Chapter 25: 17 April 2011 | 17 April 1958
LegionOfThinkers
The Protagonist of My Own Design
- Pronouns
- She/Him/It/They
"You all underestimated me, didn't you? You thought I was just a Tinker, and now you're my prisoners, about to join the workforce!" I cackled as I tinkered with a Power Cube, recreating something similar to Dauntless's own power. He was able to imbue objects with special abilities, and I found that to be useful. 'Perhaps I could use this to supercharge my bots so that I can go supernova without worrying about them melting?'
I was back in my wetsuit-like outfit, my tail swishing excitedly as I worked. The two Protectorate capes were hanging from the ceiling by their hands and wrists with a full view of the process that their PRT Agents, some 13 males, were becoming Silver Devils. Nearby were four females going through the Golden Devil process, and I would be needing to select their powers after.
"You're a... m... m... monster," Dauntless stuttered as he watched in horror as my bots entered the bodies of the Agents, then started up the gross process of turning their insides into a factory after removing the digestive and reproduction organs within.
"I've heard worse. Honestly, you all need a better vocabulary. Hell, take a lesson from the internet. They've many more words that could describe what I am, if they knew."
"The Protectorate will stop you," Miss Militia was so matter-of-fact about it, I couldn't help but grin up at her.
"Oh please. You all had your chance to try and come at me when I just started out, but it's a bit too late by now. I've already reached a point where I can be labeled as an S Class threat with a Kill Order on his head." The pair were confused, and I summoned Shadow General and D3 to my side.
Putting the Tinker tech off to the side, I strode over to the pair just as they were lowered to eye level. "See these two? Shadow General, here, was Grue. Weren't you?"
With a thought, I had the Parasite relax its control around his vocal chords. "You son of a bitch!" He cried out, "Once I'm free, I'm going to fucking kill you!"
"Temper, temper," he was given a headpat as the Parasite took control of him once more, and was dismissed to join War Hound. D3 was made to step forward, and I removed his helmet with a thought.
Gasps came from the two capes, and the woman tried to close her eyes, but was forced by her Parasite to look onto a face of pure, undiluted horror frozen in time forevermore. "Look on and see the product of having a Parasite in your body, O Protectorate capes. He's very much alive in there, with a pair of breathing lungs, a functioning brain, and a thumping heart. It's just everything else has been replaced by my bots.
"Then again, he still has his blood. Somewhat. I dunno," I shrugged, causing the bots to swarm his head and recreate the horns and visor once more. "All in all, all of these Devils you see are very much alive, and I plan to infect more and more until the world is under my control." My laughter echoed throughout the building as I tossed my head back in joyous insanity.
"You're insane." The words were so quiet, I almost missed them, and cracked a grin at the pair.
"Something new from the people of Earth Bet. Very interesting. Usually, it's something surrounding the word 'monster', but 'insanity'? Let me tell you two something." They were pulled down closer to see my very sober face, "Your world is full of insanity, compared to where I'm from. All of this, is just one bad dream people would rather not live through.
"Capes that could kill a person just by looking at them? Capes that can fly faster than a jet? All of it is just fantasy, and then there's me. A Tinker who can create powers. I would have thought it insane, too, but here I am.
"I am very much a sane individual, my dear captives. Which makes me worse, because the insane have patterns. A sane person does not. They make plans, and if something works, they explore that route until it's no longer viable. The insane, however, stay on their single track and never deviate.
"So no. I'm not insane.
"My ideas are, though!" I cackled again, throwing them off my tangent. "Ah, you guys are so much fun. Too bad we can't have another conversation until either you or the Parasite expires."
"Wha—?" The two began, but were silenced as it was their turn to be processed. They drifted toward the machine that would forever transform their lives into being perfect slaves for my growing Warbots.
"Perhaps I should just demote Shadow General and make Miss Militia the General? Would be better, to be honest. She has more experience as a soldier than Brian ever did. I think I'll do that, then. Mainframe."
"Yes, Master?"
"Demote Shadow General and change his name to Shadow Soldier. The woman cape who is heading into processing is going to be the new General."
