This felt like a dream, living in a penthouse as Absolute Wonder Woman did all the work defending mankind and then coming home to me to get some dick. But it wasn't a dream, it was my fucking reality. I'd sit in the penthouse with the windows open, watching her fly off into daylight as Cecil called her for work. To her, it was a vacation as she just arrived in this reality exploring everything she wanted to know about this Earth. To me, it was the start of something weird but definitely worth it.
She had already made waves on the news, saving cats from trees and stopping robbers with her lasso of truth. But to me, she was just Diana, the woman who liked to eat ice cream in bed and binge-watch reality TV. Turns out when you have the power to sleep with any woman, their aura evaporates in an instant. It's funny how most of what makes a woman special is the fact that you haven't slept with them yet. But Diana, she was special even without the cape.
Nobody knew the truth of her existence except for me, Cecil, and probably Donald. It's weird how I haven't met Donald yet, but he's the invisible man of the trio. He's the one who keeps tabs on the world, ensuring no villainous shit goes down while Diana's here playing tourist with Cecil. I guess he's busy doing his own thing, but I can't help but feel a bit left out.
With the T.V. still on watching her do her thing, I was also trying out my new costume which was Rob Liefield's Supreme but instead of red it was orange. Even the gauntlets were orange, because apparently, orange was my national superhero color. It was provided to me after my request to Cecil to change the threads I had worn for roughly 3 years. It was comfortable and an impressive new look. The material was some kind of alien shit that could absorb impact and protect my skin from bullets and knives. I was feeling like a billionaire playboy with superhuman strength.
I observed myself in the mirror not far from the T.V., turning to admire the sleek, orange ensemble. The suit clung to my muscles like a second skin, making me feel invincible. But with great power comes great... well, you know the rest. I couldn't help but chuckle at the irony of the situation. Me, Zandale Randolph, the kid from Chicago, now the world's strongest superhero with a hotter-than-fuck girlfriend who could bench press a semi-truck.
Wait, no, she wasn't my girlfriend, that was Carla's job... but Carla was falling out of touch with me everyday. I just had better options that honestly had Carla beat in the girlfriend role. Even Dupli-Kate was better. But I had to keep that shit on the DL because the last thing I needed was to deal with the wrath of a scorned woman with a PhD in drama.
I rubbed my chin.
Should I just demote her now? My power would make it so that she could move on and still stay with me as my sidechick. But the guilt of doing so was heavy, like a fucking elephant sitting on my chest. Plus, she had been with me through the rough times, even before I had the power. But at the same time, Diana was like a shiny new toy, and the kid in me just couldn't resist playing with it. And the harsh reality? She could keep up with me indefinitely, even surpass me in all my adventures. Carla just couldn't do that.
I sighed, tearing my gaze away from the TV and the mirror. In the end, I decided not to do this shit today. I'd deal with the relationship mess later. For now, I had a PS5 to use. I sat down on the couch and picked up the controller, the controller cool under my fingertips. The penthouse was silent except for the sound of my breath and the faint hum of the city below.
My earpiece buzzed with Cecil on the line, I knew it was serious that Cecil thought that it required my expertise and not Diana's. "Hey, Z, I've got a situation at the GDA. Invincible's throwing a tantrum at me, and I want you to calm him down. If you know what I mean," he said with a hint of annoyance in his voice.
It took me only a moment to know what this situation was about, the very beginnings of this interesting argument between Cecil and Invincible (Spoiler Alert: Invincible is a Dumbass.) Trust versus necessity, and the fact that Diana was now a part of our little world. I couldn't blame the guy, really. After Omni-Man's destruction and now Diana? It really justified Cecil's thinking. But I had seen Diana in action from a comic book standpoint, and I knew she wasn't about that shit.
"Okay," I said sighing, setting down the controller and standing up from the couch. "I'll head over and smooth things out."
"Come now," he told me, his voice tight over the earpiece, "it's a scary situation."
I nodded. In the end, Cecil was just a guy with no powers trying his best in a world full of emotionally unstable gods. "On my way," I said, heading to the balcony before I took flight. The wind hit me like a wall as I soared towards the GDA headquarters, my new orange costume flapping behind me. The city looked like a giant Lego set from up here, each building a different color, each person a tiny speck moving about their lives, blissfully unaware of the chaos that could rain down on them at any moment.
I suppose this was after the Doctor Seismic incident, where he kidnapped all the heroes with his magmanites. The news showed Wonder Woman stopping the incident singlehandedly, but I had forgotten this was where Invincible had found out Darkwing was still alive after he murdered people and came after Cecil. No matter how I looked at it, this was going to be a messy conversation. Or it would've if not for my power to make people love me.
Arriving at the GDA, I immediately found Mark and Cecil in the white room. Mark was tearing through Cecil's reanimen, their tough bodies scattering everywhere. "What the fuck is your problem, man?" I asked, hovering at the entry way for a moment before flying through the door.
"Bastion?" Invincible turned to me, fists clenched, rage in his eyes. "What the hell is going on here?"
"I asked you a question," I said coldly, landing with a firm thud, the orange suit flexing as I stood my ground. "What's the deal, Mark?"
