"I'll have a short stack with two over easy and bacon," Alan told the waitress.
"Same," John said.
"I'll have that right out for you," the waitress promised as she wrote it down before departing.
"How'd your date go?" John asked.
Alan beamed. "For once it didn't get interrupted by a villain attack. Yours?"
"Started with a villain attack, well... kind of," he said with a grin.
"Start at the beginning," Alan said, not wanting to listen to a story that jumped back and forth.
"I was cleaning up the parks in Gotham when I got a call from the Justice League to heal Ice," he explained.
"Nordic girl with ice powers, teams up with Fire most of the time," Alan said with a nod, having read the files on the new League members to try and catch up.
"That's the one," John agreed. "She was in a bad way, but Guy knew about my healing people, so he requested they call me in. Healed her easily enough and since I had Guy on hand, I called in the favor he owed me to put a moon around Venus."
"I still can't believe you're planning to terraform Venus," Alan told him before taking a sip of his coffee.
"I'm not now, but I'll get to that," John said. "Guy got called away by Ice for his own date and I found myself facing Dr Sivana."
"Sivana is still around?" Alan asked, surprised. "I thought he'd died."
"No, just moved to Venus for the peace and quiet," the younger man said. "He outgrew the supervillain lifestyle."
"Outgrew?" Alan asked. "How does that work?"
"He's powerful enough to take over the world, so once you reach that stage you have to ask yourself if it's worth it. He decided he didn't want to spend his life shepherding our planet of murder apes and moved to Venus," John replied.
"Yeah, that makes sense," Alan said after a couple of seconds of silent contemplation.
"He wanted to know why I put a moon around Venus and I explained what I was planning. Naturally he said he'd take care of it, since he'd claimed Venus as his own. I'm not stupid enough to argue with him on the subject since he is well within his rights to do so and can obviously do a better job than I can."
"Sounds like you admire him," Alan said curiously.
"Hard not to," John said. "Anyway, he kidnaps me for the standard 'fight robots in a Colosseum of death' setup and I naturally say I'm going to seduce his daughter to help me escape."
Alan burst out laughing. "I don't think it actually works like that, much as I wish it did."
"Well, his son starts laughing so hard he fell over whereupon his daughter starts kicking him," John continued with a grin.
"And what did she think of your declaration to seduce her?"
The pair paused as the waitress returned with their food.
"She said she wasn't sure how to feel about it," John admitted. "Dr Sivana was amused by the entire thing and teleported us to the Colosseum where he started off with a gold sabretooth lion robot, adding the crowd of cheering Greeks at my request."
"Shouldn't they have been Romans?" the older man asked as he cut up his pancakes.
"Robots aren't exactly period accurate, so it doesn't matter," John told him.
"Point," Alan conceded.
"I had James reprogram the robot T-Rex-" John began.
"Did it breathe fire?" Alan interrupted with a grin.
"Yep, Sivana knows what he's doing," John said smugly. "So, I rode the fire breathing robot T-Rex around, destroying various robots for a while, having loads of fun when Sivana says he's seen enough and calls an end to things."
"Sudden death round?" Alan guessed.
"No, he wanted to take a look at my blue ring," John said. "I handed him it and the charger, making a clumsy attempt to appeal to his vanity on making copies."
"Really?"
"Trying to out think him would be ludicrous, so doing something transparently stupid like that fit the situation better and would amuse him," John replied, pausing to take a bite of his eggs.
"Probably made him feel superior and put him in a better mood as well," Alan guessed.
"It did," John agreed. "So, while he was off examining the ring, I talked to his daughter Georgina who decided she liked the idea of being seduced and we took it from there."
Alan chuckled. "My date was a bit more normal than yours. Dinner, a movie, and a good night kiss with plans for further dates later. Of course, being immortals, apparently, we have more time to take things slow."
"I was ejected into space with my rings and told not to interfere in her studies at around six AM," John said, "I'll have to figure out a way to call her later."
"You'd be a cad not to," Alan agreed.
The two fell silent as they ate, finishing off their food in short order.
"So, what's the plan for today?" John asked.
"I'm playing catch up with the League," Alan said, "A lot has changed since my time. They want me to shadow a couple of heroes today so I can get a feel for how the League currently operates."
"Then I'll go with my backup plan for today and kidnap Poison Ivy," John said.
Alan paused, his coffee cup halfway to his lips and simply raised an eyebrow.
"She's connected to the Green we wield in a way we'll never be, so some courtesy is owed and she can assist me in locating major cases of illegal pollution in Gotham, making it easier to help clean up the place and since she'll see actual improvement in conditions it'll help calm her down," John explained.
