Oscar Ward
Know what’s better than a bucket of chicken tenders, barrels worth of sauce, and refillable cups? That’s right, free buckets of chicken tenders, sauce, and drinks. Now, did I count on being given some free shit when I decided to take Eve to a knock-off fried chicken place in downtown Chicago? Maybe a little bit. What I was really counting on was finding people to siphon some willpower off.
Current Charge: 49%
There weren’t too many, to be honest. Sure, you got the odd few people unwilling to go to hospital because of money trouble, but generally, the GDA and EMTs had dealt with the worst cases. But I’m up 17%, so I can’t complain. Not when I’ve got a lifetime of free chicken at… Rico’s Chicken? I sneak a glance at the signage stickers on the windows. It’s kind of difficult to see through the horde of fans inside and outside the shop, though.
Now, is that partly my fault for giving out free chicken to a few people whose houses got fucked? Yes, but a lot of the people are just fans who followed us here, plus the handful of people who were already here for a bite to eat. I do feel a little bad for ‘em, but everyone’s being polite for the most part. Rico’s Chicken just isn’t built for this amount of people, is all.
Some of the fans work up the courage to wander over every few minutes.
“Can I get a picture?”
“Can you sign my napkin?”
“Green Lantern! Thank you for saving my cousin!”
“...Can you sign my forehead?”
Naturally, that last one gets politely declined. Honestly, I’d have put my foot down after the seventh person… It’s just that all these interactions are giving me tiny bits of my charge back.
Current Charge: 51%
Eve pokes another chicken tender into one of the dozen assortment of sauces Rico insists we try.
“...I feel like a zoo animal.”
“I don’t know what you’re complaining about. Zoo animals get unlimited free food. Which we’re getting, mind you.”
She deadpans. “I’d rather pay if this is what the free food entails.”
A little girl walks over to our table. She’s clutching a cardboard kids’ meal box and has this adorable gap-toothed smile that instantly puts a smile on Eve’s face.
“Mr Lantern?”
“Yeah?”
…I purposefully ignore Eve mouthing ‘Mr Lantern’ and smirking. The little girl shyly holds out a crayon.
“...Can you draw the Green Lantern symbol?”
“That’s cheating. How can I say no to that face?”
She giggles. I scribble the symbol and hand her the box back.
“There.”
Her eyes sparkle.
“Thank you!”
She sprints back to her parents, who mouth a silent thank you from across the restaurant.
Current Charge: 51.5%
...Okay, maybe this fan thing isn’t so bad! I look around the packed fast food shop at the people pretending to eat while very obviously recording us. Maybe it’s not, and the little girl is one gem among a pile of shit.
I lean a little closer to Eve. “...This is getting kinda awkward.”
“The woman by the drink machine has taken six selfies,” she says.
“...Think they’ll leave us alone if we kiss?”
Eve chokes on her drink.
“I’m kidding!”
...Mostly.
Ow. She kicks me beneath the table right as the bell above the entrance jingles. A woman walks in carrying a shopping bag. She freezes when we turn to her.
“Oh my god! Green Lantern and Atom Eve? Holy shit. I didn’t know your eyes were so green! And they glow. You guys are here together?”
...Uh-oh.
“I ship you guys so hard!”
I slowly turn away from the gushing woman to look at Eve. She makes eye contact with me, and I watch her face slowly start to redden. The colour spreads from her cheeks all the way to the tips of her ears.
“...Eve?”
“I-I—”
Someone squeals.
“They’re blushing!”
My head whips around. “Who, me? I’m not blushing!”
“Oh my god, it’s true!”
“I told you!”
“I’ve got twenty bucks riding on this! Pay up, Diaz!”
“GET A PICTURE!”
The restaurant erupts, with chairs scraping backwards. Phones appear from every direction as camera flashes start going off like lightning.
“Eve, smile!”
“Green Lantern!”
“When’s the wedding?!”
“I KNEW IT!”
“...He just got out of the hospital. We’re just eating food as friends!”
Nobody hears Eve’s plea over the excitement of their wishes being fulfilled.
I throw an arm up. “Rico!”
The Jamaican man behind the counter looks up from the fryer.
“Yeah, man?”
“Can I get the rest to go?!”
He gives me a thumbs-up.
“Already boxing it!”
