Post by The Wonderful Wachter on Jan 28, 2012 3:43:55 GMT -5
I, Lantern
By The Wonderful Wachter
Day 1
Interstate, Route 61, the Highway that connects Blüdhaven to Gotham… God, how I hate thee. It’s my first, well, first real time driving from the Haven up 61 North towards Gotham City and it’s no different than any of the other times I’ve made the path. Correction, with me in the driver seat, I can’t waste the time playing games on my PSP or reading a book. Instead I get to sit here and remind myself that I am not my mother so I should not curse up a storm like a sailor. Oh… not to mention ignoring the ridicule I get for being behind the wheel of a Prius.
Stop.
Go.
Stop.
Go.
Always seems to be some sort of accident on this damn road, or the construction they’ve been working on since 2008, holding up the traffic. I tap my fingers on the steering wheel in impatience. Tap. Tap. Tap. Fuck it, I toss my hat into the passenger seat and flick off the ass in the mustang that just cut me off. My stomach growls and I almost grab the hat again to chew on to stave off both hunger and frustration.
I’m sixteen. There’s no reason I should have to go spend Christmas vacation with my dad while my mom visits my sister over in Gateway. I’m old enough to survive two weeks on my own. I do know how to feed myself.
Parents got divorced back when I was seven. Mother felt my father pressured us too much to excel. She thought we deserved the ability to be normal, that great genius did not require endless devotion. What can I say, she’s a free spirit. Her and my dad are complete opposites, probably part of the reason they split, just as likely the reason they got together in the first place. Hot, passionate love. Cold, dead marriage. Just the kind of life all middle-class boys dream of having when they become men.
Finally, after ten minutes of being locked in traffic, I discover the source of my fury… The ever present construction. Foiled again. Makes me happy I didn’t get that super-sized cup of Mountain Dew back before I pulled out of Blüdhaven. My bladder would be screaming at me by now.
Another six minutes and I get to the front of the line as a construction worker waves me on through. I don’t wave back. I hit the peddle, reveling in the freedom of movement. So marvelous. It’s like that angelic choir you sometimes hear after holding in pee for so long then finally getting the chance to go.
Now this is the life. 45 MPH in the construction zone. Once free, I head on up to sixty with glee. Maybe I’d finally make it to dad’s place before I could get any hungrier. No more stop and go. Now I swerve and pass. Freeeeeeeeeeedom.
A blue light shines out my window. I see it out of the corner of my eye, unaware of its approach in my mirror. Probably not a good sign. It keeps pace. Then
Crack
The glass shatters into my lap. My hand jerks the steering wheel to right, I swerve two lanes over. The blur attaches itself to my finger. It’s not painful, more surprising then:
<Marvin Kutler of Earth, your hope does not falter.>
The voice couldn’t do any more to surprise. Couldn’t ruin my otherwise clean, and so far brief, driving record any farther. Wheels head over the edge of the highway. My Prius bounces on the terrain. The front folds in as a smash into something. Then I see only white.
---
I see her, so beautiful, glowing. Her smile is bright, radiant even. There’s a bundle in her arms. A baby. The sight makes my insides twist. She’s so happy. Stephanie…
I reach out and brush a stray lock of sweat soaked blond hair from her face. She turns that smile on me. I smile back. A future I dreamed of.
---
Gotham General Hospital
“Helen, he is fine… You need to stop worrying… No, you don’t need to cut your vacation short… I said no. And don’t you dare drag Wendy away from her research. . . Look, I said he’s fine. The doctor’s said he’s fine… Have it your way… Here, talk to your mother. Tell her you’re not going to die any time soon.”
My father held the phone out to me. I stared at it uncomprehending for a few seconds. Long enough to make him question the reassurance he gave to my mother. My mind wasn’t here at the moment. I kept thinking back to that dream I had after the crash. My eyes trailed from the phone up my father’s arm to his face.