"Very well, and their names?"
"I'm not very good at this," I groaned, "Dauntless will be changed to Centurion. Miss Militia will be called... You know what? We'll call her Washington, after the first president."
"What are you doing?" Regent asked after being pushed into the Time Chamber. Inside was a vast, colorless space that was still active, and in came five of my now 23 Devils who were decked out in my newest bots with a control node infused with Dauntless's power. I myself had a pair on me, and found the speed of imbuement to be too slow, so I tweaked it into almost double the speed. It was still too slow, but was better than nothing.
Then again, the reason why Regent asked his question was because I had an array of belts with Power Cubes attached. These cubes held a copy of my powers ranging from regeneration, to flight, to the overpowered stuff like Elemental Control, Portalmancy, and my Weather Machine.
"The last time I was in here, something transported me and my first two Silver Devils to an unknown place where they were promptly killed. I'm not taking that chance again, so here. Wear these." I held out a bracer and a ring, both containing the powers of Flight, Regeneration, and the Abjuration spell, Shield.
"That's cool you're asking me for my hand in marriage, but you're too old for me."
I glared at him, and used a thought command to strangle his airway just as he started to smirk at his joke. "Teach you to make fun of the situation," my voice came out as tired and annoyed. And with a simple tug from my Telekinesis, he drifted over and I put the two onto his right hand and arm.
"Fuck," he hissed out, gripping his arm just as the bracer closed shut over his wrist and injected something into his arm. "Feels like my arm's on fire. What did you do?"
"Applied an update to your Parasite. Its software is getting a rework to allow you to use the three powers in the items. If you think of flying, you'll fly up to a speed of 250 miles an hour. If you call out 'Shield', an inviolable shield of force will encompass one half of your body in whichever direction you point that ring. You won't be able to move your legs or arms while you have it deployed, so bear that in mind."
"In-via-what?"
"Nothing will break through it." My eyes drooped to hooded annoyance, "But it only works to cover half your body."
"Why not all of it?"
"You'll suffocate," I deadpanned while his brain tried to comprehend what I told him. "Think about it. You can't move, it's covering your body, and can't be destroyed. It'll seal you up nice and tight with no air coming or going. You'll be dead in 15 minutes, or so. Less if you apply it as skin tight."
He tried to take them off, but found he couldn't by way of the Parasite in his neck. With a sigh, he shook his head and drifted away, but paused in the air. "Hey boss?" He called out with the barest hint of concern, "Should I be smelling smoke?"
"Smoke?" I glanced around, then took a long sniff at the air. Sure enough, there was an acrid smell of smoke. The type of smoke you'd get if it came from burning logs in a fire. "Ah fuck," I growled, already wishing I dismantled this damned space to scrap.
Stretching out my hands, I latched my Telekinesis power onto Regent and my Devils, pulling them close as I summoned my bots. They flew to my beck and call, swarming my body as the world around us flickered. "Shit, shit, SHIT!" I called out for my Parasites, and saw three Humanoids and a tapeworm carried in by the swarm. Reaching out, I swept all four onto my body just as the world flickered between nothingness and a dreary city choked with smoke.
"Hang on!" I cried out, keeping the group together as the flickering between realities kept getting stronger and stronger until we were in the air, above a city that was being sprayed by a torrent of water from dark clouds.
"Shit! Conjuration! Fog Cloud!"
"Complying. Conjuration!" The Devils intoned, their bodies hissing as thick, grey steam engulfed us, "Fog Cloud." We were engulfed by grey clouds and drifted over a smoke stack city that was enduring a torrential downpour from the heavens above. Slowly, we drifted to the closest rooftop where I found something curious from Regent.
He was pale, shaking, and was sick with a temperature.
"Okay. This is different." Pulling up a Power Cube that held Portalmancy, I thought of Washington and activated the cube. An oblong portal erupted into existence before me, but was met with the second curiosity since coming here.
The world was grey around my newest General, unmoving as though trapped within a bubble.
