Chapter 34: The Sinestro Corps vs. Hydra (II): Civil War

Before Sinestro appeared, he had been standing on the rooftop observing for quite some time.

Normally, he was accustomed to flying. The energy field of the Yellow Lantern ring allowed its bearer to withstand the varying gravitational forces of different planets. However, the awkward situation was that Eriya was recklessly draining the energy from the central power battery of the Yellow Lantern Corps, causing a chain reaction that affected all the Corps members’ rings.

Their rings, like the mobile phones of Earthlings, had remote communication functions. When the first Corps member sent a message saying that during a battle with an Orange Lantern member, his lantern’s “light pressure” was unstable, Sinestro paid no mind, since his opponent was not an Orange Lantern.

When the second Corps member reported that the energy discharged by his ring was no longer as strong as before, Sinestro again ignored it. It was well known that the strength of a Yellow Lantern ring depended on the amount of fear the user could impose on their opponent. If one was weak, it wasn’t someone else’s fault.

It was only when the third Corps member messaged that despite doing nothing but flying from one sector to another, his ring warned of dangerously low energy levels and recharging with the lantern was ineffective, that Sinestro began to sense something was wrong. If no nearby colleague came to assist, this unfortunate ring bearer would become the first in the universe to trek home on foot—there was no public transport or taxis within several light years.

Sinestro, whose mustache had almost caught fire from being relentlessly chased by his old rival, the greatest Green Lantern Hal Jordan, finally realized something was amiss.

However, the central power battery and ring production line of the Yellow Lantern Corps were personally supervised and built by Sinestro and the Weapon Master, modeled after the Green Lantern Corps. After so many years of operation, they had never encountered issues. Theoretically, such a large-scale “light network” collapse should never happen.

Through meticulous and exhaustive reasoning, Sinestro quickly concluded there were only two possibilities:

Either a supremely powerful enemy had invaded the Yellow Lantern Corps headquarters right under his nose and silently interfered with the central power battery using a method unknown to anyone in the universe;

Or something fishy was going on with Eriya Esposito again.

Considering the difficulty of the first scenario, and having retrieved over a dozen intercepted Yellow Lantern rings from the Green Lanterns, Sinestro firmly believed the answer was the latter.

He changed course from leaving the solar system, sneaked onto Earth unnoticed by Hal Jordan, and just happened to stumble upon Eriya fighting a group of little devils from Hell.

After watching briefly, Sinestro couldn’t help but feel a sense of kinship and admiration for the ring’s invincible and unstoppable power in Eriya’s hands. As mentioned before, the power of a Yellow Lantern ring is linked to the user’s ability to instill fear. Those who can control their own fears and know how to intimidate others find the Yellow Lantern ring to be the most fitting weapon.

Sinestro himself was a prime example.

Before becoming the embodiment of fear that caused terror wherever he went, he had served for many years in the Green Lantern Corps, earning a great reputation. Due to his outstanding capabilities, he had even been the mentor to Hal Jordan when the latter was a rookie in the Corps.

Later, they became close friends, but years passed, and their relationship turned into one of mortal enemies. Sinestro would still admit in front of others that he had only two true friends in his life: the previous bearer of Hal’s ring and Sinestro’s deceased mentor Abin Sur, and Hal Jordan himself, who had endured countless ordeals and returned a hero.

So how could such a soldier, with such a noble background, betray the Green Lantern Corps and establish his own armed force?

One could say, on the one hand, Sinestro was indeed not a good man—his name itself (derived from Latin “sinestra,” meaning “evil”) hinted at it. On the other hand, intelligent beings inevitably tread the path suited to their nature—as if by fate.

Years ago, Sinestro was exiled to the antimatter universe for committing dictatorship crimes in his homeland. There, he discovered the future headquarters planet of the Yellow Lantern Corps, “Qward,” and met the Weapon Master, who was secretly crafting weapons to oppose the Green Lantern Corps.

They instantly hit it off. Stripped of his Green Lantern ring, Sinestro wielded the Yellow Lantern ring to make a comeback, using the yellow light of “fear” in opposition to the green light of “willpower.” Several times across the universe, he ignited wars that caused heavy losses—especially to his close friend Hal Jordan—leaving countless wounds. He died and was reborn repeatedly, shifting between occasional acts of justice and mostly conspiracies, remaining one of the Green Lantern Corps’ most formidable enemies and the universe’s most active villains to this day.

Clearly, being Sinestro’s friend might not be a blessing; his previous two closest friends either died or suffered misfortune because of their association with him.

But it’s hard to say what fate awaits those who become Sinestro’s lovers, considering this Yellow Lantern Corps leader once had a wife and was definitely heterosexual.

“Sexual orientation is fluid,” said Belzebub, the big boss of the assassination company, at a bar in Hell. “Who knows if Sinestro, looking at Eriya Esposito’s chains, thought they were flexible and easy to work with.”

