Irene was back in her hometown of Daegu to stay with her foster mom for the weekend after she burnt out her powers during a fight with one of her sworn enemies, who is now back at prison. According to her cousin, her powers would be back at around two days, so she decided to go back home and rest while waiting for her powers to return. Having her powers burn out really —she’s now as fragile as a human. Well, at least the normal kind, she knew that there were metahumans out there with special powers, ones that were even similar to hers.

It was a lazy Sunday, two days after burning out her powers, and she was at the living room and lounging at the sofa when her foster mom, Taeyeon, called out, “Joohyun, I’m going to the market to buy some things for the house. Would you like to come?”

Irene turned her head towards Taeyeon, who had a large canvas bag slung on her shoulder, and replied, “Sure mom, let me just grab my bag and phone then we can go.”

Heading up the stairs, she then went to her childhood bedroom and detached her phone from its charging cable and saw a text from her best friend.

Unnie, are you sure you’re fine? If you want, you can go to my lab and maybe we can figure out how to restore your powers.

Yep, I’m fine. My cousin just said that getting something similar to an adrenaline rush would bring it back, or just let the two days pass and I’d have them back again. That’s enough time for my cells to absorb the sun’s rays.

I’ll see you when I get back to Seoul.

After sending off those two texts, she placed her phone in her bag and went back downstairs.

They arrived at the the weekend market, where people went about the different stalls, looking at the different sellers’ merchandise. Families were also going about and trying out the food some stalls offered. Irene can’t help but feel thankful that she burned out her powers—she was sure that if she had them, she’d go into sensoy overload, what with all the different scents and the chatter of all the people. She and her mom went on to explore the market, with Taeyeon occasionally picking different meats, fruits, and vegetables. She laughed when her mom showed her some Supergirl or Superman merchandise and even bought a mug with the crest of the House of El—or as most people know it, the ’S’ seen on her and her cousin’s chest—marked on it.

Irene wandered off for a while and followed one of the scents which made her stomach rumble, bringing her to a store that sold tteokbokki. She bought a bowl for herself and decided to stay there for a bit to eat her food and afterwards bought three more, a bit amused at the seller’s widened eyes, no doubt shocked about her eating so much.

“I have a big appetite,” Irene told the old lady and smiled. The old lady just nodded, her eyes still a bit widened. After finishing her fourth bowl, she walked around and ended up at a store that sold fabric conditioners. She perused the collection the seller had and found one that she particularly liked. Irene smiled as she smelled the lavender fabric conditioner and was paying for it when a scream sounded out, one that she was too familiar with, and immediately handed the seller the money without waiting for the change. Irene rushed to the sound and found her mom chasing a guy dressed in black, her face red and eyebrows pinched together.

“Mom!” Irene called out to Taeyeon, who stopped to look at her. “Mom, what happened?”

“That snatcher took my purse!” Taeyeon said and continued to chase after the man with a black mask covering his face. Irene fell into step with Taeyeon and joined in her chase after the man. It was interesting to note that with her powers burnt out, Taeyeon was a bit faster then her. Her mom wasn’t that old after all. Taeyeon was the first one to reach the man and went on to confront him, when the man pulled out a gun and leveled it with Taeyeon’s face.

“Don’t go any nearer or else I’ll shoot!” the man said, his grip tight on his weapon. Irene immediately went to stand in front of her mom, blood pumping strongly in her veins in fear for Taeyeon’s life.

“Please, you don’t want to do this,” Irene let out in a shaky voice. “Just take the bag and leave us alone.”

The man still didn’t let go of his weapon and now aimed it at her. Why did I have to lose my powers now of all times? she thought and let out a grunt in frustration. As if in slow motion, she saw the snatcher’s finger get nearer the trigger, then she hurriedly turned her back at the man and hugged her mom, shielding her from the man’s aim.

A shot rung out and she waited for the pain that would go with it, but she just heard the sound of metal clinking on the ground. Irene turned around and was greeted by the sight of a wall made out of green light, blocking her from the shooter’s aim. She looked up and saw a woman hovering several feet above them clad in green and black, her eyes covered by a green mask in the same shade as the rest of her suit.

“Joy!” Irene exclaimed in relief and gratitude. The other woman just smiled at her, then directed her gaze at the snatcher, who was now cowering on the ground.

“Give the purse back to the lady and I’ll let you off unharmed,” Joy said to the man, who then slid the bag on the ground and towards Irene and Taeyeon. Irene watched the man scamper away before letting her arms around Taeyeon fall to her side. Joy took the purse off the ground using her ring and gave it back to Taeyeon, who smiled in gratitude. After making sure that all the contents of her bag were in there, Taeyeon looked at her daughter with a glare. “Irene! You shouldn’t have done that—you could’ve gotten yourself killed!” she admonished.

“Well, we’re both fine, thanks to Joy.” Irene smiled at her foster mom who just huffed in reply. Speaking of Joy, she turned around to find that the other woman has flown back to the ground and now walked towards her. “It’s been a while, unnie,” Joy said with a huge smile and went on to hug her.

Irene smiled into the embrace and tilted her head up to look at Joy. “How are you, Sooyoung?” she asked. “Last time I heard from you, you said you’ll be off at another galaxy to deal with some business.”

