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Chapter Text

A/N: Because the plot bunnies just won't shut up in my head and demanded for me to start this before completing Lost or updating Ramifications. This picks up roughly four months after the events of Alien v2.

"We had an anomaly to the planetary orbit on Ungara in Sector 2814," Salakk said as he uploaded the latest information from his ring into the Oan databanks. He remained silent for a moment before continuing. "Upon your request I once again reached out to John Stewart yet he again did not respond to your calls to report to Oa. We had to send Arisia to assist instead. This left the Honor Guard short a vital member as they proceeded to Sector 1417 to stop the coup attempt on Ogoro. I am glad to report that casualties were kept to a minimum in both incidents."

"What of Kyle Rayner?" One of the Guardians of the universe asked the Green Lantern Administrator. "What has Katma Tui said of him recently?"

Salakk nodded his head curtly, "Katma reported that Kyle's stay on Earth proved to be beneficial and that he is no longer in need of her guidance. Though she noted that since his return to Oa that he is rather...depressed you could say. He has already requested to be sent back to Earth."

One of the other Guardians exhaled in frustration, "First the one Green Lantern refuses our summons and now the second is making demands. This is why I was against humans joining this Corps in the first place. They are incorrigible Neanderthals and that is putting it lightly."

"But Ranakar," another Guardian contended. "John Stewart has been instrumental to the Green Lantern Corps since his recruitment. That is not even speaking of the feats Hal Jordan accomplished while alive. Kyle Rayner on his own has proven to be just as formidable and with perhaps even more potential than either Hal Jordan or John Stewart."

"Only a possibility," Ranakar retorted dismissively. "With his reliance on Katma Tui for so long I highly doubt it. You fail to even mention the mounting issues we have with Guy Gardner and his overt disobedience since his recruitment. Your problem, Ganthet, is that you are too-"

Ranakar was not able to finish his sentence as a Green Lantern abruptly raced into the Guardians' chambers, "Pardon the intrusion but both Green Lanterns from Sector 2820 have come to Oa with an urgent matter."

"You are acknowledged Tomar-Tu," Ganthet gestured for him to continue. "What of Sector 2820's Green Lanterns Gorish and Vray?''

"They're here with a...um...well..." Tomar-Tu faltered momentarily "I'm not sure how to classify this. I suppose a refugee and a known criminal?"

"IT WAS MINE! THEY TOOK IT FROM ME!" A voice yelled from beyond the doors. "They took it from me! They destroyed it all! It was my stuff! Mine! Mine! Mine!"

"Shut your trap already!" A Green Lantern entered the chambers with another Green Lantern. Both of the Green Lanterns had the blithering humanoid in chains created by their power rings.

"I swear if I have to hear about this guy's stuff one more time," the other Green Lantern muttered.

One of the Guardians looked at the captive creature in contempt before deeply frowning, "Larfleeze why did you leave Sector 2828? Our agreement was that you would remain on Okaara and within the Vega system. Why did you venture so far that you came to be within Sector 2820?"

The Orange Lantern looked around sporadically as he was nearly hyperventilating, "They took it all! They did! My stuff! Mine!"

"Who did?" Ranakar asked. "You did not answer Appa's question directly. Who took your things and why does that concern us?"

"Those ogres. Those damned ogres!" Larfleeze yelled. "They sent those ogres! They destroyed my stuff!"

"We are getting nowhere with this prattling," another Guardian stated. "I say we release Larfleeze back into Sector 2828 unless he wishes to sit within a Sciencell for the rest of eternity."

"Now Herupa you must remember to have patience with Larfleeze," Ganthet stated before glancing back to Gorish, Vray, and Larfleeze. "You may release him from his bonds and they you are both dismissed and may return to your sector."

The two Green Lantern looked rather surprised at the order but complied as they released their constructs before hastily leaving the chamber. Larfleeze immediately shook himself out as he began to scratch all over his body. "My stuff...my stuff..." He began to mumble. "Gone...all gone..."

"Larfleeze please, for everyone's sake including your own, elaborate on what or who it was," Ganthet slowly spoke to him as though he were speaking to a toddler. "Stating it was ogres does not help."

Larfleeze shook his head as he hit his fist against the side of his temple before he gave out a yell in frustration, "But it was ogres. The ones they sent from Karna. Those scaly ogres. The ogres went and killed them and then destroyed my stuff."

"Guardian Counsel if I may make an observation," Salakk said as he stepped forward.

Herupa sighed," You're acknowledged Salakk."

"I believe these scaly ogres are the Gordanians. They have been allied with the Citadelians for centuries now. For one reason or another the Citadelians must have sent the Gordanians to Okaara," Salakk narrowed his eyes at Larfleeze. "Why is that Larfleeze? Why did the Gordanians go to Okaara? Who did they kill?"

Larfleeze scratched at his face as he grunted, "Pain in the asses Omega Men came and tried to help. Karnans were stupid and let them kill them all. None were left. Remaining Karnans were cowards and ran. Then the ogres came for my stuff and my ring. Then the small lizards came and helped the ogres."

All of the Guardians frowned as they looked amongst each other before they all nodded.

"Larfleeze," Ranakar began with mild disdain within his tone. "The Honor Guard will be sent to Sector 2828. You will accompany them."

"Why?" Larfleeze indignantly asked. "What do I get?"

Ranakar let out an exasperated sigh, "You will get your planet back as well as new stuff."

Larfleeze smiled giddily, "Mine! It'll be all mine! My home, my planet, my stuff! Mine!"

"We can't promise him the planet Ranakar!" Appa sharply whispered.

"I propose we allow it to play out," Herupa quietly suggested.

"Agreed," Ganthet stated. "We do not desire a war with the Citadelians quite yet. Hopefully the Honor Guard will not find a need for the Green Lantern Corps to become involved."

"I'm telling you it's bullshit," Kyle complained to Kilowog as they lounged in the Warriors Bar. "I get to stay on Earth for less than a year before getting shipped back to Oa. Complete and utter bullshit!"

"Could be worse poozer," Kilowog then downed his drink and roughly placed his stein back onto the bar. "There's some Lanterns here that haven't been able to go back home for decades. Hell some of us don't even have a home anymore."

The destruction of Bolovax Vik and the extinction of the Bolovaxians was known by all of the Green Lanterns to be Kilowog's greatest failure. Everyone, even the Guardians, had tried to assure Kilowog that it was never his fault. It was easy to see that Kilowog did not share that same mindset. To him it was due to his weakness as an overconfident Green Lantern that had allowed this to happen. Kilowog swore he would never see the destruction of another planet again which was why he was so tough on his new recruits. He never wanted to see any of his recruits to suffer what he had.

Kyle swallowed as he looked away from Kilowog and scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "Look I didn't mean to come off like that. I shouldn't be complaining. You and Katma always told me to be grateful that I have a planet to go back to." Kyle sighed as he momentarily looked up at the ceiling. "Sometimes I'm jealous of John. He gets to stay on Earth and only deal with Justice League stuff most of the time. I can't even remember the last time I saw him on Oa or helping out anywhere in our sector that wasn't Earth."

"You know Earth is a busy little planet," Kilowog casually mentioned as he raised his hand to signal to the bartender for another drink. "I don't think I've ever encountered a planet that has so many crises every week. It's like you guys are prone to them. I'm sure John doesn't have it that easy."

"Please," Kyle rolled his eyes. "He's got it as good as anyone right now. The guy even got married a few months ago."

Kilowog snickered, "I still can't believe he managed to get a Thanagarian to marry him. Though I met Shayera plenty of times. She's not like other Thanagarians...well not completely. The wild side is definitely there. That's for sure but she's a bit calmer than other Thanagarians I've met over the years."

"Wild's an understatement," Kyle replied. "I don't get how John can live with a person like her. Are all Thanagarians crazy?"

"I wouldn't necessarily say they're crazy," Kilowog then paused for a moment. "I'd like to think of them as battle-hungry assholes who tend to be mildly sociopathic."

Kyle chuckled, "And they say I'm the jerk."

Salakk listened in quietly as he was sitting alone at a table on the other side of the bar. He had been at the bar for a few hours. He had arrived there not long after the Guardians dismissed him from their chambers after summoning the Honor Guard. He of course had settled in his usual spot, off to the table in the very corner of the room. Out of sight and mind which is what Salakk preferred. After a few drinks, the other Green Lanterns normally forgot about his presence and would begin to say rather interesting things in front of him. Things he could report back to the Guardians if need be. This time proved to be no different, much to his satisfaction.

Just as quietly as he had entered the bar, Salakk exited with full intentions of heading back to the Guardians' chambers, "So this is why John Stewart has not responded to the Guardians' orders. This will be quite interesting to report indeed."

Kilowog chugged and finished his freshly filled stein in one shot before belching, "Still he won't be having it easy for too much longer."

"Maybe we should throw John a pity party," Kyle jokingly stated. "Think about it, after all Shayera-"

"Can't you talk about anything else?" A female Green Lantern at the other end of the bar asked with a frown. "I don't necessarily want to hear about John Stewart's love life."

Kyle looked unamused before he mumbled, "Not my fault you're still salty about it."

"What was that Rayner?" She asked as she stood from her stool.

Kilowog held his hands up in defense as he moved his upper body in front of Kyle, "Relax Katma, me and the kid were just wrapping up. Right?"

Kyle glanced at Katma before looking back at Kilowog as he then nodded, "Yeah we got things to do. Just needed a little break beforehand, like you taught me. Keep your mind fresh so that you're alert and ready."

Katma curtly nodded, "At least you listened to something I said and retained it."

"Funny," Kyle sarcastically retorted.

Kilowog stood and gestured to the door with his head, "Come on let's get out of here. We actually do need to go find Guy. I was going to have one of my last lessons with him today."

"What's that?" Kyle asked him.

Kilowog smirked as he cracked his knuckles, "Humility."

Chapter Text

The Flash smirked as he raced past Giganta and Killer Frost. He then made a sharp U-turn and stopped right behind Killer Frost. He proceeded to blow a raspberry next to her left ear before he raced off with a laugh, "Can't catch me!"

Killer Frost let out a low growl as she scowled, "I'm gonna freeze that moron's ass cheeks right off when I get him."

Wally stopped in his tracks in front of them and placed his hands on his hips, "Give up yet? It's been five minutes and neither of you have gotten close to laying even a finger on me."

"Let me try again," Giganta said as she moved in front of Killer Frost and she began to increase her height.

"Hey!" Wally called up to her. "Bigger doesn't always mean better you know."

Giganta smirked, "Bigger means it hurts more when I hit you."

She then slammed her fist down where the Flash was standing. Wally of course had easily run out of the way and was leaning against a street light before he yawned. Giganta frowned as she then picked up a car and threw it at the speedster this time. Once again, Wally ran to the opposite side of the street and stopped in front of a store's window to pick at his teeth.

Wally turned to the two and smiled, "Did I get it all out of my teeth? I had a burger before coming here. Think I got a piece of lettuce stuck in my teeth still."

"Stop mocking us!" Killer Frost fumed as she thrusted her hands at him and released a torrent of icicles at him.

Wally stuck out his tongue before he ran out of the way, "Guess I gotta end the fun. I was hoping we could have spent more quality time together."

The Flash raced towards Killer Frost and decked her. This sent the cryokinetic flying back into the side of a semi truck. She let out a light groan and it became quite evident that she was unconscious.

Wally smirked in satisfaction and stretched his arms over his head, "That was easy."

He then felt someone tap his shoulder. Wally began to turn around only to be met with a fist connecting with his left cheek. The speedster was sprawled out on his back as he raised his head with a grimace. His vision blurred as he saw between three to four Giganta walking towards him as she cracked her knuckles.

"That was easy," Giganta mockingly repeated as she stood over him. She then raised her fists over her head, "I win this time Flash. It's a shame though. I always thought that you were the cute one."

"Get away from him!" A female voice called out. The villainess looked over to see a rather irritated looking Thanagarian advancing towards her, mace in hand.

"Dammit it's Hawkgirl," Giganta muttered with a frown as she turned towards the Thanagarian. "Annoying little bird, what are you going to do if I don't?"

"I suggest that you give up," the Thanagarian calmly replied.

Giganta looked confused as she tilted her head slightly, "That's it? Not even a threat? That's a bit boring for you Hawkgirl."

Shayera merely frowned as swung her mace at Giganta's head. Giganta easily grabbed the mace and smirked, "I'm still stronger than you."

"Clearly not as smart though," the Thanagarian commented as she energized the mace. Giganta cried out in pain as she was electrocuted. After a few seconds the mace's electric current was cutoff and Giganta fell over unconscious.

Wally sat up with a light groan as he rubbed the back of his head. He then saw Shayera begin to walk towards him and he immediately frowned, "Great here comes the lecture."

The Thanagarian stopped in front of him with a small frown, "That was reckless and unnecessary. Are you uninjured?"

Wally looked unamused as he spoke, "If you're going to pretend to be Shayera then you actually need to act like her J'onn."

The Martian remained silent for a moment before he replied, "I only need to do this to continue the ruse that Shayera is still on active duty. I believe my portrayal is sufficient enough to accomplish that."

Wally rolled his eyes under his cowl and stood, "That doesn't even sound like how Shayera would talk. Eventually people are going to realize it's not her if you keep talking like that." Wally then crossed his arms over his chest, "For an alien who can shapeshift into anyone you're not that good at acting sometimes."

J'onn paused as he glanced down at the Nth metal mace in his hand before he looked back up and spoke, "Perhaps I'll just have to bust this mace over your head then."

"See? Now that's better," Wally brightly grinned. "You actually sounded like her this time."

"Actually," J'onn began with a faint smirk. "Shayera just told me to say that to you."

Wally pouted as he then muttered, "Of course she did."

Mister Terrific gave the chuckling Thanagarian next to him an unamused look, "You can't help yourself sometimes. Can you?"

Shayera continued to chuckle as she waved him off, "Relax a little Terrific. You're starting to get a bit uptight like how J'onn was. I think you spend too much time up here."

Mister Terrific frowned before he muttered, "No I don't."

"Anyway," Shayera leaned forward in her seat and pressed a key on the console in front of her. "J'onn are you and the others ready to get back up here?"

"Affirmative," came J'onn's blunt reply. "Killer Frost, Giganta, Firefly, and Livewire are all down. Steel, Booster Gold, and Black Canary are staying behind to wait for ARGUS."

Shayera had to admit that hearing her own voice come back over the comm system was something she was still not yet used to. It was especially hard to get used to when J'onn's speaking patterns were nowhere close to her own. Though she was rather proud with herself that her plan was so far working without a hitch. All J'onn had to do was shapeshift into her a few times a month and show up to stop some bad guys. As far as the populace of Earth knew Shayera was on regular duty with the Justice League and not currently on maternity leave.

"Alright we'll be teleporting you guys up in ten seconds," Terrific stated.

Shayera let out a sigh as she sulked back into her seat. While being able to work with J'onn and Mister Terrific with coordinating teams wasn't the worst thing in the world, Shayera still found it to be very mundane. She at least found it more engaging than monitor duty. She couldn't believe that she actually could say that she missed crowd control. Though her last run in with Bizarro two months ago had even convinced her that staying on crowd control wasn't a safe option anymore.

Shayera's train of thought was cut short when J'onn, Wally, and John were teleported back up to the Watchtower. Upon teleporting back John looked up at the control deck and smirked at her. Shayera as well smirked back.

"I think you can get going," Terrific casually mentioned to her. "You've been sitting there for over three hours now. That can't be easy on your back."

"It's not," Shayera agreed as she stood and stretched her arms over her head. "I might as well move around a bit. I got monitor duty tonight and more hours of sitting to look forward to."

"I think you can take off tomorrow morning too. J'onn and I can take care of things here. You work too much. You should relax a little."

Shayera rolled her eyes, "That's what everyone keeps telling me."

Mister Terrific raised an eyebrow, "Maybe because it's something you should do."

Shayera didn't bother to reply as she rolled her eyes again. She pushed off the floor and flew down to the teleport pad below. Unfortunately for Shayera, pregnancy proved to be throwing off her equilibrium. She didn't like to admit it but she felt rather uneasy in the air. Even a short distance from the control deck to the teleport pad proved to be annoying. Though Shayera also blamed it on the fact that everyone was keeping her cooped up in either the Watchtower, the Metro Tower, or at home. She believed if she was given the chance to go out more and actually fly out in the open for a change that she would have adapted to it by now.

Shayera wasn't paying much attention when she landed and had descended a bit too quickly, nearly losing her footing in the process. Wally had instinctively raced over and grabbed onto her arm to prevent her from potentially falling. This in turn earned him a glare from the Thanagarian and he immediately let go on her. She didn't like to be babied.

"Easy," John placed a hand on her shoulder. "You okay?"

"I'm fine. I don't need everyone hovering over me," Shayera shrugged his hand off of her shoulder with an unamused look as she placed her hands on her hips. "I still have to get used to my center of gravity not being the same. You don't have to worry about that when you fly because of that pretty ring of yours. I, on the other hand, don't have that luxury."

"Then maybe you shouldn't fl-" John cut himself off when he saw the piercing glare coming from his wife. He immediately swallowed as he scratched the back of his head, "I'm just going to shut up now."

Shayera smirked as she kissed his cheek, "You learn fast Lantern."

John shrugged, "I try to aim to please. I sometimes succeed."

"So," J'onn began as he shapeshifted back into his regular appearance. "Your feedback from this outing?"

"Your fighting technique is much better than last time," Shayera commented. "But Wally was right. The way you talk doesn't come close to what I would normally say. You might have to suck up some of that dignity of yours and throw in a curse word or two."

"Only one or two?" John asked with a raised eyebrow. "Doesn't that sound a bit low Shay?"

"Funny," Shayera sarcastically replied before turning her attention back to J'onn. "I do have to say the electrocution was a very nice touch. Though you do need to throw in a good threat beforehand. Preferably one that pisses them off. Also the way you fly looks too unnatural. You have to remember that I have wings and you actually have to move them while flying. I can't just levitate in the air like you or Clark."

J'onn curtly nodded, "I understand and I will watch more archived footage. Wally did make a fair point though. I cannot make this obvious that it is not you."

Shayera smirked, "All things considered, you're doing a great job J'onn. Especially since we're so different when it comes to personalities."

J'onn gave her a small smile, "It has been a challenge but I do have to say it has been rather...entertaining and a valuable learning experience."

"As for you," Shayera turned to John with a frown.

John looked a bit surprised and took a step back, "What did I do now?"

"When J'onn is out there pretending to me and gets hit you actually need to act concerned. You didn't even give a damn when he got smashed into a building," she chastised him. "People know we're married John; it's common knowledge. Even I know that's not how a spouse would normally act in that type of situation. Hell the people of Earth might actually think we're getting a divorce if you keep acting like that."

John let out an exasperated sigh, "I know that Shayera but it's hard. I know it's not you and it's hard to pretend that it is. Especially when I know you're safe and sound in the Watchtower."

Shayera slyly smirked, "Maybe I need to go back down there then."

"Absolutely not!" John retorted.

Shayera shook her head in an amused manner before rolling her eyes, "I was kidding John. I do know better than that. How about we get lunch? I could use something to eat and I'm sure Wally is still hungry. After all we cut his lunchtime short."

"I could eat another two dozen burgers at least," Wally stated as he patted his stomach. "Three pizzas and twenty burgers wasn't enough."

"I'm surprised you don't empty out that cafeteria with the way you eat," John quipped.

Shayera chuckled as Wally frowned, "Hey! I don't eat that much."

"Come on let's go," Shayera gestured for the two to follow her. "I haven't eaten since early this morning. I'm starving."

John was about to follow before his power ring pulsated. He immediately frowned and looked down at it. "Not now," he muttered to it.

"Hey GL," Wally called to John as he and Shayera stopped. "You coming?"

John looked down at his ring again before looking up at the two, "Yeah um I'll meet you guys there. I just got to charge my ring real quick."

Wally had merely shrugged and continued on to the cafeteria. John saw Shayera tilt her head at him. She hesitated before following behind Wally. The Green Lantern swallowed. He knew Shayera could pick up on the fact that something wasn't right. It wasn't easy to lie to her and get away with it.

John then looked down at his power ring as it pulsated again and his frown deepened. This was the fifth time that day the Guardians had tried to make contact with him. Though over the past three months he had ignored at least a dozen summons from them. Luckily, at that point in time, he had Kyle who could tend to the issues within their sector. Unfortunately Kyle was now back on Oa and John no longer had that privilege.

He knew eventually he would need to answer their calls. There was no way of skirting around the Guardians forever. Though John didn't find the prospect of having to leave Earth, even for a day, to be appealing. Even when it came to Justice League missions, John had requested to not be sent on deep space missions if at all possible. He didn't like being far away from Shayera.

John quickly left the room and proceeded down the hallway until he found a utility closet. Once inside, John took a deep breath and held his ring out.

A hologram of Salakk appeared in front of him and spoke, "John Stewart, Green Lantern of Sector 2814, is once again requested to report to Oa by the order of the Guardians. This of an urgent matter and compliance is expected. Failure to comply may result in disciplinary action."

John rolled his eyes as the message ended and he exited the room. It was no different from the other messages he had received. Though the other messages were never for an urgent matter. That made John wonder just what was happening on Oa. Though, if it was on a large scale, John didn't necessarily want to get involved. That meant he most likely would be sent away from Earth, and in turn Shayera, for an extended period of time. That wasn't something John was willing to do at this point; not with his current situation at least.

John let out a sigh as he looked down at his power ring and muttered, "Some Green Lantern I am right now. You can't be an idiot Stewart; you can't ignore them anymore. I'll contact them tomorrow morning when Shayera's on monitor duty. With any luck maybe it won't even be that important."

Chapter Text

"Well looky at who it is," Green Arrow stated with a smirk to the Green Lantern as he dropped in the seat next to him. Originally Oliver was supposed to be on monitor duty with Shayera; which was a normal occurrence at least three times a week. It was much to Oliver's surprise, and somewhat disappointment, to see John there instead. The archer then dropped his bag of McDonald's on the console in front of him. He then leaned back in his chair and placed his feet up on the console. "Ah now this is the life. Get to sit back and relax and have a nice quiet breakfast in the Watchtower."

John shot him an incredulous look, indicating his disapproval of Green Arrow's actions, "Really? McDonald's? You're a billionaire. You could eat anything you wanted and you chose McDonald's?"

Green Arrow pulled out a wrapped sandwich from the bag and shrugged as he looked over to the Green Lantern, "So? I happen to love a good Egg McMuffin with bacon from time to time. Plus the girl at the place I go gives me an extra piece of bacon and cheese. Real sweetheart."

John rolled his eyes, "More like heart attack on a muffin. You know how unhealthy that stuff is for you? You're going to clog your arteries eating stuff like that."

Green Arrow took a bite before replying with his mouth full, "Says you, at least Shayera doesn't complain about what we eat for breakfast." He then took a hash brown out of the bag and held it out to John, "Hash brown? I got like six of them in here. They were supposed to be Shayera's. Though probably not and you probably don't want her sandwich right?"

John frowned as he slightly narrowed his eyes, "You're feeding her McDonald's?"

Oliver shrugged as he then bit into the hash brown, "Yeah she loves it. I got it for lunch once for me and Dinah but Dinah got called off on a mission and all that good stuff. Anyways I had monitor duty with Shayera and shared it with her. Short story is that she loved it. So I told her once a week breakfast would be on me since we share morning monitor duty with each other every Thursday. I got her hooked on the hash browns."

John's frown deepened as he glared at the man next to him, "What made you even remotely think that would be okay to feed her? She's pregnant and should be eating healthy. McDonald's has no nutritional value at all."

Oliver gave John an unamused look as he took his feet off of the console and sat up straight, "Really? You're gonna moan to me about what I get your wife to eat once a week? Who's the one who gets her Chinese food nearly every night?"

"That's...that's completely different!" John insisted in a flustered tone.

"I don't see how," Oliver retorted. "That stuff is loaded with sodium and MSG. If anything that's way worse than the food I get her."

"At least it has vegetables and she'll willingly eat it," John grumbled.

Oliver raised an eyebrow under his mask as he slowly smiled, "Oh I see what it is."

John gave him a confused look, "What are you talking about?"

"That's what Shayera's been craving and you're so whipped that you can't say no to her," Oliver said to him and immediately waved his hand in front of the Green Lantern's face when John tried to protest. "No, no, no I don't want to hear any of that. You are totally whipped. You're married for only four months and she's got you wrapped about her finger."

John let out a heavy sigh through his nose as he defiantly looked away, "I am not whipped. I simply just want to keep Shayera comfortable."

Oliver leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest with a highly amused look on his face, "Whipped."

"So if Dinah ever gets pregnant you aren't going to go out of your way for her?" John asked him with a raised eyebrow. "Because last time I checked you can't tell her no either."

"Oh I can too tell her no," Green Arrow confidently replied. "In face, I just did last night. She wanted pizza for dinner and I didn't so we compromised."

"And the end result?"

"We got pepperoni pizza instead. Win-win right there bud," he stated with a wink.

John rolled his eyes, "I don't see how exactly."

"Because I originally wanted hoagies so it was a trade off. At least I got pepperoni; that's close enough to salami," Green Arrow then paused for a moment. "So did Shayera make you take her monitor duty shift? Couldn't say no?"

John glanced over at him and lightly shook his head, "She woke up with a splitting headache. I wasn't about to let her sit here for hours looking at a computer screen."

"Can't believe something like pregnancy can even bring someone like Shayera down. She probably needs a couple of days off. I can't even remember the last time I saw that woman take off and I don't mean take a day off because she was injured."

"Yeah that's the problem," John mentioned as he sighed. "She doesn't like taking it easy."

Oliver leaned back in his seat and shrugged, "Guess she's not as rough and tough as-" Oliver then yelped in surprise as his chair was yanked away and he fell onto his back. He slowly opened his eyes to see an irate Thanagarian glaring down at him with her arms crossed over her chest. Oliver quickly stood with a nervous grin on his face, "Hey Shayera, we were just talking about you. Great to see you by the way. Did anyone tell you at all that you are just absolutely glowing?"

Shayera's glare was now accompanied by a scowl as she spoke, "I could hear you...both of you." She then directed her glare towards John, who slightly shrunk down in his seat. "I recall saying that I just needed another hour of sleep. I never once said that you needed to take my monitor duty shift nor did you ask if you could. You just took it upon yourself to come here."

"I um...it's just...you see...that well it's um..." John fumbled with his words as he could feel his wife's glare piercing straight through him. "Um sorry?"

Shayera remained silent for a moment before her expression softened a bit and she glanced at Green Arrow, "Scram Ollie."

"Perfect, I really had to do something with Dinah," Green Arrow slowly began to back away from the Thanagarian. "By the way, there's five hash browns and an Egg McMuffin with sausage if you want it. I didn't forget about breakfast. I'll see you next week."

Shayera watched as Oliver jogged towards the doors before she flopped herself down in the seat next to the Green Lantern. The two sat in silence for over five minutes. John looked over at her to see that the Thanagarian looked deep in thought.

John cleared his throat before he spoke, "So um...you still angry at me?"

"I'm annoyed at you but not angry," she replied with a small frown. She then glanced at the McDonald's bag before looking at John, "You going to eat that?"

"No but," John then bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from lecturing her about her diet. He instead leaned forward so that he could grab the bag to hand it to her, "You can have it."

Shayera smirked as she took the bag from him, "Thanks but I do have a question. It's about something Ollie mentioned."

"What is it?" He asked her.

Shayera tilted her head in curiosity, "What does whipped mean?"

"Woohoo! Oh man is this great!" Guy Gardner shouted as he flew threw space. "I can't remember the last time I got to see Earth. I'm definitely getting a hotdog. With sweet relish and spicy mustard. Maybe a corndog too while I'm at it."

"We won't be here for long. Besides, it's only been three years since you left Earth," Kyle retorted with a frown. "Try not being on Earth for seven years and come talk to me. Hell John went a whole decade without seeing Earth. Three years is nothing compared to that."

"Well three years is too long for this Green Lantern. I'm sure everyone on Earth missed me. I mean who wouldn't?" Guy asked Kyle with a cocky grin.

"Yeah I'm sure they missed you like a flea," Kyle mumbled before he spoke up. "We're not exactly going on a good note though, remember that. We have to be professional and courteous when we're there. We're going to be dealing with the Justice League too after all."

Guy waved him off, "Justice League, Schmustice League. They'll love me; you'll see."

Kyle shook his head as he looked forward, "Look John isn't the type who'll joke around with you. Let me do the talking."

"And if he refuses then I get to hit him over the head, right?"

