Chapter Text
Emily’s New Apartment, November 3rd
Emily wakes up from a good night’s rest. She just finished moving into her new apartment the night before. She gets out of bed with her disheveled hair, lets out one last yawn, and proceeds to start her morning routine. She enters her small kitchen, in her black pencil skirt, black blazer, white button-up shirt, and black heels, and begins to make herself some scrambled eggs and bacon. She finishes, sits down at her small table and turns her television on. She changes it to Charm City Live on channel 52, and sees the news anchor, Gail Simone, reporting on Jack O Lantern causing mayhem in Charm City.
Gail takes a deep breath and begins reading off the teleprompter. “Today marks the fourth day that Charm City has found itself without a hero. With the Olympian joining the Global Guardians and Green Fury joining the Justice League International, Charm City is even more in need of help than before. With Jack O'Lantern continuing his random acts of terror, new villains deciding to make our city their new playground, and no hero stepping up to help, I have to ask, ‘How much longer can this city stay standing?’”
Emily does not want to admit it, but she agrees with Gail. She's seen how much worse the city has gotten these last couple of days with no heroes around. Petty crime has skyrocketed, which was to be expected. But it's not just that. The new villains have been causing so much more property damage, thefts, assaults, and murders. And, if the rumors are true, it seems that a crime family is trying to set up shop in Charm City. While she's generally a very upbeat, positive person, Emily is finding it very hard to keep her smile living in this city where everything seems to be going to Hell. Emily turns off her television and continues eating in silence, nervousness overcoming her. She finishes, gets her things, and exits her apartment. She closes her door and almost immediately trips on a box.
“Oh my God, are you OK?” heard Emily. She looks up and sees an incredibly attractive, 5'11, light olive-skinned guy in a USC shirt and jeans come out of the apartment across from her. He extends his hand to help her up and she takes it. “You’re OK, right? You’re not going to sue me, are you?” he says. Emily thinks he’s joking, but she sees some genuine concern in his face.
“No, I’m good. It’s my fault. I wasn’t watching where I was going. Then again, I didn’t really expect there to be a box right outside my apartment door.” Emily notices that the box is slightly smushed. “There was nothing valuable or fragile in that box, was there?”
He looks down at the box. “What, that one? No. Just some sketch pads and stuff like that. Nothing too important.” He looks back at Emily. “You’re sure you’re OK, right?”
“Yes, I’m fine,” says Emily. “So, just moving in?”
“Yeah, it’s my first day here in Charm City,” he responds.
“Are you just moving in, because it’s,” she looks at her watch, “eight o’clock in morning? What time did you get here?”
“Well, let’s see. It’s 8 A.M. now, I know I’ve been unpacking for about 20-30 minutes, so I’m guessing 7:30 A.M,” he answers.
“Where are you coming from?” asks Emily.
He responds, “New York City.” This surprises Emily. As much as she loves it here in Charm City, the idea that anyone would leave New York City for Charm City, especially the way things are now, is unfathomable.
“I’m sorry if this sounds a bit mean, but why the hell would you leave New York City to come live here in Charm City especially now since we’re heroless?” she asks.
“Funny you should say that. Um, so you mentioned that Charm City is heroless, so a lot of crime has started taking place, right? Well, that also makes it very cheap to live here, since everyone’s either left or is dead, god rest their souls. And, I’m a freelance artist, so money has always been a bit of an issue for me, but luckily now I have this pretty nice rent-controlled apartment.”
“Wait, your apartment is rent controlled?” asks Emily.
“Yeah. Isn’t yours?” he responds. Emily shakes her head. “Oh, well when did you move in?”
“Five days ago,” answers Emily.
“Oh, so like before the city started going to Hell. Well, since a bunch of people have started leaving, the landlord really needed tenants, so they didn’t really have any leverage in the negotiations, especially since a pretty business savvy friend of mine gave me a few pointers.”
Emily extends her hand. “Well, for as long as we still have one, welcome to the neighborhood. I’m your new neighbor, Emily Locke.”
Her neighbor shakes her hand. “Thank you, Emily Locke. And, even though you’ve been here a little longer than I have and I’m assuming no one has welcomed you here since this entire floor was empty when I was negotiating except for your apartment, I would like to welcome you to the neighborhood as well. I’m your new neighbor, Kyle Rayner.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Kyle.” Emily starts leaving. “Well, I’ll see you later, I have to go to work. That is if there is even still a work to go to.”
