Forever and Ever, Amen (and Maybe Fries)

The silence that followed the Shadow Broker’s dramatic, albeit slightly theatrical, defeat was almost deafening. For a solid minute, the only sound was the gentle hum of the city far below and the faint, almost imperceptible rustle of my new, ridiculously cool cape. Kai stood beside me, his jaw set, his eyes still scanning the dissipating shadows where our nemesis had last been seen. He looked… well, he looked like he always did. Like he’d just stepped out of a particularly pricey cologne ad. Which, frankly, was still annoying, even after everything.

“So,” I started, my voice sounding a little rough, a little too loud in the sudden quiet. “That was… a thing.” I gestured vaguely with a hand that still tingled with residual energy. “Guess we’re not going to need that multiverse-ending doomsday device after all, huh?”

Kai finally turned to me, a slow, almost imperceptible smile playing on his lips. It was the kind of smile that made my stomach do a weird little flip-flop, a sensation I was still trying to categorize. Was it fear? Excitement? Or just indigestion from that suspiciously neon-green energy drink we’d had to chug earlier? “It appears we averted that particular crisis, Sky.”