Not so little Green Man (open)

[Hal Jordan]

It was good to be back.

Not specifically to Metropolis, a city Hal had visited only twice before. Once as a child and once on leave. The first visit had been viewed through the eyes of a child, the second he could only distantly recall due to having got more than a little drunk - although the hangover had been one that he could recall all too well.

No, it wasn't this city he was thinking about but Earth as a whole. It had only been a few years since he'd left to join the Lanterns as measured by the calender. Measured in experience it felt as if he'd been away for a hundred years. He'd seen the wonders of the universe, skirted the edges of stars about to go supernova, seen the event horizon of a black hole with his own eyes and talked to more sentient species than anyone could have imagined existed.

Seen in this light he could now understand why his fellow Lanterns viewed the planet as primitive, and why they had been more than a little sceptical at the idea of a human Green Lantern. He'd been able to change their views about humans to a degree, there were already indications that the Corps was seriously considering looking at Earth for another recruit or two - if indeed they hadn't added another human to their ranks already.

Still this world was his home, and also his responsibility as a Lantern. As such he was delighted both as a Green Lantern and as a human to be back here.

Hal twisted and turned in the air, enjoying the sight of Metropolis below him. His visit was partly out of a mild curiosity to see how the city had changed since its fairly recent boom. But he'd also been hearing stories about super-powered individuals, and as a Lantern he'd decided it might be a good idea to check the stories out.

The question, of course, was how to find them. The stories hadn't really given him any indication where to start looking, or much as to what he should be looking for. Lighting the sky up with the Green Lantern symbol wouldn't be much help, since the Lanterns were unknown on Earth at this point - although they would learn about them soon enough.

He was still wondering when he heard the explosion down below. He stopped, looked around and after a few moments caught sight of the smoke and dust cloud.

"This looks like a job for the Green Lantern" He said to himself, setting off towards the smoke.

[dianaprince]

Diana Prince was absolutely amazed at mans world. The things she'd read, and heard about it made it seem so primitive. Though it was far from it. They had moving vehicles, humongous buildings and all sorts of people. It was unique.

Diana was on her way to a park near the middle of metropolis. It was said to have been beautfiul and very clean. Something she was use to on her island. Hopefully it was true and she wouldn't be so out of place.

As she walked her Wonder Woman uniform underneath her blue jean jacket, blue jeans, and white t-shirt shifted and glided effortlessly, and her long black hair glided freely in the wind and she brushed a few strands from her face. Her silver braclets showing slightly as she did.

When Diana turned the corner she eyed a strange looking man leaving as building. He stood out to her for some reason, maybe it was the fact that he was in a all black hoodie, black jeans, and shades that stood out. However most humans were "akward" so she payed no mind. Though she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

As Diana approached the building he had left she stopped in her tracks and listend carefully. She couldn't have been the only one who heard that.

Tick, tick, tick

Diana walked into the building rushing through the crowd and getting closer to the noise. It was so much clearer than it was before and now she was beging to jog. As she reached the end of the hall the sound could be heard even louder.

Tick, tick, tick

Diana was in an all out sprint now and the wound was suddenly right beside her. As she reached for the door handle to the room where the sound was coming from she pulled back her hand and thought maybe she was being a fool. Her red painted nails glittered in the light, and her blue eyes turned an icy color. As she finally worked up the nerve to reach for the handle there was another sound that wasn't so quiet.

BOOM!!

As a searing wave of flame burst through the door Diana was blasted through the wall. The giant ball of flame bursting through the hall way and scorching the walls. As Diana fell to the ground two rooms away she coughed and looked down to see her clothes tinted with black, and then realized the room was filled with smoke.

A man dressed in a light blue suit layed on the floor unconscious and a women beside him was coughing and her red dress was scorched. Diana rushed into action grabbing the man by his collar and the woman by her hand and bursting through the window gliding slowly to the ground and dropping them off before flying back into the air into the building.

Diana then ripped off her jacket and jeans and tore off her white shirt. Her golden breast plate glinting in the dim light and her tiara reflecting after she slid it on pushing her hair back. The red star in the middle bringing out the color. Her golden belt and breastplate in the shape of two W's and, and her red bustier like top bringing life to the room. The thing that stood out most however was her blue bottoms appearing like star-spangled panties, and the brown strap that held her shimmering golden lasso, that cast a light on her silver braclets.

As Wonder Woman watched more of the building catch fire she realized she would need help with such a task. As she flew out the window and looked around for fire trucks she noticed a green flash out of the corner of her eye, and the light smelled of a mans perfume. But it was coming from above how could that be. Mortal men didn't fly?? Or maybe it was a god send.

"Great Hera!"

Wonder Woman yelled as there was another tiny explosion inside the building and more of it was catching on fire. This god send better have been prepared for this. Because she really wasn't.

