A Dash of Hope

The tears were always fresh.

It was hard for them not to be. After all, the hero did live in Washington D.C., the city that man single handily came back from the great beyond and saved. The people were irate about the Protector here more than anywhere else in the country. The whole city was practically one huge fan base for him. It was no surprise to anyone, considering the dark being came from the skies and annihilated their captor. The mysterious wraith brought the spirits of the dead and restored life to all in the city that had lost faith in all good once Meltdown seized them for those few months. The damned king was a hero amongst the people.

Kids would run by on the streets wearing Dusk t-shirts, pretending to throw ghosts at each other. Some even bore his ridiculously strange cape with the spiked shoulders. Some dawned upon plastic masks with his slick horns that protruded from the back of his head and cheeks. In reality, it wasn't the Dusk Carter was used to. That was the Dusk sealed inside his friend's body. There was no illusion that Terry didn't have a say in what happened that night though.

The tears were still always fresh though.

The news stations frequently bragged about the masked crusader. They talked as if Dusk was their own, as if he was theirs somehow. It'd be funny if they knew the truth of how the man was actually from Detroit. This one woman in specific, he never caught her name, some skimpy blond, perhaps it was Laines or something like that, always was ecstatic about how the Dusk swooped in and saved her whole crew.

Then there were the news stations who were completely frightened by the dark hero's existence. These anchors would ramble for hours about how Dusk had too much power. How the King of the Damned easily violated every basic right citizens had as United States citizens. They would complain that if Dusk ever decided to turn on the people, the whole country would be in danger. They would often use examples of how Meltdown held the city hostage; how it could easily happen again with this new super powered freak.

Marvel and DC had been at war for the past year with legal battles over the rights to Dusk's name. However, they've all been stalemates with the actual being of Dusk vanishing that same night he changed the country. It's still a wonder if all the merchandise that sprouted from every nook and cranny should be investigated with legal troubles. The odd thing was, in the nation's capitol, no one seemed to care. They were just grateful that the Dusk showed up when he did.

It was funny really. There were fans of Dusk who were following him since before the hostile takeover by Meltdown. Most of them felt wronged that their unknown hero suddenly became star power. Others complained about unimportant issues such as his new look on that night. "Too dark" was often the phrase used amongst the hardcore following.

The worst part of it all, was that none of that mattered to Carter.

To him, it was just a shot to the gut that his close friend was now napping in the dirt like some damned weed in the ground.

It wasn't fair.


It was a lonely night on the television when Carter heard the strangest thing that sparked his deepest hopes.

"Strange News from the city of Detroit tonight as witnesses are saying they've been seeing some sort of "demon" stalking the night!"

The news graphic swirled over in red as a lone witness stood near a dark alley way.

"Yeah! This guy was like... Creepin on me and followin me down the walk way then this damned bat out of hell came and scooped em up!" The overweight woman bellowed.

The news section cut away to a scene of crime tape as the news anchor's voice came back through clearly,

"It seems this perpetrator is some sort of masked vigilante inspired by 'Dracula' as one witness described. However, the realism of the man's act has sent quite a few spooks into the motor city's crime world as the crime rate has dropped slightly since these random attacks have ensued. We shall keep you posted on the 'Motor City Demon'!"

Carter had spent these past few weeks in agony, he died and came back to life, only to find that the embodiment of life itself wanted to possess him and had near limitless power. He learned of two other heroes named Landen and Marcus, one had the God Poseidon locked with in him and the other had conquered the demon of end times and bent it to do good. He had grand plans to find them when he managed to break free of Entity's, the force of life, grasp. He had a check list and it stopped at number one...... Find Dusk.....

He found Dusk and it shattered him, he found the videos of his friend destroying Meltdown then dying so suddenly. He found the children running happily through the streets wearing a T shirt with him on it, children running through the shadows with flashlights wearing his mask happily screaming. But never did he find his friend, never once did he the actual Terry he left behind. The only thing that brought him joy was just how much these people loved Terry, they loved him as Dusk but if they knew Terry they would love him just as much. He loved that even though he had died to save these people everyone praised Terry because all Carter had managed to do was stop some bombs while Terry gave his life to return the lives lost at the hands of Meltdown.

His friend had taken one step forward and become a hero idealized on the same level as Batman and Superman and The Hulk. He even vaguely recalled the billionaire play boy, Bruce Wayne, agreeing to partner with Tony Stark in paying and building a monument to Dusk on the site where his body left this life. These were the only things that brought joy to Carter but it was a bitter joy. He had the chance to save his friend when they were defying the rules of reality and time. He had the chance to warn King Dusk about his death in the not too far away future, he even had the power to go back and warn Dusk. When he came back to life a ring of the Green Lanterns found him and he readily accepted it, trying to master the emotion of willpower as fast as possible to obtain the power of time travel but only the best of the best of Green Lanterns mastered that power and that still took decades, only a fraction of these Lanterns had been able to time travel early on in their career so that option was out for now.

He entered the tele-pad of The Bunker and wiped more tears from his eyes, every time he went out he saw happy people that were happy with life, life that Terry had given back to them and it made him happy that his friend had finally found love but upset that he wasn't around to enjoy it, then pure sadness over his friend just not being around. He walked down the halls of The Bunker to his private quarters where he dawned his green ring and recited the green lantern oath, recharging it before taking it back off. He then moved to his chair and hit the power button on his remote. A white glaring casting through the dark room and going to the news where a woman spoke about a "demon" stalking her, the reporter went onto say somethings about the demon and then to the weather but he blocked it out, focusing on the "demon" the way it acted and what the tv showed of it....

......That demon reminded him too much of someone to be a mistake, he stood quickly and the armchair flew backwards hitting his dresser on the other side of the wall. Him flinching at the power behind it, ever since he had come back he had random fits of enhanced strength, as if he had grown in some way. His right hand grappled with sliding his ring upon his left hand's middle finger, it shaking a bit due to his nerves and excitement. Once on the black and green suit fit snuggly onto his body, him hovering in the air and then rocketing down the hallways to the telepad, yelling a command so that he could fly straight through and into the night., a green trail blazing behind him as he sped to Detroit.