A/N: The second story I mentioned in Attack of the Mutant. The poll will be up right after I post this. As usual I own nothing.
Eons ago, in the deep void of space on the planet Oa, a supremely powerful race of beings known today as the Guardians of the Universe harnessed the power of the green light. The light of Willpower. With this light, they crafted rings of tremendous power and gave them to beings capable of overcoming great fear, tremendous greed, powerful love, and incredible rage. These beings quickly accumulated over the millennia, banding together to form a peacekeeping force known as the Green Lantern Corps. Tenacious warriors of determination that travelled across the universe to protect it from evil.
But long before the Guardians harnessed the green light, before they formed the very idea of the Green Lantern Corps, they crafted another peacekeeping force. An army of autonomous androids, that were completely void of emotion, known as the Manhunters. A force that, for a short time, did their job as perfectly as they could. Until their slaughter of Sector 666, otherwise known as the Forgotten Sector.
By the mechanical hands of the very machines they created, an entire galaxy had been almost completely wiped of all life. Keyword being almost. Among the razed towns, destroyed cities, and ruined civilizations there lived but five measly survivors. Five survivors whom were consumed with rage by the loss of their homes and families, sought vengeance on the Guardians, and branded themselves the Five Inversions.
But despite many a plan to exact retribution on the blue space imps, the Five Inversions were beaten again and again, and imprisoned on the planet Ysmault again and again. Until eventually one of them could take it no more. This lone Inversion, armed with a red lantern, bludgeoned his fellow Inversions to death in a willing fit of anger. And, with a pool of their spilt blood and ritualistic blood magic, crafted a mighty tool to harness a different kind of light. The red light of rage. And it was with this light that he formed a sole ring to harness his wrath and this crimson luminance. His name, Atrocitus.
Thus, with the slow accumulation of more enraged and hateful beings from across the universe, the Red Lantern Corps were born. Over time each color of the spectrum gained it's own Lantern Corp, some gaining many members while others were reduced to either one or none. Among the new members of the Lantern Corps was one Hal Jordan of Earth, a former fighter pilot who became known as the most powerful Green Lantern since Abin Sur.
But little did Atrocitus realize, as he streaked towards the planet Earth himself in search of potential new recruits, was that the newest member of the Red Lantern Corps was going to be a young human boy.
An 11 year old, white haired, only son amongst ten daughters named Lincoln Loud. A boy who was just thrown out of his home.
Slap! Was the sound of hand meeting cheek as Lincoln slapped himself in an attempt to squash a fly that had landed on him. But upon seeing no fly guts on his hand the boy could only guess that the bugger had gotten away in time, more than likely to come back during the night to try and suck his blood. But the boy didn't dare try to find rest, not when he was vulnerable to the dangers of the outside world should he successfully do so. No, he simply looked to the dazzling stars left bare to him on this cloudless night. Wondering in contempt at how his family was doing.
"After all," he thought, "they seem to be doing just fine without me. All safe and snug in their blankets and beds inside a heated house, while I'm stuck out here on the unforgiving ground and left bare to the natural and manmade forces that stalk the night!"
A family was a collective of beings sired by the biological or adoptive offspring of two bonded individuals whom were to unconditionally love one another no matter what. But the Loud Family had made it quite clear to their only son and brother that he was not wanted among them. Whether or not it was a thing that was a long time in the making, or a recent development, Lincoln didn't really care.
He could handle their teasing, he could handle their roughhousing, and 11 years had made him a master of manipulating their antics and quirks. But taking a silly superstition too far, to the point of willingly committing a felony no less, and refusing to let him back in after he came clean about his hoax was something that he definitely could not take. He may have had thick skin, but even thick skinned people had limits.
Closing his eyes and letting out a deep breath he hadn't known he was holding, Lincoln racked his brain for ideas to use for when the inevitable regret the family would feel would occur and apologized. If they were going to go too far, then he was going to go just as far, if not further, to compensate. But as he thought of plots and schemes a light came on in the kitchen, causing the boy to open an eye just a smidge. Only to see the silhouettes of his elder sister and guardian, Luna, his eldest sister Lori, the family jokester Luan, the "pro" athlete Lynn, and his parents, all just before it turned away from the window.