[Hal Jordan]

More explosions up ahead and a lot of smoke. Hal could hear the screams below, having had some experience in such matters he mentally listed them as screams of people in fear rather than pain.

He had a feeling that at least some of the screams were directed at him, and certainly the sudden appearance of a man flying through the air while surrounded with a glowing green halo was going to be noticed by anyone looking upwards.

Flying in he studied the scene, then had to do a double take when he spotted the beautiful young woman in the swim-suit. She was more than attractive enough to have caught his eye under most circumstances, but at the moment he was more interested in the fact she appeared to be hovering in the air.

Did she have something to do with this? Possible, but somehow Hal didn't think so. Although he would have been damned if he could have explained why he thought that.

There was no time to dwell on the matter, the initial explosion was being followed by others. The first had been sharp, possibly indicative of a high explosive. The others had been deeper and were most likely the result of gas mains being ignited. Regardless the secondary blasts were throwing burning material and large chunks of the building over the area.

Hal snapped a glowing green globe over a group of civilians huddled in the road to protect them against a rain of debris.

"You have a name beautiful?" He shouted at the flying woman, as he lowered the shield and the civilians ran for cover. Thankfully several police officers had arrived and were quickly clearing the area. Either they were used to strangers appearing out of the sky to help people, or they'd quickly realised he wasn't intending on hurting anyone.

"I'm Green Lantern" Technically he should have introduced himself as 'a' Green Lantern. But since he was the only one currently assigned anywhere near Earth the Guardians would probably forgive him. Besides he'd already decided to keep his identity as Hal Jordan secret so as to protect his friends and family.

"You here to help?"

He automatically ducked as another explosion blasted through the back of the building. Without thinking he created a Green bubble over the building to catch the debris, leaving a gap at the base in case anyone tried to run out of the building.

"Is there anyone else still inside?"

[dianaprince]

As the flying man approached Diana she raised an eyebrow and realized he wasn't a god send. He was just a glowing green man. Strange but true.

"I am Wonder Woman"

Diana stated as the man asked for her name. She was new to this contact with men, and the way they eye balled her was akward, and rude. Atleast to her it was. Maybe she needed to add a jacket or skirt to her outfit, though the thought was rather idiotic.

"Yes, I heard a ticking coming from the building so I came in to investigate and then there was an explosion"

Wonder Woman stated as she floated in place. Her hair flowing in the wind and her body bouncing slowly. Her golden lasso shimmering endlessly upon her silver bracelets casting an eerie glow on the windows beside her.

"I believe so, they should be out in a few moments..."

Diana was cut off by the sight of a woman leaping out of the building her long golden hair streaking behind her. Her purple dress was flailing wildly and her black high heels had fallen off and were plummeting to the earth.

Thinking fast Diana unleashed the latch containing her lasso and spun it once rapidly in the air before snapping it forward. The golden rope slashing through the air at an incredible speed. a small loop formed at the end. As the lasso approached the women it wrapped around her wirst and with one mighty yank it tightend catching the women about 30 feet in the air. Diana then slowly descended allowing the woman to land and run up and hug her.

She watched the mans generate his solid light constructs and smirked. It was an impressive ability, one she hadn't really seen beofre. It was what some would say, astonishing, and seemed to be quite durable. Diana then eye balled the man before placing her lasso back inside its latch and walking toward him, attempting to shake his hand.

[Hal Jordan]

Hal's first instinct at seeing the woman starting to fall out of the window was to catch her. Even with the dome in place creating a cushion or a hand to pluck the woman out of the air would be easy. He held off however when it was clear this Wonder Woman was about to act. He was interested in seeing what she could and would do.

It was impressive, not as impressive as his shimmering green dome maybe. But impressive none the less.

"Ring, analysis of 'Wonder Woman'" He muttered as she was carrying her passenger down to Earth.

"Biological signature does not match any known species"

Hal raised an eyebrow at that. The Green Lanterns kept the most complete data base of sentient species in the universe. It was almost unheard of for the rings to be unable to identify an individuals species.
Whatever she was she wasn't human, or so removed from human that the ring wouldn't even classify her as being related to his species. Nor did he think it likely she was an alien, since any species capable of reaching Earth would almost certainly have been known to the Guardians and therefore the rings.

He added a huge fan to the top of his dome, drawing the thick smoke upwards as well he hoped some of the fire. He kept the fan rotating fast enough to draw the smoke, but no so fast the wind might cause problems for anyone trying to get out.

"One second" He said as the Woman returned and offered her hand.

Concentrating he created a long hose in the air, hovering over the city the far end descended into the river while the nearer end hung over the burning building. Pulling water from the river he sent a thick spray of water down onto the building, aiming the huge jet of water at the fires he could see.

