BATTLE COUPLE JAYKAL HERE WE GOOOOOOOO
Jaina checked her belt once more to make sure both were there.
"Here we go," She whispered to herself.
"You ready for this, Power Ring?"
Jessica took a deep breath in, her ring hand curling into a fist. "Ready, Sword."
"Then what are we waiting for?"
"Uh, Miss M's signal?" Wally grinned cockily.
Jaina nudged him with her elbow. "You ready to see Arty?"
"Beyond that. I bet you're excited to see Kal again too."
"Definitely." Jaina didn't bother trying to deny it. She'd missed Kaldur, and even though she wanted to give him an earful for letting everyone believe he'd gone over to the dark side, she couldn't wait to see him again.
"Now!" Miss Martian's voice rang out in their minds.
"Is that...?" Power Ring pointed to the ceiling.
"The signal," Nightwing nodded. "Alpha, Beta, move in!"
Jaina and Wally sprinted ahead of their teammates, emerging in the room where the Light and the Reach were in a middle of a standoff, Miss Martian, Aqualad, and Artemis at the center of it.
"Hey there, Vandy! Did you miss me?" Wally asked. Batgirl, Nightwing, and Power Ring emerged from the entryway behind Kid Flash and Sword, and across the room, Superboy, Guardian, and Bumblebee cut off the escape tunnel on the Reach's side.
An intense feeling of excitement surged in Jaina's chest as she looked around the room. Miss Martian had a sword to the infamous Vandal Savage's throat, and the rest of the light was still in shock at the fact that the blood splattered on Artemis and Kaldur's uniforms was fake.
"Representatives of the Reach, you are under arrest for tampering with the population of Earth, and conspiring with known Earthling criminals." Her voice rang loud and clear through the cavern. If only her mother could see her now.
"On whose authority?" The Reach ambassador spluttered angrily.
Jaina grinned, "By the power vested in me as a Jedi Knight, a guardian of the galaxy." She drew her lightsaber, the violet blade extending inches from the ambassador's noseless face.
"...Not to mention the authority vested in me as a member of the Green Lantern Corps by the Guardians of the Universe." Her ring shot out of the pocket in her belt, returning to her finger. Jaina relaxed as the familiar tingle washed over her body, arming her in her Lantern uniform.
"Whoo-Yeah! Girl Lantern's back!" Kid Flash whooped.
The Ambassador's face paled. "We have been invited! You- You have no authority here, Lantern!"
"You have violated your treaty with the Guardians of the Universe by landing in Earth's oceans undetected. Lying in wait for months," Jaina spat, "You kidnapped lone Earthling children, experimenting on them and their metagene to the point of death for many, and traumatizing the rest," She snarled. "You took complete mental dominion over an Earthling adolescent, permanently attaching alien technology to his spine. You have interfered plenty without waiting for permission."
She lowered her blade just so the ambassador's fear-filled eyes could look directly into hers. "You and your 'favored agents' the Light will be taken before the Guardians for trial. I'd wish you mercy, but you hardly deserve that."
Savage chuckled darkly, and Jaina turned her attention to him for only a moment.
"Well played, well planned, but the Light always has contingencies."
Kaldur looked up in horror, and Jaina followed his gaze to see the roof of the cavern open wide, allowing dark-suited assassins from the League of Shadows to rain down, surrounding the young heroes and heroines.
Taking advantage of the Lantern's distraction, Black Beetle charged. Fueled by his jetpack, he pinned Jaina against the wall, knocking her lightsaber to the ground and out of reach.
"Jaina!" Jessica screamed. Batgirl and Kid Flash held her back.
Savage almost smiled, "I've had my fill of your interference. Do not expect to survive."
He instructed the force of assassins next, "Kill them all. The Superboy may present a problem, but we'll deal with him when the other children lie bleeding on the ground."
Jaina was grateful that her position pinned beneath Black Beetle allowed her at least a full view of Kaldur as he glared at Vandal Savage.
"Still you refer to us as children. No wonder our successes mount," He smiled, "You consistently underestimate us."
Several "assassins" pulled off the hood of their uniforms, revealing the rest of the team. Blue Beetle took out half the Reach soldiers in one blast of his sonic cannon, and Beast Boy and Lagoon Boy charged at the Light's muscle.
