While Wade was still speaking with JARVIS, Hal found himself being chased by Slade. Though Hal was in peak physical condition for a regular human, he was no match for Slade, who had undergone the same Hydra-modified experiments as Wade, albeit without gaining Wade's immortality. Even without invincibility, Slade possessed powerful regenerative abilities and trained tirelessly. In a drawn-out fight, Wade's immortality might give him an edge, but in the short term, Slade held the upper hand.
Thus, it wasn't long before Slade caught up, leaving Hal to fend off his attacks. However, Hal was clearly outclassed in both physical strength and combat skills.
With a resounding "Thud!" Hal attempted to dodge Slade's punch but failed, landing hard on the ground. "Wait! Just because you hate Wade's face doesn't mean you should hit mine! It's my face, not Wade's!" Hal yelled in frustration as he scrambled to his feet, cursing his luck at being related to Wade.
"Is he truly unaffected?" Slade's actual intent wasn't just to vent annoyance but to assess Hal's reactions, trying to determine if any outside force had taken over his consciousness. After all, Slade had seen Hal's unusual behavior earlier and, despite not being close to him, he didn't want anything bad to happen to Wade's relative.
But after observing for a while without a clear conclusion, Slade prepared to attack again. At that moment, Hal, seeing Slade charging toward him once more, actually threw a punch in his direction, initiating the attack.
To Slade, the punch looked feeble, unlikely to pose a threat. Moreover, there was still a bit of distance between them, so Hal's fist couldn't even reach him. However, in the next instant, something unexpected occurred.
With a "Hum!" a green glow formed around Hal's fist, taking the shape of a large energy fist that flew straight at Slade.
"Thud!" Slade reacted quickly, but he still wasn't fast enough to dodge. He had to raise his arms in front of him to block, but the impact sent him flying. As he landed, he felt a sharp pain in his arms, indicating that while the bones weren't broken, they had certainly taken damage.
"Has he been possessed, or has he actually learned to use the Green Lantern's powers?" Slade eyed Hal cautiously, mulling over the situation.
"What… what's going on here? Did I do that?" Hal stared blankly at his fist, obviously clueless. Suddenly, more energy surged from his ring, creating another energy sphere around him and lifting him off the ground again.
"Wait! Where is this thing taking me? Wade! Stop talking on the phone and help me!" Hal yelled, struggling against the sphere with no success.
At that moment, Wade finally noticed Hal floating up and shouted to Slade, "Hal's flying! Slade, quick, grab him!"
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Slade acted fast, pulling out a specialized energy pistol and aiming at the glowing green sphere. He reasoned that if he could break it, Hal would fall to the ground, which was preferable to letting him be carried off to an unknown location.
"Hum!" Unfortunately, though Slade's shots hit the sphere, they only caused minor ripples without breaking it or affecting its stability.
"No! What's going on? Somebody help!" Seeming to sense it was under attack, the energy sphere increased its speed, zooming upward and smashing through the roof. It quickly disappeared into the sky, ultimately leaving Earth and passing through a spatial wormhole before vanishing.
"Wade, what's going on?" Tony Stark's voice came through the communicator, snapping Wade out of his stupor.
"Tony, I think my cousin got abducted by aliens. Can you help me get him back?" Wade mumbled, glancing toward the sky.
"Abducted by aliens? What exactly happened?" Tony asked, suddenly appearing beside Wade and Slade in person, making Slade instantly alert.
"Spatial teleportation? How are you doing that?" Wade exclaimed, wide-eyed. "I haven't found a belt or a space-jumping device that works for me yet!"
"Let's focus on what just happened," Tony waved dismissively; his arrival was merely an ability, not Avengers tech. "Did aliens show up?"
"Yeah, the Green Lantern Corps and its ring…" Wade gave a brief rundown of how Hal acquired the ring and was then taken by Green Lantern energy.
"So, the ring is the power source, while the Lantern acts as a charger?" Tony speculated, eyeing the Green Lantern on the table with interest.
"Something like that, though it seems you need the ring to access the Lantern's energy, plus a ridiculous oath," Wade said with a slight smirk.