Kyle groaned, "What did I do for the Guardians to send you with me?"

Guy smirked, "You must have done something right for them to allow you the privilege of being with the greatest Green Lantern alive."

"More like the most annoying Green Lantern alive," Kyle retorted as the Watchtower came into view. He sighed in relief, "Thank God we're here. Remember let me do the talking."

"Yeah, yeah we'll do it your boring way," Guy replied with an eyeroll. "Never been in the Watchtower before. Looks fancy schmancy."

"It is pretty state of the art," Kyle casually stated as he flew up to the hanger bay door. "Wayne Enterprises spared no expense."

"So we just knock or something?" Guy asked.

Kyle smirked as he flew over to a control panel, "Watch and learn the perks of being a reserve member of the Justice League." Kyle began to type on the small keypad next to the door. His smirk quickly disappeared when the code he put in was denied. He scratched the back of his head and muttered, "Could have sworn that was it. Maybe it was this then." His next code was as well denied.

Kyle proceeded in putting in several other codes before a female voice came through the small speaker in the keypad, "Who in the hell is trying to get in?"

Kyle immediately recognized the voice, "Shayera it's me. You know, Kyle Rayner? You're second favorite GL?"

Shayera lightly chuckled before she asked, "What are you doing here Rayner?"

"Is that the hot Thanagarian chick you told me about?" Guy asked as he pushed Kyle out of the way. "This is Guy Gardner, the Green Lantern extraordinaire."

"Right," Shayera slowly responded. "I heard plenty about you."

"Considering I am the most talented and handsome Green Lantern there is that isn't a surprise," Guy replied in a cocky tone. "So what does a guy like me have to do to get a date with a girl like you?"

Kyle groaned as he shook his head, "You idiot."

"What do you want Guy?" This time an irritated sounding male voice came over the speaker.

"Johnny boy!" Guy exclaimed. "It's been so long since I last saw ya! How ya been?"

"Not long enough," John mumbled. "What's with the unannounced visit?"

Kyle scratched the back of his head as he hesitated for a moment, "Well...the Guardians sent us here John. We can talk about it more inside once you let us in."

"Why would they send them here?" Shayera could be heard asking. "It's not like you did anything wrong."

"John hasn't been back to Oa in months," Guy stated as Kyle waved at him to stop talking. "They tried summoning him there for over three months now. Plus he's been ignoring his sector. Either Kyle or someone from the Honor Guard has to come out and do the work for him."

"You did what!?" Both Guy and Kyle winced when Shayera yelled. "What in the hell were you thinking!?"

"Geez you'd think that was his wife or something yelling at him like that," Guy said to Kyle as they could hear Shayera continue to yell at John over the speaker. "Damn she sounds like a handful. On second thought I don't think I'd want to date her."

"That is his wife you moron," Kyle looked unamused. "That's why I tried to get you to shut up. Shayera has a nasty temper."

Guy was silent for a moment before he spoke again, "But you said that she was hot."

"Yeah and what does that have to do with anything?"

"How in the hell did someone like John get a hot wife?"

Kyle groaned and then shook his head, "That doesn't matter right now." He then turned his attention back to the keypad, "Hey um can you let us in now?"

Their only response was the Thanagarian's tirade still coming over the speaker. Both of the Green Lanterns looked at each other.

"Think they'll let us in?" Guy asked. "Or is John's wife actually gonna kill him?"

Kyle shrugged, "I can only hope she won't."

Chapter Text

John scowled as he flew with Guy and Kyle flanking him on each side as the three entered the atmosphere of Oa and began their descent. To him it felt like he was being court martialed and not just being escorted to the Guardians. He then let out a deep sigh as he shook his head, trying to get rid of the dull headache in the back of his head. Getting whacked in the back of the head by Shayera wasn't how John thought his morning would go. Up until now they had flown in relative silence. That was until they neared Oa's Citadel.

"Who would have thought," Guy began with a snicker. "All we had to do to get Johnny boy here to come to Oa was to just tell his wife. She pretty much did all of the work for us. She practically threw you out of the airlock."

Kyle rolled his eyes under his mask, "Says the one who got punched by her. You're going to have a black eye for sure."

A look of annoyance flash on Guy's face briefly as he poked his lower left eyelid. He then shrugged, "Eh it'll heal. I still don't get why she punched me."

"Really you have no idea at all?" John scoffed.

"All I said was that I didn't know that the Justice League allowed their members be unfit," Guy argued. "What was wrong with that?"

"She's pregnant, not fat, you idiot," John retorted with a frown.

"How was I supposed to know that?" Guy asked indignantly. "It's not like anyone offered that information beforehand."

"It should have been obvious," Kyle stated with an unamused look as Guy stuck his tongue out to him. "You have to be an absolute idiot not to be able to tell."

"Says you," Guy muttered. "She was very hot so I guess that's an even trade off. How'd you even get a girl like that to fall for a guy like you anyways?"

John smirked, "Must have been my irresistible personality and charm that won her over."

The three were now in front of the the doors to the Guardians' chambers. John moved and stopped in front of Guy, halting any progression forward.

"Listen," John began in a stern tone. "I need you to not say a single word about Shayera in front of the Guardians. They don't need know about anything that's going on with us. Do you understand?"

Guy waved him off and rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah I gotcha John. My lips will be sealed."

"I mean it Guy," John stated before he took in a deep breath and turned towards the doors. "Just get it over with. Like how Wally would say, ripping off a bandaid."

Kyle put a hand on John's shoulder, "Don't worry, we'll be right there with you. Well maybe having Guy there isn't the best thing but I'll be there too. I got your back."

John nodded as the three proceeded into the room. John immediately noticed the disapproving stares from the Guardians as he entered the room. He immediately dropped his gaze and shallowed. He couldn't remember the last time he was on the bad side of the Guardians. The second thing John noticed were the amount of Green Lanterns within the room as well. This wasn't a simple meeting, John knew that much. He was practically on trial with the Guardians. The other Green Lanterns were to be witnesses of whatever was decided to be John's punishment.

"John Stewart, Green Lantern of Sector 2814, is recognized," Ranakar stated as he frowned. "Do you understand the circumstances under which you were called here the way you were?"

John hesitated before nodding, "I understand I haven't been attentive in my duties. For that I apologize. I just got...caught up with Justice League business. I need to remind myself how to balance my role within the Justice League along with my duty as a Green Lantern. I understand that my job does not only encompass Earth but all of Sector 2814 as well."

"Well at least you know that much," Ranakar retorted before his frown deepened. "But we do not appreciate dishonesty."

John looked surprised as he struggled to think of a reply, "But...but I...I did get caught up. It was related to the Justice League."

"Really?" Appa asked with an incredulous look. "When you say you were busy with your Justice League are you sure that you are not referring to the Thanagarian within the Justice League?"

The look on John's face must have been enough for the Guardians as Ranakar motioned with his hand for someone to come forward. Ranakar then cleared his throat before he spoke, "Green Lantern Salakk, step forth and be recognized."

John looked at the Green Lantern Administrator before he looked away and muttered, "Goddammit not him."

"Green Lantern Salakk," Herupa began. "Please repeat the information that you had informed us of earlier."

Salakk curtly nodded, "Yes, of course, as is my duty. I was within the Warriors Bar when I overheard Green Lanterns Kyle Rayner and Kilowog. It was clearly stated that John Stewart was recently married only four Earth months ago and that he in fact married the Thanagarian exile, former Lieutenant Shayera Hol of the Thanagarian Empire. The timing of this event stands to reason as to why John Stewart has been ignoring his duties within his own sector."

"Is it coincidental that your marriage coincides to just before the time period of which you began to ignore our summons?" Appa asked John.

John steeled himself as he looked up at the Guardians, "Last time I checked it wasn't against any law or code for a Green Lantern to get married. If you want for me to admit that I let my emotions get the better of me then fine I will. Just remember that we're living beings with emotions and not machines like the Manhunters."

Ganthet sighed, "We know that John but you have a track record with this Thanagarian causing problems with your duties before. Following the Thanagarian Invasion of Earth you ignored our summons for well over five months. Granted we understood that your planet was recovering from said invasion. We also took into consideration that the Justice League itself was left in shambles and as well needed to recover. We gave you time to collect yourself. When you finally did respond to us you made a request to be transferred to an entirely different sector. Given your own accounts of the Thanagarian Invasion, and the various events that unfolded, we knew why you had requested to be removed from Sector 2814. While prior we may have had consideration for your situation, we cannot take one Green Lantern's romantic interests in high regard to when making our decisions. We have to make our decisions for the greater good of all of those within the universe, not just one individual. I'm sorry John."

John once against looked down to the floor as he shifted on his feet uncomfortably. John knew Ganthet was the only Guardian with any empathy within him and had more tolerance than the others. Even when requesting his transfer, Ganthet was the only one to show him any sign on remorse when declining his request. He also knew Ganthet had hardly any sway when it came to Ranakar, Herupa, or Appa; he would always be outnumbered three to one. John had his doubts the other three Guardians could even recall what having empathy for others felt like.

John deeply exhaled as he slowly looked up, "So now what? I get a good talking to and return to Earth? I promise to answer any and all calls from here on out?"

Ranakar narrowed his eyes slightly, "You will not be escaping this with minimal disciplinary action John Stewart. It will not be as simple as a, as you stated, good talking to. It is quite apparent that the Thanagarian is a source of distraction for you. We had previously warned you, when we learned you had yet again involved yourself romantically with the Thanagarian, that your relationship was not to cause you anymore interference with your duties. We had even advised for you to not continue your relationship any further with the Thanagarian. To send you back to Earth would simply send you back to the very same source that created this inconvenience."

"Hence why we have reconsidered your previous request of being reassigned from Sector 2814," Herupa stated.

John felt his stomach immediately twist as he had a growing suspicion of just what his punishment was going to be. His next thought went to how long would he be separated from Shayera. He couldn't leave Shayera alone on Earth, especially not now. There was no possible way.

"Green Lantern John Stewart," Appa began. "You are hereby relieved of your duties of Sector 2814. You will restation to Oa immediately to be used as a utility Green Lantern within sectors that need additional assistance. Green Lantern Kyle Rayner step forward." Kyle hesitated before complying. "Effective immediately, Kyle Rayner, you will be assigned Sector 2814 and will be stationed on Earth."

"How long is this switch going to be?" John asked with overt concern within his tone. "I can't just leave Earth indefinitely."

"You had no qualms with residing on Oa for nearly a decade when you were with the Honor Guard," Ranakar reminded him. "As far as we are concerned, these changes will be permanent until we can find a sector that would need an additional Green Lantern. At that point in time you will then be re-assigned to a new sector."

"That's not fair!" Kilowog exclaimed as he forced his way through the crowd of Green Lanterns and stood next to John. "That decision isn't just effecting John. What about Shayera? What is she supposed to do without John? You can't separate them like that!"

"Kilowog don't," John sharply whispered to him.

"Green Lantern Kilowog you were not recognized to speak," Appa replied with disdain. "We have little to no qualms over what effects the Thanagarian. As far as we are concerned, Thanagarians are not befitting of such privileges."

"I also agree with Kilowog," John was admittedly surprised to see Katma step up next to Kilowog.

"Not another outburst," Ranakar let out an exasperated sigh. "Green Lantern Katma Tui, you were as well not recognized to speak."

"Whether I am recognized or not I shall speak," Katma lightly frowned. "I find your decision will not benefit the Green Lantern Corps in the long run and should be altered to a degree."

"How so Katma Tui?" Herupa asked. "How is it that this resolution will not fair well?"

"There is nothing forcing John Stewart to remain on Oa even if you were to restation him," Katma pointed out. "You underestimate the emotion of love. While John Stewart may be wholly dedicated to the Green Lantern Corps, he is more so dedicated to his wife back on Earth. John Stewart will simply resign from the Green Lantern Corps should you force him to reside on Oa and no longer Earth. In the end you would be forced to return him to Earth should that happen." John silently listened. Admittedly that was one of the first things John had considered when the Oans had stated he would be restationed onto Oa. "If anything you will be losing one of the strongest Green Lanterns we have. If I may, I believe I have a resolution that may benefit everyone involved."

The Guardians looked amongst each other before they all nodded. Ganthet gestured for Katma to speak further. Katma in turn lightly smirked as she continued, "My suggestion would be to send John Stewart to the Vega system to assist with the Green Lantern's campaign to stop the war. All of you have stated that you are sending the most capable and experienced Green Lanterns. Would it not stand to reason to send a former member of the Honor Guard himself? I would even venture to say Kyle Rayner should as well accompany him. After all, Kyle Rayner was about to be appointed to the Honor Guard himself before you abruptly reassigned him just now."

"What of Sector 2814 then?" Herupa asked with a raised eyebrow. "Are we to just leave it without a designated Green Lantern?"

Katma shook her head, "I believe as the final step of his training that Guy Gardner should be assigned Sector 2814 in their absence. Guy Gardner needs to prove that he is capable of looking over a sector of his own. I believe Kilowog will agree."

Kilowog sighed as he nodded, "Kat's right. The poozer doesn't have anything else I can show him. The only thing left is for him to take care of a sector by himself."

The Guardians began to talk amongst themselves as John glanced over to Kilowog. "What kind of a war are we talking about here?" John quietly asked. "We're not talking big like when we fought Nekron and the Black Lanterns right?"

"Not sure if it's that bad but it's not much better either," Kilowog replied back. "We only found out because Larfleeze got booted from Okaara. Short story is that he got brought to Oa when he ran into the GLs in Sector 2820. The Guardians sent out the Honor Guard to Vega to see just want the hell was going on. It's complete chaos out there. We don't know why but the Gordanians apparently betrayed the Citadelians and are now in bed with the Psions. Nearly every planet in Sector 2828 has declared war on each other. The Guardians had no choice but to revoke their No-Lantern Policy. Right now Larfleeze is reluctantly helping us to try to take back Okaara."

"A war like that could take months if not well over a year to end if it involves multiple planets. That's not including that you have a race like the Gordanians involved," John stated. He knew enough about Gordanians, from Shayera's own accounts from her experiences with them, to know of the danger they possessed. While John had never met Larfleeze, he had heard more than his fair share about the Orange Lantern over the years. Having the Psions and Citadelians as well involved did not alleviate any of John's concerns; they only heightened them.

"Green Lantern Guy Gardner step forward," Ganthet suddenly instructed.

Guy smirked as he strutted in front of John, Kilowog, and Katma. He stood tall as he flashed the Guardians a grin, "You wanted to speak to the Guy Gardner himself?"

Ganthet let out a small sigh as he rolled his eyes, "Guy Gardner, effective immediately, you are to be the Green Lantern assigned to Sector 2814 and stationed on Earth. Green Lanterns Kyle Rayner and John Stewart will be sent to Sector 2828 to assist the Honor Guard and the other Green Lantern forces."

"Hell yeah!" Guy pumped his fist. "Corn dogs here I come!"

"And due to your point of sending only the best of our Green Lanterns," Ranakar began. "Green Lanterns Katma Tui and Kilowog will as well be assigned to assist with the war within Sector 2828."

Ganthet then lightly smiled, "But first Katma Tui, Kilowog, Kyle Rayner, and John Stewart shall escort Guy Gardner to Earth before they are to leave for Sector 2828. This will allow John Stewart to tie up any loose ends he has on Earth."

John let out a small sigh of relief. Though his next challenge, which he didn't know how he was going to get past it, was now laid before him. John had no idea how he was going to tell Shayera.

Chapter Text

All she wanted to do was relax for once, especially with how her morning and early afternoon had went. That was why she had gone to the cafeteria, went to her normal spot in the corner, and tried to read in peace. Shayera let out a sigh of frustration when she heard arguing on the other side of the cafeteria. Shayera rolled her eyes as she popped a Cheeto in her mouth. She had been trying her best for the past ten minutes to ignore it but her patience had just about run dry. She was half tempted to take her full can of soda and chuck it at the individuals who were arguing.

Shayera took a deep breath and frowned. She was here to relax, not to aggravate herself. So she grabbed her can of soda, leaned back in her seat, and turned her attention back to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. She had wanted to read through the series so that she could finally watch these movies; especially since Wally had told her they were some of the best movies to have ever existed.

Shayera drank from her soda and read or tried to read at least. The arguing started back up once more and was more intense than before. Shaking her head, Shayera forced herself to concentrate and to actually read and understand the words on the page. After a couple of minutes, she realized that she had read the same page three times and barely knew what had taken place.

Realizing that the argument wasn't going to end anytime soon, Shayera finally lifted her gaze from her book to see just what was happening.

One of the arguing voices that she heard was female. There were three females, not including herself, currently in the cafeteria with her. One was Gypsy and another was Doctor Light. Though the two of them were sitting quietly with each other and were giggling about something, most likely the spectacle that was going on. The third was Stargirl, who was yelling at Atom Smasher and the cause of the uproar.

Recognizing the female voice as that of Courtney, Shayera laid aside the book she was reading and stood. Really she shouldn't involve herself in these petty disputes. It was a common occurrence for Stargirl and Atom Smasher to argue. The two had broken up and gotten back together so many times that Shayera had lost count. Though Shayera had to remind herself that she was a founder and it technically was her responsibility to rein in the other League members when needed.

Shayera took a deep breath before she began to walk towards the two arguing Leaguers. Whether she wanted to or not, she had to do this.

"What the hell are you two arguing about now?" Shayera gruffly asked them as she stepped in-between them. She looked back and forth between them. Courtney and Al both refused to make eye contact with each other or the Thanagarian. Shayera rolled her eyes and shook her head, "One of you better start talking."

"Al started it!" Courtney exclaimed as she pointed at him.

"I did not!" Al rebuked sharply. "She's the one being a child about it."

"A child?" Courtney asked indignantly. "Who the hell do you think you're calling a child?"

"I don't have the patience to deal with this," Shayera muttered as she pinched the bridge of her nose. She did not want to play relationship counselor this afternoon. She just wanted to sit in peace and finally finish the rest of her book. Shayera took a deep breath and then exhaled, "Look how about you guys just talk-"

"You are the most annoying person I have ever met!" Courtney berated him. "I don't even know why I'd even want to deal with you every single day!"

"Oh because you're just Miss Perfect," Al sarcastically retorted. "Who's always looking for me to bail them out when a fight goes bad?"

"That was one time! I've bailed you out multiple times before! I'm a way better fighter than you!"

"Yeah, well, at least I have powers! All you are is some little girl trying to play hero with that toy stick of yours!"

The blow was low and even Shayera knew it. Then there was absolute silence. That was until Courtney could be heard sniffling. Not even ten seconds later she ran out of the cafeteria crying.

"Oh come on Court I didn't mean it!" Al called out to her but sighed when he realized she wasn't coming back. He then hung his head and deeply exhaled.

Shayera placed her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow, "You're a dumbass sometimes. You do know that right?"

Atom Smasher looked over at the Thanagarian and narrowed his eyes under his mask, "I'm not in the mood for a lecture."

"Just an observation," she replied with a shrug. "You know how emotional Courtney can be. Give her about two hours, buy her a fluffy stuffed animal, and a box of chocolates."

"Is that how GL gets you in a good mood after you guys argue?"

"No, not even close, but I know how Courtney is and so do you when you use your brain. You've done that in the past plenty of times and that's worked. I don't foresee that changing at all." Shayera then paused for a moment, "Word of advice from someone who's with a person without superpowers, never bring that up in any type of argument. You're just looking for trouble if you do. It hurts their ego."

Al sighed and nodded, "I know. I was an idiot. Courtney is gonna make me apologize all night for this."

"Just say to her that you know that you're an idiot and that'll win her over. Now if all of the arguing is over with, I'm going back to reading."

"So you think Shayera is going to take it well?" Kyle quietly asked John as they flew through space.

John was silent for a moment before letting out a sigh, "I honestly don't know how she'll take it. Either she's going to threaten to kill the Guardians or she's going to completely break down. I don't see there being any in-between with her."

Kyle hesitated before he continued, "Are you worried at all? I mean going out to the Vega System. Honestly I've never been in a war with the Green Lantern Corps before."

John shrugged, "Somewhat I am. I know how bad that section of space is. I went out there once on a Justice League mission. I didn't tell the Guardians about it. I knew they'd be angry if they heard about it."

Kyle looked over at him, "What'd you go out there for?"

John lightly chuckled, "Ironically it was a rescue mission. Shayera was sent out there and got stuck in a cave-in on Tamaran."

Kyle smirked, "I can see why you didn't tell them. First you went to the Vega System and second it was because of Shayera."

"Yeah I didn't see that going over too well with them," John casually stated as he looked forward. "Even though we weren't back together at that point but still. The Guardians know how to hold their grudges with various species."

"So um," Kyle started awkwardly. "Are you worried at all about how long you might be gone for? How far long is Shayera anyways?"

"Six months," John replied with a frown. "And I've thought about it a lot. According to Shayera, Thanagarians pregnancies last twelve months so there's no telling when she could have the baby."

"She'll be a ticking time bomb in the next three to six months," Kyle stated. "Hopefully we'll be long back before then."

John didn't answer as he exhaled. Shayera's reaction was the second thing John was honestly worried about. His utmost concern was if he wasn't back on Earth when Shayera did have this baby.

"John," Katma quietly said as she flew next to him. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine," John curtly replied. "Shouldn't be too much longer until we're at the Watchtower. Kyle can brief Superman on what's going on. As he does that I can tell Shayera and then we can get going."

Shayera was rather pleased that the rest of her afternoon had gone on rather peacefully. She was even almost done with her book finally. She was especially relieved that no further outbursts had occurred either. Unfortunately her peace and quiet was dashed away as Wally sped into the cafeteria and leaned over the table.

"What'cha doing?" Wally asked her.

Shayera sighed as she glanced up from her book for a split second to shoot the speedster a quick glare before looking back down, "What does it look like?"

Wally paused as he looked at the cover of the book, "So you're at the fifth one finally? Good maybe we can start watching those movies soon."

"I'd rather finish all of the books first," Shayera replied as she continued to read. "We can binger the movies afterwards."

"That's true. Anyways I'd thought you'd like to know that John got back to the Watchtower a few minutes ago. Guy, Kyle, and Kilowog came along too apparently." Wally then hesitated before he continued, "And um...yeah Katma's here too."

Shayera immediately closed her book as her eyes shot up, "Her? Why in the hell is she here?"

"Look just play nice okay?"

The Thanagarian slowly glared at the speedster before her, "Why the hell should I? She doesn't like me and I sure as hell don't like her."

"Yeah but you can play pretend and act like you can tolerate her," Wally pointed out. "Now we're going to go see everyone and you're going to be the bigger person. No starting any fights."

"I'm not promising anything," Shayera rolled her eyes as she stood. "And don't patronize me Wally."

Chapter Text

When John had arrived at the Watchtower he had every intention on going to look for Shayera. Unfortunately he had been stopped by Clark as soon as Kyle had mentioned what had happened back on Oa. He was now being questioned by Superman and Wonder Woman. Though he supposed J'onn was having a harder time as he had to deal with Guy to get him added to the Justice League database. John could just see that even the ever patient Martian was at the limit of his tolerance with the conceited Green Lantern. Thankfully Kyle was attempting to intervene and control Guy to an extent.

Clark looked at John with a sympathetic look, "How long do think you'll be gone for?"

Diana stood besides Clark yet instead of sympathetic she looked concerned. "Did you tell Shayera yet?"

John sighed, "Not yet but it's not like I can hide something like this from her. There's honestly no telling when I'll be back."

"There was no way out of talking them out of this?" Clark asked. "I know you've said that the Guardians are known to be stubborn but they wouldn't budge at all?"

The former Marine shook his head, "Not even a slight chance. It was either this or being restationed to Oa and then eventually to another sector permanently. This was the better of the two options."

"It's not better if you end up dead," Diana pointed out. "You're going into the middle of a war. There's no telling what could happen."

"You don't think I know that?" John snapped before exhaling. "Sorry Diana...I just...this isn't how I thought today would go."

Clark put a hand on the Green Lantern's shoulder, "I can imagine John. No one could have expected this. I just want you to know that we'll make sure Shayera will be okay and stay safe. I know me saying this won't stop you from worrying about her but she'll be in good hands. None of us would let anything happen to her."

Diana nodded with a small smile, "After all we're like a family. Sure we can be dysfunctional at times but we still care about each other."

It had taken awhile for Diana and Shayera to find even ground after the Thanagarian had returned. Even after their escapade to Tartarus they were only just back to being on friendly speaking terms. John had to admit it wasn't until a few months ago that the two had finally gone back to being friends with each other like they were before the Thanagarian Invasion. Even then the two hadn't gotten along most of the time due to their conflicting personalities but somehow they made their friendship work. John chalked it up to them both being warriors and their love for a good fight.

John lightly smiled, "Thanks, Shayera's going to need all the help she can get while I'm gone. Not that I'm saying she can't take care of herself. Just...I'm sure she's going to be an emotional wreck and the hormones aren't going to help with that at all."

When Shayera had entered the control deck she noticed that John was busy with Clark and Diana. She then looked over and saw that J'onn and Kyle both looked as though they were about to put their heads through a wall. Considering they were dealing with Guy Gardner, she was hardly surprised. Just as she looked away from them, she and Katma locked eyes and glared at each other. Shayera began to make her way over to where Katma and Kilowog were standing off to the side of the room. While she didn't mind talking with Kilowog, she rather enjoyed talking to him, Shayera did not want to have to interact with Katma anymore than she had to. It would be never if it could be up to her.

Shayera's glare didn't cease as she crossed her arms over her chest and frowned, "Katma."

Katma as well continued her own glare as she curtly responded, "Shayera."

Wally had zipped into the room, placed a hand on their shoulders, and lightly smiled, "See? We're all getting along. Isn't this nice?"

"Yeah it's been a while since I last saw you Shayera," Kilowog mentioned casually. "Hopefully John hasn't been too much of a pain in the ass."

Shayera snorted back a laugh and rolled her eyes, "He hasn't been but I know how to deal with him."

"I'm sure you can," Katma sarcastically muttered with an eyeroll.

Shayera scowled, "What was that?"

"Oh nothing, you certainly look," Katma began as she looked the Thanagarian up and down, "Healthy."

Wally noticed that Shayera's fists were now clenched as her scowl grew. Things were about to get ugly. He instead jumped in to try to diffuse the tension between the two, "You know I really think that-"

"Do you want to repeat that?" Shayera asked Katma in a threatening tone as Wally gulped. Things were definitely about to get ugly.

"I was just mentioning that you looked rather healthy for a Thanagarian," the Korugaran replied with a shrug. "After all your people are known to always be fit for battle. I suppose your time on Earth and exposure to humans has made you forget of that."

"And just what do you mean by that?" The Thanagarian darkly glared at her.

Katma smirked, "I always knew that Thanagarians were crude but not stupid or well at least not this stupid."

"Oh shit here we go," Kilowog mumbled.

"Trust me we're not going to let her overwork herself on monitor duty and we'll make sure she takes days off," Clark assured him.

Diana then smirked, "Perhaps we might even be able to get her to take a week off at some point if we're lucky."

John couldn't say anything to either Clark or Diana as all three of them heard Shayera shout, "You son of a bitch!"

The three had immediately looked over to see Kilowog holding Shayera back, who had her right fist reared back. Meanwhile, Wally was in front of Shayera as he pushed against her shoulders to as well hold her back. Katma, on the other hand, looked mildly amused at the spectacle.

"Dammit Kat," John muttered.

Sometimes John wished that Katma and Shayera could get along as well as Shayera got along with Mari. Though with the very few times they ever had to see each other, coupled with the fact that Korugarans and Thanagrians did not get along in the slightest to begin with, John could not be so fortunate. Both of them instigated fights with the other whenever they could. Honestly, John found the whole ordeal rather childish on both of their ends.

John certainly wasn't in the mood to try to break up a fight but knew he needed to end this confrontation before it could escalate any further. He quickly moved and wrapped one arm around Shayera as he pulled her away. "Listen to me Shayera, calm down, take a deep breath."

"Don't patronize-"

"I said take a deep breath," John retorted in an annoyed tone. Shayera gritted her teeth and snarled. "That's better."

Shayera blew out a heavy sigh, "Why is everyone here anyways? Some kind of Green Lantern convention going on we don't know about? And how did you little talk with the little, blue goblins go?"

"Um about that," John rubbed the back of his neck as he looked away.

Shayera rose an eyebrow at this. She knew he was nervous. That was one of his nervous habits. The other was when he would refuse to look at her. "Well?"

"It's kind of a long story," John stated as he refused to make eye contact with her. "And I um...I sort of have something I have to talk to you about."

