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The Incorrigible Iceburn!
October 4thth, 2021 | 11:22 AM | Happy Harbor, Rhode Island
Quiver had been back only long enough to rest in his quarters for thirty minutes. Upon his arrival he hung up sling bag on a hook on his door and nearly collapsed against it. The journey home hadn’t been as restful as he had hoped, but it was the time he spent with Hal that was the most taxing. Green Lantern was a little arrogant, a little smug, but incredibly revered by the rest of the Corps. It was strange to see so up close. Even when they were on the planet Scylla, surrounded by all kinds of weird sights.
But the work that the Lantern’s did, all powered entirely by their emotions - that was the kind of thing that really exhausted Quiver. Before he left earth, Quiver asked Green Arrow if he had ever used a Power Ring himself. Ollie looked serious and said it was the single most exhausting thing he’d ever experienced. GA had undersold it.
After resting his eyes, Quiver opened his suitcase and removed a small drawstring bag. He felt the weight of it in his hand and headed back out the door. He wouldn’t have time to decompress like he wanted, he had to go see Iceburn.
He knocked outside her door, wondering if she was in. He pressed his ear against the door to see if he could hear anything from inside.
Wump. A little thump would smack right up against Will’s ear from the other side of the door.
Wump. It happened again.
Wump.”Um. Iceburn? It’s Qui-it’s Will. Everything okay in there?”He reached to see if the door was locked and was surprised when the handle turned easily - the door swinging open to see…
”Yeah-” Pei said, and the rubber ball she was throwing against the door smacked into Will.
”Oops, shit!” She said with a little laugh. She was laying upside down on her bed against the far wall, her pink hair dangling beneath her. The ball she had been throwing now rolled around at Will’s feet.
”My bad! I was trying to- forget it- sorry! ”Quiver closed his eyes and rubbed at his forehead, Pei’s rubber ball had hit him dead on right above the eyes.. With a glance Pei would be able to see the blooming red mark it left.
”No hey thats fine I uh, barely felt…it?”Quiver was still half wincing, and embarrassed. Not exactly the picture of cool and collected. Quiver hadn’t had much one on one time with many of his teammates, and none at all really since the last failed mission that ended in a kidnapping and near blowout. He wanted to try and make a good impression. Unfortunately his main two guides for speaking to women were Oliver Queen and Hal Jordan. And, in a nutshell, he was clueless.
”So…do you throw things…often?”Her hands were over her mouth. She suppressed some more apologetic laughter.
”I was trying to- I was trying to open the door with the ball. Like hit the handle and have it come back to me, or something.” She said, meeting him halfway since that was pretty embarrassing to admit, too.
”Like Batman or some shit, I dunno.”Quiver put a hand to his chin in thought
“Batman does open a lot of doors….” He trailed off in thought, silent for a second too long…
“But it did kind of work. Just not in the way you expected.”She giggles.
”Yeah I guess so!” She rolls backwards off the couch and bounds towards him. A chunk of ice appears in her hand and she plops it against his forehead.
”Maybe hold this there? The side facing me isn’t as cold, so, should be easier on your hand. Call that little number the Pack O’ Peas technique.” She said, placing her hand on her hips and nodding.
Quiver smiled - pack of peas, that was really funny. He felt the soothing relief almost immediately at its icy touch. He held it to his forehead with the one hand as he spoke.
”Do you have a minute? I have something for you. Would it be okay if we talked inside?” ”I suppose I could take a minute off from my ninja training. Maybe even two.” Pei said, stepping out of the way into her dorm room. She had elected for a pastel color palette, and on every wall were posters for superheroes. There was a corkboard with pinned selfies of Pei and various superheroes, and by various, there was three. Though there was plenty of room for more, she had only managed to take selfies with Hal Jordan, The Flash, and recently Jessica Cruz.
”Wait, have something?” She perked up.
Quiver nodded and took in Iceburn’s room decorations, nearly completely opposite from Quiver’s own near room. His could mostly be described as barren. Near, organized, but empty. Save for whatever stack of books he was making it through that week. He felt the colors and vibrancy of the room really matched Iceburn’s own energy. Her own “vibe” as Zatara has said previously.
“Yeah I do. Not from me though. I didn’t..it’s not- Sorry, how long have you been like a superhero fan? Did you grow up wanting to be one? I guess the rest of us kind of fell into this line of work. Or in Zatara’s case it’s in the family. Or if you’re like me you…” Will trailed off.
He doesn’t often like to think about his “superhero origin.” Back when he was essentially a nameless Talon for the Court of Owls. Rescued from a life of murder by the Bat-Family. For him, it was this life, this world of heroes, or end up as less than nothing. A hooded killer. With no personhood. Something he was still working on.