Some say we look alike. Certainly have the same jawline. Definitely had that same scrawny build that didn’t seem capable of putting on muscle no matter how hard we tried. I saw myself in him. At least, when I looked past the fact his hair had gone gray early and his green eyes were tinted behind the lenses of his glasses. I watched his face, every twitch, and I wondered if I could see myself in the face of that baby.
“Marvin?”
I snatched the phone out of his hand and immediately regretted it. “Marvin? My little Marmar? Are you okay? Answer me!”
“Yes Mom. I’m okay,” it was true in a sense. Physically I was fine. Mentally I was questioning what I saw and why I now had a blue ring on my finger. “Like dad said, you don’t need cut your vacation short.”
“Are you sure? Wendy would understand. She’s worried sick about you too. You’re twins after all.”
“I can walk, I don’t have blurry vision. Nothing is broken or bleeding. Just waiting on the doc to sign off on sending me home with Dad.”
Her voice changed tone slightly. “Are you sure you’re good to stay with him? I know how you two get along.”
“If I say no does that mean I can go back to Blüdhaven?”
His father rolled his eyes, knowing exactly what had just been asked.
“You have got to be kidding me! You got in an accident the first time I let you out on the highway unsupervised. You think I’m going to leave you home by yourself?” She shrieked loud enough for Dad to hear her.
“Listen Mom, the doctor is coming. I’ll call you when I get to Dad’s.”
“Okay, I love y—“
I ended the call.
“Wish I could get your mother off the phone like that.”
For a rare occasion, my father and I shared a smile. The same smile. Did that baby have my smile?
---
I see her, so beautiful, glowing. Her smile is bright, radiant even. There’s a bundle in her arms. A baby. The sight makes my insides twist. She’s so happy. Stephanie…
I reach out and brush a stray lock of sweat soaked blond hair from her face. She turns that smile on me. I smile back. A future I dreamed of.
“Marvin,” Stephanie whispers so as to not wake the little baby. “I was so scared. I didn’t want to be alone. Then you came… and the hope. You filled me with hope and I knew everything was… is going to be okay.”
I rest a reassuring hand on her shoulder. I see that blue ring shining, reflecting in her gorgeous eyes.
---
Day 2
Noah Kuttler’s Apartment, Gotham
That dream again. This time longer. I’m not sure if I should smile or what. I just know I woke up with a smile on my face for the first time since Stephanie started seeing that prancy-dancer boy. I’m happy, filled with hope. That baby didn’t look like him. And Stephanie, minus all the pregnancy changes, looked just the same as when I last saw her. If that was mine, it’d be so—
My smile turned to a frown. Soon. I know my father never really sat me down for the birds and the bees, the flowers and the trees talk but I’m not an idiot. I’d have used protection.
I look down at the ring again. I hadn’t taken it off since it appeared on my finger. Hadn’t tried. Hadn’t wanted to. For some reason it felt a part of me. My mind started to wander as my superb memory recalled a few rumors and pictures I had seen around the net.
The rest of my morning was spent in front of my Dad’s desktop – my laptop ruined in the crash. I looked up reports that had surfaced all over the world, usually about people who said they saw a colorful blur the size of a pebble streaking across the sky. A few who said they witnessed it attaching to people. There were even reports of people covered in some glowing aura, usually green flying about, saving the day. One report in Japan during their giant monster outbreak. Quite a few in New Mexico.
I prepared my lunch all by myself. Dad was out at work like he would be for all of break so it wasn’t too bad. He had the pleasure of doing boring risk assessment and assurance; I had the pleasure of a technological man cave worthy of Ted Kord. It was the same apartment he had in Gotham since I was a kid. Two bedroom. My sis and I used to take turns on who’d get the couch and who’d get the guest bed – read: his office – whenever we stayed for two weekends every month.
Some of the reports mentioned people gaining special abilities. Like, suddenly, they could create objects out of whatever the pictured. I sat the ham sandwich down on the kitchen counter and stared once more at the ring.
I pictured a knife to cut my sandwich in half.
Nothing.
Oh well. Probably just internet conspiracists.
