Someone had once told Diana that her temper was one of her worst traits. Well, make that two people. The first had been her mother and she had said it with tender and care, a tender reprimand to subtly change her ways.
The second person had been more blunt in his observation.
So it was with her late-friend's words in mind that Diana fought to control her temper. This fight was not one to let her natural inclinations to take over. She needed to be calm, collected, and, most of all, serene. A Red Lantern fed off of rage, which increased their power. Inversely, suppressing rage would weaken them.
Or so she hoped.
"Shazam!" she called out to her comrade. "Control your anger! It only makes him stronger!"
Shazam perked up at that. It seemed he understood her words. "Be nice, got it!" Okay, perhaps not.
Slipping her arm through the shield's straps, her hand grabbed onto the last one, allowing her to hold on as she pulled her arm back. Swinging it forward, she threw her shield at her foe, watching it spin its way through the air.
Atrocitus saw it coming though, and raised a hand, catching the shield with ease. Holding it up so that its face was towards Diana, the Red Lantern placed his other hand beneath it, then began to apply pressure. Slowly, the shield began to bend and crumple, the iron it was composed of screeching in protest until it was nothing more than twisted metal.
"Nice try," he told her as he tossed it away. "But ultimately—"
He went silent then as his teeth clenched. Electricity danced all over his body, causing him to stiffen under its electrical impulse. Staring with wide eyes, the Amazon sought out the source of the electricity, finding Shazam holding a hand out in front of him, a bolt of his magical lightning stretching out between him and Atrocitus. "Wonder Woman! I got him!" he yelled to her.
Diana didn't need another word. Somehow Shazam had summoned the power to restrain Atrocitus with his magic and seeing how the brute wasn't breaking through it, it was working. Immediately, the Amazon charged at her captive foe, drawing a fist back as she prepared to throw it.
When she reached striking distance, she swung the punch, nailing the Red Lantern in the face, snapping his head to a side. Even then, the red alien couldn't budge against Shazam's magic. Seeing this, Diana launched a barrage of blows, slamming her fists over and over into Atrocitus' face, chest, and abdomen. She did not relent, even as she began to feel her fingers and knuckles protest against the strain they were going under.
Even though his teeth were clenched, the electricity was not enough to keep them that way as Atrocitus forced his mouth open. "Enough!" the Red Lantern bellowed, his seized muscles seeming to bulge against the restraining electricity. Then, through pure will—no, pure rage—alone, Atrocitus broke out of the magic, his arms swinging out from his body, the lightning bolt dissipating between him and Shazam.
That didn't stop Diana from continuing her assault. As she threw another punch, it landed hard against the left side of Atrocitus' chest, causing him to flinch away from the blow. She landed another one to the opposite side of his chest, causing the monster to back away a step.
However, when she threw her right fist, Atrocitus shot his right hand up and caught it, holding on tightly to it. Undeterred, the Amazon threw her other one, only for her left to be caught as well. Atrocitus didn't hesitate as he pulled his left and right hands in opposite directions, which in turned crossed Diana's arms in front of her. With his head tilted back, Atrocitus then threw it forward, his forehead colliding with hers and causing an explosion of stars in front of her eyes.
The next thing she knew, she was being swung in the air, the Red Lantern spinning her around in a circle. Diana wasn't sure what the reason for this was, not until she felt her lower body hit something solid. Though confusion settled in her mind, she didn't have time to ponder it as she suddenly felt Atrocitus let go of her, and the Amazon went sailing through the air. She felt her back crash into one of the remaining marble pillars, bursting right through it. The impact killed her momentum though, and the dark-haired woman found herself falling to the ground soon after.
Wincing, Diana fought off the daze she was under. Now was not a good time for such; in fact, the sound of Shazam's screams reinforced that notion. Forcing herself up, first into an awkward pose of her feet and hand on the ground, butt up in the air, then up completely on her feet.
By then, she saw Shazam crash into a wall surrounding the courtyard. She wasn't sure what happened, but she had no doubt it had been something Atrocitus had done. She made to go after him, only to realize she wasn't quite in the best shape to do so, stumbling a step forward.
