"Diana!" Soren waved warmly at her, "Do you want to join us? We're heading to the movie marathon!"
Diana held her ice cream and smiled when she saw Soren and Clark.
In the Justice League, Soren was known as Clark's lifelong best friend, so she wasn't surprised to see them here together.
Clark had also mentioned many times how much Soren loved sci-fi, so it all made sense.
She looked at Soren with a hint of curiosity in her tone, "Movie marathon? What's that?"
"It's wasting an entire afternoon watching a whole series of dumb sci-fi movies," Jason replied.
"I won't let you say that about <
Jason shrugged.
Soren then stood on his tiptoes to peer into the distance.
Captain America, who had been nearby, had disappeared.
Only the two aliens he had discussed with Clark earlier remained.
They are walking together as if they were in the middle of a conversation.
After scanning the area and failing to spot Steve, Soren gave up on the idea of asking him to join the movie marathon.
Instead, he headed to the screening room with Clark, Diana, and Jason.
Since the movie hadn't started yet, the bright ceiling lights were still on in the theater.
Once inside, Soren found a row of seats at the front and led the others down the aisle, saying, "Excuse me, could you please let us through—thanks!"
He stopped in front of a pair of dirty gray sneakers.
The brown-haired head bent over a laptop and lifted it up.
The boy in the seat looked up with a shocked expression: "…!!! You—you—you…"
Soren beamed as he bent down, "What a coincidence, Peter! You're here for the movie marathon too?"
Having been tormented by S.H.I.E.L.D. for an entire week and still frantically filling out forms, Peter Parker didn't say a word, he slammed his laptop shut, and grabbed his bag, ready to make a run for it.
Soren, quick on his feet, grabbed the hood of Peter's sweatshirt before he could escape, "Don't go! Don't you want to watch the movie?"
"...I just want to change seats!"
"But this is the best spot to watch from," Soren tilted his head, "Where else would you want to sit?"
Peter's voice went high-pitched, "I-I-I'll sit in the back! You and your friends can sit here!"
With that, he quickly slipped his hood out of Soren's grasp, clutching his backpack and laptop as he darted toward the back row.
—Another poor soul under pressure.
Jason couldn't help but give him a sympathetic look.
Soren, baffled, shrugged and asked Clark behind him, "Why did he run off so fast? I was just saying hi..."
Clark reassured him, "Maybe he just finds the back row more comfortable. Don't overthink it."
Soren scratched his head, completely unaware of the psychological scars he had already left on poor Peter Parker.
They sat down, and Soren eagerly started giving an in-depth rundown of <
Jason fiddled with his phone, clearly not paying attention, while Diana was focused on her ice cream.
Clark, however, listened attentively, occasionally nodding and even chiming in with a few bits of background that Soren had missed.
Soren was moved—after all these years of exposure, Clark had practically become a <
His excitement lasted right up until the movie began.
As the theater lights dimmed and the opening music played on the screen, a small green glow flickered in the dark aisle.
Green Lantern Hal Jordan, using his power ring to light the aisle, dragged a Flash with his arms full of snacks and whispered awkwardly, "Man, I told you the movie was about to start, but you were still in line buying snacks!"
Barry Allen, still clutching his haul, protested, "But these are limited-edition snacks from the convention! If I miss them, they're gone!"
"Move it," Hal urged the fastest man in the universe (Yes! He was actually rushing the fastest man in the universe!), "Let's find seats in the back."
The two fumbled their way to the last row, apologizing to the brown-haired young man sitting at the end as they squeezed past his knees and took their seats.
Unnoticed behind them, Steve Rogers, wearing a baseball cap, slipped quietly into the theater, leaning against the back wall.
Frowning, his hands buried in his pockets, Steve rubbed his fingertips together as he pondered the flood of information he'd received lately.
He hadn't come here just for the movie.
He'd received intel suggesting that some Hydra agents might show up, so he had brought a few S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to Philadelphia.
But everything here felt overwhelmingly surreal to him.
The venue was decked out with laser-printed stickers, young people in bizarre outfits, and brightly colored banners and signs.
None of it was anything he had ever experienced before.
Just today, he'd already filled three more pages of his notebook with unfamiliar terms he'd had to look up.
Even though it had been years since he woke up from the ice, Steve still felt disconnected from this world.
He was over ninety years old, and it seemed like there was no bridge to fully connect him to this era.
Sometimes, he joked with Bucky that they were both relics in a world that didn't belong to them.
He knew that even though Bucky seemed to be adjusting well on the outside, deep down, he still longed for the summers in Brooklyn.
And Steve… every once in a while, in those unexpected moments, he would find himself remembering the memories he kept tucked away in his pocket watch.
Had he really grown old?
Only the elderly seemed to cling so strongly to the past.
As Steve Rogers was lost in thought, someone silently approached his side.
He slightly turned his head and saw a face both beautiful and full of heroic spirit.