After lunch, I decided to start my Giant Robot Marathon but not before checking my email and considering writing a letter to Stephanie for a good ten minutes. Her plane had left some time while I was in the hospital. I had missed it. And she was off on some ocean-jumping trip to visit a cousin across the sea. How desperate would it seem if I had emailed her now then asked to talk to her on skype at her earliest connivance?
I justified the email by saying to myself that I was only notifying her about my accident. As my closest friend since childhood, surely she’d understand. Want to check to make sure I was okay… At least, I hoped she would.
It wasn’t until halfway through Char’s Counterattack that I noticed something was off. I had the subtitles on though I didn’t need them. I had taught myself Japanese, Mandarin, French, and half a dozen more languages when I was supposed to be paying attention in class since third grade. I understood everything Amuro and Char said… I mean I understood. No exertion of brainpower to translate the words. I just knew.
And I just knew it had something to do with the ring around my finger.
---
Interstate, Route 61, the Highway that connects Blüdhaven to Gotham… again.
Another dream or vision, I could tell. The night-sky shined above with a full spectrum of light. Stars sparkled in colors of red, green, blue, violet, orange, and even the traditional yellow. They were far brighter than normal. Short of a few hundred miles clear of Jersey’s lights and smog, you’d never see that many glisten overhead. Obviously impossible to my intellectual mind.
I was alone.
Well, not quite. Cars lined the interstate as far as the eye could see. But all were empty like something out of a zombie apocalypse except without the bodies.
I clambered over the hood of a truck to get a better vantage point. Even recognizing it was a dream, there was nothing I could do to change things. Couldn’t wake myself up. Couldn’t make a milkshake appear. Nothing.
Movement off in the distance. My heart beats faster as I recognized the figure coming from the scene of my accident. My car was still there, smashed and all.
With nothing left to do, I leap down from the truck and head for the only other person in this dreamscape. Figure was bigger than me in mass though we were around the same height. His face was hidden behind a biker helmet. . . A red biker helmet. A leather jacket covered his chest, hiding some design on his shirt. I recognized him… or at least I thought I did.
“Todd?”
The figure’s laughter echoed about the empty interstate. He pulled aside the jacket to reveal a strange looking, bloody hand. I noticed for the first time it wasn’t the traditional biker helmet either. It wrapped about his head, protecting it, but there was no visor… Yet, I could see the whites of his eyes.
“The Red Hood.”
“One of them, at least. Surprised to see me?”
“Not quite sure why I’d dream of you…”
The Red Hood laughed again. “This is not quite a dream. It’s more… a training session. You’ve been accepted into a glorious new order in the universe. One who is destined to bring the Light of Hope to all living creatures. A Blue… Lantern, I guess you could call yourself.”
“Blue Lantern?” I asked incredulously. “Light of Hope? Who decided that blue is the color of hope?”
A rise of the shoulders came from Red Hood. “No clue. I’m just an artificial intelligence created by both yours and the ring’s subconscious based on someone you fear and see as competition.”
“Fear?” That confused me for an instant. “Why should I fear you? If the rumors are true, you’re the ‘good’ one. And you did save my life.”
“Ah… That’s where you’re wrong. Good is a matter of personal taste. Much like the belief in what is right or wrong. If you think back, I saved you because you were in the way. Not because of any caring feelings. Much like just because there is another Hood out there who kills on a grander scale doesn’t mean I wouldn’t hesitate to put you down like the pathetic, ‘ittle puppy you are.”
He had a point there, I had to admit. I started to feel a little bit of fear over his words. “Why competition?”
“Do you see these muscles? How stylish and badass I am? You’re just a nerd. Me? I’m a sex idol for teenage girls who think the punishment should fit the crime.”
My fists clenched and I took a calming a breath. The feelings he tried to awaken in me washed away, freeing me of its hold.
“You said training session.”
The eyes of the Red Hood twisted up in approval. “That’s right. Think of tonight as a tutorial and your next few days as a free trial for World of Warcraft. Pass it and subscribe then you live. Fail and… well, you’re not this power ring’s first choice.”