Emily reaches the elevator and pushes the button. Kyle reaches down, grabs the box Emily tripped over, and stands back up. “Y’know, call me an optimist, but I think things are going to start getting a little better around here,” Kyle says.
“I hope so,” responds Emily. She watches him go into his apartment and then she enters the elevator. She really does hope Kyle is right, because, unlike her new neighbor she is really finding it a bit hard to stay an optimist in Charm City.
Wayne Security
Exiting the elevator, Emily can immediately feel the toll the past few days has taken on the morale of her fellow Wayne Security employees. She sees Teddy and Ron, two of her closest friends, and a smile emerges from ear to ear. She approaches them, for there is one thing that can still bring a smile to Emily’s face during these trying times. And that is her friends Ron, Teddy, and …. “Hey, where’s Wendy?”
“You didn’t hear? Wendy’s gone,” says Ron. He continues, “She left last night. Didn’t you receive her text?” Emily shakes her head.
“Well, what about her email?” asks Teddy. Emily, once again, shakes her head. “Oh damn. Well, here you can read it on my phone.” Teddy opens up his email on his phone and hands it to Emily.
She begins to read the email out loud, “’To my closest friends.’ Well that’s a bit hurtful. I thought we were pretty close. I guess I was wrong. ‘I’m leaving Charm City. I have spent long enough enduring the lawlessness here, and I just can’t take it anymore.’ Long enough? It was only three days before she left.”
“Well actually, she sent that at 6 P.M., so she didn’t technically make it the full day,” says Ron.
Emily continues reading the email. “’I have used my family’s money to get out of here and get a comfy new penthouse in Metropolis.’ Wait a minute. Wendy’s rich?”
“I know. Shocked us too. We looked it up. Turns out, her family owns Plantour Cosmetics, the largest facility for testing cosmetics on chimpanzees in the world.,” says Ron.
“Yeah, can you believe it? I’ve lost track the amount of checks we covered for her. Turns out she wasn’t broke, she was just cheap,” says Teddy.
“Plantour Cosmetics. Wasn’t that just named ‘Forbes Most Cartoonishly Evil Company?” asks Emily. Both Teddy and Ron nod, confirming that it is. Emily continues reading. “’This will probably be my last correspondence with you, because I’m either going to forget all about you or you will have died because you opted to stay in Charm City.’ Wow, not really holding back her opinions here. ‘Goodbye. And P.S. do not forward this email to Emily, as it will hurt her feelings and I cannot have that.’ Oh, that’s actually kind of sweet.” Emily lowers her hand with the phone a bit.
“Keep reading,” says Ron as he lifts her hand back up.
Emily listens to Ron. “’Because if that happens, she’s going to try to come and stop me, and the last thing I need before leaving is her chirper Philadelphian ass to annoy me.’ That was less sweet. I already told her that I'm not Philadelphian. I'm Filipino.” She hands back Teddy’s phone. “Well, now one of my friends, or at least someone who I thought was my friend, has left me. Are you two going to leave too?”
“Emily,” says Ron. “we’re not leaving.” He gives her a side hug on her left, which causes her to smile. Ron always gives the best hugs, even if they are only side hugs. “We’re going to stay right here. Right, Teddy?”
“Of course.” Teddy gives Emily a side hug on her right. “We’re not going anywhere. Unless things don’t get better, then I’m only here for like another week, tops. But other than that, we’re going to be right here with you.”
Emily says, smile fading, “Thanks, Teddy.”
Teddy, not sensing Emily insincerity, says, “You’re welcome.” Both he and Ron let go of Emily and go to their respective desks. Emily heads to her office, when she hears what she can only describe as an elderly woman screaming. She turns around to see Van coming out of his office, looking dejected.
“You know. You would think that when a Wayne is in danger, their family would come bail them out. But no!” hollers Van.
“What’s the matter, Van?” asks Emily.
“What’s the matter? The matter is I was just told by Bruce that as long as Wayne Security is standing I have to stay in Charm City. Well actually, it was Bruce’s secretary that was told to relay the message to me, but it still came from him directly. So, basically Emily, I’m screwed, and I have stay in this taint of a city for longer than I expected.” Van crosses his fingers. “Unless, one of those deranged maniacs finally comes to their senses and tries to burn this place to ground.”
As soon as Van says it, Jack O’Lantern shows up just outside of Wayne Security. “Citizens of Charm City! You have been abandoned by your heroes. Fear not, for I will never abandon you. So here, feel the warmth of my heart … and my balls … of fire.” He throws a fire ball at Wayne Security.
