Diana Lance introduces Specs to Halo, who has a spectrum of her own. Working with her brings new friendships, time with Forager, and another chance to discover whether similar colors mean similar powers. An attempt to channel Halo’s transportation ability opens a malformed passage and lets something large, sharp, and deadly through.

When the creature strikes Halo down, Specs responds with a power that makes it simply cease to be. Halo’s recovery is another shock: they had not yet reached that part of what her Purple halo can do. The work continues, including learning to turn a Boom Tube into Indigo teleportation. A trip to Oa brings Halo and Aya together, and a girls’ night leads into an arrangement for Specs to stay at the farm and keep practicing.

The Story

A spectrum of her own

Forager

The Story

A spectrum of her own

Specs follows up on Alan’s business card. After talking with Dr. Lance, she has someone she would like him to meet.

“I’d like you to meet someone… she… has a spectrum of her own… maybe you’ll have something in common.”

Doctor Light has already been a failed lead.

“Turns out it’s just plain old light… nothing special… I mean, other than how cool light can be from a science standpoint.”

Halo is a Motherbox soul, old despite her young appearance. Specs spends a few days working with her and trying her different colors.

Halo always calls him Spectrum, regardless of his form. She understands that they are all the same person, just a different hue. She respects the different names, but they are not on a mission together. To her, secret names are for secret work: Halo in the field, Violet at home.

Around Spectrum, she agrees to stick with Halo. Every time somebody calls for “Vi,” he looks around in a panic. She feels it is not her place to ask why. She recognizes that it is easy to avoid, and makes it so.

Forager

Specs meets Forager and flirts with him all day. At the first sight of the Fred Bugg illusion, his thought is “cute boy.” Almost immediately, he dismisses the illusion to himself: “cuter bug.”

Specs is a Magus in his own right. He is not Fate or John, but he could get by if he had to. He has been seeing past the illusion all along. Forager only realizes that after the day of flirting.

It is Specs who flirts with him, and Specs who hooks up with him. Forager has plenty of clothes he mostly does not wear, and they fit Specs. He wears some for Specs for a bit before gifting them to him. Forager does not mind.

Someone questions the age difference, assuming the middle-aged man is pursuing someone in his late teens or early twenties. Forager knows otherwise.

“Yes. Forager enjoys being the older forager. Hehe.”

In their time together, Specs explains how he uses Green. IndiKid explains how it feels to tap into it through tokenizing and channeling.

Angel

Specs calls Halo “Angel.” In her company, StarS comes out: the Motherbox in her is an entity known to love, and it brings out Love.

With Halo, the work includes comparing colors and what they can do. One of the recurring tests is whether someone who can tap Green responds to Blue the way a Green Lantern does.

“My bags are packed!!!”

“Boom Tube.”

“My bags are packed!!!”

IndiKid tries to channel Halo’s various colors. Starting with the Purple halo—the one that can open Boom Tubes—seems smart. The Indigo Tribe can do something similar, though IndiKid has never done it. Maybe they are the same.

IndiKid manages to open… something.

A weird blend of Indigo and Boom Tube.

Something comes out: large, mean, sharp, and very, very deadly.

Its form is an amalgam of overlapping parts, random bits and specks of other things.

Rainbow

Spectrum slides, trying to come up with a strategy.

Finally, Halo says she is “going to try something” and begins to hover and go rainbow.

Sliding into Indigo, IndiKid begins to feel that rainbow. A power. A… magic?

It is familiar, but not like what he has felt before. At least, not for long. This feels like electrical current coursing through him. The closest he has felt is something that sometimes happens when he does basic spells—but that is like a static shock. This is way more.

He watches Halo’s power build and feels this new thing running through his body.

He gasps as Halo is stabbed by a spine. Her head snaps harshly to the left, as if it were a bag of leaves on a windy lawn.

“NO MORE!”

Spectrum screams, sliding back to Specs without full awareness.

His Mercury Blues begin to glow white. Small lightning bolts of color bleed from their edges, blue shining a bit brighter than the rest.

“NO!” cries the voice. “NO MORE!”