Shayera placed her hands on her hips and frowned, "I have all day so start talking."

"What's GL talking about?" Wally whispered to Kilowog.

Kilowog swallowed before he replied, "I'll give you the short rundown poozer."

John was worried. Shayera just stood silently with a blank expression on her face. Gingerly he placed a hand on her shoulder, "Shay?"

The Green Lantern had tried to break it to Shayera as gently as he could. He ended up coming off more blunt than anything else in the end. This wasn't the reaction he was expecting though. Volatile reactions were the norm from the Thanagarian. Her being in absolute silence was not a good sign in the least. Silence meant something was wrong or was about to go wrong when it came to her.

She then swallowed as her gaze slowly dropped to the floor. She then bit her bottom lip. John recognized this as one of her nervous habits.

John placed his other hand on her other shoulder as he slightly bent down to try to make eye contact with her, "Shay you okay? Come on Shay, say something."

Shayera instead crossed her arms over her chest and looked away. She then took a deep breath and shakingly exhaled before she spoke, "How long are you going to be gone?"

John sighed as he stood straight and dropped his hands back down to his sides as he looked down, "Honestly, I have no idea. Could be a few weeks, a few months, it...it could be a lot longer than that too."

"What am I supposed to do if something happens to you?" Shayera asked him as she looked up. "When or even how would we find out if something happens to you?"

John looked up and locked eyes with her, "Shayera, I swear on everything that I'm not going to let anything happen to me."

"You can't promise that John," Shayera argued with a frown. "I fought in wars if you've forgotten. People die in wars and most of them didn't expect to get killed. You can't bullshit me John."

"I'm not trying to bullshit you Shayera," John replied with a light frown. The last thing John wanted to do at this very moment was to start an argument with Shayera. It wasn't how he wanted to leave.

Shayera was angry yet she didn't know who to be angry with at first. At first she wanted to be angry at John. After all, he had ignored the Guardians for the past three months. Yet she couldn't bring herself to be angry at him for long. She could see why he had done so but it also made her feel guilty at the same time. He did it because of her. Then her angry turned to the next source, the Guardians of the Universe. Out of all of the disciplinary actions they could have taken, this was one of the worst. Though she was surprised when John had told her Katma had helped spare him an even worse punishment. Though Shayera knew Katma only did so for John's sake. The Korugaran could hardly care at all about her and what could have potentially impacted her negatively.

Shayera then scowled as she moved past John and towards one of the doors, "That's it."

John raised an eyebrow, "Where are you going?"

"I'm taking a javelin and going straight to Oa myself!" Shayera seethed. "I'm going to tear those goddamn gnomes apart limb from limb!"

John ran in front of Shayera and placed his hands on her shoulders to stop her in her tracks, "No you are not. You are staying right here."

"Move the hell out of my way John!"

John took a deep breath as he grabbed Shayera's upper arms rather tightly, "Listen to me Shayera. Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone. I mean it Shayera. Do you understand me?"

The Thanagarian didn't response as she defiantly looked away. She then swallowed as her gaze shifted to the floor. John then heard her clear her throat. Not long after she tightly closed her eyes. John let out a sigh. Shayera was trying to act tough and as though she wasn't upset or on the verge of tears. John knew that she hated crying. She always saw it as making her seem weak.

John hugged her, "It's going to be okay Shayera."

Shayera tightly wrapped her arms around him as she buried her face against his shoulder. "No it's not," her voice cracked as she replied. Then he heard the muffled sniffle come from the Thanagarian.

The Green Lantern tightened his arms around her as he whispered to her, "Just stay safe Shayera and take care of yourself. I'm not saying that to be fussy or patronizing. I'm being serious right now. I can't have something happen to either of you while I'm not here. I'm going to come back home to you Shayera. Nothing is going to happen to me at all. I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure I come back as soon as possible."

"You better Lantern," the Thanagarian quietly responded back. "Or else I'll kill you myself."

Despite himself, John couldn't help but smirk and let out a small chuckle, "I don't doubt it for a second Shay."

Shayera let go of him and smirked as she wiped her eyes, "You better kick ass while you're out there."

"I will don't worry," John continued to smirk as he then kissed her. He felt as Shayera wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Alright if we're all done we need to get going," Katma stated, causing the two to break their kiss, as she began to walk over to them. "We're already behind schedule. Kyle, Kilowog let's go!"

Shayera rolled her eyes, "I really dislike that woman."

"Easy Shay," John said to her.

Wally slowly walked over to the two as he looked worried, "You're not really leaving are you GL? Was Kilowog telling the truth?"

"Don't worry Hotshot, it won't be for long if I have any say in it," John assured him. When he noticed Shayera was out of ear shot, he quickly leaned over to the speedster so he could quietly talk to him. "Wally I need a favor from you."

Wally looked at him and tilted his head slightly in curiosity, "What kind of favor?"

John momentarily looked over at Shayera before sighing, "I need you to take care of Shayera while I'm not here. Please make sure she takes care of herself."

Wally nodded and lightly smiled, "You don't even have to ask GL. I'll even wait on her hand and foot if I have to."

John rolled his eyes but in good nature, "Careful Wally, that might piss her off."

"Nah," Wally waved him off. "You'll come back home to the most relaxed Thanagarian you have ever met."

Kilowog in the meantime stood next to the Thanagarian and looked down at her sympathetically, "Listen Shayera, I promise that I won't ever let anything happen to John. You have my word on that. I always had his back before and that'll never change."

Shayera looked up at him with a neutral expression for a moment before she lightly smiled at him, "Thanks and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

Kilowog smiled as well as he began to move away from her, "I'll keep the old poozer straight, don't worry about that."

The four Green Lanterns then collectively created a wormhole with their power rings. As much as Shayera wanted to keep a steely expression, she knew she couldn't help but look utterly disheartened. The Thanagarian felt as though she was going to be sick. It felt like a brick had dropped in her stomach.

Shayera saw as John hesitated before entering the wormhole. He looked back at her for a brief moment before flashing her a small smile. Shayera responded with a small smile of her own. The Green Lantern then visibly sighed as he flew into the wormhole. As Kyle, the last one to leave, entered the wormhole it immediately closed behind him.

Just as soon as the wormhole closed, Shayera hung her head and began to cry.

Chapter Text

The quartet of Green Lanterns had entered the outskirts of Sector 2828 through their self-generated wormhole. John was surprised when he saw the quiet and empty space before them. He had expected to be thrown into the heat of battle right off the bat.

Katma must have noticed the look on his face as she soon spoke, "We're headed to Culacao. It's one of the furthest planets away from the Citadelians and one of the few planets not dominated by them. From what Salakk has briefed me on, the Green Lantern Corps has used it as a base so far. The next planet we're going to try to barter a treaty with is Euphorix. It's another one of the few planets not taken over. We're hoping to take back Kuraq before eventually aiding in the war on Okaara. We're hoping the Tamarians will as well aid us but they are not particularly open to forming an alliance with the Guardians let alone the Green Lantern Corps."

"And what exactly is the endgame here?" John asked. "We get those planets back and then what? We leave? War's magically over?"

Katma shook her head, "From what I was told it's not that simple. The Guardians also want us to take Karna and finally stop the Gordanians from aiding either side. From there it should be feasibly much easier to take on the Psions and Citadelians head on. It appears our main objective is to stop the Citadelian rule in the Vega system once and for all."

"And what about Larfleeze?" Kilowog asked. "How does he fit into all of this?"

"He was promised Okaara first and foremost. Once Okaara is back from Citadelian control, Larfleeze will no longer ally himself with us," Katma replied. "That is why we were told to not take back Okaara until necessary."

"From what I heard," Kyle began with a light frown. "He's more likely to turn on us than anything else. What if he gets promised something better by the guys we're fighting? He just wants stuff after all; he doesn't care what's right or wrong. What if they offer him more stuff than we can?"

Katma was silent for a moment, "We'll have to worry about that should that transpire."

"So why didn't the Citadel want this Culacao planet?" John asked Katma. "They take over whatever they can it seems."

Katma shrugged, "Primitive natives who would serve no purpose in their regime. The planet has hardly any resources for them to harvest or use. It was hardly in their favor to waste their time and own resources to take over such a desolate world." Katma was then silent for a moment before her expression slightly fell, "John if I had known, I would have let you resign. I had wanted what would have made you the most content and happiest. I knew of your marriage but of nothing else. For that I must apologize."

John didn't immediately respond. He then sighed as he replied, "I think Shayera would have killed me if I had resigned from the Green Lantern Corps. As much as she despises the Guardians, she wouldn't have taken that any better either so you don't have to apologize about that Kat." John then frowned as he looked over to Katma, "But what I don't appreciate was you instigating a fight with her."

Katma lightly smirked, "Old habits die hard I suppose. Thanagarians are tough though. You treat her as though she's a delicate human. Thanagarians are creatures of war and you are best to remember that John Stewart. While your Thanagarian may be more tame than the others you have ever met, she will always have those inner instincts. No amount of time with you humans will ever fully erase that."

"Sounds like I'm listening to a National Geographic's program," John sarcastically muttered with an eyeroll.

Culacao reminded John of the Great Plains back on Earth. The only difference was that the vegetation on this planet hardly looked alive. It looked as though it hadn't rained in weeks if not months. John wondered just how the natives could survive on such a planet.

John soon noticed a large structure in the middle of the semiarid land. The large spiral tower stuck out like a sore thumb in John's opinion. It was far too advanced looking for such a planet. Though the former Marine soon saw the number of Green Lanterns surrounding the tower the closer they flew towards it.

The four landed in front of the entrance which was being guarded by a female humanoid-looking alien. She had purple skin and black hair. She frowned at first but then visually relaxed and lightly smiled, "It has been very long John Stewart."

John bashfully smiled as he scratched the back of his head, "Yeah it has. How you've been Boodikka?"

"Very well," she replied with a nod. "And you?"

John shrugged, "Could be a bit better. Didn't expect to get thrown into a war but hey that's what we signed up for."

"So," Kyle slyly smirked. "You two knew each other?"

"Why yes," Boodikka replied. "John and I were in the Honor Guard together at one point. We were quite close during that time."

"How close?" Kyle playfully asked before Katma slapped him on the back of the head. He immediately clutched the back of his head with his hands, "What the hell Kat? I was kidding!"

Boodikka was silent for a moment before she lightly chuckled, "Oh I see. No, no it was nothing like that. John Stewart was my Green Lantern instructor. Well mine and Arisia's. He trained both of us at the same time before we were sent back to our respective sectors. We both ended up becoming members of the Honor Guard a few years later. Though it wasn't long before John was sent back to Earth so our reunion was very short-lived." Boodikka was then silent for a moment before she continued, "To tell the truth, I was more enamored with Hal Jordan though that was honestly more of an infatuation than anything else."

Kyle smoothed back his hair, "Well I do think I am rather good looking with that Rayner charm I've got going. If I do say so myself."

Kilowog patted his shoulder as he walked past him, "Sure you are poozer. Let's get inside so you can put that charm to the test."

Inside the building was much more rowdy than John had expected it to be. Though he had to remind himself that he wasn't just dealing with the Honor Guard. There were hundreds of Green Lanterns from across the universe currently housed within it. Some Lanterns were sparring with each other. Others were loudly talking or bragging about their accomplishments.

"Right now we're trying to catch up all of the Green Lanterns up to speed on what's going on," Boodikka said to them rather loudly, trying to be heard over racket of the room. "Mainly we're trying to get everyone prepared to take on Gordanians. They're the main opposition right now. Afterwards we have to worry about the Psions and the Citadelians."

"I've heard plenty about Gordanians," John mentioned. "My wife's Thanagarian. She's fought against them numerous times while she was still on Thanagar. She told me plenty of her old war stories involving them."

"Then perhaps you should be partnered with the Green Lantern from Sector 2682. He's been our main source of information so far," she replied. "And maybe we can finally find someone who can get along with him."

"Did the Gordanians get out there too?" John asked.

"You said your wife was a Thanagarian correct?" Boodikka slowly asked him with a confused look.

John lightly tilted his head, "Yeah why?"

"Sector 2682 is home to Thanagar. Our informant is the Green Lantern from Thanagar itself."

John could feel his eyes involuntarily widen a bit, "There's an actual Green Lantern that was stationed on Thanagar and is from Thanagar?"

Boodikka nodded, "Yes, Isamot Kol, he's a native Thanagarian. He is rather...hot-headed to say the least. Not many get along with him nor does he try to get along with anyone else. He's not particularly happy that he got pulled away from Thanagar for this. He's been trying to thwart the Gordanian Invasion of Thanagar for years now on his own. His only consolation is that he's getting to take on the Gordanians on their own homeworld."

"I thought Thanagarians weren't allowed to have power rings anymore," Kilowog stated. "How the hell does that guy get to have a ring?"

"Isamot has been a Green Lantern for about two decades now. He's been a solo act for the past five years though. His partner, Vath Sarn from Rann, was killed when they first attempted to intervene on Thanagar and tried to take on the Gordanians when they first invaded. Sarn's power ring had apparently attempted to recruit another Thanagarian. The Guardians pulled the ring back to Oa before it could do so and they haven't let it recruit anyone from that sector since," Boodikka explained.

John remained silent. Most likely Shayera knew whoever this Green Lantern was since he was active while she was still on Thanagar. He could only imagine how volatile Isamot's relationship with the Thanagarians was. From what Shayera had told him, her people despised the Green Lantern Corps to its very core.

Boodikka then stopped as she turned towards the four. She then gestured her head to her left, "There's Isamot right over there. I suggest you get acquainted with him."

The only Green Lantern that could be seen was a bipedal, lizard-looking alien. He was scowling and sitting off to the side; definitely not a welcoming façade. He then noticed the five Green Lanterns moving towards him. He stood as his scowl somehow deepened further. He was surprising short for his aggressive appearance.

"Boodikka," he gruffly said as he narrowed his eyes slightly.

"I thought we were meeting a Thanagarian," Kyle stated as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Not some lizard guy."

The alien slapped his tail against the ground hard, causing Kyle to flinch. "What I'm not Thanagarian enough for you?" He then roughly pushed Kyle and continued to advance on him, getting directly in his face. "You expected some wings on my back like those genetic freaks? A tail, claws, and sharp teeth weren't what you were expecting?"

"Wait just a minute," John moved in between the two. "You're Isamot Kol from Thanagar?"

"The one and only," he grumbled. "I'm a Lizarkon. My people are native to Thanagar too. Not like those damned Thanagarians act like we are."

Boodikka stepped forward, "Isamot these are our latest reinforcements sent from Oa. They need to be fully debriefed on what's been going on and where they'll be stationed."

Isamot snorted as he looked dismissively at the group, "By the looks of them they'll be dead in a week. Bunch of mer'narkths."

John raised an eyebrow. He had heard Shayera say that plenty of times throughout the years. Unfortunately he had heard enough Thanagarian swears over the years that he knew the meanings of most of them by now. John didn't know whether to be embarrassed or not that he knew how to properly curse someone out in Thanagarian at this point.

"I think that was uncalled for," John stated with an unamused look.

Isamot narrowed his eyes at John, "You know Thanagarian? Never meant someone from off-world who speaks it."

"John's wife is a Thanagarian," Boodikka answered for him. "Apparently his wife told him of her old war stories from when she fought Gordanians. I think it might be wise for the two of you to work together. Given your first hand experience with Gordanians and John's knowledge."

Isamot clenched his fists as he murmured, "Second hand from some vah'sekth'mir."

John scowled, "What did you just call her?"

"So she taught you that too did she?" Isamot let out a huff that John presumed was supposed to be a chuckle of some sort. "Typical Thanagarian, pieces of shit all of them. I feel sorry for you. She forced you to marry her or something? Can't imagine a Thanagarian would tie themself down willingly. That's why they have that bullshit promise system of theirs. Keeps their options open."

"I think you need to shut the hell up if you know what's good for you," John warned him. He then moved and stood over the Lizarkon, hoping to intimidate him to a degree. "Or else you and I will have a big problem."

Isamot growled as he flicked his tail back and forth, "You think you scare me nir'satk? I'll crack your skull open before you know what happened."

"Try me," John stated rather calmly with a glare.

Isamot smirked, "With pleasure."

Katma rolled her eyes and she walked over to them, "If you are both done asserting your dominance on the other then we're here with a purpose. We're not here to fight each other. We have a common enemy and we're tasked with defeating them if you've both forgotten. Whether we like it or not, we must all work together."

Katma's words must have been enough as Isamot took a step back as did John. The Lizarkon then snorted through his nostrils before curtly nodding, "I'll give you mer'narkths the short version then."

Chapter Text

"She hasn't said a word to anyone," Wally quietly said to Clark and Diana. He looked towards the Thanagarian who was sitting at the monitor station. "It's been three days already. Aren't you guys worried at all?"

"Of course we're worried," Diana stated with a light frown. "What would make you think we aren't?"

"Well," Wally began. "No one has said anything to her except for me. I've tried talking to her but she acts like she doesn't even hear me. All you can get out of her are yes or no answers. Otherwise forget it."

"You have to imagine how hard this has to be for her," Diana said with a sympathetic look. "She's newly married and expecting her first child. This should be the happiest time of her life right now. Instead John's been sent out to some war across the galaxy. Even I can imagine how hard that has to be."

Clark nodded, "Plus there's no guarantee that John is even going to come back. She has to constantly worry about that now every single day."

Shayera frowned as she continued to listen to them. So far she had heard everything they had said. Staring at the computer in front of her, Shayera sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. She then began to rhythmically tap her fingers against the armrest of her chair. What she didn't like was that everything they were saying was true. She wasn't particularly a fan of being exposed emotionally like this.

"And having Guy around isn't helping either," she could hear Wally point out. "Even I find him annoying."

"I'll admit he's a bit hard to deal with," Superman agreed. "But we have to work with him and give him a chance."

Shayera leaned over the station in front of her; the three founders' conversation was slowly starting to blur together. She was using her fist to keep her head propped up and her elbow was beginning to ache as it rested against the top of the monitor. It didn't help that she couldn't seem to sleep at night. Her mind was too preoccupied to even allow her to fall asleep the nights following John's departure. She was beginning to reach her limit of sleep deprivation. Shayera knew she didn't particularly have the stamina she previously had prior to her pregnancy in order to go another night without sleep.

Sighing, she finally gave in, letting her eyes close completely and she could slowly feel her body relaxing for the first time in three days. The soft hum of the monitor was almost comforting, background noise to help her ease into a comfortable rest. Suddenly there was a loud bang as a foot collided with her chair and she quickly jolted up, blinking at the figure looming over her. A few seconds later, Batman came into full focus. A small frown appeared at the corner of her lips. She could tell by the look that he was giving her that he wasn't particularly pleased.

"What in the hell was that for?" She asked as her eyes narrowed.

Batman didn't immediately respond as he pulled a chair from the other monitor station over and sat next to her. He then placed a cup of coffee on the monitor in front of her, "We need you to stay awake and alert during monitor duty. If you're not going to sleep you could at least drink some coffee to keep yourself awake in the meantime."

"Thanks," the Thanagarian mumbled as she grabbed the cup and began to chug down the coffee. She then smirked, "You actually put in cream and sugar."

"I've seen your reactions when John gave you straight black coffee before," Bruce dryly replied. "He seems to have forgotten you have a Thanagarian metabolism, pregnant or not."

Shayera's expression fell as she released a sigh and looked into the coffee cup as she slowly swished the remaining coffee around, "Yeah he tended to do that with a lot of things. That always irritated me. Sometimes it's almost like he forgot that I'm not a human."

Batman raised an eyebrow under his cowl, "With the way you talk and act you'd think he's dead." He then paused for a moment before he continued, "We know how hard this is for you Shayera. You're not going to be going through this alone."

"I know that," Shayera looked over at him and frowned. "All I've heard the past few days is them talking about me and how worried they are. Hell everyone in the damn Justice League has been talking about me. Poor Shayera this, poor Shayera that. That's all I ever hear." She then scowled and clenched her fists, "I don't want everyone's fucking sympathy. That's not want I need."

"Then maybe you shouldn't act so pitiful in front of everyone. Do so in private," Bruce retorted as he stood. "The way you've been acting isn't going to garner any other type of attention. Just remember that."

The Thanagarian then sighed as she looked away. Knowing he wasn't going to get anymore out of her, Batman began to walk away from her. He didn't get far before Wally ran in front of him.

"How'd you get her to talk?" Wally immediately asked. "I've been trying for days."

"Must have been my charm," he sarcastically remarked.

"Very funny Bruce," Diana rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Seriously though, how did you do it?"

"I didn't poke or prod to see how she was feeling," Bruce stated with a frown. "That's a one-way ticket to piss her off. Shayera isn't one to talk about her feelings so trying to get her to is a waste of your time and hers. She'll open up when she wants to but you all already knew that. Use your brains; nothing has changed with her."

"So we just act like everything is normal and don't even bring it up? Like nothing happened?" Clark asked.

"More or less," the Dark Knight said. "And keep her occupied. The less she thinks about it, the better off she'll be."

"Who knew," Wally smirked. "Deep down Bats does care."

Batman glared at him, "Watch it West, you're already on thin ice."

"Oh come on, I accidentally crashed one javelin," the Flash pouted. "It's not like nobody else has never done that before."

"Into Wayne Tower," Bruce said through gritted teeth. "I told you all to stay out of Gotham."

Wally sheepishly smiled, "Hey it needed a little renovation anyways. I just started the demolish for you guys."

"Not the best thing to say," the Kryptonian muttered to the speedster.

Batman's glare deepened, causing Wally to shrink backwards, "More like a multi-million dollar cleanup."

"Like you can't afford it," Diana chuckled as she placed her hands on her hips. "Your bank account probably won't even notice that bill."

Batman then shot the Amazonian an unamused look, "That's not the point Diana." When she raised an eyebrow with a small smirk on her face, Bruce quietly conceded before he continued, "Anyway, she also doesn't like it that everyone is talking about her. Don't forget a Thanagarian's hearing is better than a human's."

Wally slightly tilted his head as he looked over towards the Thanagarian. Sure enough she was lightly glaring at him from over her shoulder. The speedster scratched the back of his neck as he awkwardly looked away, "I didn't think about that."

"It's best that you do in the future," Batman sardonically commented as he once again moved to leave the room.

Just as Batman was exiting, Vigilante passed him and entered the room. The cowboy walked over to Shayera and tipped his hat to her. Shayera looked mildly amused as she stood and Vigilante took her place.

Wally perked up and zipped over in front of her, slightly startling Shayera in the process. "Hey Shayera!" Wally said rather cheerfully, earning him an eyeroll from the Thanagarian. "What a coincidence. I was just about to have lunch."

Clark raised an eyebrow and looked over to Diana, "He was? I thought he just had lunch."

The Amazon shrugged, "I suppose he's having a second one."

"Of course I was you guys. Don't you remember?" Wally nervously chuckled before he looked back to Shayera. "Why don't you join me? Think of all of the fun it'll be. It's been so long since we ate together and spent some quality time together. Plus that way you don't have to eat alone later."

Shayera let out an exasperated sigh, knowing full well Wally would not let up and that she didn't have the energy to argue with him, "Fine."

Shayera pushed her food around her plate with her fork. So far she had been drowning out Wally as he spoke literally a mile a minute. That was until a piece of chicken mysteriously appeared on her plate. She had endured plenty during this lunch with Wally attempting to force various healthy foods onto her. Her patience was all but gone at this point. Taking a deep breath to rein in her temper, she glanced at Wally with no little amount of irritation, only to find him still running his mouth and acting like nothing was amiss.

"What is this?" Shayera asked in a bland tone, instantly garnering Wally's attention.

"Well, I thought that you should add a little more protein to your meal," Wally casually informed her, making Shayera grit her teeth. "It's healthy during pregnancy and all that good stuff."

Shayera's grip tightened on her fork before she carefully laid it down and reached for her glass of lemonade. Shayera took a long, deliberate drink of her lemonade, set the glass back down, wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, and then faced Wally with an overly polite smile on her face.

"So Wally," Shayera started conversationally, trying very hard to hold onto the remains of her temper. Which she wholeheartedly knew had been worse than ever. Wally visually tensed beside her in anticipation of what he presumed was going to be a headache in the making. "When were you going to tell us that you were a Thanagarian?"

Wally looked confused as he tilted his head, "Last I checked I wasn't. I don't get why you asked that Shayera."

"Well, I just thought that. Since you suddenly became an expert on Thanagarian pregnancies," Shayera continued lightly with a shrug. "The only logical conclusion is that you must be a Thanagarian yourself and know everything about Thanagarian physiology."

"But I don't know anything about Thanagarian stuff," Wally responded. "But I read some stuff online and thought-"

"Exactly you don't know anything!" Shayera snapped at him with a pointed look. "You've spent this entire time trying to force me to eat shit I don't need or want to eat, trying to take away shit I do want to eat, and in general just being a meddling pain in my ass."

"Well, I just thought that I might be able to help," he meekly stated.

"The fact is," Shayera said slowly, as if talking to a small child, an irritated frown on her face. "You know nothing about my pregnancy as you have no part in it. Case in point here, you were just trying to serve me a completely unnecessary helping of protein right now. Which granted was well-intentioned I understand but completely misguided. I don't need the extra iron in my diet. I am not anemic and I have already made certain to eat the minimum amount of protein I need for the day. And even if I hadn't, it is not up to you to correct my behavior."

"Well, how was I to know?" Wally pouted as he slouched in his seat.

"That is exactly my point, Wally," Shayera said with a light glare. "You can't know so don't assume. I can take care of myself just fine without yours or, for that matter, anyone else's interference." She then leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms over her chest before she muttered, "It was bad enough when I had John doing this; I don't need other people doing the same."

Seeing Wally's downhearted expression made Shayera feel like an asshole. The Thanagarian deeply exhaled as she looked away. Logically she knew Wally was only trying to be helpful. He wasn't trying to be condescending know-it-all. She knew how much Wally cared about her and her wellbeing. That and she also knew that she was taking her frustrations out on the poor speedster.

Shayera lightly sighed, "I'm sorry Wally. I shouldn't have went off like that. I'm just...frustrated is all."

"No, no it's fine," Wally waved her off with a forced smile. "I get it. I was way too pushy and I shouldn't have been. I shouldn't have acted like I knew anything. Cause you're right, I'm not a Thanagarian. I'm just a human plus this isn't anything I know anything about honestly." Wally then shrugged but then saw bleak expression on the Thanagarian's face. That wasn't going to be there for long if he had a say in it. "Anyways, how about we watch a movie after this? We can relax and spend even more quality time together. Plus it'll take your mind off of everything going on. You know you can't say no to a good movie Shay. And let me tell you I've got an action movie that I think you'll love. What'cha say?"

Shayera couldn't stay angry with Wally for long, especially when he gave her that infectious, goofy grin of his. Quickly forgetting her previous irritation, Shayera found herself lightly chuckling, "Alright I'll bite Wally."

Wally's grin grew, seeing that he finally got Shayera to crack a smile and even a chuckle all at the same time, "Let me tell you, hands down, you are going to love Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark."

Chapter Text

The day had not begun well and for John Stewart it was getting progressively worse. Talks with the Euphorians had been very difficult, already taking four days of the Green Lantern's time and still with no compromise in sight. The Green Lanterns were not allowed to make an outpost on Euphorix and trying to create one of their moon Tallgrass was proving to be incredibly challenging. So, without a nearby outpost, each negotiating secession necessitated a five hour trip each way. This made for very long and tiring days.

Even more unfortunately for John, he was partnered with Isamot. The two could not find common ground between each other. Not helping was that John was operating on no more than two hours of sleep per night. While Katma, Kyle, and Kilowog were with Boodikka and a few other members of the Honor Guard trying to negotiate, Isamot and John were tasked with scouting the surrounding moons, planets, and asteroid belts around Euphorix. Their main goal was to see if there were any signs of Gordanians, Psions, or Citadelians in the area. So far their daily searches provided no such traces, much to everyone's relief.

Their secondary goal were to try to find other planets' inhabitants that the Green Lantern Corps could perhaps align themselves with. Just as unfortunately none such planets were found so far.

The closest world to Euphorix, Ogyptu, had been a complete waste of the two Green Lanterns' time. The Ogyptuans, a race of giants, didn't seem to have any spacial awareness and seemed as though they were unmoving. Isamot and John didn't bother to stay long and soon went to the next closest world that say day. Dredfahl was a dangerous planet populated by radioactive waste. The Dredfahlians were extremely hostile and had tried to kill John and Isamot as soon as they had touched down onto the planet. John had to restrain Isamot and practically had to drag the Lizarkon off of the planet. Isamot had been more than eager to fight any and all of the Dredfahlians. His brash and irrational behavior had reminded John of Shayera.

