It was hardly past the stroke of midnight in downtown Parodiopolis, and the party was in full swing. Everywhere people were celebrating, and all of those celebrations had spilled out into the streets. People we eager to be together, as the war had most decidedly been a team effort for the entire planet, and the home team had won.
Visionary smiled as he sat on the low brick wall surrounding Off-Central Park and watched the revelers in the plaza. His eyes were drawn to a large contingent of green skinned beauties off to the side of the larger crowd (though gathering more than their share of attention.) Miiri was beaming in the reunion with her sisters of Caph, as they had long been separated ever since the Manga Shoggoth had removed their current home of Lemuria from the Parodyverse in order to protect it from the Parody Master. With great ceremony, Miiri was proudly introducing the now aged Griffin to them. The boy caught his father's eye and mouthed a silent "help" as the gaggle of former slave girls fawned over him with absolute delight. Visionary grinned, turned up his hands and shrugged helplessly, albeit with some sympathy... Their combined attention was intimidating at any age, no doubt.
"That boy's a charmer" A voice noted from behind the Regular. Visionary turned to find Lisa and Asil hopping up on the wall to sit alongside him. "Must get that from his mothers" the former lawyer noted mildly. "And his Godmother, no doubt."
"Right. So you're keeping that position, then?" the Regular checked.
"Hey, every kid should have a Godmother who can bring his enemies to horribly, nasty, painful ends." She sniffed proudly. "Now I can simply do it in a cosmic capacity, without having to worry about weighing down the bodies afterwards."
"Perhaps making her Destroyer of Tales wasn't the best way to go..." Asil noted mildly.
Visionary shrugged again. "The job does traditionally go to somebody evil, you know. Besides, do you really want to go back to that giant Celestian god-machine and pull the lever for a different result?"
"Hmmm..." Lisa mused with resignation. "I suppose I do have to thank you both for that little trip you took on my behalf. And for letting me know that you can manipulate even Celestians by pulling on their levers. Works with most guys, but still." She gave Visionary a side-long look. "Don't think for a moment that I'm not going to kick both your asses later for the fool-hardy crap you pulled in making that little expedition."
Asil bit her lip and bounced her heels against the wall. "Does this mean you'll be sticking around? For the ass-kicking and beyond?"
Lisa grimaced and looked out across the crowd. "I don't quite know how it will all work exactly, but... I don't think I'll be around to mock your hero over breakfast every morning. He'll likely get his crullers in peace finally."
"Chronicler and Carrington used to hang out all the time, despite being big cosmic muckity-mucks" Visionary noted hopefully.
The new Destroyer sighed. "The cosmic side of the Parodyverse is kind of in tatters. It's a pretty unholy mess out there... And things in general are a lot more complicated than they used to be back in the day. Things have changed. Things are still changing." She smiled ruefully. "Carrington... Jeeze, it feels like forever since it was just a handful of us working out of that shack of a headquarters."
"That reminds me..." Visionary said, rooting around the inside pocket of his coat. He found what he was looking for and presented it to the First Lady of the Lair Legion. "It's one of the few that survived the fire at the condo" he explained as she examined the singed photograph with care. The entire reformed League of Regulars was seated around a table, smiling for the camera. Donar and Enty, Cheryl and Lisa, Vizh, Yo and Rabito... There was even a fern evident behind Donar's left shoulder that may have been either spiffy or a houseplant. The edges were blackened, and cracks and bubbles appeared in the surface, but the image remained cheerful despite the wear. "If you had to go... I wanted you to have it, so that you wouldn't forget the little people now that you're all cosmically important and all."
"I..." she swallowed, blinking. "Thank you" she managed, before the wry expression was restored. "I don't suppose you have any pictures of the guys naked, do you? For old time's sake?"
"No."
"Ah well... this one is nice too. And I could never forget the little people like you Vizh. I mean, when you see a guy is that small, it's really an impression that stays with you forever..."
"Evil, evil, evil..." Visionary muttered. "It's a night for celebration, so don't start baiting me..."
"I would never" Lisa grinned, winking. "And really, that's not my department. Me, I'm all about bringing on the satisfying climax." She nudged him playfully. "Besides, you're the one who got drenched in the energies of the Storyheart. If anyone should be out starting something, it's you."
"Wait... what?" the Regular asked, looking down at his hands worriedly.
"Hey, you activated the awe-inspiring, omnipotent snow-globe that unmade the most powerful man in the universe from the inside out, and you did it without wearing a lead lined Haz-Mat suit or even a pair of rubber gloves." She nodded, impressed. "That's pretty hard core."
"He's very hard core" Asil agreed readily.
"I didn't... wait..." The Regular countered. "Um... I don't suppose Al B. has some kind of cosmic decontamination chamber tucked away on standby...?
"Pffft. Don't be a baby. Just because you're a seething cauldron of horrendously epic plot-lines waiting to unravel explosively is no reason to worry. I'm sure most of them won't involve the end of the universe. Only six or seven, tops."
