Chapter 1

Neit'hia had been drugged at a bar before and knew exactly what the effects were like. She'd snuck out of her bedroom that night to drink her sorrow away, but the lightheaded fog that wafted through her head made her wish she'd stayed home. She stood, hoping that she'd be able to get home before the drugs took over and tried to walk as confidently has possible to the exit but after a few steps she stumbled and fell to the floor. Two powerful hands grabbed her by her shoulders and hauled her up.

"Come on, your need to sit down." The voice was rough and though Neit'thia tried to tell him to let her go he pulled her into a dark corner of the bar where another man sat.

"Looks like you chose well Omy't." The seated man remarked as the neared him. Neit'hia saw the tattoo that decorated both his arms and recognized the symbols. Fear snaked down her body. She was pushed towards the seated man and he turned her to sit next to him. The other man, Omy't sat on her other side. She felt a hand feel her up and tried to push it away onto the feel something jab at her side. She stopped moving, terrified of what it was, and hoped the drugs would knock her out before what happened next; but as soon as the assault started it stopped.

"Who the hell are you?" The unnamed man asked his voice somehow more grating than the one on the left. Neit'hia looked up seeing a tall willowy shape outlined by the light from the club behind her.

"You know these guys?" a feminine voice with a hard edge asked, it took Neit'hia a second to realize she was talking to her and shook her head no. Pain erupted on the side of her head and it took Neit'hia another second to realize that she'd been hit.

"What the hell do you want?" The one on the right asked.

"I want the girl." She replied with little emotion.

"So do we." There was silence for a moment before he spoke again. "And it looks like you're outnumbered, so unless you'd like to join us tonight I suggest you move along." Neit'hia looked up at the woman, seeing the barest details of her face, but mostly seeing her eyes, eyes that started to glow a soft red.

"You may outnumber me." She took her hand out of her pockets and the man on her left took a sharp intake of breath. She touched something on her hand, something red that shimmered, something that Neit'hia had only seen before in green. "But I'm pretty sure I out-match you." There was one rule that everyone, no matter if you were king or criminal knew and that was this.

You don't mess with Red Lanterns.

"The girl." She said again, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her jacket.

"Take her." They said in unison. The Lantern grabbed her by the arm and pulled her up hard, but steadied her once she was on her feet. As she put Neit'hia's arm around her shoulder she threatened the two men one last time.

"Follow us and I tear you to fucking shreads."

Ten'iva hadn't planned on being a savior tonight. She'd planned on drinking bottom-shelf beer in a dive bar in this Gotham on steroids city until the wee hours of dawn and then leaving back for home. She'd planned on getting into a fight with the first sorry sap that thought shed be easy pickings. Shed planned on letting that poor sucker feel the rest of her pent-up tension to feel slightly better on how she'd messed up tonight. She let her target die too quickly, and hadn't made him suffer as she should have. He deserved more.

The girl she was carrying doubled over and vomited into the street. Ten waited until the retching had stopped then sat the girl down. A couple passed them by eyeing the two of them with judgment and a wave of annoyance passed through Ten. That was the one downside of disguising herself with a construct; people don't respect you the same way they do when they realize how dangerous you are.

"Where do you live?" Ten asked the girl.

"15G Hai'g on Klilk." She slurred, her head drooping down farther.

"Okay, you get on my back, can you hold on?" Ten kneeled and the girl had enough coordination to fall on her back, but not much more. "Hook your legs around my waist, good, now your arms around my shoulders, try not to vomit again until you get home." Once the girl was on as well as could be Ten kept walking down the street. The city she'd come to was a dime a dozen in the universe. Crime, violence, and sin scurried around the metal spires like rats off to spread the plague. Had she been here before? Why was it that all her targets preferred to entomb themself in neon lights and dark alleyways? Were they hiding? Her last target knew that she was after him. When she appeared behind him in his room he didn't look surprised or even frightened. He had guards ready. He had weapons ready. He thought he was ready, but it wasn't enough. The only thing his preparation had gotten him was a quick death. They think she's just another red lantern, mindless, flawed with insanity, killing for Atrocitus' righteous mission. They don't expect her to do what she can, and they never prepare for it.

Walking down the busy street gunshots ring out into the night and no one looks up, the sound of a billboard selling sex nearly drowning the sound out, a drug deal going down beside the overly bright screen reiterates how much she wants to leave this rock behind. She should have left as soon as she was done, keeping in mind that the local authorities would be looking into it soon if they weren't already. Considering the fact that she's clearly not from this planet and had just revealed her ring to two men that would sell her out for a free lunch, she was on borrowed time. Just gotta get this girl home and she can leave.

