A New Kind of Lantern
The sight of the endless legions of Amazo and Composite Supermen continued to shock Jacob. What did these villains have to do with protecting the multiverse as a Lantern?
One of the other Guardians spoke this time. He had a rectangular box-like shape to his head. His eyes were at the edges of the box, with his strange brow arching over.
He waved his hand at the nine billion Composite Supermen.
"You, Composite Supermen, are the most powerful and evil of your ilk throughout the nine multiverse realms represented here today. I take from you the power to do evil!"
Waves of energy and light exit the bodies of the Composite Supermen and gather into a ball of energy. The energy is condensed over and over again until it is the size of Jacob's head.
It floats quietly.
"These Amazo Robots, are the most powerful Amazo's throughout the nine Multiverse Realms represented here, today. Your creators were particularly cruel in their programming, and you have wreaked atrocities throughout your universes.
Our judgment, disassemble, recycle, and serve!" The guardian next to The Flame of Uhe shouted. He stood tall and looked like a kind of cybernetic being, but the flesh was like flowing crystal, and the metal was like pure silver, almost white.
With a wave of its hand, the nine billion Amazos were torn apart and every piece separated until it was material. The power supplies created a mystical image of some sort and the energy ball from the Composite Supermen entered.
The remaining pieces encased the energy engine until it formed the shape of a lantern. The lantern was green, yellow, and red. The few remaining pieces were absorbed into the lantern core and after some time, a ring flew out. The symbol on the ring was an "A" in the shape of a lantern.
The ring arrived before Jacob Isaacs, waiting for him to take it.
"Take the Ring of Power and speak the oath!" All the Guardians said together as they rose from their chairs.
Jacob reached out his hand and placed the ring on his finger. At first, he was unsure of what to do, but the moment the ring was on his finger his eyes blazed and he spoke.
"From darkness emerged primordial light, and heaven's secrets beheld by mortal insight. With my power composite and bound Amazo I will fight; evil fear my might, the Amazo Lantern light!"
Jacob spoke his oath.
"From this day forth, I pronounce the formation of the Multiversal Force of the Amazo Lanterns!" Khandi declared.
Jacob came back to himself and shook his head.
"Wait, I don't understand, why am I an Amazo Lantern, what kind of light can an Amazo Robot have? Am I a robot now?"
"No, our child, you are redemption and justice," Uha said.
"The Amazo was a weapon that was created to do evil. The Composite Supermen always chose to do evil. They are the darkness, but from darkness, light can emerge.
You will use their power of darkness to spread light. It is the light of your lantern, the Amazo Lantern," Joto the Guardian with the boxy head said.
"So, I can make energy constructs, fly, that sort of thing?" Jacob asked.
"Oh my, you can do so much more. This is an Amazo ring! It is powered by the Composite Supermen. The main ability of the Amazo ring is to copy the powers of others for you to use!" The Flame of Uhe said.
"Wow, so I could become super powerful!" Jacob was excited, although it didn't really seem like it fit into the theme of being a later, he didn't care.
"Eventually," Uha said.
"Eventually? What do you mean?" Jacob asked.
"You, understand that we have been guardians for a long time and we have seen the effects of the power of our rings and devices.
A person with no power is suddenly given so much power that he can rival a cosmic entity can be too tempting." Khandi said.
"Even my greatest lantern, Hal Jordan, was seduced by the power of the rings. It's because of this that we decided that the power must be earned over time. Before you can lead our army to protect the multiverse, you must train." Khandi said.
"Train?"
"Yes, train, you will begin as a human and earn every ounce of power," Uha said.
"How do I train?"
"We will place you in an early timeline and the only thing you'll be able to do is scan and store powers. By doing heroic deeds, you can earn points and buy powers," Khandi said.
"There are other functions, you'll be able to collect heroes who are about to die and save them. You'll also be able to reap villains. When you do these things, the heroes and villains will be turned into figurines. The heroes will recover and then return to normal. The villains, however, will have their power stripped and purified. This will serve as an initial skill or power for an Amazo Ring you give to a soldier you will choose," Uha said.
"Yes, but that is for later. Let's not burden him with too much information. He can learn from the ring." The Flame of Uhe said.
"True, it is time to send him to begin his training," Joto said.
"Wait! Before he goes, we must give him his present." Khandi said.
"I nearly forgot!" Joto said.
"Present?"
"Yes, your present, we can't let you go away without any powers, so we'll let you select something. You should pick something powerful, but as a reminder, the power is restricted to your level." The Flame of Uhe said.
"You may pick any power you want from the following categories, but you can only pick one. The categories are Intelligence, Strength, Durability, Speed, or Energy Control," Khandi said.
"I'm surprised I can't choose any magic abilities," Jacob commented.
"The Amazo Ring isn't able to replicate magic abilities. It is a science-based technology," Khandi told him.
"That doesn't make any sense," Jacob commented.
"Why not?" Uha was puzzled.
"Because the Flame of Uhe or in some versions the Starheart is the culmination of magic. The original Green Lantern ring and lantern were magic-based," he said.
"That's not true, my power rings are technology and science-based. The whole magic thing is wrong, someone got it wrong. I don't know who or why but it's the most persistent myth when it comes to my Power rings," The Flame of Uhe corrected Jacob's misunderstanding.
"Hurry up and pick a power, but remember, it must be a hero's power and not a villain's. You can only copy the powers of villains." Roto was in a hurry and was getting impatient.
"Why?"
"Because Amazo and Composite Superman only copied the powers of heroes. Now pick!" Khandi explained.
"Since I'm going to start off as basically a human, I should have intelligence as my power. Being just a little faster at first, a little stronger, or a little tougher, probably won't help me much.
Being a genius, well, aren't geniuses the beloved of superheroes? They can make their own gear, fighter things out, there are all sorts of options." Jacob said.
"That's a great choice, whose intelligence do you want to have?" Uha asked.
"I want to have the intelligence of the smartest version of Jor-El, the father of Superman. He's a good guy, and he's probably one of the smartest characters I know. I can't wait to experience the intelligence of Krypton's greatest scientist!"
"Another good choice, but just to remind you. In the beginning, you'll only have the lowest level of this power possible. Your IQ will only be around 600." Khandi said.
"I can accept that," Jacob's eyes sparkled.
The Flame of Uhe released his flames and Jacob was surrounded by green flames. The flames initially covered only Jacob's body. It was like someone turned on a vacuum cleaner because the flame all over his body rushed into Jacob's head.
After the process was over, Jacob couldn't keep his eyes open. He fell into a deep sleep.
"He'll have the intelligence of Jor-El, but not his knowledge, he'll need to earn that by himself," Khandi said.
"I'm sure he'll be fine," Uha said.
"Uha, you see to be closest to the boy, take him to his earth and his living quarters. Let him wake up in his new home." Khandi laughed.
Uha disappeared with Jacob and a moment later she returned.
"It's done?" Khandi asked. Uha nodded her head.
"I wonder what that kid will think of his new identity and home," The Flame of Uhe said.
"It was at that very moment that Jacob's eye slowly opened.