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thejusticelounge2013-02-08 09:24 am
bossymarmalade) wrote in thejusticelounge2013-02-08 09:24 am
Entry tags:
playback
Guy stepped off the Zeta pad on the roof of Warriors with Kyle, looking rather green, and not in the usual way. “Wuhh…that’s…” He glared back at the offending Zeta pad, as he almost dropped his flowers, new Whitman book, and his battery. He was of course, wearing the sweater under his uniform, which looked slightly different than what people are used to, with its chains on the broader belt, and the unusually thick boots.
Kyle patted Guy on his back before floating off the zeta tube. “Not a fun ride, I know. But next time, your ring’ll know what to expect and compensate, don’t worry….” Kyle waited for Guy to recover and a thought occurred to him as he looked at the ring on Guy’s left hand. Guy might have lost his memories…but the ring hadn’t. Something to think about, later once Guy was settled in. He motioned to the stairwell. “So, let’s show you, ah, your home.”
“Sure…” he was looking around at the scenery, taking in the fact he’s on a rooftop, with gardens and a… “HOT TUB? No way, is that ours? I’ve always wanted a hot tub!”
Kyle paused, realizing Guy isn’t following. He smiled at all of Guy’s marveling “Heh don’t I know it. You wouldn’t stop talking about the hot tub, even built it yourself, dude. Works like a charm too, people /love/ it.” They trotted down once Guy was ready. “And here’s su casa, amigo!” Kyle had cleaned the place up, although he still hadn’t replaced a lot of the furniture and the kitchen island counter was still sloped off and broken. “It’s ah…a little bare in here right now, risks of being a Lantern means sometimes shit goes down in a Lantern home. You know how it is. The amount of times my apartment in New York used to get trashed, heh….”
Guy looked around, really impressed. He was listening to Kyle with one ear, but taking everything in around him. It was all new. ALL of it. “This is kinda snazzy…check out the TV, a flatscreen! I’ve been saving…heh…I was saving up for one six years ago. Anyway. Nice place…” he nodded approvingly. “Woah, lookit that view…” He was like a kid excited over a luxury hotel room.
Kyle nodded as well. “A-yup. And it’s our place.” Kyle stands in the middle of the apartment and motions vaguely. “Our coffee maker, our corkboard. Our Playstation, our bathroom. That’s your room, over there.” Kyle had made sure to remake the bed, since he didn’t exactly want to explain why it would’ve looked slept in.
Guy went over and poked his head into his room, hoping to find something familiar. Anything. He said nothing, but put down the poetry book and power battery on the bedside table before coming back out. “So…Kyle…” he returned to the kitchen, trying to not feel like a guest. “Y’know, I haven’t had a roommate since my freshman year in college. This works for us, okay? What about dates? Do we got some kind of a do not disturb signal I oughtta know about?”
Kyle was getting some beers from the fridge and he grinned at Guy, laughing almost shyly. “Well I dunno about twenty-nine year old Guy, but thirty-whatever Guy was a bit more, ah, low key when it came to bringing home the ladi -ah - the dates, heh. Honestly, we didn’t really have too much trouble navigating around that? But dude…” Kyle handed an open bottle over to Guy, making sure to remember to offer it to his left side. “Nothing to worry about right now. I guess…guess your room was just a room huh? What do you think, though? Wanna give rooming a try? I promise - no weirdness. If you try it out and it’s too much, then you can always head back to the Watchtower. But for now…I dunno. It’s fine if you think it’s just a regular new roommate situation? You don’t know me from Tomar-Re. We just conveniently happen to be Lanterns, heh.”
Guy nodded his thanks for the beer and took a swig, then smiled appreciatively as he gasped, “Ahhhh”. “After three days of hospital food, THAT tastes so good, I tell ya.” He silently measured Kyle again as the younger man spoke. Guy couldn’t place it, perhaps it was his friendliness, or the sense that he seemed genuinely wanting to help, but Guy felt moved to accept whatever he had to offer. Kyle was right, he didn’t know him. But so far there had been no Hal-esque lectures, no suffering patience or barely tolerating him that John had always given him. This guy seemed a bit wholesome, sortof, but not in a really annoying way. And if it didn’t work out, there was always the Watchtower. What did he really have to lose? “Yeah, nah, this…works. I’m willin’ to give it a try, sure.” He looked around the room again, taking another swig, “Y’know, I didn’t recognize anythin’ in there. I saw a Michigan pennant, but it’s gotta be new. Well, newer. Y’know I used to play for Michigan? Football.”
“Chido chidochidochido. Let’s get to know each other all over again. Me: older and wiser; you: younger and…and…” Kyle faltered to try and find an adjective and then burst out laughing, spreading out his arms. “And indescribable! Ahaaaaa.” He relaxed, glad to know the whole living situation is settled, at least for now. That was good enough for Kyle. “Not gonna lie, I’m looking forward to this. I mean - when we do get your memories back - and we /will/, I might as well try and make your time before that as awesome as possible, right?” He chuckled at Guy’s football comment. “I know. We were planning to visit your old…college I guess? Michigan State? But that got backburnered, because…well we got busy with other things, heh.” Kyle shook his head again, his mouth posed over the bottle as he considered. “Man….six years…”
Guy gave him a mildly disdainful look. “Nah, not Michigan STATE, those guys are pansies. Last year they- …I mean…ah, y’know what? Screw it. I ain’t gonna keep correctin’ myself. If I say ‘last year’, you’ll know what I mean, right? Seven years ago? Anyway, they suck. End of story. I played for Michigan U. Linebacker. Woulda made NFL ‘cept I blew out my knee.” He took another swig. “We could check it out, still, right? Maybe after New Year’s? So how about you, you play any sports?”
Kyle crowed. “Ahhh Michigan U! My mistake, and a grievous one, no doubt. Forgive this lowly non-football fan - lo siento, lo siento!” Kyle stopped his gentle joshing, but the look on Guy’s face seems like he’s more enjoying Kyle’s dramatic self-deprecation. He nodded, grinning widely. “Check it out? Hell, we should go see a game. I’ve never been to a football game. Is Michigan U renowned for their cheerleaders?” He shook his head, laughing. “No sports. I played soccer as a kid, but mostly because my mom thought I was getting a little chubby in the cheeks, heh. I’m…” He smirked again, looking a little sheepish. “I’m an artist. Artist for pay! I work in video games, concept art. Oh man - you should see how much video games have changed! You loved the football ones, said it was pretty much like playing for real. Except y’know. On a couch. Heh.”
