lantern_rogues:

Malicor watches as Avalon falls asleep in his Earthly bed. He watches, though, from a place that none but Avalon would even be aware of. The Dreamtime. He waits until the boy is fully and soundly asleep and then goes after him... The chase is quick and easy. The Orange Lantern's ring allows him to draw the boy into a nightmare realm and from there, he doesn't have to work very hard to restrain him. Unlike many of those pesky people from Naltor, Avalon doesn't have the powers that they might in the Dreamtime. In fact, Malicor laughs over Avalon's bound body at the sheer ease of it all once it is all done. He does not put Avalon with all the rest of his captives, but instead puts him in a special place where he is hidden away.

The next part isn't quite as easy. Avia Free is another of his Earth targets, yet she takes a bit more work. No doubt to her, she is simply having a bad dream where some unknown man is chasing her.. But eventually he captures her as well and locks her away with all of the rest of the Naltorians that he had captured. He will have use for her and them later.. Specifically he plans to drain their life force into his depleted rings. Avia has been chosen because of her extraordinary cosmic powers. Malicor had been surprised when he discovered her, but then came to the decision that she would make a perfect "cherry" to top off his ring recharging. He's fairly sure that her life-energy will repair his failing Star Sapphire ring.

The last thing that he does, though, is a final blow to Henry's pride. It's meant to be that, at least. With Avalon and Avia locked away in the Dreamtime, he then sneaks into Avalon and Josh's room and takes something very important. Avalon's Blue Lantern ring. Oh the power that courses through him when he slips it onto his own hand and admired the shining blue bauble. He can't quite get it to function but that won't matter soon. He figures that it won't work until Avalon is dead... but it won't be long from now. He leaves the sleeping boy there to be found in the morning.. Ringless and unresponsive. If anyone were to examine Avia or Avalon, they will find that both simply sleep, but will not wake no matter what is done.

As he retreats back tot he Dreamtime to hide and start recharging his rings, Malicor can't help but laugh. Henry Jordan will rue the day he crossed paths with Malicor! By the time this is all over, Henry will learn what true loss is.

lantern_kid:

Once Sodam Yat finally was done with his mission and could reply to Henry's message, he was on Earth in the matter of hours. A short time later, and they'd assembled their team.

Lead by the Ion-powered Yat, the rest of the team was made up of Henry, Avalon, Katima, LifeForce, Jon Kent, the Free kids of Hope and Avia, and, of course, Alerron, son of Starfire and Yat.

The plan was a simple one. There would be many Tamaranians unhappy with Blackfire's rule. Head down to the surface, take out Blackfire, free Starfire. Once Starfire was free, the ruling of the planet should be easily transferred.

This had been Josh's first trip through space, and he was still worried about his boyfriend. He made sure to hold his hand tightly through the space-trip, which thankfully was faster than he could do alone due to the warp capabilities of a Blue Lantern.

He glances back to the others as the world comes into view below.

"Everyone ready?" he asks them. "Remember, Yat and Alerron handle Blackfire. Hope and Avia, find Starfire and get her free. The rest of us, provide cover where needed. She'll probably have some muscle in there to help her keep power, but it shouldn't be anything too powerful -- she'll want to have control over them. Which means the rest of us can handle it."

He leans over to whisper in Josh's ear, giving his hand a reassuring squeeze. "We're almost there. Hang on, handsome."

dc_holiday:

Mothers are the place that we call home.
On them we rest our heads and close our eyes.
There's no one else who grants the same soft peace,
Happiness, contentment, sweet release,
Erasing nighttime tears with lullabies,
Restoring the bright sun that makes us bloom. - Anonymous

ms_miracle:

Hands tied and blindfolded?
In a multi-lock safe barely big enough to fold a person into?
Which is also chained shut?
Which is also hanging in mid-air, by a slowly lowering chain?
Which is lowering it onto a fire already shooting bits of flame into the air?
And swinging like a pendulum?

The tumblers in the locks turned and the door of the safe opened just enough of a crack for gloved hands to work the combination lock of the chains.

The safe kept lowering.  A white-haired dwarf nervously bit his nails and wondered how many of his bones Barda would break if this went badly.  Or how he would explain it to Scott.

The chains slipped free.  A red, gold, and green clad figure, hands still bound, fell out.  The crowd gasped.  Nimble legs wrapped themselves around the safe, still lowering, and with her upside down over the rapidly rising flames.

"C'mon, girl, you can do it..."

Bonds were unworked.  The chain holding the safe up snapped!  At the last possible second, she leapt free, landing perfectly in front of the fire.

She finally removed her blindfold and took a bow to the crowd assembled in Central Park.

"I am definitely picking up good vibrations tonight!" she shouted to the crowd, taking the microphone from Uncle Obie.  "Now, just in case there are any kids in the audience, I want to repeat, Do not, I'm gonna say this again, Do NOT try any of the stunts you've seen here tonight at home.  I'm a highly trained professional.  However, tapes of this and my other escapades are available for purchase, with all profits going to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.  We are all part of the cosmic harmony and we can all do our part to make the world a better place!

And now, the band you've all come to see, and let me say, they have been most rad about letting me open for them... the one, the only... SCARE TACTICS!"

Avia accepted the bottle of water from Uncle Obie as she headed backstage.  She knew her sister and some of her friends had been in the audience and had rangled them backstages passes.