“How do I do it? How do I… sign up?”
A pair of yellow guns appeared in my ‘trainer’s’ hands. He aimed them at me. “Oh… you’ll know.” Bullets erupted from the muzzles. “Or you won’t.”
I threw up my hands and hoped I wouldn’t die like the ring’s last bearer. A blue aura surrounded me, a force field… a personal shield. The yellow slugs bounced off to no harm to me and dissipated.
“Quick on your feet, good.” A yellow fist shot out far too fast for me to dodge. “You need to be, hope is fleeting.”
The fist hit and it hit hard. I smashed into then through a truck, the aura protecting me. It flickered as I bounced across the road then the Red Hood was upon. Flying along my path with his own yellow field. He launched me into the air with another constructed fist. I tumbled upwards, uncontrolled.
“Weak. It requires focus. A dream. A sense of purpose.”
A flash of the baby crossed my mind. I controlled my upwards fall, stabilizing it under the assumption that if he could fly then so could I. I was right.
He was after me again accept this time he opened up the fist and reached down below to toss a car up at me. With the thought of the future fresh on my mind, I constructed a shield to extend out from me ring. In fact, I constructed more than a simple shield. I made it spring loaded, bounced the car right back at him to see him vanish in explosive flame.
“Imaginative,” he roared, flying up from the flame to meet me in midair, “but can you keep it up?”
A yellow sword slashed at me from below. A small buckler formed on my right arm, blocking.
Stephanie’s smile. Her laugh. The hope of being with her both now and in the future filled me. I knew it wasn’t love. She didn’t feel that way towards me and I was too intelligent to rely on a tenuous bond resulting in our being one, in joining together. But I could dream of it, I could hope.
Like the first shield before it, I formed more than your basic sword. Steampunk, baby. My sword had all the components needed to make a chainsaw into a sword. Had it designed on my lost laptop. Just never made it because of the needed power source and the fact I didn’t want my mom to think I was a sociopathic outcast looking to cut up the student body.
Now I could make it.
I could power it myself.
I cleaved through his sword like it was butter. Followed through with a quick backhand slice to cut through his barrier, through the fear he made me feel about potential death, about my inadequacy. It was nothing before the future. Of the dreams that may come.
He screamed and fell to the earth, landing hard on an SUV.
“Not bad… Not bad at all,” the Red Hood moaned. “But I have more than fear up my sleeve.”
At first I thought it was a trick of the eyes. He glowed red. No, he burned red. Like a Super Saiyan but the wrong color. His growl shook the ground and his anger exploded outward, sending cars flying everywhere. Reacting, I threw up sphere-shaped azure force field to protect myself. It worked for a time. Then he was on me. No constructs. Just raw power.
He slammed me to the ground like a basketball dunk. Red VS Blue. Somehow, it always came down to that. My force-field flickered. I called on my dream, my dreams, every thought I could muster that would fill me with hope.
But like he said, hope was fleeting. I could feel my resolve weaken. The field cracked as his fists turned to mallets. He slammed into me again and again. We were a crater now. The mental backlash, the scream of my ring—
---
Day Three
– the honk of a horn on the street outside my room. Saved by the traffic of Gotham. Who ever thought that was possible?
I felt tired, exhausted… like I hadn’t slept a wink but it was more than that. I glanced down at my hand to see the ring still glowing. I pulsed with my heart. Knowing the dream had been as real as it seemed, that it had been the ring trying to teach me, I focused my thoughts. A slender beam sprouted from the ring and let it open the curtains for me.
Sunlight. Glorious sunlight. For some reason, it seemed less real than the multicolored stars.
I kicked the comforter off and jumped to my feet. I had superpowers now. I could be a hero. I’d be more than a geek. More than someone in the background. I could be in the front, shining like a beacon of blue light.
---
Crime Alley, Gotham
Bad neighborhood. One I wouldn’t be caught dead in before I received the power ring. But the neighborhood was perfect for my purposes. Where better to make my debut as a super hero? I simply had to walk about and wait. Not like crime took a break just because of the holidays.