Dismissing the portal, I thought of Taylor and reactivated the cube. Another portal appeared, showing her hugging her father who was sitting up in a hospital bed. Her back was pointed to me, and the world was frozen there, too.
I reached out, then, and felt a static charge build up around my fingers. However, there was something solid keeping me from pushing forward, even if I used all of my strength, I couldn't push myself through it. With a thought to one of my Devils, I had him try to enter the grey world, but he was also stopped.
With a push of my power, I caused Regent to drift over to the portal and touch it, but all that happened was him moaning in pain from the static and not able to push forward. Dragging him back, I frowned and glanced up at the grey world to find numbers starting to come into focus.
Someone or something has trapped us in here for two years. To say that I was pissed was an understatement, and I vowed to find the bastards who dared to entrap me. "And when I get back, I'm dismantling my stupid Time Chamber. Because this is getting out of hand."
"Something's gone wrong."
"What do you mean?"
"His world is frozen in time without him present."
"What does that even mean?"
"It means he's the key to that world. Alive or dead, the world carries on, but without him, it stops moving.
"It is fascinating. I've never encountered a Universe that revolves around one individual. It's as though that Universe was made specifically for him, and without him, it is sent into cryosleep until he returns."
"The others will need to hear of this. You will be there to present your findings. The Q must know."
"Of course, but allow me to research this further... Strange. I cannot locate him."
"Why not?"
"He is locked away. All I am able to see is a time stamp; a clock counting... Oh my."
"What?"
"He is locked away for a pair of Terran years. I cannot research this for two of their years."
"A blink of an eyes for us."
"True, but come. I will tell the Q of my findings, and recommend him to be watched. After all, he is an interesting subject."
17 April 1958. The day, month, and year of this world.
I don't know what I was supposed to feel, except anger toward whomever brought us here. Worse, there was something wrong with Regent, Alec. His temperature was spiking, but the ring on his finger was keeping it from rising past 99.9F. It was working overtime, I could tell, and would need repair later.
For now, I needed a cool, dry place and immediately took my Devils toward what I surmised was a run down building in the poorer section of the city. On its roof was a door, and I passed off the cape to one of my Devils as they kept the fog running while keeping a watchful eye out.
"D23, you're to follow. All others remain. Restrain any who walks through the fog." Their hands were splayed out as the waited, and I broke the door handle with a quick flex of my hand. It was made of cheap brass, I found, and frowned as we ventured inside.
We floated down the stairs, keeping watch of the wooden frame and not desiring to touch it in case it creaked, and came upon a door that had voices beyond.
"Hey Mick! What we gonna do if the Bats show up?"
"Don' worry about it, Frankie. We got guns now. If that bastard shows up, we clock him good. His 'Boy Wonder' too, if he tags along."
I mentally cursed to myself after hearing the voices. 'It's going to be like the Merchants all over again, if I try to take this place.' Instead of busting in guns blazing like I did almost two weeks ago, I decided to move away and find another building to hide away in.
As we floated back to the stairway, ascending to the roof, I felt agitation from my bots. The muffled voices of my Devils intoning their spells gently drifted to us, and I ordered, "D23! Assist the other Devils. Lethal force is authorized!"
"Complying," he responded with a semi-mechanical voice, blitzing past me and breaking through the roof door. "Engaging! Evocation! Ray of Flames!"
"Ack!" A younger male's voice reached my ears as I exited into the downpour, "Batman! I'm on fire!"
An older male, deep, robust, and commanding grunted something spraying some sort of foam onto a brightly colored masked boy. Red, green, black, and yellow were the colors, and he even had a cape that came down to his lower back.
"Why a cape?" I wondered aloud, taking in the scene.
Outside, I saw two of my Devils being repaired by their regeneration power, their arms bent at odd angles. Stone hands lay across the roof in shattered pieces, and Alec was lying off to the side where the two idiots were standing. Next to the colorful boy, who had a yellow and black R over his right chest, stood a man with a pair of points atop his head. His color scheme was grey as the base, his gloves, boots, mask, and spandex-like underwear were a soft blue, and he had a black bat symbol that lay horizontal on his chest. There was even a yellow belt containing a dozen pouches that contained items, but I wasn't sure what was in them.