Jaina grunted as Black Beetle slammed her into the rocks again.
"I've been waiting for this for a long time, meat," He growled.
"I'll bet you have," Jaina gritted her teeth. She raised her glowing ring fist and was immediately blocked.
"Have you learned anything from our last encounter, Lantern?" Black Beetle chortled, "I've killed this ring's bearer before, and I can't wait to do it again."
Jaina didn't have time for this. The rest of the team was engaged in battle, and the Light's little Witch Boy was causing some chaos. They needed her help.
"HRRAAHH!" A tidal wave swept past, knocking Black Beetle away from Jaina, but miraculously leaving her perfectly dry.
She grinned, turning to the perpetrator.
"Good to have you back, Kal," She would have hugged him if they weren't in the middle of the battle.
Kaldur smiled back for a moment, "The same to you, Jaina."
She frowned, looking him up and down. "I'm not too sure about the new look. Doesn't really scream 'you'."
Kaldur chuckled as Black Beetle slowly regained his footing. "Believe me, I cannot wait to change out of it."
Jaina noticed movement on the far side of the cavern. The ambassador and the scientist were trying to escape.
"Hold that thought, AL!" She shot past him, landing neatly in front of the Reach aliens.
"Where do you think you're going?" She asked, pointing her ring at them.
The ambassador stumbled back, while his scientist colleague studied her hand in horrified fascination.
"The- The guardians will hear of this gross violation of the treaty-"
"Oh, you bet they will!" Jaina interrupted, "I may not be from Earth, but it's my home. My only home. And you bug-faced freaks picked a heck of a time to mess with it and with my friends." She encased both of them in glowing green cages, marching up to the ambassador.
"You don't mess with my friends."
"Oh really?" Another voice drawled, "My apologies."
Jaina's head whipped around. Standing just behind her in the entry tunnel, glowing with an eerie yellow light, was Sinestro.
"You," She whispered.
Sinestro hit her with a giant battle ax, knicking through the shoulder of her uniform, and knocking her back into the cavern, right beside Miss Martian and Lagoon Boy.
"Nightwing! Heads up!" She shouted.
"Oh no," She heard M'gann groan as Sinestro floated into the room, bearing down on Jaina.
"No Star Sapphire or Guy Gardner here to help you now, Girl Lantern," Sinestro smiled in a sickening way, "No other lanterns, either."
Sinestro was right. Jaina's green ring was useless against Sinestro's yellow ring of fear, but she still had her willpower.
"Use the force!" Anakin urged her.
Jaina wanted to throw a tantrum like she did when she was younger, but one more time wouldn't hurt, she supposed.
Her lightsaber was across the room where she'd dropped it, thankfully untouched amid the scuffle between Beast Boy and the Light's fang-toothed gorilla henchman.
She reached out with a tug, calling the silver handle back to her. The casing she'd crafted so meticulously as her brother and friends worked so hard to make their own, the gem she'd grown herself, all coming together to create the elegant weapon of the Jedi.
As Sinestro's giant ax came down on top of her, Jaina's uniform disappeared, leaving her back in her black Jedi suit, her violet lightsaber blocking the ax blade.
"Seems like you didn't get the memo, pink-face!" She shouted. Still holding her lightsaber with one hand, she held out her other hand, shoving Sinestro across the cavern into the small pool where Kaldur was currently facing off against Black Manta.
"The name's Green Lantern!" She shouted angrily.
"Coming through!" Jaina leaped over Manta's head and crashed into Sinestro's next construct, shattering it with her lightsaber.
She landed next to Kaldur, the two standing back to back as they faced their respective foes.
"You doing good?" Jaina asked, swinging her lightsaber back and forth in an attempt to pump herself up.
"Fine!" Kaldur told her through gritted teeth.
Jaina rolled her eyes as Sinestro stood on shaky feet, preparing to attack again, "Sure you are."
"Together?" Kaldur suggested.
Jaina grinned, holding up her lightsaber, "What are we waiting for?"
Keeping one eye on the other's fight, while also focusing wholeheartedly on their own battles, the two leaped at their respective foes. Jaina blocked constructs and lasers alike on defense, while Kaldur created his own constructs out of the water to throw both villains off-balance.
