Several hours ago in Shard II . . .
The engineer was on his way back to the orphanage from the city, carrying supplies back to the orphanage. It had been a ten day journey from the little home he made with his wife to the nearest city. With a wagon behind him and a sack full of sweet snacks for the young ones, he dawned a smile.
Eke could just see little house just over the hill he walked. The man was eager to see his wife and child. He wore a black skin-tight tunic with tan colored pants. His head-tail just barely touched his nape, and around his neck was a necklace. A defectively round stone pendant hung from the string. Eke ran a finger over the smooth rock, remembering how Ciev found it in the river and decided to give it to him for a special occasion, just a few months ago.
"Happy anniversary Baba and Mama! And many more!" Ciev had cheered. A sentimental smile graced his tired face.
However, the moment Eke saw smoke coming up from the direction of the orphanage, he nearly lost all of his wits. The Astorian decided to run back to the city, to get help.
Alas, the Red Lantern ship found him. The man did his best to fight them off, but it was ten to one. Eke had been clouted, kicked and bruised by Atrocitus himself, who demanded information on a spear he never heard of. Even without his Red Lantern ring-and looked very strange in his civilian clothes-the alien had proven to not have lost an ounce of strength whilst imprisoned.
Now, the detainee was being dragged back to his cell by two Red Lantern Guards.
"YOU CAN'T FORCE ME TO!" the prisoner yelled. The two men both had their hands on his upper arms, yanking him harshly about.
"Silence you fool!" one of them grunted.
"Damn it! I'm an engineer; I won't help your cause!" the Astorian bellowed, thrashing in their unforgiving grip. "I won't!" The next thing he knew he was thrown back into his cell. As the red bars powered by Hate rolled closed in front of him, the Astorian's back slammed into the hindmost wall. He sat up and coughed with a hand over his chest.
Once he caught his breath, the prisoner glared angrily at the guards as they took a moment to look at him and then they went off the patrol the rest of the ship.
"Argh," Eke groaned. He gripped his sprained arm, and laid the back of his head against the wall. He looked up at the pitiful amount of light that lit his cell.
Once he composed himself, the engineer looked to the cell across from him; he was met with the familiar yet strange sight of the AI that had been captured as well. As far as the engineer knew, she had been on the ship, and for far longer than he ever was. The first impression Eke had of her, the lady seemed . . . heart-broken and lonely.
Quite different from the highly talked about 'Aya-Monitor' from several years ago.
Eke remembered the one time he had spoken to her . . . but now, she wouldn't speak to him at all when he had asked her numerous questions.
O*O*O
Within a few minutes, Eke and Aya looked up as Atrocitus walked up to their cells. The Astorian glared at the Red Lantern.
"As I have told your guards, I may be an engineer, but I will not have a hand in making a weapon of mass destruction!" Eke snarled at the taller alien.
"Now, now Eke," Atrocitus grinned. The prisoner wondered for a moment to what was the Red Lantern was hiding behind his back. When the cruel alien revealed what he held, Eke paled.
"Where did you-"
"You do as exactly as you're told, my good engineer," Atrocitus enunciates. He made a show of putting his thumb against the neck of Ciev's doll. As the hateful creature forced his thumb against the stiff toy, the threads that kept the head to the body snapped. Eke's eyes widened as the head of the doll dropped to the floor. He felt his stomach and heart drop down with it.
"I'll only say this once more: you do as exactly as you're told, or else both of the most important females in your life shall meet a very, very painful end."
"I would hate to be the cause of such a tragedy."
Eke heard the rattle of metal behind Atrocitus. The Astorian was shocked to see green orbs being blasted from the opposite cell. Two struck Atrocitus in his back. With the Red Lantern's attention diverted to Aya, Eke could only watch as Atrocitus reached through the bar and grabbed Aya by her neck. She struggled in Atrocitus's unforgiving hand as she glared, yes glared at the Red Lantern.
"And you shall be helping me in getting to Oa, or else your precious Volkregian shall meet his own excruciating end." Atrocitus lifted Aya's artificial body off the ground. Her feet dangled three feet off the ground.
"HEY! Leave her alone!" Eke barked as he stood up, albeit shakily. Atrocitus unceremoniously dropped the AI to the ground as he turned to face the Astorian.
"You shut your trap!" the red skinned alien snarled at the Astorian. He pointed a sharp digit at the engineer as he added, "If I so much hear another word out of you, I shall guarantee the death of your family!"
Eke recoiled. As Atrocitus noted that with a satisfied smirk, he murmured, "I'll give you an hour to rest. But then, it's back to your little creation room, is that clear?" The engineer nodded numbly.
O*O*O
As soon as the Red Lantern left, Aya got her motor functions going once again. She looked at Eke. His heart rate had been increased dramatically.
"Are you . . . all right?" Aya slowly asked her fellow inmate.
The Astorian shook his head. He looked positively grim as he whispered, "Deities of the universe help us all, or there will blood at the Guardians' doorsteps."
One hour later on Oa . . .
"I am SO bored," Drarr grumbled. All of the orphans and Ciev were bundled up in their quarters. P'len and the rest of the Lanterns were outside of the building. As they discussed their options on how to defeat Atrocitus, Chaselon had been assigned to watch the children.
"Perhaps you can read a book," Chaselon suggested. He nervously floated a bit off the ground near the door. The points of the tendrils that were his arms lightly tapped against each other. As he glanced about the room full of jaded orphans. He noted all of them, sans Ciev, I'antaurtora and her sister, were animal like. I'an and her younger sister, Jisl'eth, were the only ones that were humanoid, albeit with feline-like features.
