The two didn't return to bowling. After what had just happened between them, their minds were elsewhere, and the game no longer held their interest. Instead, they made their way to the car, walking side by side in a comfortable silence.
As they reached the parking lot, Rachel glanced up at the sky, her eyes narrowing. High above, streaks of violet and orange light blurred across the atmosphere, descending rapidly, heading straight for the bowling alley.
She had managed to get Alex away just in time. Whatever those lights were, they weren't here for fun.
Still, she couldn't shake the unease settling in her chest. She didn't know what was about to unfold inside, but she didn't need to be worried.
From the shadows surrounding the bowling alley, Wonder Woman emerged alongside Superman. A few others followed, assembling in quiet unity as Alex and Rachel drove off, unaware of the storm brewing behind them.
Boom
Superman was sent flying back by a blast of intense red energy, crashing into a distant building with a thunderous impact.
Above the chaos, Luke now hovered midair, an Orange Lantern Ring on his finger. His expression twisted with greed, so overwhelming, it radiated from his very presence. The light of avarice burned fiercely around him, reflecting the hunger he could no longer control.
Beside him floated David, equally transformed, though his focus was elsewhere. He ignored the gathering heroes entirely, his gaze fixed far off in the distance, toward the path Alex had driven down moments earlier.
"He is mine!" Sarah roared, her voice echoing with raw emotion as she burst forward in a streak of violet light. Now a Violet Lantern, her love-fueled power surged wildly out of control.
But just as she moved, a golden lasso shot through the air, aiming to capture her mid-flight. It failed. Sarah's will, driven by love so intense it bordered on obsession, was simply too strong. A little-known fact about Lantern Rings: their power wasn't limited to physical constructs alone.
Lantern Rings were capable of incredible feats. If one could picture it, then the ring could make it happen, provided the wielder met the emotional requirements. The strength of the ring was only limited by the depth and purity of the emotion fueling it.
And Sarah… Sarah was blinded by love. Uncontrollable, obsessive, overwhelming love. In that state, she radiated power. Within the emotional spectrum, love was among the strongest forces of all.
She didn't need logic. She didn't need restraint. She needed Alex. That single desire was enough to push her beyond any limits. If she wanted to reach him, then so be it. The ring would grant her the skillset, the precision, and the force necessary to close the distance. Nothing else mattered. The power of love would overcome everything in her way.
She moved with unmatched skills, dodging the lasso at the last second, her momentum building with every passing instant. But it wasn't enough.
She needed to reach Alex now. Not in a second. Not in a billionth of a second. Now. That desperate yearning pushed her further. And in response, the ring obeyed.
The world around her began to slow. Bit by bit, time unraveled. Slower. Slower. Until everything—every motion, every breath—froze in place.
Then, her perception shifted. She crossed a threshold where speed no longer meant movement—it meant awareness. The laws of time buckled under her will. In this state, time lost all meaning. She wasn't simply fast anymore—she had become something else.
Like a fourth-dimensional being, she looked upon the moment she reached her current speed… and saw the exact instant it would end at the same time. To her, the past and future played out as clearly as the present.
Her eyes widened as she saw it—the moment her speed would slow down. She was close to Alex, mere feet away from reaching him… but then, he appeared. The Flash.
He stood in her way, prepared. Somehow, impossibly, he could react at this speed. That alone was enough to enrage her. With narrowed eyes and a snarl forming on her lips, she surged forward, determined to strike first.
Boom.
{A/N: MC feels no danger here due to the Justice League being here, so he isn't in danger. Also, he senses the 3 killing intent… he has been ignoring it since day one. So, even now he is ignoring it, leading to his.
Also, Sarah isn't going to harm him… or at least, MC never thought of this as a form of danger, so it didn't trigger anything.
This is one of the weaknesses even Yogiri has. Any action Yogiri deems an attack on his well-being activates his power. If he doesn't deem it an attack or has yet to even think of such a thing as an attack, it would not trigger his powers.
