DCU Green Lantern Corps #56 Encore (Mini Arc Collection)

"I can't believe you talked me into this," groaned Jessica, slumping her shoulders as she followed after the man in front of her.

 

"C'mon," chuckled Simon, falling back a bit to line up with her. "This is gonna be fun. It's not everyday you get to see Sonar in person."

 

"Yeah, because some Italian DJ is worth going out to some concert hall," she rebutteled, now looking at Simon.

 

"One, he's not Italian, he's Modoran," Simon countered. "Two, he's a prince that does shows in America once every few years. This is a pretty rare experience."

 

Jessica sighed, "Yeah, I know, and you're right. It's just…"

 

"The crowd?" he asked, holding up the pair of tickets to the man at the venue.

 

"Y-yeah," she responded, rubbing her shoulder slightly. "I know it really should be something to worry about, but…"

 

"It can feel like the world is closing around you?" he suggested, her nod following slowly. "You shouldn't feel bad about that. I want this date to help you with it." He turned his head to her with a smile on his face, "I'll be here every step of the way."

 

"Thank you, Simon," she responded, smiling back at him. Her smile grew a little wider as she held back a chuckle. "So, this date, huh?"

 

Simon's face flushed slightly as his eyes widened. "Date!?" he asked, his pitch raised. "Did I say date? I meant day… this day… at the concert."

 

Jessica continued to chuckle as the two entered the theater.

 

-^-^-

 

Jessica held the cup of sprite in her right hand as she shuffled past multiple people. Her other hand had found its way to Simon's sometime between getting drinks and moving through the crowd, which she didn't mind. The man led the two through the dense crowd to their spot, which was surprisingly good.

 

"Alright, these are the spots!" shouted Simon, his voice barely heard over the shouting crowd.

 

Jessica gave him a nervous smile, the crowd making her uneasy, but the contact calming her down. "Y'know, I didn't think the spots would be… be this close," mumbled Jessica, her eyes look up at the stage of the amphitheater.

 

"Well," Simon called, gaining her attention, "Hal said he got these from Bruce Wayne." The man placed his drink down, sitting on the seat marked for him. Jessica followed suit. "How he knows Bruce Wayne is beyond me, but it makes sense they're good seats."

 

"Yeah, I guess," she replied, taking a small sip of her drink.

 

"So, how's it been with work?" he asked, turning his attention to her.

 

"Um, it's been fine," she responded, slightly looking up to him. "I'm almost finished with my next chapter. I'm hoping that I can finish it up tonight because I've got some really cool stuff planned out."

 

Simon's face adopted a smile as he listened to her, "That's nice, anything on the rhyme side of things?"

 

Her face turned, blushing heavily. "W-w-well, I- yeah, but n-n-not anything g-good," she stammered out, embarrassment running up her spine.

 

"Hey, I doubt that," he reassured, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I'd love to see it sometime, if you're comfortable."

 

"M-maybe."

 

"Excuse me?" sounded off a voice from the stage. "Excuse me?" The crowd all looked up to the stage, a man in a suit standing with a microphone. "There has been an inconvenience, Sonar will not be performing today. We thank you for your understanding."

 

The crowd immediately began to roar, obviously upset by the turn of events. Simon gave Jessica a confused look, her own expression the same.

 

"What do you think happened?" she asked, raising her voice to be heard over the crowd.

 

"I'm not sure… but I'm going to find out," Simon stated, matter of factly. As he stood, he immediately began shuffling through the crowd, Jessica jolting up to follow him.

 

"What do you mean find out?!" she asked, squeezing through the raging audience.

 

"Well," grunted Simon, getting out of the crowd to the stairs, "I'm gonna see if something happened. A Green Lantern can respond a lot faster than a paramedic."

 

Jessica nodded, continuing to follow Simon out of the building.

 

-^-

 

Jessica and Simon entered the backstage area, using a lockpick construct to open the back door. The two made haste through the different halls of the building, taking note of how empty it was.

 

Jessica checked another room, seeing it empty, noting, "You'd think the backstage of a Sonar concert would be…"

 

"Bustling?" finished Simon, gaining a nod from her. "I know, it's almost creepy how empty it all is."

