"Huh? Oh." By this point they're getting close to the ground; he lets his flight cut out and hops down the last couple of feet to the sidewalk.

"That's a very responsible approach, but...that ring isn't mine. I don't know who it belonged to before," and he looks like that's bothering him, "but it's yours now. It chose you." 

".....oh," she says, quietly.

She lands, then takes the ring off and stares at it, glowing softly in her hand. Now that her face is visible again, it's even more apparent that she's not very old. Maybe old enough to drive, but almost definitely not old enough to drink.

"What do I, like, do with it?"

"Well, having a ring makes you a member of the Green Lantern Corps...although you're a little young for it," Green Lantern says, giving her a dubious look.

"The Corps is a sort of intergalactic police force," he explains. "Two of us are assigned to each sector of space, to enforce intergalactic law and protect the inhabitants from threats beyond the capabilities of mundane organizations. Seven years ago a third Green Lantern ring appeared on Earth and chose a new wielder, a man called Guy Gardner. He was injured in the line of duty shortly after his recruitment and was in a coma. Two days ago, his life support was turned off. We assumed his ring had been reassigned to a different Lantern when he was first injured, but if this one came to you on that same day..." 

"OK," she says, weakly, because if the ring has made her a Green Lantern now then probably she just has to be a Green Lantern now, even if she has no idea how she's going to fit that in around the rest of her duties. Maybe she can help Azalea now with whatever trouble Azalea's in, but she'll figure that out later. "Do you guys have like.... a handbook or something?"

"Well, there's a training facility on Oa, the homeworld of the Lantern Corps. That's the best option if you really want to know what you're doing, but it'd mean leaving Earth for months or more. Your ring should also have some basic guidance programming since it'll still be connected to the main database. I can show you how to access that if you like." 

He frowns slightly, thinking through the situation. "Since this sector already has two active Lanterns, I'd guess you're meant to be a backup for now. You should focus on training and get used to your powers, rather than going out looking for trouble. We'll call you if we need you—and you can call us if you want help learning how to use your ring, of course," he adds as an afterthought. "Actually, if you don't want to go to Oa for training, it might be a good idea to register one of us as your mentor for training purposes." 

"Oh! OK. I don't know if I can leave for months?" How is Azalea gonna buy food if she has to leave for months? "I mean - I guess if it's really important? I don't want to be a problem, or anything - "

"You can stay here for training if it's a problem," he reassures her. "It's not mandatory, just encouraged—you'd miss out on the benefits of in-depth study under dedicated teachers, but you can still learn the essentials here on Earth from me or my partner. As the most senior Lantern in this sector, I'd be in charge of monitoring your progress and teaching you what you need to know, but you can work with both of us as mentors, or pick one once you know us better."

Green Lantern gives her a smile. "Think of it like being our sidekick—you know, like Batman has Robin and the Flash has...Flash Boy, or whatever the kid's called." 

"Oh! I can do that. Probably." She has no idea whether she can do that, actually, but it seems like the sort of thing she shouldn't insist she can't do.

"Good." He gives her a nod of approval. "We shouldn't let it interfere with—are you still in school?" 

"Uh." Technically she doesn't legally have to be in school anymore, 'cause she's seventeen, so it's not like she's doing something wrong by not going, but she also doesn't want to admit that she's not going, and she definitely doesn't want to think about the possibility of not going back ever, even though she probably actually won't get to if Azalea doesn't figure something out soon. "Yeah, I'm a junior this year. In high school."

...at least she's older than Robin. Well, Hal doesn't actually know how old Robin is, but the kid is tiny. 

"Alright. Well, we can definitely arrange your training outside of school hours. I should probably talk to your parents—or, uh, guardians, or whoever you live with—but I think that can wait until tomorrow. I'll just show you how to use your ring to call us, then we can finish this conversation when it isn't the middle of the night." 

"OK! Yeah. I should find my sister and her kids, they're probably in the crowd somewhere. We may or may not still have a house."