The next planet the pair had investigated was Voorl. They had spent two whole days trying to find any signs of life on the planet. All they could find were various areas of dead Voorlians. It seemed the native species of that planet had long gone extinct. The only saving grace was the the world was lush with resources. It was an ideal planet to keep out of Citadelian or Psion possession. That and it was in an optimal position to create another outpost.

The latest planet they had just left, Sindromeda, was all but uninhabitable. The planet's atmosphere was filled with noxious, acidic gases. There was no possible way the Green Lantern Corps could possibly make an outpost on such a planet. That and the native species to the planet, the Sindromedans and the Graffalloons, were unwilling to battle the Psions in any compacity.

"Fucking sith'mirtks, of course they're too pussyfooted to help. Can't save their own hides. Mer'narkths," Isamot irritably grumbled as he and John were making their way back to Euphorix.

"It's their decision, not ours, to make," John responded with an eyeroll.

"They won't do it since the Psions made them what they are now. Damn little vah'sekth'mirs and their experiments. The Guardians should have killed them off centuries ago. It would have stopped so many wars and saved so many lives and planets."

"Guardians never seemed to care about what happened out here though," John stated. "Vega has always been a warzone from the stories I've heard."

Isamot snarled, "I'm not just talking about this dump of a sector you nir'satk."

John frowned as he flew in front of Isamot and stopped in front of him, "Then how about you explain things instead of just acting like some hostile prick."

Isamot's eye twitch and he swished his tail back and forth a few times. He then relented as he flew past John, "Fine then. If the Psions had been stopped than the Thanagarian-Gordanian War never would have occurred. Hell the Thanagarians might not have been able to continue some of their conquests if it weren't for the Psions."

"How so? What did the Psions do to help the Thanagarians?" John asked with a raised eyebrow as his frown grew slightly. Shayera had never mentioned anything about Psions before.

Isamot looked over to him and smirked, "Your wife wouldn't know about the Psions. Most of the Thanagarians don't know or care to know about their origins. This was well over a millennia ago but the Thanagarians invaded a planet called Havania. There they met the Havanians. The Thanagarians were captivated by them."

"Why?"

"Simple," Isamot began. "Because of their wings. Thanagarians were always obsessed with flying and were using Nth metal to make fake wings for themselves. To find a species that grew them naturally, that was just a dream come true for them." Isamot then paused before he continued, "So the Thanagarians devastated Havania and took as many Havanians prisoner as possible. The Thanagarians tried so hard to create Havanian-Thanagarian hybrids. The results were disastrous. That's how the Manhawks of Thanagar were created. Mindless, bloodthirsty creatures those things. They live in the jungles and mountains throughout Thanagar. They'll rip you to pieces for the fun of it. They've even killed Thanagarians before just for shit and giggles."

"What do the Psions have to do with any of that?" John questioned.

"Because since breeding didn't work, the Thanagarians looked to change their DNA to its very core and isolate select Havanian gnomes. They just needed to find someone or something that could do that for them. Eventually their search led them to find the Psions. The Psions have always been notorious for their genetic experimentation. They were more than happy to assist the Thanagarians so they started splicing Havanian DNA into Thanagarian DNA. The first generation of winged Thanagarians were created but it was too inconsistent. Some were born with wings, others without. Then came their next problem."

"Which was?"

"The Thanagarians that were born with actual wings were too docile and timid. They had too many Havanian traits in them. The Havanians were a pacifistic, peace-loving species. So they tried to breed that first generation of winged Thanagarians with the wingless ones who had more gnomes spliced within them. Some offspring had wings others didn't but the aggression was being bred back in for some but not all. So they tried breeding that second generation with that first generation of winged Thanagarians. At this point you can imagine what was beginning to happen."

"Inbreeding," John quietly answered.

"Exactly," Isamot nodded. "They soon had to allow the first, second, and third generations to breed with each other, whether they were wingless or not. It took five or six generations of breeding for the wings to become mostly consistent but the damage was done. Thanagarian DNA is now too unstable."

"Unstable how exactly?" John asked. "My wife once told me that Thanagarians aren't allowed to breed with other species who weren't approved so that they can still have offspring with wings. She said half-Thanagarians aren't accepted on Thanagar at all, wings or no wings."

Isamot rolled his eyes and snorted, "Approved species my ass. Any breeding can result in winged half-Thanagarians no matter the species. It's just so inconsistent plus they want that aggressive temperament as well. The Thanagarians think they know what species can and can't produce wings with them while still maintaining that thirst for battle. There's even been some full Thanagarians born without wings before. Hell there was once a half-Thanagarian born with wings from a species deemed impossible to produce them. There's even rumors of quarter-Thanagarians who were born with wings."

"So there's no guarantee then? Is that what you're saying?"

"I suppose I am." Isamot slowly looked over towards him, "You seem rather interested in this Stewart, why?"

John looked away as he cleared his throat, "No reason, just curious is all. I'm married to a Thanagarian, remember?"

Isamot sneered, "Yeah I remember just fine fir'zerth. But yeah half-Thanagarians are only useful to them for placing them on the frontlines first and foremost. Their secondary use is for research on further gnome splicing. They breed them with full Thanagarians from time to time. Splice either the half-Thanagarian's genes or the full Thanagarian's to see what the results will be. They're still trying to perfect their species. Plus they still have some of those Havanian traits that pop-up from time to time, which is a pain in the ass for them to deal with. Some of the Thanagarians are born too passive and gentle. Some tend to come out smaller and weaker than the average Thanagarian. Let's just say, they don't make it long after they get placed in the military. The main problem the Thanagarians are facing is the mental instability that's popping up too in both full and half-Thanagarians. They're overly aggressive to the point they don't listen even to their superiors. Makes them hard to control and too unpredictable; almost reminds me of those Manhawks honestly. Personally I think it's a chemical imbalance in their brains from all of that DNA splicing but what do I know? I've noticed how those Thanagarians suffer from migraines for no apparent reason. Either they aren't making the correlation themselves or they don't care and they're hoping they can learn to breed that aggression to a controllable level in their future generations."

"For someone that seems to hate Thanagarians, you sure know a lot about them," John pointed out with a raised eyebrow.

"You need to know about your enemies Stewart," Isamot replied. "Those Thanagarians put my people into servitude under them. We're native to that planet just like them but they consider us secondary citizens, or as they call us cor'jekths. We were used to create machinery and weaponry for them. We were even used to clean up the dead during war. I finally had enough and one day stood up against the Thanagarians who were in charge of controlling my colony of Lizarkons. Just as he was about to blow my brains out this came to me," Isamot gestured to his power ring before he continued. "I killed that Thanagarian officer and got pulled to Oa. I was warned after my training and before I got sent back to Thanagar. I wasn't allowed to kill anymore Thanagarians and I wasn't allowed to impose on any wars they were involved in. I just had to sit back and quietly watch as my people suffered because of those vah'sekth'mirs. If it wasn't for the Psions then our next problem would have been avoided all together."

"What about them?"

"Those damned Gordanians. The Psions created them eons ago," Isamot darkly muttered. "So when the Thanagarians came knocking to take over the Citadelians and Psions, the Gordanians went on the attack. They managed to push the Thanagarians back into their own sector. From there it was a back and forth war until the traitor."

John found himself swallowing, knowing full well where Isamot was going with this, "The traitor?"

"Yeah one of their top big dogs, Lieutenant Shayera Hol, betrayed Thanagar," Isamot let out a gruff chuckle. "She was a piece of shit like the others but I wish I could have seen it. Some little dirtball of a planet she saved apparently. Blew their Hyperspace Bypass plan to shit. I'm assuming they must have killed her; at least Talak got what was coming to him in the end. Honestly I don't know if that plan would have worked anyways. The Thanagarians were outnumbered by the Gordanians. Hell even by the Citadelians. If they got to Karna did they really think the Citadelians wouldn't have sent backup? They were fucked one way or another. Not that it did my people any good."

"What happened to your people?" John asked.

"We thought the Thanagarians were bad to us," Isamot let out a humorless laugh. "The Gordanians were worse. At least the Thanagarians wanted us alive. Hell at one point they were putting Lizarkons on the frontlines because they didn't have enough of their own soldiers. We thought the Gordanians would have liberated us instead they started working my people to death. They had my people stop making weapons for the Thanagarians, effectively crippling them. Instead they were making weapons for the Gordanians. Anyone who tried to object got killed. At least the Thanagarians would just beat us and not kill us. That's when I decided to screw the Guardians' orders to not intervene. At that point I was defending my people, not just the Thanagarians. All the good it did me. I got Vath killed plus millions of Lizarkons and Thanagarians still died. The ones still alive are enslaved by the Gordanians. I'm hoping that being here can let me finally help liberate Thanagar. I'm gonna kill every single Gordanian I can."

John glanced over to Isamot; with their no-kill policy lifted it didn't surprise John to hear that come from him. It was also the first time he had heard Isamot sound remotely upset plus the Lizarkon looked remorseful as he had spoke. It also reminded John that the rough and tough exterior was normally just a coping mechanism. After all, Shayera acted very similarly to Isamot in a lot of ways. John let out a deep sigh as he felt a deep pang in his chest. He had been trying to not think about Shayera. Working with Isamot was making that very difficult. The similarities in their personalities constantly reminded John of Shayera. He particularly found it very hard to sleep without her there next to him. He also found it hard to sleep as he was constantly worrying about her.

"What's your deal anyways Stewart?" Isamot suddenly asked him, breaking John's chain of thought. "How'd you meet a Thanagarian? How the hell did a Thanagarian even make it to your planet?"

"Well I'm from Sector 2814," John began. "Ever hear about a planet called Earth before?"

"Yeah that's that planet the Thanagarians tried to invade and the-" Isamot then briefly cut himself off. "So she's not dead. You married the traitor."

"Guilty," John admitted. "The Guardians weren't happy, per usual, and I got sent out here as punishment."

"Look let's just agree to disagree in the future," Isamot proposed. "I'll try not to call your wife a vah'sekth'mir again but I can't guarantee I won't call her a mer'narkth. Hell there's no guarantee I won't call her a nir'satk either. Believe it or not, I have a begrudging respect to Lieutenant Hol for finally growing a pair of eyeballs and seeing her people for what they truly are. Otherwise, in my eyes, she's as bad as the rest of them for everything she did while on Thanagar."

John frowned but curtly nodded, knowing this was the best compromise he could probably make with the Lizarkon, "It's better than nothing so how about we just not discuss my wife if at all possible. Fair enough?"

"Good, fine by me," Isamot as well curtly nodded. "Now then we should go to...aw Seven Hells! Not those bi'mesk'jiets!"

John looked ahead and could see a ship in the distance, orbiting outside of Euphorix's moon, Tallgrass. he remembered seeing that type of ship before on Earth and he immediately frowned, "I remember seeing that ship before on Earth. It's a Gordanian Class-7 Cruiser. Shayera told me about them. They're a lot smaller than their normal ships."

Isamot nodded, "They use them for scouting. If it's a lone ship we can take it out before they alert their fleet we're out here. Come on Stewart," Isamot gestured for John to follow him as they hid within an asteroid belt. "We'll use this as cover. It's going to be tricky once we reach the end of the belt and have to approach them in the open. We'll have to do a quick and effective assault. We have to destroy the ship in one shot. Got it?"

"Yeah but how?" John asked.

"The ion field can repel physical projectiles but not at the base of the plasma cannons. We shoot directly into those and the big ship goes boom," Isamot explained. "Hopefully they didn't get to Euphorix yet."

"I doubt it since it takes two hours to get from Tallgrass to Euphorix," John stated.

"Right," Isamot muttered with a nod. "You ready for this Stewart?"

John looked over to Isamot and nodded, "Let's do this."

Chapter Text

John and Isamot had successfully navigated their way through the asteroid belt in a stealthy and fast pace. The Gordanian ship seemed to be none the wiser of the two Green Lanterns. The two Green Lanterns just as quickly flew to the front of the ship, poised to attack it at the base of its plasma canons. Isamot narrowed his eyes as he noticed the ship did not react in anyway. The Lizarkon could immediately tell that something was just not right. John, on the other hand, was about to blast into the ship without a second thought.

"Hold it!" Isamot threw his arm in front of John to stop him. "Something's not right."

"Like what?" John asked with a raised eyebrow. "I thought you wanted us to blast this ship to pieces."

"Well for starters," Isamot began with an unamused look before he gestured towards the ship with his head. "Didn't you notice that we're still here and not zapped to a crisp?"

John paused for a moment before nodding, "I see your point. It's a trap then?"

"Most likely," Isamot nodded as he continued to look over the ship. "Just an unmanned cruiser in the middle of space. They wanted us to destroy it. They're probably tracking it and want it to disappear. It'll tell them exactly where we are. They'd probably put ships into hyper-drive and bombard us."

"Or they know Green Lanterns are out here already and want to confirm it. It wouldn't make sense for them to just randomly send a ship out here," John stated. "Someone ratted us out."

"Yeah but only-" Isamot then cut himself off as his eyes widened. Isamot then quickly flew off with John hot on his tail. "Those vah'sekth'mirs! Fucking Euphorians! I knew something was off!"

John frowned, "That's why they were stalling this whole time. They told either the Psions or the Gordanians that we were there. They were just bidding their time until they could get out here."

"We're not going to get there in time," Isamot growled before he looked down at his ring. "I got one shot at this."

John narrowed his eyes slightly, "You're not thinking about doing what I think you are. You won't have any juice left in your ring. It's practically suicide."

"They're sitting ducks Stewart," Isamot argued. "It's our only shot. Unless you got any better ideas."

"Hell even if both of us were to make the wormhole together it'll give us maybe a quarter of our batteries left. There's no way we'll be able to get from Euphorix to Culacao on that," John pointed out. "And that's if we don't run into any trouble on Euphorix when we get there. My gut feeling is that we're going to."

Isamot looked over to John with a look of disdain, "So you just want to leave them on that planet to fend for themselves? That's the coward's way out."

"Of course not!" John scowled. "That's not what I meant. We can't make this into a suicide mission but we don't have much of a choice. We're going to have to use our rings conservatively once we get there and play it smart. Getting ourselves killed isn't going to help things."

"Then we're doing this. It's all or nothing Stewart," the Lizarkon stated with utter conviction.

John deeply exhaled and lightly glared at his fellow Green Lantern, "Fine but if we die Isamot I'm going to kill you myself."

Isamot smirked, "I'd like to see you try nir'satk."

Predictably John found that creating a wormhole with four Green Lanterns are far less taxing than two Green Lanterns attempting the very same. What did not help was that Isamot and John did not have fully charged power rings to begin with. As they exited the wormhole, both of their rings flickered for a brief moment. The drain was more than either of them had thought it would be. The two did not have time though to be preoccupied by this as they saw a massive warship right out of Euphorix's orbit. What alarmed the two was the type of ship it was.

John swallowed, "Isamot isn't that?"

Isamot slowly nodded, "Thanagarian...dammit! The Gordanians even brought them here."

The two were about to descend into the planet's orbit until they saw a green light flying towards them. Just as quickly a power ring sailed by them. Then came another ring, followed by another, and then another.

"No," Isamot softly murmured as he involuntarily shuddered as he hung his head. "I...we didn't..."

"We're too late," John muttered with a deep frown. "We gotta see who's left and try to get them out in one piece."

Isamot placed his hands on the sides of his head as he tightly shut his eyes, "Not again...Vath..."

"Isamot come on, let's go!" John tried to spur Isamot into action. Isamot just silently floated as he shook his head. John put his hands on the Lizarkon's shoulders and roughly shook him, "Come on Isamot! We have to get down there!"

Isamot heavily breathed and his ears rang as he flicked his tail back and forth erratically. It had been five years since Isamot had last worked with another Green Lantern. He had refused to work with any other Green Lantern from any sector following Vath Sarn's death. If Isamot was being openly honest, he didn't want to work with another Green Lantern because he couldn't bear to see another one die before him. He already blamed himself for Vath's death, along with the deaths of millions of Lizarkons and Thanagarians at the hands of the Gordanians. He didn't want to be responsible for yet more lives lost. The only lives he wanted to see extinguished were the Gordanians themselves. Isamot had no other interest in this war other than to decimate Karna in retribution for what they had done on Thanagar.

It was also humiliating for the Lizarkon to admit that his greatest fear was now death itself. A death-fearing Green Lantern was hardly useful in battle let alone a war. Isamot had been careful to keep this fact hidden from even the Guardians. He didn't know what they would do with him if they found out. His second fear, which once was his greatest fear, was losing his power ring. Isamot could not stomach the thought of being stripped of his power ring when Thanagar needed him most.

Isamot found it oddly easy to work with John, despite their heated introduction to each other. He knew at their core that Lizarkons and Thanagarians were very much similar in personalities. Knowing who his wife was, Isamot could only imagine what John had to deal with back on Earth. So it didn't surprise Isamot that John knew how to handle him. That and John, unlike most Green Lanterns, had a reason to return to his homeworld in one piece. Isamot didn't have fear that John would die. He instead found himself growing an increasing amount of respect for the human; especially after Boodikka had told Isamot of all of John's accomplishments from his time in the Honor Guard and before.

The Lizarkon then felt John roughly shake him again, "There's no time for this man! Snap out of it!"

Isamot exhaled and opened his eyes. It seemed that John had finally got through to him and he nodded, "Yeah we gotta go. Stop dillydallying Stewart and move it!"

The scene John and Isamot flew into on Euphorix was more or less a disaster. A ship suddenly soared past them and unleashed five missiles. Each missile found their target turning the terrain they hit into a giant fireball. Another ship then began to open fire with a laser cannon at the ground below. John and Isamot could see a green wall forming on the ground below, shielding the Green Lanterns from the bombardment of the attacks.

"We got Thanagarian Star Cruisers and Gordanian Star-Slides," Isamot grumbled with a frown before turning to John. "Take down the Thanagarian ships first. They're designed for planetary takeovers. They have more fire power with their ion cannons than the Gordanian ships."

John swallowed before he nodded. It had been a long time since lethal force had been authorized for standard Green Lanterns. The last time he had been authorized to use lethal force was back when he was in the Honor Guard. Even then John could count on one hand the amount of times he had utilized that privilege. What was making this even more unpleasant was the fact he was going to exercise this on Thanagarians now and just not Gordanians. As much as John resented the Thanagarians for the invasion, he still felt it wasn't right.

"Got it," John quietly muttered before he flew after the Thanagarian ship still firing down onto the ground below.

John momentarily looked at his ring and contemplated making a construct. He decided against this as he knew his ring's charge was already low enough. He needed to try to conserve the ring's energy as much as possible. John quickly maneuvered in the air so that he was behind the ship and then unleashed a spread of rapid fire shots from his power ring. The ship's rear thrusters becomes filled with holes and smoke upon impact before they exploded. The evident damage caused the ship to spiral out of control down towards the ground.

John was about to move onto the next target before an ion beam barely missed striking him. John quickly arced through the air as he was followed by a Thanagarian Star Cruiser. Ion beams were streaking across the sky as their shots were just missing the Green Lantern. John then smirked to himself as he continued to weave around and dodge the shots from the Thanagarian ship. Right now he was extremely grateful for the flying lessons that Shayera had insisted on doing with him. According to her John didn't know how to properly fly or at least not up to Thanagarian standards. While John knew he was nowhere near as graceful as she was in the air he found that he was much more nimble than before.

John made a tight U-turn and flew underneath the ship. He then unleashed a simple power beam against the hull of the ship. The beam must have struck the engine as black smoke billowed from the undercarriage. The ship then began to slowly fall from the sky, undoubtedly to crash to the ground below. John smirked in triumphant until another ship came into his peripheral vision. He turned his head to see a missile flying towards him. Before he could react, a green wall appeared before him. The missile struck the wall and exploded. Thankfully the construct had absorbed the explosion and had left John unscathed. Just as quickly an axe construct, which John recognized to be an Nth metal axe by the design of it, appeared and slammed into the Thanagarian ship, slicing it in two and causing each half to explode. Isamot then floated in front of John.

"You're welcome," Isamot said with an unamused look. "Don't get sloppy on me Stewart. Always keep your eyes open."

"And here I thought I'd just close my eyes," John sarcastically retorted.

Isamot scowled, "While you've been playing around in the air I've been shooting down these bastards. Shooting little beams at them is going to take too long. You're a Green Lantern. Use that damned imagination of yours."

"I'm trying to conserve power. Throwing out constructs left and right isn't the smartest move," John pointed out with a raised eyebrow. "As it is we can't make it back to Culacao on our own. I rather not have my ring give out while fighting or, even worse, while in midair. Last time I checked neither of us can fly without our rings."

Isamot immediately opened his mouth to retort but then paused for a moment. He then lightly frowned as he responded, "You've got a point; I'll give you that. I think we took enough of their aerial support down. Let's see what we can do on the ground."

John mockingly gestured for Isamot to go first, "After you then."

"Fir'zerth," Isamot rolled his eyes and mumbled before flying off.

"Kyle, Kilowog on me!" Katma ordered as she maintained a massive wall construct in order to hold back the Gordanians advancing towards them.

Kyle smirked as he created a mac truck construct and had it barrel through a hoard of Gordanians. He lightly chuckled as he had the construct blare its horn, "That never gets old."

"On the double Rayner!" Katma yelled at him as Kilowog was already at her side.

"Always ruining the fun," Kyle sighed and rolled his eyes underneath his domino mask. He created a whip construct to knock back the remaining combatants away from him before he flew over to Katma and Kilowog.

"What's the plan Kat?" Kilowog asked. "We're outnumbered here big time."

"We get back to Boodikka and Chaselon. They're under heavy fire and we can't afford to lose anymore from the Honor Guard," she stated as she glared at the Gordanians attacking her construct wall. She noticed the small cracks forming in the construct with each hit from their staffs. Katma gritted her teeth and focused to repair the damage. She then turned her gaze to Kyle and Kilowog, "And don't forget lethal force is authorized so do take care to exercise it."

Kyle's eyes widened under his mask, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Lethal force? You want me to use lethal force on these guys? You're kidding me right? I've never killed anyone before. I...I can't do that!"

"This is war Rayner," Katma dryly replied. "Either we get killed or they do. What would you rather have happen?"

Kilowog swallowed and then sighed as he placed his hand on Kyle's shoulder, "I get it poozer. It's never easy the first time but Kat's right. It's either them or us."

"Them or us," Kyle murmured as he looked down and frowned. He then sighed as he looked up and nodded, "Got it but what about John and Isamot? If they come back here they'll be walking right into a death trap." Katma and Kilowog were both silent and just glanced at each other. Kyle looked back and forth between them, "We are going to wait for them right?"

"Look kid," Kilowog began with a frown. "John's not a rookie. He'll be able to handle himself and from what I've seen Isamot can too. Sometimes you gotta look out for yourself first before you can look out for others."

"This isn't what I signed up for," Kyle asserted with a light glare. "I signed up to help people, not to go kill and leave behind my friends and teammates." Katma opened her mouth to reply but was immediately cutoff by Kyle, "And I don't give a damn about this being a war. It's not right!"

"I'm sorry to destroy your little, precious bubble but this is your reality now Rayner," Katma scathingly said. "You best get used to it." She then sent out a shockwave from the wall construct, knocking back the Gordanians. She then flew into the sky and looked down to Kyle and Kilowog, "Let's move it!"

Kyle and Kilowog looked at each other and nodded as they followed after Katma. Not far off in the distance an explosion could both be seen and heard. The trio then saw a ship, engulfed in flames, as it crashed to the ground and created yet another explosion. They then saw John and Isamot but before they could garner their attention, the two quickly flew off.

"No wonder things seemed to be getting easier. They were taking down those damn ships for us. At least they got here and we don't have to worry about them now," Kyle stated but then saw Katma narrow her eyes at him. He in turn frowned, "What? It's not like you don't care about John."

Katma lightly scowled, "That's irrelevant at this point. John Stewart is a friend and equal. Like you and Kilowog, I will not let him die so easily if I have a say so in it." The Korugaran then smirked, "I would, as you humans would say, put up one hell of a fight before allowing that to happen."

Kyle smirked, "Damn straight you would."

Kilowog likewise smirked and nudged Kyle, "Don't count me out either poozer. I'll be the one kicking the most ass. Now, let's go help Isamot and John out. They're headed straight for Boodikka and Chaselon's location. They're going to be entering the worst of the battle."

Chapter Text

A/N: Warning for things Isamot will be doing in this chapter that will be very bloody and violent.

John and Isamot eventually stumbled upon the only two surviving Honor Guard members, Boodikka and Chaselon. The two were struggling to keep up the double barriered dome around them as they were under fire from plasma blasters. The two Green Lanterns both unleashed a wave of energy from the rings to throw back the Gordanian assailants. John and Isamot then touched down in front of the two Honor Guard members and readied their rings for an attack upon the remaining Gordanian forces. Isamot quickly dropped his hand to his side when he saw they were not just surrounded by Gordanians but also Thanagarians and Lizarkons. John had as well lowered his ring a bit when he saw the Thanagarians before him.

"What?" Isamot's voice was barely audible. His face easily showcased his utter despair. "No..."

The Thanagarians and Lizarkons slightly lowered their weapons upon seeing Isamot and it was clearly evident they were reluctant to fire upon him. John was surprised by this as he had assumed that the Thanagarians would have little to no love lost for their planet's Green Lantern. Perhaps Isamot's efforts to help in their fight against the Gordanians had begun to change their views towards the Corps.

"Why are you all here?" Isamot asked them. "Why are you fighting for the Gordanians?"

"Isamot," John muttered to him. "We don't have time for this."

Isamot held his hand up to John, signaling for him to back off. He then took a tentative step towards them, "Listen we can help. We'll liberate you all."

"We don't want to fight you Isamot but if we have to then we will," one of the Lizarkons warned as he raised his blaster at him.

A Thanagarian soldier spoke up, "The Gordanians are using-" The female soldier was suddenly cutoff as a shot rang out and an ion blast pierced through her chest.

"No!" Isamot exclaimed as he reached his hand out in vain towards the fallen Thanagarian. He looked up and immediately scowled when he saw the Gordanian troops looming behind the Thanagarians and Lizarkons.

One of the Gordanian soldiers sneered as he step over the dead Thanagarian, "You want to help them little Green Lantern? I believe they no longer require your brand of assistance."

Isamot scowled, "Nir'satks, this isn't like back on Thanagar. This time it's not just one Green Lantern facing you. You have hundreds to face now. I will liberate my people and then my planet."

"Liberate like you did by shooting down those ships? There weren't just Thanagarians on those ships," another Gordanian stated with pompous smirk. "Yes Gordanians were as well on those ships but so were your own people."

Isamot's eyes widened as he shakingly exhaled, "What?"

"Don't worry," a Gordanian began as he lifted his blaster. "You'll join your kin soon enough."

"Isamot move!" John suddenly moved in front of Isamot and created a wall in front of them as the Gordanians, Thanagarians, and Lizarkons began to fire upon them. Soon Boodikka and Chaselon as well aided John and created walls of their own behind his.

"We can't hold them back for long," Boodikka said as she glanced over to John. "I don't know how they got them but they're using Xantha Charges. Our constructs aren't going to last long against those."

"Then there's those weapons the Gordanians are using," Chaselon added on. "Those aren't typical Gordanian weapons. They normally just use ion-core staffs."

John narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked over the Gordanians. He had only seen glimpses of Gordanians in the hologram footage Hro Talak had shown everyone under the guise that he was there with the other Thanagarians to protect them. Seeing a Gordanian up close was much different from the footage and even Shayera's own depictions of them. They were reptilian in appearance but much more humanoid than Isamot and the other Lizarkons. They were also much larger both in height and mass. John figured they could pack a decent punch without their weapons. That was when John took notice of their weapons. He could tell the staffs had a blaster at the ends of them; John also noted that some Gordanians were holding up electrified staffs at the Thanagarians and Lizarkons. If it wasn't obvious they were being forced to fight before it was at this point. He then noticed the axes and spears some of the Gordanians were carrying. That was when John scowled. He recognized that metal. He saw that type of metal everyday back on Earth.

"That's Nth metal," John stated. "The Gordanians knew they were going to fight us. They came prepared. Xantha Charges can destroy our constructs and so can Nth metal with enough muscle behind it. Judging by how bulky they are, I'm sure the Gordanians can do so. Isamot, you know Thanagarian weapons, how can we efficiently destroy those blasters they're using?" Not getting a response, John turned his head towards Isamot. "Isamot?"

Isamot was on his knees as he blankly stared forward, "I...I killed them...I didn't...I..."