"Always nice to be paid twice for the same job," Alan said with a smile.
"And even better to be paid several times," John agreed. "With Ivy in a better mood it'll also keep Harley distracted."
Alan chuckled. "I wish you luck, it's always good to see a villain take themselves out of the game, even the ones who have good reasons for what they do."
John nodded. "Let's go back home so I can pass over a couple of charged rings before we start the day."
"Let's beam up to the League instead, it'll be faster and I have a lot of files to go over," Alan said with a chuckle.
"That'll work," John agreed, the two getting up to pay their bill before finding an unobserved alley to beam up in, appearing in the hangar bay of the League's space station.
"Here are two Will powered green rings," John said, taking a pair of green rings out of his subspace pocket.
"Thanks," Alan said. "Are you still good on rings powered by the Green?"
"I still have a dozen fully powered," John assured him, "and here." He pulled a glowing blue pyramid out of his subspace pocket with a blue ring hovering above it.
"Dr Sivana?" Alan guessed as he accepted it.
"Bingo, the man is simply that smart," John said.
"Plan on collecting any more rings?" the older Lantern asked with amusement as he put on the blue ring and tried to get a feel for it.
"No, the only ring that is better than what we have is a white one, which is impossible to get and a pain to recharge," John said. "Green and Blue are the best for all us mere mortals."
Alan stiffened for a second and then smiled. "J'onn just paged me, looks like I'm up. See you later."
"Later," John said as Alan vanished in a flash of light from the space station's teleportation.
"Hey GL," Supergirl called out, flying across the hanger bay, "guess what I got?" She held up a hand with a familiar blue ring on it.
"Nice," John said, "now we really do look like a married couple."
Supergirl laughed. "I can't believe my people just ignored the design."
"Probably made it too easy for Kryptonians to break isolation and upset their society by concentrating power in a single person's hand," John guessed. "Your people were like a retirement community the way they were set up."
"That... fits," she said with a sigh. "Boring was a way of life for us."
"That's what happens when you run out of new things to explore," John said.
"I don't think humanity is going to have that problem for a while," Kara said with a grin, "it's more like Krypton was just before the Golden Age, when we were explorers."
"That's the goal," John said cheerfully.
"So, what's your plan for today?" she asked. "Visiting more children's hospitals?"
"No, today I plan on searching out illegal chemical dumps so the kids never get sick in the first place," he said. "I like to be proactive."
"We really should have been doing that already," she complained.
"The League is worried about humanity not learning to deal with things like that on their own," John said, "which is admittedly something to be concerned about, however I am dealing with problems they have already sorted out, since they know not to just dump chemicals into the environment anymore."
"That sounds a lot more productive than punching bank robbers in the face," she said, biting her lip.
"You can go visit old war sites and clean up the lead and left over ammunition," he suggested. "There are a lot of places where they still have to worry about decaying bombs and forgotten land mines."
"That sounds like a wonderful idea," she said, eyes lighting up. "In fact, I'm going to do that right now. Bye!"
"Bye," he said as she flew off.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
John rang the bell to Ivy's greenhouse while he absently sent a wave of Green energy through the park, clearing up trash and pollution. He was surprised to find that there were no bodies buried in the area.
The door opened and he found himself facing Harley Quinn.
"Change your mind about arresting us?" she guessed with a frown.
"No, I wanted to see if Professor Isley could help me locate illegal dump sites so I could clean them up," he quickly assured her.
"What? Really?" she asked, surprised.
John nodded. "Professor Isley is the single most knowledgeable person in Gotham on the subject of pollution and the one most likely to know where they are and want them cleaned up. I'd be a fool not to consult with her."
"Most superheroes aren't that helpful," Harley said with a frown as she tried to fit his behavior into what she knew of the cape set.
"I know," John agreed. "Most superheroes are concerned with loss of life, property, and the legality of people's actions. I like to think long term, which means I want to fix the problems that cause all of the above."
"Cleaning up the environment would certainly improve everyone's quality of life and reduce the underlying causes for a number of crimes," Harley agreed. "Wait right here and I'll get Pam."
John nodded and Harley closed the door so she could go talk to her partner. While he was waiting, he brought up the smog index for Gotham and compared it to the factories they had, marking down increases with factories that were likely ignoring the laws on the amount of pollution they could produce.
The door opened and Pamela Isley just stared at him for a moment before saying, "Are you serious about cleaning up illegal dump sites? Because I know dozens of them."
John smiled. "That is exactly what I need to know."