 

Jessica nodded once more, reaching for another door before stopping. "Simon, look."

 

Simon moved to stand next to her, "Bito Wladon… Sonar."

 

Her hand reached forward, grabbing hold of the handle and opening the door. The two stepped inside, immediately noticing the room looking like a mess.

 

"For a prince, his room is a pigsty," noted Jessica, lifting an embroidered red jacket.

 

"Guess his butlers aren't here to clean up for him," chided Simon, electing a laugh from Jessica.

 

The two continued to search around, finding empty cans of beer, baggies full of weed, and Jessica cringing upon finding a box of condoms, which Simon laughed hysterically at. It was after a few minutes of searching when Simon saw a small piece of paper balled into the trash bin in the corner of the room.

 

"Hey Jess," he called, gaining her attention. "Come check this out."

 

The woman stepped over, looking at the paper Simon plucked from the can. "A paper in the trash?" she asked, her head looking at the filthy room once more. "That's not suspicious at all."

 

"Exactly that," Simon nodded, looking over the note. His face shifted slightly, his mouth parted and eyebrows raised. "Umm, Jess…"

 

Jessica quickly looked over the note, gasping at the words.

 

"Mr. Sionis is ready for the exchange. We will be present within the hour."

 

"Sionis?" Jessica questioned, looking up to Simon. "Isn't that Black Mask?"

 

Simon nodded, chuckling slightly, "I bet Hal'll love to throw this one at Batman's face. 'Green Lanterns taking down your baddies, so much for off limits Gotham.'"

 

Jessica chuckled, but looked back at the paper. "We should probably head to…" she paused, thinking for a moment before continuing, "the underground parking garage. It's where the deal will be happening."

 

Simon nodded once again, following her out of the room.

 

-^-

 

The two floated down the elevator shaft, making sure not to use the elevator to keep their presence as unknown as possible. Upon reaching the proper floor, the elevator door was pried open with a simple construct.

 

The two had their plan set. They'd search the garage and contact the other upon finding the deal. What they didn't expect, however, was for the deal to be going on right outside of the elevator.

 

Wladon stood stunned at the sight, a briefcase in his hands. Across from him was a group of men, the two in the front standing out. One wore a crisp white suit, a white skull mask on his head. The other had a magenta suit on, a large copper helmet on his head.

 

"Uhh… well that's awkward," stated Simon, as all parties stared at each other.

 

The man in white sighed, looking over to the man in magenta. "Ferris, take care of them," he stated, a commanding presence in his tone.

 

The man nodded, quickly reaching into one of the trucks they had. Stepping out from the van, Ferris now held an RPG in his hands.

 

"I'm glad it's you two," he stated, loading a rocket onto the launcher. "Especially the terrorist."

 

Simon visually winced at the words, feeling a flash of hurt from the words. His mind slightly blanked, the implication bringing up memories.

 

"Terrorist!?" shouted Jessica, her eyes glowing a green fury. "He's a hero!"

 

A blast of green energy launched forward, hitting Ferris directly in the chest. His finger pressed onto the trigger before he was hit, causing the rocket to launch, exploding into the ceiling above them. Rubble began to fall from the now damaged ceiling.

 

Wladon dropped the case onto the ground, quickly flipping it open and taking out its contents. The white suited man noticed, backing off from the commotion.

 

"Get up, Ferris," he commanded, helping him to a stand. "It's time we go."

 

"I want to take out that mother fucker," he growled out. "His bitch too!"

 

"Another time," stated the man, picking up their own briefcase full of cash. "Mr. Sionis won't be pleased, we should keep losses at a minimum."

 

Ferris reluctantly nodded, following the man into one of the vans as it pulled off.

 

"Wl-Wladon, what are you- you doing!?" shouted Simon, snapping out of the short panic attack. "Why the hell do you need cash!?"

 

Wladon stepped out of the dust and smoke from the explosion, a large pistol in his hand. "You can never have too much, can you?"

 

A large blast of blue energy erupted from the barrel of the gun, hitting Simon directly. His body launched backwards, the force causing him to crash into the elevator doors.

 

"S!" shouted Jessica, making sure to not say his name. Her body turned to the man, already aiming at her.