No, not like this…
"You are running out of reserves," Atrocitus commented as he stared at the crumpled form of Shazam, then setting his sights on the Amazon. "This battle is over for you."
"It will never be over," she shot back heatedly. "Not while there is still breath in my body."
"Then I will crush it out of you."
"How about not?"
Diana's head perked up at that before she looked towards the very doors she had used to enter the courtyard. There, standing before the now open doors was Kal-el, looking untouched in his black and white uniform.
Yet, he wasn't alone. Seeing as he had all of the attention on him, the Kryptonian raised his hand up, Dex-starr held by his neck in the man's grasp. The cat meowed almost pitifully.
"I've had just about enough of you picking on my friends," Kal stated then. "If you want to continue this fight, then I'll be your opponent."
Then, with a quick squeeze, Kal crushed Dex-starr's neck, breaking, no shattering the spinal cord. The cat had let out a high-pitched shriek before going limp in the dark-haired man's hand. Just like Atrocitus had done with Killer Frost, Kal tossed Dex-starr's body away, letting it fall to the ground in a heap.
"I hope you're ready."
It was strange watching magic in action. For Cyborg, he had two different eyes. His human eye watched the spectacle of Enchantress holding her hands above her head, a large fireball between them, then hurling it at Bleez. To his mechanical eye, he saw what was best described as a distortion. There was no fire to be seen, but there was definitely something affecting the space around her hands.
Bleez dodged the spell, even as her two compatriots charged at the green-clad woman. Enchantress' eyes lit up with excitement as she held a hand towards the blue-green alien. A sickeningly, greenish light flowed over her hand, something that caused a prickling sensation up Cyborg's neck. She waited until the last second before she cast her spell, hitting the Red Lantern point blank as she declared, "Rip and rend!"
The moment the green energy hit the alien, its very body ripped apart. First its skin tore to shreds, revealing its muscles and sinew just before that seemed to dissolve away. Lastly, came its skeleton before the bones crumbled into dust. Because of its momentum, the bone dust swept over Enchantress, leaving a film of white on her clothes.
That was both disgusting and insane all at once.
Skallox skidded to a stop in midair, his anger for once being shut down by his sense for survival. At least, that's what Cyborg thought before Skallox vomited a spray of his blood at the witch.
Enchantress saw this coming and smirked just before she disappeared, a cloud of smoke left in her wake. The blood hit the floor, splattering all over it.
Eye darting this way and that, Cyborg sought out the sorceress, not seeing her anywhere. Of course, he found her at long last as she seemed to fade into existence right behind Skallox, both of her hands raised up by either side of her head. Because of his angle, he couldn't get a good look on her face, but he found that perhaps that was for the best.
Whatever she had intended for her prey though, she never got a chance to do it. That was largely in part to Bleez flying in, one leg extended out in front of her. Her foot collided with Enchantress' head, knocking her off her feet as she was sent sailing through the air.
Enchantress disappeared in mid-air, reappearing several feet further away, facing the two Red Lanterns. With a hand up, she spoke, "Disintegrate," an orb of purple magic firing from her palm.
In response, Bleez vomited out her blood, sending a thick glob of it flying at the speeding orb. The two sides collided and much to Cyborg's surprise, the blood actually seemed to dissolve the magic right then and there.
Enchantress blinked her eyes owlishly at that. "Well, that's new," she said out loud.
"There is nothing a Red Lantern's napalm cannot consume," Bleez boasted then. She then gestured to the floor, where Skallox's napalm had hit. A hole had formed where it had landed, much to Cyborg's concern.
Then, he recalled the round Red Lantern from earlier. Jerking his head around, the mechanical man saw the portion of the window it had spat on was warped, almost as if it were still melting. Oh great, the window was being eaten, no matter how slowly it was going. Soon there would be a breach.
Not good.
"Well then, I'll just have to kill you two before you can spit at me," Enchantress said. "And by the way, that's pretty gross."
Bleez then snapped her fingers, which caused Skallox to stand at attention. "If you would do the honors," she spoke to him.