So, you can want to lock up MC in a basement all you want, so long as MC hasn't deemed that as an attack, it would not trigger his powers, such as senses, auto defense, and so on. Also, the next part is my expression of my idea on light speed.}
"What the—?! Did I hit something?" Alex exclaimed, gripping the wheel as the car jolted slightly. He looked around, but the road was clear. There weren't any potholes or debris. Just the same empty stretch of asphalt and silence.
"Haha, weird," Rachel said awkwardly, trying to brush off the moment. But inside, she was shaken. What she had just sensed… it wasn't normal.
Sarah had moved at the speed of light. Yes, beings like the Flash or Superman could match or exceed that speed, but they did it with more than just raw velocity. They used forces and other means that buffered the reality-bending consequences of such movement. Sarah, on the other hand, had done it purely through raw, overwhelming speed.
That was why time had unraveled around her. From the moment she reached the speed of light to the moment she began to slow, every moment in that stretch happened all at once—collapsing past, present, and future into a single, tangled sensation.
Time had stopped moving for her. It wasn't just fast… it was how light itself experiences time
{A/N: I thought about it, and I believe if Light was flying around you in a circle from the moment you were born to death, that should be how Light views things. TO light, the moment it is born, it dies the next instant. Time doesn't exist for light, so if one could reach the speed of light, shouldn't they see things like a 4th-dimensional being? If you guys think differently, by all means, voice your thoughts.}
Superman, Flash, and the others never experienced what Sarah had. They cheated their way to light-speed and beyond.
The Flash tapped into the Speed Force, an extradimensional energy that warped the laws of physics in his favor. Superman relied on his biofield, a layer of force that manipulated space and time around him, allowing him to bypass the crushing limitations of mass and velocity.
But Sarah… she had done it through sheer, unfiltered emotion. Flash was sent flying, crashing through tree after tree as Sarah chased him, pushing herself to once again reach the speed of light. But her body faltered—her momentum collapsed—and she fell to the ground, gasping for air..
Reality reclaimed her. Anything with mass requires infinite energy to reach light speed. Sarah had achieved it once, but only because her overwhelming emotions supercharged the ring. That surge had pushed her beyond all reason and restraint. But the moment even a flicker of logic returned—when her mind began to turn its attention away from Alex—the energy waned.
And for her to attempt that speed again—without infinite energy to draw upon—it drained the ring dry.
"No… no, this can't be happening! Not when I was so close!" she cried out, slamming her fist against the ground, trying to will the power ring back to life.
But it was silent. The ring, once blazing with the intensity of her love and desperation, now sat dim and lifeless on her finger. Her teeth gritted tightly as she looked up, helpless, at the red figure slowly approaching.
The Flash, bruised and dirt-covered, was picking himself up from the crater she'd sent him crashing into. He didn't say a word—just walked toward her, his expression unreadable, but his frown carried the weight of quiet disappointment.
But the Flash never made it close. From a distance, a violet beam tore through the air, slamming into the ground between them, halting his approach. Before he could react, another beam wrapped gently around Sarah, lifting her into the sky.
She blinked, startled, as she hovered above the ground. Surrounding her was a group of women, all glowing with the same violet light that once pulsed from her own ring. Each of them held the unmistakable aura of the Violet Lantern Corps.
Sarah's eyes widened in disbelief. "Who… who are you?" she asked, her voice trembling as she looked around at the women encircling her, each one radiating the same strange and overwhelming power she had only just begun to understand.
"We are the Star Sapphire Corps," said one of the women, a blue-skinned alien whose presence radiated love. Her gentle smile, overflowing with compassion, seemed to ease the weight pressing down on Sarah's heart. "We came to rescue one of our own."
"M-my boyfriend," Sarah said, her voice shaking with desperation as she looked around at the glowing figures. "Would you help me get him back? They're keeping him away from me!"
Her eyes shimmered with hope—raw, desperate hope—grasping at the chance that someone might reunite her with the person they were keeping away from her.
"Of course! 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!" they chanted in perfect unison, their voices resonating like a soft hymn echoing through the air.
But before they could take flight, they paused. A shift in the atmosphere drew their attention upward—an overwhelming swarm of Orange Lanterns descended from the sky like a plague, all converging on Earth with a singular purpose: to eliminate two targets—David and Luke.