“Alright,” he nodded, “We’ll catch a game, sounds good. An’ let’s hope the cheerleaders can still shake their stuff for the Wolverines as well as they did in my day,” he wiggled his eyebrows. He processed what Kyle said about being an artist, and raised a brow. “Video games, huh? I’ve seen come pretty cool stuff at comic cons like that. He glanced at the console near the TV, and realized there was only a love seat and a reclining armchair, and they were arranged as though they once made room for a couch. “I’m guessin’ a couch in on the list of stuff to replace?” he smirked.
Kyle snapped and pointed, setting his beer down on the counter. “That’s right! Income! I haven’t shown you the best - arguably - part of this whole shebang, duh Rayner.” Kyle motioned for him to follow downstairs, where they emerged into the bar. It was a Monday afternoon after the lunch hour, so it was very quiet, only a patron or two at the bar. Kyle held his hands out pivoting to look at Guy with a huge grin. “The bar! Welcome to Warriors, Guy. Version three-point-oh. Co-owned by you and yours truly.”
Guy gawked at the decor, the feel of the place. “Woah…this is like…a theme bar! An’ it’s successful? Are we rich?” he reached for a menu and started flipping through it. “Lantern Rings? But those are onion…heh…HAH! I get it! That’s a GOOD one!” he chuckled, finding the simple humor funnier than usual. His laughter tapered off, though, and he scratched his head. “What’s with all the rainbow colors? It looks like a freakin’ Pride parade.”
Kyle chuckled, choosing to not /quite/ answer that, not yet. “Well Warriors IS on Venice Beach, bro. Gotta cater to the clientele, y’know? It’s just good business. We’re not rich! We’re just savvy. Well - you’re savvy. I’m just here for moral support. And to look pretty. C’mon…” He lead Guy to (what Kyle considered to be) the best part of the bar, the private function room in the back, with all the Green Lantern memorabilia as well as the memorial to Jenny. “This room, well. There’s a lot of history in this room, man. Stuff…a lot of stuff you might not remember. Maybe some you do? When the Warriors in Manhattan was destroyed, you still managed to salvage a lot of old stuff. Stuff before my time, too.” Kyle motioned to a tiny statue of Ch’p.
“Ch’p!” Guy immediately went to the statue, most certainly something he recognized. “Aww, man…” His death was still very fresh for Guy, and he genuinely felt bad when he’d heard he’d been killed so senselessly. “He was a brave little guy. Annoying sometimes, but…he was alright…” He was quiet for a moment, then looked around, noting Jenny’s statue as well. “Is this kind of a memorial room, then?”
“Ch’p, yeah! That’s right. I know his predecess…his postdecessor? The squirrel that came after him. B’dg!” Kyle came over and stood next to Guy, looking over at Jenny’s statue. “Partially. Can’t be a Lantern without all aspects, y’know? So you just started collecting - good memories, sad memories…” Kyle sighed softly, smiling as he approached Jenny’s memorial, bending to one knee so that he can look up at her. “You made this one for me, and Alan. Alan’s not around he hasn’t seen it yet, but I know he’d just be so touched. He’d love it. He’d love everything about it, her likeness is perfect and this was just so unexpected and…” Kyle’s breathing got a little laboured, and he reached up to brush a couple fingers against her cool green face. “…damn I miss her. I mean Alan misses her. I mean, I do too, and…”
“You and Jenny…?” Guy held a breath, hoping Kyle wouldn’t break down into tears. “I didn’t know. Sorry.”
“S’okay. It’s been a while…” Kyle hooted out a breath and stood up again, smiling at him. “When she died, you were there for me, to help me get through it. Pretty much by being…” Kyle didn’t want to say ’ the guy you are now’ because that wasn’t exactly accurate, or fair. But it was indeed Guy’s snarky, upbeat and often callous attitude that had helped soothe Kyle’s frayed nerves. “…pretty much by being awesome.” Kyle clapped his shoulder, then leaned back with a smirk. “But you already knew that, heh.”
“Damn straight,” he nodded, a smirk coming to his lips, and glances around the room again. A picture catches his eye, one of Hal, John, himself, and though it took him a moment, that was definitely Kyle Rayner. It wasn’t a solemn picture at all. It was…weird. He stepped closer and studied it. “Huh. Yeah, this is the haircut John was sportin’ when…when…I guess it was when he and J’onn an’ Big Blue came an’ got me on Apokalips. So when was this taken? Were we all drunk or somethin’?” That thought amused him: Hal Jordan and John Stewart, drunk. Like that time he tampered with the water supply at the Earth Citadel. He chuckled softly to himself.
“Ahhh yeah! A few years back? Before you and me went to Oa. Maybe we were drunk, I can’t remember, honestly. And this one…” Kyle pointed over to one of Guy, John, Alan and himself in his old penguin suit. Guy and John didn’t have their GL uniforms on. “That’s a painting I did of us! With Alan. We were all pretty good buddies back when I was starting out. Poker games and tons of stories and advice that you old fogies were all falling over yourselves to out to me. Well.”
Kyle grinned. “You guys were old back when I was like twenty one, heh. And not that I didn’t appreciate it. I needed all the help I could get.” /After Alex was killed,/ he addded to himself. Kyle still believed that if he only had Alex and no one else, he’d have been just as good a Lantern. If not more. But he was losing focus on Guy, and he tuned back in and smiled. “Yeah we need a new couch, heh. Sorry, I forgot to answer you about that.”
“Just kinda hard to imagine us all…friends. Them an’ me, I mean.” He looked from one picture to the other, “So where was Hal when ya painted this?” He had to admit, the kid was good. Certainly good enough to do art for a living. “An’ how come ya didn’t paint me an’ John in our uniforms?”
“Mmmm that’s a long story, which part do you wanna hear?” Kyle hoped he would say he wanted to hear the one about himself. Trying to explain Hal as Parallax or John as a Darkstar might have taken all night. Per story. And then some. “But yeah! I mean - you know, the GLC’s really into being, ah, rah-rah Corps these days. Fraternity, brotherhood…or…well, whatever the more equal way of saying that is. Peoplehood? Oh but then that doesn’t include aliens…hm…”
Guy glanced down at the fingers of his left hand and ran over the last few questions in his mind. In spite of photographic evidence to the contrary, he really didn’t care about Hal or John. “Okay, save their stories for another night. I wanna know why I’m not in uniform there. But…” he gestures to the main part of the bar, “We’re the owners, right? We eat free? Let’s grab a few brewskies and some grub an’ you can fill me in?”
“Sounds like a plan,” Kyle said and they went to the bar and picked their food, returning with their beers to the private function room. Kyle just preferred it in there, if they weren’t going to eat upstairs. Which, with the lack of couch and dining table, this was the best place to be. “Sooooo you stopped being a Lantern before I met you, actually. By the time you and I met, you were a, like…kinda like a mutant, like the X-Men? You changed, like…became more about using an exosuit and…and decided to branch out on your own, y’know? Without the GL suit. Too much baggage,” Kyle said with a bit of affection, tugging at Guy’s collar. “Anyway…um, something I wanted you to try out - your memories got blitzed, but…I wonder if your ring still…uh…remembers? Maybe even just a way to report to you, once you know what to look for. What if you asked it to relay what happened to you in, say, the last half of 2006?”
