Green Lantern - Sleepers Book 2

by Unknown Author

  “Don’t you dare! You stay out of this!”

  “Stay out of what? Look, if you’re gonna come here and bust my chops, I have a right to do something about it. You said it-he and I are alike—I’ll go and chat him up, see what’s eating you.”

  No longer playing, Jade grabbed her father’s arm and looked at him with gigantic eyes, pleading.

  “Please Dad-don’t.”

  Scott relaxed and kissed his daughter on the forehead.

  “Okay, honey. I’ll stay out of it.”

  Kyle wasn’t crazy about the commute, but the view from his pad was outstanding. The highest point of the moon wasn’t very high, but within the bubble keeping the vacuum of space out, he had enough room for a plasma-screen television and a comfortable recliner. He could watch the game in peace, and the cooler was in easy reach. The Earth rising from the horizon gave him a sense of serenity. That and the knowledge that no one-especially Jade-knew he was up here. Tranquility Base was a good name indeed.

  Kyle held up his beer to the ancient, gold-foil-covered Apollo lander sitting in the moon dust outside his bubble, the American flag jauntily planted nearby.

  “Well done, Colonel Armstrong, sir, and the NASA genius who thought of its name. Tranquility indeed.”

  “What’s the score?”

  “AHHH!”

  Kyle flopped off his recliner-he wasn’t used to having anyone sneak up on him, let alone get the drop on him.

  Alan Scott helped himself to the cooler.

  Kyle was miffed by getting jumped by the old codger. “You scared the beejezus out of me, Alan.”

  “Please, Kyle. Call me Mister Scott.”

  “Sorry, sir. But I think you did that on purpose, which is really uncool. And go ahead and help yourself to a beer.”

  Scott had downed half of it by the time Kyle’s sarcasm was complete.

  Scott let out a loud belch. “So what’s all this hasarai between you can Jade?”

  “Do I really have to go into this with you?”

  “C’mon—it’s halftime.”

  Kyle lay down on the floor, looking up at the old man in the recliner.

  “You’re gonna laugh.”

  “I doubt it. You’re a hell of a superhero, kid, but you’re no Don Knotts.”

  Kyle let out a breath. “Look, I love Jade. But... ”

  Scott stared down at the young man.

  “’But?’ You better finish that sentence about my daughter before I start beating you like a drum... ”

  Kyle looked up at Scott. His expression was earnest, confused and pained.

  “... but I’ve come to realize that I’m not who I thought I was. And I’m afraid the person she thinks she loves doesn’t exist. There’s who people think we are, and then there’s the smallness of our actual selves.”

  Scott stared into the young man’s eyes.

  “And you’re afraid that you’re not good enough for her.”

  “I know I’m not. I’m no super hero, Alan. I’m just a guy who lucked into some freak power.”

  “Don’t let the Guardians hear you talking like that. But I’ll set you straight. You’re in a good place, Kyle. That’s all I can tell you. As for Jade, no one is good enough for her, but you’ll have to do.” Like everything Scott said to Kyle, Kyle wasn’t sure what to take seriously. It’s what he found infuriating and endearing about him.

  Scott put a fatherly hand on Kyle’s shoulder. “I’d like to go on, but I can’t.”

  “I understand—a journey to self-discovery starts with one’s internal-11

  Nah, none of that crap. The second half s starting-turn it up.”

  Kyle turned up the volume and the roar of thousands of stadium fans poured from the speakers.

  “Kyle—one more thing?”

  Scott held up the empty beer bottle. “You’re out. This time, get something imported, okay?”

  Kyle sighed, donned his suit and prepared for the long flight back home.