John frowned, "Come on Isamot we need you right now. Get it together."

"We need to retreat," Chaselon said. "We don't stand a chance. We need to come back with reinforcements and take them down."

Boodikka nodded, "Agreed, we four create a wormhole and retreat back to Culacao. From there we recharge our rings and plan our method of attack."

"Only problem is that Isamot and I have barely any charge left in our rings," John stated. "We made a wormhole to get here. We need at least four Lanterns with a decent charge in their rings left to get off of this planet."

Chaselon glanced over to Isamot and then back over to Boodikka, "Plus I don't think Isamot's gonna be of any help. He's in shock."

Suddenly dozens of green stakes rained down from the sky and impaled multiple Gordanians, Thanagarians, and Lizarkons. John, Boodikka, and Chaselon looked up to see Katma floating above them. Kilowog and Kyle then flew past her and charged at their enemy combatants. Kyle created a snow plow to literally plow through the soldiers. Kilowog simply created a large, solid block that he dropped onto them and crushed them.

"I see you were having fun without us," Katma stated with a light smirk.

John rolled his eyes, "Yeah we're having a real blast out here."

Isamot's eye twitched as he breathed heavily and mumbled, "They...tricked me...I killed them...I did...I'll...kill them... kill them all..."

John looked over to Isamot, "Isamot?"

Slowly Isamot stood and began to let out a feral growl, "You tricked me! You'll pay!" Isamot charged towards a Gordanian soldier as others began to fire upon him. The shots that rang out either narrowly missed Isamot, due to his erratic flight pattern, or just grazed against his body, causing a stinging pain but nearly not enough to stop him in his fury. Isamot then sunk his teeth aggressively into the Gordanian's neck and ripped his throat out. Blood ran out of Isamot's mouth as he dropped the Gordanian to the ground, who died almost instantly.

As Isamot steadied his breathing, another Gordanian jumped at him and slammed his fist into Isamot's face, causing him to loose his balance and fall to the ground. As Isamot scrambled to get up, the Gordanian snarled angrily and stabbed his spear into the Lizarkon's shoulder. The Gordanian jumped at him again so Isamot ducked, extended his claws, and slashed the Gordanian's throat open. The Gordanian roared in pain, covering the wound in vain, as blood began spilling out of his throat. The Gordanian began coughing and gagging. Soon he fell to the ground and after a few last breaths his breathing ceased and another Gordanian was dead.

Isamot silently stared down at the dead Gordanian before him. Oddly enough he was smiling despite not feeling any joy. The other Green Lanterns had watched in utter silence and, for Kyle, repulsion. The other remaining soldiers, who weren't dead or unconscious, seemed to be in shock at the display of brutality.

John found himself swallowing as he looked at the carnage Isamot had caused. He opened his mouth to speak but found no words that could come forth. Instead it was Kyle who spoke, "What in the hell? What the hell is wrong with you?"

Isamot's eyes widened and he shook his head. He looked at the one dead Gordanian and then the other. He then looked back at the other six other Green Lanterns with a look of astonishment, "I didn't think...they deserved it though."

A large Gordanian suddenly jumped at Isamot, grabbing him, and spun the Lizarkon around so that he could land an uppercut on him, easily sending Isamot sprawling to the ground. The Gordanian walked up to the dazed Green Lantern and raised his spear into the air, ready to strike the Lizarkon in the head. Before the Gordanian could strike, a blade construct pierced through his back and came through his stomach. The Gordanian dropped his spear and slowly looked down at the wound. Isamot looked past the Gordanian to see that John was the source of the construct. Isamot saw that John sighed and the construct disappeared. The Gordanian then fell to the ground and quickly bled out.

The remaining Thanagarians and Lizarkons were then ordered to once again fire upon the Green Lanterns. Boodikka and Chaselon once again created a barrier between them and the soldiers. The remaining Gordanians began to strike the barrier with their Nth metal weapons.

"I'll hold the barrier," Chaselon stated as he looked over to Boodikka. "You help them create the wormhole. I'll be right behind you."

Boodikka nodded as she allowed her barrier to disappear and she turned her attention to the others, "We're going to make a break for it. We make the wormhole and get back to Culacao. From there we'll regroup with the other Green Lanterns and plan a proper assault."

Katma nodded, "Wise decision."

"Isamot and I saw a Thanagarian warship right outside of this planet's orbit," John stated. "I'm sure the Gordanians have a shit ton of more soldiers up there and I'm sure they'll be sending more now that they know the Green Lantern Corps is here."

"Which is why we're making a hasty retreat," Boodikka turned away from them and held up her ring. Katma, Kyle, and Kilowog joined her as they assisted in creating the wormhole.

Isamot blankly stared at the three dead Gordanians before looking up and seeing the dead Thanagarians and Lizarkons littering the ground. He clenched his fists, bared his teeth, and lowered his head, "I'll make them all pay."

John turned towards Isamot who was still standing in silence. He placed his hand on the Lizarkon's shoulder, causing him to jump slightly, "Come on Isamot, we gotta get out of here."

Isamot slowly looked up at John before nodding, "Yeah...yeah you're right. Let's go."

Chaselon grunted as his barrier began to crack, "Hurry it up! I can't hold them back for much longer!"

"Move it or lose it guys!" Kyle called out to them as Kilowog, Katma, and Boodikka had already went into the wormhole.

Chaselon, John, and Isamot didn't need another invitation as Chaselon dropped the barrier he had been maintaining. The remaining four Green Lanterns entered the wormhole and fled back towards Culacao. Once back on Culacao none of them spoke. They all knew what had happened on Euphorix had effectively handed the Green Lantern Corps their first loss within the war.

A/N: Just a glimpse of some Thanagarians and Lizarkons, we'll be seeing them again eventually. Just remember Gordanians are slavers and they have enslaved Thanagar at this point in the DCAU so neither species is there willingly. It's either fight or be killed.

Chapter Text

Shayera let out a low groan as she laid on her back in the rec room of the Watchtower. Currently she was convinced that she was dying; she certainly felt like she was dying with the way her chest was burning. Though she knew that she was also being a bit overdramatic at the same time as she logically knew heartburn couldn't kill her. She crossed her left arm over her face so that it covered her eyes as she let out a deep sigh.

"I know you're desperate when you lay on your back," Wally casually mentioned as he leaned over the couch. "You hate laying on your back. Didn't you say that hurts your wings if you lay on them for too long?"

"Sitting and standing weren't helping," Shayera mumbled. "This was my last option. I'll deal with stiff wings later."

Wally smirked as he spoke, "Who's fault was it that they ate spicy food?"

Shayera moved her arm away from her eyes so that she could glare at the speedster, "I don't want to hear it Wally."

"Told ya putting hot sauce on your mac and cheese was a bad idea. You get heartburn easily after all," Wally then paused before he tilted his head slightly. "Though I think putting mayo and onions on your mac and cheese could have done it too. How did you even eat that?"

"Wally I don't question why I eat anything I do anymore," Shayera replied with a light frown. "Take yesterday for example. I don't know what possessed me to put potato chips, cheese, and mustard on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. That and I had to have a root beer with it. I hate root beer."

"Yeah," Wally slowly began as he scratched the back of his head. "That's weird and that's coming from me. I nearly barfed when I saw that honestly."

Shayera lightly rolled her eyes before she muttered, "At least I'm not doing that anymore." She then gritted her teeth and lightly growled, "This is literally killing me at this point. I've never had heartburn this bad until I got pregnant."

Wally swallowed as he stopped leaning over the couch and stood straight with a look of concern on his face, "Do you like need me to go get J'onn or something for you? You need to go to the medbay at all?"

The Thanagarian then let out an exasperated sigh, "No Wally, it's heartburn not a heart attack. Unless he has a miraculous cure for it then you'd be wasting his time and mine."

"I read laying down makes it worse though." The speedster then paused, "Did you try drinking water?"

"Of course I..." Shayera's voice trailed off as she blinked a few times before slowly sitting up. "Okay that is the one thing I actually didn't think of."

"One bottle of water coming up," Wally smirked as he sped off to only return a few seconds later. He held the water bottle up as though it was a trophy. "That'll be one ninety-nine plus shipping and handling fees. I take cash and card."

Shayera lightly chuckled before she rolled her eyes and shook her head, "Put it on Bruce's tab."

Wally flopped next to her on the couch and held the water bottle out to her, "So I was thinking."

Shayera gave the speedster a sly smirk as she took the bottle from him, "Better be careful with that Wally."

"Haha," he sarcastically responded with an unamused look. "Anyway, Christmas is only four days away and-"

Shayera didn't allow him to continue any further as she cut him off, "The answer is no."

Wally immediately frowned, "Oh come on, you didn't even hear me out."

"Because I don't want to," the Thanagarian bitterly muttered as she opened the bottle of water and began to chug it down. Shayera hadn't even thought about the upcoming holiday season at all. It didn't help that Christmas was the only Earth holiday Shayera even remotely paid attention to or acknowledged and that in itself was solely due to John's adoration for the holiday. Shayera then narrowed her eyes as she placed the bottle of water onto the small table in front of the couch and frowned. It had taken nearly two weeks for her not to act absolutely miserable around everyone. It certainly did help that no one was mentioning John in front of her. Shayera didn't even know anymore whether she was angry or depressed. She presumed that she was still feeling both. Though she was also feeling quite worried and anxious recently as well. It could potentially explain this weird feeling she had begun to experience lately in the pit of her stomach. It felt almost like an odd muscle twitch that she couldn't explain and had never felt before. Though Shayera knew full well how one's mental condition could effect them physically. She had dealt with it quite a few times while she had been in Fate's Tower.

"But it's Christmas," Wally insisted, breaking Shayera out of her train of thought. "You at least have to hear me out."

Shayera took in a deep breath before heavily exhaling, "Fine, I'll entertain you Wally and at least listen."

"Great!" It amazed Shayera just how fast Wally's mood could go from utterly annoyed to overly chipper in just mere seconds. "Now then, I talked it over with Linda and she totally agreed with me on this and insisted that I get you to agree. My parents are going on a cruise with my aunt and uncle this year so that leaves me and Linda with no one to spend Christmas with." Wally then paused before he lightly frowned and muttered, "I mean besides my annoying nephew."

Shayera raised an eyebrow at this, "Your nephew? How do you have a nephew when you're an only child?"

"Well I mean he's not my nephew technically," Wally stated as he looked away. "He's my cousin. He's my uncle's kid."

"Your uncle?" Shayera tilted her head. "I thought you said your Uncle Danny didn't have any kids."

Wally shook his head, "No, not that uncle, my other uncle from my Mom's side of the family. My good old Uncle Barry."

"You have never mentioned an Uncle Barry before."

Wally paused for a moment before he swallowed and scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "Well um, you see, Uncle Barry's been dead for a while now. I mean a long time too; it was definitely before you got to Earth. I was only eighteen when he died. Without him I wouldn't have become the Flash or even have wanted to work as a forensic scientist."

"How so?" Shayera questioned as she leaned back against the couch. "You said you had a little science experiment that had gone wrong and that's how you got your powers."

"Well that was partially the truth," Wally shrugged. "My Uncle Barry was the Flash before I was. My Uncle Barry had this freak accident in the forensic science lab he worked at for the Central City PD. Long story short is that after he died my city didn't have a Flash anymore and after a few years it really started to show. So during my junior year of college I decided to recreate the same scenario so that Central City could have a superhero again." Wally then jumped off of the couch and threw his arms out with a large grin, "And bada bing bada boom you got yourself another Flash. Pretty cool right?"

"More like you're lucky as hell that you didn't kill yourself with that half-baked idea," the Thanagarian chastised him. "What in the hell were you thinking?"

The speedster pouted, "You sound like how my Mom did after I got my speed and had to explain it to her. She said the same thing to me and hit me over the head with a broom."

"I can't imagine why," Shayera retorted with an eyeroll. "Anyways, you didn't answer why do you have to watch your cousin."

Wally sighed, "It's because of my Aunt Iris. I love her with my whole heart; she's like a second mother to me and all. She's a reporter and well she got the short end of the stick. She's getting shipped all the way out to New Zealand for some stupid exposé piece they want her to write. Something about some illegal nanotech site or something. She's leaving tomorrow so I'm stuck with Bart until she comes back."

"That actually sounds important Wally plus he's your family," Shayera dismissively stated as she stretched her arms over her head. "I still don't see the problem here."

"Bart is the most annoying kid ever. Well he's fifteen but still, he's annoying Shay!" The Flash whined before he continued, "Plus he's Uncle Barry's son if you catch my drift."

Shayera was silent for a moment before a smirk slowly crept onto her features. She then lightly chuckled, "Oh I see what the problem is now. Is he your little Kid Flash problem that you have in Central City by any chance?"

"It's not funny Shayera!" Wally insisted. The speedster slouched down on the couch and crossed his arms over his chest. He then pouted and muttered, "I never once told him that he could be my sidekick. I don't even want a sidekick."

Shayera shook her head in an amused manner, "I still don't see how this involves me and your Christmas plans. Unless you think I'll babysit for you which the answer to that would be an absolute hell no."

Wally gave the Thanagarian an unamused look, "I'm not that cruel. Linda and I simply what to spend some time with you and get you into the Christmas spirit is all. That and I'll let you cuddle with Princess."

"Oh well if I get to hold and pet a kitten how could I ever say no?" Shayera sarcastically asked as she stood and placed her fists on her lower back as she stretched. "Dammit my body is stiff. Look if it makes you feel any better I'll think about it. Okay?"

Wally beamed at her, "Really?"

"Yes Wally, I mean it," Shayera sighed as she rolled her eyes. "I'm hitting the gym. I'll see you later."

"The gym?" The speedster tilted his head. "Are you allowed to workout? You're not gonna like lift hundred pound weights or something right? Did you run this by J'onn at all?"

Shayera glared at Wally before she began to walk to the door, "Working out is perfectly safe while pregnant and I don't need J'onn's permission to do anything. Secondly, your definition of heavy-lifting is vastly different from mine. A hundred pounds for me is like lifting a water bottle for you."

Wally lightly frowned as he followed her, "I thought you had heartburn? How can you workout with heartburn?"

"I do but that hasn't stopped me from working out before and it isn't going to now," she stated as she exited the room before stopping and turning her head towards the speedster to send him a light, warning glare. "And if you follow me there I might just drop kick you and get in some much needed sparring practice."

Wally nervously chuckled as he held his hands up in defense, "You have fun with that workout of yours."

Shayera let out a low, feral growl as she began to literally pummel the punching bag. Hitting something for once felt absolutely cathartic for the Thanagarian. The pent up frustration and stress she had was literally driving her up a wall at this point. Having something to take it out on had already made her feel a thousand times better. Unfortunately, after only a few minutes, Shayera found herself out of breath and already tiring out. The Thanagarian deeply exhaled as she frowned. This shouldn't be exhausting her so fast. Something like this never exhausted her this fast before; she knew that she had much more stamina than a human. She then rolled her eyes. This was yet another thing this pregnancy was taking from her. Shayera gritted her teeth as she punched the punching bag at full force, resulting in the chain holding it to its stand to break. The bag and stand toppled to the ground with a loud crash. Shayera deeply inhaled and then exhaled with a sigh.

"Careful there tiger," a feminine voice jokingly stated with a light chuckle. "What did that poor punching bag ever do to you?"

Shayera turned her head to see Mari, decked out in what Shayera assumed was designer workout clothes, standing behind her. The Thanagarian lightly smirked and rolled her eyes, "Look at who finally came back from their little vacation. Need to get in a little exercise before fighting some bad guys?"

"I told you it wasn't a vacation it was work," Mari said to her as she moved to the treadmill and placed her water bottle into the holder. She tossed the second water bottle she had brought with her over to Shayera, "I saw you in here and figured I might as well get you a water too. I can't remember the last time I saw you in here."

"Thanks," Shayera replied. "It was that rogue photoshoot or whatever it was called, right?"

"Vogue hon," Mari corrected her. "And it wasn't just that. I also had a few other jobs too. After all, it's not too long until the Big Four. We had to do fittings for those for over two weeks with all of the different designers. Then I had the Vogue photoshoot followed by another one in Brazil. All of those days and hours just for them to probably use only ten of the hundreds they took."

"You have it so hard," Shayera sarcastically retorted with a snide smirk as she opened the water bottle. "You have my deep and utter condolences."

"Smartass," Mari muttered with an eyeroll as she started up the treadmill.

Shayera simply chuckled as she drank out of the water bottle. She was honestly relieved and glad that Mari was back. It wasn't unheard of for the supermodel to need multiple weeks off at a time. Though if an absolute emergency did arise Mari would be available to be called upon. Otherwise she was placed on the reserve roster; especially during the height of the Big Four, the four biggest fashion events that occurred every February in New York, London, Milan, and Paris. Shayera didn't know how Mari was able to attend all four as they were consecutively back-to-back, with each one lasting anywhere from five days all the way up to nine days. Shayera figured supermodels had more stamina than she credited them for if they could endure thirty days of nonstop work.

"So what's been going on lately?" Mari casually asked her. "I've been gone for little over three weeks. Something must have happened in the meantime. This place doesn't stay quiet for even a day. Any alien invasions that were thwarted? Any good gossip about any break ups or people getting together?"

Shayera let out a sigh as she sat on the bench not too far away from the treadmill. The Thanagarian then paused and bit her bottom lip. There was that weird feeling again. These damn muscle twitches were beginning to get on her nerves. She lightly shook her head as she didn't want to pay it anymore attention than she had already.

Mari glanced over to her when the Thanagarian didn't reply, "Shayera?"

Shayera looked over at her, "Oh um no, nothing like that actually happened but um..."

"I'm surprised honestly," Mari replied with a light shrug. "Wait, you weren't wearing that engagement ring were you? Trying to kill a punching bag like that would definitely damage it."

Shayera rolled her eyes as she gave her an unamused look, "No I'm not that careless with it. I do know when not to wear both rings. At least the wedding band can take a good beating apparently."

"I could only imagine how pissed John would be if you did." Mari then paused before she continued, "Actually I'm surprised John would even let you get anywhere near a gym. He's been babying you since he got over the fact that you are pregnant. How'd you even talk him into letting you workout?"

Shayera averted her gaze from Mari's as she swallowed, "John...doesn't know and he's not going to."

Mari waved her off, "I get what you mean. I won't tell him, don't worry."

Shayera couldn't help it when her expression fell before she quietly said, "That's not what I meant Mari."

Mari immediately stopped the treadmill and stepped off of it, "Did something happen to John while I was gone?"

"You could say that," Shayera muttered as she looked down. "He got himself into trouble with the Green Lantern Corps."

Mari sat next to her and slightly tilted her head, "Over?"

"Me of all things," Shayera let out a frustrated sigh as she leaned her head back and looked up at the ceiling. "It's not fair. I mean yes, what he did was wrong, but sending him to the other side of the universe is just bullshit."

"Perhaps be a bit more clear about what he did exactly," Mari said to her. "And where did they send him?"

"To start off, the Guardians aren't happy that he married me. Then it turns out that John was ignoring those little, blue gnomes for three months because he was worried about leaving me on Earth and him going to Oa. I don't know what the hell that man was even thinking. And I feel bad for blaming him because he only did it because he loves me." Mari stayed silent as she let Shayera continue to rant. It was clear to the heroine that the Thanagarian needed to vent off her frustrations. It wasn't uncommon for Mari to be the confidant when Shayera needed someone to vent to. "And of course there just had to be a goddamn war going on in the Vega system so he gets sent out to one of the most dangerous places in the universe. There's no telling when or even if he's going to come back. If John hadn't stopped me I would have went to Oa and knocked those fucking little blue heads of theirs off with my own bare hands."

Mari placed her hand on Shayera's shoulder, "Feel better now?"

Shayera let out a deep sigh as she glanced over to her, "A bit I guess."

Mari gave Shayera a small, sympathetic smile as she spoke, "I know it won't change anything but you know I'll be here for you right? If you ever want to vent some more or just talk. That and I know not having John around isn't going to be easy for you, all things considered. I'm no baby or pregnancy expert but I can try to help. After all, I did say that I would be the cool aunt."

"Yeah and Wally already called dibs on being the fun uncle. Thanks though, everyone's been saying the same honestly. Even people that I didn't even think gave two shits about me." Shayera then snorted back a laugh, "I guess you were right. Everyone is being noticeably nicer to me now that I'm pregnant."

Mari lightly nudged her, "Told you and what about the second thing I told you?"

Shayera tilted her head, "What's that?"

"That you and ice cream would become best friends," Mari stated as she stood and placed her hands on her hips. "So what do you say? You, me your best friend, plenty of ice cream, and some cheesy romance movies you can laugh at?"

"That sounds fantastic honestly," Shayera replied as she stood, only to wince as she placed a hand over her right ribcage.

Mari raised an eyebrow at this, "You okay?"

"Yeah," Shayera grimaced as she rubbed her hand over her ribs. "I actually managed to pull a muscle. I don't workout for over four months and I'm already getting out of shape."

"Maybe you need to lay off the ice cream then," Mari jokingly retorted as she raised an eyebrow. "Plus you and those Cheetos have been becoming close friends as well. You might want to lay off of those too."

Shayera lightly smirked and chuckled, "Not a chance you smartass."

Chapter Text

John toyed with the power ring in his left hand, his focus on the group of the Honor Guard members arriving back from Euphorix. The Honor Guard members were all cheering; it was clear that the battle on Euphorix was over or close to being over. John released a heavy sigh as he looked away. He had been sitting in the same spot for hours. John wouldn't have been surprised if it was over five hours at this point. John's gaze then moved over to Isamot and Kyle who were both standing near the entrance of the recreational area of the newly created outpost on Tallgrass. All three of them had been relegated to guard duty, not that John was complaining about it despite the boredom. It at least meant that he was out of the direct line of fire for now.

It had been two weeks since John and the others had nearly escaped Euphorix. That very same day, Isamot had been removed from combat and initially stationed at the Culacao outpost as one of the guards. It was clearly that Isamot was unwilling to knowingly fight, let alone kill, either a Lizarkon or Thanagarian. Only two days after this, Kyle had as well been removed from combat and partnered with Isamot as another guard. Kyle had made it quite known that he condemned lethal force and refused to use it at any capacity.

The battle for Euphorix was nearly over at that point so John saw it as a waste to fight over semantics over how stupid their decision was. Nearly every member of the Honor Guard that was present on Culacao had been recruited to fight back against the Gordanian, Thanagarian, and Lizarkon forces on Euphorix. In the beginning John, Katma, Kilowog, and Kyle were as well assisting the Honor Guard as well as dozens of other Green Lanterns. It had taken them over a week to get past the numerous Thanagarian warships that littered Euphorix's atmosphere. Once those ships had been taken care of, a small sect of Green Lantern had been sent to Tallgrass to create an outpost at long last, while the other continued on with taking Euphorix by force from the monarchy that ruled the planet. With their ships destroyed, it had been more than easy to deal with the remaining ground soldiers and the few remaining aerial fleet ships the Gordanians still possessed.

John released a heavy sigh as he looked down at his now clenched left fist that held his power ring, which he felt like chucking across the room. He had been placed on guard duty six days ago when he had refused to kill Thanagarian soldiers he had been fighting. It had already been bothering John that he had practically gunned down Shayera's own people when he and Isamot had destroyed those ships. John was not about to exercise lethal force on anymore Thanagarians if he could help it. In respect for Isamot, John had as well refused to use lethal force on any Lizarkons he had fought. John found that it was oddly easy to kill Gordanians, especially when he would recite his wife's stories within his head of her experiences with them. Yet this was still not enough to keep him on the battle field.

John tuck and rolled away from the female, Thanagarian soldier as she had tried to bludgeon him over the head with her mace. Currently John felt that the Thanagarian's choice of weapon was both ironic and the universe's way of slapping him in the face. The Thanagarian then released a war cry, not unlike Shayera's, as John created a small circular shield construct over his right forearm as he defended himself from her attack.

The Thanagarian gritted her teeth before she paused for a split moment. John reacted out of pure instinct as he jumped over her sweeping kick. Even with the helmet on, John could tell she had been shocked that he had somehow knew what she was going to do next. John felt himself smirking that all of his years of sparring with Shayera, and learning how a Thanagarian fought, was coming to good use finally.

Though John could easily tell that this soldier was not as highly trained as Shayera nor skilled. It had only taken a few blocked punches and John's own fist against the Thanagarian's jaw to knock her to the ground. As the Thanagarian was knocked down, her helmet had come off as well. When she looked up at John, he had frozen instantly.

The Thanagarian's eyes fearfully stared straight back into his neon green eyes. It wasn't her expression that had made him falter. Instead it was her eyes themselves. The very same shade of emerald as his wife's. John then shook his head to snap himself out of it. He was now feeling incredibly foolish. H er eye color  shouldn't have caught him off-guard like this. For all John knew that shade of emerald was common amongst Thanagarians, as blue and brown were for humans.

John softly released a sigh as he relaxed his body and stood up straight. He then began to advance towards the Thanagarian, causing her to freeze in fear. Soon her fear was replaced by confusion as John reached his hand out to her in a gesture to help her up. The soldier looked at his hand, back up to his face, and slowly to his hand once more before she scrambled to grab her helmet and mace.

John was half-expecting her to attack him. It didn't really surprise him when she began to run away from him and soon took to the sky. Though John noticed as she had looked back at him for a brief moment as she was flying  away.

John slipped his power ring back on as he recalled the memory. It was only moments after that Thanagarian soldier had flown off that one of the Honor Guard members, who John had never met before, had begun to rip into him over his actions. It hadn't come to him as a surprise when he had been placed on guard duty afterwards.

"What are you doing over there sulking by yourself?" A voice asked, pulling John out of his thoughts. John looked over to see Kyle smirking at him lightly as he was walking towards him. "You almost remind me of Batman."

John lightly frowned as he turned his head towards him, "Stop being nosy, Kyle. I'm just thinking is all."

Kyle rolled his eyes, "Stop being so grumpy, it's Christmas."

"Technically it's Christmas Eve, not Christmas, and I'm not grumpy," John tartly replied as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Kyle paused for a moment before he slyly smirked, "Twas the night before Christmas and in this stinking outpost, many creatures were stirring, except for this Marine." He then lightly punched John's shoulder.

John lightly rolled his eyes and shook his head. Despite himself, he found himself chuckling, "Sometimes you're too much Kyle."

Kyle as well lightly chuckled as he shrugged, "Had to lighten the mood somehow."

"You think it's snowing back on Earth?" John suddenly asked him.

Kyle shrugged, "I don't know. I think I've seen maybe three white Christmases my entire life. We didn't get much snow in Metropolis. You get a lot in Detriot?"

"Yeah we had our fair share of them since I was a kid. Honestly that was one of my favorite things about the holiday season back then." John then exhaled as he looked away, "The first Christmas I ever celebrated with Shayera had been a white Christmas. We came back from being off-world and came back to that." John looked up at Kyle and lightly smirked, "You ever try to explain to an alien about our holidays back on Earth?"

Kyle thought for a moment before he shook his head, "Never came up before. Probably would be confusing for them. I'm guessing Shayera didn't know anything."

John lightly chuckled, "Not at all. She never tried to learn about them before then, which honestly surprised me. With how inquisitive she is, I thought she would have researched our holidays extensively." He then shrugged, "Though that's just typical Shayera for you."

Kyle hesitated before he asked his next question, "Did you have anything planned with Shayera for this year? I mean it would have been your first Christmas as a married couple."

"Honestly we didn't have anything planned. I really just wanted Shayera to take it easy this year," John replied. "Though, I mean, it's not like we ever did anything extravagant for Christmas before. I know Wally had been trying to talk me into getting Shayera and I to go over his and his girlfriend's place this year. I was contemplating it but never got the chance to bring it up to her. Knowing Shayera, she probably would have agreed since it was Wally. I can only hope that she'll spend the holidays with him."

"At least she has Wally there for her," Kyle said to him. John knew he did so as a consolation.

"Yeah," he quietly murmured. "She's got him and the others there for her. If I hadn't been such a moron I'd be there too right now like I should be."

"It's not your fault," Kyle insisted. "The Guardians were way too harsh John. At least you're not stuck on Oa now though being in a war isn't much better in hindsight."

"Not necessarily," John muttered. Kyle's confused look and slightly tilted head spurred John to continue with a sigh, "The Guardians never once said that once this war is over that I'm returning to Earth."

Kyle opened his mouth but then closed it as he looked down. Technically, John was correct. The Guardians never once stated that John would return to Earth after the war had ended. Kyle then looked back up to the other Green Lantern, "You really think they'll do that? I mean Katma suggested for them to change their minds and they did. They sent you here instead. Maybe it was just left unsaid because it should have been obvious."