Guy pops the nachos chip he’s holding and wipes the grease off on the leg of his GL uniform before holding the ring up to get a good look at it. He suspected he could get the ring to fill him in, and in fact his ring might even have volunteered the information, if it wasn’t sensing Guy’s own hesitation to consult it in the first place. So many things had gone wrong, it seemed, that he was hesitant to relive them again, all for the first time. “I guess…I could give it a try.” He took a breath and said it aloud, for Kyle’s sake, “Ring. Show me…ah…highlights? Show the highlights of my experiences in 2006…Display, ah…make it August to the end of December…an’ exclude sexual experiences.” He cleared his throat and smirked at Kyle over his ring, “Save those for later.”
[Acknowledged. Playback, beginning.]
Kyle clapped a hand over Guy’s ring. “Just be prepared for anything. Er, except sexual experiences, of course.” Kyle added with a small laugh. He leaned forward, curious to see as well as he slowly removes his hand from the ring.
The ring began to show the League members he recalled from back then, in their daily routines. Around October, the images showed Hal Jordan speaking to Guy in his apartment. “Ring, slow down…I wanna hear this…”
Kyle watched as well, captivated. It was weird, seeing them, seeing them existing before him like this. As egotistical as it sounded, the history was always just that - a history to be retold in anecdotes, not seen visually. As always visual things had a much deeper effects on Kyle.
The ring continued, playing it almost like a movie. Two holographic Green Lanterns, one Guy and the other Hal, recorded for posterity, began arguing about the position of Earth’s official Green Lantern. Hal had come back to take his old job back, effectively, and claimed he had the blessing of the Guardians. Guy maintained the position wasn’t open for them to assign him to, and besides, Guy felt he was already doing a better job than Hal.
Kyle smiled a bit at that, glancing up at the redhead for a moment.
And then Guy called Hal Jordan, the Hal Jordan, a coward.
“Oh ho ho!” Kyle couldn’t help but say. He was so engrossed, it was like watching a movie. And Kyle was one of those annoying people who talks to movies.
Guy’s mouth worked and twisted as he saw the playback, heard his own words, his eyes showing the same conviction the holographic Guy did. “What did you say, Gardner?” Hal said slowly, in a dangerous tone. Guy repeated himself, and challenged Hal to a fight: the loser has to give up his Ring…
Kyle only then noticed the fully white side panels in Hal’s hair, after hearing that particular tone that seemed more like a portent of things to come. He tensed just slightly.
They fought, launching construct after construct at one another, an all-out frenzied battle between them. Guy laughed as he watched the replay show Hal taking a surprise missile shell to the gut that launched him skywards, after he foolishly thought he’d beat Guy simply by pummeling him below the surface of the street.
“Reminds me of…” Kyle drifted off, since that was a story for another day.
Someone stopped them, reminding them they were innocents all around, and they were trashing entire buildings in the process. Green Lanterns started gathering from all around, to bear witness to the fight. The two men removed their rings, Hal looking more chagrined than Guy about the damage they had been doing. They started to punch each other….
Kyle switched to watching Guy’s face, trying to gauge his reaction to seeing all of this.
In the recording Guy was clearly winning at this point in the fight, his rage in full force, beating the tar out of Hal. He quickly got Hal backed against a building wall, and was landing blow after blow, raging against Hal. The Guy that was observing stared at the recording, his face a very definite mix of emotions: smugness, then…uneasiness? Seeing himself from the outside like this, as angry as this, as brutal…it was clearly not how he sees himself, but he stays resigned. And then a realization came to him, one that the recording Guy hadn’t had himself yet… “He’s not tryin’ to hit back…he’s…no…Hal’s pullin’ a rope-a-dope…”
“Eh? What’s a rope-a-dope?” Kyle hoped it had nothing to do with prison showers…
Guy clenched his fist, angry that Hal was pulling such a trick…and angrier still at himself for having bought into it. “He’s letting me tire myself out…” Guy filled him in. “He’s just covering and taking it, hoping I’ll get too tired to punch back anymore…”
“Oh! Like in boxing movies….hey…hey it’s okay, man. It’s all in the past.” Kyle said, trying to sound soothing.
Guy watched in dismay as he saw it unfold, his inevitable defeat. He also heard the overwhelming cheers as the spectators, people he thought he could count on, start to see their hopes turn around and cheer on Hal. Ice held her hands over her mouth as the Guy in the recording could barely stand up, and was swaying on his feet. Hal faced off against him and pulled back, laying the final punch of the fight: a hook that knocked Guy off his feet and sent him flying.
Kyle leaned back. “Whoa. That was some fight.”
He lay semi-conscious on the ground, not moving, as Hal stalked a circle around him, ready to knock him back down the moment he tried to get up. His eyes were narrow, threatening, every bit an alpha male showing his dominance. Ice supported him to a half-sitting-up position, cooing over him, and glaring at Hal Jordan.That’s the spunky ice goddess I remember, he thought. Hal extended his hand. “Guy?”
The defeated man finally nodded and admitted his defeat, and took Hal’s hand to shake it. It had been a good fight, and the Guy watching the recording nodded as well.
“…Oh it’s not done yet. Okay…” Kyle observed.
“No, Guy. The ring,” Hal said coldly in the playback.
“What?” the real Guy gasped, further dismayed as the recording Guy, the punch-drunk, disoriented, recording Guy slowly remembered what the deal had been. He watched himself hand over the ring, painfully, but not trying to weasel his way out of it.
“He thought I was gonna…did….did you see that?” He looked up at Kyle.
Kyle was watching Guy now, worried that this might not’ve been the best way to give him insight on a portion of his past. It was clearly painful and harming him more than helping him. “…see what, Guy?”
“Hal thought I was gonna welch on the deal…”
Kyle nodded, and spoke somewhat cautiously. “I…I think he was just being an asshole, Guy. I don’t think he was thinking much beyond: I want the ring.”
Guy watched himself walk away, Ice in his wake, trying to comfort him, as someone - he couldn’t see who, since it was “off-camera”) remarked that Guy being out of the League made him think he’d died and gone to Heaven.
“Ring…stop.”
[Acknowledged. Playback stopped.]
“Guess that answers my question…why I didn’t have a uniform.”
“Guy…did you hear what I said?”
“Yeah. That Hal was bein’ an asshole.”
“Well…he was.”
