Vera could have killed everyone there. She knew she could have.
And she felt terrible that she hadn't, that she had left those people to face the 7 armed enemies alone.
But they weren't alone, she reminded themselves as she flew with Jeannie in her arms though green glowing streets, they were highly trained lanterns.
Hell, one was an avatar of green lantern power, according to her ring.
And she shouldn't care about them. They weren't family.
Still, she felt bad.
"Man," Jeannie said as Vera began to slow down, assured they were far away from the fight. "Is this planet the Emerald city or what?"
"Technically," Vera said as she put her sister down. "The Emerald city was never green. Those were just the glasses."
Jeannie glared at her. "Seriously."
Vera shrugged.
"So," Vera took in their surroundings.
The glowing green streets of Oa were empty. Which was...odd. When they had been brought to the planet, she had remembered seeing what was like hundreds of the green bugs.
Hoe many green lanterns had she knocked out before.
"Where are the others?"
That's all Vera could focus on right now. The others--Oliver, Kyra, Edgar, Nonnie--not the people she might have hurt, people who had never done anything to her (except Guy, he could rot). Not the Ragnar gut and why he was here with those mercs.
Her siblings were the most important thing, her priority. They always were.
Okay, maybe not at this very moment. Because the hulking red-lantern-garbed alien that just came out of the shadows is definitly a priority. One she has to face here and now.
"Vera?" Jeannie whispers as her sisters puts her hands up in front of her.
Because of course Vera knows this man. She has heard the tale of all the red lanterns.
She knows of his dead wife and kids, his dead planet, and his dead heart.
She knows of how he formed the red lanterns corps, gained members by destroying their lives, and his eventual downfall by a 4 member strong crew.
Vera knows of Atrocitus.
"Hello, little ones." The big red guy says and his saunters towards them.
They don't say anything back.
"You are the newest red lantern, correct?" He gives a very slight bow. "Then I, Atrocitus, welcome you to my corps, the red lanterns."
Vera scoffed. "I was under the pretense that Margot of Earth now leads the red lanterns."
"A mere pretender to the power of rage."
"Really," Vera raised an eyebrow. "Because unlike you, her rage didn't destroy her."
Vera could see how every word made him tense more, how Atrocitus had to fight his rage for whatever reason. To convince her to join him.
"Well no matter what, I see you are a red lantern." He holds his hands out. "And I can presume your treatment on Oa has been less than ideal.
Vera nodded reluctantly, not making any sudden movements. Jeannie stood stiff behind her, trying to put on a brave face.
"Well, then I think we can both agree we have a common enemy. The green lanterns--people who have ripped both are homes from us." Big Red proposed
"We weren't really attached to our home." Vera saw what he was doing.
He wanted her to join him, his apparently two-ring strong breakaway corps.
"Unfortunately, betrayers like Margot and Zox had sided with these green lanterns..."
"You can stop your sales pitch right now, Atrocitus." Vera hissed. "I'm not buying."
The alien froze for a minute before revealing his teeth in a grimace.
Vera was well aware of Jeannie behind her. She couldn't start a brawl with this guy here, with her, when it was just Vera protecting her.
She knew what Atrocitus did to get people to join him.
Maybe she could fly back, meet back up with that group from earlier...
No. She had already left with a battle to fight for her.
She was on her own. Or she would be, once she got rid of Jeannie.
Grabbing her sister, Vera took of flying faster than she ever had before, which admittedly she hadn't flown a lot, but still. It got the job done.
Stopping only a minute the put her sister down and ordering her to get to the others, Vera took off in the opposite direction.
Soon enough, a big red blob came up behind her.
Atrocitus was on the hunt.
But she was used to be the prey. But she was also a good predator.
Jeannie had thought it would be simple.
Find her sister. That was it, Vera would figure everything out.
But aliens and lanterns had messed that all up.
Now Jeannie focused on getting her sister help. But there was no one around. Except for...
Taking off without looking back to see if her sister or that Atrocitus guy was following, Jeannie ran back to where they had left the 4 weirdos from before.
It took a while to navigate, Jeannie constantly worried she was taking the wrong turn on the wrong green street (it had been easier navigating the vents!) But she eventually caught sight of the wreckage her sister had created earlier.
Running into the open space she had last seen them in, Jeannie started calling out.
"Hal! Kil--AHH!" An armored mercenary jumped down in front of her.
Without thinking, Jeannie slid, somehow going between the guy's legs to end up behind him.
The mercenary moved to attack when he was smacked to the ground by a green contruct.
"Woah." Hal said as he landed beside her. "Impressive slide kid."
Around her, she saw the others cuffing Ragnar and his mercs.
"I hate this planet." Jeannie gasped, shaking. "I hate every lantern of every color of the fucking rainbow or emotional spectrum or whatever. I hate my parents. I hate cops. I hate earth."
"Hey, hey, hey," Hal said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "That's a lota hate. Hey, where"s your sister?"
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Vera felt blood trickle down the side of her head in a faint stream.
Well, she wasn't dead. That was something.
And Atrocitus was hurting too.
One of his lips was teared, and he limped. And there was a pool of his black blood spewing from somewhere so...
Yeah, Vera was calling it a draw right now. If only they could end on a draw.
But Atrocitus wasn't only out for blood. He was here for her, a child of all lanterns on this planet, for some reason.
And Vera suspected, if he beat her, her siblings wouldn't be long for this world or any other.
People were oh the much more easier to control when their past was littered with nothing but loved ones dead bodies.
Well Vera had already left 2 unloved bodies in her wake and she wasn't afraid of adding one more.
"Only two ways this is gonna end." She smiled at Atrocitus. "I kill you or you kill me and all you gett is a body."
He snarled with his destroyed lips. Forming a great sword, he brought it down only for her to parry with a contruct lightsaber.
She was surprisingly good at making constructs.
"How far the mighty Atrocitus had fallen." She said with a smile.
She had to be in some sort of deep-seated shock to be able to keep smiling. Even when Atrocitus used his strength to send her into a wall.
Blood leaked out of her mouth. She laughed a little, hiding a cry a pain.
Deep deep deep shock. Or maybe instinct or maybe...
Her mind was unfocused thinking of things that didn't matter, wouldn't matter, if she didn't survive this.
Books to read, homework to finish, shows to watch...
Red lanterns, blue lanterns, green lanterns, black...
5 siblings, 4 fighters, guardians, 1 Vera...
One Vera against...
Atrocitus stood over her, a red club now in his hands.
He had raged though his embarrassment at being tripped up by the playground she had formed before, by being hit with a construct crossbow, at getting slammed i to the ground over and iver before he could get a move in...
All he focused in now was the bloody girl below him.
She couldn't focus, couldn't form a construct, couldn't focus on her rage, only the pain she laughed through...
And then Atrocitus was hit by a blurring blob of green.
Staring for a moment as she stood up somehow, Vera watched as Aya attacked the ex-leader, aided by Kilowog.
Then blood started blocking her throat and she had to turn down and let it flow to the pristine white ground.
She saw a glowing green and blue&red aura.
"Kid you okay?" Hal asked, getting down on her level. Razer was observing some large gashes down her back.
A sarcastic remark died on her tongue as Atrocitus, seeing the girl was close to being rescued, took aim and shot a medium sized crystal shard from a dart bracelet he wore.
It pierced Vera's upper right shoulder.
It wasn't killing, it didn't even hurt that much in the heat of battle. But Vera gave a gut-wrenchung scream.
Because all she saw was yellow.