Within this guy's body was a very faint trace of the Green—that was the key substance keeping him alive.
Thea asked old Batman, "Do you know this guy's name? Is he a good person?"
Old Batman carefully finished bandaging Barry's wound. His intelligence was equally off the charts; he asked instead, "You mean you can save him? His name is Alan Scott. From what I've gathered, he's a good man."
All Thea could do was express her helplessness with a sigh. Alan Scott—she recognized that name. He was a Green Lantern who used the Green as his power source. In fact, the only one.
This universe had no First Lantern traveling back countless eons to teach the Guardians how to create power rings. From the fact that the thirty-first century's Emerald Empress could only use a tiny fraction of Green Lantern power, it was clear that even after a thousand years, humanity couldn't match the technological level of the rings. This was definitely super-advanced future technology.
And this universe had no Guardians, no Green Lanterns, no Yellow, Blue, or any other Lanterns.
In other words, no one here could make power rings. No one could teach this craft—she could make them herself. Batman couldn't, old Batman even less so. This was a skill only a handful of people possessed!
And Thea just happened to be one of those few...
Moreover, she'd studied the Green. In the entire multiverse, how many people both knew how to create power rings AND had contact with the Green?
Thea figured she was probably the only one.
Had she created this unique "Green Lantern" Alan Scott? She would have found it absurd before, but now she accepted it calmly. This was fate's arrangement.
The threads showed no abnormalities. This person's future was in her hands. Make him a ring and he'd live; pretend she hadn't seen him and he'd die.
"You're certain he's a good person, right? I'll reshape that life force inside him, and he'll gain new abilities. If he's a bad guy..." Thea didn't quite trust her memory anymore, so she checked with old Batman.
Old Batman wasn't confident making the decision alone, so he pulled in old Robert. The two men, over a hundred years old between them, researched Alan Scott from birth records to romantic history—yes, the man had a boyfriend—for quite a while before finally reaching a decision.
"He's a good person."
Thea immediately lowered her head, projecting her spiritual power into that thread of the Green.
So weak! The Green here was too weak! Thea's spiritual form looked at the few small saplings before her that didn't even reach her calves and clicked her tongue. Having seen the original timeline's Parliament of Trees, she knew any one of those tree spirits could burst this tiny space.
Perhaps because Thea had dissolved Star City, returning countless nutrients to nature, the Green was friendly toward her.
But friendliness couldn't change the fact that they were incredibly weak. Thea couldn't extract enough material to forge a ring. Truly a case of a skilled chef with no ingredients.
"Remember to compensate me later—I'm the Goddess of Wealth!" Whether or not the small saplings understood, Thea produced a small amount of the Green from her own timeline.
This was part she'd intercepted when helping Swamp Thing divide his soul.
It contained extremely concentrated essence of the Green. The saplings immediately sensed the kindred power.
Sending her emotions similar to excited howling, Thea simply tossed the green essence to them.
Though small in quantity, the quality was intense. The saplings began growing rapidly, reaching Thea's waist before stopping.
"You want to choose that guy outside as your champion, right?" The saplings transmitted information to Thea. Scanning with her divine sense, she instantly understood the past.
Like Earth's Swamp Thing, they wanted an exclusive enforcer. Unfortunately, they were too weak themselves, and externally, Steppenwolf was destroying the planet's environment. If Thea hadn't come today, they would only grow weaker.
"He can't be your champion—you don't have enough energy. Just make a ring for fun." Thea soothed the saplings and began extracting the Green here to create a Green Lantern ring.
During creation, she discovered there seemed to be more energy than expected. Might as well make two rings—one for this Alan fellow, and she'd graciously accept the other.
After all, she'd provided the original Green essence. Now that it had borne fruit, taking some back seemed fair. They probably wouldn't mind...
She'd been eyeing the original timeline's Green Lantern ring but didn't want to be controlled by the Guardians, so she'd held off.
Now, this world's Green mixed with Alan's characteristics had produced a quasi-courage energy. This ring would be valuable for her understanding of courage.
With practiced ease, she completed the rings—unique items in this universe. They didn't need any oath. Breaking free of Thea's control, the ring immediately began healing Alan Scott's dying body.
Emerald light began swirling around him as the ring floated up, conducting preliminary physical modifications.
Thea quietly stepped back, waiting for this universe's first—and probably last—Green Lantern to be born.
She didn't consider a Lantern's strength impressive. They relied entirely on external objects, flashy but impractical. However, for this universe where two old men had to fight and Hawkgirl had to carry the burden, this was already super-level combat power, right?
Alan Scott awakened quickly. Thanks to Batman's high reputation across all worlds, he quickly understood his situation. Without much hesitation, he decided to join the side of justice, though he was completely confused about how to use his abilities.
Old Batman looked at Thea. That expression was quite similar to his son's. Thea reached out, pouring a large amount of ring usage instructions directly into Alan's mind.
A ring instruction manual, a magic introduction—these were teaching materials she always kept ready. If every random person needed her personal instruction, she'd die of exhaustion. Better to compile an illustrated textbook and transmit it directly to their brains—they could read it themselves!
Steppenwolf needed to be dealt with, and this Earth's villains needed to be eliminated. Thea felt extremely pressed for time.
She needed to improve everyone's abilities first, then bring in New Genesis's army for a decisive battle.
"You want to gather this world's remaining superheroes?" Old Batman honestly didn't like this all-or-nothing gamble. He was hesitant.
"How many people do you have? Steppenwolf's army is endless, and Earth's resistance can't provide much help now."
Old Robert didn't know if it was because Star City had completely disappeared, but he'd changed out of his green robe and now wore red combat gear.
"My direct legion numbers in the millions. Every one of them is a powerful mage." Thea thought to herself—even if they were speed-trained versions...
"Even if Steppenwolf reinforces, we can too. It's just that if the battle gets too large, I'm afraid this Earth won't be able to handle it."
The two old men looked at each other. Looking at each other's vengeful outfits, at their age with all their children dead—if they died, they died!
Their life goal was revenge anyway. Who cared if the Earth exploded, as long as they could kill their enemies?