“From the sounds of the spectators, he wasn’t the only one,” Guy growled.
“Looked to me like all Hal cared about was the ring. It was all pretty…Gollum and Frodo, really. As for the others….” Kyle was at a loss, since he didn’t really know any of them, other than J’onn.
“Doesn’t matter,” he picked up his beer, though his voice is subdued, “Most of ‘em are dead or MIA anyway…right?”
“Pretty much.” Kyle sipped his beer contemplatively. It sounded morbid, but…that was the way it was. “That’s life. Or death, I guess, in some cases.”
“Still don’t make sense…” Guy mused into his mug, “I mean, by the end of 2006 I don’t got a ring, or any friends, obviously. So how’d I go from that…” he pointed up at the picture of the four Earth Lanterns, all in uniform, clowning around together, “To THAT?”
“Simple,” Kyle said, unable to stop himself. “You met me.” He smiled slowly.
Guy blinked. “Wait, so…you got me back in the Corps?”
Kyle wagged his head back and forth. “In a way. A really long, winding way, I guess I’m kinda responsible for that, yeah. But what I mean is - you helped me become the Lantern I am today, even when you weren’t Lanterning yourself. And on the bright side for now we know that —” Kyle tapped Guy’s ring with a finger. “—that works for memory recall. Maybe we can try it again with different stuff….maybe I can use mine for the same thing. Honestly, I’m better with visuals than words, so.”
The redhead nodded, “Yeah…I guess. I mean, at least it ain’t someone’s version of events. I…” he looked at his ring, “Someone could feed me total bullshit, and I wouldn’t know one way or the other. Booster an’ Beetle, they used to try an’ trick me all the time.” On account of the fact they thought I was stupid, he added to himself.
“I worked with Booster a couple times.” Kyle snorted, “Whatta twonk. Seriously how’d anyone take him seriously? He’s as bad as Plast - actually no, Plastic Man was way more annoying.”
Guy raised his mug to tap Kyle’s. “They can’t all be Green Lanterns, amirite?”
“Ahahaah! Oh man, the idea of someone like Booster even getting a ring on his finger? The ring’d be like ‘Ahh! No way! Please don’t make me!’” Kyle made a scaredy-cat face and then chuckled. “Ahhh, I’m just being an ass. He’s all right. Just not near me, heh.”
Guy snorted with his own laughter. “Speakin’ of asses…” he nodded to the same picture of himself and Hal, John and Kyle, “I’m gonna assume Jordan stopped bein’ one, since we’re all…well…palin’ around there. Was it the hair dye, or did it take more than that?”
“Something like that.” Kyle repressed another grin and took another gulp of beer. “He can still be a bit of an ass, but…”Probably not the best time to bring up Parallax, not yet. ”…But aren’t we all? It’s what makes us such great Lanterns, amirite or amirite?”
“Yeahhhh, now yer talkin’!” he wiped his hand on his thigh again and held it up for a high-five.
Kyle sat up, grinning. “Raise your other hand!” As Guy raised his construct hand, Kyle constructed his own, sending over an enthusiastic high five to his friend. “So…your head feeling a little stuffed with information? And beer? How about…we take a fly?”
“Great idea. Maybe even find some disaster to avert! I wanna see you in action, Kid.” He pushed his chair back and picked up his mug, draining the rest of it, then released a loud belch. “Yeah, m’gonna like livin’ over a bar. This is the best.”
“Well allllright, just get yourself ready to be wowed, ese,” Kyle said, getting out of his chair so fast, he toppled it. Kyle laughed, bending slowly to right it, eventually standing back up again. “I…may not be at my best…feeling a little tipsy. Okay maybe I’ll be better than my best, since you got your beer goggles on too…ehehe…” Kyle carefully headed back upstairs. “Let’s recharge first. Hey! Check out my battery, it’s all sleek and modern compared to your old fashioned one, ah ha ha…”
“Hey, speak for yerself, I can hold my liquor!” Guy shot back as he followed. When he saw Kyle’s battery, he was somewhat dubious if it was truly ‘better’. “Sure, it’s sleek, but looks like ya could tip it over more easy,” he observed. Then he added a bit of a taunt, “Hey, too bad ya can’t fill it with water an’ use it as a novelty vase!”
“Shhh’up!” Kyle laughed, nudging at Guy playfully as he swung his battery between them. “It’s totally awesome. Sure yours got some retro merit, I’ll give you that….” He looked over at Guy with a sly smirk, “If you’re into the whole vintage classic ‘Hal Jordan’ style of battery.” Kyle realized he was kind of stepping in Weirdsville Territory with this line of conversation, considering his own context. But whatever. Hal was in Coast City, and he was here in LA and taking care of his friend; so in Kyle’s opinion, anything was game to keep the mood positive.
“Ohhh ho ho ho ho….Dem’s fightin’ words,” Guy laughed back. “Jordan himself is plain vintage. My battery? It’s all classic, emphasis on class.” He nodded at the battery between them, “C’mon, let’s see if this new battery of yours can charge both our rings, or if we should just stick a lampshade on it. TELL me ya ain’t usin’ a new oath too?”
Kyle blinked at him in a straight-faced and guileless manner. “Sure we are! It’s the GLC way.” He started to recite, still with his serious business face intact. “En el Día más brillante, en la noche más oscura…isn’t that how it goes?”
For a long moment, Guy bought it…then realized he’s having him on. “Oh, ha HA. Yer a regular Paul Rodriguez, ain’t ya?” He shook his head with a rueful grin, “C’mon, Chucklehead, I wanna fly. I’ll even do my John Stewart flyin’ impression. It works better if ya hum the Nutcracker Suite while ya do it.” He raised his hand before him, “In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight…”
The younger man was grinning as he spoke the rest of the oath. “Let those who worship evil’s might, beware my power, Green Lantern’s light!!!” The recharge felt the same as the first time he did it - muted, not exactly half-power, but more as if the bar was lowered and it was…full at half-capacity. Hal had warned Kyle it would feel weird for him, in particular; the youngest Lantern never had to deal with the yellow-impurity Green Lantern power. This was still a new experience for Kyle; and a little disconcerting. He was used to accessing a helluva lot more power, even when he was a newbie. Still, he smiled at Guy with what he hoped was the same amount of satisfaction that was reflected in Guy’s face. “Much better.”
For his part, Guy noticed nothing out of the ordinary at all, other than he was recharging with someone, and the battery was so different in style from his own. “Now we got our daily dose, let’s hit the skies and look awesome doing it!” He led the way out, already levitating as his feet touched the stairs. He gave a feral grin back over his shoulder as Kyle cleared the stairwell, and shoved his stump, a construct hand forming on it belatedly, at a solitary white cloud high in the sky and miles out to sea. “Last one to that cotton ball has to take out the trash,” he challenged, and gave Kyle a split-second grace to mentally process that before he took off like a shot. He heard his partner protest but follow instantly, and smiled to himself. No, Kyle was certainly no Hal Jordan…and that suited Guy Gardner just fine.