Curious the ashen haired lad crawled to the doggie door and listened for any conversation.
(Loud House, Kitchen)
"Don't you think were taking this a bit too far?" Luna asked as she poured herself a glass of orange juice. "I mean, excluding him from family activities was bad enough, but locking him outside and not letting him back in after he confessed? You do know that's grounds for child support to completely break the family, right?"
Lori took a sip of her water before answering. "I agree with Luna, we've gone far in the past, but this is just excessively so. Don't either of you think of what type of effect this could have on his mind? I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up hating us!"
Before either Rita or Lynn Sr. could say a word Lynn interrupted.
"Not out fault he's bad luck," she said with a stubborn crossing of her arms, "what are we supposed to do? Let him in and ruin everything?"
"Oh come off of it Lynn, if he were 'bad luck' things would've been happening since he was born, not eleven years later." Lori said providing logic to the superstitious jock's argument.
"Yeah, Lynn," Luan said as she took a bite of her bagel, "there's no such luck. No pun intended."
"Girls," Lynn Sr. interjected, "look I know most of you want Lincoln back in the house, and yes, Luna, your mother and I are aware of what we could be facing in the future if we don't rectify this quickly enough. But your brother needs to learn his lesson."
"And what lesson is that Lynn?" Rita coldly asked as she crossed her arms. "That throwing your kids out is fine so long as you believe in superstitions?" Lynn nervously babbled as he tried to counteract his wife's statement. Only to get nothing. "That's what I thought." She turned to Lori, Luna and Luan. "We'll bring Lincoln back in tomorrow morning, that should give two someone's time to unboard Lincoln's room and unpack his things from those bins."
She turned to an even more nervous Lynn Sr. and a shocked Lynn Jr. "Don't think I didn't see what you two were doing, allowing your superstitions to get this out of hand was my second worst mistake as a parent, but until then he'll be staying out for the rest of the night. So I hope the both of you are happy for throwing out a family member over make believe."
Lynn Jr. angrily went up to her room and Lynn Sr. went to his and Rita's room to get a blanket and pillow, since he knew that he would be sleeping on the couch for the next week.
Rita rubbed her face as she let out an exasperated sigh. "God, this punishment was a huge mistake."
"You said it mom." Lori said before she finished her water.
"Ditto." Luan said after swallowing her bagel.
"That's a no brainer." Luna said as she put her glass in the sink.
"Luna, I know you're upset about this, but please don't start something tonight." Rita pleaded her third eldest.
"No promises." Luna said as she went off to bed.
Lori yawned. "I'm going to head to bed too, the sooner the twerp gets in the less likely he'll hate us."
Luan gave Lori a cross look. "That's a bit much." She said.
Lori, too tired to care anymore, gave an 'eh' in response as she went back to her's and Leni's room.
Resisting the urge to groan at her oldest sister Luan turned to Rita with a worried look. "Do you think he'll forgive us for this?"
Rita sighed in dejection. "I don't know, Luan, I don't know." She went to her room, now void of a superstitious husband, and told Luan to wash what little dishes were in the sink, so that pest don't crowd it, and make to sure that Lincoln was still alright.
Luan wordlessly accepted her mother's orders, turned on the water, and focused on washing the dishes. After stalling for a bit to stew in her thoughts she finished her task and looked outside, only for a small smile to form on her face when she saw Lincoln still in the backyard, only with his back turned to the window. Exiting the kitchen and turning off the light, the family comedian headed off to bed.
"After all," she thought as she put on her retainer, "he can't be that mad at us, right?"
(Backyard.)
Lincoln was more than mad, Lincoln was more than furious, Lincoln was beyond angry, he was livid. And after what he just heard could you honestly blame him?