"That sounds too good to be true Kyle." John found himself scowling, "It'd be nice to know if I'll be going home after this and knowing that I didn't make an empty promise to Shayera that I'd be back."

Kyle placed a hand on John's shoulder, "Look, honestly, I think you'll be back on Earth before you know it. It's that Rayner gut feeling of mine. It's never steered me wrong before and I don't think it'll start to now."

John lightly smirked at him, "I can only hope so."

"How about you and I go get a drink?" Kyle asked him. "I really think you could use one. Plus Kilowog said they actually have some decent liquor on this planet that he thinks even humans can drink. Think he said it was called flarb or flurb, something like that."

John paused as he recalled the first Christmas he had spent with Shayera and how they had went to the Third Moon of Goltos. At the time, Shayera's idea of a good time was to drink and fight. Once they had gotten back together, John found that Shayera's idea for a good time for Christmas hadn't changed. She would have rather got drunk and started a bar fight than build snowmen or decorate a Christmas tree with him. At least he had gotten her to enjoy snowball fights and she willingly partook in those any chance they got.

"You know what?" John looked over at Kyle and lightly smiled, "I could use a good drink."

Chapter Text

Shayera flicked the lights on in the living room of hers and John's apartment; she still felt it was odd to be able to say it was hers as well. She had not had the desire to come back here since he had left. She had simply been staying in their room in the Watchtower in the meantime. She took a deep breath and softly ran a finger over the coffee table. She then found herself chuckling when she noticed the light dust clinging to her finger and the clear outline her finger had made on the coffee table itself.

"John is going to kill me if I don't clean this place up," she mumbled to herself in an amused tone before she lightly frowned. "I hate cleaning."

A chill then involuntarily ran down her spine. She had become too accustomed to the consistent temperatures within the Watchtower and Metro Tower. Being teleported into the harsh winter of Detroit had been no less than a shellshock for her. That and it didn't help that the heat hadn't been run in three weeks within the apartment. She rubbed her hands over her biceps to try to warm herself somewhat as she moved to the thermostat, turned it back on, and looked at the pre-set temperature. She let out an exasperated sigh when she saw it had been set to sixty-two.

"This man is going to drive me insane," the Thanagarian muttered. "He just can't leave the damn heat on in the winter. It's like he's trying to give me hypothermia."

Shayera rolled her eyes and entered their bedroom. She went over to her dresser and slowly knelt down to open the bottom drawer. She frowned as she sifted through various shirts until she found her jacket. She pulled it out only for her frown to deepen. She was now regretting that she agreed to go over Wally's for Christmas. While she knew she didn't necessarily need to get dressed up to go over there Shayera still didn't want to look, as Mari would say, frumpy. That and showing up in sweatpants and an oversized t-shirt didn't exactly scream holiday cheer. Though Shayera knew her selection of clothes were rather limited.

Shayera stood and rolled her eyes, "I have to be insane to even think this will fit me." She held out the white jacket in front of her and looked it over. This was the jacket she would wear on League missions whenever she was sent somewhere with a cold climate. She then lightly sighed, "Here goes nothing."

Predictably the arms had fit just fine but once Shayera tried to zipper the jacket up she found it wouldn't move more than half way up her stomach. She grunted, deeply inhaled, and gritted her teeth as she muttered, "Come on dammit, move."

Finally Shayera relented as she didn't want to snap the zipper right off which she was about to do in her frustration. She instead exhaled, undid the portion of the zipper that had went up, and scowled, "Why does it have to be a requirement to gain weight while pregnant?"

Her gaze then shifted over to John's side of the dresser. She hesitated for a moment before she reached over and opened his top drawer and looked at one of John's old jackets. Given John didn't wear it much, and that she knew his t-shirts easily fit her and were still very loose on her, Shayera figured it would be safe to take and modify it for her own use. The Thanagarian started to take the jacket out of the drawer until she spotted the corner of a small jewelry box poking out from underneath one of his other jackets.

Shayera let out an exasperated sigh as she looked up towards the ceiling, "Dammit John don't tell me you got me something. You always do this."

Shayera gingerly lifted the jackets and took out the jewelry box; the idea of stealing one of John's jackets was now long forgotten. She then paused when she saw an envelope that had apparently been underneath the small box as well. Taking the envelope out as well, Shayera saw her name written on the outside of the envelope and immediately could tell it was John's handwriting.

Shayera lightly smirked as she rolled her eyes and took the card out as well, "You couldn't help yourself, could you? Dammit, I didn't get you anything. You said we weren't doing gifts...though you said that last year and the year before that too."

Shayera then froze as she felt that annoying muscle twitch from within her stomach. After a few seconds it stopped and Shayera shook her head. It had to be because she had just thought about John. The cause had to be psychological; she had no other explanation for it. Shayera rolled her eyes as she mumbled, "If I ever figure out what it is it'll probably end up being something stupid knowing my luck."

The Thanagarian quickly forgot her minor irritation as she turned her attention back to the small jewelry box and envelope in her hands. Shayera left their bedroom and sat on the couch in the living room as she placed the two items onto the coffee table. Shayera deeply sighed as she crossed her arms over her chest. She glanced back and forth between the two objects, trying to decide which to open first. At first she reached out for the box before she paused and picked up the envelope. She recalled that the proper Earth etiquette would be to open the card first before opening the gift.

She opened the envelope to see, in her view, a standard and generic Christmas card with the picture of a cartoonish Christmas tree with a red background. She quickly read the front of the card with it's generic Merry Christmas to My Wife written on it and she found herself snorting back a laugh at how cheesy it sounded and looked already. Shayera opened the card and then paused for a moment before she read the other message on the inside of the card.

The best gift at Christmas is easy to see.
It's not wrapped in paper or stuck under a tree.
The greatest gift at Christmas and throughout the year is having a wife like you all to me.

Shayera began to laugh, "This is so cheesy. Where the hell did he even find this card? He must have known that I'd find this hilarious and that's why he got it. He knows me too well. At least it wasn't sappy at all." Shayera then noticed John's handwriting at the bottom of the card.

Most likely I'm right now rolling my eyes at you while you laugh your ass off.
So you can stop laughing and open  your gift instead and complain about how I got you something and that you didn't get me anything.
In advance, I'm sorry if it offends you.
I wanted to do this your way.

Shayera momentarily tilted her head in curiosity by what he meant in his last sentence before she rolled her eyes as she placed the envelope onto the coffee table and picked up the jewelry box, "Always afraid of offending me. It can't be that bad of a gift. You've never offended me before with any."

The Thanagarian then paused as she looked at the jewelry box in her hand. She honestly didn't know what it could be. He had already given her a necklace for the very first Christmas they had ever celebrated together before the Thanagarian Invasion had occurred. She had her engagement ring and wedding band that she wore on a daily basis. She presumed it could be a bracelet though she didn't see the practicality in a bracelet. Then again, she never saw the practicality in wearing necklaces either and still very rarely ever did.

Shayera slowly opened the box and felt her breath get caught in her throat. So this is what John had meant by doing this her way. As much as Shayera insisted on doing things the more human way, John just as stubbornly insisted to do things the Thanagarian way as well. At times Shayera did find this to be a bit annoying yet it didn't stop her from finding it to be endearing as well. Perhaps to a human a pair of diamond studs would have been a bit of a plain gift but to Shayera, as a female Thanagarian, they meant much more than that. Given that promises on Thanagar worked somewhat similarly to an engagement on Earth, earrings were what differentiated female Thanagarians who were more or less taken as did an engagement ring or wedding band did on Earth. Given her conversation with John about this had been over two years ago, she was somewhat surprised that he had remembered this fact.

The Thanagarian softly smiled to herself, "You big idiot, I love you."

Shayera involuntary shuddered the second she had been teleported from Detroit to Central City. She was thankful that it wasn't snowing at least. Currently she was standing outside in the backyard of a house. Said house was the residence of Wally West and Linda Park. Shayera hastily made her way to the patio door and pounded her fist against the door frame.

"Come on Wally you idiot, I'm freezing," Shayera murmured to herself before she pounded her fist even harder against the door frame. "Wally!"

No more than twenty seconds later the door opened and Shayera was met with a confused look from Linda. "Shayera why are you in our backyard?" She curiously asked the Thanagarian. "Normally we use the front door on Earth. Is it different on your planet?"

Shayera snorted back a laugh and placed her hands on her hips as she gave her an amused look, "I couldn't exactly use the front door for obvious reasons unless you want your neighbors to wonder how Wally is friends with a member of the Justice League. I figured getting teleported into your backyard would be a more discrete option."

"That is a good point," Linda lightly nodded as she stood off to the side to let the Thanagarian into the kitchen. "You have no idea how glad I am you're here. These two have been driving me up a wall all day so far. One speedster is bad enough but two? It's a nightmare."

Shayera raised an eyebrow as she walked in, "Guess he really is a pain in the ass like Wally said. Um what was his name again...Burt?"

"Bart," Linda corrected her. "Those two are speeding terrors let me tell you. Trying to keep them out of the kitchen or just sitting still for more than thirty seconds is impossible."

As if on cue, a crash was heard from the adjacent room followed by a blur skidding into the kitchen a mere second later. The teen paused and looked back and forth between the two women. He then nervously chuckled as he scratched the back of his head, now avoiding all eye contact, "Hey um...so Aunt Linda uh...we may have accidently broke an ornament...again."

Shayera looked the teen up and down. His light brown hair was much different from Wally's red hair though the two shared the same blue eyes. The lopsided, goofy smirk the teen had plastered on his face was as well very much reminiscent of Wally.

"What did I tell you about going near my tree?" Linda asked with a light scowl. "You and Wally are not allowed within ten feet of it."

"Hey, hey," Wally sped into the room with a gust of wind trailing him. "There is no we in this. I did not break anything...this time. It was all Bart!"

"No it wasn't!" Bart argued before he pointed towards the other speedster. "Uncle Wally totally broke it."

"Did not!" Wally insisted.

"Did too!"

Shayera pinched the bridge of her nose as she shook her head and mumbled, "What am I getting myself in to?"

"See?" Linda rhetorically asked the Thanagarian next to her. "This is what I've been dealing with."

"I wouldn't have the patience that you apparently do for this," Shayera admitted to her. "I probably would have decked one of them by now."

"Trust me I'm getting close to that," Linda dryly remarked.

Wally stopped bickering with Bart once he finally noticed Shayera. He instantly smiled and practically tackled her with a hug as he raced over to her. He just as quickly let go of her and placed his hands on her shoulders, "Merry Christmas Shayera! You have no idea how happy I am that you came!" He then paused, "Are you wearing earrings and a necklace? You didn't have to get all fancy and wear jewelry."

Shayera rolled her eyes, "Wearing a necklace and a pair of earrings is hardly being fancy Wally. I wear my rings everyday after all. You don't consider that fancy."

"For you it is," he retorted. "Plus those are different."

"Point taken, anyways it's not like I was doing anything else today. It was either this or take monitor duty for the rest of the day. I chose the lesser of the two evils," she sarcastically replied with a playful smirk. "Plus I couldn't pass up on being able to see Linda and Princess."

Wally pouted and gave her an unamused look, "I feel so loved right now." Bart suddenly sped over, knocking Wally out of the way in the process. Wally frowned as he stumbled backwards, "Hey watch it!"

Bart ignored him as he looked over the Thanagarian's wings in awe, "Are they real?"

Shayera found herself letting out an exasperated sigh, "Why is it that almost everyone asks me that? Of course they are."

Before Shayera could react, Bart sped behind her and grabbed onto her right wing and manually extended it a bit, "That is so cool."

Shayera's back muscles immediately stiffened and her wings went rigid at the unexpected contact and she scowled. She absolutely hated having her wings touched by anyone, save for John which she learned to tolerate. The Thanagarian let out a low growl as she whipped her body around, extricating her wing from the younger speedster's hold. "Would you keep your hands to yourself?" She indignantly asked with a glare. "Touch my wings again and you'll find both of your arms in casts for Christmas."

Bart swallowed as he took a step back. He slowly nodded, "Got it Hawkgirl."

Shayera lightly sighed and shook her head, "And don't call me Hawkgirl kid. My name's Shayera."

"Okay," Bart slowly replied as he looked her up and down. "You're in the Justice League right?"

Shayera raised an eyebrow and tilted her head, "Obviously I am since I'm one of the founders."

"So how can you be in the League if you're overweight?" Bart asked.

"I still don't get what I said," Bart mumbled as he held an icepack against his left cheek and sulked on the couch.

Shayera in the meantime was scowling at him from the other end of the couch as Linda and Wally were using themselves as buffers and sat between them. Currently they were the only thing keeping the Thanagarian from maiming the teenager or at least stopping her from punching him again.

Linda nervously chuckled as she looked over to the Thanagarian next to her, "Now Shayera, just remember, Bart is young and dumb right now. Teenagers are like this."

"I am not young and dumb," Bart retorted. "Okay well maybe I'm young but I'm not dumb. I was asking a question. How was I supposed to know she's having a baby?"

"Because it's obvious you little fucking shit!" Shayera snarled at him through clenched teeth.

"Easy Shayera," Wally tried to placate her before he frowned at Bart. "And you keep your trap shut unless you want her to punch you again."

Bart rolled his eyes and snorted out of his nose in annoyance. Shayera was about to tear into the teen until she felt something brush against her leg. She looked down to see a white and black fluffy kitten rubbing its body against her. Chastising Bart went to the wayside as Shayera bent over and picked the kitten up to place her on her lap. The kitten began to pur as Shayera scratched behind her ears.

Shayera lightly smiled, "I haven't seen Princess in over a month. She's gotten a bit bigger since then."

"Yeah and she's a hand full," Wally pointed out. "She's already super spoiled too."

"You're one to talk Wally plus you're the one who spoiled her," Linda pointed out with a chuckle. "Though I have to agree. Having Princess around now is like constantly looking after a baby that can now walk and get into things."

"I can't imagine a kitten being worse than a baby honestly," Shayera stated as she looked down at Princess. "Though I don't have experience with either so I can't say."

"Wait," Bart began with a raised eyebrow. "So you're having a baby but never dealt with babies before?"

Shayera narrowed her eyes, "Yes and your point?"

"How are you going to know what you're doing if you've never dealt with a baby before?" Bart asked. "Plus how does that work anyways? A Thanagarian and a human having sex? I guess it'd have to be the same as human sex, right? I mean you probably can't lay on your back right?"

Shayera felt her cheeks begin to burn and knew the teen had actually managed to get her to blush. Shayera couldn't even make herself respond with how flustered his line of questioning was making her. Wally smacked Bart over the head only for the younger speedster to indignantly ask what he had done wrong. This however, and unfortunately, did not stop Bart as he continued his line of questioning.

"Wait do you lay eggs? Does the kid have wings? Oh wait can you talk to birds? That would be so cool. I'd love to be able to talk to a turkey. I could warn it about Thanksgiving and create like a turkey army to make a turkey uprising. It could be like Planet of the Apes but instead be Planet of the Turkeys."

Shayera shook her head and deeply exhaled, "The answer to those questions is no and I am not answering your earlier questions. Use your imagination instead." Shayera then considered that telling a teenage boy to use his imagination in regards to her and John's sex life was perhaps not her wisest decision though it seemed to shut him up for the time being.

"Think of it this way," Linda quietly said to Shayera. "If you have a boy, Bart's getting you ready to deal with those teenage hormones all boys get."

Shayera rolled her eyes. It would be a cold day in hell if she allowed Rex to behave remotely like Bart. "Somehow I can't imagine that," she replied as she looked down at Princess once more. "At that point I think I'd rather have a cat than a teenager. If I end up having a boy you want to trade my son for Princess? At least until those supposed hormones clear up?"

Linda laughed, "Not in a million years Shayera. She's practically like my baby."

Shayera lightly chuckled as she scratched under Princess' chin, "I know Wally's absolutely in love with her too. All he talks about half the time is her."

"I gotta say, I do the same at work too," Linda admitted.

"With how adorable she is I-" Shayera replied before she abruptly paused and frowned slightly. There was that damned muscle twitch in her stomach. Princess' ears perked up as she brushed her body against Shayera's stomach before looking up at her and meowing. Shayera swallowed as she looked down at the kitten. Perhaps the cause wasn't psychological as she had previously speculated. Though this now didn't give her a logical explanation behind what was causing this.

"Shayera," Linda began with a curious look. "You okay?"

Shayera blinked a few times and shook her head as she looked over to Linda, "Yeah I'm fine. I just thought of something. It's not important though."

"Alright I think we've done enough chitchatting," Wally suddenly stated as he sped out of the room and returned seconds later now with a Santa hat on. "Santa Flash has a job to do after all. Now everyone sit tight while Santa Flash goes to work."

"But I wanna be Santa Flash," Bart chimed in as he stood and tossed his icepack onto the couch.

Wally crossed his arms over his chest, "No way, I called dibs already."

Bart snatched the hat off of Wally's head as he raced off with a snicker, "Can't catch me old man!"

At that Wally frowned and chased after him, "Hey! Who the hell do you think you're calling old?"

Shayera raised an eyebrow as she looked over to Linda, "Santa Flash? What the hell is Wally going on about now?"

Linda rolled her eyes with a light sigh, "Wally absolutely insisted that he had to be the one to play Santa and hand out the gifts."

"Gifts?" Shayera slowly asked as she looked away and bit her bottom lip. "Um Linda...about that...I um didn't..."

"Don't worry Shayera," Linda lightly chuckled as she waved her off. "Wally already warned me that you suck at the whole gift thing. We didn't expect you to bring anything. You being here is enough, trust me. Especially for Wally, he honestly didn't expect for you to agree to come over. Considering everything that happened over the past few weeks and all."

Shayera was silent for a moment before she spoke, "I think being alone would have made things worse. Plus I overheard Wally one time talking to John about trying to get us to come over here this year for Christmas. I figured I would have been here whether John was here or not. That and the idea of coming over was rather nice."

"Well if it's any consolation at least you're spending your Christmas with us and not alone," Linda said to her with a small smile. "Besides, I think you coming over was one of the best Christmas gifts Wally has gotten so far."

Shayera softly smiled as she watched the two speedsters race about and wrestle over the Santa hat. "You know," she glanced over to Linda. "I think this is one of the best gifts I got too."

A/N: It was so hard to get into a Christmas-y mood in March. Especially since I'm a Scrooge to begin with lol. I couldn't make the other sections fit within this before it got too long and even more drawn out so unfortunately there will have to be a second Christmas chapter before we can get to our next phase within this installment.

Chapter Text

Shayera shook her head in good nature and rolled her eyes as Wally was thrusting a large wrapped box towards her. Her gaze briefly shifted to the pile of baby toys off to the side of the couch. While she appreciated Wally's intentions of getting them for her, she still found them to be a bit pointless at the given time. After all, she rationalized that a baby actually needed to be present in order for the toys to have any use at all. That and she was now going to have to find a place to put all of these toys within the apartment without making any clutter. It was bad enough that she was going to have to clean the apartment on her own. John was a neat freak and Shayera knew he wouldn't be amused if he returned to their place being piled high with baby toys on top of being dust-covered as well.

"Wally that better not be another baby toy," she said to him in an amused tone. "What am I supposed to do with that stuff anyways? That apartment already has to get cleaned. Now I'm going to have to find a place to put these toys without them being in the way."

Bart, who was sitting sideways in the recliner, raised an eyebrow as he briefly looked up from his handheld game, "You play with the toys with the baby, obviously duh. That's what baby toys are for."

Shayera rolled her eyes, "Yeah that's something I can't do for some time still you little smartass. If you've forgotten the baby is still inside me. That and even I know that a newborn baby isn't immediately able to play once born. I have that much commonsense at least."

"Maybe if you read those books you'd know when a baby can start playing with toys," Wally muttered under his breath.

Shayera raised an eyebrow at his remark, "What was that Wally?"

"Nothing," Wally nervously chuckled as he once again held the box out to her. "Gift?"

"That one is actually from me," Linda said to her. "I thought I'd get you something practical given I knew what Wally went out and got you."

"Well now I have complete faith in it being something that's actually useful," Shayera humorously stated as she took the box from Wally. Tearing the paper away, Shayera tilted her head as she stared at the item. She then looked over to Linda, "Um not that I don't appreciate it but why a pillow? Did Wally tell you about how I normally don't sleep too well?"

Linda lightly chuckled and shook her head, "It's not just a pillow. It's called a maternity pillow Shayera."

"A maternity pillow?" Shayera slowly asked her as she looked it over again before looking back up at her. "I don't see the purpose. How is it different from any other pillow?"

"It's a pillow pregnant ladies use. Even I know that," Bart said with a shrug causing Shayera to frown.

"Wally wasn't kidding when he said you didn't know anything," Linda stated as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I thought he was exaggerating."

"Wally said that?" Shayera rhetorically asked as she narrowed her eyes at the speedster, causing him to hold his hands up in defense as he nervously smiled.

"It's supposed to help with back pain and hip pain the further you get into your pregnancy," Linda said to her. "Wally told me you've been having a lot of back problems over the last month so I figured this might help."

Shayera sighed as she leaned back against the couch, "That is true. My back has been really bothering me lately. I haven't even flown in over a week because my back's been killing me."

Linda offered her a small smile, "Well hopefully that'll help you at night then and you can get a good night's sleep for once."

"Thanks, I'll try anything at this point," Shayera said to her with a light smile. The Thanagarian was about to continue until Princess leapt onto her lap and meowed up at her. She lightly smiled as she scratched Princess' back and the kitten began to pur. In return the kitten meowed once more as she stretched her body out towards the scratching. Princess then curled up against Shayera's stomach and closed her eyes to sleep.

"She absolutely adores you Shayera," Linda said to the Thanagarian as she reached over and scratched behind Princess' ear. "Normally she's running around being a terror. She's never been this calm before."

"Can't sit still huh?" Shayera slyly smirked. "Sounds like Princess is taking after Wally already. Better make sure she doesn't end up eating like him too."

Linda laughed as Wally pouted, "You're so hilarious Shayera. I can just feel the love pouring from you." Wally then paused before he continued, "Though it's probably more that Princess is in love with the baby."

Shayera raised an eyebrow and tilted her head slightly, "How can a cat be in love with something that's not even born yet? It's not like Princess can hear or see it. There's no way she even knows it's there."

Bart shrugged as he didn't even look up from his game, "I heard animals can sense those kind of things somehow. I don't know how but they just do. Oh yeah! Totally killed him this time! That has to be a new record."

"Yeah I've read about that too. It has to be that," Wally agreed.

Shayera lightly rolled her eyes, "You and all of this reading you've been doing. I don't think I've ever heard of you actually reading so extensively before. Honestly I never thought you'd have the patience to."

"Says the Thanagarian whose main hobby is reading during her downtime," Wally pointed out with a light frown. "You're the definition of a bookworm Shay."

Shayera gave him a confused look, "A bookworm? I've never heard of that term before."

"A bookworm is essentially someone who likes to read a lot," Linda explained to her.

"Uncle Wally has a point you know," Bart casually stated as he finally placed the handheld down. "Honestly you don't seem like the type who would read all that much. Reading seems a bit boring for someone like you."

"Touché," Shayera replied with a shrug. "Reading helps me relax; it always has."

"That's nice and all but are we gonna eat yet?" Bart asked as he sprawled out in the recliner. "I'm starving to death over here."

"If I can wait than you can wait too," Wally rolled his eyes. "Besides I didn't hear you offer to help at all."

Linda gave the older speedster an unamused look, "You didn't offer to help either Wally."

Wally awkwardly scratched the back of his head as he looked away, "It's different. You said I'm not allowed in the kitchen. Not after what happened on Easter."

"Yeah scratch that actually. It'll be enough of a headache later since it'll be a war at the table between you and Bart," Linda slyly smirked. "You two will be fighting over every piece of food."

"No we won't," the two speedsters insisted.

Shayera playfully nudged Linda, "Think of it this way, if they eat everything, I'll get us teleported up to the Watchtower so that we can actually get some food."

Linda lightly chuckled as she got off of the couch and stretched, "Well that can always be our Plan B. Alright I'll get started heating up everything. Shayera try to keep these two out of trouble. Especially keep them away from my Christmas tree. I don't want anymore decorations broken."

Shayera nodded with a smirk, "I'll do my best even if it results in me resorting to handing out a black eye or two."

"Hey I offered to clean your apartment for you," Wally retorted with a frown. "I should be exempt from black eyes for at least a week."

"Wally you don't even clean up after yourself here, don't give Shayera false hope," Linda called out to him just as she was leaving the room.

Wally crossed his arms over his chest as he muttered, "I sometimes do." Shayera began to laugh causing Wally to give her a curious look. "What's so funny?"

"No it's just," she continued to laugh for a moment. "You always said that John and I were like an old married couple. You and Linda are exactly the same. You guys are exactly like an old married couple with the way you bicker."

At that Wally became flustered as he lightly blushed, "No we aren't! We bicker way less than you and John."

Bart snickered, "Now that Shayera mentions it, you guys totally are an old married couple."

Shayera rolled her eyes in an amused manner, "Yes you two are Wally. Anyways you did offer to clean that apartment so I'm expecting for you to make good on that promise. Though I won't be too harsh. I'll at least help to make it a bit more fair."

Wally smirked as he pointed to his chest with his thumb, "Fastest man alive Shay, I won't need help."

"When I said I'd help I meant opening the door to let you in," the Thanagarian snidely remarked with a pompous smile.

Bart waved them both off, "Eh it'll take him probably twenty seconds to clean that place. I could do it in under seven. After all, I'm faster than Uncle Wally."

"No you aren't," Wally argued. "I'm way faster than you."

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

"Turtle!"

"Sloth!"

Shayera let out a frustrated sigh as she pinched the bridge of her nose, "Remember it's Christmas. Try not to punch them."

Bart grabbed the rim of the Santa hat and forced the hat down over Wally's eyes before dashing off, "No you aren't old man."

Wally gritted his teeth as he ripped off the Santa hat and chased after Bart, "Stop calling me an old man!"

"Would you two knock it off?" Shayera asked them in an annoyed tone. She placed Princess on the couch, who loudly meowed in protest to this, and stood as she placed her hands on her hips. "You're both acting like a pair of five-year-olds. Sit down and shut up, both of you."

Wally stopped mid run as he smirked and then stuck his tongue out at the Thanagarian, "Okay Mom."

"Smartass," Shayera mumbled with an eyeroll.

Wally just smirked again as he again sped off to catch up to Bart. Unfortunately just as Wally had taken off Bart was rounding a corner and back into the living room. The two collided and Wally was sent tumbling back towards the Christmas tree.

Shayera was surprised with herself that she was still nimble and fast enough to grab Wally by the wrist in order to stop him from falling into the tree. She could only imagine what Linda's reaction would have been had that occurred. She could easily foresee a dozen apology kittens in Wally's future had that happened.

"Now," Shayera began with a deep frown as she pulled Wally upright. "Will you two knock it off before you break something?"

Bart rolled his eyes, "You sound like my Mom. You didn't even have that baby yet and you already sound like a nag."

Shayera scowled at Bart as she began to advance towards him, "I'll show you a nag you little asswipe. I'll take that goddamn Christmas tree and shove it so far up your ass that you'll be tasting glitter and plastic needles until July."

Wally raced in front of Shayera and held his hands up to her, "Easy Shayera, Bart is just being Bart." He then looked back at Bart and murmured, "Say sorry."

Shayera gave Wally an unamused look, "Wally I can hear you."

"Shit that damn Thanagarian hearing," Wally muttered with a frown.

Bart crossed his arms over his chest, "I'm not saying sorry."

Shayera was about to rebuke both of the speedsters but instead she froze. Before the feeling she had experienced in her stomach had felt more like a muscle twitch than anything else. This time it was more like a swishing feeling and much more pronounced than a simple twitch. That was the closest description Shayera could think of to give it.

Shayera swallowed as she was suddenly now faced with a more daunting question. How would she know if something was wrong? She didn't know a thing about pregnancy or babies. The one thing she and John had still argued about was over the fact that Shayera refused to allow J'onn to examine her in any way since it became known that she was pregnant. As much as she didn't want to, Shayera found herself contemplating if she should fully read any of those books Wally had gotten for her at the very least. If she could swallow enough of her own pride and inner worries than perhaps she could talk herself into letting J'onn actually examine her for once.

Wally tilted his head as the Thanagarian went silent. After a moment he waved his hand in front of her face, "Shayera, you okay?"