 

Her ring quickly formed a protective bubble around herself, the attack shot from the gun blasting her back as well. The ball construct luckily took the blunt of the force, but the noise the gun made was ringing in her ears.

 

"How do you like it?" he asked cockily, flaunting the gun. "It is my own design, producing deadly sound waves."

 

Jessica listened as he continued to brag about using his musical talent for his own weaponry. The idiot decided to let her know all about the sound waves being able to bounce off of objects, causing massive damage. She now knew how to take him down, just needing him to attack again.

 

He stepped forward, pointing the gun at Jessica once again. "Well, I may have lost out on a good deal, but two Green Lantern's?" he mused, chuckling to himself. "That's a good payoff."

 

As he pulled the trigger, Jessica acted, encasing him into a green bubble. The sound waves immediately began to bounce around the bubble, causing the man to drop the gun and cover his ears in agony.

 

As he eventually fell to the ground, Jessica allowed the construct to fade, standing up to check on Simon. The man sat slumped against the wall, a smile on his face.

 

"Thanks for the help," she teased with a small smile.

 

"You looked like you had it handled," he responded, chuckling slightly before his face went a bit red. "Aaand my ring might have died… and I'm stuck."

 

Jessica now noticed the way his body was slightly indented into the elevator door, which made her laugh out loud. "Okay… okay that does make up for it a bit," she chuckled, wiping a tear from her eye.

 

Suddenly the elevator opened, Simon falling back into it which only made Jessica laugh again. The officers they had contacted after finding the note stepped out, the man who announced Sonar to be absent following.

 

"Sonar!" he shouted, anger, worry, and disappointment all lingering in his voice. "What are we supposed to do! We have a stadium of people out there!"

 

Wladon mumbled inaudibly, his head obviously still ringing from the attack, only slightly regaining consciousness.

 

Jessica walked away from the villain as the officers moved to arrest him, moving to help Simon up.

 

"It's a shame all of those people will lose out on the 'once in a lifetime' experience," Jessica noted, a small frown on her face.

 

Simon silently agreed before his eyes widened. "Well, there is one experience even more exclusive," he exclaimed, looking at her.

 

"What?" she asked, confused by his face.

 

"A live performance by Green Lantern," he offered, a smile on his face.

 

Jessica's face immediately sank, her body shrinking in on itself. "Wh-wh-what!?"

 

"Yeah!" he enthused. "It's something any crowd would be stunned by!" As he looked at her, he saw the dread on her face, his own expression falling. "Hey, Jess… I… I didn't mean to… you don't have to. I just… you deserve to be heard."

 

Jessica stared at the floor, her body shaking slightly. "I-I-I just… why? Wh-who would want to hear me? Who would th-think I'm any good? Th-they definitely wouldn't… I…"

 

Jessica paused mid-sentence as she felt a hand grab her own. Her head tilted up to look at Simon, the contact calming her down. "I want to hear you," he stated quietly, smiling warmly at her. "Cause last time? You knocked it out of the park."

 

The two stood, staring at each other for a moment before Jessica smiled slightly, moving forward and hugging him. He was surprised, but wrapped his arms around her as well.

 

"Thank you."

 

-^-

 

Simon stood out in the crowd, back in their original seats. The crowd was rowdy, yelling curses at the man standing on the stage.

 

"Hello everyone," he announced. "As I mentioned before, Sonar is not able to perform today." The boo's from the crowd made Simon smirk a bit. They were all going to be very pleased. "Instead we have a very special guest, a once in a lifetime experience. Behold, Green Lantern."

 

The crowd suddenly became very quiet as Jessica stepped out onto the stage. Simon could see her nervousness, but also the bravery he saw in her everyday.

 

The neon green stage lights suddenly all lit up, music beginning to play in the background. Jessica glanced at Simon, who gave her a reassuring thumbs up and smile. She took a deep breath.

 

"Finally,

You've given me,

A reason to be strong.

 

And we'll stand,

Hand in hand,

Till the end…"

 

Simon couldn't help but smile as the crowd began to cheer, his face also reddening the way she kept her eyes on him while she sang.

 

Today definitely didn't go as he planned… it went much, much better.

Done