A punishment. That's what all of this was. A punishment. Locking him out of the house, boarding up his room, packing all of his stuff in bins, and refusing to let him back inside, all the while leaving him bare for any dangerous force waiting in the dark. All of it was a punishment. For what? Staging a hoax, started by his sore loser of a sister may he add, just to get some alone time. When they could've just as easily left him out of family activities for a time, which would have made him crack after a bit, and dropped the facade when he came clean. With no locking out necessary.
The term disproportionate punishment from TV Tropes is the perfect term to use here.
"What the everlasting FUCK!" He screamed mentally. "A punishment? That's what this all was? Leaving me to possibly get kidnapped, murdered, or even raped, was supposed to teach me a lesson? What the fuck!" His breathing became heavy as his face flushed red with rage. "If this was a punishment, what was everything else I experienced this year? Punishments for those incidents? Given Lola's prank, that doesn't even seem all that far fetched!" He clenched his hands into fist at the memory of that day, and every other time he was on the receiving end of his sister's' wrath. "Now that I think about it, I bet that wasn't even a genuine conversation over my well being. I bet that was just something they slapped together, just to try and placate me so they won't get in as much trouble as they think they will. They know they went to far with their 'punishments' and want to soften the blow."
His face was now purple as his anger grew and his breathing became more ragged and animalistic.
"No," he thought with anger, "my sisters have avoided punishment one too many times this year, and those poor excuses for parents need to learn that their actions have consequences! Especially, mom!" The mere thought that his mother, whom he had bonded with recently and gotten quite close to, was in on this 'punishment' and any other 'punishments' was enough to tip his rage further. He furiously stood up and paced across the yard in an attempt to let out his rage, but the more he paced the angrier he got. "No, not this time, the moment they start 'begging' for apology, I'm going to give them hell!"
His ears rang from his rage, a rage he never new he could have, his vision practically became literal tunnel vision, he could almost smell his boiling blood, and he could feel himself vibrating by the second. He bored his gaze into the ground, and was so lost in his rage induced mania that he failed to notice the person watching him from above.**
Eventually deciding to try and get some sleep the boy laid down on the ground, and closed his eyes. Despite the rage that lingered in his mind he managed to fall asleep. None the wiser to the being that was heading straight for him.
Lincoln awoke with a groggy start, barely taking into account his surroundings until after he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
He didn't know where he was, but it most certainly wasn't his backyard.
The world around him was a desolate place with charred black ground, skies nearly filled with inky black clouds, and tall dark structures and buildings. In front of him was a pool of a suspiciously red substance surrounding a gigantic red structure.
"What is this place?" Lincoln asked as he wandered about. He was so lost in his wandering that he didn't notice the person in front of him.
"Oof!" He fell onto his butt and shook his head to clear it before apologizing to whoever it was he walked into. "Sorry about that, sir. Wasn't looking where I was-." He stopped cold upon seeing exactly who he was talking to.
Looking down on him was a muscular male with dark red skin, yellow eyes, and burn scars. His face was half burned, revealing some of his gingiva and some of his blockish, serrated teeth, with three small horns on either side of his face and a small round nose. He wore a black and red jumpsuit with big red shoulder pads, boots and gloves, and a symbol on his chest that bore an exact likliness of the structure he had seen before. Clasped around his right ring finger was a red ring that bore the same symbol that resided on his chest.
"Wha-wh-what, what, what are you?" Lincoln fearfully asked the being as he scooted back from him. "Who are you?"
"I am Atrocitus," the being said as he stalked toward Lincoln, "leader of the Red Lantern Corps." He grabbed Lincoln's leg as he tried to turn and run, causing the boy to turn to him in fright - which was justifiable. "And who are you earth boy?"
"L-L-L-Lincoln," the ivory headed boy stuttered, "Lincoln Loud, Mr. Atrocitus."
Atrocitus let go of Lincoln's leg and walked toward the red structure. "Atrocitus, boy, just Atrocitus." He said as he walked past Lincoln.
Seeing that he had no one else to talk to or show him around this strange place, Lincoln reluctantly chose to follow Atrocitus. After catching up to him he tried to make conversation.
"So, um, where are we?" Lincoln asked.
"Ysmault." Atrocitus blandly answered.
"N-never heard of it before." Lincoln said.
