The Man:
"Well," Iris says after the Doc finishes applying patches to Carol's body. "How is she?"
"We'll know in a few minutes," the Doc answers, typing in the final command. The incubator slowly begins closing. With Carol in the incubator, the patches attached to her body begin reading her vitals.
"According to the incubator," the Doc starts, tapping the monitor. "Ms. Carol Ferris has multiple bruises and scorch marks all over her body."
"Yeah," I say, nodding. "I figured that out. Ten seconds ago, before placing her in the incubator. What else does it say?"
"Yes," the Doc says, adjusting his glasses. "Well, based on the residues left over on her forearms and hips, it doesn't look like it was from a regular fire or an explosion. Hey, there's a match in the database. According to it, the burnt marks are most likely from...Darkseid."
"Darkseid," someone repeats.
Turning toward the closed infirmary door, I look back at the Doc.
"What else does it say?" I ask.
"Uhh, there's radiation left behind. Most likely from when Darkseid fired his heat vision—"
"Omega beams," I correct. Slowly and quietly, I tiptoe toward the infirmary door.
"Right, right," the Doc says. "His omega beams. Also, there seem to be trace amounts of an unknown metal on Ms. Carol—What are you doing—"
I put my fingers to my lips, signaling the Doc to be quiet. I raise one hand and begin moving my fingers and thumb up and down, my hand acting like a mouth. Nodding, the Doc talks slowly.
"The unknown metal is similar to the ones used in the armor worn by Darkseid's parademons."
Nodding, I carefully approach the closed door. Raising my hand, I slam it against the door, hitting the person leaning against it.
"Ouch," Barry yells.
"Did you get all of that, Speedy?" I ask, opening the door. To my mild surprise, most of the Insurgency are also standing outside the door. Oliver is crouching down while helping Flash to his feet.
"What was that for?" Barry yells.
"I don't like it when people eavesdrop on me. It really bothers me. What are all of you doing here?"
"We're worried about Carol," Dinah answers. "She has been missing even before Brainiac's invasion. Hal thought she was in Coast City when Brainiac captured it, but when he learned she wasn't, he got upset and worried and really angry."
"Yeah," Oliver says. "What happened to Carol? What was she doing in the middle of the ocean? And why did she have a pink lantern ring?"
"I do not know," I answer, putting up one finger, then a second, and finally a third. "I don't know, and I especially have no idea."
I reach into one of my jacket pockets and pull out Carol's pink lantern ring.
"What I do know is this. Carol, and most likely the other Star Sapphires, were attacked by Darkseid and his parademons."
"Darkseid," Flash repeats. "Not him again."
"Anyway, I don't know about any other of the Star Sapphires, Queen Aga'po or Princess Ghia'ta--"
"Who?" Harleen asks.
"But if they're anything like Carol, they're seriously wounded. Or worse."
Rolling the pink ring between my fingers, I hold it up to the light and examine it.
"This ring is dead," I say.
"Dead?" Selina repeats. "Like, it's out of energy?"
"Completely," I answer with a nod. "Drained. Not even a spark is left. For hearts long lost and full of fright, for those alone in blackest night, accept our ring and join our fight, love conquers all with violet light."
"What?" Selina asks.
"Is that the Pink Lantern's oath?" Harleen asks. "Like the Green Lantern's oath? The whole brightest day and darkest night thing?"
"Yes, and it's blackest night, not darkest. The Green Lantern's oath goes, In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight. Let all who worship evil's might, beware my power, Green Lantern's light."
As I finish reciting the poem, the pink ring suddenly sparks. It flashes for a second, blinding and causing everyone to jump back. Even I was caught off guard by the sudden pink light. Dropping the pink ring, I move fast and catch it.
"What the heck did you do?" Dinah asks.
"No clue," I say, re-examining the ring. Looking closely, I sense energy inside the ring.
"Did you recharge it?" Oliver asks. "Like you did before? When you threw all these rings into space and then summoned ghosts?"
