lantern does?"
Kilowog wiithout missing a beat answered "Well that's easy, we catch bad guys"
The speakers frown turned into a slight smile "Commendable, but how do you know who the bad guys are?"
Kilowog was all brute and no brains and it seemed like the speaker understood this before asking. Kilowog didn't know how to answer the question and fumbled his words while looking anxious. "How, I uh, I just know".
The speaker smiled bigger "Oh so you're saying you use your obviously superior intellect to routinely sort out matters of life and death"?
Before Kilowog could answer, I spoke up from the stands. "Bad guys do bad things, that's how they know, it has nothing to do with intellect. Anyone can have morality and know right from wrong."
The judges yelled out "ORDER! NO MORE OUTBURST FROM THE GALLERY, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!"
I sat back down. Flash gave me a nod and Kilowog replied to the speaker. "I use my moral judgement that everyone has." Kilowog said standing up straight with his chest out.
In the original story Kilowog had agreed with the speaker dumbly. I didn't want to give court speaker the benefit of belittling Kilowog in front of everyone. After saying my bit and saving Kilowog some shame. I left the trial once again. I had come to the trial only to get an idea of the current time frame of the episode I remembered and now I have that.
The manhunters were planning to steal the green lantern power very soon and I was getting tired of being on this planet, so It was best to destroy them before they have a chance to try and get it. Superman and Hawkgirl should be destroying the machine that is keeping up the illusions of the so called destroyed planet soon and then everyone will realize the manhunters were responsible and missing. I was hoping to have them all wrapped up, before that happened.
I made my way to where the Manhunters had gathered, having a secret meeting, discussing their plans to steal the lantern power. All of them were standing still in a large group. It really couldn't have been more perfect. I silently gathered up ki until I had a ball formed bigger than my head and then released it onto the group of manhunters, almost instantly destroying the majority of them, while leaving around 10-20 still standing.
They started firing their manhunter staff's at me all together. I took them head on like I would with bullets. The damage was a lot less than the lasers from the last alien invasion, but they still caused a bit of damage. I chose to ignore it, embracing the pain as I confronted each manhunter at a time. I broke them apart like toys, until only one was left. I took off it's arms and legs and then headed back to the trial with its torso and head in tow after I had gathered up all the manhunter staffs and cuffs that could fit in my almost already full inventory.
Approaching the courthouse, I noticed Hawkgirl and Superman had destroyed the illusion and the nearby planet Ajuris 4 was visible again. I could hear Superman explaining the situation to everyone in the courtroom as I got close. "Ajuris 4 was never destroyed, it's right where it always was, it was all an illusion, a frame up, as they say on my planet".
Many of the aliens in the gallery stood up and started yelling at the judges and court speaker. "This would have never happened, if the system wasn't so corrupt!" One of the aliens said as the rest all agreed and said their own piece.
Ignoring the clamor, I landed near the Oa Guardians that were here for the trial and tossed the manhunter in front of them. "The manhunters were about to head to the the planet Oa before I intercepted them. They hired Kanjar Ro to give false testimony to make the lanterns look bad and distract yourselves and the lantern corp as they stole the lantern power".
After saying my piece I flew down to join the rest of the league. "Let's go home everyone, you too John"
John willed his ring to himself, destroyed his cuffs, and talked to some Lanters and the Guardians of Oa and then we started to head out. As we were leaving I saw the aliens/citizens of the planet below all get together and destroy the court building we had just been inside not long ago. Something that had not happened in the original series as far as I know. With a court system like that, it had to be purged. There was no saving it. I agreed with their actions. Some things weren't worth salvaging.
On the way back, Superman asked me a question. "Moonlight, how did you know John was innocent and that the Manhunter robots were lying"?
I waved my hand at the question. "I knew John wasn't capable of such heinous crimes against people and I had a source that let me know the manhunters were not happy with their demotion ever since the Lanterns came about. The manhunters have always been unhappy with their situation, but didn't have the courage to speak up to the guardians".
I didn't blame them either, the guardians could be ruthless and uncaring. I felt a little bad for the Manhunter Robots, but it was none of my business and I didn't want to be involved. Their demise was their own doing.
On the way back, we all traded stories of our time on Ajuris 5 and what we had been up to. I made sure to praise Flash on his courage. The world would be a better place if everyone had a friend like Wally West. Friends like these or any friends for that matter was something I had been missing in my last life. I wondered if Flash and the others would have done the same for me.