The goat-headed alien nodded before he tilted his head to the floor and vomited more of his napalm. A bunch of it went through the hole in the floor, but some touched the ground, causing it to burn and widen the hole. To Cyborg, this made no sense.
"Now, if our rings are correct, I believe this station of yours has a reactor," the Red Lantern woman said to the two Leaguers. "And that reactor is below us."
Actually, it was quite a few floors below them, but Cyborg realized just what was done. Skallox's napalm was meant to reach the reactor and cause it to go into a meltdown. If that happened, the Watchtower was history!
"You gotta stop it!" Cyborg shouted at Enchantress, startling her.
The witch merely waved off his concern. "I can repair whatever damage comes to it," she replied lazily. "First thing's first, I've got to eliminate these pests."
With both hands raised in front of her, she fired a blast of green magic at the two Red Lanterns, both of whom jumped to two different sides to avoid it. For Bleez, she ended up right by the sparking computer station, one that she grabbed onto. Pulling back, she pulled out the large monitor, twisting her body around so that she could throw it at the sorceress.
In response, Enchantress aimed her hands at the approaching monitor and a green light emanated outward. In an instant, the light stopped the computer screen. For a moment it hung there, right before the green-clad woman turned to her left, swinging the monitor through the air. Skallox had been charging at her, which allowed her to slam the monitor against him, burying him in the mainframe as it crushed him into the wall.
Keeping up her hold, Enchantress pulled the broken monitor from the wall and flung it towards Bleez. The blue-skinned woman dove under it, going into a roll that allowed her to disappear into the hole in the floor. Before the witch could give chase though, Skallox emerged from the wall he had been rammed into, launching himself headfirst at her. Her attention immediately focused on the antlers that seemed to gleam in the light of the monitor room.
"Stop!" she demanded as she unleashed her green light again, stopping the goat-headed alien in his tracks the moment he flew into it.
Raising her hand over her head, Skallox was pulled upward as well. Enchantress twisted her body around and brought her hand down, slamming the Red Lantern onto the floor on his back. "Now burst," she commanded.
For a moment, nothing happened. But then Skallox's chest and stomach began to tremble. Up and down and it went until both expanded outwards before exploding, sending blood flying everywhere.
"Oh," Enchantress spoke as her eyes widened. She then vanished into thin air, leaving the blood to splatter all over the floor, walls, and ceiling.
"What the hell?!" Cyborg shouted in rage, just as the witch appeared by him. "Look at what you did! If any of that eats through the hull—"
"Relax, tin man," the woman interrupted. She then waved her hand, the blood seeming to vanish away, only leaving partially-dissolved spots all over the room. "See? It's all fixed."
That was when the room was bathed in red light, an alarm sounding off. "You were saying?" he deadpanned as he stared at her.
"Maybe you should quit with the I-told-you-so's and figure out what's happen," Enchantress retorted in irritation.
Scowling at her, Cyborg could find no fault with that suggestion and did just that, accessing the Watchtower's network. He immediately found what was wrong. "Oh no," he said softly. "The reactor core, it's having a meltdown."
"That's definitely not good."
Bleez suddenly re-emerged through the hole in the floor, looking quite pleased with herself. She didn't pay any mind to Skallox's corpse on the other side of the room, instead looking at the two Leaguers. "Your base is finished," she declared, just as a bloody portal opened up behind her. "I am not what you would call computer literate, but I do understand directions. You have mere moments before you are nothing more than a ball of fire falling to the planet. Value your last moments for they will be your last."
She then stepped backwards into the portal, fading into it before it closed. Cyborg couldn't help but berate himself for this. While her friend was distracting Enchantress, she had made sure the reactor was damaged beyond repair. True, the sorceress could fix the damage, but the amount of time needed was...well, there was no telling how much they had left.
Enchantress had that thought in her mind as well. "Time to go." She placed her hand on the mechanized man's shoulder and did some sort of spell. All Cyborg knew was that the monitor room vanished before his eyes in a cloud of smoke.