My mental state was already in the annoyance category, but this sight was only making it worse.
With a flick of my hands toward the two, who were in a prepared stance for whatever I tossed at them, I used my Telekinesis to grip and lift them into the air. "D19, D20. Secure Regent."
"Complying," they replied, walking toward the boy while the young cape grunted beneath the strain of my power.
"Hey!" He tried to wiggle free, but that only caused me to squeeze tighter on his body, and him gasping in pain.
"Robin!" The older cape growled out, then glared at me, "Release us!"
"No." I was already seething under my armor, and two have a pair of idiot capes come in to try and steal what was mine? My anger and hatred burned into being. "You. Will. Die."
My power slowly squeezed them, crushing their bones with a series of snaps, crackles, and pops. The visor surrounding my head was removed because I suddenly felt hot, and I released a roar of red hot anger!
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHH!!!"
Their bodies popped like rotten fruit, spraying the ground with their blood. But the moment I did so, the world turned grey, rewinding itself until I and mine were in the air above a dreary city choked with smoke while being attacked by the dark clouds above.
"FUCK! YOU!! ALL!!!"
Violet lightning full of rage and hatred fell to the ground below, creating a crater as a testament of my feelings for whomever pulled us here.
Atrocitus sat upon his throne of bone within his world of crimson red. Before him was an ocean of blood, and behind him was the sleeping Red Lantern Battery.
The war with the Guardians was never ending, but this respite was welcoming for him and his.
In the midst of his rest, he sensed something amiss, as did his underlings.
"FUCK! YOU!! ALL!!!"
A voice with pure hatred and rage called out to them, and the Battery awoke with a low thrum.
It was making a ring!
The Battery hadn't made a ring in centuries, but it was now making one for the owner of the voice.
Atrocitus was intrigued. Who was this person that had so much rage and hatred that they could awaken the Battery and force it to create a ring?
He would wait until it was created.
He would follow the ring soon after it left.
He would force them into his Red Lantern Corps.
He would use them to kill the Guardians once and for all.
********
A/N: @Aconitum Your comment is now part of the story. Just a bit different, though. After all, there needs to be a ring available. So I twisted it into this.
I was back in my wetsuit-like outfit, my tail swishing excitedly as I worked. The two Protectorate capes were hanging from the ceiling by their hands and wrists with a full view of the process that their PRT Agents, some 13 males, were becoming Silver Devils. Nearby were four females going through the Golden Devil process, and I would be needing to select their powers after.
"You're a... m... m... monster," Dauntless stuttered as he watched in horror as my bots entered the bodies of the Agents, then started up the gross process of turning their insides into a factory after removing the digestive and reproduction organs within.
"I've heard worse. Honestly, you all need a better vocabulary. Hell, take a lesson from the internet. They've many more words that could describe what I am, if they knew."
"The Protectorate will stop you," Miss Militia was so matter-of-fact about it, I couldn't help but grin up at her.
"Oh please. You all had your chance to try and come at me when I just started out, but it's a bit too late by now. I've already reached a point where I can be labeled as an S Class threat with a Kill Order on his head." The pair were confused, and I summoned Shadow General and D3 to my side.
Putting the Tinker tech off to the side, I strode over to the pair just as they were lowered to eye level. "See these two? Shadow General, here, was Grue. Weren't you?"
With a thought, I had the Parasite relax its control around his vocal chords. "You son of a bitch!" He cried out, "Once I'm free, I'm going to fucking kill you!"
"Temper, temper," he was given a headpat as the Parasite took control of him once more, and was dismissed to join War Hound. D3 was made to step forward, and I removed his helmet with a thought.
Gasps came from the two capes, and the woman tried to close her eyes, but was forced by her Parasite to look onto a face of pure, undiluted horror frozen in time forevermore. "Look on and see the product of having a Parasite in your body, O Protectorate capes. He's very much alive in there, with a pair of breathing lungs, a functioning brain, and a thumping heart. It's just everything else has been replaced by my bots.
