Pouring his will into his ring, the green light covered the area in front of John, forming men in military combat fatigues. Each man had a standard issue assault rifle and were aiming it to the front. Before the Lantern and his constructs, a hoard of Red Lanterns were charging, snarling and bellowing with madness.

"Fire!" John shouted.

The constructs' guns fired, sending a barrage of green gunfire at their approaching targets. Multiple Red Lanterns ran into the storm of bullets, a few going down from the first hits while others willed themselves forward. They didn't last much longer as the torrent of bullets ripped through them and left them bloody corpses on the ground.

Major Force appeared at John's six, arms raised in front of him as he unleashed a nuclear blast at another Red Lantern. "Yeehaa!" the man cried out with zeal, changing his tactic from one big blast to multiple smaller ones. Though he was a crazy son of a bitch, he had spot on accuracy as his blasts hit their targets, blowing them away, or taking them down for the count. "Get some! Get some!"

That was when he heard multiple enraged snarls. Looking up, John saw three—no, four Red Lanterns flying down from the sky, trying for an aerial attack. Seeing that his soldier constructs had effectively dealt with the initial wave of Red Lanterns, the Green Lantern allowed them to deconstruct, the green energy returning to his ring before he aimed it up above his and Major Force's heads. Firing a beam, it stopped several feet up before expanding out in all directions, forming a dome-like shield around them.

The Red Lanterns rammed into it moments later, using their whole bodies to do so. A couple pressed their hands against the green construct and held themselves up as they screamed with rage. The other two seemed more content on squirming around on it.

"Open it up, Lantern!" Major Force shouted. The man held his hands in front of his chest, one arm above the other, the palms of his hands facing each other. Between them, an orange, glowing ball of energy formed, ready to be unleashed.

"Get ready," John told him as he returned his attention to the shield. He was going to time this—

—right. Before he could think further, the Red Lanterns spat their boiling blood onto the construct. Normally this wouldn't have fazed John, except for the fact he saw the blood eating through his shield. In fact, he could feel the will he projected into it weakening through his ring and arm. Oh great, these guys could deconstruct constructs with their spit. Fantastic.

"Now!" he shouted as he stopped his will, and subsequently his shield. Major Force, in turn, thrust his glowing orb in front of him and fired a rather large atomic blast, each Red Lantern being consumed by it. By the time the beam ended, none of them were left to be a threat.

Despite this, John was frowning. They had been fighting this Lantern Corps for some time, but he had yet to see one of them actually make a construct like him. Part of him wondered if they could even do that, or they could and just didn't think about it. Regardless, it was one avenue of attack he hadn't had to worry about.

Suddenly, a hand burst out of the pavement by his foot, grabbing the Green Lantern by his ankle. Jerking his head to it in surprise, John had his Lantern ring pointed at the ground even as the Red Lantern forced its way through the street, snarling the entire time.

As John willed a green blast to fire from his ring, the Red Lantern pulled up on his leg, throwing his balance off as he ended up firing his beam up into the air harmlessly. Suddenly, he was pulled to a side, swung around in a circle until he crashed right into Major Force. It was only then that he felt the hand on his leg release him and the two heroes were sent flying away, landing on the ground several feet away. Major Force took the brunt of the crash since he was on the bottom, which left John to go rolling off of him and then over the pavement until he came to a stop.

"Watch what you're—" the Major began to shout when he noticed a shadow growing all over him. Turning onto his back, he got his arms up just in time to stop a Red Lantern from taking a big bite out of him. Even from where he was lying, John could see the strain Major Force was under as his hands pressed on either side of the alien's head, holding his blood-thirsty foe above him.

That all changed when the Red Lantern spat out blood onto the red-and-yellow man. Immediately, Major Force screamed out as he was burned. Shaking off his daze, John thrust his ring hand out in front of him and fired a green beam, blasting the Red Lantern off of his compatriot.

Unfortunately, the enraged Lantern didn't go far, merely being shoved several feet away. By then, another Red Lantern was at its side, the two menacingly approaching them.

"No...No!" Major Force cried out then. "My suit! It's damaged!"

Turning his attention to the Major, the Green Lantern saw orange light pouring out of the man, right where the boiling blood had burned a hole into him. Even as he got up into a kneeling stance, John could feel this was not a good thing.