Van is excited. “Yes, finally. It’s about damn time. Take it all down Jack O’Lantern.”
Jackie, Van's sardonic longtime assistant, comes up behind Van. “You do realize that as long as you’re in this building, if he destroys it, you’ll die too?”
Realization hits Van. “No. No, I did not.” Van hears people get into the elevator. “Wait, hold the elevator.” The employees close the elevator doors. “You freakin cowards.” Van repeatedly pushes the elevator call button. “C’mon. C’mon. C’mon.”
Jackie says, “Well, all of our superheroes are gone, a supervillain is right outside, and our ‘fearless leader’ is trying his hardest to abandon us. This is how we’re going to die.”
Jack O’Lantern throws another fireball at Wayne Security, and everyone prepares to get hit. The elevator door finally opens, and Van struts inside. “I bid you all farewell. Haha. It’s been not nice knowing…” Van stops talking when a green baseball bat hits the fireball back at Jack O’Lantern, stunning him. “Oh my God,” says Van as he exits the elevator walks towards the window next to everyone else, who are also in shock.
“Was that…” Ron says. He didn’t get a chance to finish because, out of nowhere, someone flies towards Jack O’Lantern and knocks him down to the ground. Everyone rushes outside to the balcony and sees that a fight between Jack O’Lantern and the mysterious figure has ensued down there.
“Someone turn on the news!” screams Van. Everyone run towards the television and quickly change the channel to 52, where the new field reporter Daniel Mulaney is covering the fight.
“It’s amazing what is going on right now,” says Daniel. “It would seem that a Green Lantern is fighting Jack O’Lantern.” A fireball is thrown in Daniel’s direction, but the Green Lantern creates a cannon construct that absorbs the fireball. He then punches Jack O'Lantern in both of his eyes, and then makes the cannon fire the fireball back at Jack O’Lantern, once again hitting him with his own fireball. “Oh my God. It would seem that I was about to die, but Green Lantern saved me. Green Lantern saved me!”
Once Jack O'Lantern was further dazed, the Green Lantern crouches down, right fist surrounded by green energy, and uppercuts Jack O'Lantern, all the while screaming "Shoryuken!!!" as if he was Ryu from Street Fighter. As Jack O'Lantern was laid out on the ground, dazed, but still preparing to throw more fireballs at the hero, the Green Lantern creates a fire extinguisher construct, uses on Jack O’Lantern extinguishing the fireballs he was making. The Green Lantern picks Jack O’Lantern up, takes off Jack O'Lantern mask which takes away his powers, and hands him over to the police.
“Green Lantern saved the day. Let’s see if we can’t get a quick word from him,” says Daniel as he and his cameraman, along with all the other news reporters from other local news stations, run up to the Green Lantern.
“This is awesome,” says Teddy.
Ron hits Teddy on the arm. “Shut up, Teddy. The Green Lantern is about to speak.”
All the news reporters reach Green Lantern, who is taken off-guard by this. “Oh OK. This is happening,” says the Green Lantern. Too many people are talking at the same time, so he can’t hear what anyone is saying. He creates a small megaphone and shouts “Excuse me,” causing everyone to stop talking. The megaphone dissipates and he continues, “Sorry for shouting. It’s just that, you all were talking at the same time, so I couldn’t really understand any of you. I would just like to say something that hopefully answers some questions, and more than likely create more. OK here goes.” The Green Lantern clears his throat. “Hello, good people of Charm City. As you can all tell by now, I am a Green Lantern. You have all been heroless for too long now, and I am here to remedy that. So, for the foreseeable future, you will all be under my protection. You are heroless no more. Goodbye. I’ll talk to you all soon.” With that, the Green Lantern flies away.
Everyone at Wayne Security is silent. Jackie is the first one to speak up. “Oh my God. We have a Green Lantern.”
Teddy can still not believe it. “We have a Green Lantern?”
“WE HAVE A GREEN LANTERN!!!” exclaims Van. Everyone, but Emily, cheers. Emily sits there, on an office chair, in silence as everyone around starts celebrating. Teddy and Ron are hugging and jumping together. Van went to office and popped open a bottle of Cognac that he had hidden in the bottom left drawer of his desk. Even Jackie is smiling, which is as close to celebrating as she will get.
Under her breath, Emily say “Wow, maybe things will get better after all.” And just like that, her smile has returned to her face and who knows if it’s ever going to go away this time.