Specs floats an inch or so above the ground, just high enough that his toes point downward but still do not quite touch it.

The thing stops moving as though time has stopped. Yet time has not stopped.

It glows with a white aura. Its form splits into shaded versions of the thing it is, whatever it is. Those individually colored forms spread away from one another until the thing that was simply is not.

It takes seconds. The loudest, most striking part is the voice.

Purple

Shaking his head and blinking rapidly, as though he has something in his eye, Specs realizes he is on solid ground. He is looking at Halo.

He slides to Blue, wondering if he can Will his own Blue to be Blue enough to heal.

Then a twitch.

IndiKid turns up the dial. Feeling. Seeing.

Purple?

Snap.

“Hello, Spectrum, what did I miss?”

“What the fuck?!”

“What? It looks like you took care of the… whatever it was.”

“WHAT THE FUCK?!”

“Have I offended you, Spectrum?” Halo asks, worried.

He slides back to Blue, empathy a little more natural.

“I’m sorry… I just… I thought you were dead!”

Halo giggles.

“Oh, I’m sorry… we hadn’t gotten to what else my Purple halo can do… it can heal me… and others, though that’s harder… they think I’m kind of immortal.”

He slides to Red quickly, like a cough, before shifting back to Blue.

“Got it… I hope you get why I’m not interested in testing that channel…”

Halo giggles.

“Totally.”

The word sounds so retro coming from Halo. It makes the old man in front of the old, young they feel comforted in a way he knows Halo did not intend, or even notice.

Foraging

Forager returns from foraging.

“Forager found these interesting mushrooms near a swamp… they were growing all over the place so Forager decided to forage some. I know they’re very grey-looking, but they make Forager smile. Would you like to try one?”

He offers one to Specs, who has just slid in and is smiling at Forager again, the way he did when they met.

“I’d love one.”

He is excited to learn more about his new friends.

Oa

Halo’s rainbow power is not the same as White. What IndiKid feels in it is closer to the magic he knows, though far stronger than those brief familiar shocks.

Halo helps IndiKid convert Boom Tube transportation to Indigo teleportation. Forager, Halo, and IndiKid port to Oa.

Halo meets Aya. Soon, they are like sisters.

Girls’ night

By the end of the day, Halo has Boom Tubed Forager home. IndiKid does not quite have the teleportation locked down yet, and Forager promised to make muffins. A Forager always keeps his promises.

Aya, Halo, and Spectrum stay together for girls’ night, with Spectrum sliding between IndiKid and StarS in the silly, loving company.

“More like the not-exactly-girls-night girls’ night,” says Halo.

“Agreed, Angel,” says IndiKid.

“Spectrum, why do you call me ‘angel’? I enjoy it, but it was unfamiliar to me before you used it in that context.”

“Oh, I don’t… ‘Halo,’ ‘angel’… guess it makes sense to me.”

“I once overheard Lantern Hal Jordan refer to Diana of Themyscira as ‘angel.’ She appeared… sad as a response,” offers Aya.

Room at the farm

After girls’ night, Halo arranges for Specs to stay on the farm with her, Forager, Megan, and Connor.

“I mean… we have the beds… it’s the space… Hello Megan!!! StarS can just crystal up some temporary housing and we’ll move the bed in, no problem!”

The crystal housing gives Specs a place to stay, with more time to work with Halo and practice teleporting.

“It was nice of Megan to let me stay here… nicer of her not to send me flying every time she catches me checking out Superboy!”

“Yes, if she did, you would indeed fly often, Spectrum,” Halo replies.

She does not realize observations like that are not normally said out loud. Specs smiles at how much his new friends Aya and Halo are alike—and how both make him feel comfortable with them and with himself in ways others do not.

About The Story

Halo’s rainbow and the Color of Magic

Halo is a Motherbox soul, old despite her young appearance. Her rainbow power differs from White. To IndiKid it feels closer to familiar magic, but immensely stronger: ordinary spells have felt like static shocks, while this feels like electrical current running through him.

The Color of Magic approaches white with color at its edges. The encounter gives Specs a recognition that matters later, when Ever visits the House of Mystery and creates Orchid. That connection lies beyond what the people experimenting together understand at the time.