Major Force turned onto his side as he looked pleadingly at the Green Lantern. "Ya gotta help me! I can't hold all of this energy in with my suit damaged! I could take out the entire city!"

No, no he wouldn't. John had his ring aimed in front of him again, firing another green beam. Like the shield previously, the beam stopped a short distance between him and Major Force before moving out in all directions. Soon, a dome was formed around Major Force and the two Red Lanterns.

"What are you doing?!" the Major cried out.

"What needs to be done," the Green Lantern replied coolly. He then raised his arm up, lifting up the dome into the air. Cracks appeared throughout the street before a chunk of it was ripped out from the ground, having been attached to the construct. A mound of dirt with pipes sticking out of it appeared as he raised the piece of street higher into the air. Rising to his legs, John began to float into the air with the dome before he turned around, drawing his arm back behind his head, then throwing it forward. In response, the dome was thrown up into the sky, careening towards the atmosphere. Silently, the Green Lantern hoped he had been fast enough.

Several seconds passed by before an incredible explosion lit up the sky. The sound of thunder rang out an instant later, a slight tremor shaking the city around him. Some of the windows in the buildings cracked, if not shattered right out, but for the most part, the collateral damage was minimal.

The same couldn't be said for Major Force.

Shazam was numb.

Part of that was from the tentacles of the floating brain he was wrestling with. It seemed it had some paralytic agent on its appendages and he could feel his body losing sensation in his chest, arms, and legs. That wasn't a good thing considering it was trying to press its body against his face. He had no idea what it was ultimately trying to do, but he had images in his head of an alien offspring bursting out of his chest.

The other part was seeing the Red Lantern Leader standing over the burst husk that had been Raven. There was no telling what was left of her other than ash and maybe some bone. He could smell the scent of burnt flesh in his nose.

All of this only served to enrage him.

Looking to Ratchet, he bared his teeth as he continued to struggle against it, unable to feel the strain in his arms thanks to the numbness that had set in. First thing was first, he needed to deal with this. Eyes looking up to the sky, he then called out, "Shazam!"

There was the boom of thunder, followed by a bolt of lightning streaking downward from the sky. Leaning backwards, Shazam put Ratchet in between him and the electrical bolt. An instant later, the lightning struck.

Ratchet let out some ungodly scream, though there was no mouth he could see that it came from. He did see its cartilage skeleton flicker as its body was zapped. "Shazam!" he called out again.

Just as the first lightning bolt ended, a second one struck. This time, the smell of burnt brains filled his nostrils and Ratchet's tentacles loosened around him. Tossing the brain aside, keeping an eye on it long enough to see it make a sickening wet splat on the ground, Shazam then turned to face Atrocitus, launching himself from the ground and flying right towards him.

No way was he going to let that alien get away with killing Raven.

The distance between them shrank in an instant. With a fist drawn back, Shazam slammed it right into the side of Atrocitus' face, causing his head to snap to a side. Seeing the Red Lantern wide open, Shazam sent a flurry of punches at him, battering his body with blow after blow after blow. Atrocitus' body and limbs jerked about after each hit landed.

Then, as he tired of this repetitious onslaught, Shazam leaped up into the air and threw a fist down, nailing Atrocitus across the crown of his head. This blow sent the evil alien face first into the ground, causing the earth to crack and splinter from the impact.

Alright, time for the final blow. Raising his other hand, Shazam summoned the magical electricity that granted him his power, bolts of lightning dancing all over his fingers and palm. He then moved it to aim it right at Atrocitus.

And then his vision was blinded by something dark and...furry? Little knives pierced into the sides of his face as Shazam found he couldn't breath. Losing his focus, the electricity around his hand faded away as he grabbed at the small body that was trying to suffocate him, his cry of surprise muffled.

Pulling on it, he soon felt cool air touch his face, followed by the knives pulling out of his cheeks. Shazam's eyes widened as he caught sight of a cat, some fat house cat, in his hands. Yet, the Red Lantern suit and symbol on it indicated it was anything but.

As if to prove that point, the cat hissed before spitting out boiling blood onto his face. The dark-haired man cried out as he tossed the cat away, his hands rubbing at his face as he tried to clean off the burning, acidic fluid. Managing to clear his eyes, he saw the Red Lantern cat floating in midair, its tail sticking straight up behind it, ears pinned to the back of its head as it continued to hiss at him. Then from the tail, a ball of red light formed before being fired right at him. It wasn't all that strong, but it did strike him in his sensitive face, causing him to stumble back a few steps.