Kyle patted Guy on his back before floating off the zeta tube. “Not a fun ride, I know. But next time, your ring’ll know what to expect and compensate, don’t worry….” Kyle waited for Guy to recover and a thought occurred to him as he looked at the ring on Guy’s left hand. Guy might have lost his memories…but the ring hadn’t. Something to think about, later once Guy was settled in. He motioned to the stairwell. “So, let’s show you, ah, your home.”
“Sure…” he was looking around at the scenery, taking in the fact he’s on a rooftop, with gardens and a… “HOT TUB? No way, is that ours? I’ve always wanted a hot tub!”
Kyle paused, realizing Guy isn’t following. He smiled at all of Guy’s marveling “Heh don’t I know it. You wouldn’t stop talking about the hot tub, even built it yourself, dude. Works like a charm too, people /love/ it.” They trotted down once Guy was ready. “And here’s su casa, amigo!” Kyle had cleaned the place up, although he still hadn’t replaced a lot of the furniture and the kitchen island counter was still sloped off and broken. “It’s ah…a little bare in here right now, risks of being a Lantern means sometimes shit goes down in a Lantern home. You know how it is. The amount of times my apartment in New York used to get trashed, heh….”
Guy looked around, really impressed. He was listening to Kyle with one ear, but taking everything in around him. It was all new. ALL of it. “This is kinda snazzy…check out the TV, a flatscreen! I’ve been saving…heh…I was saving up for one six years ago. Anyway. Nice place…” he nodded approvingly. “Woah, lookit that view…” He was like a kid excited over a luxury hotel room.
Kyle nodded as well. “A-yup. And it’s our place.” Kyle stands in the middle of the apartment and motions vaguely. “Our coffee maker, our corkboard. Our Playstation, our bathroom. That’s your room, over there.” Kyle had made sure to remake the bed, since he didn’t exactly want to explain why it would’ve looked slept in.
Guy went over and poked his head into his room, hoping to find something familiar. Anything. He said nothing, but put down the poetry book and power battery on the bedside table before coming back out. “So…Kyle…” he returned to the kitchen, trying to not feel like a guest. “Y’know, I haven’t had a roommate since my freshman year in college. This works for us, okay? What about dates? Do we got some kind of a do not disturb signal I oughtta know about?”
Kyle was getting some beers from the fridge and he grinned at Guy, laughing almost shyly. “Well I dunno about twenty-nine year old Guy, but thirty-whatever Guy was a bit more, ah, low key when it came to bringing home the ladi -ah - the dates, heh. Honestly, we didn’t really have too much trouble navigating around that? But dude…” Kyle handed an open bottle over to Guy, making sure to remember to offer it to his left side. “Nothing to worry about right now. I guess…guess your room was just a room huh? What do you think, though? Wanna give rooming a try? I promise - no weirdness. If you try it out and it’s too much, then you can always head back to the Watchtower. But for now…I dunno. It’s fine if you think it’s just a regular new roommate situation? You don’t know me from Tomar-Re. We just conveniently happen to be Lanterns, heh.”
Guy nodded his thanks for the beer and took a swig, then smiled appreciatively as he gasped, “Ahhhh”. “After three days of hospital food, THAT tastes so good, I tell ya.” He silently measured Kyle again as the younger man spoke. Guy couldn’t place it, perhaps it was his friendliness, or the sense that he seemed genuinely wanting to help, but Guy felt moved to accept whatever he had to offer. Kyle was right, he didn’t know him. But so far there had been no Hal-esque lectures, no suffering patience or barely tolerating him that John had always given him. This guy seemed a bit wholesome, sortof, but not in a really annoying way. And if it didn’t work out, there was always the Watchtower. What did he really have to lose? “Yeah, nah, this…works. I’m willin’ to give it a try, sure.” He looked around the room again, taking another swig, “Y’know, I didn’t recognize anythin’ in there. I saw a Michigan pennant, but it’s gotta be new. Well, newer. Y’know I used to play for Michigan? Football.”
“Chido chidochidochido. Let’s get to know each other all over again. Me: older and wiser; you: younger and…and…” Kyle faltered to try and find an adjective and then burst out laughing, spreading out his arms. “And indescribable! Ahaaaaa.” He relaxed, glad to know the whole living situation is settled, at least for now. That was good enough for Kyle. “Not gonna lie, I’m looking forward to this. I mean - when we do get your memories back - and we /will/, I might as well try and make your time before that as awesome as possible, right?” He chuckled at Guy’s football comment. “I know. We were planning to visit your old…college I guess? Michigan State? But that got backburnered, because…well we got busy with other things, heh.” Kyle shook his head again, his mouth posed over the bottle as he considered. “Man….six years…”
Guy gave him a mildly disdainful look. “Nah, not Michigan STATE, those guys are pansies. Last year they- …I mean…ah, y’know what? Screw it. I ain’t gonna keep correctin’ myself. If I say ‘last year’, you’ll know what I mean, right? Seven years ago? Anyway, they suck. End of story. I played for Michigan U. Linebacker. Woulda made NFL ‘cept I blew out my knee.” He took another swig. “We could check it out, still, right? Maybe after New Year’s? So how about you, you play any sports?”
Kyle crowed. “Ahhh Michigan U! My mistake, and a grievous one, no doubt. Forgive this lowly non-football fan - lo siento, lo siento!” Kyle stopped his gentle joshing, but the look on Guy’s face seems like he’s more enjoying Kyle’s dramatic self-deprecation. He nodded, grinning widely. “Check it out? Hell, we should go see a game. I’ve never been to a football game. Is Michigan U renowned for their cheerleaders?” He shook his head, laughing. “No sports. I played soccer as a kid, but mostly because my mom thought I was getting a little chubby in the cheeks, heh. I’m…” He smirked again, looking a little sheepish. “I’m an artist. Artist for pay! I work in video games, concept art. Oh man - you should see how much video games have changed! You loved the football ones, said it was pretty much like playing for real. Except y’know. On a couch. Heh.”
“Alright,” he nodded, “We’ll catch a game, sounds good. An’ let’s hope the cheerleaders can still shake their stuff for the Wolverines as well as they did in my day,” he wiggled his eyebrows. He processed what Kyle said about being an artist, and raised a brow. “Video games, huh? I’ve seen come pretty cool stuff at comic cons like that. He glanced at the console near the TV, and realized there was only a love seat and a reclining armchair, and they were arranged as though they once made room for a couch. “I’m guessin’ a couch in on the list of stuff to replace?” he smirked.