John soared through the sky, just barely above the height of the buildings that lined the street below. Behind him, a handful of Red Lanterns were on his tail, snarling, grunting, and growling as they gave chase.
"John, where the hell are you?!" Shayera demanded in his ear.
Following his ejection of Major Force to outer space, the Green Lantern had received a hailing from the Thanagarian, who had trouble of her own. He had been on his way to assist her when he got his tail.
It was a good thing he wasn't having to dodge red constructs too. Though it was weird considering these guys had power rings, John theorized that because they were so consumed with rage, they couldn't focus coherently enough to form one, not even your standard energy blast. That left them close-quarters combat, which gave him an advantage.
"I'm almost to the docks," John answered the redhead, eyes looking up ahead and seeing the harbor. "Got a tail as well."
"That's just...haaaaa...dandy," she replied full of snark. "I've got my hands way too full and if you don't get here soon, I'll be busting your head wide open when you do!"
John resisted a sigh. Shayera was just frustrated that this invasion was stretching their lines way too thin. There was no backup coming since everyone had their hands full. That wasn't even factoring in the deaths they had already experienced.
Still, he needed to lighten his load, so to speak. Twisting around in the air until his back was towards the ground, which allowed him to tilt his head down and see his pursuers. Focusing his will as he continued to move until he was flying with his feet towards the ground, he willed his power ring to form a green construct around him. Energy poured out of the ring and wrapped around him, then various points extended out. Before too long, an absurd amount of large cannon barrels were pointed from him towards the Red Lanterns.
A moment later, he unleashed Hell.
Simultaneously, each barrel fired a powerful blast, followed by each cannon firing at random times. The first wave blasted into the Red Lanterns, stopping most of them in their tracks as a few continued to close the distance between him and them. They didn't get far as he continued to fire away, striking each and every one of them until there was nothing more than a cloud of smoke wafting up higher into the air.
There, that should've taken care of them, or given them something to think about. Allowing the construct to disappeared, John then took off for the harbor.
When he arrived, he immediately found Shayera engaged in her own fight. It was like watching a swarm of Red Lanterns with the winged woman pulling out every aerial trick she knew. She dodged, swept over the ground, and made seemingly random sharp turns all while striking out with her mace every so often. She couldn't keep that up for much longer.
So as John came to hover, he willed a fifty caliber machine gun into existence, the large gun hanging beneath his hands as he gripped the two different hand grips. Squeezing the trigger, he unleashed a torrent of bullets, slowly sweeping the barrel from left to right and back. Shayera immediately shot upward to avoid the gunfire, though the Red Lanterns tried a different tact, trying to rush him as they were gunned down.
He would've kept it up too, had something not nailed him in the back of his head. Crying out, John lost his focus and his construct disappeared. Another powerful blow hit him in the back, sending him flying forward and down until he crashed onto the dock.
Wincing as he slowly raised his head, the Green Lantern turned his head in time to see a rather large, pig-faced Red Lantern barreling down on him. At least he was until Shayera swooped in, slamming her mace against the side of his head, knocking the Lantern away. "Are you okay?" she demanded as she gracefully landed before him, keeping her blunt weapon in front of her, ready to strike with it.
"Yeah, just peachy," John replied as he got himself up. Unfortunately, it wasn't just the two of them. It seemed the Red Lanterns he had shot at, were still alive and well, hovering in the air with anger on their face. They practically surrounded the two Leaguers from all sides.
"So, got any ideas?" he asked.
"Kill them all," the Thanagarian responded, tightening her grip on the mace's handle.
"Not a bad one; any idea as to how?"
She turned her head to give him a look. "How about not using a construct that just stuns them, if that? That would be a pretty good idea."
"Why didn't I think of that?"
"Don't give me any lip. You're not the one that has to watch out for burning vomit every time you try to hit them."
"John Stewart," one of the Red Lanterns called out, ending their bickering. "Shayera Hol, the cries of vengeance demand retribution of you. Fight as hard as you can, you will die here and now."
"Oh, like we haven't heard that before," Shayera shot back, returning her attention to the encroaching Lanterns. "We don't care why you're here; just know that you're the ones that are going to die."
