Chapter 418: Hal

The Green Lantern Corps operates on a permission system; all Green Lanterns recognized by the Corps receive a token of permission—the Green Lantern ring.

But using this token has a threshold: you must possess immense willpower to activate the Green Lantern ring and its energy—meaning, not just anyone who picks up a Green Lantern ring can use it.

Generally, even if a Green Lantern loses their ring, it doesn't cause major chaos, because the finder cannot activate it—they lack the willpower to drive the ring and its energy.

But clearly, the current situation is an exception, and we must begin by explaining how the Green Lantern ring works.

For a Green Lantern to use the ring and its energy, they must channel their own willpower; after issuing a command, the ring evaluates whether that willpower is sufficient to activate it. If so, it begins functioning—transferring energy to the Green Lantern.

In this case, Hal had just activated the Green Lantern energy, intending to teleport. He sent that command to the ring, which verified his permission and began operating.

The energy had already been emitted, covering Hal's entire palm and half his arm, when Elsa bit down.

Green Lanterns fear Yellow Lanterns because the Parallax entity was originally sealed inside their power batteries. Now, Parallax has escaped—and transformed into a human little girl. Logically, Green Lantern energy should no longer fear Yellow Lantern energy.

But that doesn't mean Green Lantern energy can pass through another Lantern beast's body. Elsa bit Hal's arm; the Green Lantern energy surged halfway up his limb, then struck Elsa's body. Regardless of whether she is now fully human, at least part of her originates from Parallax. Green Lantern energy cannot coexist with the body of the Yellow Lantern beast Parallax—and so it was blocked.

The blocked Green Lantern energy never merged with the Green Lantern, so it produced none of the effect Hal intended.

Worse, Hal's motion to shake off Elsa caused the Green Lantern ring to fly off—and Dick picked it up.

Dick is not yet Nightwing; he isn't even Robin. He's just an ordinary schoolboy, at best slightly more acrobatic than other children—he lacks the willpower to activate the Green Lantern ring.

But as previously stated, Hal had already sent the command and unlocked the permission to use Green Lantern energy using his own willpower.

In other words, if the Green Lantern ring is like a safe, Hal has already used the password to open its door—and then handed it to someone else. Dick is the lucky one who found the open safe; since the door is already unlocked, he doesn't need to re-authenticate—he can simply take what's inside.

The only problem is, before Hal flung the ring away, his final command to it was teleportation. When Dick put on the ring and received its Green Lantern energy, the first thing he did was teleport.

Fortunately, the Green Lantern Corps maintains reliable safety protocols: Green Lantern teleportation never gets stuck inside walls. If an obstacle blocks the path, the user either phases through—or slams into it with a loud "thud."

Dick had no control over this energy, so he simply slammed into the wall.

Luckily, Green Lantern energy provides its host with a full-body energy shield. Dick felt no pain or injury from the impact—only dizziness when he fell to the floor.

Alfred's expression grew even darker.

But even more alarmed than Alfred was Elsa. Whether she was hurt by Hal's earlier arm-swinging motion or startled by the sound of Dick's teleportation slamming into the wall, she froze for a moment—then opened her mouth.

Hal had an extremely bad feeling—and instantly, it came true.

Beneath Gotham's dark night sky, an unimaginably piercing scream—like a thunderclap splitting a silent winter day—ripped through Gotham's night:

"Dad—!"

"Dad!"

At that moment, Batman, searching for clues inside Gotham Cathedral, froze rigid.

Also hearing the scream was Schiller, who had just fallen asleep.

It was deep night. Even though Schiller was accustomed to staying up late, this was his sleep time. But the scream was too familiar—just like when the last alien misfit landed in Gotham—and it woke Schiller effortlessly.

"Point Guard Here"

He didn't feel angry upon waking. Instead, like a farmer who finally sees his sown seeds bear fruit, he was filled with the joy of harvest.

He isn't called a farmer, though, because while he sowed the seeds, he didn't till the soil, water it, or fertilize it—and he still planned to take a bite of the baked bread.

Merkel was awakened by Schiller's bell. His first reaction upon waking was panic—his biological clock told him it was deep night.

The butler fears this most: if someone rings the bell at midnight, it means something dire has occurred.

Two minutes later, neatly dressed and immaculately groomed, Merkel appeared in Schiller's bedroom. Schiller was still in his pajamas, pouring wine into a glass as he said: "Call Wayne Manor for me…"

Merkel didn't know what to say. He couldn't tell whether the focus was "Wayne Manor," "make a call," or the fact that it was 3: 0 a. . He glanced at the wall clock—its hands confirmed the time.

