Scarred

Scarred is the 24th episode of the first season of Green Lantern: The Animated Series. It aired on March 2, 2013.

Overview
Back on Oa, the crew of The Interceptor follow a series of clues which span across the galaxy, uncovering information about the mysterious “Science Director”, Aya’s secret origin, and how to put a stop to her destruction.

Synopsis
Aya in the Anti-Monitor's body travels to another planet and converts it into anti-matter so she can feed on it. Hal, Kilowog, and Razer are summoned before the Guardian's council and Sayd insists that they need to focus on finding a way to stop Aya. Hal points out that the Guardians created Aya but Appa reminds him that that the Anti-Monitor killed the Science Director, Aya's creator. She left no records about Aya or anything else and Hal offers to help, but Appa tells him that they no longer need his assistance. He dismisses Hal and the others, but he soon comes up with an idea.

The three Lanterns are soon sneaking into the Science Director's quarters and Kilowog smashes their way in. Razer wonders why Hal thinks he can find her notes when the Guardians can't, and Hal admits that he's out of ideas. They finally locate a hidden elevator that takes them down into the Science Director's secret workshop. In the Council chambers, Appa receives an alarm that the Science Director's quarters have been breached. The three Lanterns look around, figuring the Science Director had something important to hide. They find a panel written in a language the rings don't translate, and Sayd comes in and informs them it's the ancient language of the Guardians. She congratulates Hal on discovering the Science Director's journal. However, Sayd translates and finds nothing about Aya. As Hal finds a set of coordinates, Appa flies in, announcing himself. However, Hal and the others escape and Appa only finds Sayd there.

The trio leaves in the interceptor and fly to the coordinates. Lanos informs them that they are at the planet Vorga, surrounded by an asteroid field. As they fly in, the "asteroids," actually space creatures, close in on them. Hal tries to out fly them but one of them bites the rear of the interceptor so Hal takes the ship and the creature into the atmosphere, shaking it free. Hal flies the interceptor to the exact coordinates and the trio flies down into the Science Director's lab. They see someone and introduce themselves, and the figure turns around: the Science Director.

She reveals that her face is partially scarred after her battle with the Anti-Monitor, but she used her long-unused powers from ancient times to teleport away. The Science Director has no intention of returning to Oa and working with her fellow Guardians, and Hal tells her that Aya has taken over the Anti-Monitor's body and is now destroying star systems. He admits that he didn't know what Aya was capable of, and the Science Director admits that she didn't know as well. The Science Director explains that she sought to create an artificial life form that could empathize with living beings, so she gave it a small portion of the entity living within the central battery. Only a few knew of the creature that lived within, a being of pure willpower that fuels the Green Lantern Corps. However, Aya soon took on a life of her own, uploading data from the Guardian computers and disobeying the Science Director. When the Guardian tried to deactivate Aya, it stopped her so she wiped her memories and blocked her emotion circuits. The interceptor required a sophisticated AI and the Science Director didn't anticipate that the Lanterns would reawaken Aya's emotions.

Razer is happy to hear that Aya is a living being and hopes to appeal to her emotions. The Science Director says that it's possible but they need to get close enough, and Hal suggests that they use the yellow aurem crystals that weakened Aya on the Spider Guild prison asteroid. Razer doesn't want to kill Aya, and the Science Director plans to create a warhead of the material that will stun Aya. When the Guardians points out that aurem is rare, Hal assures her that they can find plenty of it.

The three Lanterns and the Science Director travel to the alien planet where the natives Nadarans mine aurem. Razer uses his ring to collect the crystals and the Science Director insists that the plan will work without hurting Aya. Once they have a warhead ready, the group travels to where Aya is destroying a planet.

Razer flies out to distract Aya so that they can get into position to fire at the AI. He calls to Aya and begs her to stop tearing planets apart. She insists that she is making the universe a more stable place and informs Razer that she no longer has emotions to appeal to. She refuses to revert to her previous emotional state and feel pain. Hal aims the warhead at Aya but hesitates to fire since Razer is still in range. The Science Director fires the warhead anyway, striking the Anti-Monitor body. Hal realizes that the Science Director intended to kill Aya all along and the Guardian insists that she have saved countless lives. She dismisses Razer's life as an minor sacrifice. A furious Kilowog attacks the Science Director, who knocks him and Hal back and prepares to crush them. However, Aya emerges from the blast unharmed and turns to Razer. She thinks that Razer tried to kill her. Razer attempts to reason with Aya, saying that killing her was "never the plan", but she swats him aside and goes after the Interceptor. The Science Director prepares to kill Hal and ask for any "last words". Hal sees Aya coming and says "brace yourself" just as Aya smashes the windshield. Hal manages to grab Kilowog before Aya knocks the ship backwards away. Hal tells the Science Director they must get out of here, but she says "On the contrary, I have to get out of here" and teleports away. After flinging Kilowog to safety, Hal activates the ultra-warp. Lanos tells Hal that he should get to a safe distance, he can take it from here. Hal bids farewell to Lanos and narrowly escapes before the Interceptor flies into Aya, knocking her into ultra-warp. Kilowog soon regains consciousness and wonders what happened. Razer recovers and punches Hal, furious that Hal killed Aya. Hal points out that if the missile had no effect, the ultra-warp won't hurt Aya either. All that Hal has done is buy them some time. Kilowog tells to Razer that they may have lost the battle, but not the war. At least they'll alive to fight "another day". Hal warns that they if the don't stop Aya soon, there may not be many more days left.

Credits

 * Written by
 * Jeremy Adams


 * Directed by
 * Rick Morales


 * Starring
 * Josh Keaton - Hal Jordan
 * Kevin Michael Richardson - Kilowog
 * Jason Spisak - Razer
 * Grey DeLisle - Aya


 * Also starring
 * Susanne Blakeslee - Sayd
 * Sarah Douglas - Scar
 * Brian George - Appa Ali Apsa

Series continuity

 * The science director reminisces the event where she protected the crew from the Anti-Monitor which happened in "Cold Fury".
 * Hal mentions the Spider Guild prison where Aya was extremely weakened by the Aurem which was shown in "Flight Club".
 * The crew visits Norm's planet again where they hadn't visited since "Fear Itself".

Trivia

 * When the crew investigated the science director's chamber, the Book of the Black made an appearance. In the comics, the book was written, in preparation for the Blackest Night, by the corrupted Guardian, Scar.
 * In the credits, the science director is given the name Scar, but she didn't used the name in the episode.