Still, I tried not to make myself too noticeable. I cut back on the hipster look. Stuck with something basic, a warm fleece hoodie with a beanie to keep my ears warm. I had ideas in mind that I had already tested. A uniform. I could summon it at will to protect me and my identity. Even practiced making lenses flare if the focused on me.
I didn’t have to walk about long. I saw a group of men, five of them, a few around my age, encompassing a woman coming back from her last minute Christmas shopping. They pushed her down an alley and her screams were help were lost in their laughter.
I followed them. I drew on my feelings of hope and let a tendril snake out to tap one on his shoulder from a distance. The opposite shoulder from me. As expected he turned in that direction then looked my way. A punching glove knocked him to concrete. The other men watched me in disbelief. From the woman, I felt a flow of energy… something new. Wow. I could feel my strength grow.
They pulled out makeshift weapons. I lifted up a dumpster and turned it upside down atop of two of them without ever moving. A second later, it crashed to the ground trapping them. The remaining tried to flee. I wouldn’t let them. I pointed my left at one to launch a net, slamming him against the wall. The fifth and final one, I formed a lasso to drag him back to me and hold him in the air.
“Looks like you get a piece of coal for Christmas.” I slammed my forehead into his. I felt nothing because of my aura. No telling what he felt except the lights going out.
The lady thanked me profusely. That warm feeling grew. I wished her a Happy Holidays and told her to get a move on it. Not a bad first day on the job.
---
Day 4
Kane Center for the Arts
Christmas Eve. Dad and I were at a fundraiser event by the Kane Family. He had been invited by one of his clients and couldn’t turn them down. He also refused to accept my pleas to stay at home. Bad for the family image. Yeah, Dad? Well, I don’t see Beth or Kate here supporting Robert Kane’s attempts at whatever this is for. All I could see was a bunch of Gotham Elite all dolled up for the event.
At least I managed to keep my scarf. May have been a suit and tie affair but that didn’t mean I couldn’t have some flair.
Dad socialized. I sat at our table playing with my phone. I texted Wendy as she complained about Mom’s cooking. She was lucky. I had to live with it full time. Seemed like it was going to be a boring evening until the front door exploded open with splinters.
Five people flew through on playing cards. I knew who they were automatically. Everyone knew who they were. They had existed for centuries according to the history books and internet. The Royal Flush Gang. And this was just one of their most recent incarnations.
They hovered about, the Queen’s body looked tight though obviously mature beneath a skintight white and black suit. She fired a ray from her scepter, blowing up tables at random. The King went straight towards the man of honor, Robert Kane, he unsheathed a sword and pointed it at the man’s throat. “Thou know the routine. All your valuable baubles or your lives.”
Original.
As people screamed in horror, I backed away and hid behind a hanging tapestry with batcrest of the Kane family. I held up my hand, ring shining blue, my costume encompassed my body on command with the azure aura. Blue goggles with a targeting system built into them covered my eyes. A shirt of the same color found its place beneath a white vest, half extended down my right leg and pulled shut with a sash. Black gloves and boots protect my appendages and I finished off the ensemble with loose pants.
I forgot to get rid of the scarf.
I dove out from behind the column an instant later. A lasso yanked the sword free of the King’s grasp. The Jack and Ten who had been collecting the valuables turned to face me. Knives flew from the Jack and bounced off me. I noticed the Ten, hesitating as my hormones took over, she was beautiful… or at least without seeing her face, I assumed so. Skintight, half black, half white clothing. She smiled at me, knowing the affect.
It was enough of a distraction. The Ace slammed down on top of me with force to rival the Dream-Red Hood. Hurt like hell. Knocked my breath out of me. He was massive, super strong, and he wasn’t human according to my goggles. Thinking hard about the future with me, Stephanie, and the baby, I blasted him free then in the next second I tore his head off and let the circuitry spark.
Ten tried to take advantage of me but flew out of the way. A giant staple gun appeared in my hand and I stapled her limbs to the tile. There was slight cheering as I spun to take down the King with a closeline. Quickly, I looked for the Queen.