“Well, that business has been dealt with,” Joy replied and smiled a bit cheekily. “I just got back and I thought I’d go to check on you, but you weren’t there in your apartment in Seoul so I figured you’d be here.”

“And you arrived just in time,” Taeyeon said then shook her head a little. “My daughter here has blown out her powers, and god knows what would’ve happened if that bullet hit her.”

Irene then finally noticed that she could hear her foster mom’s heartbeat again and also Joy’s, along with all the people who were at the market. She could even hear a dog’s bark from the nearby park. “I think I just got it back, having your life at stake was more than enough to give me an adrenaline rush.”

Taeyeon just rolled her eyes at her daughter. “Now that that’s settled, I think it’s about time for us to head home. Sooyoung, would you like to join us? I’m baking cupcakes.”

“Sure!” Joy smiled too easily. They were almost near the car that Taeyeon had parked by the park when a crash sounded. “Really?” Irene said, frustrated. “Again?”

“What is it, unnie?” Joy asked. Instead of answering, Irene just looked towards the park and was a bit surprised to find not just one, but two of the asteroids similar to the ones she had seen before. They split open at the same time, revealing two of the five-storey high creatures. “You take the left one, I’ll take care of the right.” Irene said to Joy, who now had a green light surrounding her body. In a small whirlwind of her own making, Irene changed into her Supergirl suit in just a matter of seconds. She heard the sound of tree roots being forcefully taken from the ground and heard  the tree whistling in the air as it was thrown by one of the creatures towards the three of them. Thankfully, Joy caught it before it hit them in a large green glove that she formed using her ring. Irene then looked at Taeyeon and said, “Mom, get in the car and get out of here as fast as possible. I’ll meet you back at the house.”

Nodding, Taeyeon got in the car, but not before shooting her daughter a worried look. Irene watched as her car got smaller as it went further away from them, then turned back towards Joy when she couldn’t see it anymore without using her super vision. “Let’s get this started.”

They both rushed towards the creatures, with Irene getting there a little bit faster, and went to work. Side by side, they fought off the humongous monsters, throwing hit after hit at them. One of Irene’s punches hit the creature she was fighting a little bit too hard, causing it to be flung several meters away. She landed another punch on its shin and felt the sickening crunch of bone breaking. In retaliation, the creature stomped on her with its other foot, the force enough to flatten a tank. Thankfully, she was way tougher than a tank and it only made her go several feet under the ground. Gathering her strength, Irene pushed the creature’s foot upwards and shot through above the ground. Using her heat vision, she made the monster’s chest burn, its flesh sizzling. A bit pissed that the creature dared to ruin her day with her foster mom and friend, she enclosed the creature in ice using her freeze breath then delivered a hard kick on its head, effectively breaking the monster into pieces.

Dusting off her hands on her skirt, she turned around to look for Joy and see how she was doing with her monster. A bit shocked after seeing her shield made out of green light flickering under the creature’s strong fists, Irene shouted in worry, “Joy!”

Joy turned to look at her and grimaced, “Don’t worry, unnie! I got thi—oof!” The creature landed a solid punch on her shield, causing it to break and hit her square on the chest, knocking her breath out. Irene knotted her eyebrows in concern, but decided to trust Sooyoung on this. She was, after all, a Green Lantern. 

“In brightest day, in blackest night…” With her form huddled, Joy made a barrier around her against the creature’s relentless pummeling and gritted her teeth. “No evil shall escape my sight…” She stood up straighter and pushed against the monster. “Let those who worship evil’s might…” Joy let out, her eyebrows drawn tight. “Beware my power… Green Lantern’s light!” She raised her head and in a bright flash of green light, the creature was knocked away from Joy and landed a couple of meters from her. Irene flew towards the creature and when she saw no more signs of life, she flew back to Joy and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Are you alright?” Irene asked Joy, who looked a bit worn out. “I’m fine, unnie,” Joy replied. “It’s been a while since I charged my ring, which explains the flickering.”

Looking back at both of the defeated creatures, Irene said, “Well, I think we still did a good job. Does it still have enough juice to fly back to my place, or will it be just like the old times, with me carrying you as I fly?”

“Oh, there’s more than enough,” Joy replied and smirked at Irene. “Race you?”

“You bet.” Irene smirked back at her. “Whoever gets there first gets the first serving of cupcakes!” With that, Irene shot off to the sky.

“Hey, that’s cheating, unnie!” Joy shouted after her. She looked back at the creatures before flying towards the sky herself.

I feel like I’ve seen those somewhere before, but oh well, whatever it is, it can wait after I have my cupcakes. I hope they’re red velvet.

author's note:

another chapter in just a few days !! idk what or who my muse is, but i sure would like to keep her. and some of you guys were right—joy is green lantern! when i first thought of who would be who in the justice league, joy somehow turned out to be green lantern. i don't know why, but it just felt right. then as i was writing this, i realized that it really fits because joy's color is green! i was a bit shocked bc i honestly kinda forgot that and just remembered when i looked at one of my posters lol. well, there's still one more introductory chapter left! hope you guys liked this one, till the next chapter !!