That was all it took for the Red Lanterns to launch themselves at the two. They screamed wildly as they closed the distance between them, arms stretched out with blood drooling out of their mouths. Both John and Shayera shifted their stances, ready to fight back.
As it turned out, they didn't have to fight back. Exploding from the water behind them, large tentacles lashed out, whipping down on Red Lanterns or wrapping around them outright. The two Leaguers looked back in surprised by this development, watching as a few Red Lanterns were dragged under the water.
More tentacles came out then, striking out as a second wave. This time, the Red Lanterns scattered, dodging the tentacles as they tried to fight back. On top of one of the whipping arms though, a figure appeared. He leaped off of it, sailing towards one of the Lanterns, holding a golden trident in his hands. Before the Red Lantern could react, the trident stab into him, the two figures dropping down to the dock were the Lantern was pinned down, the alien struggling as its blood pooled around its body.
Standing over it was a man with blond hair, water dripping down his naked torso. John glared at him. "Aquaman," he spoke with disapproval in his voice. "About time you answered our calls."
"You'll have to excuse me, Lantern," the blond man replied, not the least bit fazed by the venom directed at him. "Atlantis was under attack by these things. My people just routed them."
That at least explained why he hadn't involved himself in the fighting so far. Shayera took this at face value as well, even as the remaining Red Lanterns were struck down around them, or dragged into the watery depths of the harbor. "So you decided to bring a Kraken with you?" she asked.
"It was the first sea creature to answer my hails," Aquaman shrugged before pulling his trident out of the dying Red Lantern. "Besides, you shouldn't complain, it has enough power to rend these aliens to pieces."
"How will it do further into the city?" John asked then. "Because we're gonna have to move."
"I should more than suffice for any further combat," the Atlantean replied confidently. "Now then, lead the way."
If it weren't for the crisis on hand, John would've had stronger words for the man. Of the entire Regime, he was the most fickle with his participation. At times like this, they couldn't afford such loose allegiances.
For the time being though, he'd take the help.
Before they could even move though, a bright light lit up the sky causing the three to look up. What looked like a second sun hung up there before gradually dimming.
"What the hell is that?" Shayera demanded.
They had him surrounded. Atrocitus faced Kal, Diana towards his left next to the crumbled remains of a pillar, and Shazam slightly limping from the wall to the right and back. It was three on one with no more Red Lanterns to get in the way.
Still, it was not going to be an easy fight.
This foe was fueled by rage, which was a state Diana found herself in when she fought in real combat. Anger fueled her, allowed her to reach great heights, and achieve victory; it would not do the same here. Already she had been pushed aside on more than one occasion, the same for Shazam. That put him on equal footing with Kal. That wasn't exactly stellar odds.
Then the unexpected happened. "I can feel your rage," Atrocitus growled, continuing to stare down Kal. "All three of you are brimming with it. You all would make great Red Lanterns." He then extended a hand out, a red light flowing up from his palm. Slowly, three red rings appeared in the light, floating as they spun around in circles.
"Not interested," Kal quickly replied, holding himself still, arms at his side. Despite this, he looked relaxed, as if he could take on the world.
The Red Lantern leader took a step towards the Kryptonian. "Is that your final answer?"
The dark-haired man narrowed his eyes. "It is. Now get off of my planet."
There was a silence that permeated the courtyard, a tension that seemed to grow greater with every passing second. It was almost suffocating to the Amazon Princess.
And then Atrocitus nodded his acceptance. "Very well, but heed my words, Kryptonian. A day is coming where your reign here will end in shambles. You will be torn from your throne of corpses and cast into the bowels of Hell, and then you will cry for vengeance." He then turned his head to his left and then his right, looking to Diana and Shazam. "All of you will. And I will await that day with much anticipation."
What was happening? Was this monster stopping his conquest? But why?! He had the clear advantage! So why did he have this sudden change of heart? And what of Raven and Killer Frost? Had Kal lost his mind?! Did he intend on allowing their murderer leave here without reprisal?!