Then, out of nowhere, a powerful hand wrapped around his throat. Eyes widening as he gagged, he saw Atrocitus standing before him, raising him up from his grip around his neck until the red-clad hero's feet were no longer touching the ground.

"I see you've met Dex-starr," Atrocitus said coolly. "Don't be too surprise, even animals can feel rage. In fact, Dex-starr comes from this very planet."

The Red Lantern's grip tightened, the only sign he got before he was pulled to a side and then sent flying through the air. Shazam didn't stop flying until his back crashed into the remains of the gazebo, being propped up by the fallen roof's shingles. Coughing, he tried to catch his breath even as Atrocitus and his pet cat approached him.

"Do you...cough...have any idea how ridiculous that sounds?" he demanded as he glared up at the two. "How can a cat feel anger?"

"The better question is how can he not?" the Red Lantern countered as he came to stand before the hero. "As Dex-starr put it, his owner was killed during a battle on this planet. Watching as the murderer cheered their victory over his owner's broken body could fill anyone with rage. His fury was so great, he was presented with a red ring and he took it."

Atrocitus then knelt down in front of him. "How else do you think we found out about your little regime?"

All of this bloodshed, all of this evil was because of a cat? A cat?! Shazam couldn't wrap his head around it. So caught up was he in his thoughts, he was only brought out of them as Atrocitus held up his blood clawed hand between them, the same one that had been used to murder Raven not too long ago. Cracks began to grow on it before it burst apart, revealing his hand as a fist. "Now, Billy Batson, you will burn—as is your fate."

That was when a cool blast of air hit the two. Well, mostly Atrocitus, but Shazam felt it due to his proximity. Immediately, the Red Lantern shot up to his feet, even as his movements were slowing down. Ice crystals began to form all over his body, growing larger and joining with the other crystals. Finally, he came to a stop, encased inside of ice as his body was twisted to a side.

Following Atrocitus' eyes, he found Killer Frost nearby, holding both hands up. "About time someone put that mouth of his on ice," she quipped. Shazam was willing to ignore the cheesiness of it all since she had saved his life.

"What happened to your guy?" he asked as he slowly got onto his feet, using the gazebo roof to steady himself.

"In a thousand pieces," she answered him, jabbing a thumb behind her. Looking over her shoulder, he saw her Red Lantern was also in ice, though unlike Atrocitus' ice statue, it was lying on the ground in a hundred frozen pieces. Apparently Killer Frost had frozen it and pushed it over.

That was definitely one way to take someone out.

"Now then," Killer Frost continued as she turned her attention to Atrocitus. "Let's finish this."

Where was his goddamn backup already?!

Cyborg yelled as he fired another blast from his blaster arm, watching with frustration as the three Red Lanterns dodged it pulsing beam, one to the left, one to the right, and one above.

The monitor room was a mess. A lot of that had to do with all the misses Cyborg had suffered as he tried to take on his enemies. There were scorch marks on the floor and walls—even a few holes in the walls as well—the computer station was damaged, and the window was cracked, though thankfully it would not break in spite of that. If that disgusting blood stuff these guys spewed out couldn't eat through it, then an explosion wouldn't cause it to break.

Thank God Almighty for whoever had made this place.

Streaking through the air was Bleez, the woman Lantern. She screamed like a harpy as she charged for his head, which caused the mechanical man to dive into a roll to avoid. By the time he was on his feet, the goat-headed Skallox rammed his shoulder into him, sending the cyborg careening through the air. Because he was so low to the floor though, he ended up bouncing across it until he came to a stop.

Looking up, Cyborg caught sight of the bluish-green alien rushing towards him—sorry, he didn't catch that guy's name, all of these Red Lantern dudes had some crazy-sounding names. Re-configuring his blaster, he aimed it right at the alien and fired a concentrated burst of sound frequency.

That was the description of it anyways; to say what it actually was was very technical and his human side really didn't care to get into it. In his mind, it was what he called a hypersonic pulse cannon and its effects were very awesome.

From the cannon's barrel, fluctuation in the air created a ripple. The ripple fired out and hit the charging Lantern, stopping him in his tracks while throwing him back the other way. There was a neat shriek as well, one his cybernetic programming suppressed in both his human ear and mechanical one for his benefit. For the other two Red Lanterns, however, the hypersonic sound caused them to stop in their tracks as they clutched at their ears.