He looks over at the damage and winces, then focuses back on Karen. "Right. So, here's how it works..."

He quickly demonstrates how to make a call, then gets Karen to call him so she can try it out. In the process, he introduces himself as Hal Jordan. Apparently, the other Green Lantern will also introduce himself at some point. 

She nods when she seems to know what she's doing. "OK! I can contact you tomorrow?"

And then she's off to find her sister, who has to be somewhere around here. Maybe vaguely in the Flash's direction. Wherever he even is right now.

While Karen was talking to Lantern Jordan, emergency services arrived and have been clearing away rubble, taking injured people to the hospital, and generally dealing with the aftermath of cultists attacking a city block. Flash is helping out, partly because it's good PR but mostly because that's what he does. People whose houses are still intact and who don't need medical treatment have started drifting back inside. 

Karen's house seems to be intact. The cultists didn't get to it before she came out and distracted them. 

This is good! Karen likes having an intact house. Her family is also intact, which is neat. She tells Azalea about the Green Lantern thing because it seems absurd to hide it, and Azalea hugs her and assures her that this is really really good, she'll make a great superhero, it'll be fine.

In the morning she adjusts her supermarket work schedule such that she only gets called in to work during school hours. Not like she was gonna pass her classes this year anyway, she tells herself. When that's done, she'll call Hal Jordan to see what exactly she's supposed to do next.

It takes a minute, but he picks up. A miniature green hologram of a costumed Hal is projected from her ring. "Is now a good time for me to meet your—sister?" 

"Sure!" She's not at work right now and not doing any animal sacrifices, so now is probably as good a time as any other. "Uh - I guess we'd have to find someone to watch the kids, though, unless maybe you wanted to come to the house."

"I can get there just as easily as anywhere else in St Louis. Do you mind me knowing which house on your block is yours?" 

As he speaks, Karen can see his image walking, which looks kind of funny given that the floor under his feet isn't part of the projection. 

"That's probably fine, yeah." She gives him her address. And then she goes to tell her sister that they're expecting company, that seems like a rude thing to spring on her with literally no notice.

Hal turns up a short time later, landing neatly on the sidewalk in front of their house. If anyone asks what Green Lantern was doing visiting a random high school student in St Louis, he can cite last night's attack and claim he was following up to see if they needed any help. That story has the benefit of being technically true, if incomplete.

He rings the bell, just in case the residents failed to notice his arrival. 

"Hello!" says Azalea, upon answering the door, very much like a normal person who has never summoned any demons, ever, in her life. "I understand that you were instrumental in saving us yesterday. C'mon in."

The house, too, contains no obvious hints of the frequent demon-summoning, although it does look fairly messy. Some of this is probably because of a small child; there are toys strewn about the floor and various other surfaces. Said child is napping at the moment, which is pretty important for keeping up the general air of normality. Her brother is reading something at the kitchen table. His eyes go wide when he sees Hal, and then he buries his face in his book again.

"I really did very little. By the time I got there, the situation was already under control." He comes in, looking around. The small child (children?) presumably belong to the adult sister rather than the high school student. 

"Hal Jordan," he introduces himself. "Earth's senior Green Lantern." 

"Azalea Teller. Karen's reading her niece down for her nap, she wanted me to be here to meet you. Normally she and Connor would be in school right now, but I think you get to take a mental health day when you get woken up for half the night by angry serial killers in masks." She considers saying something else, then seems to momentarily think better of it. "Connor, could you go get Karen when she's done?"

The kid at the table shuts his book and runs off into the hallway where the bedrooms are.

"Karen says she has a Green Lantern ring."

"She does," Hal confirms. "Last night, she used it to protect everyone on this block from 'serial killers in masks'. I only caught the end of it myself, but the Flash says what he saw, and what other witnesses saw, was very impressive. Your sister kept a cool head under very difficult circumstances."