THINGS CHANGE

By Tobias Christopher

After a vigorous workout and an afternoon movie, Terry Berg walked his best friend’s girlfriend home as they talked about what they wanted for the future.

“I had a good time with you today,” Terry said as he walked Alexandra back to her house. He always thought he was alone in the friendship department but over the last few weeks, he found he really liked spending time with Alexandra. “I never said this..but Kyle’s really lucky to have you. You make him happy, and that makes me happy.”

“Thanks,” Alexandra said as she hugged him. “He’s lucky to have a brother like you. So, do you want to do lunch tomorrow? We can try that new In & Out Burger that just opened, then we go to that sale at the mall. The guy at Hot Topic eyes you whenever you come in.”

“He’d be cute if he didn’t have that full-face clown tattoo,” Terry told her. “I don’t want to wake up every morning staring at Pennywise,” Terry said as his cell phone started to ring with The Monkee’s ‘Daydream Believer’ “Hello… Emergency contact? I thought he would have changed that… No, no, tell me what’s wrong,” Terry’s face went pale he dropped his phone.

“Terry, what’s wrong?” Alexandra asked.

“It’s Marvin,” Terry whispered as a tear fell down his face. “He was shot this afternoon.’

Kyle Rayner sat at the local library, doing research on the doctor who was injecting his patients with snake venom.

“I really ought to build a Lantern-Cave or something to make research easier,” Kyle told himself as he looked up information on Malachi Colton. “He grew up with a skin disease that gave him a scaly appearance. When he went to college he started doing scientific research to cure his condition. When that didn’t work he started traveling the world to find a cure. There’s a 10 gap where he just dropped off the grid with no contact. When he resurfaced he claimed he was cured and he’d use what he’d found to help others. But if he’s pumping people with snake venom, why isn’t he more well known? Maybe Green Lantern needs to talk to this guy personally.”

As Kyle walked out of the library and got ready to transform, he started thinking about what he was doing.

“If I save Todd Rice, then Terry’s going to get romantically involved with this guy when he’s released. What if he snaps and hurts Terry?” Kyle asked as little shoulder devil Green Lantern appeared on his left shoulder. 

“What if Todd just … disappears after this? Then your brother is safe.”

“Dude, not cool,” Kyle told him. “I’m still a hero.”

An angel Green Lantern appeared on his right shoulder, holding a harp.

“Kyle, don’t be a naughty boy. You swore to help people when they are in trouble,” 

“The guy’s a murderer, what if he stuffs Terry into an icebox for Kyle to find?” the devil asked. “You should really think about letting Todd die before—“

The devil was shot of Kyle’s shoulders by a rocket launcher the angel was holding. “What? He’s a construct of your imagination.”

“I don’t like Terry being with him… but Terry’s an adult now. As much as I hate it, he is capable of making his own choices,” Kyle admitted. “Like him or not, Todd’s in trouble. I have to save him.”

After driving him to the hospital, Terry ran in looking for Marvin. “Where’s Marvin White? Can I see him?”

“He’s in surgery right now, but when he comes out, only family is allowed in,” the nurse said as John Stewart walked up to them.

“It’s okay, nurse, Terry is his fiancee,” John lied as Terry turned to face him.

“What happened? Is he—“

“Marvin’s alive, the bullet got him in the leg,” John told him. “We finally had the sting operation to take down the dirty cops on the force. Marvin took a bullet pushing me out of the line of fire.”

“Sting operation? I don’t understand,” Terry told him.

“Have seat, I’ll explain everything,” John said as he led Terry to the waiting room.

Rather than draw attention himself by bursting in as Green Lantern, Kyle decided to try to sneak in to find clues before he broke out the big guns. ‘Borrowing’ a jacket, Kyle snuck his way in to find the lab.

“I have to find out just how bad this snake venom is,” Kyle said as he looked around until he found a locked room. Creating a skeleton key with his ring, Kyle unlocked the door and entered. “Just have to find a file cabinet. Batman does this stuff all the time, right? Shouldn’t be too hard.”

Shining a light around, Kyle found several file cabinets which he quickly unlocked as he started going through the files, looking at the accompanying photos of what was happening to the patents. There a gruesome array showing what was being done.

“He’s mutating them,” Kyle said to himself. “It’s not working on Todd though. His powers must be resistant to the treatments.”

“Well, aren’t we the little detective?” a voice asked as Kyle was hit in the back of the head to render him unconscious.

Kyle woke up a short while later, shirtless and strapped to a table.

“My shirt better be in one piece when I leave or I’m kicking someone’s ass,” Kyle moaned in a groggy voice. His ring was still on his finger but he decided to wait until he knew more before he made his escape.

Dr. Colton walked in as Kyle noticed Todd across the way. “Todd? Are you okay? You bastard, I know what you’re doing.”

“What I’m doing is fixing this world,” Dr. Colton told him. “I’m helping humans evolve into the best possible versions of themselves.”

“How, by creating Cobra-La?” Kyle asked as he got a blank stare. “From the 80’s G.I. Joe movie? Race of snake people that try to mutate the world with spores? Am I the only one that loves 80’s cartoons here? Todd, back me up here, buddy.”

Todd just lay there with his eyes half-open.

“Todd has been resisting the treatments, so I’m going to increase them,” Dr. Colton told him. “I’m going to mutate both of you together and get you both out of my hair. As my faithful servants, you’ll join my army and reclaim this world for the reptiles!”