"Rest assured, I'm not about to steal it. I'd study it if I had more time, but I'm too busy for that," Tony said, turning back to Wade. "So, in theory, a creature called Parallax might come to Earth, and only the Green Lantern Corps believes it can defeat it?"
"Right. The Green Lantern Corps is pretty arrogant, or at least they see Earth as primitive and underdeveloped," Wade replied. "Though if they knew just how many freaks we have here, they might rethink that attitude…"
"Well, if they show up, Earth's issues won't be handled by aliens!" Tony shook his head firmly. "As for your cousin Hal, if Saiyans spot him, they might help track him down. For now, we can only hope he returns on his own…"
"Then again, if the Green Lantern Corps does come to Earth, and Hal doesn't return, we could use this Lantern as leverage in an exchange. They wouldn't want this power source leaked, right?"
"Unless they mass-produce these Lanterns and make them worthless," Wade muttered, but he tucked the Lantern away.
"Alright. If you encounter the Green Lantern Corps or Parallax, let me know. The Saiyans are with the Avengers right now…" Tony left shortly after, since neither the Green Lantern Corps nor Parallax warranted much concern in his view. The Avengers had more pressing matters, and the Green Lantern Corps didn't seem particularly formidable; if they were, JARVIS would have flagged their energy readings as significant.
So, Tony quickly returned to the Avengers to continue his research on Venom and the new armor. Watching him leave, Wade muttered, "In a world this chaotic, even a guy like Tony seems overwhelmed. There's just too much going on…"
"So what now?" Slade asked once Tony was gone.
"What do you mean, 'What now?' We wait. The Green Lantern Corps probably isn't all that bad. If the Avengers can't retrieve Hal, we'll have to trust he can make it back on his own," Wade replied, shrugging.
"You think I'm worried about that?" Slade scowled. "First, we now have a massive hole in my training base's roof. How will you fix it? Second, this base is no longer a secret. What are you going to do about that?"
"A roof? Easy fix! But not just yet—what if Hal returns the same way? It'd be a waste to fix it now. And as for the base's exposure, the Avengers already know about it. In their eyes, it was never secret in the first place," Wade replied nonchalantly.
Slade glared at him coldly. "You may be a gray-area mercenary, but you don't conflict with the Avengers. You don't go around killing civilians, and we've worked for them long enough to be practically on the same side, right?"
"No one's on your side but money," Slade said icily.
"Oh, my heart! You're denying me too?" Wade put a hand over his heart, feigning heartbreak. "Guess we'll call it even with the roof repair costs. After all, you're still my best buddy."
"You said Spider-Man was your best buddy! And that imaginary guy with steel claws you're always talking about. Since when am I your 'buddy'?" Slade scowled.
"Aw, Slade! Are you jealous?" Wade teased. "Blood ties aside, you're the original me, aren't you? If we're not buddies, then who is?"
Meanwhile, light-years away, on Oa, the supposed center of the universe, Hal arrived under the protection of Green Lantern energy. Exhausted and overwhelmed by the space travel and pressure, he'd fallen unconscious. When he woke, he was startled to find himself wearing a green uniform similar to Abin's, complete with the Green Lantern emblem on his chest and a strange green mask over his eyes.
Even though it wasn't black, a mask could hardly avoid looking bizarre. Now, with this outfit, Hal's handsome, dashing air was gone, replaced by something strange and even a little absurd.
"What the hell? Am I stuck with this green glow forever?!" Hal's spirit sank as he caught sight of himself in a mirror, his expression crumbling at the sight of his reflection.
Thanks to Wade, Hal didn't have a great opinion of green to begin with. He had taken on Abin's final wishes only out of moral obligation. But now, seeing how this green getup made Wade's red suit look good by comparison, Hal could barely handle it.
"Well, it's passable, I guess," a voice said. Hal looked over to see an ugly alien wearing the same uniform. "Granted, you're not much to look at, but the mask does hide some of it," the alien commented with complete seriousness.
The irony of it all? As bad
as the alien looked, somehow, the uniform suited it better than it did Hal…
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