"Did Batman misunderstand something?" Su Sheng wondered aloud, watching Batman disappear into the distance. The tone of the encounter felt odd, almost as if they were somehow working together.
Skreeeech!
The sound of tires screeching against the pavement broke the moment's silence as a black off-road vehicle came to a halt in front of Su Sheng and Harley Quinn. The window rolled down, revealing Carol Ferris behind the wheel. "Get in," she called out.
Without hesitation, Su Sheng and Harley slid into the vehicle. As they drove off, Harley nestled comfortably into Su Sheng's arms, playfully shaking the bottle that now contained the miniaturized Parallax Monster. She seemed enamored with it.
Carol glanced into the rearview mirror, eyes wide with disbelief. "That... thing in the bottle—is that the Parallax Monster? Are you sure it's safe?"
"It's fine," Su Sheng replied nonchalantly.
Carol let out a sigh of relief but couldn't suppress her curiosity. "How did you manage to do it? Superman and the others couldn't handle that thing, yet you captured it so effortlessly and even shrunk it down. And... what was that ability you used? You manifested a fist, a sword, a net... What kind of power is that?"
"Yeah! It's so cool!" Harley chimed in, looking up at Su Sheng with wide, excited eyes.
Su Sheng smirked, glancing at the yellow light ring on his finger. "Want to have this ability for yourself?" he teased.
Harley's pigtails bounced as she nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, yes, I want it!"
Su Sheng chuckled. "I'll help you out later."
After about ten minutes, they arrived at a large company building. Carol led Su Sheng and Harley inside, taking them up the elevator and into her office. While Harley made herself comfortable on the sofa, teasing the Parallax Monster, Su Sheng casually eyed Carol as she shed her military uniform for a business suit.
"You're running your airline now?" Su Sheng asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, but it's much more challenging than I anticipated," Carol admitted with a sigh. "Do you have any alien technology that could help? Maybe we could partner up."
"Not interested," Su Sheng replied, lounging back in Carol's chair with his feet up on her desk. "Now, tell me what's really going on."
Carol had been helpful earlier, but it was clear there was more to the story. She wouldn't have gone out of her way to pick them up without a reason.
"Move aside, I need to show you something," Carol said as she approached.
Instead of moving, Su Sheng casually gestured with his ring, using its energy to adjust the position of the computer's monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Carol, a little surprised by the ring's power, bent over to access the computer, and moments later, a video began to play.
The footage was of a laboratory. Inside a transparent containment unit stood a man, but something was off. His head was unnaturally large, grotesquely deformed.
"You're afraid," Su Sheng suddenly said, glancing at Carol. Parallax fed off fear, and Su Sheng, wielding its power, could sense her emotions.
In response, the yellow light ring projected several yellow manifestations around Carol, displaying various images in 3D-like fashion, much to her astonishment.
"H-How are you doing this?" she exclaimed, marveling at the projections.
Su Sheng smirked, watching the video closely. The next scene showed an alien spaceship, followed by the body of an alien with purple skin. The footage revealed that the military had secretly studied the alien and its ship, dissecting the corpse. Carol had been involved in the project before her retirement, and so had the deformed man in the video—the one with the oversized head.
In the following scene, the man, identified as Hector Hammond, began to lose control, writhing in pain as his head swelled even larger. He was eventually quarantined, and shortly after, the Parallax Monster appeared on Earth.
"I see now," Su Sheng mused. "You contacted me because it's your fault that the Parallax Monster appeared in Coast City, isn't it? This guy in the video—Hector Hammond—he got infected with Parallax's energy, and that's what attracted it to Earth."
"That... thing is called Parallax? What is it?" Carol asked, alarmed.
"It's the embodiment of the Yellow Light of Fear, the lantern beast of the Sinestro Corps, part of the Seven Lantern Corps of the universe. You've seen its strength—it almost brought a disaster to Earth," Su Sheng explained before chuckling. "But I have to thank you. If it wasn't for your mess, I wouldn't have gained this fascinating ability so quickly."
With that, the yellow light ring lit up, manifesting a glowing hand that playfully smacked Carol on the butt.
"Ow!" Carol yelped in surprise, staring at the manifested hand in awe.
Aside from its yellow color, the construct looked and felt real.
"So, this is Parallax's power? You copied its ability?" Carol asked, her curiosity piqued.
"As long as you have a lantern ring, you can wield this power. The colors are different, and they draw on different emotions, but the basic principle is the same. You can manifest anything you can imagine," Su Sheng explained with a grin. "By the way, that alien corpse you found—he was a member of the Green Lantern Corps, and a rather powerful one at that. You didn't find a Green Lantern ring with the body, did you?"
Carol shook her head. "No."
"That's... going to be a problem."
"Why?" Carol asked, a hint of concern creeping into her voice.
"You see, when a Green Lantern dies, their ring automatically seeks out a new bearer. If you didn't find the ring, that means it's already chosen someone. Which also means the Green Lantern Corps knows one of their own is dead. When they come to Earth to investigate and find out that you dissected his body... how do you think they'll react?" Su Sheng said, his tone teasing but laced with a serious undertone.
Carol's face paled as she processed the gravity of the situation.