Spectrum, Halo, and Forager

Halo calls him Spectrum regardless of his hue. She understands that the names belong to one person and relates that to her own use of Halo on missions and Violet at home. Around him she keeps Halo because calls for “Vi” make him look around in panic. She can spare him that response without asking him to explain it.

Specs sees through Forager’s human illusion. The attraction begins with “cute boy” and becomes “cuter bug.” Forager’s age differs from the age suggested by the illusion; he enjoys being the older forager. The clothes he gives Specs belong to that personal connection.

The Green lessons also travel through a friendship: Forager later shares what he learned from Specs and IndiKid with the Forager who receives a Green Lantern ring, helping her understand what she encounters.

The voice in the rescue

The italicized lowercase “the voice” marks Specs using high-powered Magic to do something The Voice could do freely. He is close enough to force the effect without yet having the full power or understanding behind it.

The writer’s explanation involves Was and decay, the thing coming apart layer by layer. Its visible separation does not end its existence permanently; it later returns as Syndrome. The exact experience remains much less clear to Specs than the outcome he can see.

Specs is the one who acts when Halo is struck. He is also the one who flirts with Forager. These moments give his ordinary self agency and connection alongside the more conspicuous confidence or capabilities of his hues.

Angel and girls’ night

The Motherbox’s connection to Love draws out StarS. “Angel” links Halo’s name to a term associated with Diana and Steve; Aya’s recollection of Hal using it introduces another shade to the association.

Gaze’s earlier research gives Specs incomplete records of people connected to the Lanterns. His understanding of Wonder Woman’s animal communication and her time as a Star Sapphire informs his own theory about StarS. The connection can work while his explanation of why it works remains incomplete.

A place to stay

The farm offers beds but needs space. StarS supplies temporary crystal housing, and the arrangement gives Specs time with Halo, Forager, Megan, and Connor while he practices teleporting. Halo’s unguarded observation about how often he looks at Superboy is part of the ease he feels around her and Aya.

Writer's Notes

Similar, but not the same

The encounters were conceived around people close enough to the Lantern connections to compare experiences while revealing different sources and overlaps.

From the writer’s notes

so, we’re adding them to the list of people to visit during the 8. Her YJ back story is a perfect “lets chat”… shes a Motherbox soul… old…. and IndiKid could likely help Halo sooo much, just like Aya ( I bet they’d get along sooooo well… maybe girls night!)… maybe that’s the path of the 8, seeking the similar but not the norm (not latnerns, but lantern adjacent) to help understand what’s happening… with Hale we’d learn her rainbow power and White aren’t the same… if anothing, Raimbdow is closer to…. ORCHID!!!!

From the writer’s notes

…and because he met Halo, and better recognized that color/light, while he was Ever, he knew to visit that House of Mystery and leave John a new friend as part of his honey-do list… creating Orchid The Color of Magic (to be clear, this is a light spectrum, the feeling would be that of manifestation, emotion made form, what started those rings (cause any advanced technology will appear as magic… and all that) …. but, I feel at some point, the Avatar of The Color of Magic will soon to be named… but when the time comes, some will worry it’ll be seen as a power move… to which Swampy will one day reply “I am of The Green and I shall Ever trust Orchids”

From the writer’s notes

lets try and define The Color of Magic, it’s near white, meaning its made of of all the lights… but we see it near blue easily… and UV has to be near it too… it’s like the full spectrum gets squished together… but not so much that it ever completely totally goes White… instead, it’s white, with edges of color… like… well, I’ll be… how did you describe the door on the cover of Unmasked? Bliding white with colors creeping from the edge… why, that’s almost as if Magic always gets it’s own way.

Forager, the illusion, and the earlier introduction

The early scene concept includes the attraction, clothes, and experiments. Its introductory route predates the Dr. Lance business-card connection.

From the writer’s notes

The Halo story will be fun… one of the recuring tests with people who can tap Green will be seeing if they respond to Blue the same way a Gl would.

