Written by Stuart Fairchild
Featuring: Larfleeze
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“Get up!”
Blooch was too battered and bruised to even ask for mercy. The Lakadakians worked him and the other Sh’pilkuzz with a stern hand since the occupation of their planet, and they were not ashamed to use it. “I said get up,” the overlord shouted, kicking Blooch in the face, his blood dripping into a pool underneath him. “Kill…me,” Blooch mumbled, the gravel of the work asteroid mixing in with his own spit and blood. “I am not going to kill you, dog,” The overlord shouted with another kick to Blooch’s side. “That would be too good for you.” Blooch remained still, his body too sore to breathe. He waited for another kick, or punch. How he was assaulted all blurred now. The pain stopped quite some time ago. The next thing he knew was that he was now being dragged across the mine fields. He was placed upon the gravel, his back resting on a mine wall. “We are here to help,” someone said as two others dressed his wounds. “Please, just let me die,” Blooch pleaded. He just wanted it to end. “Stop talking like that.” The voice insisted. “If we stick together we will make it out of here.” Blooch nodded as he looked into his rescuers eyes. “Thank you. What is your name?” “My name is LarFleeze,” he smile stretched to reveal his tusk. “This is Turpa behind me and Flob and Chattle are tending to you. You will be fine if we stick together.” Vega System Sector 2828 A spark flickered through the cosmos, racing through the ring pattern orbit of many planets that revolved around the star giant named Vega. The sky wailed loudly and exploded like a fireball in the sky as it finally pierced a planet’s atmosphere. Its path sputtered through the sky, causing a choir of thunder as its high metallic body charged the ions in the air. The meteorite was not alone on the planet, as numerous orange constructs fed on the sparse remains of the planet’s remaining life. They piled on top of each other, each one grabbing and clutching at anything they could grasp, trampling those below into nothing. They are the Orange Lanterns, each one a being fueled with one sole purpose, the hunger of greed. Each avatar a mindless zombie of intense focus to feed their hunger which had yet to be quenched. “Mine!” one said as its giant orange pincers clung to a dead carcass. Another one with wings of burning orange flame grasped the other end, pulling with all its might to claim the corpse. “Mine!” The call was repetitive, almost deafening as their song of avarice stretched for miles in a sea of orange. There were heights and troughs as the orange rolled again and again as many of the Orange Lanterns piled and fought on top of each other as their stampede of greed made their own self-created ocean swing like a force of nature. Each one ignoring the flaming meteorite racing over their heads. That is of course, until it crashed. The crash was an event unto itself. Its burning metallic body causing a yield of a small nuclear detonation from the immense crater the size of a small state that it left on its arrival. The planet shook and debris sprayed across its horizon, atomizing everything in its path into nothing. The destructive energy continued to expand its radius as its white mushroom form grew and grew, until it appeared to reach heaven itself and then beyond. Much like the energy signature rising in the distance, the Orange Lanterns eyes each turned to the source in unison much like a bug to a flame. Their pupils constricted. Their faces rippling from the force of its detonation. With everything that they witnessed, only a singular thought was on each of their mind. “Mine!” “Mine!” “Mine!” This was quite the mess they had managed to find. Flob had died in their escape. Chattle managed to get eaten by some giant plant on the planet they now occupied. Their quintet had now become a trio which found themselves on the run from authorities, on a planet they had no idea what to expect, but at least they were still together. LarFleeze knew he would not be able to make it on his own. It was then it happened. The moment that changed their lives. They had managed to find their path had split and that is when he heard it. They all did. “Mine.” It was like a whisper that buzzed in their ear like an annoying bug on a humid day. It was faint at first, the intervals sporadic at best, but as they kept moving deeper into the forest the whisper got louder and appeared more often. They couldn’t escape it. “Mine.” It became a maddening roar, each now burdened by their own insanity. They had lost track of the days. Nothing looked familiar. If it appeared dangerous, they did not care. All they thought about was the voice which now had ensnared them all. They managed their way toward a cave, entering it without a care of what was dwelling deep within the cave itself. It didn’t matter. Once their eyes saw it, they knew they had to have it. “It’s so pretty,” Trupa mumbled as he stood mesmerized by the orange item which appeared before them. Bloock ran past Trupa, knocking his friend to the side. “Gimme.Gimme!” LarFleeze was enthralled too. He too ran to the orange lantern grasping the other end of the base, struggling to wrestle it from the others. “It’s precious. It’s all mine.” There was a small hum that echoed from the depths of darkness. A small red blinking light initiated itself from the movement outside and energy signature from the blast. In a brief moment, the darkness awoke into a flood of lights revealing corridors upon corridors of beings within containment pods. Each one of them identical to their neighbor, each one with a metallic red husk accentuated with blue trim, only their chrome faceplates purposed to garner more attention from the creators. Each containment pod opened with gush of air signaling their release. One of the units eyes sparked with a deep red as another followed, and another, until the entire vessel revealed their army of Manhunters. The swarm of Orange Lanterns closed upon the crater as their whispers of greed announced their arrival. Their impatience lead to the charred surface of the planet to start to kick up ash and debris as they raced toward their finish in a cloud of filth. One of the Lanterns leapt upon one Lantern and then onto another until it’s orange caterpillar body with miniature wings insufficient for flight had managed its way to the front of the