Jaina reached up to the ceiling, ripping off huge chunks of stalactites and throwing them at Sinestro. The ones he didn't manage to deflect created enough of a prison to distract his attention while Jaina plucked his ring from his finger. Without his power ring, he was defenseless to the hit from Jaina's lightsaber hilt, effectively knocking him out for now.
She breathed a sigh of relief to see that Kaldur had finished his own battle, taking Manta out in a somewhat similar fashion. Around the cavern, assassins and alien soldiers were being tied up, though it was disappointing to see that the rest of the Light's leaders, along with Black Beetle and the Reach Scientist, had managed to escape.
"We'll find them," Nightwing promised, noticing the familiar downcast look on Jaina's face.
Jessica stood by Cassie, the latter reveling in the victory in a much more extroverted manner than the former, though both were overjoyed in their own way. The rest of the team's freshmen gathered together, while the older team members congregated towards Nightwing, Green Lantern, and Aqualad.
"I had hoped to end this tonight," Kaldur sighed. Every body motion seemed stiff and strained beneath his suit, and he refused to look at Manta, lying unconscious in the pool just behind him.
"Savage escaped with Klarion, as did Black Beetle with the Reach head scientist. Luthor and Queen Bee never showed. And Ra's Al Ghul will no doubt-"
"We'll catch them eventually. We always do," Jaina interrupted with a grin, cracking her knuckles for emphasis.
"Kaldur, you won!" Nightwing reminded him.
"Won?" Wally snorted at Nightwing's choice of words, "Dude, you triumphed!" He hit Kaldur's shoulder.
"You've crippled the Reach, and nearly broken the Light in half!" Artemis pointed out. She held up the glamour charm that had made her look like Tigress for so long, "And with the evidence we've collected, we'll be able to use the bad guy's own words against them to clear the Justice League!"
Jaina almost gasped. John's name would be cleared. The Reach would be kicked off-planet, and he, Hal, and Guy could all come back. She didn't mind Batman coming back so much if it meant that she would get to see her mentors again.
"You know I'm still mad that you pretended to be dead for the past three months, right?" She crossed her arms, pretending to glare at Artemis.
Artemis threw her head back and laughed, "I missed you too, Jay."
Jaina broke into a smile, and M'gann pulled her and Artemis into a hug, and Garfield just had to join in.
"No faking anyone's death for at least a year, okay?" Beast Boy jabbed his finger in Nightwing's face, clinging to Artemis tightly.
"Seconded," Wally joined the group hug, quickly giving Artemis a kiss on the lips.
"Yuck," Gar muttered quietly. He quickly scampered back over to his like-minded friends.
"Kaldur, tonight has been a good night," Nightwing said.
Wally slung his arm around Kaldur's shoulders, "Enjoy the moment, my friend, you've earned it."
Jaina shook her head as she looked at the three boys. Kaldur could not be trusted to do anything for himself.
"C'mere, you big ol' krakana." She wrapped her arms around Kaldur's torso, hugging him tightly.
"What's that?" Wally asked.
"An undersea creature from the planet of Mon Calamari." She looked so serious that they couldn't tell if she was joking, or if she really was telling the truth.
Jaina stepped back and jabbed her finger at Kaldur's chest.
"You just saved the world. No moping. Got it?"
Kaldur managed to chuckle, at least. "Got it."
"As touching as this is..." Sinestro had awoken, still in his stone prison for now, and rolling his eyes at the team bonding moment.
His ring shot out of Jaina's hand and back onto his finger. Yellow light flashed through the cavern, tossing aside the rocks and freeing Sinestro from his prison
"...I have a rather important business to attend to." He gave everyone a white, sharp-toothed smile, and shot out of the opening in the cave.
When Jaina's vision cleared just enough to be able to see, she slipped her ring back on her finger and shot up into the sky after him.
"Ring, scan for Sinestro!"
"No results." The ring said almost immediately, "Sinestro the rogue Green Lantern is not in the system."
That only made her a little more relaxed as she slowly came back down to land with the team again.
"Where do you think he went?" Connor asked.
"I don't know," Jaina looked at her friends. Six of the eight first friends she'd made when she first arrived on Earth.
"But we can probably guess what he's up to," Nightwing said confidently.
Jaina nodded. "If Sinestro's coming to Earth and working with the Light, Brakiss and the other's can't be too far behind."