The absolute legend. I smile at the three employees shoving three boxes stuffed with tenders and a ton of fries into takeaway bags. Then, I sneak a glance at Eve. She’s bent over the table with her head in her hands.
Current Charge: 54%
...Worth it.
Rico sprints over and practically throws the bags into my arms.
“Come back anytime!”
I shove it all into my ring’s subspace.
“...Eve?”
When I look back, she’s already halfway to the door.
“I’m leaving,” she huffs. “Are you coming or not?”
I laugh, rocketing into the evening sky as another barrage of camera flashes chases us skyward. The entire street below erupts into cheers. I glance back once at what feels like a hundred phones pointing at just us.
“...Think this’ll make the news?”
Eve groans. “I hate you. You jinxed us with that joke about kissing me.”
“What’s wrong, Eve? Not a fan of your adoring fans? They ship us!”
She shoves me a few paces to the right, wilting at the surging cheers at the action. I cackle, laughing myself to tears as she zooms off, disappearing into the Chicago skyline.
“...So.”
Eve slows down just enough that we’re next to each other.
“Where to now?”
She sighs. “...Well, right before everything went to hell with Omni-Man, the Guardians were celebrating Monster Girl’s full recovery.
“Shit, that was today? I haven’t checked my messages at all. Fuck. Let’s stop by somewhere to buy some beer or something. It’s not too late, right?”
“Last I checked, they were gonna start up the ‘We Survived Omni-Man’ afterparty.”
“Who called it that?”
“...Rex. That’s not the only surprise either. So, we’re all huddled around the main computer watching Omni-Man destroy Cecil’s space laser. Then, this… actually. Nevermind~!”
“What? Did something else happen?”
“Who knows?” Eve locks her hands behind her back with a smirk. “...I think I’ll leave it as a surprise.”
We float into a narrow alleyway between a laundromat and a closed florist, each carrying a pair of plastic bags that clink every time we shift our grip. I glance around. The air a few metres in front of us crackles. Blue-white light flickers into a vaguely human form. A GDA employee in a suit steps through, fiddling with a black wristband while he glances between the two of us.
“Green Lantern. Atom Eve.” He checks something off with a pen. “Alcohol acquired?”
I hold up the bags. “Mission accomplished.”
“Excellent.” He nods with complete professionalism. “Is there anything else you’ll be bringing with you?”
“Nope.”
“Whenever you’re ready, grab onto my shoulders.”
The sensation lasts less than a heartbeat. One blink later, I’m standing inside Guardians Headquarters, distant music filtering through the corridors.
“If that’ll be all?”
Eve smiles. “Thank you.”
He disappears in a flash of light. Eve leads me through the corridors, the distant music growing louder. She pushes through the double doors, raising her voice as I trail in behind her.
“Guys, I’m back!”
A chorus of voices greets us from inside.
“About time!”
“Food’s here!”
“Ozzy!”
I step through the doorway with a grin. “Amanda! Sorry I didn’t make it before the world went to shit. I—”
I stop dead. Standing in the middle of the room is a teenage boy I have never seen in my life.
“...Who the fuck are you?”
“I am Robot.”
My eyes widen. “Oh. OH SHIT! You’ve got a body!”
“Thank you!” Rex throws both hands into the air. He jabs a finger towards Rudy. “He stole my face!”
“I borrowed your genetic template,” Robot replies evenly.
“That is so much creepier!”
I slowly circle Robot once, looking him up and down. God’s honest truth, his entire arc slipped my mind somewhere between nearly dying to Battle Beast and stressing over Omni-Man.
“My real name is Rudolph Connors. I’m not an AI, but in fact am a thirty-two-year-old genius crippled at birth. Nice to meet you, Lantern. I hope my… new form won’t impede our friendship.”
I grin. “Nah, man. But Rudolph? I think I’ll call you Rudy. Though you’re more like Rex Remastered at the moment. Maybe cut your hair or something.”
Amanda covers her mouth to hide her laugh.
“...Isn’t that a compliment? Rex is seen as a generally attractive man. Though I considered acquiring your DNA too, I concluded your ring would make such a feat impossible,” Robot says.
“It’s not,” Rex and I answer in unison.
“Though I’m… flattered, you considered me, to be honest.”