The rage in his eyes dimmed. He wasn't so tough now when he realizes that there's a bigger fish in the sea, or in this case, a more powerful black man with orange threads. "Cecil... He's a murderer. He's a liar and a murderer. He uses people that are scum of the earth and employs them to serve his own needs."
The way Mark said it, you'd think Cecil was the devil incarnate. But I knew better... And I also knew Mark was a hypocrite. "And?" I said my expression unchanging which made him take a step back.
"What do you mean, And?" Mark asked, his voice rising with indignation. "I just told you what he does!"
"Mark," I said silencing him immediately, "Cecil is not a superhero, this is just a job to him. His job is to keep the peace and balance. Moral codes do not apply to him or the job he does. They apply to us."
Mark looked ready to speak and shout, but then he just... stopped. The rage in his eyes faded into something resembling confusion. He couldn't argue with my logic because I was simply right. He took a deep breath and unclenched his fists. "But... but what about Darkwing? He's a monster. And he's working with him."
"It's like I said," I shrugged, my orange gauntlets reflecting the stark white of the room, "To Cecil, he's paid on how well he does his job which is to keep the peace. Do not confuse him to being a superhero with a moral compass, he's the director of the fucking GDA, man."
Mark just looked lost, like this was an angle he hadn't considered before. The room was eerily quiet except for the occasional crackle of a reaniman trying to pull itself back together. I knew he was torn between his own morals and the reality of our world. I couldn't blame him; we were all just trying to survive in a world where the good guys didn't always play nice.
"So thats it?" Mark asked outloud laughing maniacally, "I'm just crazy? Because I care about justice?"
"No," I said firmly, walking closer to him, "You're not crazy, Mark. You're just stupid. You're off to save your mass-murdering father but you can't see forgiveness in Cecil? You're holding onto some idealistic bullshit that works only when you want it to work."
"It's not the same!" Mark's rage returned, but it was more like the sizzle of a doused flame than the fiery blaze from before. He knew I had a point, but he wasn't ready to admit it. I put a hand on his shoulder, almost dissapointed in him. I had read somewhere before that Mark's IQ was below average, and I could see it was true if you ignore his heroics.
"You know you're lying. To yourself, mostly," I added, the weight of my words sinking into the air between us. Mark's eyes searched mine, looking for any hint of impossible deception. But all he found was the cold, hard truth. "You want to be the hero that saves everyone, but you're just like the rest of us. You're just trying to do what you think is right. You're not any different from Cecil."
Mark unable to accept any of this just left angrily. He had no one to blame for this dumbass reaction but himself. I had hoped that he would see reason but apparently, that's a concept that was as foreign to him as the concept of a black man with superpowers not being a thug was to the outside world. But I knew he would come around, Mark was stubborn but not as stupid like I had just made it out to be to his face. He was a good person, deep down. Just too young and inexperienced. Lost, really.
When Mark flew out of the room with angry tears, Cecil finally commented. "Thanks, Zandale. I appreciate your help." His voice was calm, but his eyes showed a hint of the fear he had been hiding. He had watched on like a proud father as I handled the situation, and now that the room was cleared of any potential threats, he looked slightly less stressed.
"No problem Cecil," I nodded to him. Cecil was my guy so far, and I knew I had to keep him alive from Robot if he ever went rogue in this timeline. But maybe the butterfly effect might curve in our favor. "You may have said the right words to calm Mark, but at the end of the day. He's still a kid who without me would be considered the strongest. He just needed a little discipline from someone stronger then him," I said with a smirk.
This was the real reason why Mark and Cecil had a falling out. Cecil was by all means right, but he didn't have the means to prove Mark wrong in terms of power. And his methods of doing so would've just made Mark look more right. That's where I came along. I could've smacked him into next week and he would still come back for more because that's what heroes do, especially those with a stick up their ass about justice. But thankfully Mark wasn't that kind of disney hero.
In the end, he was still just a kid that can recognize absolute authority and act right which was what Cecil lacked. Like how a thug knows he can't do anything to a cop no matter how much he hates them. And right now, I was the biggest, baddest cop in town. It's like I said before, eventually Mark will come around. He had to, because I had the power to make him. There was no other alternative for him.
"I'm leaving, boss." I said to Cecil, patting his shoulder before I took flight.
"Yeah, no problem," he responded with a sigh of relief, the tension in the room dissipating like fog in the sunlight. "And Zandale?"
"What's up?" I asked, already halfway to the door, the wind from my earlier flight rushing back into the room as I hovered there.
"You've just been promoted from world greatest superhero to my protégé," Cecil said with a seriousness that didn't quite match the chaos of the room.
"Really?" I couldn't help but laugh. "Cool, I guess." I was about to leave the room again until I paused and thought about it deeply. Wait a sec...
"Wait so does that mean when you retire I take your place as leader of the Global Defense Agency? Maybe get some more perks out of it?" I asked, turning back to look at him with a surprised look on my face.
"After I train you, yes," Cecil said with a hint of amusement, "But that's a conversation for another day. For now, just keep doing what you're doing."
"You got it, boss!" I said, turning away again to leave. The idea of being the leader of the GDA was intriguing, but for now, I had my own shit to deal with. Like, you know, keeping a superhuman love triangle afloat and not getting my ass kicked by my girlfriend.