Other demons: “…”

Work with? How? Where?

Since God will not forgive them anyway, not hitting “1” at this moment probably isn’t a big deal.

Since the “Instant Murder Experts” failed miserably on Earth—members injured and sent back—only half a day had passed, and rumors were already rampant in Hell, along with a thicker-than-usual smell of gunpowder. This was mainly because both the Hydra led by Red Skull and the Nazis, and the Yellow Lantern Corps represented by Eriya, were major forces in Hell. The reason was simple:

Killers are inevitably killed.

The Nazi leader Hitler had been imprisoned here for decades, with no end to his sentence in sight. His vile comrades accompanied him, with Red Skull being one of them. As for the Yellow Lantern Corps—since the Green Lanterns broke the no-kill rule on the battlefield and were allowed to use lethal force, countless Yellow Lantern members had died over the years. Their growing numbers naturally expanded their influence in Hell.

The two sides usually coexisted peacefully.

Who would want to watch the Yellow Lantern Corps take on the Nazis? Ridiculous—even sci-fi movies wouldn’t dare depict that.

But when Red Skull said, “Whatever, I’ll make a move,” his provocative act immediately caused an uproar in Hell. The locals watched the spectacle and fanned the flames, spreading the story far and wide.

Demons said the entire affair started because Eriya’s adopted son mentioned something about Captain America.

The Yellow Lantern Corps in Hell immediately felt justified and shouted at a passing Hydra soldier, “Are you sick? So petty—does Red Skull have a crush on Captain America?!”

The demons turned and relayed to Hitler that his subordinate Red Skull had been obsessed with Captain America to a pathological degree for years. After finally chasing him back from Hell to Earth, a mere child had snatched his love away!

A certain failed Viennese art student, preparing to host an exhibition, was stunned by this news and stopped painting and cultivating his temperament—damn it, there was a homosexual under his command? No wonder Red Skull ended up in Hell! Hitler put down his brush and picked up his guns: internal cleansing, this must be internal cleansing!

Of course, when attacking Red Skull, the Yellow Lantern Corps couldn’t hold back either. Heaven has no second sun, earth no second master. The two factions already disliked each other. Let alone the dispute began with a Yellow Lantern Corps member’s adopted son. Both were anti-social organizations; if one perished, they all would. Why should the Yellow Lanterns continue thriving in the universe? Because their leader Sinestro was politically adept and socially skilled?

The Yellow Lantern Corps sniffed in indignation. That’s not “politically adept,” that’s “outstanding political vision!”

Demons further whispered that Sinestro was passionately pursuing the Corps’ new member Eriya Esposito, lavishly spending and risking being beaten by Green Lanterns and Superman by coming to Earth, all to support his beloved.

“Ah??”

A rational demon observer said, “Is that true? Red Skull might be love-struck, but I heard Sinestro isn’t like that. Otherwise, he would have died long ago and joined his subordinates.”

A gossiping demon whispered mysteriously, “Have you heard what the Yellow Lanterns say? Sinestro has excellent judgment and is all about profit. Eriya Esposito is obviously no ordinary person. So why can’t this be a lucrative political marriage?”

“Ah!!”

You know, it actually sounds a bit reasonable!

The initially skeptical demon fell into thought.

Since they’re all red-skinned, why couldn’t the Yellow Lantern Corps leader Sinestro be a succubus?

Regardless of how many believe this, the Nazis who received the news became even more enraged and struck harder. The Yellow Lantern Corps, even if initially indifferent to Eriya, now recognized him as an important member amidst the shifting situation:

If the leader acts thus, there must be a reason.

No matter what role Eriya Esposito would take in the future, he was definitely one of their own now. The enemy of one’s own is an enemy. It seemed that the war with Hitler was inevitable.

Moreover, everyone was eager for the fight.

Hell was full of warrior spirit, and within the Yellow Lantern Corps were thugs lacking humanity, or even beastliness. When the first outlaw, who had committed countless evil deeds in life and sprouted horns in death, brought a Hydra officer down with a gun, the already volatile powder keg exploded instantly.

The Yellow Lantern Corps’ strength lay in being few but elite; each member had caused bloodshed wherever placed in the universe—though this was hardly something to boast about. Their weakness was that none obeyed authority. While alive, Sinestro could barely keep them in line, but now there was no one to command the group, so they fought individually, doing whatever they pleased.

But their enemies weren’t much better.

The Nazis and Hydra were not united. Hitler knew Hydra was built on the corpses of his vast empire and harbored deep resentment. He deliberately assigned Red Skull to be a hotel bellhop in Hell to remind him of his identity. Red Skull, who could betray his master once, could do it twice. His initial restraint was only because the Nazis had the upper hand in Hell.