"Then again, he still has his blood. Somewhat. I dunno," I shrugged, causing the bots to swarm his head and recreate the horns and visor once more. "All in all, all of these Devils you see are very much alive, and I plan to infect more and more until the world is under my control." My laughter echoed throughout the building as I tossed my head back in joyous insanity.
"You're insane." The words were so quiet, I almost missed them, and cracked a grin at the pair.
"Something new from the people of Earth Bet. Very interesting. Usually, it's something surrounding the word 'monster', but 'insanity'? Let me tell you two something." They were pulled down closer to see my very sober face, "Your world is full of insanity, compared to where I'm from. All of this, is just one bad dream people would rather not live through.
"Capes that could kill a person just by looking at them? Capes that can fly faster than a jet? All of it is just fantasy, and then there's me. A Tinker who can create powers. I would have thought it insane, too, but here I am.
"I am very much a sane individual, my dear captives. Which makes me worse, because the insane have patterns. A sane person does not. They make plans, and if something works, they explore that route until it's no longer viable. The insane, however, stay on their single track and never deviate.
"So no. I'm not insane.
"My ideas are, though!" I cackled again, throwing them off my tangent. "Ah, you guys are so much fun. Too bad we can't have another conversation until either you or the Parasite expires."
"Wha—?" The two began, but were silenced as it was their turn to be processed. They drifted toward the machine that would forever transform their lives into being perfect slaves for my growing Warbots.
"Perhaps I should just demote Shadow General and make Miss Militia the General? Would be better, to be honest. She has more experience as a soldier than Brian ever did. I think I'll do that, then. Mainframe."
"Yes, Master?"
"Demote Shadow General and change his name to Shadow Soldier. The woman cape who is heading into processing is going to be the new General."
"Very well, and their names?"
"I'm not very good at this," I groaned, "Dauntless will be changed to Centurion. Miss Militia will be called... You know what? We'll call her Washington, after the first president."
***
"What are you doing?" Regent asked after being pushed into the Time Chamber. Inside was a vast, colorless space that was still active, and in came five of my now 23 Devils who were decked out in my newest bots with a control node infused with Dauntless's power. I myself had a pair on me, and found the speed of imbuement to be too slow, so I tweaked it into almost double the speed. It was still too slow, but was better than nothing.
Then again, the reason why Regent asked his question was because I had an array of belts with Power Cubes attached. These cubes held a copy of my powers ranging from regeneration, to flight, to the overpowered stuff like Elemental Control, Portalmancy, and my Weather Machine.
"The last time I was in here, something transported me and my first two Silver Devils to an unknown place where they were promptly killed. I'm not taking that chance again, so here. Wear these." I held out a bracer and a ring, both containing the powers of Flight, Regeneration, and the Abjuration spell, Shield.
"That's cool you're asking me for my hand in marriage, but you're too old for me."
I glared at him, and used a thought command to strangle his airway just as he started to smirk at his joke. "Teach you to make fun of the situation," my voice came out as tired and annoyed. And with a simple tug from my Telekinesis, he drifted over and I put the two onto his right hand and arm.
"Fuck," he hissed out, gripping his arm just as the bracer closed shut over his wrist and injected something into his arm. "Feels like my arm's on fire. What did you do?"
"Applied an update to your Parasite. Its software is getting a rework to allow you to use the three powers in the items. If you think of flying, you'll fly up to a speed of 250 miles an hour. If you call out 'Shield', an inviolable shield of force will encompass one half of your body in whichever direction you point that ring. You won't be able to move your legs or arms while you have it deployed, so bear that in mind."
"In-via-what?"
"Nothing will break through it." My eyes drooped to hooded annoyance, "But it only works to cover half your body."
"Why not all of it?"
"You'll suffocate," I deadpanned while his brain tried to comprehend what I told him. "Think about it. You can't move, it's covering your body, and can't be destroyed. It'll seal you up nice and tight with no air coming or going. You'll be dead in 15 minutes, or so. Less if you apply it as skin tight."
