"Hal Jordan!"
Adrian clutched his increasingly dizzy forehead, his eyes turning bloodshot with crimson hues spreading rapidly within them. His aura brimmed with death as he glared coldly at the man before him.
"You betrayed us again?"
Green Lantern gave a faint smile, calm despite Adrian's obvious instability.
"Perhaps you've developed a slight bias against me," Hal said, "but I've always known what I was doing. Listen. Vampires do exist in this world, and those girls you fought at the sorority house were vampires. A lot has changed in their world recently."
Adrian's eyes throbbed with pain and fury, but he listened, expression still cutting with iciness.
"Blood Queen Mary," Hal continued, "you might not know her, but she was essentially the leader of the vampire race, the figure everyone obeyed. Her demise shattered the fragile peace between humans and vampires, and now things have shifted."
Adrian's eyes were like blood moons, beads of sweat sliding down his temples. "Hal Jordan," he said slowly, "no matter what I think of your skills, I refuse to believe you were infected by a vampire and willingly joined them."
He had heard tales of a vampire universe in DC lore where infected heroes became corrupted, minds altered and purposeless, turned against humanity.
But infected this quickly?
"Nothing is absolute," Hal said, stepping closer. "I wasn't defeated. I evolved."
He opened his mouth, revealing sharp, elongated fangs. Kara stood beside him, lips curved into a playful smile.
"Yes," Kara chimed in, "I've chosen to evolve as well."
She showed her own vampire fangs, unintimidated by the tension.
Adrian felt the virus inside him assault his body. His internal system was battling the invasion, trying to resist the forced transformation. Pain like burning iron seared him from within. He felt weak, overwhelmed with fatigue, powerless to immediately counterattack.
His body was scrambling to find new genetic templates to resist this forced rewrite.
"So you've both become vampires," Adrian said coldly despite the agony, "but surely you fear the sun."
Hal's lips curved with something like amusement. With his Green Lantern ring he created a rotating model of the sun in his hand.
"Different frequencies of light have varying effects," Hal explained. "Ultraviolet is fatal for ordinary vampires. But we aren't ordinary. I can manipulate visible light, infrared, ultraviolet at will."
He waved his hand and the sun faded.
"I filter sunlight around me and Kara," he continued, "so neither of us fears the sun, as long as we stay close."
Adrian's eyes shifted to Kara beside Hal.
"So you intend to make me one of you."
He didn't mask his contempt.
Hal nodded, unfazed. "You will come to understand. We're not trying to wage war against humans, we want to shield the earth from the sun itself and build coexistence through dominance. Many have joined this cause. Ruling the world might sound familiar, but it's evolution."
Adrian's mind drifted for a moment to Ultraman from Earth‑3, a world where everything mirrored and warped his own — where sunlight was feared, kryptonite empowered, and dominance was the law.
"Hal Jordan," Adrian interrupted, "your grand plan may be yours alone, but don't tell me it's original."
Hal stepped back slightly, then shot back into the argument, "I once believed power was simple, but now I know it's evolution."
Adrian shook his head slowly, voice icy.
"Good for you. But I don't care about your realizations. I want to know this first — has Batman joined your ranks?"
Hal blinked slightly, taken off guard.
"It's us now, not him," Kara corrected.
"Then not yet," Adrian nodded. "That means your most critical agenda hasn't happened yet. If you intend to bend this world to your idea…"
He paused, eyes locking onto Kara.
"…Clark Kent will be the last one standing against you." His voice held steel.
Inside him, a voice — his internal system — finally alerted: Template found to counter destruction.
Doomsday.
Adrian knew the name. The Codex knowledge Jor‑El had given him included the weapon designed on ancient Krypton — the ultimate lifeform, a being that evolved past death itself, relentless and terrifying. Its characteristics were terrifying strength, stupendous endurance, near‑instant regeneration, and imperfect reasoning — rage given form.
If this Doomsday template bound within him, would it affect his sanity?
His system's notification surged to 15 percent integration.
The Homelander template within him had begun to stabilize, and with Doomsday as a sub‑template at 15 percent, it started suppressing the virus's mutation attempt.
The crimson in his eyes receded. The waves of pain that had overwhelmed him eased.
His body stopped rejecting sunlight as violently.
This evolutionary feedback gave him strength, enhancing his senses, muscles, reflexes.
His vision extended across the park, beyond Metropolis, scanning the horizon with predatory precision.
The template didn't just boost strength and endurance — it provided evolutionary advantage.
Adrian could now sense that even if he encountered Kara again with blood contact, his body would resist any infection.
But as the Doomsday influence spread, a darker consciousness crept into him — an instinctual bloodthirst, a murderous, destructive whisper.
His eyes flashed red again.
He felt the urge to obliterate everything in his path, to tear apart those before him with brutal force.
But that madness, while fierce, did not consume his rational mind.
His super‑powered intellect, fortified by the Homelander template, anchored his sanity even as raw aggression surged beneath.
Hal and Kara looked on, unsettled by the boundless killing intent emanating from Adrian.
Before they could react, a gust of speed swept through.
Adrian had already reached Hal.
His fist cut through the air, swift and explosive.
The compressed atmosphere seemed to rupture at the point of contact, sounding like thunder cracking around them.
Before Hal could summon a protective construct, Adrian's punch struck his chest.
Bang!
Hal's body rocketed backward like a cannonball, smashing into hard ground. The floor shattered beneath him as dust and stone thundered into the air.
Hal cried out in pain, bones and muscle protesting the blow like he'd been hit by a collapsing star.
Sizzle!
Before Hal could recover, a blazing streak of light surged toward him.
Kara, shaken from her surprise, reacted and charged at Adrian.
Thud!
She collided with him mid‑stride, trying to stop his assault.
Heat Vision flickered past Hal's prone form.
Although she could not knock Adrian off his feet, her intervention disrupted his attack.
Kara steadied herself, then launched forward again with a fierce strike.
Their fists met in mid‑air — superhuman collision etched with savage force.
Bang!
The impact echoed like an explosion, shockwaves radiating outward.
Kara was propelled backward, crashing heavily into the ground. The earth below split into a deep crater from the force alone.
She lay there, breathing hard, pain flickering in her eyes.
Adrian advanced without hesitation.
He raised his fist and struck downward with overwhelming force.
Bang!
Kara spat blood, pain burning through her ribs, but she didn't fall.
Green Lantern, regaining footing and breath, charged a bright green laser toward Adrian.
Before it could fire, Adrian stopped it with a straightforward block.
"Stop," Hal yelled, "you are one of us now!"
"No!" Adrian's voice rang out, crimson flares igniting in his eyes.
"Hal, you will never know what you've made me… but I should thank you!"
____
Patreon = _Zeph