stampede. It peered its way down the cavern where it could feel the heat still radiating from the crashed meteorite. The Lantern’s mouth opened a jaw full of sharp fangs as its’ tongue whipped around the air as if it were trying to taste what most could see with their eyes. The Lantern recoiled somewhat until a blast of energy ripped through the construct. The other racing Orange Lanterns all halted as the remains of the obliterated Lantern remained only in fragments lingering in the air. From the pit arose three Manhunters, the one in the center possessed a hand still glowing from the his released energy blast. Their eyes glowed a deep red as they scanned the Lanterns before them. “Warning!” one Manhunter announced, its cold tone revealing their robotic origins. “Emotional spectrum detected.” “Emotional state identified,” said the other Manhunter. The Manhunter in the center concurred, “Avarice.” Each of the Manhunters fists became bright with energy, as the three Manhunters each erupted energy blasts through the swarm of Lanterns. Many more Manhunters followed through the opening of the cavern , each swarming through the Lanterns. “No man escapes the Manhunters.” “No man escapes the Manhunters.” “No man escapes the Manhunters.” It was just Trupa and LarFleeze that remained. Blooch had died, suffering some exposed fracture from their struggle for the orange battery. Death had visited another of the original quintet, leaving now the trio to just the lone two. The two pulled and struggled for as long as they could, not knowing how many days or weeks had passed. They just wanted the orange battery. On a particular day they both had stumbled, the battery bouncing away from both their grasp. Their eyes looked at each other, then the battery, and both raced toward the source of their insanity. Pulling and grasping at anything they could to get to the battery, it just happened that LarFleeze reached it first with Trupa clinging onto his leg. It was just instinct, but LarFleeze took the battery and swung it back at Trupa, hitting a direct hit to his head. Trupa remained motionless. Blood pouring feverishly from his head, but LarFleeze did not notice. The battery was his now. “LarFleeze of Sector 2828. You are now the avatar of the orange.” The battle which began moments ago quickly morphed quickly into a slaughter, as many of the Lantern constructs were obliterated by the swath of energy blasts which the Manhunters possessed. Their strength unmatched against their foes. Their analytical mind as deadly as their weaponry. With the sheer number that this small battalion possessed, history dictated the outcome. “Heightened emotional state detected,” a Manhunter voiced as it hovered over the battle. “Avarice,” another Manhunter said. “Power Levels: 89.5%!” the Manhunter Prime unit stated almost in surprise as they noticed a huge surge of orange energy race toward the battle location. It was bigger than even the ocean of Orange Lanterns that they were dispatching, eclipsing everything underneath on the ground with its arrival as it shrouded everyone in complete darkness. It moved fluidly and quickly, almost as if it were dancing through both the Manhunters and the Orange Lanterns, leaving nothing in its path as it struck. It hungered. Everything was its prey. The Manhunters returned a volley upon the attack, the beast merely shaking off the energy blasts as mere annoyance. It wasn’t until the Manhunter Prime unit finally saw the eyes of the beast look at them as its head passed their position only to return for another pass. The beast was gigantic. The Manhunters but just a fly in comparison. Its mouth opened wide. Its fork-like tongue hissing for its next strike as it continued its attack on the Manhunters. A lone figure appeared with both legs crossed from the rear of the orange snake beast’s carnage. It had a face of a bore, bearing an elongated snout with multiple tusk stemming from the side of its face. Unkept and matted bodily hair consumed his entire body which was not garbed in orange. His ribs protruding from his sides as if he had not eaten in months though he wreaked of rot itself. He rested one hand on a knee, the other resting on what the Manhunters knew as a Lantern Power Battery. Its energy just radiated off the man, its pure power crackling the air around him. “I am LarFleeze,” he snorted. “Why are you here?” They wouldn’t answer, at least not truthfully for they were sent out many centuries ago to eradicate evil, much like the other Manhunters which eradicated Sector 666. It was what they were programmed to complete, and if not for a mishap which steered their transport ship to crash and go off-line, they would have completed such a mission. “Our directive is to eliminate the evil in Sector 2828,” the Manhunter replied. “That is our directive.” LarFleeze’s head tilted awkwardly, as a devilish sneer erupted. “I say screw your directive.” “You have a power battery.” “The emotional spectrum threat overrides our base directive.” “LarFleeze must be eliminated,” Manhunter Prime said. “Power battery must be contained.” LarFleeze’s eyes grew wide with rage causing both his brow and snout to furrow. “You want my battery?” LarFleeze roared. “You cannot have it. It’s mine!” The remaining Manhunters staggered back being within the radius of the release of LarFleeze’s energy. “Heightened emotional state rising.” “Battery charge rising,” another claimed. “Power battery diverting power.” “Impossible!” “You came here for my power battery! For what is mine,” LarFleeze howled as the power battery began to dissipate into the winds as did the remaining Orange Lanterns. “There is no power battery. There has not been for some time. There is only LarFleeze. I am the Agent of Orange. It is mine.” “Power levels: 253%” “Impossible…” LarFleeze raised his arms to the heavens, his laugh a rival to the power he was unleashing. With just a thought, the giant snake reappeared behind him, racing past LarFleeze like a torrent of water only to open its widened mouth, snapping its jaws down on the last of the Manhunters. The attack left nothing but LarFleeze, his snort all that could be heard. He imagined a rock to sit upon, which he reclined back as the orange power battery reappeared in his arms, caressing it intently. The ground was bare, and with another thought the Orange Lanterns reappeared, all of them trampling on each other for scraps. “Mine!” “Mine!” “Mine!” |