Kyle snapped and pointed, setting his beer down on the counter. “That’s right! Income! I haven’t shown you the best - arguably - part of this whole shebang, duh Rayner.” Kyle motioned for him to follow downstairs, where they emerged into the bar. It was a Monday afternoon after the lunch hour, so it was very quiet, only a patron or two at the bar. Kyle held his hands out pivoting to look at Guy with a huge grin. “The bar! Welcome to Warriors, Guy. Version three-point-oh. Co-owned by you and yours truly.”
Guy gawked at the decor, the feel of the place. “Woah…this is like…a theme bar! An’ it’s successful? Are we rich?” he reached for a menu and started flipping through it. “Lantern Rings? But those are onion…heh…HAH! I get it! That’s a GOOD one!” he chuckled, finding the simple humor funnier than usual. His laughter tapered off, though, and he scratched his head. “What’s with all the rainbow colors? It looks like a freakin’ Pride parade.”
Kyle chuckled, choosing to not /quite/ answer that, not yet. “Well Warriors IS on Venice Beach, bro. Gotta cater to the clientele, y’know? It’s just good business. We’re not rich! We’re just savvy. Well - you’re savvy. I’m just here for moral support. And to look pretty. C’mon…” He lead Guy to (what Kyle considered to be) the best part of the bar, the private function room in the back, with all the Green Lantern memorabilia as well as the memorial to Jenny. “This room, well. There’s a lot of history in this room, man. Stuff…a lot of stuff you might not remember. Maybe some you do? When the Warriors in Manhattan was destroyed, you still managed to salvage a lot of old stuff. Stuff before my time, too.” Kyle motioned to a tiny statue of Ch’p.
“Ch’p!” Guy immediately went to the statue, most certainly something he recognized. “Aww, man…” His death was still very fresh for Guy, and he genuinely felt bad when he’d heard he’d been killed so senselessly. “He was a brave little guy. Annoying sometimes, but…he was alright…” He was quiet for a moment, then looked around, noting Jenny’s statue as well. “Is this kind of a memorial room, then?”
“Ch’p, yeah! That’s right. I know his predecess…his postdecessor? The squirrel that came after him. B’dg!” Kyle came over and stood next to Guy, looking over at Jenny’s statue. “Partially. Can’t be a Lantern without all aspects, y’know? So you just started collecting - good memories, sad memories…” Kyle sighed softly, smiling as he approached Jenny’s memorial, bending to one knee so that he can look up at her. “You made this one for me, and Alan. Alan’s not around he hasn’t seen it yet, but I know he’d just be so touched. He’d love it. He’d love everything about it, her likeness is perfect and this was just so unexpected and…” Kyle’s breathing got a little laboured, and he reached up to brush a couple fingers against her cool green face. “…damn I miss her. I mean Alan misses her. I mean, I do too, and…”
“You and Jenny…?” Guy held a breath, hoping Kyle wouldn’t break down into tears. “I didn’t know. Sorry.”
“S’okay. It’s been a while…” Kyle hooted out a breath and stood up again, smiling at him. “When she died, you were there for me, to help me get through it. Pretty much by being…” Kyle didn’t want to say ’ the guy you are now’ because that wasn’t exactly accurate, or fair. But it was indeed Guy’s snarky, upbeat and often callous attitude that had helped soothe Kyle’s frayed nerves. “…pretty much by being awesome.” Kyle clapped his shoulder, then leaned back with a smirk. “But you already knew that, heh.”
“Damn straight,” he nodded, a smirk coming to his lips, and glances around the room again. A picture catches his eye, one of Hal, John, himself, and though it took him a moment, that was definitely Kyle Rayner. It wasn’t a solemn picture at all. It was…weird. He stepped closer and studied it. “Huh. Yeah, this is the haircut John was sportin’ when…when…I guess it was when he and J’onn an’ Big Blue came an’ got me on Apokalips. So when was this taken? Were we all drunk or somethin’?” That thought amused him: Hal Jordan and John Stewart, drunk. Like that time he tampered with the water supply at the Earth Citadel. He chuckled softly to himself.
“Ahhh yeah! A few years back? Before you and me went to Oa. Maybe we were drunk, I can’t remember, honestly. And this one…” Kyle pointed over to one of Guy, John, Alan and himself in his old penguin suit. Guy and John didn’t have their GL uniforms on. “That’s a painting I did of us! With Alan. We were all pretty good buddies back when I was starting out. Poker games and tons of stories and advice that you old fogies were all falling over yourselves to out to me. Well.”
Kyle grinned. “You guys were old back when I was like twenty one, heh. And not that I didn’t appreciate it. I needed all the help I could get.” /After Alex was killed,/ he addded to himself. Kyle still believed that if he only had Alex and no one else, he’d have been just as good a Lantern. If not more. But he was losing focus on Guy, and he tuned back in and smiled. “Yeah we need a new couch, heh. Sorry, I forgot to answer you about that.”
“Just kinda hard to imagine us all…friends. Them an’ me, I mean.” He looked from one picture to the other, “So where was Hal when ya painted this?” He had to admit, the kid was good. Certainly good enough to do art for a living. “An’ how come ya didn’t paint me an’ John in our uniforms?”
“Mmmm that’s a long story, which part do you wanna hear?” Kyle hoped he would say he wanted to hear the one about himself. Trying to explain Hal as Parallax or John as a Darkstar might have taken all night. Per story. And then some. “But yeah! I mean - you know, the GLC’s really into being, ah, rah-rah Corps these days. Fraternity, brotherhood…or…well, whatever the more equal way of saying that is. Peoplehood? Oh but then that doesn’t include aliens…hm…”
Guy glanced down at the fingers of his left hand and ran over the last few questions in his mind. In spite of photographic evidence to the contrary, he really didn’t care about Hal or John. “Okay, save their stories for another night. I wanna know why I’m not in uniform there. But…” he gestures to the main part of the bar, “We’re the owners, right? We eat free? Let’s grab a few brewskies and some grub an’ you can fill me in?”
“Sounds like a plan,” Kyle said and they went to the bar and picked their food, returning with their beers to the private function room. Kyle just preferred it in there, if they weren’t going to eat upstairs. Which, with the lack of couch and dining table, this was the best place to be. “Sooooo you stopped being a Lantern before I met you, actually. By the time you and I met, you were a, like…kinda like a mutant, like the X-Men? You changed, like…became more about using an exosuit and…and decided to branch out on your own, y’know? Without the GL suit. Too much baggage,” Kyle said with a bit of affection, tugging at Guy’s collar. “Anyway…um, something I wanted you to try out - your memories got blitzed, but…I wonder if your ring still…uh…remembers? Maybe even just a way to report to you, once you know what to look for. What if you asked it to relay what happened to you in, say, the last half of 2006?”