With a little hop, she sat down on the edge of her bed. Pei looked up at the ceiling and touched her chin.
”Oh, I don’t know. Since I was like seven, eight? Superman saved me and the orphanage as a kid and…shit, I knew what I wanted to be.” She said with a nostalgic smile, her eyes unfocusing as she recalled the memory.
”Yeah, I feel really lucky to be here.” She nodded.
”One day, I’m going to be a full time member of the Justice League!”Quiver realized that he and Pei had similar upbringings, at least in the sense of being orphans. He wondered what kind of situation Iceburn’s childhood was like in an orphanage. However it was, she grew up to be a really put together person. Enthusiastic. And had even been up close to Superman. Quiver had never met Superman before, and wondered what that would have been like.
“The League, yeah? I wonder what our little team of ne’er do wells will be like once we “graduate” from this place. A few of us already have what it takes, according to Hal. Speaking of-“Quiver tossed Iceburn a drawstring bag. It was almost a dark purple velvety color, smooth and soft to the touch. The item inside however had a strange heft to it. Reaching inside, Pei would find a stone no larger than a baseball, or the rubber ball she had been throwing against her door. But it was sheen and prismatic, with etched stone lines alongside it. It looked almost like a small glacier. The color however was this effervescent blue.
“Green Lantern said it was important that you hang on to this. He said to emphasize it was “from space” and to say that with gravitas.”She took the rock in her hands and turned it over, her eyes sparkling.
”What, really! Green Lantern?! Space rock!” She held it up to the light with a gasp.
”Holy shit!” She hopped up and gave Will a big hug.
”Thank you!” She pulled away and kept feverishly looking it over.
”I wonder if it’s Martian? He said it was important? Are you sure?” She asked.
Quiver only half heard Pei asking about the stone. He was still reeling from being embraced by her. When Pei had effortlessly put her arms around him in excitement as if it was the most natural thing in the world. He had only managed to get one arm around her, and could feel the cool touch of her skin with his fingertips. He blushed and hoped Pei wasn’t noticing. But it could be one of the first times he was embraced by one of his teammates. He was grateful for her. Quiver thought back on their time together, and remembered that Iceburn had on more than one occasion saw things from Quiver’s perspective that others had overlooked.
She was examining the rock from all angles, and Quiver examined her at the same time. The pink hair, the sinewy muscles indicative of her physical prowess. Her excitement about being a superhero - it was like she was made for this world even if she hadn’t had cryokinesis on top of everything.
”Well, he had said that it was more important than you’d guess, and he told me to tell you: you have to keep it safe. When I was with GL and the rest of the corps, we experienced some…surprising things. Scary things. Let’s just say I’m glad to be back on solid footing here with you guys. When Hal gave me that, he told me not to tell anyone else, not even Red Tornado or Canary. He must have a good reason.””Oh I promise, I promise to keep it safe no matter…” She looked up at Will, her expression souring.
” What do you mean ‘solid footing’? He actually took you to space?” She asked.
”He never took me to space!” She exclaimed.
”Well it wasn’t like….deep space.” Quiver swallowed and lifted his hands as if in penance, now feeling incredibly guilty for being taken to space before Pei. He cursed Hal under his breath, always causing some sort of trouble, on purpose or otherwise.
“We’re talking like basically earth but with you know, with…aliens from…not earth.””You met aliens?!” Pei asked.
”On like— their homeworld?”Quiver’s eyes widened, clearly making it worse.
”Well yes but like, they weren’t even that weird looking either they had only a few extra limbs and they weren’t even that strange a shade of purple!””Ugh!” Pei fell onto her bed, burying her face into her pillow.
”Will!” She protested, voice muffled.
”You’re killin’ me.” She lifted her face and held up the rock again.
”...I’ll still protect the space rock. It’s still fuckin’...cool.” She chuckled, and then flopped her face back down, letting her hand dangle.
”I’ll get a cool box for it.”Quiver looked at his teammate sprawled acoss her bed, seemingly lost in thought regarding Hal’s gift. He felt he should leave, but something kept him in his friend’s room for longer. There was something he wanted to tell her.
“Back on the flight home from the Everglades, when Mirage got into it with you about Metamorph. I don’t think any of what you said was out of line. And I think it’s obvious that you, more than a lot of the other people here, know what it means to be a hero. Looking at your walls, it’s like you’ve been more prepared for this than a lot of the rest of us. As pissed as I…SOMETIMES get...I think Mirage was wrong to say you don’t think before you speak. Even if she was just angry and confused when she said it.” Pei’s hand clenched thoughtfully around the rock. Setting it on her nightstand, she sat up in her bed.
”Um, thanks, Will.” She said with a little smile.
Then she shrugged.