Rudy shakes his head. “Based on my data, Monster Girl found you just as attractive as she did Rex. Perhaps more so—”
Amanda comes flying in to wrap her hands around his mouth, though Rudy does try to talk through her hands; the jeering laughter cuts his efforts short. I’m glad I arrived after the awkwardness of this whole reveal has generally faded to the wayside. Though it helps that everyone seems generally tipsy right now.
“Hey!”
Kate sidles up to me, holding out a red plastic cup. While two other Kates carry the beer we brought. Across from me, another Kate hands Eve a drink.
“Thought you two could use one.”
“Thanks!”
“Feeling better than before?” she asks Eve.
Eve sighs. “...Yes and no.”
“Feel you there.”
I clink my cup against theirs before taking a long, ice-cold gulp. God, that’s good. I smack my lips and pull out the piping hot chicken and fries from my subspace. A Kate clone shimmers into existence just to carry the takeaway bags away and waft the aroma around the room.
Rex nearly snaps his neck following the smell. “Ooh, chicken!”
“Courtesy of Rico’s.”
“I don’t know who Rico is,” Rex says around a mouthful of pizza, “but I already love him.”
“Unfortunately, he’s already spoken for.”
I flash the card clearing me to have a lifetime’s worth of free chicken.
Kate raises an eyebrow. “Lifetime? Whew.”
“I know, right? …Though I don’t know if he regrets it. We might’ve turned his restaurant into a tourist trap thanks to a rumour. The entire place thought Eve and I were on a date.”
Amanda starts grinning. “...Aww. You guys!”
“We’re not,” Eve cuts in.
“We weren’t,” I add. “But people certainly seemed to think so.”
Kate starts grinning. “Oh, that’s adorable.”
“It wasn’t adorable in the restaurant, I’ll tell you that much!” Eve insists. “One guy apparently had a bet with his buddy.”
Rex immediately points at us. “I would’ve made a killing.”
“You would’ve lost money,” Amanda points out.
“I like my odds.”
Kate laughs. “Don’t be so sure. Rex constantly deluded himself into thinking Eve was cheating on him.”
The room erupts into another round of laughter. I chuckle, feeling a satisfaction at the sound. I guess I’d forgotten what a room full of people I cared about sounded like. It feels… nice.
A heavy hand lands on my shoulder.
“You did good today.”
I turn to find Black Samson smiling down at me. Throwbolt’s behind him on the sofa with her phone in one hand and a bottle in the other. She pats the spot beside her in invitation. Shrinking Rae’s perched on the arm of the sofa, much smaller than normal. I think they’re watching something on Throwbolt’s phone. Samson and I walk and talk.
“I mean that,” Samson continues. “I rewatched the rescue footage after things cooled down.”
“...Being honest, man, I mostly just panicked in different directions.”
“Bullshit. I’ve seen experienced heroes freeze when a city’s falling apart. Don’t talk down on yourself. It’s not a good look.”
Shrinking Rae nods. “Own your shit. You threw yourself at Omni-Man and lived.”
“Alright, fine, I was absolutely terrified, but it was pretty awesome, wasn’t it?”
Throwbolt nudges my arm with her elbow. “Hell yeah it was.”
“So...” He offers me his hand. “Thanks.”
I don’t really know what to say, so I shake his hand, grinning like an idiot.
“Right!” I finish my beer in one long pull. “Kate! Hit me.”
A clone immediately appears beside me with another cup. I take a grateful sip before looking around the room.
“Y’know, since I survived Omni-Man and all that...”
“Still can’t believe that shit happened,” Shrinking Rae mutters.
I point towards the massive television mounted on the far wall. “Can we put a movie on or something?”
“YES!”
Eve smiles. “Please. I need a distraction before I find out we’ve gone viral or something.”
“Really?”
“Too late. Search up #AtomicLantern on Twitter.” Kate laughs at the betrayal on Eve’s face.
Rex trips over his feet on the way to the control panel. “Dibs on Die Hard!”
“That’s a Christmas movie, Rex!” Amanda yells. “Fuck no!”
“It absolutely is not! We’re watching it.”
“It absolutely is!”
Rex is already typed ‘Die’ before she reaches him. Mostly because Rudy’s holding her back. I sink deeper into the sofa, watching Amanda elbow Rex in the ribs and delete everything he’s typed in the search bar with a smile on my face.
...Yeah. This is nice.