Seeing his opening, Cyborg aimed his cannon towards Bleez as she somehow remained floating in midair. Recalibrating the cannon, a grapple claw fired out, flying right by the woman and piercing into the ceiling. With the cable extending out of his arm going taut, he then retracted it and went flying up into the air. Leaning backwards as he brought his knee up, he rammed his knee into Bleez's exposed stomach, knocking the air out of her lungs. His momentum carried the two up to the ceiling, where the blue-skinned woman collided with it. Disengaging his grapple, Cyborg began to drop to the floor, but not before grabbing Bleez by one of her ankles, dragging her down through the air towards the floor. Swinging his arm down, he slammed her down on the ground just as he landed, causing a huge dent to form at the impact site.

Recalling his blaster arm, Cyborg crossed it over his chest, aiming it right for Skallox. Firing a blast, he caught the dazed alien by surprise, the beam hitting him and picking him right off the floor, carrying him through the air until he crashed right into the ruined computer station. Sparks exploded into the air as electricity crackled over the station.

Unfortunately, this took the cyborg's attention away from the blue-skinned woman. Though he was still holding her leg, she used the power of her ring to float off the ground and brought herself closer to him. Keeping her free leg extend as it moved between his legs, she then kicked up with it, nailing him right in the groin.

Cyborg let out a cry as he stumbled backwards, letting go of the Red Lantern as he clutched at his groin with his hand. Though he didn't have a certain piece of anatomy there, that area was still quite sensitive. "Low blow, bitch," he growled as he glared at her.

"Does that make you angry?" Bleez taunted him as she maneuvered herself to standing upright, albeit still floating.

"Yeah," he responded as he drew his blaster back. It began to recalibrate again, this time forming an enlarged version of his arm and hand. It was almost ridiculously large in comparison to his usual body.

Then he threw the giant fist forward, slamming it into Bleez and sending her flying across the room and into the wall. "It does make me angry," he finished, keeping his arm stretched out in front of him.

Movement out of the corner of his eye caused Cyborg to jerk his head to look, finding the blue-green alien hovering in the air in front of him. Seeing it open its mouth, the mechanical man widened his human eye as he flung his normal-sized arm up, activating a plasma shield protocol, which caused a round, light blue light to form from his forearm. A moment later and the Red Lantern fired a burst of intense fire from its mouth, which hit the shield. Cyborg watched as the light blue became white from where the shield was hit, the white slowly spreading out towards the edges of the energy shield.

That was when Skallox appeared on the opposite side of Cyborg, grabbing onto his giant arm. His fingers pierced into the metal armor, then with incredible strength, ripped it off, revealing the inner workings of the arm.

Cyborg cried out in pain, even as Skallox continued to rip more and more of the armor off the arm. Even worse, because of the damage, his arm was stuck in that shape, unable to change to another form. And with both of his arms otherwise occupied—by being damaged and protecting himself from napalm-level fire, he was wide open for Bleez to come flying across the room feet first, feet that rammed right into his open stomach and sent him flying backwards. He continued to scream until his back hit the window, causing even more cracks to spider out from where he hit it.

Suddenly, he wasn't so sure if the window would hold.

Footsteps reached his ears then, causing the cyborg to look up. All three Red Lanterns were walking towards him with Bleez at the center. "You're finished, metal man," she declared as she came to a stop in front of him. "Vengeance will be had."

Cyborg scowled at her. "Bite me."

"Oh, I will."

Bleez revealed her teeth then, large fangs extending from her incisors. "Since most of you is metal, I'll eat off the only part of you that has meat. I've always been curious about dark meat."

"Trust me, honey, dark meat is overrated."

Cyborg and the Red Lanterns jerked their heads to a side. Standing a distance away was Enchantress, her hands on her hips, an amused look on her face. "Cyborg, you look wrecked," she remarked then.

"No thanks to you," he retorted. "Now get your butt in gear and—"

Enchantress held a finger up to her lips. "Shush," she said and Cyborg found his lips stopped moving. "You talk too much trash, ya know? It really kills my mojo sometimes." She then looked to the Red Lanterns, moving her hands up and in front of her, magical energies beginning to encompass them. "So, tell me, who wants revenge on me?"