The Scot and kids story should be early so we think less of it till the right time comes (I have to figure out who’s with Specs on that visit… have to make it more awkward by adding another person who has no idea a air dude is hanging around… Specs will sneak away to talk quickly and get a “he doesn’t know I’m here, please don’t say anything” (of course Specs gets it without question and tries hard to not look or bring him up while he watches on).

Lets see GL should be early, maybe Book 1 (I’ve got to come up with a where we start the story… I’ll come back to that), that would let Book 2 go to Alan and the kids (gonna have to study up on Onyx… see where he’s gonna connect)… Book 3 could be looking for Doctor Light (to see what she’s all about… quickly finding out she’s light like a flashlight, not an emotion… which makes sense cause she’s kind of a bitch)… but that leads to Halo via JL relations and suggestions (and fuck it, Specs - as SPECS, not slider - hooks up with Forager (who didn’t realize until after having been flirted with non stop all day that Specs could always see past the Fred Bugg illusion… and, in fact, other than the intital sight (where he thought: cute boy) did he even capture it mentally as immediatly he (to himself) dismissed the illusion (don’t forget, he’s a Magus in his own right - not Fate or John, but he could get by if he had to) and theought “cuter bug”… also, all of Foragers clothes (that he mostly doesn’t wear, fits Specs - so, kink bonus and don’t even need Gaze… I mean, Forager doesn’t mind (he’s got tons he doesn’t wear, though he wore for Specs for a bit before gifting) he’s Forager.

The lesson Forager passes on

The later Forager connection is part of the timeline the writer is building around the meetings.

From the writer’s notes

okay, I like playing lets make up contunity: Specs meet Forager and Halo before Forager meets (GL) Forager… in fact, it’s Forager (Fred)’s time with Specs and him explaining how he uses the Green, how IndiKid explained tapping into it both tokenizing and channelining and what that feels like… Forager shared that with Forager and she understood the story… when the ring found her, she was better prepared than had Specs and Forager (Fred) not met. Timeline keeps becoming a thing for me… the real timeline only works because I can, for now, treat the ending of Crisis (and True Gold) as 10 years in the future of the whereever the initial run ends.. because time is funy, realities are funny… I mean, there was a 70s Super Friends world in that movie!!! So, I can let what should be today, be my Grundy’s future… then again, what’s time to an immortal whos loopin Despair and Joy in the Grey? I guess it could be ten years in moments… so, we know I can make anything I want work.

The experiment

The scene notes preserve the action and the feeling of the new power.

From the writer’s notes

Working with Halo, IndiKid tried to channel he various colors… Indi thought starting with the purple halo, the one that can open boom tubes might be smart… Indigo Tribe can do something similiar (not that IndiKid has ever done it)… but, maybe they’re the same?

While IndiKid manages to open… something… a weird blend of Ingigo and Boom Tube… something comes out (large, mean, sharp, and very very deadly).

Spectrum slides, trying to come up with a strategy… finally, Halo says she’s “going to try something” and begins to hover and go rainbow… sliding into the Indigo, IndiKid begins to feel that rainbow… a power… a … magic? It’s fmailiar, but not like what he’s felt before… at least, not for long… this feels like ecltical current coursing through him… the closest he’s felt is something that sometimes happen when he does some basic spells… but that’s like a static shock… this is way more!!!

Watching as Halo’s power builds, and feeling this new… thing… running through Indi’s body… he’s gasps as he sees Halo get stabbed by a spine, then head harshly snapped to the left as if it were a bag of leaves on a windy lawn.

Spectrum screams, sliding back to Specs without full awareness… his Mercury Blues begin to glow white, small lightning bolts of colors bleeding from their edge, blue shining a bit brighter than the rest.

“NO!”, cries /the voice/. “NO MORE!”

And floating, an inch or so above the ground, just hight enough that his toes point downward yes still don’t quite touch the ground, Specs “removes” the “thing” … whatever it is stops it’s movement as if time had stopped, yet it hadn’t; it glows a white aura as it’s form splits into shaded versions of the thing it is, whoever it is, and those indvidualy colored forms spread away from each other until the thing that was simply wasn’t - the loudest most striking moment in the seconds that it took to pass: /the voice/.