Her scepter flared brilliantly. I caught the increase in power as a beam shot from the orb to cut through the ceiling. Reacting, I threw up a dome to protect everyone below. At first I felt the pressure of the impact. It was exhausting… Then the people took notice. Their hope filled me and I in turn redesigned the dome to let the rubble fall free to the side.
Things weren’t over yet. The Jack had fled but the Queen was coming for Ten to free her. Amped up beyond what I could originally imagine, a construct shot from my ring… a perfect replica of the Nu Gundam only at the scale of their android. The scepter tried to destroy it, to harm it. It was nothing. His beam rifle blasted her card so she fell on her ass. He picked her up by the cape, crushed the scepter, and held her there.
Now all I had to do was wait for the authorities to arrive. There’d be enough time later to track down the Jack. My goggles could see the trail his flying card left behind.
A stream of blue caught me inside it. I felt the ring speak to me for the first time since the dream. Old words. Ancient words. In a voice not my own, my mouth opened and recited an oath I knew would become my creed.
“Through rage and fear, ire and fright
The strong may flee, mighty take flight,
Despite it all, I’ll do what’s right,
Blue Lantern shall always burn bright!”
---
Day 10
Noah and Marvin Kuttler Apartment
Gotham Gazette called me the “Blue Blur.” My tweaking of my aura to disrupt filming seemed to be working. Any time someone managed to get a shot of me whether it be from a newscopter or a cell phone, all they could see was a bluish blur. A lens flare. I saw no reason to correct them by calling myself a Blue Lantern. It just wasn’t our way. We inspired, we gave hope, and… I glanced down at the ring for what had to be the thousandth time… we sacrificed if need be. I knew this now.
Ours was neither the sword nor the shield. It was the heart. That beating drum that kept armies marching, which kept those filled with fear fighting even after they had run out of ammo to defend the weak. We were Blue Lanterns.
“I can’t believe you got into that bad of an accident and came out unharmed,” exclaimed a surprised Stephanie over Skype. She was just as pretty as I remember though she seemed to have a few bruises. Looked like she had been fighting.
“Not all of us are made of glass,” I joked back in reference to the numerous wounds and scrapes she had been getting as she tried new “hobbies” to cope with the loss of her father.
“Still… you okay?”
I laughed bigger and louder than she had probably ever heard from me. “Better than okay. Dad and I are getting along great. I’m even coming to like Gotham. Don’t even miss the smell of Blüdhaven anymore.
Her brow furrowed in concern. Probably thought the wreck did some damage to my head. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I might stay here with my Dad,” I said it as nonchalantly as I could muster. “Thinking about finally reaching my potential. He supports it far more than my mother.”
“Oh… I hope you come back. You’d be able to reach your potential in the Haven just fine.” Her smile was sad but her eyes filled with mirth. “I’d hate to only be able to see you on the weekends and I just don’t know how the kids will cope.”
My mind flashed back to the ring’s first lesson in hope… How it taught me the value of the future.
“I’m sure they’ll be fine,” I joked back. “And then they’ll get double the Christmases.”
“Funny.”
“I like to think so.”
“I’ll see you when I get back, right? You’ll be there to welcome me home with your bad taste in hats and sweaters?”
I lean back in my chair, fake offended, but in reality my heart skipped a beat. My hope for her affection… it almost fired off the ring prematurely.
“I’ll be there.”
“Good, catch you later. Gotta get back to…” she hesitated in what she was about to say next. “Well, you know. Bye.”
And that was it. Stephanie Brown. The Girl Next Door. We didn’t love each other but we’d always be there when the times were dark. Just like I had been there for her after the news of her father, her shoulder to lean on, to cry on. Didn’t matter anymore if that baby was mine. Didn’t change things in the least for the ways I felt about her. I’d be there for her when the time came.
It’s my job to give hope. Nothing more, nothing less.
I’m Marvin Kuttler of Earth, my hope does not falter.
I am a Blue Lantern.
