| Metropolis - October 9
It had been a few days since Cassandra started living with him, and she seemed to be slowly adjusting to a life that didn't involve training to be an assassin every day.
Of course, some quirks remained. Sometimes she attacked him when he tried to wake her up in the morning. She still practiced katas throughout the day as if compelled to. She treated everything he said like an order she had to follow exactly. And he knew she constantly assessed rooms and objects with combat scenarios in mind.
She never asked for anything, never asked questions, and accepted everything he said without hesitation. It would take time for the trauma she'd endured to heal so she could simply be a kid again.
She was quiet and reserved. Even after learning to speak, she remained intensely silent, usually using simple, direct phrases—or relying on action, expression, and touch instead.
It made sense. She'd been raised in isolation by assassins and trained only in combat, not language. For most of her early life, she had been effectively mute.
Because she missed out on a normal childhood and basic social interaction, she often showed simple or childlike behavior. She loved cartoons. She had a big appetite. She took great joy in small pleasures—likely because she'd been denied them during her brutal upbringing.
Right now, she was glued to the TV. Joseph didn't mind her catching up on the childhood she never had, but he didn't want her brain to rot from sitting in front of the screen all day.
She needed friends her age.
"Cass?" Joseph said as he sat beside her. She immediately went alert, turning to him with a serious expression. "I found a few good families looking to adopt. Do you want to go through the options?"
"What? But aren't you my new master?" she asked.
"No, I can't be your master. I don't want to keep training you to fight and kill. I want you to be a regular kid."
"Why?"
"You deserve a loving family and lots of friends. Getting adopted will give you that."
"You don't love me? Am I a failure?" Cassandra asked, eyes filling with tears.
"No, no. You're a very good kid, and you're not a failure."
"But you don't love me," she cried, tears spilling.
Joseph froze. He'd never dealt with a crying child. "Fine—I love you, okay?"
"So I can stay with you," Cassandra declared, instantly stopping her tears and returning to the TV with a satisfied smile.
Joseph realized he'd just been played. He hadn't even noticed she was faking it—her acting was that good. Having only communicated through body language for most of her life, it was easy for her to portray whatever emotion she wanted.
A scary kid.
But it was the first time she'd ever asked him anything or questioned him, or even spoken so many sentences at once, so he couldn't really be mad.
"Fine. But you have to go to school starting next week," Joseph said.
"Okay. School can't be that bad," she said.
Joseph smirked. She'd regret saying that one day.
**
| Mirror World Oa - October 10
Joseph went to the Mirror Dimension after putting Cassandra to sleep.
Before that, he made a quick stop at the Cave using a boom tube.
That's why his right hand now sported a Green Lantern ring—turning his Nova costume green—while his other hand rested on Sphere, who had joined them at Joseph's request. Speed Force energy enveloped both of them.
No one would understand her beeps and boops anyway if someone asked where she'd gone. Joseph simply boom-tubed into the Cave, grabbed her, and left.
They were working on cracking the Green Lantern ring's software. It probably wouldn't augment his abilities much, since he already had most of its functions. Plus, a ring or battery was still needed to store willpower.
Sure, he could steal one from Oa, but who knew what trackers the Guardians had built into their rings. He wasn't picking a fight with them for no reason.
A few hours passed as he waited for Nova and Sphere to finish their work, using the time to meditate.
[This is so boring. Can't you do something interesting?] Klarion whined from the Chaos Nth Band.
"Savage never truly forgave you for torturing him three hundred days straight and prepared all kinds of rituals to deal with you. You were too strong back then. Don't tempt me," Joseph said, irritated at being interrupted from his state of calm.
The universe reset as another hour passed. The ring vanished from his finger before he used telekinesis to take it off its stand in the storage room and put it back on.
"You have been selected to overcome great fear. Your spirit is strong. You are now a Green Lantern of the Central Corps," the ring announced. He'd heard this message dozens of times while staying in the Mirror World, which reset every hour to mirror reality.
The ring continued its speech, and Joseph recited it automatically, having memorized it by now. "The ring is powered by the wielder's will and imagination. To activate its full potential, you must overcome all doubt. Repeat the oath to begin charging the—no." He shut it off with a thought.
Who came up with that oath, anyway? 'In brightest day, in blackest night…' It sounded like it was written by a chuuni middle schooler.
Joseph was not saying that.
//We have finished analyzing the Green Lantern ring,// Nova finally said. //Improved material analysis for the nanites, the ability to jam Lantern rings like Grail did to Hal Jordan, additional alien language packs and star navigation maps, and backdoor access to Lantern comms has been created.//
"Good. When we return to reality, connect to their comms and tell me if there's any universal threat I should watch for. And thanks, Sphere."
Sphere beeped proudly.
"Now I can finally move on to the next place on my list—Atlantis."
//Sphere wants to come,// Nova added.
"Sure. Why not?"
**
| Citadel Homeworld - October 10
Members of the Citadel were not a true race but clones of their progenitor, a half-Okaaran, half-Branx being known as the Complex-Complex.
The first Citadelian had been brutish, the embodiment of aggression. Sterile due to being a hybrid, he developed cloning technology and created a race of physically identical followers. Unlike him, they lacked intelligence and imagination and relied on him entirely.
They settled a barren world near Vega's sun, building a fortress ring from the shattered remains of its moon. As the progenitor aged, he permanently interfaced himself with the planet's computerized nerve center, becoming the Complex-Complex.
Through him, the Citadel expanded into a conquering empire, taking world after world across Vega, starting with Okaara.
Centuries later, they controlled every planet in the system except Euphorix.
And now Harry Hokum—now calling himself the Czar—was finishing the job of wiping them out.
His Gordanites, thousands strong in white and gray bodysuits, were slaughtering Citadelians and their guards. He himself, dressed in regal black and gold with a red monocle, stood calmly before the Complex-Complex's main processing unit. Its advanced weaponry hadn't even disturbed a single strand of his impeccably styled hair.
"Hokum, you don't need to do this. I elevated you. Spare me, and I will serve you as your loyal AI—"
Hokum didn't let it finish. He casually unleashed a massive purple beam from his outstretched right hand, continuing until every piece of metal turned to molten slag. Lounging in front of stars had given him more than enough energy.
"The conscious machine is the enemy of man," he said, turning away as firefights raged outside—his coup clearly winning.
Komand'r landed beside him in her own battlesuit.
Every king needed a queen. She would do.
"Is it done?" she asked.
"Yes. Now, to put the rest of the universe under my heel. Declare war on the Kroloteans."