Shayera lightly jumped as she shook her head, obviously being abruptly taken out of her train of thought. Shayera feigned annoyance and lightly frowned, "Yeah I'm fine. You two are giving me a migraine."

Shayera let out a sigh as she finally laid down in bed for the night. Dealing with Wally and Bart's antics all afternoon and evening had simply been exhausting for the Thanagarian, both physically and mentally. At least Wally had carried all of the Christmas gifts back to the apartment though Shayera knew to use that phrase sparingly. Wally's version of carrying everything was him taking her key, running all the way to Detroit, dumping everything in a pile in the middle of her living room, and then racing back to Central City with a prideful grin. When Shayera had gotten to the apartment herself she felt like strangling the speedster the next time she saw him once she saw the mess he left. Though Shayera knew she most likely would have done the same and would have just dumped everything into a pile in order to deal with it later. Or, if John was there, leave it for him to clean up.

Shayera let out another sigh as she lightly stretched her body out. It was also the first time in three weeks that she was sleeping in their apartment. Though Shayera knew it wasn't the first time that she was ever alone in that apartment by herself. There had been plenty of times where John had been sent on a deep space mission and she had to sleep in their bedroom alone. Yet she didn't find it easy then and she definitely was not finding it easy now.

Shayera tightly wrapped her arms around the maternity pillow Linda had gotten for her. She was used to clinging to and cuddling against John every night. Not having someone to hold at night hadn't been easy for her. It wasn't John but the maternity pillow would have to do in the meantime. She then nestled her head against John's pillow and inhaled. Sleeping on John's side of the bed was helping to a degree as well. At least his pillow still had the scent of his cologne and she found that to be comforting. Unlike back on the Watchtower where the pillows mostly smelled like her shampoo and body wash due to the fact that John very rarely ever slept up there compared to her.

Shayera didn't know when she had dozed off but she was unexpectedly awakened by her commlink going off. The Thanagarian groaned as she reluctantly opened one eye and peered at the clock on her nightstand. She had gotten at least three hours of sleep so she could at least function. Releasing a deep sigh, Shayera put a finger up to her ear, "Yeah?"

"I didn't prep you for transport hold on a minute!" Shayera could hear Mister Terrific calling out to someone. "Shayera we got a big problem up here."

Shayera yawned and rubbed her eyes as she tiredly mumbled, "What kind of a problem?"

"The rundown is the Society of Shadows, Ra's al Ghul, Lazarus Pits, Legion of Doom, and nuclear warheads," Terrific quickly summarized. "You know how we haven't seen Batman in over a week? Well apparently this is what he was dealing with in Gotham during that time and now it's out of his control. Ra's apparently hired the Legion of Doom as well and is trying to keep the Justice League busy and off his tail. Ra's is planning on sending those warheads into the Lazarus Pits."

"What a great holiday week this is shaping up to be," Shayera sarcastically muttered as she sat up in bed. "What exactly is going on?"

"Members of the Legion of Doom and Society of Shadows attacked the Metro Tower and managed to gain control over it. The other issue we have is that they're also attacking major cities around the world. We're stretched to our limits. J'onn is even fighting down there right now and we need every viable fighter we have so..." Terrific's voice then trailed off.

"So you need to get down there as well but you need someone who's capable of running the Watchtower by themself and has complete override privileges," Shayera finished for him. "Give me two minutes to get ready and I'll be up there."

A/N: Yes Christmas cheer turning straight to world domination attempts (or in this case the Near Apocalypses of '09). Just another day in the life of the Justice League.

Chapter Text

Shayera stood on the teleportation deck and slowly looked around with a scowl when she observed just how woefully undermanned the Watchtower was. She immediately could tell that the civilian staff had been evacuated in order to make the main hub this desolate. To add insult to injury she noticed that the injured reserves were serving in their place. Shayera let out a sigh as she beat her wings a few times and unsteadily took off from the teleportation pad and up to the control deck.

"You're kidding me right?" Shayera asked as she landed next to Terrific. "I knew you said it was bad but this is ridiculous. How are we supposed to run the Watchtower without any staff?"

Mister Terrific on the other hand gave her a deadpan look, "I wish I were but it was necessary. We couldn't risk anymore personnel getting injured; we already had enough injured in the Metro Tower. It was Superman's call."

"Yeah but that leaves me with no staff to help operate the Watchtower," Shayera retorted as she frowned. "I can't have eyes and ears on everything. I'm only one person."

"That's why these guys are staying on the Watchtower with you," Terrific stated as he gestured over to Black Canary, Nemesis, and Question.

"Great so I'm left with the bottom of the barrel up here, no offense Canary," Shayera glanced over to Black Canary.

Dinah in turn shrugged nonchalantly, "None taken Shayera, I get it."

"What and we're chopped liver?" Nemesis muttered with a scowl. "Damn Thanagarian."

Shayera lightly narrowed her eyes at Nemesis before turning her attention back to Mister Terrific, "What am I supposed to do if something happens up here? None of us, except for maybe Black Canary who has a severe concussion, are really in any fighting condition. Nemesis has a broken right arm that's still in a cast. Question had a torn meniscus in his left knee that just had surgery on it a few weeks ago and he still has to use crutches. While I don't have my mace anymore I can still throw a few good punches but I'm not exactly able to take any hits right now if you've forgotten."

"None of you will need to fight; that's why we have all of your up here. None of you will be in any danger up here," Terrific stated as he began to move towards the elevator so that he could leave the control deck. "Right now, statically speaking, the Watchtower is the safest place you could be in."

"Not in any danger?" Shayera rhetorically asked with a scowl. "Every member of the Justice League has their hands full right now with Ra's al Ghul's dipshit thugs. The Metro Tower itself has been taken over and there's no telling if they'll figure out how to get into the Watchtower from there. We are clearly in danger."

Terrific lightly frowned as he stopped just outside of the elevator, "I highly doubt they'll get through the security in the Metro Tower. Besides, as a founder, you have absolute override of this place. You'd be able to lockdown the Watchtower and stop anyone from getting in here."

"Unless they had Superman-level strength," Shayera retorted with an unamused look. "Then they would just tear the walls down to get in. My overrides can't stop that."

"Now's not the time to be a smartass," Terrific looked over his shoulder as his frown deepened. "Your main job up here is transporting people around. That's all we've been doing so far. We'll be in contact when we can. If we hear anything from Batman we'll let you know. He went dark several hours ago and we haven't heard from him since."

"Wait so you don't even know where Batman is or what he's doing? Hell do you even know where Ra's al Ghul is?" When Shayera's questions were met with dead silence from the super-genius, who just entered the elevator and allowed the doors to shut in front of him, she let out a deep sigh, "You have to be bullshitting me. This is a complete disaster."

"What about Ellsworth Memorial Hospital, Metropolis General Hospital, or Metropolis City Hospital?" Shayera asked over her commlink. "We can't get anywhere close to Gotham General and all of the surrounding hospitals in New York and New Jersey are filled. Wally said Central City Hospital is filled too."

"Shayera I wouldn't be calling you if I could bring them there," Superman stated in a somewhat irritated tone. "It's not just Central City, Gotham, and Metropolis. We have civilians in Los Angeles, New York, Keystone City, Star City, and Chicago who all need medical treatment. The adjacent cities and their hospitals are-"

"I get it and I know that they're overrun too," Shayera gruffly cut him off. "Let me see what I can do. I just can't pull some miracle out of my ass right now. Just get someone ready with the javelins if I can find somewhere. Shayera out."

Superman didn't get the chance to respond as Shayera turned her commlink off. The Thanagarian lightly growled to herself. She didn't know where to even begin to find a hospital. It wasn't just civilians who needed medical treatment, though they were the current top priority. There were multiple Justice League members who could use stitches or the like yet their injuries were minor enough that they could wait. Shayera knew how lucky they were that no one in the Justice League had yet to be mortally wounded so far.

Shayera took a deep breath and then deeply exhaled. It had been a long time since she felt this frazzled. She knew that she most likely looked like a disheveled mess as well which didn't help things. Her version of giving her two minutes to get ready had encompassed her jumping out of bed, brushing her teeth, and then getting teleported up to the Watchtower. She hadn't bothered to brush her hair either. She had simply ran her fingers through it to somewhat detangle it as she had brushed her teeth. She hadn't even changed out of the sweatpants and the oversized t-shirt she normally wore to bed.

"Hey Hawkgirl," Nemesis called out to her, causing her to lightly frown. "I can see if they got any room left in Nebraska Medical Center. Otherwise the only hospitals I know are tiny, local ones."

"And they would be ill-equipped for serious injuries," Shayera quietly stated before she nodded. "See what they can do. Canary, Question any ideas?"

Dinah lightly shook her head, "I'm originally from Gotham and we know what's going on there. I would say Star City but they're having the same problem."

Nemesis then looked up from his console, "Bad news, Nebraska Medical Center is filled already too. They were sending people from Central City and Keystone City there."

Question was silent for a moment before he calmly replied, "Hub City's hospital is overrun because of Chicago. I'd suggest trying the surrounding states if possible. Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin would be the closest."

Shayera paused at the mention of Michigan. Given it had been over five years since she had last spoken to her, Shayera was hoping she could perhaps pull in a favor. Shayera just hoped that she was still within her good graces. "I might have an idea," the Thanagarian stated as she began to type on the console.

The commline went active and soon an impassive, female voice came over the system, "I don't care about my car's extended warranty, I don't do charities, and I don't need loan forgiveness."

"Becky it's me," Shayera said with a light smile. "Remember your favorite patient? The pain in the ass?"

"Hawkgirl?" Becky asked in mild astonishment before letting out an exasperated sigh. "Don't tell me, let me guess. You need stitches or staples or a cauterization?"

"Well I don't," Shayera replied in a humorous tone. "But I know people that might. I'm not sure if you saw the news or not."

"You mean the crazy mass takeovers of major cities around the world? No I didn't notice," Becky sarcastically responded. "Do you think I live under a damn rock?"

Shayera rolled her eyes, "Of course I don't but I do need a favor."

"A favor!?" Shayera lightly winced at Becky's tone. The Thanagarian couldn't necessarily blame Becky for her response. "You don't keep in contact for over five years and you just expect for me to do you a favor out of the blue? Are you still insane Hawkgirl?"

"Look it's not for me, it's the civilians getting injured in the crossfire. We have nowhere to send them," Shayera explained. "I thought, maybe, I could start sending people To Midway City as long as that hospital has the room."

Shayera heard Becky let out a frustrated groan and she didn't reply. This worried Shayera. She honestly couldn't see Becky saying no, as this went against the Hippocratic Oath doctors had to abide by. Though her second worry was if Midway City University Hospital was as well overrun like the others.

"Becky?" Shayera then softly sighed as she quietly spoke, "Look I'm sorry that I didn't come back to Midway City after everything. I know I should have kept in contact instead of just dropping off of the face of the Earth like that. Then I just reappear with the Justice League and I don't even go back. I'm not asking you to do this for me. I'm asking for-"

"Would you shut up for one minute?" Becky indignantly asked. "I'm trying to see if any of the surrounding hospitals have room too. It's been quiet here honestly despite the world going to absolute shit. We can take a good amount of people here. I'll have the other doctors get in touch with the other hospitals in Michigan too. You send them here and we'll do the rest Hawkgirl."

Shayera slowly smiled, "Becky I can't thank you enough."

"Yeah, yeah whatever," she dismissively replied. "Get your feathered ass moving and get them here Hawkgirl."

Shayera snorted back a laugh as she closed the commline. She then put a finger up to her commlink, "Superman it's me. Get the javelins prepped. Midway City University Hospital can take people. They'll also transfer people as necessary so we can keep sending people there until we don't have the all clear anymore. I'm going to get in touch with Wally and see if he can start getting people there too."

Shayera heard Superman let out a pained grunt before he replied, "Good get in touch with Flash first. I'll have J'onn delegate who'll fly the javelins. Ugh, dammit Kryptonite! I have to go Shayera." The commlink went silent and Shayera sighed as she put her finger back up to her ear, "Wally you there?"

"Yeah, I hear you loud and clear Shayera. What's up?" The speedster asked sounding somewhat out of breath.

Shayera momentarily paused at this. Wally was never out of breath. She swallowed before she continue, "Midway City University Hospital can take injured civilians. We're going to use the javelins to transport people but that's going to take time. There's some with serious injuries. They can't wait for a javelin to get to them and then get them to Midway City."

"Alright I got it. I'll run them there. Fastest man alive after all," he then tiredly chuckled.

"Wally," Shayera softly began. "Get your spare commlink and give it to Bart. You can't do this by yourself. Knowing you, you got yourself pretty banged up already."

Wally let out a long and deep sigh, "I've got this Shayera. Don't worry it's only a few bruises. I'll just go really fast."

At this Shayera frowned, "Last time you went really fast we almost lost you. Just listen to me Wally, please. Plus with two of you running around we can get more people the help they need."

"Yeah, yeah you're right," the Flash finally relented. "I'll get Bart a commlink and fill him in on the details."

Shayera let out a relieved sigh as her commlink went silent again. She went back to monitoring the screens above the control panel. She then crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes slightly. Things were going too smoothly, granted they still weren't close to getting the Metro Tower back into their control.

Everything else was going a bit too well.

The four Justice League members all jumped when the emergency alarms began to sound within the Watchtower. Then came the automated voice over the blaring alarms and sirens.

"Watchtower security systems disabled."

Shayera's eyes widened as she began to type on the console in front of her, "No they are not. Emergency override user code 007, activate Watchtower lockdown procedures."

"User identity Shayera Stewart confirmed, security override denied. System override activated. Communication systems offline."

"Shut it down!" Question yelled up to her.

"What do you think I'm trying to do?" Shayera snapped back at him as she frantically typed on the console. "Come on you piece of shit computer. Command override user code 007, shutdown fusion generator and all systems. Life support and communication systems authorized only."

"System administrator Shayera Stewart recognized, unable to comply. Bypassing security clearances, emergency transport from Metro Tower initiated."

Before any of the heroes could do anything else, the teleportation pad came to life. Deadshot, Bone-Crusher, Lightweaver, and Blacksmith materialized on the teleportation deck. Deadshot stepped forward as he moved his head from side-to-side to crack his neck. He then cracked his knuckles and raised his wrist-mounted pistols up, "Let's get this party started. Shall we?"

Chapter Text

Shayera had ducked down behind the control deck's console as Deadshot fired upon her. Her ears were currently ringing as her body felt like pins and needles. The Thanagarian knew her fight or flight senses were kicking in; unfortunately for her it was her flight sense that was going off the strongest at the current moment. In the time it took from the Legion members to be teleported to the Watchtower and followed by Deadshot firing his first shot, Shayera had already run down potential scenarios of how the fight could play out.

Nemesis had only one usable arm, locking him to only one fire arm and no way to really engage in hand-to-hand combat effectively. Question was a bit more versatile. While he couldn't run or pivot quickly on his knee, he could at least handle his own despite his injury. That and Shayera knew that Vic was resourceful. Those crutches were probably already turned into weapons by now. Black Canary was the only one out of the four of them who didn't have a physical limitation in terms of hand-to-hand combat. The only issue Dinah had was her sonic scream. With her severe concussion, she couldn't withstand her own power for no more than five seconds at a time.

Shayera tightly shut her eyes as she took a deep breath to steady her nerves. She couldn't panic. Panicking wouldn't help her out of this situation. She needed to think clearly. That was the only way she was going to get herself and the others out of this mess alive. There was no backup coming to help them. They had no communications and had no way of letting the others in the Justice League know what was happening.

Lightweaver was a pain in the ass to deal with. Lightweaver was able to create solid light constructs. While not on the same scale as a Green Lantern, he was able to make bubbles around him for defense, rudimentary objects, and energy beams as well. He also had the ability to fly but the speeds at which he flew at didn't concern Shayera as his flying skills were rather unpolished. Shayera knew she could easily out-fly the meta, even in the close quarters of the Watchtower. Shayera knew Lightweaver should be her target as the others couldn't fly.

The only concern Shayera had of Bone-Crusher was of his hand-to-hand combat abilities. He was a highly trained mercenary who could trade blows with the likes of Wildcat. Unlike Ted, Bone-Crusher was young and seemingly in the prime of his life. Though he was only a mere human who relied on his fighting skills alone so Shayera didn't concern herself with being able to takedown him down. Between Question and Nemesis they should be able to take him down.

Blacksmith was trickier to take on and more deadly than either Lightweaver or Bone-Crusher. Blacksmith's power were extensive. Most notably she was able to fuse organic and inorganic materials together. That included her own body if need be. She favored to rip apart metals and transfigure them onto her body to increase her durability as well as physical strength. Without her mace, Shayera knew she would be in for long fight if she had to rely on her fists. The worst of Blacksmith's abilities was her Mechanokinesis. She could control anything from phones, guns, car parts, and even computers. Shayera was assuming that was how the Legion was able to gain access to the Watchtower. Shayera hoped that Dinah would be able to withstand a few uses of her sonic scream to take the villainess down.

The last villain was the one that worried Shayera the most. Deadshot, despite not having any meta-human abilities, was the deadliest of the bunch and would prove the hardest to takedown. First and foremost, Deadshot was one of if not the best marksman on the planet. Shayera knew Deadshot's combat abilities were on par with Batman's. From Shayera's own experience from sparring with Batman, she could only assume that Deadshot would be easily able to match her in terms of technique. The only thing Shayera had on her side was her Thanagarian strength. What Deadshot had that Shayera currently did not was the stamina to engage in a long fight. If anything the Thanagarian knew it would most likely take all four of them together to take Deadshot down.

Shayera then noticed something odd; Deadshot had stopped firing upon her. Before Shayera could look over the console she heard Black Canary's sonic scream for a few seconds. Shots rang out again but this time Shayera could tell they were not aimed at her. Tentatively, Shayera looked over the console to see Black Canary taking in a deep breath and once again released her ultrasonic scream upon Bone-Crusher. This knocked the mercenary back into Blacksmith.

Canary stopped her onslaught and winced as she placed a hand to the side of her head. Deadshot quickly advanced on the distracted heroine and landed a solid uppercut on her, landing Black Canary onto her back with a split open lip. Deadshot was ready to fire on the downed hero until he backflipped away from a crutch that was swung by the Question. As he was in midair, Deadshot aimed his wrist-mounted pistol at Question and fired. Nemesis leapt forward and tackled Question out of the way. Unfortunately this was a bit too late as one of the bullets lodged itself into Question's right bicep. Another grazed across Nemesis' right cheek, drawing blood.

Just as Deadshot landed into a crouch, Black Canary threw a roundhouse kick towards his head. Deadshot quickly stood and caught her leg and twisted it to knock her off balance. Dinah placed her hands onto the ground and used her twisting momentum to hook her other leg around Deadshot's neck, bringing him down with her. The two quickly rebounded from this and engaged in a flurry of punches and kicks.

Out of her peripheral vision, Shayera caught sight of Lightweaver flying towards Black Canary. He held out both of his hands as they began to glow. Shayera quickly took off and tackled Lightweaver in midair. The villain grunted as the wind was momentarily knocked out of him. Shayera grabbed onto Lightweaver's arm and threw him over her shoulder and against one of the observation windows.

Before Shayera could go after Lightweaver again, a projectile grazed across her right shoulder before impaling itself directly into her right wing. Shayera sharply inhaled through clenched teeth as she scowled and looked down to see Blacksmith sneering up at her. Shayera frowned as she noted that while Bone-Crusher had been knocked out by Dinah's sonic scream, Blacksmith was able to endure it to an extent. Blacksmith then raised both of her fists in the air as one of the consoles shattered into hundreds of metal shards. Blacksmith then thrusted her hands towards Shayera. If not having a center of gravity was making flying hard enough for the Thanagarian, having a shard of metal lodged into her wing made it much more difficult.

Shayera was able to weave around Blacksmith attack with only one of the shards grazing across her left ankle. Shayera quickly landed, crouched down, took a deep breath, and ripped the metal shard out of her right wing with a pained and stifled yelp. Shayera pushed off the ground when she saw Lightweaver flying straight towards her. Lightweaver twisted his body as he flew underneath her and fired an energy beam at her, hitting her in the chest. Shayera was knocked back in the air and winced. Lightweaver's energy beams packed more of a punch than the Thanagarian had anticipated.

Shayera glared at Lightweaver as she circled around the villain, dodging more of his energy blasts in the meantime. Her gaze momentarily shifted towards Blacksmith and she smirked. The energy-wielding meta wasn't closely paying attention to where or what he was blasting. Shayera took this to her advantage as she banked hard, a bit harder than she intended to, nearly clipping her wing against the floor as she did so. Lightweaver predictably chased after her and held both of his hands out before firing. The Thanagarian proceeded to fly into a high arc, sailing over Lightweaver as his energy beams slammed into Blacksmith.

Quickly flying behind him, Shayera attempted to put Lightweaver into a sleeper hold. Lightweaver snarled as he threw his head back, knocking into the Thanagarian's face, particularly hitting her nose hard. This caused Shayera to flinch and loosen her hold. This was enough for Lightweaver to then throw an elbow, hitting the Thanagarian in the stomach. He quickly spun around and followed up with a quick jab to her ribs. He then grabbed the Thanagarian's arm and threw her over his shoulder. Shayera landed hard on her back and grimaced.

Slowly Shayera opened her eyes to see Deadshot and Lightweaver standing over her. Lightweaver smirked at her as he held his glowing fists towards her. Deadshot on the other hand was holding up his wrist-mounted pistol at her head. Lightweaver suddenly moved his foot and stomped down onto the wound on her right wing, causing Shayera to shout out in pain.

"I suggest," Deadshot began. "You give up."

Shayera exhaled as she lightly winced, "And if I don't?"

"Then this is going to take a different turn," Deadshot stated as he shifted the position of his pistol.

Shayera's eyes slightly widened when she realized his pistol was no longer aimed at her head. She then scowled and glared up at the assassin. She could only hope that the information Batman had on him was correct and that she could call his bluff. According to Batman, Deadshot had a daughter of his own and refused to harm or kill children. Shayera hoped that extended to unborn children as well.

"If you were going to shoot me," Shayera quietly said through gritted teeth. "You would have done it already."

Deadshot was silent for a moment before he moved his right arm and he fired. Shayera cried out as the bullet ripped into her left thigh. "That was a through and through shot. No arteries or major blood vessels, just some muscle. On the other hand," he moved his arm to the left by a mere centimeter. "This would be your femoral artery." He then moved his pistol once more and he lightly let out a huff, "Quick trivia about the body. The abdominal aorta is the body's largest blood vessel in the body. So, do you bleed out faster than a human if I were to shoot you there?"

Shayera swallowed before she once more scowled at him, "Knock yourself out asshole and find out."

Shayera noticed how Deadshot's eye slit on his mask narrowed. She then heard him deeply inhale. Lightweaver smirked but that smirk was short lived when he realized Deadshot wasn't firing. Shayera lightly sighed in relief.

"What gives?" Lightweaver asked him. "We got her down, kill her off."

"No," Deadshot lowered his arm back to his side as he looked over to Lightweaver. "We need her alive. We stick to the plan."

"What exactly do you need me alive for?" Shayera asked with a raised eyebrow. "You already have access to both of our bases. You cut off our communications. What more can you need or want?"

Deadshot looked down at the Thanagarian before he reached down, grabbed her arm, and roughly yanked her onto her feet. Shayera clenched her teeth and sharply inhaled as she felt a burning pain shoot down her leg. Deadshot leaned over her slightly as he calmly spoke, "Because we need you to knock this big tin can out of orbit."

"And just how do you expect for me to do that?" Shayera asked breathlessly as she winced in pain. "Not sure if you know but Thanagarians aren't strong like Kryptonians. I can't just push this place towards Earth."

"No but you're one of the originals. You have special clearances like the other ones I'd imagine. That's something we need," Deadshot said to her. Shayera was about to retort until she felt Deadshot's pistol rest against her stomach. "I could shoot you right now if I wanted to."

Shayera narrowed her eyes, "But you said you needed me alive."

"Exactly," Deadshot replied. "I said that I needed you alive. Lightweaver hit you in the chest already with one of his blasts. You want to try a blast to the stomach and see how you fare?"

Shayera felt her blood run cold as the words left Deadshot's mouth and Lightweaver sneered. Whatever bravado she previously had was now completely gone. She was suddenly faced with the prospect that she wasn't going to get out of this in one piece. The next thought that raced through Shayera's mind was how she would be able to explain this to John.

Chapter Text

Shayera did her best to control the light tremble in her hands as she was flanked by Deadshot and Lightweaver on each side. The three were in the elevator going from the teleportation deck up to the control deck. Normally the ride up was no more than ten seconds but, to Shayera, it right now felt like an entire hour had passed by. The elevator came to a stop and the doors hissed open. Shayera's heart lurched and her chest clenched uncomfortably as Deadshot placed his pistol on the small of her back.

"Get moving," he sharply whispered to the Thanagarian.

Shayera shakingly exhaled through her nose as she reluctantly complied. Thankfully the gunshot wound to her left leg gave her an excuse to walk slowly and bought her at least a little bit of time to try to think of a way out of this. She knew she could only stall for so long. Currently, Shayera could feel her heart hammering in her chest. She was beginning to panic. She took a slow, steady breath to calm her nerves. She wasn't about to let any emotion show in front of the two villains, especially since overwhelming fear was the most prevalent of what she was currently experiencing.

Shayera stood in front of the console and slowly began to type. Throwing the Watchtower out of orbit was not a simple process and could only be accomplished manually; which now made sense to Shayera just why the Legion of Doom had invaded the Watchtower. Thankfully they couldn't just knock the Watchtower out of orbit from the Metro Tower. It took multiple overrides and clearances. Shayera knew she had to make sure she did them as slowly as possible. For a split second, Shayera stopped typing and glanced to her right side. Just as soon as she did this she could see the barrel of Deadshot's pistol in her view.

"Keep typing," Deadshot tersely ordered as he placed the barrel against her right temple.

Shayera lightly frowned as she resumed typing. She swallowed before she spoke, "What's the point of this? I fail to see what crashing the Watchtower will do at this point, except for wiping out an entire city."

Shayera sharply inhaled and stiffened as she felt Lightweaver's fist settle against the side of her stomach and she could feel the warmth of the energy charge in his fist. The villain forebodingly smirked, "I don't think we told you that you could speak. So, if I were you birdy, I'd keep my mouth shut."

"I'd like to know what's going to happen before I die," the Thanagarian quietly replied, trying to sound as calm as possible.

Deadshot was silent for a moment before he dropped his pistol from her head and lowered it to her back once more. "Simple," he began. "Right now Ra's al Ghul is firing off the nuclear warheads into all of the Lazarus Pits around the world to activate them. There's one big one; you could pretty much just call it a Lazarus reserve at this point. It's too far below the Earth for a missile to reach."

"But the Watchtower crashing into the Earth would be able to," Shayera finished for the assassin. "Plus our fusion generator would act like a gigantic nuclear missile at that point."

"Precisely," Deadshot stated.

"And then what?" Shayera asked as she continued to slowly type. "What's the point of it? You'll just be killing yourselves too at that point."

"Ghul said we're purifying the world," Lightweaver said. "He said the Lazarus Pits will rejuvenate everything. We'll be just fine afterwards."

"Yeah," Shayera rolled her eyes. "Disintegrated is more like it. How do you even intend on getting off the Watchtower once it's out of orbit? Neither of you can fly in space and the teleporters will be offline."

"We'll take the escape pods. While you four get to stay here," Deadshot replied. "We'll be back on Earth to see the fall of the Justice League and get our payday."

"Did you ever consider the fact that Ra's al Ghul was lying to you about what would happen? Plus I'm pretty sure all of the escape pods were used to get our personnel off of the Watchtower. You'll be stuck here with us." It didn't seem to have yet occurred to Shayera the irony of convincing the two villains, who were about to kill her, not to practically commit suicide by going through with their plan. "Are you really willing to take that type of wager that you won't be ending Earth and humanity as you know it?"

"You're trying to stall. Knock it off," Deadshot growled as he dug his pistol against her back. "Or else I shoot you right through the spine."

"And what make me a paraplegic?" Shayera narrowed her eyes as she stopped typing and looked at Deadshot with a light scowl, "Then I wouldn't be able to stand here and type, now would I? Maybe you should think through your choice of threats beforehand."

"Or," Deadshot pressed the barrel of his pistol against the back of Shayera's head. "I place a bullet into your skull once you've done your part. I know where to shoot to keep you alive in order for you to see this place burn around you. So I suggest that you shut your mouth and start typing again."

Shayera bit her lip as she deeply exhaled. She was little over halfway through the clearances needed to bypass the Watchtower's orbital systems. From there all that was needed were the coordinates and then a final override from a founder.