His sleep-fogged mind couldn't process the logic. He even wondered if this was Schiller's way of expressing dissatisfaction with his work.

But seeing Schiller's serious expression, Merkel resigned himself and went downstairs to pick up the phone beside the stairs.

One hand rested on the ringing telephone. Alfred stood beside the phone table, lifting the receiver to say:

"... h, really?... rofessor Rodriguez heard Elsa's scream?... es, I'm sorry—did we disturb his rest?"

"Yes, yes, she's fine. You know, children this age often have nightmares, especially when their father is out all night..."

As he spoke, Alfred's gaze fell on Bruce, who stood beside the sofa—still in his Batman suit, but now, he had no intention of pretending.

Dick, glowing green all over, sat across from the sofa, occasionally twitching as if suppressing the urge to teleport and slam himself into the wall again. Elsa continued wailing—though no tears fell, and she showed no sign of tiring.

By the phone table, Alfred spoke to Merkel at length about parenting and the importance of parental presence.

Batman himself couldn't believe how much worse his headache was than when facing any of Gotham's most vicious criminals.

So where was the Green Lantern who caused all this trouble—or rather, the Green Lantern who lost his ring, Hal?

He was currently tied to a chair beside the sofa.

Whether a novice Green Lantern with his ring could defeat a novice Batman was unknown—but Hal without his ring was certainly no match for Batman. So he was tied to the chair, staring at Dick with a look of utter despair.

Batman believed the best way to resolve this was to start with Dick. He turned to Dick and said: "Can't you take it off?"

"It" referred to the Green Lantern ring. Dick glanced at his hand and said: "No, I can't. I tried pulling—it won't come off."

"Useless. The Green Lantern ring has a security lock. If it came off so easily, wouldn't it be vulnerable to ambush during battle?"

Hal had barely finished speaking when he noticed Batman staring at him. He understood the implication and added: "Parallax... your daughter is too unusual. She must have some way to suppress the Green Lantern ring. I've never heard of a Lantern having his ring forcibly ripped off by someone else..."

Batman turned his gaze to Elsa. The instant he looked at her, she stopped crying—and opened her arms. Batman sighed, walked over, and picked her up. Elsa screamed again—but Batman couldn't understand a word.

Dick nodded knowingly and translated: "She wants me to learn to control this power—but I can't. It doesn't listen to me. Oh, here we go again!"

With a "whoosh," Dick vanished—and reappeared in the dining room, knocking over a pile of tables and chairs.

As before, the Green Lantern energy protected his body. The only casualty was Wayne Manor's beautiful, spacious dining room—now a mess.

Batman didn't care about the property, but he noticed the teleportation distance was growing longer. If this continued, no one knew whether Dick might be teleported straight into space. If that happened... Batman looked again at Hal.

Hal shuddered and said: "I can assure you, as long as this power exists, he won't be harmed."

"When I first gained this power, I once jumped from a flying aircraft mid-flight. Even falling from great heights, I landed unharmed."

"How far could he be teleported?"

Hal glanced at Dick and said: "I think the Green Lantern ring may be caught in a logical loop, rigidly executing my last command."

"Also, the ring's security lock may have detected that the current user isn't its original owner. Normally, in such cases, the ring automatically returns to Green Lantern Central."

"Combined, the logical loop and the security lock could cause this child to teleport repeatedly—until he reaches Green Lantern Corps headquarters."

As he finished, Hal felt the room's temperature drop several degrees.

"Oh, wait!" Hal quickly tried to fix it. "You could try having Elsa take the ring off his hand—just like she took mine off."

Batman looked down at Elsa. She was biting her finger, pretending not to understand. He kept staring. Finally, Elsa couldn't hold out—she jumped from Batman's arms, ran "thump-thump-thump" to Dick's side.

But the Green Lantern ring seemed to have a mind of its own. The moment Elsa approached, it teleported Dick away. Elsa was fast—but still ran on legs, not teleporting. She couldn't reach Dick.

After chasing for a while, Elsa seemed tired. She stopped, panting. Alfred immediately hung up the phone and rushed over, lifting Elsa into his arms. "Miss Elsa has had enough exercise today—or rather, it's excessive for a child her age. She should go to bed."

He carried her upstairs.

At this point, even Batman couldn't help pressing his hand to his forehead. He turned again to Hal. Hal thought hard and said: "I think I have another idea..."

He strained to turn his bound chair toward Dick and shouted:

"Stay calm! Feel the power inside you—and try to control it!"