"Wow, they must really find your outfit interesting." Jamal said to Karniall.
"Actually, they're looking at you."
"Me? Why?"
"Some of it is because most of them are rookies and have never seen a Nova before, despite knowing about them. But the majority of it is simply that your name's gotten around. 'The Nova Corps destroyed, save one sad Denarian. One lone Nova, the last of his kind and now the Nova Prime, fights to save the universe from the Annihilation Wave and kills Annihilus with his own hands. Then, this heroic man saves the Kree and possibly the universe from the Phalanx.' It's almost like something you would see as the plot summary to a summer action movie." Karnilla explained as the two landed and entered the headquarters of the Guardians.
Again, heads turned and eyes followed them as they walked through the building until they came upon the room which housed the Guardians. Standing in front of it was a Green Lantern, floating in the air and watching screens of some sort that showed the activities of various Green Lanterns throughout the universe. "Hi, Salaak." Karnilla said.
"Hello. The Guardians instructed me to tell you that you may enter as soon as you arrive. Feel free to go ahead." Salaak responded, not looking away from the screens.
The two entered the room and found themselves somewhere hard to get a grasp of. At least, for Jamal. Walking into the room felt like they walked into an entirely different region of space separate from the rest of the universe. In the center of the void stood -- well, floated, technically -- the Guardians of the Universe.
They collectively turned and one of them spoke up. "Ah, our guests have arrived. Welcome, Jamal of Earth. Karnilla tells us that you are upset with us."
"Hmph, as if a backwater Earthling has any place to criticize us about our duty to protect the universe." One of the Guardians said.
"Quiet, brother. Let him speak his case." Another responded.
"Thank you... erm..." Jamal struggled to remember the Guardian's name. He had done a bit of research on them, but, frankly, it wasn't something that was a prime focus of his. Besides, they pretty much all looked the same to him. Well, except for the one who had stood up for him. Unlike the other ones, he had a ponytail, which was pretty much his only defining physical feature as far as Jamal was concerned.
"Ganthet." Ganthet replied.
"Ganthet. Look guys, I'll be the first person to admit that I'm not at all used to having the amount of responsibility I do now. Before the Annihilation Wave, I was basically just a common foot soldier. Then, I was suddenly thrust into a position where I had to do the work of thousands of people alone. Now, I'm usually not one to complain about having a heavy workload, but even I have limits. I'm tired and frustrated. And I can't help but keep asking myself, where the hell were you when Annihilus or the Phalanx attacked--"
"Absurd!" The Guardian from before interrupted. "We have our own, more pressing matters, to be concerned with. Our forces are stretched thin as is. The Annihilation Wave began on the edges of the universe, outside of our jurisdiction. And the Phalanx was a localized problem that did not warrant the usage of a significant amount of our resources. You cannot reasonably blame us for these events."
"I know. That's why I don't blame you. But things need to change. Now. In a way that will benefit both of us. The Green Lantern Corps and the Nova Corps have largely stayed away from each other. That's no longer an option. So, I propose an alliance. I start rebuilding the Nova Corps, and we work to set up a system where the universe is divided into sectors designated to a specific number of Green Lanterns and Nova. You say your forces are spread thin, well, help me rebuild, and we can remedy that." Jamal said. "What do you say?"
The Guardians collectively looked between each other and then faced Jamal. " I'm afraid that we will not be able to provide an answer at this time. We... we must discuss this proposal of yours." Ganthet said.
"That's fine. You have my -- er, Karnilla's number." Jamal said. "Oh, and one of your Lanterns, Kylie from Earth, helped me out with the Phalanx. I dunno if you guys give specific rewards for that kind of stuff or what. Just wanted to let you know that I think she deserves at least some sort of recognition for her actions." With that, Karnilla teleported the two of them away.
Ruby
JQ Headquarters
JQ Headquarters
The clicking of a computer mouse was prominent as I sat in my bed, staring at the computer screen sitting in front of me on my lap. I frowned as I watched a soldier garbed in bulky blue armor fire a sniper rifle at a floating giant mechanical disk. The word 'missed!' popped up in bold red letters above the disk. "Really, Donald Trump? 99% percent chance to hit, and you miss? You're as much garbage even in X-Com as you are in real life." I muttered to myself.
Then, I heard a pomf noise as Karnilla teleported into my room in front of my bed holding a small animal in her arms. "Is it too much to ask for you to walk your own dog?"
"You forced her on me." I replied, not looking up from the computer screen.
"You could have said no." She responded as she set the wolf down on the floor. It then proceeded to run around the room in a circle. "Have you thought of a name for her?"
"No." I simply stated.
After a few moments of silence, Karnilla asked, "Anything wrong?"
"Just Donald Trump being as worthless as usual." I watched as Donald Trump was attacked by a large and brutish alien and was killed instantly. I could have loaded one of my previous saves, but I decided against it. Fuck that guy.
"Come on, what's really wrong?" Karnilla asked as she floated off of the ground, above my bed, and then sat cross-legged on it across from me. The wolf ran up to the side of my bad and barked at her. The wolf was teleported onto the bed in front of Karnilla, climbed up onto her lap, and curled up in it, closing her eyes.
I paused my game and closed the laptop. "When I initially came here, I met two of the Justice Queens. One of them seemed distressed so I used my future vision and I saw her telling the entire team about the death of her boyfriend. The look on her face when she told us... it did something to me. Ever since then I've felt...off."
"I believe that's called emotion. Specifically, empathy." Karnilla responded, not even bothering to hide the smugness behind her words. "But, that's weird for you. You aren't one to be so attached to an emotion like that. That would require you actually experience 'love.'"
"Of course we have." I blurted out without thinking. Wait, I have? For some reason I felt something tug at the back of my head, a fuzzy and splintered memory of some sorts that I was indecipherable.
"I know what will cheer you up!" Karnilla suddenly exclaimed. "Some dimension hopping will take your mind off of things."
"Hm... Okay." I agreed.
An object reminiscent to a magic eight ball appeared in her hands and she shook it. She looked down at the screen and said, "Alright, dimension number 13,343,945,549 it is. She threw the ball into the air and a portal formed. We were then sucked into the portal.