He tried to take them off, but found he couldn't by way of the Parasite in his neck. With a sigh, he shook his head and drifted away, but paused in the air. "Hey boss?" He called out with the barest hint of concern, "Should I be smelling smoke?"
"Smoke?" I glanced around, then took a long sniff at the air. Sure enough, there was an acrid smell of smoke. The type of smoke you'd get if it came from burning logs in a fire. "Ah fuck," I growled, already wishing I dismantled this damned space to scrap.
Stretching out my hands, I latched my Telekinesis power onto Regent and my Devils, pulling them close as I summoned my bots. They flew to my beck and call, swarming my body as the world around us flickered. "Shit, shit, SHIT!" I called out for my Parasites, and saw three Humanoids and a tapeworm carried in by the swarm. Reaching out, I swept all four onto my body just as the world flickered between nothingness and a dreary city choked with smoke.
"Hang on!" I cried out, keeping the group together as the flickering between realities kept getting stronger and stronger until we were in the air, above a city that was being sprayed by a torrent of water from dark clouds.
"Shit! Conjuration! Fog Cloud!"
"Complying. Conjuration!" The Devils intoned, their bodies hissing as thick, grey steam engulfed us, "Fog Cloud." We were engulfed by grey clouds and drifted over a smoke stack city that was enduring a torrential downpour from the heavens above. Slowly, we drifted to the closest rooftop where I found something curious from Regent.
He was pale, shaking, and was sick with a temperature.
"Okay. This is different." Pulling up a Power Cube that held Portalmancy, I thought of Washington and activated the cube. An oblong portal erupted into existence before me, but was met with the second curiosity since coming here.
The world was grey around my newest General, unmoving as though trapped within a bubble.
Dismissing the portal, I thought of Taylor and reactivated the cube. Another portal appeared, showing her hugging her father who was sitting up in a hospital bed. Her back was pointed to me, and the world was frozen there, too.
I reached out, then, and felt a static charge build up around my fingers. However, there was something solid keeping me from pushing forward, even if I used all of my strength, I couldn't push myself through it. With a thought to one of my Devils, I had him try to enter the grey world, but he was also stopped.
With a push of my power, I caused Regent to drift over to the portal and touch it, but all that happened was him moaning in pain from the static and not able to push forward. Dragging him back, I frowned and glanced up at the grey world to find numbers starting to come into focus.
1y : 11m : 29d : 23h : 59min : 36sec |
Someone or something has trapped us in here for two years. To say that I was pissed was an understatement, and I vowed to find the bastards who dared to entrap me. "And when I get back, I'm dismantling my stupid Time Chamber. Because this is getting out of hand."
*****
"Something's gone wrong."
"What do you mean?"
"His world is frozen in time without him present."
"What does that even mean?"
"It means he's the key to that world. Alive or dead, the world carries on, but without him, it stops moving.
"It is fascinating. I've never encountered a Universe that revolves around one individual. It's as though that Universe was made specifically for him, and without him, it is sent into cryosleep until he returns."
"The others will need to hear of this. You will be there to present your findings. The Q must know."
"Of course, but allow me to research this further... Strange. I cannot locate him."
"Why not?"
"He is locked away. All I am able to see is a time stamp; a clock counting... Oh my."
"What?"
"He is locked away for a pair of Terran years. I cannot research this for two of their years."
"A blink of an eyes for us."
"True, but come. I will tell the Q of my findings, and recommend him to be watched. After all, he is an interesting subject."
*****
17 April 1958. The day, month, and year of this world.
I don't know what I was supposed to feel, except anger toward whomever brought us here. Worse, there was something wrong with Regent, Alec. His temperature was spiking, but the ring on his finger was keeping it from rising past 99.9F. It was working overtime, I could tell, and would need repair later.
For now, I needed a cool, dry place and immediately took my Devils toward what I surmised was a run down building in the poorer section of the city. On its roof was a door, and I passed off the cape to one of my Devils as they kept the fog running while keeping a watchful eye out.
"D23, you're to follow. All others remain. Restrain any who walks through the fog." Their hands were splayed out as the waited, and I broke the door handle with a quick flex of my hand. It was made of cheap brass, I found, and frowned as we ventured inside.