The Star Sapphires made no move to stop them, but their own path was quickly blocked. Three Green Lanterns appeared, flanked by Hawk Girl and Hawk Man, Supergirl, Captain Atom, and several other defenders. Tension filled the air like static before a storm.
One of the Star Sapphires turned to Sarah and pressed a violet lantern into her hands. "Here," she said gently, guiding Sarah through the steps to charge her ring. The moment the ring pulsed to life, they turned together, ready to step into battle.
***
"You're an orphan? So am I," Alex said, genuinely surprised by how much he and Rachel seemed to have in common.
"Really?" Rachel asked, her voice soft with curiosity.
Alex nodded in response, his expression calm as he cut into the steak on the table.
"For as long as I can remember, it's always just been me," Alex said, his tone quiet and reflective. "I don't have friends. I have no idea how to make any. Do you just walk up to someone and say, 'Hey, let's be friends?'"
Rachel smiled gently, the corners of her lips tugging upward at his honesty.
"You say that," she replied softly, "but you're forgetting something. Before today, we had never even met."
Alex paused, struck by her words. He looked at her, replaying the moment they met in his mind—how unexpected it had been, and how natural everything felt since.
"You're right," Alex said, his smile faint but genuine. "Honestly, if you hadn't said anything, I probably would've gone on with my life like nothing ever happened. It's kind of crazy when you think about it… just a few words, and now here we are."
"Yeah…" Rachel mumbled, her voice softening. The topic made her a little uneasy, so she shifted in her seat and glanced away, eager to steer the conversation elsewhere.
"Who is your favorite superhero?" she asked. She believed this topic would be more normal. Her tone carried a hint of hesitation, uncertain but hopeful.
"Hero? None of them… but if I had to choose, I would pick Superman." Alex said, his voice calm and with a hint of annoyance. Rachel blinked, surprised by his answer. A quiet pause lingered between them.
"You don't like heroes?" she asked in shock. Alex nodded, his gaze lowering slightly.
"I just have a biased take on the matter with heroes. It's not the heroes I hate… just the whole supernatural world I dislike," he said, his voice carrying helplessness. "I'm perfectly cool with the fact that life is far from me… ignoring that my job leads me to stand near one of them."
There was a hollow edge to his tone, something weary buried beneath the words. Rachel blinked, uncertain how to respond. His honesty made the air between them feel … weird, and a little uncomfortable.
"I sometimes wonder what a world without them would look like… Joker wouldn't exist, and Lex Luthor would most likely be just a normal man. Honestly, Earth might never have faced so many disasters," Alex said, his tone distant as he stared off for a moment.
Rachel frowned, lips parting to speak, but Alex continued before she could get a word in.
"But then I can't ignore the good they've done," he added. "Take Gotham, for example. Compared to how it used to be, that place is far more stable. And Superman… he's a symbol of hope for a reason. The guy will break the rules if it means helping someone who can't help themselves. That kind of selflessness? That's something I can't help but respect."
Rachel's expression softened as the weight behind his words settled. She relaxed slightly in her seat, only for Alex to speak again before she could say anything.
"But I honestly think they're wasting their time with how they handle villains," Alex said softly, eyes fixed on the table as his voice dropped lower. "All they ever do is target the problem at the surface… never the root. It's just a never-ending cycle—lock them up, watch them escape, and then repeat it all over again."
Rachel looked to him, her brows furrowed as a flicker of unease crossed her face.
"You want them to kill?" she asked, her voice layered with shock, disbelief, and something that sounded a lot like disappointment.
"Nah, it's not their job to kill," Alex said, shaking his head. "Heroes reinforce the rules—they don't rewrite them. And the last time I checked, it's the government's fault, or whoever's in charge, that the prisons can't do their job right. That's why I think villains will always exist. If the people with the real power aren't doing anything to stop it, then what's the point?"
He looked at Rachel, hoping to hear her take on it. But Rachel lowered her gaze to her food, unsure how to respond. Her mind raced for something—anything—worth saying. But, without warning, a deafening explosion erupted in the distance, shaking the windows and silencing the room.