"Um..." Visionary swallowed. "Is it too late to get blown up by a narrative bomb then?"
"Of course, I suppose a clever man would try to take the bull by the horns."
"There are bulls in these plot-lines? Do I get gored? Tell me I don't get gored..."
Lisa grinned. "Focus Vizh. You can wait for the leftover cosmic whammy of the Storyheart to choose your adventures for you, or maybe... Maybe you can dissipate it a bit by starting some yourself." She reached out and grabbed his chin, turning his head to look out at the crowd. "So... any new adventures you've been thinking about undertaking?"
Visionary blinked. There across the plaza, among the throngs of celebrating Parodiopolans, Hallie stood holding Magweed's hand among a circle of well wishers. Tandy and that huge steam-driven robot friend of hers were there, as were a crowd of excited G.I.s, all eager to meet her and shake her hand. She was grinning and laughing, and Visionary couldn't help but smile himself at the sight of them all. "Oh!" he swallowed, suddenly realizing what Lisa was getting at. "Oh... um... right. Okay." He took a deep breath and clenched his hands. "Right then. Excuse me a minute..."
Lisa and Asil watched him stride purposefully through the crowd. "I think he was less scared by the Parody Master" the Destroyer of Tales noted.
Visionary weaved his way through the crowd, nodding, smiling and clasping hands with well-wishers, his heart thudding in his ears with almost enough volume to drown out the crowd. His hands were a little sweaty, and he realized he was clenching them repeatedly as he walked. Finally, he shouldered his way through the ring of admirers to where Hallie and the others were. His daughter was the first to see him, and she disengaged herself from her mom's hand to get lifted up into his arms.
Despite her unease around people, even she was smiling at the sheer goodwill and happiness that radiated out from the square. She had to lean close to his ear for her normally quiet voice to reach him. "Mom says she's going to put on a fireworks show for everybody in the park!" Maggie informed him excitedly. "We need to go tell Griffin and Samantha so they don't miss it..."
"Okay kiddo..." Visionary assured her, taking a deep breath. "There's just... I need to do something first, okay?"
She looked at him carefully as he watched Hallie, and her eyes widened slightly. Her smile tightened back to the corners of her mouth as she hopped down and went to Tandy. Looking back to him, she nodded in encouragement.
"Right... So..." Visionary approached the jubilant hologram who was talking animatedly to a soldier in the crowd.
"Hey, buddy..." One of the G.I.'s called to him as he slipped past the line of well-wishers. "You gotta wait your turn."
"I already have" Visionary answered absently. He tapped the glowing woman on the shoulder as he stood there, straight as a board. She turned to glance briefly at him, smiling, then turned back to him again with a puzzled look as she took in his hesitation. "I just..." he began. "I wanted to say..."
She leaned towards him, her head tilted to the side and brow furled in an effort to hear him. "Vizh? What's..?"
"Aw, the heck with it..." he decided, reaching out to brush his palms across her lower checks, his fingers tracing their way under her hair to the back of her neck. Her eyes widened in surprise, and her mouth opened slightly to respond when he pulled her into a kiss, pressing his lips to hers and bringing their bodies close together. She stiffened slightly at first, and then she was kissing him in return, eagerly. His arms slid down her body, supporting her back as he turned dipped her extravagantly. She bent her knee, lifting her right foot up behind her as her arm slid up to the back of his neck to hold them together. A cheer went up from the crowd as the kiss went on and the two of them lost themselves in the sensation of it all.
They broke the kiss when it felt like they were out of breath, their still unfocused eyes searching each other's faces. "Um... Would you like to go out?" Visionary ventured to ask. "Maybe this Friday?"
She blinked, her eyes wide and a smile curling at the corners of her mouth.. "Yes... Okay" she replied with a series of excited, happy nods.
"Damn" a soldier in the crowd sighed before throwing his hat into the air along with many of the well-wishers. "I wish I had thought of that."
Over on the brick wall surrounding the park, Asil clapped with delight. "So tell me..." she said, leaning her head towards Lisa. "Is there really such a thing as residual Storyheart energies?"
"Like I'll ever say" the woman answered her clone smugly. "But if that didn't work, I was prepared to march him over there by shotgun before I left."
They sat in silence as they watched the possibly fake man and the holographic woman be congratulated by friends and fans. "They get a happy ending..." Asil finally asked quietly. "Right?"
Lisa's eyes darkened with the depths of new-found power. "I don't envy anyone who tries to make me deliver them any other kind."
The clone girl accepted this answer, as it was at least more assurance than most people could hope for.
"You'll keep an eye on him for me, won't you?" Lisa asked softly.
Asil nodded. "Don't I always?"
The new Destroyer grunted in agreement, watching the festivities. "You know... if you squint at him just right... he almost looks like a pretty great man" Lisa grudgingly admitted.
Asil smirked. "I am so going to tell him you said that."
Lisa grimaced and sighed. "You know... sometimes you are such a doody-head."