Guy pops the nachos chip he’s holding and wipes the grease off on the leg of his GL uniform before holding the ring up to get a good look at it. He suspected he could get the ring to fill him in, and in fact his ring might even have volunteered the information, if it wasn’t sensing Guy’s own hesitation to consult it in the first place. So many things had gone wrong, it seemed, that he was hesitant to relive them again, all for the first time. “I guess…I could give it a try.” He took a breath and said it aloud, for Kyle’s sake, “Ring. Show me…ah…highlights? Show the highlights of my experiences in 2006…Display, ah…make it August to the end of December…an’ exclude sexual experiences.” He cleared his throat and smirked at Kyle over his ring, “Save those for later.”
[Acknowledged. Playback, beginning.]
Kyle clapped a hand over Guy’s ring. “Just be prepared for anything. Er, except sexual experiences, of course.” Kyle added with a small laugh. He leaned forward, curious to see as well as he slowly removes his hand from the ring.
The ring began to show the League members he recalled from back then, in their daily routines. Around October, the images showed Hal Jordan speaking to Guy in his apartment. “Ring, slow down…I wanna hear this…”
Kyle watched as well, captivated. It was weird, seeing them, seeing them existing before him like this. As egotistical as it sounded, the history was always just that - a history to be retold in anecdotes, not seen visually. As always visual things had a much deeper effects on Kyle.
The ring continued, playing it almost like a movie. Two holographic Green Lanterns, one Guy and the other Hal, recorded for posterity, began arguing about the position of Earth’s official Green Lantern. Hal had come back to take his old job back, effectively, and claimed he had the blessing of the Guardians. Guy maintained the position wasn’t open for them to assign him to, and besides, Guy felt he was already doing a better job than Hal.
Kyle smiled a bit at that, glancing up at the redhead for a moment.
And then Guy called Hal Jordan, the Hal Jordan, a coward.
“Oh ho ho!” Kyle couldn’t help but say. He was so engrossed, it was like watching a movie. And Kyle was one of those annoying people who talks to movies.
Guy’s mouth worked and twisted as he saw the playback, heard his own words, his eyes showing the same conviction the holographic Guy did. “What did you say, Gardner?” Hal said slowly, in a dangerous tone. Guy repeated himself, and challenged Hal to a fight: the loser has to give up his Ring…
Kyle only then noticed the fully white side panels in Hal’s hair, after hearing that particular tone that seemed more like a portent of things to come. He tensed just slightly.
They fought, launching construct after construct at one another, an all-out frenzied battle between them. Guy laughed as he watched the replay show Hal taking a surprise missile shell to the gut that launched him skywards, after he foolishly thought he’d beat Guy simply by pummeling him below the surface of the street.
“Reminds me of…” Kyle drifted off, since that was a story for another day.
Someone stopped them, reminding them they were innocents all around, and they were trashing entire buildings in the process. Green Lanterns started gathering from all around, to bear witness to the fight. The two men removed their rings, Hal looking more chagrined than Guy about the damage they had been doing. They started to punch each other….
Kyle switched to watching Guy’s face, trying to gauge his reaction to seeing all of this.
In the recording Guy was clearly winning at this point in the fight, his rage in full force, beating the tar out of Hal. He quickly got Hal backed against a building wall, and was landing blow after blow, raging against Hal. The Guy that was observing stared at the recording, his face a very definite mix of emotions: smugness, then…uneasiness? Seeing himself from the outside like this, as angry as this, as brutal…it was clearly not how he sees himself, but he stays resigned. And then a realization came to him, one that the recording Guy hadn’t had himself yet… “He’s not tryin’ to hit back…he’s…no…Hal’s pullin’ a rope-a-dope…”
“Eh? What’s a rope-a-dope?” Kyle hoped it had nothing to do with prison showers…
Guy clenched his fist, angry that Hal was pulling such a trick…and angrier still at himself for having bought into it. “He’s letting me tire myself out…” Guy filled him in. “He’s just covering and taking it, hoping I’ll get too tired to punch back anymore…”
“Oh! Like in boxing movies….hey…hey it’s okay, man. It’s all in the past.” Kyle said, trying to sound soothing.
Guy watched in dismay as he saw it unfold, his inevitable defeat. He also heard the overwhelming cheers as the spectators, people he thought he could count on, start to see their hopes turn around and cheer on Hal. Ice held her hands over her mouth as the Guy in the recording could barely stand up, and was swaying on his feet. Hal faced off against him and pulled back, laying the final punch of the fight: a hook that knocked Guy off his feet and sent him flying.
Kyle leaned back. “Whoa. That was some fight.”
He lay semi-conscious on the ground, not moving, as Hal stalked a circle around him, ready to knock him back down the moment he tried to get up. His eyes were narrow, threatening, every bit an alpha male showing his dominance. Ice supported him to a half-sitting-up position, cooing over him, and glaring at Hal Jordan.That’s the spunky ice goddess I remember, he thought. Hal extended his hand. “Guy?”
The defeated man finally nodded and admitted his defeat, and took Hal’s hand to shake it. It had been a good fight, and the Guy watching the recording nodded as well.
“…Oh it’s not done yet. Okay…” Kyle observed.
“No, Guy. The ring,” Hal said coldly in the playback.
“What?” the real Guy gasped, further dismayed as the recording Guy, the punch-drunk, disoriented, recording Guy slowly remembered what the deal had been. He watched himself hand over the ring, painfully, but not trying to weasel his way out of it.
“He thought I was gonna…did….did you see that?” He looked up at Kyle.
Kyle was watching Guy now, worried that this might not’ve been the best way to give him insight on a portion of his past. It was clearly painful and harming him more than helping him. “…see what, Guy?”
“Hal thought I was gonna welch on the deal…”
Kyle nodded, and spoke somewhat cautiously. “I…I think he was just being an asshole, Guy. I don’t think he was thinking much beyond: I want the ring.”
Guy watched himself walk away, Ice in his wake, trying to comfort him, as someone - he couldn’t see who, since it was “off-camera”) remarked that Guy being out of the League made him think he’d died and gone to Heaven.
“Ring…stop.”
[Acknowledged. Playback stopped.]
“Guess that answers my question…why I didn’t have a uniform.”
“Guy…did you hear what I said?”
“Yeah. That Hal was bein’ an asshole.”
“Well…he was.”
“From the sounds of the spectators, he wasn’t the only one,” Guy growled.
“Looked to me like all Hal cared about was the ring. It was all pretty…Gollum and Frodo, really. As for the others….” Kyle was at a loss, since he didn’t really know any of them, other than J’onn.