It seemed Kal had anticipated her feelings as he glanced towards her. The look in his eyes and on his face warned her not to argue, something that caused her to bristle. How dare he silence her? What had happened to his pledge? Never again…
Atrocitus looked to her then, holding his gaze on her. "It seems not all of your friends accept this choice of yours."
"She will," the Kryptonian assured him, which only irritated her further. "Isn't that right, Diana?"
He had deliberately put the spotlight on her. Had it been any other situation, she would've have refused the verdict and attacked the monster before. However, there was an audience here in the form of Shazam. As a part of their Regime, they had demanded absolute loyalty from their members; if she did not give into Kal's wishes, it would create a ripple effect that would've encouraged insurrection at less opportune times. That was something they could not afford.
"I accept the terms," she finally said evenly, straightening her posture. Though she verbally agreed, her stance informed anyone that she would be defiant in her actions.
"Then I will end our assault," Atrocitus said. Behind him, his blood portal opened. "For now, I will watch and wait. When the times comes that you demand vengeance, I may answer your call." Then he grinned evilly, revealing rows upon rows of sharp teeth. "Then again, if the punishment is just, maybe I won't."
He then stepped backwards into the portal, his body losing all definition as he became a silhouette, the spewing blood pulling him in until he disappeared from sight. Then, as sudden as it had opened, the portal closed.
"Thank Solomon," Shazam breathed out in relief, bending over as he pressed his hands onto his knees to hold himself up. "It's finally over."
No, no it was not. With her fury burning from her eyes, Diana marched over to Kal. "What did you think you were doing?" she hissed at him, keeping her voice low enough that Shazam could not hear them.
"What I'm expected to do," the dark-haired man replied, narrowing his eyes. "I stopped the invasion. It's over. Now I want debriefings. I want to know how much damage was done and then I want to know what we're going to do to fix everything. Right now we have a spotlight on us and if we can't show the world our strength, they will lose faith in us. I refuse to let that happen."
Diana wanted to say more, but she was unable to. It wasn't for lack of trying, but the sudden burst of smoke and fire behind her drew her attention. Spinning around, the Amazon held her fists up, ready to fight whatever had arrived.
As the smoke disappeared, Cyborg and Enchantress appeared. Cyborg seemed disoriented by the courtyard around him until he spotted Kal. "Superman!" he called out as he tried to stand.
It was then that Diana noticed his arm. It was ripped apart and oddly enlarged. Whatever had happened to him, it had left his arm inoperable. "Superman," he repeated as he stumbled on his feet. "The Watchtower, it's—"
"What about the Watchtower?" Kal demanded as he shifted his focus.
As if in answer, a bright light appeared in the sky, making all five of them cover their faces with their arms in hands. Forcing herself to look up, she saw the brilliant ball of light up there, not unlike the sun.
"That," Cyborg responded after several moments. "The reactor core was damaged during the fighting. It…" He stopped to swallow deeply. "It's gone."
Diana found her shoulders sagging. Not only had they lost friends and comrades, but they had also lost the Watchtower. The cost of this invasion, she feared, had yet to reveal its total cost.
Turning her head, she glared at Kal. Hopefully he realized just what he had done in allowing Atrocitus' escape. If not, she would keep it at the forefront so that he never forgot.
Never again.
One of my frustrations with the Injustice comics was the lack of loss on the Regime's side of things. Superman's side rarely lost anyone and it was mostly out of convenience for the story line that his side was short-staffed. Meanwhile, the Insurgency lost people left and right. While Batman's team wasn't trying to kill anyone, you would think that with Superman aligning with Yellow Lanterns of all things would result in more casualties than it did. The Red Lantern arc for this story was to help remedy that situation for me.
And to the authors that have correctly pointed out that I had being using Killer Shark instead of King Shark, I've gone back and corrected all of those misuses. A big reason why I hadn't changed it even in future chapters was to keep it uniform, that and I was too lazy to go back and fix it. I finally decided to correct it so it should read King Shark now.
To the first Guest reviewer: His return is coming, don't you worry lol.
To the second Guest reviewer: Probably lounging somewhere. That chair of his is comfy.