[Writer’s Note: The two things above are easter eggs… you should see it]

Shaking his head and blinking rapidly, as if he had something in his eye, he realizes he’s on solid ground and now looking at Halo…Specs slides to Blue, wondering if he can Will his own Blue to be Blue enough to heal… but then, a twitch, and IndiKid turns up the dial…and… feeling… seeing…. Purple?

snap “Hello, Spectrum, what did I miss?”

“What the fuck?!”

“What? It looks like you took care of the… whatever it was”

“WHAT THE FUCK?!”

“Have I offended you, Spectrum” Halo asked worried.

sliding back to Blue, empathy a little more natural

“I’m sorry … I just… I thought you were dead!”

Halo giggles

“Oh, I’m sorry… we hadn’t gotten to what else my Purple halo can do … it can heal me… and others, thought that’s harder… they think I’m kind immortal”

slides to Red quickly, like a cough, before shifting back to Blue

“Got it… I hope you get why I’m not interested in testing that channel…”

Halo giggles

“Totally.” The word sounded so “retro” coming from Halo, it made the “old man” in front of the “old, young they” feel comforted in a way that he knew Halo didn’t do inteionally, or even with awareness.

Forager returns from foraging. “Forager found this interesting mushrooms near a swamp… they were growing all over the place so Forager decided to forage some. I know they’re very grey looking, but they make Forager smile. Would you like to try one” Forager says, offering one to Specs who just slid in and is who’s again smiling at Forager, like he did when they met.

“I’d love one” He says excited to learn more about his new friends.

[writers note: Forager’s age: now, he’s an alien so I’m gonna go with the Kes (see: ST Voy) rule of variable alien age vs maturity … so I can be okay with that. ]

Specs is the one who acts

The voice’s typography, the explanation through Magic and Was, and the importance of Specs himself all belong to this account.

From the writer’s notes

The Color of Magic is as close to the White as most could ever hope to come… the voice is italics, not capped, because he’s using Magic (at high power) to do something The Voice could do freely… and a part of him knows that, but that doesn’t mean he’s got the juice to pull it off… so he does what all magicians do, get as close as they can: Magic lets him force the issue, in ways that come through for reasons we don’t see: Was was there, in the end, we just made that thing rot away, layer by layer… in the scehme of things, is/was/will be, yes… but right now, Was made it was… that force might have consequences.

oh, and he just heard “Boom Tube” and said “my bags are packed!!!” … instead, Halo will help IndiKid convert Boom Tube to Indigo teleport… how that’s how we get to the issue close out… Forager, Halo, and IndiKid port to Oa: an old young they, an alien aged bug who may or may not look like a bug to you, and an old man “of a different color” (see: Oz) walk into a bar… but not tonight… cause Sin aint here for Guy tonight! Halo is meeting Aya… and soon as they’re sisters… Forager!

I want to make an important writer note: Specs is who gets things done when it comes down to it. Specs “saved” Halo, Specs flirted with Forager (and more!!! That’s a big deal! Not Sin, or confident Green… not IndiKid looking to look… Specs, the one who’s actaully closest, all the time, to being what he’s meant to be. And, remember, yes, he become Ever, Life, White…. but that’s just another hue…. beyond that, beyond The Void and Order and Chaos… Where Spectre is amongst the few to roam… The Voice will one day find his way… and he’s gonna look like a middle aged fat dude with Mercury Blue eyes… not a member of a “corps”… a Voice in a Choir (getting Holy up in here, yall!!! (see: Angels) HALEILOOO, lets play some Grit Ball! (See: Madea movies)

Girls’ night and earlier research

The conversation has associations Specs does not yet connect. Gaze’s incomplete research sits behind what he does recognize.