The fires hissed, as if alive and realising that their time was at an end. Steam joined the smoke billowing up into the air. It only took a few moments to put out the worst of the blaze, and a few moments longer before he felt he could stop the flow and dispel the dome and hose alike.

"Sorry" He said accepting the hand and resisting the urge to play the gentleman and bring it to his lips. He had a feeling that might not be well received.

"I get the feeling your not from around here" He said without thinking. He wasn't going to press the point right now, there were more important things to deal with.

"You said you heard ticking?" He asked, slipping into serious Lantern mode. "Sounds like a bomb. I'd better check this out". He started to move towards the building then paused. His comment deserved some explanation.

"The Green Lanterns are intergalactic peacekeepers, cops if you like. So its my duty to look into this. Besides its not like I had any plans for today"

[Hal Jordan]

As the man shook her hand she made sure to give him a firm grip and smile, but most important was eye contact.

"I am not, I come from an island known as Themyscira, housed by warrior women...though you have not heard of it, noone has"

Diana stated as she followed the man and listened to what a 'Green Lantern' was. It was rather interesting once you thought about it. Intergalactic peacekeepers, it made ya feel alot more curious about your surroundings.

"Perhaps I may be of assistance??"

Diana questioned. She wasn't some weak mortal girl, she was very bright and would help even if her refused. As she walked past the man she admired her glowing green ring. It had the simple of a lantern on it. It must have the source of his powers.

"Is that where your power comes from??"

Wonder Woman asked as she motioned toward the ring with her eyes and smiled. He was a nice man, no wonder they choose him to be a Green Lantern.

[Hal Jordan]

Hal's first impulse was to tell the woman to leave things to the expert. But he managed to bite the words down before they exited his mouth. He had the feeling that she was going to tag along anyway, besides which he had no idea what she could do apart from fly and look fabulous.

"Its a power ring" he said instead. "All Lanterns have one, although if its any colour but green you could be in serious trouble." He considered how much to tell her, and decided on filling her in on those parts the Lantern Corps either admitted to or where fairly common knowledge in the areas Lanterns patrolled.

"They can create just about anything the wearer can imagine and will into existence" He grinned. "They can do other things as well" he said, gliding down towards the shattered building. He stopped three feet above what was left of the floor. "Don't touch anything, even the floor" He said quickly.

His eyes scanned the blast marks, tracking them backwards towards the centre of the blast. For this he didn't need to use the ring, just experience and his training. He drifted closer to the centre of the room he'd guessed the device had been located. This time scanning with his ring, after a second he mentally changed the setting so when the Green scanning cone the ring was emitting picked up anything unusual it would highlight it in the visible spectrum - allowing his companion to see the same thing he did. Of course the ring's analysis was still being communicated directly to him, but she'd at least know what he was looking at.

"C-4, interesting. The chemical make up indicates its from a recent military shipment". He looked around at the building and frowned. "Strange"

[dianaprince]

"Right"

Diana stated as she took flight as graceful as a feline in the night and followed behind the man quickly. She looked to the scorch marks on the building and shook her head.

As Wonder Woman and 'The Green Lantern' enetered the room where she had heard the ticking she looked around and saw everything had been destroyed. Desk and chairs laid pitch blach and burned. The walls had holes and what note in them and you could tell where the bomb had went off as it was the only spot in the room not covered in scorches.

"A military shipment??,"

Diana asked herself puzzled. Why in the world would someone steal a bomb from the military...or was it even stolen. Sometimes people did dumb things. Something Diana had found out in her short period in 'mans world'.

"But why would the militray try to blow up this building...what's so special about this one??"

Diana asked aloud as she looked around the room one more times and then frowned.

"Can that thing scan for fingerprints??"

Diana asked as she flew toward the doorknob. After all how else were they going to enter the room, she didn't see the person leaving the building wearing gloves so he must have left a fingerprint.

[Hal Jordan]

"It can" Hal confirmed. "But unless I have something to compare it too...besides we don't know that the bomber was the last person to open the door." He winced, pointing at a scorched area of what was left of the room. "There was someone in here when the bomb went off, that's what's left of them".

He shook his head. Wondering if someone had tried to be a hero or just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Military explosives contain chemical markers, so if they are used an investigation can not only reveal the explosives were military but sometimes also match them to shipments and trace them back to where they came from. Even if the military wanted to blow up a building they would not be stupid enough to use their own explosives to do so. Now there is a black-market for military explosives, but they don't come cheap and they are usually considered overkill by those groups who can afford them."

Hal looked around, and scanned the room with his ring again for a few seconds and shook his head.

"I don't get it. I can't see anything about this building that would justify blowing it up...unless...Maybe this wasn't about the building but about someone who was inside..."

He turned back to the woman, wondering if her memory was a perfect as her figure.

"Tell me everything you saw or heard prior to the blast"