We floated down the stairs, keeping watch of the wooden frame and not desiring to touch it in case it creaked, and came upon a door that had voices beyond.
"Hey Mick! What we gonna do if the Bats show up?"
"Don' worry about it, Frankie. We got guns now. If that bastard shows up, we clock him good. His 'Boy Wonder' too, if he tags along."
I mentally cursed to myself after hearing the voices. 'It's going to be like the Merchants all over again, if I try to take this place.' Instead of busting in guns blazing like I did almost two weeks ago, I decided to move away and find another building to hide away in.
As we floated back to the stairway, ascending to the roof, I felt agitation from my bots. The muffled voices of my Devils intoning their spells gently drifted to us, and I ordered, "D23! Assist the other Devils. Lethal force is authorized!"
"Complying," he responded with a semi-mechanical voice, blitzing past me and breaking through the roof door. "Engaging! Evocation! Ray of Flames!"
"Ack!" A younger male's voice reached my ears as I exited into the downpour, "Batman! I'm on fire!"
An older male, deep, robust, and commanding grunted something spraying some sort of foam onto a brightly colored masked boy. Red, green, black, and yellow were the colors, and he even had a cape that came down to his lower back.
"Why a cape?" I wondered aloud, taking in the scene.
Outside, I saw two of my Devils being repaired by their regeneration power, their arms bent at odd angles. Stone hands lay across the roof in shattered pieces, and Alec was lying off to the side where the two idiots were standing. Next to the colorful boy, who had a yellow and black R over his right chest, stood a man with a pair of points atop his head. His color scheme was grey as the base, his gloves, boots, mask, and spandex-like underwear were a soft blue, and he had a black bat symbol that lay horizontal on his chest. There was even a yellow belt containing a dozen pouches that contained items, but I wasn't sure what was in them.
My mental state was already in the annoyance category, but this sight was only making it worse.
With a flick of my hands toward the two, who were in a prepared stance for whatever I tossed at them, I used my Telekinesis to grip and lift them into the air. "D19, D20. Secure Regent."
"Complying," they replied, walking toward the boy while the young cape grunted beneath the strain of my power.
"Hey!" He tried to wiggle free, but that only caused me to squeeze tighter on his body, and him gasping in pain.
"Robin!" The older cape growled out, then glared at me, "Release us!"
"No." I was already seething under my armor, and two have a pair of idiot capes come in to try and steal what was mine? My anger and hatred burned into being. "You. Will. Die."
My power slowly squeezed them, crushing their bones with a series of snaps, crackles, and pops. The visor surrounding my head was removed because I suddenly felt hot, and I released a roar of red hot anger!
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHH!!!"
Their bodies popped like rotten fruit, spraying the ground with their blood. But the moment I did so, the world turned grey, rewinding itself until I and mine were in the air above a dreary city choked with smoke while being attacked by the dark clouds above.
"FUCK! YOU!! ALL!!!"
Violet lightning full of rage and hatred fell to the ground below, creating a crater as a testament of my feelings for whomever pulled us here.
*****
Atrocitus sat upon his throne of bone within his world of crimson red. Before him was an ocean of blood, and behind him was the sleeping Red Lantern Battery.
The war with the Guardians was never ending, but this respite was welcoming for him and his.
In the midst of his rest, he sensed something amiss, as did his underlings.
"FUCK! YOU!! ALL!!!"
A voice with pure hatred and rage called out to them, and the Battery awoke with a low thrum.
It was making a ring!
The Battery hadn't made a ring in centuries, but it was now making one for the owner of the voice.
Atrocitus was intrigued. Who was this person that had so much rage and hatred that they could awaken the Battery and force it to create a ring?
He would wait until it was created.
He would follow the ring soon after it left.
He would force them into his Red Lantern Corps.
He would use them to kill the Guardians once and for all.
********
A/N: @Aconitum Your comment is now part of the story. Just a bit different, though. After all, there needs to be a ring available. So I twisted it into this.