Stopping, she asked for directions from a corner kiosk, waking the cashier sitting behind the small booth up from his boredom-inspired nap. He gave her direction and she went on her way. It wasn't a long walk to where this girl lived, which she was thankful for, feeling the weight of the stares she got as she turned onto her street. The buildings were high and close together, making the street she was walking down claustrophobic at best. Stagnant water ran in little rivers along the walls, left over from the earlier rain storm, the moisture in the air taking some of the smell out of the air from the mix of trash and the occasional food stall. Something that smelled like chemical smoke either from some sort of synthetic drug or machine malfunction wafted here and there as she walked. This was a far cry from where she had been just hours earlier.

The city center was clean, pristine almost. For the past week she'd been hiding in plain sight watching her target move from his work to his home to his private meetings in the dead of night. Stealth was something she'd learned a long time ago, from a teacher she'd had as a child and could almost feel his disappointment that she was using what he taught her in this way. For a week she watched him, waiting for the right time to strike, waiting for the perfect moment to get him alone, but and opportunity to strike came for not just him, but for another on her list. A drifter that had been alluding her searches thus far. If she could get both of them at once it would shave off another favor she owed Greon. It was risky, it was impulsive, but she did what she intended in that glossy rich penthouse. In the dark of the room under the roar of the rain she had sat for a while and drank some of the expensive liquor that he had poured for his guest and watched the city outside on the balcony. They had all gone silent by that point and although she could hear the distant sound of alarms on the lower floors it admittedly took her a second to actually get up and leave. The neon lights from the cities were like stars from this far away. The buildings rose from the ground up to heaven and there was a constant movement from cars and deliveries and people walking the street. It had a sort of calm beauty to it if you didn't look too carefully.

"Let's see… 15G Hai'g…" It took Ten a second to find the building called Hai'g, a kindly older woman pointing her in the right direction, but after a while, she found the building, floor, and door this girl belonged to. It only took four knocks for the door to open. An older woman, Ten couldn't tell how old opened the door, took one look at her, then to the girl on her back and ushered the two of them inside.

"What happened?" The woman asked, cradling the girl's face.

"She was at a bar, got drugged, I pulled her out before anything happened. She does live here right?" Ten explained as a younger man came into the room and crossed the small room quickly.

"Yes, she does, thank you so much for stepping in." The older woman said. The man pulled the girl off her back and carried her to a small couch. Free from the weight Ten rolled her shoulders back. "I'm sorry, we appreciate this. Tonight hasn't been the best for our family."

"Is everything okay?" Ten asked more out of curiosity than concern.

"My husband died tonight. We got the news about an hour ago." She said quietly while looking at her children near the couch.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Ten responded, a creeping suspicion growing in her mind. "do you know how?"

"Not yet. His boss, Mr.Ri'ajin has been getting paranoid lately, started having 24-hour security." The woman stopped, looking like she was about to cry. "I told him to quit that job. Mr.Ri'ajin is involved in shady dealings, now look what it did." Ten nodded.

"I'm sorry for your loss." This time Ten meant it. "I don't mean to be rude, but my ship is leaving soon.

"No, no I understand. Thank you again." The woman said as the girl started to wake.

"Hey," Her voice was heavily slurred. "Thank you for saving me, you're my hero." Ten stared at the girl on the worn couch. A small mixture of anger and envy passed over her.

"Stay safe." She responded and then left, the heavy door closing behind her. Making her way out of the claustrophobic alley she tried not to think.

Fin'helt Ri'ajin was a drug-dealing trafficker that had a toe in every kind of immoral business dealing you could think of. Killing him wasn't a hard choice, even if he hadn't been on her list she might have done it anyway, but the casualties from the night were something she usually tried to avoid. Walking under the bright neon advertisements did nothing to ease the headache she was starting to develop and at that moment she decided to get out of the city as quickly and unnoticed as possible. As she walked around trying to find a place secluded enough to make a portal she took in the noise, the sights, and the people milling about around her. If she closed her eyes it almost felt like New York. Almost felt like a past that was little more than a memory.

Breaking into an abandoned building was easy enough, and after sensing there was no one in there she got to work. She'd seen Atrocitus do this before and the process was simple enough, though it had taken a good amount of trial and error to truly learn how to do it. Transforming out of her is disguise and back into her red lantern outfit she made a construct of a knife, using it to slice into her palm. She let the hot acidic blood fall to the metal floor, the caustic red liquid burning through the floor slightly as she concentrated on where she wanted to go. She imagined the grey rock that circled above the planet she'd been hiding out at, imagined the mountains and craters, the caves she hid in and the planet the dead rock orbited. The blood started to mist and swirl, reddish-white light appearing through the scarlet haze. Once the portal finished materializing she thought back to what the girl called her she almost laughed.

She was no one's hero… not anymore anyway.