"The nearest one is two blocks north of here," she offered, "it's mostly contained in a series of metal barrels surrounded by cement."
"I'm surprised it's so close by, but then this is Gotham," he said with a sigh.
"It's under a closed down factory, hidden in the sewers," she added.
"That... actually sounds like something a shortsighted idiot would do before fleeing the country with all his ill-gotten gains," John said. "Are a lot of them like that?"
"Quite a few," Ivy said, shaking her head. "I've tried reporting them, but nothing gets done!"
John nodded. "Well thankfully I have absolutely zero oversight or people I have to consult with to take care of the problem. You show me where they are and I'll clean them out."
"Just like that?" Ivy asked in disbelief.
"Just like that," he assured her. "I've cleaned up the bay and been working on the parks. Takes me just minutes to remove the contamination from the soil, this is just more of the same."
"I must be dreaming," the green skinned woman said in disbelief before jumping and letting out a short scream. "Harley!"
"What?" the blonde asked innocently from behind her girlfriend whom she'd just pinched. "I'm just letting you know you're awake."
John laughed. "Let's get started before something happens to stop us."
"Amen to that," Ivy said, rubbing her butt with one hand and pulling Harley in front of her with the other.
Several Hours Later...
"One of the Bats are approaching," Harley called out as John moved a stack of broken-down cars to reveal a section of black Earth in the center of a wrecking yard.
Nightwing landed on top of a broken-down van. "Aphrodisiac pollen?" he asked cautiously.
"No, I'm completely clear headed," John assured him. "Professor Isley is directing me to all the illegal chemical dump sites she's located in Gotham that the city government refuses to acknowledge."
The ground peeled back revealing row upon row of rusting metal drums, leaking a black caustic substance that made everyone wince.
John gestured and green threads flew from his ring, causing the barrels to vanish before a wave of green energy sank into the earth, leaving it a much lighter shade than before.
"How long has that crap been down there?!" Nightwing demanded.
"At least thirty years, according to the condition of the barrels," John replied.
"Who put them there and where are they now?" Nightwing asked with a growl.
"No idea," John said, "but I'll send Batman all the data I can collect tonight. For now, we still have dozens of sites to hit."
Nightwing turned to Ivy. "How many of these sites do you know about?"
"I know of several dozen within the city itself," Ivy told him, "why do you think I'm so angry all of the time?"
"Have you tried reporting- No, the cost of cleanups would probably bankrupt the city, of course they'd cover up anything you tried to report," Nightwing said with a groan.
"Thankfully between my power ring and her ability to sense the environment we can solve the problem without costing the city a dime," John said.
"I..." He sighed. "Do you need an escort to make sure no one interferes?"
"No," John said, "I have enough good will with the local police that they aren't likely to interfere."
"When you complained about pollution I thought you were talking about cars and smokestacks, not this," Nightwing said apologetically to Ivy. "If I'd have known I'd probably have joined you, at least in collecting enough evidence to put the ones responsible in jail."
"Cars are improving and the smokestacks are an irritant," Ivy admitted, "but it's dumps like this that I most object to. I suppose I should have been more clear about my goals."
"I told you Red, communication is the key to getting things done," Harley said smugly.
"Yes, and I'll reward you for the insight later," Ivy promised, rolling her eyes.
"If you need help, call," Nightwing said, "I'll let Batman know what's going on so he doesn't interfere." He crouched down before leaping into the air and bouncing off a few stacks of cars to gain altitude before gliding off.
"That went a lot better than expected," Ivy said. "Well, let's hit the next one, it's under a closed down insane asylum and might just be Cobalt 60 from an old X-ray machine, but it still needs to be dealt with."
"Closed down insane asylum?" Harley asked nervously.
"Yes," Ivy agreed. "What's wrong?"
"Those places are haunted as fuck!" Harley said with a shiver.
Ivy rolled her eyes. "I doubt it's a problem," she said dryly.
"Yeah... No, let's stop by the nearest catholic church and grab some holy water and blessed crosses," John said, "just to be on the safe side."
"Really?" she asked John dryly.
John nodded. "I have some basic supernatural knowledge and everything it says about places where madmen have died is usually along the lines of 'Haunted as Fuck, avoid!"
"Fine, fine, we'll go to a church," Ivy said, deciding to humor the pair. 'Harley being superstitious isn't really a surprise, but a Green Lantern? I expected better,' she thought to herself as she led them to a local church.
Typing By: Abyssal Angel
Beta By: Abyssal Angel and Mist of Shadows
TN: Poison Ivy's about to get schooled… Yikes. Why she gotta taunt Murphy like that?!