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The home of Scott Free and Big Barda looked like it had been hit by a natural disaster. It had actually been hit by Darkseid, which amounted to the same thing. There were holes in the roof, a wall in the living room that was gone (Darkseid having thrown it into the next town over), and a couch that had been smashed into three- no, make that four – separate pieces. One of those was on top of the refrigerator, which was miraculously still standing. That couldn’t be said for much else in the house.
Scott and Big Barda did not despair. They would have never have gotten off of Apokolips if they let the despair that nipped at their heels catch them. They had gotten off of Apokolips, and they would rebuild their home.
Still, there was no denying that they were in low spirits as they started. Everywhere they looked, they saw the shattered remains of the life they’d built together. It was all ruined now.
They put out the fire in the toilet – it was honestly impressive that Darkseid had managed that – and then began to clean up the debris. It was easy to reach the garbage bags in the pantry because while they had to step over a lot of upturned furniture and general mess, at least the door had been taken off, so they didn’t have to go through the trouble of opening it. Big Barda had been responsible for that, using it first as a shield and then throwing it at Darkseid’s head when it looked about to break. Hitting Darkseid’s head had broken it, and it now lay with a splintered hole in it by the oven.
Scot reached down to pick up a broken coffee mug and then paused. Big Barda looked to see what he held in his hand. The coffee mug said Home Sweet Home on it.
“Remember this?” Scott asked.
Big Barda read what was written on it and then nodded. “We got it the first time we went to a farmer’s market together. I remember you almost dropped it.”
“I did drop it,” Scott said, a bit of mirth creeping into his voice. “You picked me up and kissed me against the back of hot dog stand. It couldn’t take our weight, and when we lost our balance, I dropped the mug.”
“But you caught it,” Big Barda said, a hint of a smile starting to cross her face at the memory. “You have good reflexes.”
“As do you,” Scott said. “After all, you caught me.”
They gave the mug one last look and then put it into the rubbish bag.
The next time they stopped was when they’d made it to the living room. Big Barda had picked up a desk that had only been knocked over, not broken.
“Our first piece of IKEA furniture,” Big Barda reminisced fondly.
“We put it together right on the first try,” Scott said. “All our friends were impressed.”
“Booster and Beetle said their first attempt at IKEA furniture together resulted in a small fire. Of course, knowing them, it was probably a large fire.”
“Probably,” Scott said. He touched the underside of the desk, and a draw popped out. “A ha! The secret compartment I put in is still there.”
“With copies of our wedding photos!”
Scott looked at them and then up at his wife. “You were majestic that day. You’re majestic every day.”
Big Barda grinned. “Save the talk like that until we get the bed repaired and silk sheets put back on it.”
A rather silly grin crossed Scott’s face, and they began cleaning once more, this time with renewed vigor.
When they ultimately reached the bedroom, they found something else that hadn’t been destroyed beyond repair. It was a photo of the two of them, standing on the golden gate bridge with the water behind them. It had been ripped almost in two, clean down the middle, but the two pieces were still connected at the bottom, and it wasn’t otherwise damaged.
“That was the first vacation we took together!” Scott said.
“Captain Boomerang attacked us!” Big Barda said, an instant later.
“You broke one of his boomerangs in half with your bare hands,” Scott said. “I thought he was going to start crying.”
“He said he was going to take his ball and go home,” Big Barda reminisced.
“And then a giant metal ball came rolling down the Golden Gate Bridge!” Scott exclaimed.
“You jumped off the side to avoid it,” Big Bard said. “You hung on underneath and then came back up behind Captain Boomerang. You got him from behind with a solid right hook.”
“And you caught the giant metal ball before it could hurt any people!” Scott said. You lifted it up over your head and threatened to throw it at him unless he surrendered. Which he did. Immediately.”
Big Barda wiped a happy tear away from the corner of her eye. “That was a good vacation.”
Scott smiled at her. “Darkseid couldn’t destroy that. He couldn’t take the past from us.”
“Or our future,” Big Barda said.
“I’ll get the tape,” Scott said. The tape was small enough that although it had been strewn on the kitchen floor, it hadn’t been damaged, and they’d already returned it to its rightful place in the drawer, after Big Barda had hammered it back together. Scott took a long strip and repaired the photograph of the two of them. Then he handed it to Big Barda, who carefully hung it on the wall where it belonged.
Big Barda gave the bed a scrutinizing look. It had been broken in two when Darkseid had stomped on it. Still, it wasn’t the first time it had been broken, and Big Barda was an old hand at repairing it by this point.
“I think enough of the spare bed boards survived,” Big Barda said. She had stacked them in the garage again after they’d been thrown all over the lawn. “I’ll bet I can get it repaired by dinner time.”
“I’ll get dinner started in that case,” Scott promised. The kitchen was in enough working order for him to be able to make something quick. And afterward, there should be time for them to go out and buy new silk sheets.