Starheart #227

As soon as I stepped through the portal, I began inspecting the area and found myself inside a dark cave with a small patch of rocks rising over a massive lake.

It was where I expected to go, but my paranoia always got the better of me whenever I spotted a portal. It never hurts to be extra cautious in these situations, but that's neither here nor there.

I quickly found the copper ring gently hovering over a small rocky pedestal, fidgeting in the air as it shined in a green hue that grew more intense with every second.

The copper band slowly began changing, growing slightly in size until it became transparent green, and its glow revealed a similarly colored lantern resting on the stone pedestal.

"The Starheart..." I muttered as I caught the ring and slowly approached the pedestal, stopping before it. The Starheart was one of the earliest in a long list of the Guardian's fuck ups.

The blue, order-obsessed (science) bobbleheads waged wars all over the galaxy millions of years ago in their vain attempt to subjugate all forces of chaos (magic) in the universe, causing countless deaths only to realize it was impossible.

The war was costly on both sides, but even after the Oans (Guardians) destroyed the last magic-powered galactic empires, countless nodes of mystical energies lingered in the universe.

The Oans took it personally and made it their life's mission to gather any stray mystical energy and combine them into one giant crystal they called the Starheart crystal and hid it under lock and key in their new base world.

The Starheart developed a consciousness (because why the fuck not?) and sent freed a fragment of itself into space, where it encountered all sorts of stereotypical and cliched situations, eventually coming to the possession of one Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern, who is now gay for some reason.

Several decades of bullshit comic book logic later, and it turned into the green lantern and ring in front of me.

In other words, I had a fully functional green power ring that I could use without worrying about the guardians and the ten cosmic entities representing each color of the emotional spectrum breathing down my neck.

The Starheart fragment still had its downsides, like being vulnerable to nature, as in grass, trees, and whatnot, the need to recharge the ring every 24 hours, and the possibility that the Starheart might attempt to steer me in a specific direction.

The first downside was negligible since I was plenty strong even without the ring, and I could put it away and beat the living shit out of anyone trying to take advantage of that weakness.

The second downside was even less worthy of concern since I could carry the lantern in my inventory, and I didn't plan on relying on the ring's power to do everything in the first place.

As for the last, well, that was a doozy. If I could overcome and resist the butcher's will and the red ring's influence, I should be able to do the same with the Starheart.

Then again, I preferred not to, especially since I didn't know how strong the Starheart's will was and how powerful its influence would be. 'I guess there's only one way to find out...' I mused, taking a deep breath as I raised the ring and hovered it over my finger.

"I just hope I don't end up losing another finger..." I muttered to no one in particular, bitterly smiling as I slid the ring down my finger and instantly felt its energy flooding my body.

"No overwhelming desire to brutally murder anyone and everyone in and out of sight... check..." I remarked, inspecting my body as I noticed the intense green hue radiating off my body.

"No overwhelming desire to serve a higher entity and sacrifice firstborn children... check..." I went on as I raised my hands and stretched my fingers before balling them into a fist.

"The power to create goofy-ass mass weapons of mass destruction... check..." I said with a chuckle as I pointed my fist forward, manifesting a lame-legged donkey with a nuclear bomb strapped to its back.

'Stil...' I mused, feeling a faint knock on my mental shields from the ring. Hesitating for a second, I allowed the sliver of psychic power to slip into my mind, and it promptly dissipated before accomplishing anything.

"I can work with this..." I said, nodding in satisfaction as I let out a sigh of relief before throwing the lantern into my inventory. I didn't really need the ring since I was already powerful enough to fend for myself and had the power to create energy constructs without it.

However, I'll be able to learn to create sophisticated energy constructs more easily with the ring's help, and I still lacked a method to travel at high speeds, so yeah, having it wouldn't hurt either.

"Now let's see what you can do..." I said, eager to try out the ring as I raised my fist, manifesting a giant drill facing the cave's ceiling. "Time to head home..." I concluded, pushing the energy construct into the stones above and flying up as it began clearing the way.

...

"Home sweet home..." I muttered, smiling as I plopped down into the couch. It didn't take Lil Soot long to find me, and he merely gave me a blank look a meowed in greeting before going back to do god knows what.

Lil Soot would always act pouty whenever I left him for a while, but he always came around at the end of the day. Speaking of which, I didn't exactly leave him alone in the hideout, per se.

I reached out to Martian Manhunter to take care of the little critter while I was away, and he was happy to oblige since he'd developed a strange but wholesome bond with my cat.

It was a win-win situation, so I didn't question it, and I don't intend to start now.

In any case, the trip back home only took an hour, even if the cave where I found the Starheart was on the other side of the globe. I also went out of my way to enjoy the breeze and the scenery, but power-ring-powered flight was just that fast.

The little vacation was just the distraction I needed to clear my mind. I even managed to gather tons of money, approximately 800 million, and a bunch of new toys, which I had no intention of using.

Most of the artifacts in Faust's lair were demonic in nature, and used human souls as fuel, but they would make for killer decorations once I had the chance to pretty up my hideout.

I also found a bunch of random magical metals, which I'll be melting and studying to create Richard's new arm when I have the time, but I still had some tasks to attend to before I got to that.

The first task was helping Nightshade. Then there was getting a pardon for Lady Vic, Deadshot, and Harley, starting my company, dealing with the religion of crime, all of which were urgent in their own way.

I also had a shit ton of research, both scientific and occult, to conduct to finish the various tasks ahead of me, but I could do it in my free time, and the power ring would help me speed things up.

"Whelp... time to get busy... again..." I muttered to no one in particular, chuckling as I got off my couch and headed for my workshop, humming in a good mood as I did.

"Day and night, what, what...♬ I toss and turn. I keep stressing my mind, mind, what, what...♬"

...

Upper Gotham

Cassandra Cain couldn't help but smile as she hugged a duffle bag close to her chest, jumping from building to building on her way to the theatre to meet Patrick and his friends.

Cassandra had been away for a long time, as she decided it was time to grow stronger after realizing it was her fault that Patrick and the others had to leave their home at the warehouse, partly because of her.

She spent all that time traveling from city to city to help people whenever she could and find strong opponents, intent on honing her skills and doing as much good as possible.

Cassandra succeeded in both areas and saved many lives, defeating and turning in many villains and criminals, honing her considerable skills to near perfection.

Still, she had been away for a long time. She quickly grew homesick and started missing the friendly faces that surrounded her when she was in Gotham.

Naturally, she didn't come empty-handed as she remembered to bring a bag full of snacks along for Patrick and the others.