"You humans have yet to actually reach your closest neighboring planet," Atrocitus said, "I'm not surprised you haven't heard of it."
"Oh." Lincoln said as he gazed at the surrounding area. Upon reaching the pool of red Lincoln spoke again. "You said that you were the leader of the Red Lantern Corps. What is that?"
"Your people would call us terrorist." Atrocitus said.
"How come?" Lincoln asked.
"Because by your world's definition we take the law into our own hands, and right wrongs before they happen, not after." He said.
Lincoln contemplated his choice of words before asking his next question. "How do you do it?" It was best not to anger the big alien that could kill him while he's on another world.
"With rage," Atrocitus turned to look at a shell shocked Lincoln, "and it's because of yours that I've brought you here."
Lincoln stared at the red man in front of him, shocked silent for a moment before finally finding his voice. "M-my rage?" He asked.
"Yes, boy, your rage." Atrocitus raised his right hand as it became enshrouded in a bright red glow. "And it's with this ring and this battery," he turned to the red structure before the two of them, "that will allow you to control it in ways you've never thought possible."
He turned to Lincoln and walked toward him. When he was right in front of the gobsmacked lad he knelt in front of him and looked him in the eye as he put a hand on his shoulder.
"I was there child," he said, "I heard that conversation with between your family members and saw your reaction." He removed his hand from Lincoln's shoulder and revealed himself to have been holding a ring much like his own. One capable of fitting either of his ring fingers. "I'm not much familiar with your world's customs, but back when my sector was thriving with life we held children closely and dearly, and to throw one out for a mere punishment is in and of itself punishable. In your state it would have been time in prison for all involved with the act, but had it been worse." He let the unsaid words speak for themselves.
Lincoln was baffled. "Even an alien terrorist can say that my family did wrong, a flipping alien terrorist!" He thought as he started to get mad again.
"Tell me, boy, did they seem sincere in their conversation? Did their words seem genuine? Did they actually seem like they regretted it?" The ring on his finger shone brighter than before, as if he himself was enraged by the Louds.
Tears of rage streamed down Lincoln's face as he replayed that conversation in his head over and over again. Becoming angrier and angrier as he thought of his 'punishment'. After angrily boring his gaze into the blackened earth he looked at Atrocitus dead in the eyes.
"No," he said, "no they weren't."
"Is that what you think?" The Red Lantern leader asked.
"It's what I know." Lincoln answered with rage seeping into his voice.
""Then take this ring and become a Red Lantern." Atrocitus said.
Without hesitation Lincoln took the ring and slipped it onto his right ring finger. The resulting spike of rage and pain incapacitated him, bringing a blaring ringing into his head, bringing back the tunnel vision ten fold, and intensifying the vibrations he felt from earlier by that times twenty. His breathing became much more ragged, throaty, and animalistic than before, and grew increasingly rapid as he fell to his hands and knees and became enveloped in a vibrant red aura.
Atrocitus stood up and watched the boy for a few moments before humming in disappointment and walking past him. But not ten feet from the boy did he stop when words reached his ears.
"With my hellish hate and righteous rage,
I'll let none escape their regret made cage.
Loud Clan of twelve, who've earned my hate,
pay with bloody repense-that is your fate!"
Lincoln shot up with a roar of pure rage as the aura completely enveloped him and shot up into the air, parting the clouds above. The red light coated his body and crafted a suit similar to Atrocitus onto his form. The battery in the center of the red pool came to life with a crimson glow.
As the induction came to a close, and the aura began to fade, Lincoln heard a deep, gravely, and wrathful voice in his head.
"Lincoln Loud, you hold great rage in your heart. Welcome to the Red Lantern Corps."
Low on strength, yet fueled by rage, Lincoln stood up from the ground and turned to a smirking Atrocitus.
"Come, Lincoln, we have much to do." Atrocitus said as he slowly walked to allow the weakened Lincoln to catch up.
A/N: Let me know what you think in the reviews. And vote on the poll.
**Question: If Atrocitus was there the whole time, were listening and watching the only things he did?