Empire of Tears

As the door before me opened with a hiss, I stepped into the bridge of my flagship, all those inside coming to a halt and quickly rising to their feet upon my presence being declared by an officer. Continuing my way across the bridge, I moved my cape to one side and sat down upon the large chair, looking out at the planet below.

"Leave," I ordered firmly, all inside doing as I ordered.

As soon as the last one left, Korg pressed a button on a panel, the door closing as he moved to stand behind me. I myself, pressing a few buttons upon my right armrest, a few monitors on the roof coming to life, beams of light coming down upon the area in front of me. Slowly forming and taking the shape of a large bestial figure, muscular and strong.

"Atrocitus, greetings."

The figure's lips snarled. "You must be Tah-Rao, the one who this servant of your speaks of."

"I am him," I replied, smiling.

"Why have you contacted us?" Atrocitus questioned, anger radiating from his form, even through the hologram I could sense it. I wonder what it would feel like to be there in person with him, would it be a wave of overpowering anger? It must be for me to feel it through the hologram.

"Because we share a mutual enemy and I think it prudent of us to see them brought to heel," I answered truthfully, though admittedly, the Green Lanterns weren't technically my enemy just yet. But either at the end of this meeting or in the not so distant future they would be. They would not stand by and allow me to see my ambitions come to fruition without trying to stop me at some point.

Atrocitus looked upon me differently this time, those his lips soon twisted into a scowl. "If you speak of the enemy of which I think you are, then I do not simply want them brought to heel." His anger grew at that, not at me, but at the memory of those who had led him to this point.

"Forgive me, I should have worded that differently." I amended. "After all, it makes sense for you to wish the Guardians dead. They created the Manhunters that caused the Massacre of Sector 666," how fitting that they would quite literally create a monster from a sector with the number of the Devil.

Oh, the irony.

"And when you and the four other survivors of that massacre, the only survivors formed an empire that spanned across three galaxies, you went to war. Only to lose." Atrocitus growled, glaring out at me in hatred as I reminded him of his defeat. "Your Empire was destroyed, you and the Five Inversions sealed away upon your capital of Ysmault."

"What is your point?"

I rose a brow. "My point? My point is that your rage and hatred is all the weapon you need if you could only harness it properly." My response made Atrocitus pause, looking upon me in a mix of wonderment and confusion. "Your rage and that of your Empires has saturated Ysmault so deeply that it is unfathomably powerful. You were attracted to the planet for a reason, Atrocitus. Just as the Green Lanterns and the Guardians harness the green light of willpower. You have the innate potential to wield the red light of rage. You need only the means to wield it, something which I can provide."

Atrocitus was quiet, staring at me with an indescribable look, trying to wonder if he could trust me or not no doubt. But I had no intention of lying to him, just as I was going to give them the Lantern Ring to wield their own weapons, I was going to wield the Red Lantern Corps as my own weapon.

I would work behind the scenes, building up the Green Lantern's enemies to such an extent that they couldn't focus upon me. The Green Lantern's enemies would become my sword and shield, while I built up my Empires power from behind the scenes. If everything went the way I wanted it to, I would not even have to raise a hand against the Green Lanterns once the Red Lanterns were fully established.

Allowing me to focus on other threats, directing and harnessing the Red Lanterns, unleashing them off their leashes towards my enemies. Rage was a powerful emotion, but it was also a blinding one. If not properly controlled and tempered, it could take control of you.

It was my intention to make sure that the Red Lantern Corps would become blinded by their own rage, making them easy to manipulate. All it would take was a matter of time, patience and most importantly, careful planning.

But no matter how long it took, I would succeed.

No matter how many times I was knocked down.

No matter how many times I was defeated.

No matter what came my way.

I would eventually succeed.

I could settle for nothing less than that.

"In my possession, I hold a Power Ring." I would not mention that it was a prototype, it was an inconsequential thing, after all, a minuscule detail that would change nothing. In the comic books, the Red Lanterns managed to forge their own Power Rings through unknown means, by providing them one, even if it was a prototype, it would change nothing. "If you accept my terms, I will gladly hand it over to you."

"Terms?" Atrocitus asked, his interest peaked now.

I smirked. "Yes, terms. Gaining the Power Ring was not easy and I still have some troubles ahead of me simply by procuring it. So handing it over to you, I do expect compensation for it. But don't worry, I think you will quite like what I'm offering you."

"Go on."

"I have no interest in going to war with the Green Lanterns, nor is my Empire equipped or prepared for such a war." Not entirely true, if I was able to find a way to create my own Power Rings, I might be able to do so. Though I would need a Central Power Battery with which all Power Rings and Batteries would be connected, something that could take me quite a while to do.

I had no idea where to even begin on that front and it could take me far too long to make such a thing viable. Best to leave it to those who in comics, had already succeeded and then copy what they had done.

"So, instead, I deal with the current problems for getting such a weapon and continue to do so, until such a time that you have forged your own. In which case, you are then to deal with the Green Lanterns, or take most of the attention off of me and my Empire." Not really a huge problem, Atrocitus would be more than willing to do so and by the looks on his face, that was exactly what he wanted. "In turn, you also share us with the means to forge Power Rings of our own."

That though wasn't something he seemed particularly fond of. However, it was also something I was not going to budge on, even if it meant prematurely going to war against the Red Lanterns to get.

"I am not asking for access to your Central Power Battery, which you will of course have to forge first. Only the plans to forge my own Power Rings." Why would I spend resources building my own Central Power Battery when I could just take theirs and any other Central Power Battery of another Lantern Corps for myself?

This though seemed to put Atrocitus at ease a little. Still against it of course, but more open and willing to the idea.

"Is that all?" Atrocitus asked.

I shrugged. "There are some more, bureaucratic things like alliances, trade and so on so forth. But those are things that can be dealt with once we finalise this agreement in person." Beta Ray Bill currently possessed the Power Ring, I wanted it as far away from my conflict with the Green Lanterns as possible. There was a high chance that they may go to places like Sakaar, Viltrum and now even Mobile to find it.

They may also have a trace upon the Power Ring that they may follow, in which case it will lead straight to Ysmault where Atrocitus would be more than happy to tear apart the Green Lanterns. There was a reason why, despite being defeated, the Green Lanterns had little influence on Ysmault or the sector of space surrounding it. They had never technically, conquered or destroyed the Empire of Tears despite their claims. Instead, they simply surrounded that space sector ensuring that the Five Inversions couldn't extend their borders beyond that point.

"Very well." With that, the hologram disappeared and I leaned back with a smirk.

If the Green Lanterns did trace the Power Ring to Ysmault, not only would they have to gather enough Lanterns to take it, but the Five Inversions would act as a big enough buffer to provide Beta Ray Bill plenty of time to escape. There was no reason to worry on that front.

"It went well," Korg muttered from my side, linking my fingers together and smirking.

"Very well," I agreed. "Now all that remains is waiting for the Green Lanterns to come and once we've dealt with them. We just buy time for the Empire of Tears to forge their new weapons. After that, they can do the rest while we do other things."

Korg nodded his head. "After the Green Lanterns, shall I head to my homeworld?"

I hummed in thought. "No, I intend to hold a meeting with the Five Inversions after our first conflict with them. Finalise this agreement of ours." I was hesitant to call it an alliance. "I want you and Beta Ray Bill at my side for that. But after that, yes. It would be best to open negotiations to the Kronans."