The orange-skinned woman known by her companions as Koriand'r became even more enraged upon hearing Joey's words. Her screams and roars were almost hysterical:
"You damn bastard, stop pretending to be innocent! The emblem on your chest already exposed your identity!"
Not only her—after Joey asked that question, all three others also burst out in anger. The squirrel Green Lantern Chip, who had just been pleading for mercy for Joey, was now just as furious as Korriantha:
"You damn Kryptonian bastard! Don't mistake my mercy for weakness! Stop provoking the poor girl!"
"I honestly have no fucking idea what you're talking about. You've definitely got the wrong person."
Joey realized the two sides were completely miscommunicating. They were talking past each other—but during this confusion, he suddenly remembered who Koriand'r was.
Starfire. A core member of the Teen Titans in the DC universe, an alien princess. Koriand'r was her name on her home planet—translated into Earth language, it meant Starfire.
Her homeworld, a planet over a hundred light-years away from Krypton, was also recorded in Kryptonian databases. Joey vaguely remembered its name—
"I remember you. Starfire, Koriand'r of Tamaran?"
Upon hearing the words Tamaran, Korriantha completely exploded:
"You son of a bitch! I knew you were just toying with me!"
The instant surge of rage and vengeance allowed Starfire to forcibly break through the limits of her Green Lantern ring. She projected a kryptonite spear and thrust it directly toward Joey's vital point.
"Wait—!"
The fishman, pig-headed alien, and squirrel could only shout in alarm, hurriedly projecting three shields to block in front of Joey.
But under Starfire's even more intense willpower, the three shields were instantly pierced. The three of them could only watch helplessly as the spear was about to kill the Kryptonian—forcing Starfire into committing a fatal act and ruining her future as a Lantern…
"Why are you people all acting insane?"
Joey casually reached out and stopped the kryptonite spear. The sharp blade of willpower could not even scratch him. Then he waved his hand and smashed apart the over a hundred layered cages constructed from willpower light.
"What?! Quickly, prepare red sunlight—!"
The stunned three Lanterns shouted again. Their containment method had always worked flawlessly against Kryptonians—why was it failing today?!
Then, in the next instant, Joey's figure vanished from their sight. A red blur flashed around all four of them at a speed they could not even perceive.
Joey instantly stripped three of them of their rings. Especially Starfire— if he left her Green Lantern ring on, she will definitely go berserk again.
"Can we talk properly now?"
Joey showed them the three rings in his hand.
The only remaining Lantern who still had his ring, the squirrel Chip, quickly projected an energy field to protect the other three from the vacuum of space.
The situation was now clear. Chip had to focus on maintaining their survival environment, meaning he could only be at the mercy of an unrestricted Kryptonian.
Even so, he did not back down verbally:
"Even though I don't know what trick you're playing, if you think you can use our comrades' lives and mine to force me into betraying Oa or the Corps' interests, you've miscalculated, Kryptonian!"
This completely unprovoked attack would normally be enough for Joey to immediately sentence them to execution on the spot. Yet he still spoke calmly:
"There must be some small misunderstanding between us."
Although Joey did not agree with the ideology of the Guardians of Oa, Green Lanterns were Green Lanterns, and the little blue Guardians were the Guardians—those had to be distinguished.
The Green Lantern Corps truly did send members into the field, again and again, risking their lives to maintain universal order. The average service lifespan of a Lantern was only about 4.32 years. Joey felt there was no need to accelerate their deaths here.
More importantly, he was very concerned about the term Kryptonian they kept using. From their words, it was clear that this universe likely had more than just him and Kara as Kryptonians—and their reputation seemed… rather bad.
"What are you even talking about? Krypton was already destroyed? And you might be one of only two survivors?!"
Chip looked at Joey like he was an idiot. Had this young man been stunned stupid by kryptonite radiation?
But in that moment of Chip's distraction, Starfire—still trapped inside the Green Lantern protective field—erupted again.
She punched a hole through the barrier and burst out. Her orange skin flared with intense flames as she charged straight at Joey:
"I've had enough of your disgusting species! Especially you, fiend of the house of El—I swear I'm going to kill you!"
As a Tamaranian, Starfire also possessed Kryptonian-like physiology. She could absorb ultraviolet energy, survive in space, and possessed superhuman strength and endurance. Joey figured it would be fine to hit her a bit harder.
"Thud!"
With a dull impact, Starfire, just freed, was struck squarely in the face by Joey's punch. Drops of blood scattered into space.
She immediately fell into a baby-like sleep, and was casually pushed back into the Green Lantern shield by Joey.
"What's her problem?!"
To be honest, in normal timelines Starfire was supposed to be the warm, kind, and reliable big-sister figure of the Teen Titans—but here, she was acting like a rabid dog.
This timeline really was completely insane.
"Although I don't know what your problem is, this is the first time we've seen a Kryptonian who isn't aggressively hostile. If you truly don't know anything, then please don't blame Koriand'r ."
Chip looked at the golden 'S' emblem on Joey's chest with a mixture of pain and caution:
"Two years ago, her planet was destroyed by foreign invaders. Her people were completely wiped out. Only she survived in an escape pod. She is the last survivor of Tamaran."
"And the leader of the Kryptonian fleet that invaded Tamaran's star system—the cold and ruthless mad scientist—wore the same emblem on his armor as the symbol on your chest. His name was…"
Oh shit—Joey couldn't help but think it himself as well.
He finally realized this Flashpoint universe was far more insane than he had imagined. Almost instinctively, both he and Chip spoke the same name at the same time:
"…Jor-El."