“Doesn’t matter,” he picked up his beer, though his voice is subdued, “Most of ‘em are dead or MIA anyway…right?”
“Pretty much.” Kyle sipped his beer contemplatively. It sounded morbid, but…that was the way it was. “That’s life. Or death, I guess, in some cases.”
“Still don’t make sense…” Guy mused into his mug, “I mean, by the end of 2006 I don’t got a ring, or any friends, obviously. So how’d I go from that…” he pointed up at the picture of the four Earth Lanterns, all in uniform, clowning around together, “To THAT?”
“Simple,” Kyle said, unable to stop himself. “You met me.” He smiled slowly.
Guy blinked. “Wait, so…you got me back in the Corps?”
Kyle wagged his head back and forth. “In a way. A really long, winding way, I guess I’m kinda responsible for that, yeah. But what I mean is - you helped me become the Lantern I am today, even when you weren’t Lanterning yourself. And on the bright side for now we know that —” Kyle tapped Guy’s ring with a finger. “—that works for memory recall. Maybe we can try it again with different stuff….maybe I can use mine for the same thing. Honestly, I’m better with visuals than words, so.”
The redhead nodded, “Yeah…I guess. I mean, at least it ain’t someone’s version of events. I…” he looked at his ring, “Someone could feed me total bullshit, and I wouldn’t know one way or the other. Booster an’ Beetle, they used to try an’ trick me all the time.” On account of the fact they thought I was stupid, he added to himself.
“I worked with Booster a couple times.” Kyle snorted, “Whatta twonk. Seriously how’d anyone take him seriously? He’s as bad as Plast - actually no, Plastic Man was way more annoying.”
Guy raised his mug to tap Kyle’s. “They can’t all be Green Lanterns, amirite?”
“Ahahaah! Oh man, the idea of someone like Booster even getting a ring on his finger? The ring’d be like ‘Ahh! No way! Please don’t make me!’” Kyle made a scaredy-cat face and then chuckled. “Ahhh, I’m just being an ass. He’s all right. Just not near me, heh.”
Guy snorted with his own laughter. “Speakin’ of asses…” he nodded to the same picture of himself and Hal, John and Kyle, “I’m gonna assume Jordan stopped bein’ one, since we’re all…well…palin’ around there. Was it the hair dye, or did it take more than that?”
“Something like that.” Kyle repressed another grin and took another gulp of beer. “He can still be a bit of an ass, but…”Probably not the best time to bring up Parallax, not yet. ”…But aren’t we all? It’s what makes us such great Lanterns, amirite or amirite?”
“Yeahhhh, now yer talkin’!” he wiped his hand on his thigh again and held it up for a high-five.
Kyle sat up, grinning. “Raise your other hand!” As Guy raised his construct hand, Kyle constructed his own, sending over an enthusiastic high five to his friend. “So…your head feeling a little stuffed with information? And beer? How about…we take a fly?”
“Great idea. Maybe even find some disaster to avert! I wanna see you in action, Kid.” He pushed his chair back and picked up his mug, draining the rest of it, then released a loud belch. “Yeah, m’gonna like livin’ over a bar. This is the best.”
“Well allllright, just get yourself ready to be wowed, ese,” Kyle said, getting out of his chair so fast, he toppled it. Kyle laughed, bending slowly to right it, eventually standing back up again. “I…may not be at my best…feeling a little tipsy. Okay maybe I’ll be better than my best, since you got your beer goggles on too…ehehe…” Kyle carefully headed back upstairs. “Let’s recharge first. Hey! Check out my battery, it’s all sleek and modern compared to your old fashioned one, ah ha ha…”
“Hey, speak for yerself, I can hold my liquor!” Guy shot back as he followed. When he saw Kyle’s battery, he was somewhat dubious if it was truly ‘better’. “Sure, it’s sleek, but looks like ya could tip it over more easy,” he observed. Then he added a bit of a taunt, “Hey, too bad ya can’t fill it with water an’ use it as a novelty vase!”
“Shhh’up!” Kyle laughed, nudging at Guy playfully as he swung his battery between them. “It’s totally awesome. Sure yours got some retro merit, I’ll give you that….” He looked over at Guy with a sly smirk, “If you’re into the whole vintage classic ‘Hal Jordan’ style of battery.” Kyle realized he was kind of stepping in Weirdsville Territory with this line of conversation, considering his own context. But whatever. Hal was in Coast City, and he was here in LA and taking care of his friend; so in Kyle’s opinion, anything was game to keep the mood positive.
“Ohhh ho ho ho ho….Dem’s fightin’ words,” Guy laughed back. “Jordan himself is plain vintage. My battery? It’s all classic, emphasis on class.” He nodded at the battery between them, “C’mon, let’s see if this new battery of yours can charge both our rings, or if we should just stick a lampshade on it. TELL me ya ain’t usin’ a new oath too?”
Kyle blinked at him in a straight-faced and guileless manner. “Sure we are! It’s the GLC way.” He started to recite, still with his serious business face intact. “En el Día más brillante, en la noche más oscura…isn’t that how it goes?”
For a long moment, Guy bought it…then realized he’s having him on. “Oh, ha HA. Yer a regular Paul Rodriguez, ain’t ya?” He shook his head with a rueful grin, “C’mon, Chucklehead, I wanna fly. I’ll even do my John Stewart flyin’ impression. It works better if ya hum the Nutcracker Suite while ya do it.” He raised his hand before him, “In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight…”
The younger man was grinning as he spoke the rest of the oath. “Let those who worship evil’s might, beware my power, Green Lantern’s light!!!” The recharge felt the same as the first time he did it - muted, not exactly half-power, but more as if the bar was lowered and it was…full at half-capacity. Hal had warned Kyle it would feel weird for him, in particular; the youngest Lantern never had to deal with the yellow-impurity Green Lantern power. This was still a new experience for Kyle; and a little disconcerting. He was used to accessing a helluva lot more power, even when he was a newbie. Still, he smiled at Guy with what he hoped was the same amount of satisfaction that was reflected in Guy’s face. “Much better.”
For his part, Guy noticed nothing out of the ordinary at all, other than he was recharging with someone, and the battery was so different in style from his own. “Now we got our daily dose, let’s hit the skies and look awesome doing it!” He led the way out, already levitating as his feet touched the stairs. He gave a feral grin back over his shoulder as Kyle cleared the stairwell, and shoved his stump, a construct hand forming on it belatedly, at a solitary white cloud high in the sky and miles out to sea. “Last one to that cotton ball has to take out the trash,” he challenged, and gave Kyle a split-second grace to mentally process that before he took off like a shot. He heard his partner protest but follow instantly, and smiled to himself. No, Kyle was certainly no Hal Jordan…and that suited Guy Gardner just fine.