Firebrand, Superman, Lois Lane, and the Avengers in... Unfortunately Lex Luthor Is An Asshole

[stands_for_hope]

That morning, there wasn't a paper that didn't have a variation of one headline:

Captain America Comes Out in Support of Superman

The quotes were all different, though: 'He's here to help, same as me.' 'I've never met a kinder, more civic-minded man.' 'I've fought beside him and I'd do it again; there's very few people I'd trust to have my back like Superman.'

The Planet was the only one who had a full interview to go along with the statement that had been distributed to the various publications, an exclusive as written by Lois Lane who was starting to get known as the woman to go to if you needed to talk to a harder-to-find superhero. Lois didn't mind that one bit, honestly, though Cat Graham had started to ask her if she knew any of their numbers to get herself a date.

Later, on another day, Clark might wonder if that had been as much of a catalyst as anything. Because that was the day that Lex Luthor decided to make his play.

The massive spider mecha seemed to appear out of nowhere, towering over parts of the downtown area that had only just begun to be rebuilt. The streets were suddenly filled with rolling war machines, filled to the brim with alien soldiers speaking a language that was unfamiliar and strange to anyone who might hear it. Strange flying ships made their way from the outskirts of the city inward, terrifying the people as they scattered them from the streets. And all of them, each and every one of them, wore red, blue, and gold... and sported the s-like curve as an emblem.

The invasion had begun.

Comments

[justakidfrombrklyn]

Steve 'blocked' before giving an undignified squawk.

"Super jerk! I'm out of ammo!"

[kolodnoykovki]

"Should'a thought of that before you threw it at me," he returned, and thwapped again.

[justakidfrombrklyn]

"Don't make me come down there, you," but he was more likely to fall out of the bed from laughing than making any moves to do any such thing.

[kolodnoykovki]

"Come down here and do what - make yourself an easier target?" This, he could do. Tease, laugh. If anything, it felt as overdue as sleep.

[justakidfrombrklyn]

"Go for your supplies," and he managed to reach down just far enough to grab the other pillow, going for a quick swipe with the remaining momentum. It's only by the grace of serum-enhanced balance that he hasn't fallen out, though.

[kolodnoykovki]

But balance was easy to mess with. He reached up, grabbed the pillow Steve had stolen, and he pulled. If Steve was going to threaten, Jim was going to make it come true.

[justakidfrombrklyn]

Steve tumbled down out of the bed with a laugh before continuing the pillow assault, rolling to try and avoid some of Jim's thwacks with very limited success.

[kolodnoykovki]

Jim pushed, rolling Steve to his back and pinning him with a pillow in each hand. "You won't win," he teased, smirking.

[justakidfrombrklyn]

Steve looked up at Jim and just... breathed in, happy for a moment before pushing off with his leg to roll them back side to side.

"Why's that?"

[kolodnoykovki]

"Because you're just like Clark. You're a marshmallow." He couldn't stay on his side for long. The way his arm pressed into him made it too painful - and that was why he slipped up, into the bed, and swung a pillow again.

[justakidfrombrklyn]

Steve blocked with a pillow, a shield-user to the end.

"Oh, you are so wrong and you know it."

Then he was going for a few side shots now that Jim had the high ground.

[kolodnoykovki]

"You've only won one fight with me, ever - and that was because I was pinned under a beam." Jim used his arm for a shield before aiming a pillow hit right to Steve's face.

[justakidfrombrklyn]

Steve took the pillow to the face, then let out a bark of a laugh.

"Oh, like I was trying to win that one anyway. Not my fault you cheat all the time."

[kolodnoykovki]

"We didn't grow up to fight clean," he snorted and dropped the pillow onto Steve's face.

[justakidfrombrklyn]

He gave Jim a good clean thwack to the head with a pillow before flopping onto the ground next to him, the pillow on his stomach.

"Nope," he agreed, a little breathless from laughing.

[kolodnoykovki]

Jim smirked, leaning over the edge of the bed. "Looks like I stole the bed."

[justakidfrombrklyn]

He looked up at Jim for a moment before taking the pillow and fluffing it behind his head. He doesn't look particularly bothered by it.

[kolodnoykovki]

He chuckled and rested his chin on his hand - right hand, the left laying down beside him. It was... amazing, really. Amazing that he could do this. Be this comfortable with someone who had set him off so hard before.

"Thanks," he ended up saying. "For coming to help."

[justakidfrombrklyn]

He looked up.

"Course I came," he said with a little smile.

"Clark's a good guy. And you're--" he paused for a moment, not uncomfortably but obviously trying to find the right way to say it, "well, if you need me, I'm gonna be there."

[kolodnoykovki]

"I'm... still figuring things out," he admitted, "but I..." He shook his head. "I still think of you as a friend. Even if you really piss me off sometimes."

[justakidfrombrklyn]

He nodded to the first before glancing up at Jim.

"I had a lotta nonsense going on in my head the last time I saw you," he admitted, "this time, I figured... don't think too hard about it. Seems to be working."

He gave a crooked smile.

"Haven't pissed you off too much this time, I don't think."

[kolodnoykovki]

There was a smile lurking at the corner of his mouth. "No, it's kind of surprising. I actually relaxed around you this time, which is... pretty big."

[justakidfrombrklyn]

"Kept your bullshit detector, I'm guessing," Steve said, not unkindly.

"Always could tell when I wasn't tellin' it straight. Got you madder than anything. I piss off six guys and I tell you about it and you'd just shake your head. One guy gives me a shiner, I tell you I dropped a can on my head at the grocer's... you about blew the roof off."

[kolodnoykovki]

"That's 'cause you can't lie worth shit, Steve." And for those few words, it might as well have been as if time hadn't passed. "An' I'm not gonna tell you how I can tell or you'll try to stop doin' it."

[justakidfrombrklyn]

"I'd probably do it anyway," he said with a little laugh to himself, "me and actin'... there's a reason they only wanted me to play myself in those Captain America flicks and I wasn't much good at it anyway."