Diana picked up her shield, absentmindedly sliding it back onto her arm. Looking out to the ruined courtyard, she could see Shazam and Killer Frost milling about the frozen statue of Atrocitus. Warily, she searched for Dex-starr, but the cat had seemingly vanished in the confusion of the battle. That didn't mean it wasn't nearby, waiting for the right moment to strike, as was a cat's nature.

"So how are we supposed to finish him?" Shazam asked, his voice carrying over to the Amazonian Princess. She had heard the two conversating, but she hadn't listened to what they were saying. Apparently, they had been discussing what to do with Frost's ice sculpture.

"Easy," the icy woman replied. "We just knock him over and watch him break apart like his friend."

That wasn't too bad of an idea. Honestly, the monster deserved worse, especially after what he did to Raven.

Raven…

Diana looked to where the poor girl laid. She could still make out her body, though there wasn't much left of it. The skin and muscle had been burned clear off her bones where Atrocitus' fire had hit her. Her skull was blackened from the flames, forever petrified in pain. The only thing left of her costume was her cape and perhaps a shred or two of her body suit.

The very sight boiled the blood in her veins.

A feeling ran down Diana's spine then. For some reason, she found herself looking towards the frozen Atrocitus. She could've sworn she felt...something coming from it. In fact, that feeling had started the moment she felt anger from Raven's corpse.

Wait, anger?!

Killer Frost had moved right in front of the frozen alien, raising her arms up to push him over. Before she even touched the ice, there was a flash of red from within it, causing her to hesitate.

Against all logic, Atrocitus moved. It was as if the ice were a second skin to him rather than a prison. His hand wrapped around Killer Frost's neck, lifting the startled woman up into the air as she grabbed at his wrist.

The ice shattered then, shooting shards in every which direction, a roaring red aura enveloping the enraged Atrocitus. "Ice can't hold my rage, ice witch," he proclaimed.

"No!" Shazam shouted as he lunged at the monster. In response, Atrocitus twisted his body, holding out a fist towards the charging youth. The ring on his finger glowed red and once Shazam drew near, a red pulse erupted. Whatever force was behind it, Diana wasn't sure, but it was enough to send the red-clad hero flying back into the wreckage of the gazebo.

Atrocitus returned his attention to Frost. "And now your retribution."

He didn't do anything, only stood there with Killer Frost frantically scratching and grabbing at his arm. In one's mind, Diana would have been able to attack the Red Lantern before he harmed Killer Frost any further. However, in reality, only a second passed before there was a loud SNAP! Killer Frost stopped her thrashing, going very still before her arms fell to her side. With a casual swing of his arm, Atrocitus tossed Killer Frost to a side, her limp body landing on the ground with a dull thud, her broken neck causing her head to tilt at an unnatural angle.

Though that all had taken place in a second, that still hadn't stopped Diana from moving. She had leaned forward, legs bending as she prepared to launch herself forward. By the time Killer Frost's body had landed, fury was screaming in the dark-haired woman's ears as she charged forward, her shield in front of her leading the charge.

Suddenly, Atrocitus whipped around to face her, throwing his arms out to either side of him. He roared with unbridled rage as his eyes glowed a brilliant red. In fact, the very air around him ignited with his aura. An unseen force slammed into Diana's shield, stopping her charge as she suddenly found her feet digging into the ground as she was pushed back. She could feel heat emanating from her shield as it began to glow orange, then red.

As sudden as it began, it stopped. Diana ended her skidding, watching as her shield faded from the glowing red to the duller orange, and then the shield's original dull color.

"I can feel it," Atrocitus said then, drawing her attention to him. "Your anger is boiling. It grows stronger with every passing second. I would be inclined to give you a ring were it not for the calls of vengeance."

"And what of you?!" Diana demanded. "Look at the pain and suffering around you! That you caused! Whatever twisted sense of justice you believe you are committing, you are only instigating more! I demand vengeance! Vengeance for my fallen comrades!"

"That you do," the Red Lantern admitted. "It is like sweet music to my ears. Yet, your cries are drowned out by the pain and suffering you have caused. By the power of my ring, I will ensure that those calls are answered. You will die this day, Amazon, or your entire world will burn!"

To the first Guest reviewer: Sorry you feel that way. I'm not sure what you mean without purpose, but I can guarantee you there is one.

To the second Guest reviewer: There's sure to be more collateral damage to come, be it infrastructure or bodies.