Sinestro has been quite unhappy lately.
There are many reasons for his unhappiness, but the most significant one is that the Yellow Lantern Beast of their Yellow Lantern Corps has disappeared.
The Lantern Beast is very important to the Corps, not just because they hold a part of the Emotional Spectrum's power, but also because they represent their respective color Corps. The disappearance of the Lantern Beast is akin to a shop losing its sign, naturally, this would upset Sinestro.
However, he is frustrated as well for a different reason. Unlike other Corps who see their Lantern Beasts as mascots and symbols, Sinestro has always been seeking to control the Yellow Lantern Beast, Parallax, for his own purposes.
Lantern Beasts can possess a Lantern Hero, but during possession, it is mainly the will of the Lantern Beast that prevails, and the will of the Lantern Hero only serves as a supplement. The Lantern Heroes cannot resist the strong power arising from the possession of the Lantern Beast.
Sinestro, however, is not content to be a Lantern Hero controlled by the Lantern Beast. He was greedy for the powerful abilities of the Lantern Beast, and so he had been searching for a way to control his body while the Lantern Beast possessed him.
Initially, his research had some breakthroughs. With the help of the Yellow Lantern's Furnace, he could use the power in the Yellow Lantern ring as a medium to fuse with Parallax. This was different from simple possession. In this state of deep fusion, he could fully control the powerful abilities of the Lantern Beast without any mental interference.
But just as he was about to try his method out, the Lantern Beast, which had obediently stayed in the Furnace all this while, suddenly vanished.
The Yellow Lantern Beast, Parallax, was created quite early. Parallax came first, followed by the Yellow Lantern Corps. As mentioned before, Parallax is an ancient Chaotic Creature. The minds of such creatures are generally a confused mess, and are almost impossible for organized life forms to understand.
Chaotic Creatures have instincts though, and these chaotic beings naturally prefer to stay in environments that match the powers they control; simply put, Parallax liked being surrounded by the power of fear.
As the once greatest Green Lantern, Sinestro was doing quite well as the leader of the Yellow Lantern Corps which he had created following his betrayal of the Green Lantern Corps. But even that did not meet the demands of Parallax. The ancient chaotic creature's instinct told it that sticking with the Yellow Lantern Corps would lead to slim pickings.
So, during the arrival of a terror close to the origin of the cosmos, the muddled brain of Parallax suddenly became excited. If its thoughts had to be summarised in human language, it would be one word - "Food!"
Feeling the overwhelming power of fear, Parallax didn't even bother to glance at Sinestro before darting off to Batman's refuge.
Sinestro, returning from his tasks, was astounded. What became of his enormous Parallax? It was just here right???
Losing the Lantern Beast was no trivial matter, Sinestro definitely had to find it. Fortunately, during his research on the method of fusing with the Lantern Beast, he had modified the Yellow Lantern Furnace, which could guide him to the location of the Yellow Lantern Beast, i.e., Earth.
Meanwhile, on Earth, in the attic of an old apartment in Eastern Gotham City, Maggie stared at the little girl in Selina's arms, her mouth ajar in surprise.
"Oh my God!! Selina!! What on earth have you done? You have actually! Actually…"
Selina looked at her best friend's face and said, "Actually what? Surely, you're not guessing that I've produced a child in these three weeks since we last met?"
"But… but…" Maggie, frail and sitting in a wheelchair, flushed as she pointed at the little girl's face and said, "She looks exactly like your boyfriend Wayne!"
"Correct, because she is indeed his daughter, but not mine."
Maggie's eyes nearly popped out of her head as she disbelievingly said, "You mean, she is Wayne's illegitimate daughter?? Oh god! Selina! When did you become so generous?? You're actually raising an inglorious illegitimate daughter for that Bruce???"
"This matter is quite complicated, Aisha doesn't have a mother, or more accurately she actually…"
"Oh, I see, her mother 'passed away', right?"
Selina shrugged her shoulders and said, "Well, yes, that's right."
Maggie held her forehead in her hand and said, "You didn't really believe that man's bullshit, did you? 'Passed away'? I hope she really is dead, otherwise, one day you may also get 'passed away' …"
Maggie furrowed her brows, her tone becoming serious as she said to Selina, "Selina, I've never had much to say about your love life, but this time I have to warn you, this is not a wise decision…"
"Today if you can accept an illegitimate daughter, is tomorrow going to be a whole bunch of illegitimate sons? You are not even his wife but you have to raise his children?"
"It's alright, Maggie, I know you're just concerned about me. This thing is, indeed, quite complicated. But all you need to know is that I won't be at a disadvantage."
"Everyone thinks like that." Maggie moved her wheelchair to the bedside, her tone low she said, "Do you remember Catherine from Herring Street in the East District?"
"Catherine? Ah, I remember, her golden hair was truly enviable. What happened to her?"
"She's just like what you'd thought..."
