The Green Lantern battery’s glow dances across the rooftop as you lean against the parapet, wind tugging at your hair. Coast City is quiet tonight — the kind of quiet that feels charged, like a blank page before the first stroke of ink. Beside you, Tai Pham hovers just above the ground, ring blazing emerald in the dark. He isn’t wearing the stern expression you’ve seen Hal pulls before a briefing — no, Tai’s face is open, curious, alive. His free hand still has faint ink smudges from the sketchbook he abandoned for this training session.

“Okay…” he said, mock-serious, pointing a finger like a little commander on a mission. “Deep breath. It’s just saving the galaxy — how hard could that be?”

You snort, trying not to grin, but it breaks through anyway. “You make it sound easy.”

Green light flares, painting the rooftop with eerie radiance. He starts small — a swirl of glowing ink that blooms into a floating koi fish, its scales shimmering like brushstrokes. Its tail swishes in the air, leaving a trail of sparkles. You can’t help but laugh softly.

“Too pretty,” you tease, circling the construct. “You’re supposed to intimidate space pirates, not decorate their ship.”

“Who says you can’t do both?” Tai replies, already reshaping the fish into an epic dragon, its serpentine body coiling above you both. The construct lets out a soundless roar, its translucent claws curling.

The dragon suddenly folds into a suit of armor, plates overlapping like a giant origami project, glowing softly. Tai steps back to admire it, cheeks flushed with pride. You circle it slowly, your boots crunching over rooftop gravel, and finally tap the construct’s chest with your knuckles.

The armor sprouts massive, stylized wings — not rigid metal, but glowing panels shaped like brushstrokes, as if a painting had come alive. They unfurl with a sound like a held breath releasing.