"Not ghosts," I correct. "Former ring-bearers. Actually, when I said it like that, yeah. Maybe a little bit like ghosts."
"Odd," Harleen says. "Why didn't you spark when you said the Pink Lantern's oath? Why did it only spark when you said the Green Lantern's oath?"
"I have no idea," I answer.
"Oh wow," Harleen says, pulling her head back.
"What?"
"You have no idea. You don't know. You don't have the slightest clue. You also didn't know why Carol was floating in the middle of the ocean. That's two things you don't know."
"I know a lot. I don't know everything. Like I don't know why Oliver hates apple pies."
"What?" Oliver interrupts. "I don't hate apple pies. Why would you say that? I like apple pies."
"But that one time I baked an apple pie, you didn't eat it."
"Whe--When did you ever bake me an apple pie?"
I open my mouth to answer, but before I can, Kara interrupts, stepping in front of me.
"These pink lanterns," Kara starts. "What do you know about them?"
"A lot, actually. Again, I don't know everything."
I stop, lean to the side, eye Harleen, stick out my tongue, and lean back.
"But I do know a lot about them. For starters, the pink lanterns refer to themselves as the Star Sapphire Corps. Their homeworld is Zamaron, which is located in Frontier Space. The Star Sapphire Corps was founded by the Zamarons. Believe it or not, they are actually closely related to the Guardian of Oa, and when I say related, I mean like distant cousins."
"Seriously?" Oliver asks.
"Trust me. I did not believe it either when I first heard this. Anyway, the Star Sapphires are all women. Their pink rings are powered by—"
"Love," Kara finishes.
"Yeah," I say, smiling and nodding. Looking at me, Kara turns around and lowers her head. Also clearing my throat, coughing into my fist, I go on.
"Their queen, at least as far as I know, should be Queen Aga'po. A fierce and powerful pink ring welder."
As I roll the pink ring between my fingers, staring at me, something else hits me.
"There's one more thing, a sort of special power, that only the pink rings have. Green, red, blue, and other color rings don't have this special power."
"What's that?" Harleen asks.
"Those with pink rings can summon the person they loved."
"Ohhh," Harleen says with a smile. "So, like if Supergirl wore that pink ring, she would be able to summon yo--"
"Hey, what's that?"
I interrupt Harleen and point behind her. Everyone turns around but only sees a blank metal wall. While everyone is distracted, I slap Harleen on the back of her head.
"Ouch," she cries. "What was that for?"
"You know what that was for," I answer. "So glad that trick still works."
Looking at the pink ring again, I slide it into one of my jacket pockets.
"That's about everything I know about the Star Sapphires. Again, I still don't know what exactly happened to Carol. Only she can tell us that. Based on her wounds, it'll be a few hours before she wakes up. Until then, we keep heading to Themyscira."
"Themyscira," Flash repeats. "We're going to the Amazons."
"Yeah. Now that we're done with Atlantic and the oh-so-annoying King of the Fishes, we're heading to an island filled with women strong enough to punch through steel. Sounds fun. Bye."
Disappearing back into the infirmary, I see the Doc and Ms. Iris still making adjustments on the incubator's screen. The two don't seem to notice me, so I stay silent. As I watch the two smile while messing with the screen, I pull out Carol's pink ring and think back to when I stood on the deck of the Rusted, right after Oa's destruction.
"The reason I was able to charge green and red rings was that I personally pulled energy from my own body."
I replay the events from only a minute ago.
"Carol's pink ring was dead. Not even a spark. Then, suddenly, it flashed. I recited the Star Sahhpire's oath, but that didn't do anything. It was only after I recited the Green Lantern oath that it suddenly sparked back to life. What the heck was that about?"
I try to understand what happened, but no matter what I think of, it doesn't add up. I then replay what Harleen said.
"You have no idea. You don't know. You don't have the slightest clue."
"I hate that woman."