"But we've read them all already, Mr. Chaselon," Ciev pointed out. She gestured to the three foot tall stack of said reading materials in a corner. "And we know all of them forwards and backwards and diagonally!" Frankly, the security officer of the Science Branch wasn't going to question the child on how they could've known the books that well.
"Can we play hide an' seek?" Loem suggested. "The building is big enough for all of us to hide." The other kids perked up at the sound of that.
"I still need to watch all of you," Chaselon reminded him.
"But, but, we'll stay within this level!" Jisl'eth pleaded. Chaselon glanced at the little girl. She gave him kicked-puppy eyes.
He caved.
"I'm counting to forty. One, two, three-"
All of the orphans giggled happily as they darted out.
"Seven, eight, nine, ten-"
Loem dived under an open crate, and made room for I'an and her sister. Ciev tried to join them, but there was no room.
"Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen-"
E'nchixx and Drarr, the skinny, walking bonsai-like tree roughly four feet tall, found a spare closet and dove right in. Ciev also tried to jam herself in with them, but there was no room.
"Try the next one!" Drarr whispered. With a branch like arm, he jabbed his limb toward the end of the hall. "Hurry! He's counting up to forty!"
Ciev exhaled exasperatedly, but then heard Chaselon: "Thirty-three-"
The Astorian quickly made her decision and darted out to the nearby exit. Ciev exhaled and shivered a bit. She wrapped her arms around herself and skittered about, trying to find a box to grab and then go back into the hall.
Once she found a pile of discarded crates and tossed out lunch cartons, she began to poke about to see if there was one big enough for herself to fit in-
TINK-TINK.
Ciev froze. She cautiously turned her head to see a small pendant on the ground. She canted her head to the side, curious.
It had a striking resemblance to the pendant she gave to her father for an anniversary present. But how? the child wondered. The priestess's daughter carefully looked around her. Distantly, Ciev could hear the voice of her mother conversing with the other Lanterns.
"-citus is most likely taking up fort at the orphanage. Going in that direction would be easy to make targets out of yourselves," P'len stated.
"She's got a point Jordan," Kilowog murmured.
Hal sighed. "Back to the drawing board."
"Hmm . . . perhaps we could go in from behind this hill-" Razer chimed in.
Unaware that she was being watched, Ciev walked forward to the pendant and picked it up.
O*O*O
Hal pointed a finger onto the map of the surrounding area of the orphanage. "So, if we plan a full frontal assault with the Blue Lanterns, I think-"
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
P'len's pulse skyrocketed. The Green and Blue Lanterns raced after her as she took off in the direction of the screams.
Ciev continued to scream. Atrocitus forced a strip of cloth across her mouth. It effectively muffled her cries. He tightened it so hard that the poor girl whimpered in pain.
"Let her go!" Hal Jordan commanded as he aimed his gun-construct at Atrocitus. "Well," he noted as he saw Atrocitus in his civilian clothes, "not so tough without your ring, are ya?" Atrocitus gripped the back of Ciev's neck tightly, and Hal looked on in alarm.
Ciev couldn't understand a word what the man was saying to the others. His words sounded like feral roars and growls. With his huge hand on her nape, the girl didn't have the nerve to move.
"No! Please, she's just a child!" P'len begged. Saint Walker easily held back the distressed woman as she tried to rush forward.
"You coward," Razer glared vehemently. His hands curled into fists. "You would use a child as a shield?" Atrocitus growled in response.
"What do you want Poozer?" Kilowog challenged.
"I will only address the priestess," Atrocitus barked. "If any of you attempt to even try to talk to me-" he easily yanked Ciev off the ground. Her feet wildly kicked about in the air as she struggled to get out of his unforgiving grip. "I promise to kill her."
P'len fought to keep her breaths even. She shakily asked: "W-what do you want?"
"A weapon that you used whilst on the slave-ship," he answered. "If you want to see your daughter or husband again-"
"Eke?" she whispered. The priestess's eyes widened in alarm. "What did you-?" She was silenced as Atrocitus threw a necklace at her. It skittered against the ground and P'len felt her throat constrict as she saw what it was. Tears stung her eyes as she saw blood on the pendant.
"You have one hour to get to that pathetic excuse of a home you have and dig up that spear. Come alone," Atrocitus interrupted, "or else I will force your mate to watch this one suffer." He raised his arm and rapidly shook the child about in his grip.
Before Hal or Kilowog could fire their constructs at the Red Lantern, the ground erupted.
KABOOM! BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
All of the Lanterns were knocked down from multiple explosions. A thick layer of smoke enveloped them all. In the confusion, P'len managed to break out of Saint Walker's grip. She tripped over her own feet in her urgency, but looked up in time to see a green colored portal whisk Atrocitus and Ciev away.
A/N: Ok, I am just wondering, but where did all of you go? O.o? I am just wondering. All though I get many reads when chapters are posted, not many of you review the chapters.
Please R & R, it really helps with the speed of my writing, albeit I update once a month. Since school is almost over, I think I might be able to post more often, though that seems to greatly depend on my family's moods as of late. If something goes haywire I won't be able to touch a word doc for a whole week. -_-
So, please review? Constructive criticism is also wanted. Flames will be sent somehow to power the Red Lantern Battery: thank you.