Work Text:
“Soooo…. Superhero powers… which would you most want to have? Oh, but not real ones like Thor’s or Spiderman’s. I mean the make-believe ones, like Batman or Wonder Woman or Aquaman, those ones from the comic books,” I asked John while we were sitting around Jimmy’s Corner on 44th St, between 6th and 7th Aves in Midtown Manhattan. I was nursing a beer and contemplating if I was really ready for the next move.
“Easy answer right there,” John replied instantly. “Superman, Clark Kent.”
“Oh, I should have known, megalomaniac. Captain America wasn’t enough, now you want to be the Man of Steel? Fight for ‘Truth, Justice, and the American Way’”? I rolled my eyes mockingly… but clearly playfully.
“No, been there, done that, I didn’t even get the t-shirt. I just want to be able to fly, and use x-ray vision,” he laughed. Just then, a really hot girl walked by that he had been looking at when he said that.
“Oh, spare me,” I snorted. How typical. He was looking at me strangely now, but I ignored it. I wrestled unsuccessfully with the sudden moodiness that descended upon me. “I don’t know, John. I don’t think today’s the day. I think I’m gonna go back to my Dad’s place and try again another day, I don’t want to see...”
“Come on, the game’s only at half time. You haven’t even told me your superhero powers yet. So then would you be Wonder Woman? Golden lasso... you did tell me you rode horses.” He elbowed me in the ribs, hard.
“Ow, you fucker. Yes, but civilized horses, I didn’t need a lasso for them. Fine... then I pick Harley Quinn.”
“Harley Quinn doesn’t have any super powers,” John scoffed at me, waving a hand dismissively like I didn’t know what I was talking about.
“The hell she doesn’t. She has enhanced strength and agility, and she has poison/toxin immunity.” If only that were true, then I would be ready to go upstairs, I thought. “Besides, I’d get dizzy if I had to do that Wonder Woman twirl to get in and out of ‘uniform.’”
“I’m beginning to think you just don’t like star-spangled anything,” he observed.
“You got that right. Truthfully, I never did dig the symbolism behind the flag. It’s represented more evil around the world than good. I’m kind of a byproduct of that,” I shrugged, but John frowned at me. At first I thought I hurt his all-American sensibilities, but it was what he thought was me tearing myself down that was making him frown. It kind of surprised me.
“How are you a byproduct of ‘evil Americanism?’” he asked, sarcastically.
I was sort of sorry I’d said anything, but whatever, here goes. “Because my mom looked at that flag as an opportunity, and so did my dad. My mom saw it as a ticket out of Colombia. My dad saw it as a means to impress, seduce, and bed beautiful Latin American women where he had the advantage of being white and providing access to the United States. I didn’t join the Army because I somehow still thought America was out there saving the world. But I knew what my Dad was doing in the CIA was even worse. I knew I didn’t want to be him, and the Army at least pissed him off. And that I had a talent that meant I was supposed to be holding a sniper rifle somewhere. I told myself that what we were doing was making a difference, but in the end, the only difference it made was helping rich people get richer. I know the collateral damage I must’ve left behind. I sometimes think that what happened to me was karma.”
“I’ve thought about that, too,” John admitted. Then he realized what he said, or at least how it sounded, and we both looked at each other and laughed.
“So you agree I need punishment, too, huh? In that case, I guess we should go over to the Watchtower and meet your Thunderbolts friends since Val is going to assign me as para-military support for you all. Although, fair warning, I already know one of you.”
“I said I wanted X-ray vision, not that I have telepathy,” John groused. “Are you going to tell me more?”
“No. I don’t want you to hold it against me. I already got my repayment for that stupidity and it wasn’t pretty, so I’ve paid my penance. Now come on, before I chicken out, Clark.”
“After you, Harley...”
And John and I headed to the Watchtower, another page turning on the next adventure as I prepared to meet his Thunderbolts friends, the “new” Avengers... and one former one. But at least I had an ally in John. The perpetual superhero and protector, right? I was hoping that much would hold true, because that was an undersold aspect of his friendship I wouldn’t be selling short anymore.