“Well, that’s the stupidest fucking plan ever,” Kyle told him. “What’s to stop Superman throwing everyone into a bit pit? Or The Flash from punching them all out? Or that handsome hero Green Lantern from putting them into a big jar? Did you even think about the most powerful heroes on the planet?”

“I’ll deal with them when the time comes,” Dr. Colton as he removed his mask, revealing Dr. Fang.

“Oh, damn,” Kyle said. “I hate to pull out another reference so soon, but snakes? Why did it have to be snakes?”

Dr. Fang revealed his venom-filled jaws. “I think I’ll administer the venom directly since you’ve been so annoying.

“Todd, buddy, a little help?” Kyle asked, needing time to break free. “Think of Terry, pal, you want to do date him, you have my blessing, just do something!”

“Terry?”

“Yeah, you know, Terry,” Kyle said. “Blonde kid, scrawny, looks about 12 without a shirt on? Apparently has a thing for guys in mental hospitals?”

“Terry,” Todd said as his fist curled into a ball. Dr. Fang turned to check on him as Kyle burst out of his restraints.

“No!” Dr. Fang as he quickly turned around. “You won’t stop me!”

Kyle created a piece of green plywood and shoved it into Dr. Fang’s mouth before punching him. “I’m only going to ask this once: Where’s my shirt?”

Todd’s darkness was growing as he got off the table. 

“Uh, Todd, it’s cool now, I got this,” Kyle told him.

“You’ve got nothing,” Dr. Fang said as he pulled out a remote. The walls of the lab opened, revealing the cages with the mutate patients, which were slowly opening. “Now, destroy them, my faithful servants!”

Kyle prepared to defend himself as the patients walked past him and straight toward Dr. Fang where they started attacking him. 

“Huh. Guess they’re not as subservient as you thought,” Kyle said as he charged up his ring finger to knock them into their cages before doing the same to Fang. “You good, Todd?”

“I can’t leave this place,” Todd whispered as the darkness disappeared as he fell to his knees. “Terry’s the first guy I’ve ever liked, but if I get angry I’ll hurt him. I need to stay in the hospital for a while.”

Kyle put a hand on his shoulder. “Well, I have to respect your decision. Uh…you don’t see a plaid button-down shirt laying around do you?”

After Marvin was brought out of surgery, Terry gently knocked on the door with a bouquet of flowers, which he threw at Marvin.

“I’m glad to see you, too,” Marvin with said with his leg elevated in a cast. 

“You selfish bastard, you’ve been lying to me this whole time!” Terry shouted. 

“I’ve been protecting you. These guys are dangerous,” Marvin told him. “If they tried to get to me through you I’d never forgive myself.”

“So your solution is to make me feel like shit? Like I did something to drive you away to someone else?” Terry asked. “What kind of monster does that?”

“The kind that didn’t want to see you get shot by these guys,” Marvin told him. “They’d have killed you to hurt me. I didn’t want that.”

“Commissioner Stewart told me everything,” Terry told him. “What you were giving up for this. Was it worth it?”

“You’re alive, aren’t you?” 

“Yeah, but now we’re both alone,” Terry told him. “You lied to me for months. I can’t be with someone who doesn’t trust me.”

“Terry, please,” Marvin pleaded. “When this was over I was going to come crawling back for forgiveness.”

“You didn’t trust me with this,” Terry said with tears in his eyes as he opened the door. “The person you swore you loved. That you wanted to marry when we were older. I love you, Marvin, but… I can’t do this anymore.”

“Don’t go,” Marvin pleaded with tears in his eyes as the door closed. “Terry, please!”

Later that evening, Kyle brought a bowl of popcorn to the couch for his weekly movie night with Terry.

“So what’s going to happen to the mutated patients,” Terry asked.

“Now that they have the stuff Dr. Fang mutated them with they’ll try to find a cure,” Kyle told him. “They might even try to reverse what Fang did to himself.”

“What about Todd?

“He’s going to stay in the hospital for a while,” Kyle said as he sat down next to Terry. “He’s afraid of hurting people if his powers go off.”

“People?” Terry asked. “Or me. Kyle, I know you don’t like him but—“

“You want to try something when he gets released someday now that you and Marvin are done,” Kyle said. “Look, I don’t think Todd’s good news, but you’re right. I need to stop treating you like a child. You’re a grown man, you need me to trust you. So I’m butting out of your love life unless you ask for help. If you want to give Todd a chance when he’s released, I won’t say anything. You need to make your own choices, and I’ll be there if you need me.”

Terry leaned over to hug him. “You hate watching me grow up, don’t you?”

“I’ve watched over you for 18 years,” Kyle said. “But I’m proud to see you stand on your own. But about Marvin—“

“He’s a jerk and a liar,” Terry told him. “…I still love him though, and I can’t turn ii off. I just never want to see him again.”

“Love is tough,” Kyle said as he looked at the movies Terry brought. “Jesus, Terry, ‘The Coneheads’?”

“It was our movie!” Terry said as he buried his head in Kyle’s shoulder and started crying. Kyle put an arm around Terry to comfort him.

Deep in space, a green light sped toward Earth. Kilowog was on a mission to retrieve a lost Lantern ring.

Next: When Lantern’s Attack!