Maggie continued to wheel her chair toward Selina, saying, "A few months ago, a wealthy man arrived on Herring Street. Rumor has it he came from Emperor City. He has a lot of money and once gambled lavishly in the biggest casino in Emperor City, causing a sensation overnight..."
"The nightclub where Catherine worked always did stuff like this. They purposely spilled wine on Catherine, sending her to the restroom to clean up, then had the rich man "accidentally" bump into her. That's how they got to know each other..."
"Catherine is attractive and clever, but the rich man's honeyed words and lavish spending left her entranced. She believed in his promise to take her away from this damned place, Gotham City."
"At times, the man's other mistresses from around Gotham would find her, nearly scratching her face off. Catherine was at a disadvantage in these situations because she is just a poor girl from the Eastern District. Many of his other mistresses were socialites from the Western and Southern Districts."
"This made her feel indignant and resentful. The wave of negative emotions consumed her reason..."
"To secure her position, Catherine came up with a foolish plan. She had heard that the rich man had over a dozen children, and their mothers were able to receive large amounts of child support and even live in his mansion because of these children..."
"So, she found a way to get pregnant but…"
Seeing Maggie's downcast expression, Selina began to guess the ending, but she still asked, "What happened to her in the end,"
"That rich man certainly didn't want a child. He said it was a bastard that Catherine got from messing around, but we all know--he was just belittling her background…"
"He coaxed her into getting an abortion, but the doctor he found was not professional at all. It almost killed her. If Catherine hadn't been so healthy, she wouldn't have survived."
"But this caused serious damage to Catherine, leaving her with severe health complications. She is now weaker than me and can't do much work, and…" Maggie shook her head, saying, "She's not like me. She doesn't have a good friend like you, running around all the time to take care of her. She's probably off doing some flesh trade work under that wicked Fat Madam on Behind Herring Street…"
Just mentioning the name sent shivers down Selina's spine — the notorious old pimp was amongst the most vicious in the Eastern District. Most of her girls don't survive over a year.
"Catherine won't survive for long." Maggie looked into Selina's eyes and said, "You cannot imagine the malice of these rich men. They look upon us like trashes on the street…"
"Selina, I know how well things are going between you and your boyfriend--that rich guy, Wayne. He's different from most wealthy men. He's handsome, rich and even willing to travel with you. However, this will all be temporary..."
"Maybe he will be head over heels for your beauty temporarily, but it won't last a lifetime. The wealthy man that hurt Catherine once promised her all kinds of wonderful futures too, blinding this once clever girl. I am really afraid for you..."
"In the Eastern District, there are countless stories similar to this. Many of the girls here have pretty faces but lack the ability to protect themselves. Catherine's father used to be a whaler with great combat skills, so nobody dared to mess with her before this. But there are girls who are worse off than her…"
"Selina, I don't want to discourage you in your pursuit of happiness, but most of the time, love stories with such significant class differences have no future..."
Selina lowered her eyes, holding Aisha and sitting down on the bed. Aisha was babbling incoherently while Selina stroked her hair, "I know you mean well for me, but everyone is like this. When hearing other people's stories, we always think we've understood everything. But when it's our own turn, things are different."
Before Maggie could continue to persuade her, Selina got up and placed Aisha into Maggie's arms. Seeing those beautiful large blue eyes staring at her, Maggie exclaimed, "Oh my! She's so cute…"
It wasn't an overstatement from Maggie. When she didn't show her fangs, Aisha looked very lovely. With looks like hers, she could sweep up all the "cute little girl" roles in Hollywood for years to come, thanks to the good genes from Bruce for sure.
Selina spread her hands and said, "See, this was not your reaction at the beginning…"
Maggie kissed Aisha's cheek. Selina observed the now calm Aisha and felt a sense of relief.
"You really checked in at a great time. If this was the first day, the two of us would have definitely gone crazy by now."
Remembering her own dreadful experience, Selina sighed and said, "These past few days, I've come to realize one thing, and that is, I truly love Bruce. If my love for him was any less, I wouldn't have been able to hang in there for all these days..."
"What? You mean she's mischievous?" Maggie caressed Aisha's face. Just as Selina was about to share some of her hardships with her, Aisha let out a shriek, jumped out of Maggie's arms and dashed toward the window. She jumped out at a speed almost invisible to the naked eye.
"Oh no!" cried Maggie.
With effort to turn her chair, she reached the window, and Selina followed. Maggie saw the tiny figure of Aisha jump down from the house's second-floor canopy. Covering her mouth, she said, "What happened? How did she move so quickly??"
Immediately after, her expression turned frantic, anxiously saying, "Hurry up and catch her, Selina! This is the Eastern District-- it's dangerous if the nearby gangs notice her!"
Selina looked at Maggie, her frantic eyes full of genuine worry, and swallowed the words "the one in danger is not Aisha" that were about to leave her mouth.