Hal, hands on his hips and nodding, looked at Alfred with a questioning gaze. "What do you think started all of this?" Alfred asked him.
Hal felt odd at this question, scratching his head and with a puzzled tone he said: "The cause? I genuinely don't know. All I got was a sudden command stating that the Yellow Lantern Corps had arrived on Earth and that they needed me to deal with them..."
"Then, I came to Gotham, mysteriously got dragged into a dream, then started to fistfight with a beast. Honestly, I do not know how I ended up winning, all that I know is that I did..."
"Suddenly, the Yellow Lantern Beast turned into a little girl, and the commander of the Yellow Lantern Corps was nowhere to be found..."
Hal, helplessly stated: "Actually, I really have no idea what happened from the beginning till the end..."
"You would report back to your so-called Green Lantern Corps just like that?"
"I..." Hal choked. Alfred said with slight contempt: "You are choosing to report to your superiors without knowing the cause or the process, and even the complete results?"
"What amazed me, was that your superiors actually gave you commands based on your incomplete intelligence..."
"The Green Lantern Corps..." Alfred scoffed lightly, remarking: "If you're only at this level, it's best you stick to where you belong and not interfere with Earth matters."
Hal rested a finger on his forehead, unsure how to describe the elderly butler in front of him. He was speaking with a refined British accent, making Hal felt like he was conversing with a noble, but his words were merciless.
"I am also an Earthling!" Hal stressed.
"An Earthling who makes a living by betraying Earth's secrets?"
Hal was choked again, making helpless gestures: "I'm doing this for the safety of Earth..."
"That's what all spies say."
Alfred closed his eyes, not wanting to confront Hal's stiffening expression. He said, "One day, a group of foreigners approached you. They gave you money and power and told you to maintain peace in your homeland by giving them all sorts of inside information."
"You took the money and finished the task. After being arrested, you said to the judge, 'All I'm doing is trying to maintain peace...'"
Alfred's gaze fell on the Green Lantern Ring and he commented, ".... Yet you don't mention the benefits obtained from these foreigners."
"In my earlier life, I've seen too many like you."
"Are they guilty? Maybe, but not entirely, because many truly believe that what they are doing will bring peace to their country."
"But are they innocent? The immense benefits obtained from betraying their country enable them to sit above the common people who suffer as a consequence. In the end, only they get to enjoy the peace and benefits."
Hal's expression shifted from helplessness to solemnity. Alfred turned his gaze back towards him: "Humans chase after money simply because it is the universal equivalent in our social system and can give us the greatest joy."
"But how do you know that the ring on your hand doesn't serve the same purpose in the cosmos?"
"Perhaps, the power that you consider formidable is just some useless scrap and detritus to them. They only have to give you a tiny bit of this scrap, and you would hand over your motherland's interests..."
"Stop it!" Hal closed his eyes, took a deep breath and pressed his thumb onto the ring on his hand, his fingertips visibly trembling. Alfred continued to say,
"If you can't remember who you are, where you're from, who you're ultimately working for, what your end goal is, then all that awaits you is the fate of being betrayed."
Hal seemed to be in deep emotional turmoil. He turned his head to the side, took a deep breath after a moment, and suddenly, the ring emitted a green glow.
In that moment, he didn't hear the trigger go off. Hal gritted his teeth, thinking he could leave this place and find a quiet spot to rethink everything, when suddenly, the room's door opened and a small black figure appeared at the entrance.
Before Hal could see her movements, just as the ring's green light was spreading along his arm, he felt a severe pain.
"Ah!!!" Hal let out a scream. He saw that Aisha with her sharp fangs was biting into his arm guard. The thick guard could not stop her teeth. Blood seeped from the crevices of her teeth.
Hal instinctively tried to shake Aisha off. Her teeth pierced through the guard and slid towards his hand, wrapped around his hand like a glove.
Hal was in great pain. While continuously shaking his arm, the ring, which was emitting green light, was taken off when his arm guard and the little girl were shaken off.
Hal gritted his teeth and covered his bleeding arm. He looked towards the princess bed, but there was no little girl there. The lump in the quilt was due to a stuffed toy inside. This had been a trap from the beginning.
The moment he realized it was a trap, the green lantern energy that was spreading into his body vanished. Turning his head, he saw his Green Lantern Ring in a high parabolic arc as it fell.
A 'cling' sound of metal contacting the floor echoed. Hal let out a sigh of relief. Thank heavens, the ring wouldn't be damaged.
As he was about to reach over to pick up the ring, he noticed a dark gun barrel right in front of his eyes again. Slowly, Hal raised his hands.
Meanwhile, a small hand slowly reached down to the floor and picked up the ring. Dick, who was just woken up, rubbed his eyes while examining the ring in his hands.
"Hey, kid, put it down. It's not a toy..." Hal, spreading out his hands to dissuade him, noticed Dick, freshly woken and still drowsy. A green glow spread through his body even before he fully opened his eyes.
"Wait... What's this?" Dick's voice was muffled.
Hal slapped his forehead, saying: "No!"
"I feel like...I feel something...is this the right way?" Dick mumbled. Suddenly, Hal recalled something and exclaimed, "No! Don't teleport! It's hard to control..."
With a 'smack', Dick hit the wall.