if you can't stand the heat

[bossymarmalade]

The unholy sounds of flesh ripping and bone crunching could be heard down the hall. The racket would be sickening and alarming if it were not for the secure and mundane location they were coming from.

Etrigan sat alone at a table in the Watchtower cafeteria eating - well eating may be too generous a descriptive word. Devouring? Destroying? Consuming? Yeah, we’ll go with consuming - a giant platter of Buffalo chicken wings. Red sauce was dripping down the sides of his mouth. Skin scraps and meat chunks and bone shards covered the table and the floor around him. No napkin was in sight.

*BBBRRRRAAAAAAPPPP*

The Demon’s belch seemed to underscore his utter disregard for any semblance of table manners. To him, this was a gluttonous feast for him alone.

“Yes, I know” Etrigan said out loud to no one.
“They grow suspicious.
But if things take a turn,
I can still be quite vicious”

Returning to his, oh let’s be kind and call it a “meal”, Etrigan plowed into a handful of spicy fowl. The Demon did not even notice when a League member entered the cafeteria behind him…



Fine. If Zauriel was going to play that way, then fine. But he wasn’t the only one involved in this whole (somewhat puzzling, to Kyle, anyway. someone smarter would probably understand this better) Phantom Zone debacle, if Kyle remembered the angel’s reports correctly.

It wasn’t hard to find the demon, and it stood to reason that no one else was in the cafeteria while it decimated an army of chicken wings. The air was thick, almost coated with the sickening smell of sulphur and buffalo spice. A nauseating blend, if Kyle was just Kyle.

But he wasn’t in the mood to be just Kyle right now. Especially not when facing down a demon.

“Etrigan!” He didn’t mind making an entrance as he came in, the place being clear of both staff and heroes. Still, to be on the safe side (who knew just how careless a gorram demon could be, even out in space? ), Kyle padded the entire cafeteria with a hive of protective green constructs, including the doorways. No one was getting in or out, until Kyle was done.

“We need to talk, buddy. Or rhyme. Rap. Whatever you prefer. Actually no, just talk. What happened to J’onn?” Kyle flew higher, his eyes crackling with electric green. “What happened??”

The Lantern’s grand entrance caught the Demon by surprise. So much so that he inhaled a chicken bone and got it caught in his throat.

*Hrrrah* *Hrrrrooo* *Hrrrackgrauch*

Etrigan retched and vomited up the bone along with a pile of gooey sickening mess onto the table in front of him. The putrid puke dripped down his chin as he refused to even acknowledge it. It was as if the Demon was going out of his way to be extra disgusting.

“Ah, the Young Lantern! It’s so nice to see you -
Charging in here, growling just like a lion.
What can I tell you that you cannot figure?
Aren’t you the powerfully strong half an Ion?

Your green Martian friend is back from the Nowhere.
I thought this might make you happy see him!
I merely opened door for the Angel.
Asking him questions would make a good prelim.”

Etrigan wiped the mess of regurgitated food and bone off his chair with his forearm and sat back down. He grabbed another chicken wing and turned his back on Kyle as he started gnawing on it.

Kyle’s phenomenal cosmic powers dimmed for a bit, as he utilized his brainpower on reciting the rhymes a few times in his head, parsing them. Damn poems and things. Couldn’t Etrigan just, like, sing or something? Lyrics always seemed to make so much more sense to Kyle than spoken word, Ion or not.

Swallowing hard and clearing away the upchucked gunk with a wave of his hand - because, nasty - Kyle vaporized half of Etrigan’s mess of a meal and regurgitated meal, before he responded.

“I spoke to Zauriel already. He didn’t give me any answers. If you can’t give me any answers either then just say so? Then I know who I need to talk to.” Which, of course, would be J’onn. Except Kyle had hoped it wouldn’t come to this, because he had no intention of /talking/ to J’onn. He tried once more with the demon. “Something happened to J’onn during Zauriel’s rescue. And why aren’t you Jason Blood? What is this? Do we have to get Superman and Captain Marvel on you again?”

“I have the answers that you seek,
But I don’t have to tell you, Buck.
So ask away if you so choose.
I really just don’t give a -“

“Etrigan!” Zauriel shouted as he entered the cafeteria, his flaming sword cutting through the green barrier. ”Stay back, you monster!” The powerful construct protection closed up behind the Angel as he ran towards the pair.

“Careful Fly Boy, hold your tongue.” Etrigan said, pointing his clawed finger at Zauriel.
Your true word now binds your breath!
If you share what you know now,
You will suffer your own death!”

“Kyle!” Zauriel shouted to the Green Lantern with the crackling eyes. ”I…” The Angel hesitated, looking at the Demon. ”I… “ he paused again, before making up his mind. “Kyle, J’onn is not what he seems!”
Etrigan hissed loudly.

“Something had J’onn in his grip when he was in the Phantom Zone!” Zauriel explained. ”Something evil! And something evil still has - Arrrahhh!” the Angel screamed out in pain and grabbed his temple. ”Something is inside of… Yeooowww! Inside of J’onn!”

Zauriel was doubled over on the floor, writhing now. He dropped his sword, but the flames kept burning bright. Etrigan shrugged his shoulders at the scene and turned away, continuing to eat his chicken wings.

“Kyle, he’s dangerous!” Zauriel spat out between shrieks of agony. He looked up at the Green Lantern and his eyes turned black, then collapsed like rotting fruit. Blood began to pour out of the angel’s eye sockets. ”Kyle! You have to stop him! He’s in Central City right - Aaaarghugh - right now! He’s not alone! He’s with - Yeowwwack - he’s with Oliver!”

Zauriel burst into flames, spinning and twitching in incredible pain. Even at the close proximity to him, Kyle could feel no heat from the pyre. These were supernatural flames.
“Save him Kyle!” the Angel shouted. ”Save J’onn to save Oliver!”

With his plea, Zauriel, Champion of the Eagle Host of Heaven’s Pax Dei, went silent and unmoving. The flames abated, leaving nothing but bones and ashes. His sword lost its fire and sat unmoving on the floor.

Zauriel had given up his secret and sacrificed his life for the League. His last hope was that Kyle would be able to get to J’onn and Oliver in time.

He used to be able to foresee the future. During Ion 1.0. But of course this was different and of course this time around, Kyle was doing everything BUT testing his limits. Okay maybe he was, just a little bit, without anyone knowing. But still not enough. Not enough.

Kyle couldn’t have predicted this. And he told himself that, convinced himself - as he replayed Zauriel’s words in his mind, as the sight of Zauriel literally cooking from the inside now seared into his mind like a brand, as he abandoned Etrigan with a “you just wait, demon!” and hasty messages were sent to Marvel, Zatanna and Superman to boot. As he took only a few seconds to reach from space to Central City, his mind pinpointed on the location of Queen and J’onn.

Kyle didn’t want to think about any of that right now, he couldn’t. Every time he blinked, he saw what happened to Zauriel printed on the back of his eyelids…but he couldn’t.

He finally had a helluva reason to use this gift, this amazing ability that so far he’d been stifling to ease the other Leaguers’ fears. Not anymore.

Hell was already paid out. Time to pay a god.