From the writer’s notes

then I want to end it somehow with this scene included: it’s the end of the day.. Forager has been Boom Tube’d back home via Halo (cause InidKid isn’t quite locked down) and Forager promised to make muffins and a Forager always keeps his promises so he’s not there… it’s girls night: Indi/StarS (cause silly love times), Aya and Halo “more like the not-exactly-girls night-girls-night” says Halo, “Agreed, Angel” says IndiKid, “Spectrum, why do you call me”angel”? I enjoy it, but it was unfamiliar to me before you used it in that context”, “Oh, I don’t ..”Halo” “angel”… guess it makes senses to me”, “I once overheard Lantern Hal Jordan refer to Diana of Themyscara as”angel”, she appeard… sad as a response” offered Aya (we know this is another nod to WW being in the Love after being deputy… anotehr echo in the spectrum that Specs could pick up on, like talking to animals.)

I’m also going to offer info that will either go in S1 or Unmasked: Gaze was used heavily and infiltrated many many systems to so that Spectrum could learn as much as he could about anything connected to what he was/is going through… he read every bit of info any system he could get into on the lanterns, the war of light, anything, anyone who was conncted to what he thought was/is connected to him, he investigated… This is how he knows about who became a clone-ring deputy, what powers they have and things about them… but, only about what he could get … mostly governnment stuff… not like it was Batmans records or The Watchtowers… so records are incompolete in some places, redactions here he couldn’t track sources on and so (makes you undertand why he goes so hard in Unrequited Amendment) … this is why, for example, he may or may not been extra shcoked to see Boston… he might have just seen a pic of him and not read something, or so much might have been ommitted that he doesn’t recognise and connect… but the point is: he knew Wonder Woman had the odd ability to talk to animals… and he knows that’s not typically what a Star Sapphire can do (as a power set thing) but that he can when he’s StarS… so he makes that connection and we hear him bring it up that one time…. but this girls night gives another moment, that he doesn’t know to connected but it does connect… (see: Wonder Woman and how Steve calls her angel)

Halo’s naming and the farm

The names, living arrangement, and candid exchanges develop the comfort he finds with his new friends.

From the writer’s notes

Halo calls Spectrum “Spectrum” always… no matter what the form… she does this as an unspoken understanding that she understands: they’re all the same, just a different hue… and she relates to that… she respects and apppreicaets the different names, she too does that in a similar setup… but, she’s not on a mission with Spectrum, so use of those things aren’t needed as she understands the point (secret name is for secret work… Halo in the field, Violet when at home… she agreed to stick with Halo when Spectrum is around because everytime someone calls for “Vi” Spectrum looks around with a panic… Halo feels it’s not their place to ask, but she reconizes that it’s easy to avoid, so makes it so … like a good nurting motherbox.

From the writer’s notes

After the girls night, Halo has arranged for Specs to stay on the farm with her and Forager, Megan and Connor: “I mean… we have the beds… it’s the space… Hello Megan!!! StarS can just crystal up some temproary housing and we’ll move the bed in, no problem!”

This is how he hears about what’ever I come up with… it’s local… no off planet, and this gievs me more time with Halo and more reason to keep practicing teleport and such.

Writers Note: if asked by a real geek “I’ve read and reread… I still don’t get it… what did Specs have to do with the light spectrum?” answer: absoltuly nothing… it was just the thing he used to learn to be him, it was never meant to be him… he couldn’t be The Voice and be Ever… he coulcn’t be The Voice and be Was… those things need to be on whatever plain they’re on…not the place where Metatron is a going. If then asked “okay, but how does that teach him?” “If an angel, The Voice of God, needed to learn to communicate… what better way than adopting the boring life of a man with only a”real world only” level of magic in his life (which is to say, if you ask some “it’s not real”) who’s hit middle age and is, quite litterally Was after that real wrold mask fell in a metaphroical sense… whos lived oddly and loved and lost… what better way for an angle, The Voice of God, to learn what it is to be human.. that to be one… be one and then see how he handls the most extravagent powers, the most fare reached sources tapped… also, you don’t have to understand, that’s part of the point.

From the writer’s notes

“it was nice of Megan to let me stay here… nicer of her not send me flying every time she catches me checking out Superboy!” “Yes, if she did, you would indeed fly often, Spectrum” Halo replies not realzing that observatgions like that aren’t nomally said out loud… and causing Specs to smile at how much his new friensd Aya and Halo are alike.. and how they both make him feel comfy with them and himself in ways that others dont.