”She apologized. And we were all a bit out of sorts. I just wish all of us could get along better, but this whole Metamorph business has really complicated things. And I didn’t even get attacked like you did.” Pei said.
Quiver nodded, brows furrowing.
”Yeah well…it is what it is. I’m not exactly over it but, if it’s really as complicated as Batman and the others are saying, that he’s got multiple people in his head vying for control or making him act violently like that…then my issue is only with one of him. And that’s the one I’ll scratch back.” He smiled at Pei.
”So to speak.”Pei let out a little laugh, raising an inquisitive eyebrow.
”Well, hey. Go easy on him, champ.””Do you think you’ll be able to work with him, after everything?” She asks.
”Like, if he gets everything sorted and that kind of thing won’t happen anymore. Can you trust him?”Quiver thought about it. On one hand, this whole second go at being on the team was to help establish connections with people, earn trust, give it freely, mature, and be a well-rounded person. Letting this go about Metamorph and moving on would be the logical step towards those things. But it was a harder step to get across than he’d anticipate, even when a part of him knew that forgiving him was the healthier option. But was it Metamorph he was mad at? Was it the team? Hard to say. That might be something he’d have to rely on Black Canary for.
”I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t be wary of him. Or whatever version of him that would attack us. At the same time, if it wasn’t really him, and he didn’t know what was inside his head? Then it’s not really his fault. But if there is something that Nightwing has taught me from Batman, it’s the importance of being prepared in case one of your friends goes rogue. A tower of babel in place of one of us deciding to go the way of the bad guy. Everyone else on this team is having a better time at making friends with each other. Mirage wouldn’t ever hurt Metamorph, even at her own peril. Nymph, Rain, Talos…I bet the same. Sometimes I wonder if it’s more important to be the kind of person to make a hard choice. I’ve spent a lot of time wanting to be the person with friends and big feelings, choosing things based on heart. I wonder if instead I’ve overlooked the benefits of being more like…how I was. Like Talon would have been better equipped for this sort of thing.”He looked over at Pei, wondering if she understood what he was getting at, how he was feeling.
Pei’s eyebrows were furrowed, and her mouth formed a few syllables, before smiling nervously and trying again .
”Wh- um.””Listen, Will, uh.- y’know.” She stammered.
”You should be yourself. That’s a nugget of wisdom. That never goes out of style.” She managed.
”You don’t have to- ah, shit. I don’t really know who Talon is.”She exhaled and put out her hands to the center of the room, like she was trying to signal an invisible truck to come to a stop.
”Listen. It’s not a big deal, okay. It’s no biggie. You’re overthinking it. If a teammate loses control of their powers, you try to reign them in. You don’t have to be any kind of way to do that.” Pei managed.
Quiver nodded, thinking back a bit over something another teammate had said to him earlier. Advice that wasn’t so dissimilar. But it was sparking another memory of his and felt the thread pulling at the back of his mind. Something to do with one of Metamorph’s personalities. Something they were all overlooking. But he couldn’t quite chase the thought down. It was already fading.
“You’re right. Ignore me. Black Canary told me lately I’ve been thinking out-loud. I’ll get out of your hair. I’ll see you around.” He turned and made his way out of Iceburn’s room. Pei hurried after him, surprised.
”You can think aloud! Honest! That’s what friends are for, Will!” She stressed upon him, leaning out her door with a worried look on her face.
”My advice wasn’t that bad, was it?” Quiver laughed, in spite of himself.
“It was just what I needed to hear, I think. I don’t know if you noticed this but…” Quiver leaned in conspiratorially and shifted his eyes left to right. When he spoke next, he said so in all seriousness.
“I can be a pretty dour and serious guy.” He nodded, as if they were now both in on a well kept secret. Pei giggled, lowering her head into her shoulders to ensure no one else heard.
Quiver knew that this conversation he had with Pei was their first real interaction that was more based on friendliness than it was that they were teammates. Had he had many of these conversations with the others? Can he recall a time he just sat and talked with Talos in a way that wasn’t which bad guy to take out first? He thought about what Green Arrow would say to someone like that. He’d probably call him a “real wank.” Whatever that meant.
“I like being friends with you.””Me too! I mean, I like being friends with you, too. Not I like being friends with me, too. Because that wouldn’t make any sense. Thanks again for the super special space rock!” She waved, assuming that Will was still on his way out.
With no destination in mind, Quiver thought he’d head to the common area to grab something to drink before he finished unpacking from his mentorship with GL. He passed Stormcaller’s room but the door was closed, and otherwise there was no sign of anyone else. He leaned against the counter and sipped at a bottle of water. He felt his ribs - it had been some time since they had fully healed and caused him any issue. Enough so that he barely thought about it. Quiver was at peace momentarily. Unbeknownst to him however, the young man who had caused that injury was only a few hundred yards away, just outside the base.