This wasn't quite how Shayera had imagined her death to play out. She had envisioned herself eventually dying in battle against some bad guys after something went wrong or her being careless. She didn't envision being held at gunpoint on the Watchtower, about to bring the space station down onto the Earth and ending all life on the planet as well. Another realization then hit Shayera like a freight train. The entire future John had seen was not meant to be after all. Warhawk...Rex...wasn't going to exist. She was going to die. Her unborn child was going to die. The entire population of Earth was going to die. There was going to be nothing left. There was no future. There was no way for her to stop it from happening.

Shayera's breath caught in her throat. She never felt this powerless before in her life. Typing in one of the final overrides, Shayera tightly shut her eyes.

"User identity Shayera Stewart confirmed, Watchtower system override enabled." The automated voice echoed throughout the room. "Security override authorized. Watchtower orbital systems disabled."

Then another thought flew into her mind. How would John react to everything? It was not like there would be anyone left for John to get revenge on. There was a good chance there would be no Earth left at all. Even Shayera knew of the possibility of the Watchtower being able to destroy the planet itself if it were to collide with this supposed Lazarus reserve. Shayera could not envision John getting past this at all. Even if the Earth wasn't destroyed, she knew there was no way John would get past this level of heartbreak.

The Watchtower then suddenly lurched, causing Shayera to grab the console before her to steady herself. Lightweaver stumbled back but Deadshot, on the other hand, didn't allow the sudden movement to jostle him in anyway. Deadshot moved towards the console, pushing Shayera out of his way as he began to type.

"Coordinates set, system administrator override required."

Deadshot turned his head to the Thanagarian and narrowed his eyes, "Do it."

"You don't have to do this." Shayera quietly said, sounding a lot calmer than she thought she would.

Deadshot raised his pistol directly into her face, "Last time I checked, I was getting paid for this so yeah I sorta do."

Shayera clenched her fists as she moved past Deadshot. She hesitated before she placed her hands onto the keypad. She had begun to type until a voice stopped her instantly.

"Who the hell woke me up?" Shayera's head immediately whipped around to see Guy floating in the room. "All of this damn racket. A guy like me needs his beauty sleep to look this good."

"It's a damn Green Lantern!" Deadshot exclaimed as he opened fire on Guy. Lightweaver as well began to shoot energy beams at the arrogant redhead.

Guy merely smirked as he created a bubble around himself to deflect the bullets and energy beams. He then quickly went on the offensive as he created a giant baseball bat that he swung at the two villains. Deadshot easily jumped over the construct. However the baseball bat hit Lightweaver hard and knocked the villain straight off the control deck. Deadshot ran towards the elevator but, instead of entering it, he proceeded to run up the wall and vaulted himself over Guy. He then proceeded to land an aerial kick on the Green Lantern. Guy landed on the ground with a grunt.

The gears began to move in Shayera's head and she turned her attention back to the console before her.

"User identity Shayera Stewart confirmed, Watchtower system override enabled. Security override authorized. Watchtower orbital systems enabled."

The hairs on Shayera's neck stood and she quickly turned herself around in time to see Deadshot's right fist sailing towards her face. Shayera scowled as she caught his fist and cocked her own right fist back and struck him in the face. Predictably his armored helmet protected him from the full impact of the blow and Shayera felt her knuckles sting from the impact. Shaking the hit off, Deadshot quickly punched the gunshot wound to Shayera's left thigh causing the Thanagarian to drop to her left knee in pain.

"Hey bullets for nuts!" Guy called out to Deadshot as he flew at him. "Suck on this!"

Guy created a rope construct and ensnared Deadshot within it. The assassin lightly growled as he looked down at the construct and back up towards Guy once more, "Are you really that stupid?"

"I'm not the one all tied up," Guy smirked before giving Deadshot the finger. "So suck it dickhead."

"You are that stupid," Deadshot muttered dryly as he glanced behind him to see that Shayera was slowly beginning to stand with a deep scowl planted on her face. He then looked back at the Green Lantern before him, "Maybe next time, if you're going to make an ass out of yourself, make sure I can't move my arms at all."

Guy tilted his head slightly, "Huh?"

Guy didn't have time to react as Deadshot was able to move himself enough so that he could grab onto the rope construct in order to swing it. Guy idiotically did not discontinue the construct and collided with Shayera. The two were thrown against one of the consoles and landed as a heap on the floor. Shayera grimaced as she slightly sat up and looked up. She found herself letting out an involuntary, light gasp as Deadshot was moving towards them, holding his pistol towards them.

"You've both pissed me off enough today," Shayera could tell that Deadshot said that through clenched teeth. "This time the bullets are going straight into your heads."

Shayera began to move Guy off of her until Deadshot cried out in pain after a resounding thwack was heard. Shayera paused and saw Question holding his crutch, which was now bent, over the unconscious villain.

"That was for shooting me in the arm," Question quietly stated before turning his attention to the Thanagarian. He limped his way over to her and held his hand out. Shayera took it and winced as he helped pull her up. "You alright?"

Shayera let out a long sigh before nodding, "More or less, you guys alright?"

Question curtly nodded, "Nemesis is still seeing stars but doesn't seem too injured. Canary's got a nastier headache than before. What about him?"

Shayera saw Question gesture towards Guy with his head. She lightly frowned as she glanced over to the Green Lantern, "He'll be fine. I think his pride will be hurt more than anything else. Would have been nice if he was down here earlier though."

"I can't believe he slept through all of those alarms," Question stated in mild disbelief, a rare occurrence for the detective. "It took the Watchtower almost getting knocked out of orbit for him to realize something was wrong. Terrific and J'onn were trying to repeatedly call him over the commlinks earlier when things first went crazy."

"Idiot's probably not even wearing it," Shayera muttered with an eyeroll before she flinched in pain and sharply inhaled through her teeth. "Dammit!"

"That doesn't seem like you're alright," Question calmly stated.

Shayera gave him an unamused look as she narrowed her eyes slightly, "I got shot in the leg. It's normal to be in pain after that. I'm sure your arm hurts."

Question silently tilted his head down to presumably look at his right arm as he then flexed it. He then lifted his head back towards the Thanagarian, "It does."

Shayera merely shook her head but then lightly smiled. The relief welling within Shayera was insurmountable currently. She hadn't died. Her child hadn't died. The future John had seen could still possibly exist. John wasn't going to return to find out that the Earth had been destroyed or that all life on the planet had been wiped out. Nothing had gone wrong. Everyone was okay. All Shayera wanted to do was collapse to the floor in utter exhaustion. With the last of her adrenaline finally wearing off, Shayera was beginning to feel rather lightheaded. Now that she took notice of it, her entire body felt like jello. Yet, she knew that she still had work to do so she forced herself to limp over to the console and began to type.

"System administrator Shayera Stewart recognized, security override authorized. Watchtower security systems enabled. Communication systems online."

Shayera took a deep breath before placing a finger up to her commlink, "J'onn..."

"Shayera," the Thanagarian could immediately hear the concern in the Martian's tone. "What happened? All communications went dark."

Shayera swallowed before she spoke, "We had some uninvited house guests stop by. Deadshot, Lightweaver, Bone-Crusher, and Blacksmith got up here. We were able to take them down. Eventually we'll need some assistance."

"Would that be medical assistance?"

"Question and I both got shot, Dinah's got the migraine of the century going on, and Nemesis got banged around pretty good." Shayera then paused before she continued, "And before you ask I got shot in the leg but I'm fine otherwise. Well actually I had a piece of metal impale my wing but that's the least of my worries."

"You are not fine if you were shot in the leg Shayera," the Martian replied bluntly, causing Shayera to roll her eyes and let out an exasperated sigh.

"It was a through and through shot that was purposely done to try to intimidate me, which was unsuccessful I'll have you know, and nothing more," the Thanagarian argued. "By the way, Guy's up here too. Apparently he was sleeping the entire time and most likely isn't wearing his commlink."

Shayera could swear she heard a light noise, almost like a frustrated growl, come from J'onn once she said this. The Martian then spoke, "See to it that Guy restrains them until we can teleport up. We almost have the Metro Tower back in our control."

"Alright, we'll sit tight up here, Shayera out."

Shayera let out a sigh as she cutoff the commlink and looked towards Guy. She lightly frowned as she moved in front of him and slowly knelt down. She lightly tapped her hand against his cheek, "Come on, wake up you moron." Guy grimaced as he turned his head to the side and swatted her hand away. Shayera frowned as she balled her hand into a fist and lightly jabbed him in the gut. Guy let out a yelp as he jolted straight up after being suddenly awakened by the punch.

The Green Lantern quickly got to his feet and looked around before letting out a frustrated groan, "Goddammit! I missed the end of the fight. I wanted to beat his ass."

Shayera rolled her eyes as she slowly stood, "That doesn't matter right now. We need you to hold these guys until the rest of the League gets back up here. Think you can manage that?"

"Is my name not Guy Gardner the Green Lantern extraordinaire?" He arrogantly replied before scooping up Deadshot in a hand construct. "See? I got him."

Shayera shook her head, "There's three more of them hotshot. Make sure they can't get free."

Guy frowned and waved the Thanagarian off, "Yeah, yeah I got it lady."

Chapter Text

Shayera silently sat on edge of the bed in the medbay. She couldn't remember just how long she had been sitting there in silence and by herself with her thoughts. She figured it had to be a few hours at the least. She took in a deep breath, held it for a moment, and then let out a heavy sigh. She looked down to see the bandages wrapped around her left thigh and tentatively pressed a finger over the freshly stitched wound that was underneath. Shayera immediately recoiled her hand and winced. She didn't quite know why she had expected for it to not hurt.

Shayera let out another sigh as she glanced over her right shoulder and at her now bandaged wing. She was surprised that her wing hurt the least out of the two serious injuries she had sustained. Her left ankle and right shoulder as well stung from the cuts but she knew that they would quickly heal within a few days. When J'onn had been stitching and bandaging her up she had jokingly suggested to give her an Elmo bandaid for the wounds to her ankle and shoulder. That had been quickly responded to with a light glare from the Martian. J'onn had not been amused in the slightest and seemed rather irked while treating her injuries. It did not help that she and J'onn had gotten into yet another dispute over her refusal for an ultrasound or to let him examine her in the very least.

Shayera narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. While Thanagarians had an expansive knowledge of technology and medical techniques, it was not uncommon for them to forgo medical treatment whenever possible. Thanagarian viewed it as a sign of weakness to need treatment, especially for non-life-threatening issues. Shayera particularly was not fond of medical procedures in the least. Being bandaged and stitch was about the tolerance she could handle. Anything more than that, she normally had to be forced into doing.

Though even small procedures like bandaging and stitching reminded Shayera of the time in her early days in the Thanagarian military. She had attempted to ambush a small Gordanian camp on her own. The outcome had almost costed her dearly. Despite nearly losing her life, Shayera had nearly lost her right wing in the process. The Gordanians had captured her and proceeded to torture her. Said torture included them attempting to cut out her wing. After her squadron arrived and killed the Gordanians. The next daunting task her squadron had to do was perform rudimentary surgery on her until they were able to get back to their ship so that she could be treated properly.

Given they had been in the middle of a battle field, there weren't any anesthetics that could be administered. Shayera had remained awake during the entire procedure as her muscles and tendons had been repaired. Shayera, to this very day, could remember each and every second. It didn't help that, once they had gotten back to their ship, the remainder of her treatment was administered without anesthetics as well. As she had been told, she had been through the worst of it and could tolerate the remaining pain. Shayera also knew it had served as her punishment for her impulsive actions. Having her nerve endings repaired had been the worst pain Shayera had ever experienced in her entire life as of yet.

Even bloodwork was something Shayera was not open to due to her fear of needles. Letting Bruce perform that blood test on her had required Shayera to use every last ounce of restrain she had from absolutely panicking. It had been yet another experience she had with Gordanians though that one had been more recent compared to the other. It had roughly occurred twenty-three years prior to her being sent to Earth. Hro had been held prisoner by the Gordanians for nearly four years at that point at one of their prison camps on the planet of Staphis. Staphis was a planet neighboring Thanagar and it had been an insult to the Thanagarians that the Gordanians had been able to wrest away the planet they had conquered so long ago.

Shayera had been assigned to rescue Hro with a squadron comprised of her former espionage students. At first her mission seemed to have been going off well. That was until one of her soldiers had attempted what she had decades prior. The surprise assault had blown their position and they had all been captured. The following weeks amounted to countless sessions of torture, attempting to get information from them. Being Hro's illegitimate second-in-command, Shayera had been through the worst of it compared to her squadron.

Shayera's eyes widened as her hand involuntarily flew up to the side of her neck and she then scowled at the memory. She could still recall the burning pain in her veins from whatever it was the Gordanians had injected into her neck. She didn't know the name of the serum nor did she ever want to find out. All she could remember was how it made her blood feel like it was on fire as though it was acid eating through her body.

While Shayera logically knew an ultrasound wasn't the same as to what she had ever experienced before, the memories of those experiences had completely deterred the Thanagarian from all medical procedures no matter how simple they were. The mere thought of having a medical device placed onto her made Shayera's body immediately stiffen.

Though there was another underlining cause for Shayera's refusal of an ultrasound. She simply did not want to know if something was wrong. She hadn't gone this far into the pregnancy to have her hopes and dreams crushed that she would finally have a child of her own. There was no telling what could potentially happen with the concoction of human and Thanagarian DNA that combining itself within her. One of Shayera's fears was that Rex had been more or less a fluke of nature and that human and Thanagarian DNA didn't necessarily mix well in general. After all, Shayera didn't know if she was pregnant with Rex or not. She could only assume that she was and she hoped that was the case. Though she couldn't stop that gut feeling she had that it wasn't Rex and that caused her to worry even more.

Shayera swallowed as she looked down. Her ultimate fear was if she did agree to this ultrasound and saw a pair of wings. That had been one of the first things Shayera had thought of when she first learned she was pregnant. She feared if this child was anything like her. She found herself constantly worrying if it were to happen. Just what would she do? Her child could never live a normal life and be passed off as a human. Shayera knew it would be her fault and she knew that she would never forgive herself.

Shayera had never expressed these concerns with John. She knew that would have only given the Green Lantern even more fuel whenever he had attempted to persuade her into getting an ultrasound. If John had known of her fears and worries, he would have found a way to talk her into getting an ultrasound by laying it out logically that an ultrasound could alleviate all of this from her mind. Shayera sighed as she lightly shook her head. Now that she was actually thinking it through for once, she was beginning to convince herself that it could be a good idea.

"Shayera," the Thanagarian lightly jumped as her commlink went off and she heard Clark's voice. She didn't immediately reply which caused the Man of Steel to speak again, "Shayera you there?"

Shayera released a sigh and put a finger up to her ear, "Yeah I'm here. What is it?"

"We need you in the conference room. You're the deciding vote."

Shayera was curious as to what Clark had meant that she was the deciding vote. That was until she had entered the founder's conference room and had been told of the debate that had transpired over the past two hours. Currently it was split with Clark and Wally opposed with J'onn and Diana in favor for the idea of wiping the memories of Deadshot, Lightweaver, Bone-Crusher, and Blacksmith. Wally and Clark saw it as too invasive and too much like something the Justice Lords would do. Diana and J'onn saw it as necessary so that the knowledge of Shayera's pregnancy didn't become widespread news around supervillain community. The only thing the four had agreed upon was that it would ultimately be Shayera's decision on what would be done.

Shayera silently sat at the table and bit her bottom lip. She certainly could see both sides and she agreed with them both. She did see it as a bit invasive to have J'onn start wiping the minds of supervillains as that could create a precedent. Not unlike the one Lord Superman created in his universe when he lobotomized his Lex Luthor. Though, as much as Shayera wanted to think as a hero, she knew she couldn't help but think as a mother. Shayera was not comfortable with the idea of supervillains knowing that she and John were going to have a baby. Let alone making her child a potential target for supervillains if they wanted to get to her or John directly.

"What if," Shayera slowly began as she looked up. "We just modify their memories? They don't need to remember that I was pregnant. We just have them think I was on the injure reserve as well. I'm sure you could think of something J'onn."

"A simple dislocation of your shoulder would be enough," J'onn stated. "Though modification can be more easily undone by a skilled telepath. Wiping their memories of the event would prevent that possibility as that is something much harder to recover once lost, no matter that telepath's skill. Even I would not be able to easily restore their memories if we were to go that route. It may prove to be the safest option in the long run."

"True it could be," Shayera contended. "But we can't go around wiping people's memories. How would that make us any different from the Justice Lords? Granted we're not having Clark use those laser beams of his on anyone. It's still the same concept."

"That's what I said," Wally mumbled.

"We start with these four and then what?" Shayera rhetorically asked. "We can then just justify ourselves by doing it over and over again. How would we be able to stop this once we begin? And what's to say we don't take it a step further and then go wiping their entire brains and just leaving the bad guys like vegetables?"

The four other founders looked amongst each other for a moment. Superman looked back at the Thanagarian with a tentative expression. "Are you sure about this Shayera?" Clark asked her sincerely. "If this is what you want to do than we'll do it. We said it before, you get to decide."

"Absolutely and I think John would agree with me if he were here. He wouldn't agree to the idea of wiping people's brains," Shayera then paused as she snorted back a chuckle. "Actually, I think John may have attempted to murder them if he were here but nonetheless, I think he would agree with me on this."

"Very well," J'onn curtly nodded as he stood. "I will see to it and then hand them over to ARGUS."

The Martian briskly left the room and Shayera felt herself letting out a sigh as she leaned back in her seat. She glanced up to see Wally frowning. Though she had noticed that when she had first entered the room. Diana and Clark both had looks of concern on their faces while Wally had actually looked furious. It was rare for Wally to be angry. Shayera couldn't recall a time, other than when she had gone down to the Batcave during the Thanagarian Invasion, when she saw the Flash look this angry. She figured he must have been angry at the Legionnaires over what had happened.

"How are you feeling Shayera?" Diana had gently asked her. The Amazon sounded as though she were walking on eggshells. Shayera found that to be odd. That was very unlike Diana.

Shayera shrugged, "Worst of it was getting shot in the leg honestly. I thought my wing would hurt a lot more but I'm alright otherwise."

"Are you sure Shayera?" Clark asked.

Shayera let out an exasperated sigh as she rolled her eyes, "Yes, I'm sure. I've been through worse, trust me." She then slowly stood and winced as she put a hand on her back. The fight had managed to throw her back out; particularly when Guy had been thrown into her and they had collided with the console. Her back had taken the brunt of the impact. "My back's a bit sore too but that's nothing I'm not used to. This pregnancy alone has done wonders on my back."

Wally lightly narrowed his eyes as he stood as well and began to make his way around the table, "What exactly were you thinking? Were you even thinking?"

Shayera lightly tilted her head at the question and indignantly asked, "Excuse me?"

"You know exactly what I mean," he dryly replied. Shayera was not used to hearing this type of tone come from the speedster. It sounded unnatural for him. Wally was always peppy and upbeat. Hearing him sound as though he was emulating Batman was rather unsettling.

Diana's brows furrowed as she stood and placed a hand on the Flash's shoulder, "It may be for the best that we not do this right now. We should just let Shayera go and rest."

"No!" Wally snapped at the Amazon, causing her eyes to widen and pull back her hand. "I have stuff I want to say. I'm not waiting until later. This needs to be said now."

Shayera found herself scowling, "Like I had a choice, Wally. It was either I helped fight against them or we'd all be dead right now."

"That is not what I meant," Wally stated. "Once Guy got there you should have stopped fighting. You had a choice then. We watched the security footage of everything that happened. Once you stabilized the Watchtower you should have gotten yourself out of there. Instead, you stuck around even longer and got yourself bashed around some more."

At this point Clark as well stood, "I think I'm going to agree with Diana on this one. Maybe you should wait Wally."

Shayera sighed and shook her head, "It's not like it was that simple Wally. I'm fine so it doesn't matter anyways. It's just a few minor injuries and that's all. Everything is fine."

"You don't even know that though," Wally scoffed. "You're just guessing that everything is fine."

Shayera rolled her eyes, "Of course I do. I'm the one who was injured. I think I'd know if I was okay or not."

"I'm not talking about you. I'm taking about your kid Shayera or maybe you forgot that you were pregnant. You won't even let J'onn do an ultrasound or even look you over so how the hell can you say that everything is okay?" Wally bitterly asked. "Do you even remotely care about what could have happened to that baby?"

"Of course I do!" Shayera scowled as she clenched her fists. This was the closest Shayera had ever gotten to genuinely wanting to snap the speedster's neck. It was taking every ounce of her restrain not to. "I'm going to be this child's mother. You think I'd want anything to happen to it?"

"Funny," Wally lightly glared at her. "To me it doesn't seem like it. Any decent mother would have at least let themself get looked over. What is it? Some kind of damn pride thing with Thanagarians? Is that why you won't let J'onn do anything?"

"Shut the fuck up Wally," Shayera growled through clenched teeth. "This has nothing to do with my pride. I'm not some delicate human. I'm a Thanagarian and I can fight pregnant or not if you've forgotten. I'm taking care of myself just fine despite what you may think."

Wally then lightly scowled himself, "Well, you know what Shayera? If you think what you're doing is considered taking care of yourself than you don't belong having a baby to begin with!"

The room was silent for only a few seconds. The silence had been quickly displaced by the sound of a solid punch landing directly in Wally's face followed by the speedster landing on his back with a pained grunted. The speedster heard both Diana and Clark exclaim his name. He clearly heard Shayera call him an asshole. He then heard a door hiss open only a few seconds later.

Wally grimaced as he slowly sat up and pinched the bridge of his nose, only to immediately wince. He pulled his hand away to see blood on it. He gingerly wiped his index finger underneath his nostrils to see more blood on the back of it; she had broken his nose. Shayera had never punched him that hard before; Wally had a suspicion that she hadn't held back either like she normally did. Coming to his senses, despite the massive headache that was beginning, he quickly turned his head only to see the back of the Thanagarian as the doors closed behind her. Wally let out a frustrated groan as he put his head in his hands.

"I shouldn't have said that," the speedster lightly mumbled before letting out a defeated sigh.

Chapter Text

"...you don't belong having a baby to begin with..."

Wally's words kept playing over in Shayera's mind over and over. No matter what she did she couldn't stop the words from plaguing her subconscious. She couldn't stand that his words were playing right into her insecurities of being a mother, her fears of being a terrible mother at that. Shayera already believed that she had no right to be having a baby and Wally's words had only served to reinforce her belief.

Despite being curled up in bed, Shayera was anything but calm or relaxed. What she was feeling was, simply put, a mixed bag of anger, fear, depression, and anxiety that just seemed to swirl around in her gut like a tornado. Even though she was lying on her own comfortable mattress in the comfort of her own home, it didn't feel that way to Shayera. The Thanagarian felt as if she was lying on literal pins and needles as her whole body was prickling in discomfort.

Shayera took in a deep breath before she shakingly exhaled. Her eyes were burning and she cursed herself for being unable to stop herself from crying. It had begun the second she left the founder's conference room. Despite herself, she had cried as she made her way throughout the Watchtower until she had made it to the teleportation deck. Mister Terrific had tried to inquire as to what was wrong but all Shayera could do to muster as a response was to throw her commlink at him before teleporting herself back home to Detroit.

The second Shayera had gotten home she had immediately flopped onto her bed. She had then tightly hugged the maternity pillow and buried her face against it as she continued to cry. She didn't know how long she had been crying for; it felt as though it could have been at least two hours. The last time she remembered ever crying for this long or hard before was when she had left the Justice League and flew away from Wayne Manor following the Thanagarian Invasion.

Shayera swallowed and her throat felt as though it were on fire. She then moved her face away from the pillow it had been buried in and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. She then sniffled and released a sigh. She knew crying wasn't going to do her any good. Wallowing in her own self-pity wouldn't help her.

Wally had been right. She didn't know if anything could be wrong. The other issue Shayera knew that was holding her back was her tendency to avoid things. That had always been a failsafe for Shayera throughout her life. If anything caused her any discomfort or potential emotional distress she would avoid it. No matter what she did to try to break herself of this habit she never could. Even Inza couldn't during her time in Fate's Tower.

The Thanagarian then paused. She had been able to ignore it for the most part earlier, given she previously had the weight of running the Watchtower resting on her shoulders followed by being in a literal life or death situation. Now Shayera had nothing to distract her from that light swishing feeling in her stomach again. Then came that muscle twitch and Shayera narrowed her eyes. The two had never occurred together. It didn't help that this time that muscle twitch was more pronounced than it ever was before. It almost felt like she was being poked. That and these feelings were happening more often since the day before. Before Shayera had only experienced it two, maybe three times at most, a day. From what she could recall she was up to eleven and it was just early evening.

The question once again appeared before Shayera. How would she know if something was wrong?

"...do you even remotely care..."

Shayera sat up on the edge of the bed and frowned as she recalled Wally's other words. Despite what Wally or others might have thought, she did care. In fact, she cared very much. Shayera found it odd that she already loved and cared about something so deeply when it wasn't even born yet. It also made her worried and somewhat scared that she was beginning to care for and love this baby more than she did John. Previously, Shayera believed that she couldn't possibly love anyone more than John.

Letting out a deep sigh, Shayera knew she couldn't let her fears dictate to her any longer on what she should or shouldn't do. At that she stood and moved to the dresser and opened John's top drawer. She wasn't about to attempt to wear her white jacket again like she did the day before. That and John's jacket was heavier than hers and warmer. Given the cold weather outside and the distance she was about to fly, Shayera knew she'd need it. She also hoped that she could cash in one more favor that night. Shayera pulled out John's old, black jacket and then made her way to the kitchen to get the scissors.

Shayera recalled how easy the flight was from Detroit to Midway City during her Hawkgirl days and when she and John had first dated. Now she found it rather cumbersome. Without a center of gravity, Shayera found that staying airborne was much harder than before. She continuously had to flap her wings. Each of her attempts at gliding had resulted in her losing altitude much too quickly. Instead she was now forced to expend more energy than she wanted to. It also didn't help that the bandages around her upper right wing were a bit too tight and were irritating her each time she moved the wing.

That and the bitter cold was getting to her. It did not help that it was lightly snowing. Generally, Shayera did not mind the snow. Though that would have been if John was on Earth and they could indulge themselves in a snowball fight. Otherwise the Thanagarian absolutely hated the snow. It was like flying in the rain but worse. At least rain wasn't freezing cold, normally.

It was also a bit harder to see in the snow compared to rain, despite her Thanagarian vision. Shayera narrowed her eyes slightly as she placed a hand over her eyes to shield them from the snowflakes. She then found herself lightly smirking when she saw Midway City University Hospital come into her view. Shayera found herself beating her wings faster despite her previous irritation and not being able to conserve energy. As she got closer to the hospital she could tell that the parking lot was still crowded. It didn't surprise the Thanagarian considering all of the civilians who ended up getting sent there.

Combined with her unsteadiness in the air and the snowy conditions on the ground caused Shayera to slip with an involuntary yelp when she had attempted to land. She thankfully had been able to catch herself on one of the parked cars in the parking lot.

"That was hardly graceful," Shayera lightly jumped in surprise at the deadpan tone from behind her. The Thanagarian turned her head to see an all too familiar and unamused face. The female raised an eye brow and crossed her arms over her chest, "Mind not taking off Doctor Pedro's side mirror? He just got that car two months."

Like her love-hate friendship she had shared with police captain George Emmett, Shayera had at first shared a very much one-sided friendship with Doctor Rebecca Montgomery. Or as Shayera had called her, much to the doctor's utter annoyance, Becky. Back during her days in Midway City, Shayera saw how Becky's initial indifference morph into a begrudging tolerance. She saw the small smirks on the doctor's face when she spoke and how she would hide her concerns for the Thanagarian underneath layer upon layer of sarcasm and wiseass remarks. One of the things that Shayera respected about Becky was that the doctor had never been afraid to speak her mind to the Thanagarian; even if that meant chastising the Thanagarian as well. Becky had been one of the few humans who wasn't intimidated by Shayera when she had first arrived on Earth.

Shayera found herself lightly smiling, "You have no idea how happy I am to see you right now."

"Wish I could say the same," Becky muttered before she looked the Thanagarian up and down. "Damn you look like shit."

"Charming as ever, Becky," she replied dryly with an eyeroll.

"I see you got either shot or stabbed in the leg," Becky stated as she gestured towards the bandaged wound on the Thanagarian's left thigh. "Though for you that's nothing unusual and it looks like you already got it treated."

Shayera paused as she now realized that she hadn't changed out of the sweatpants and t-shirt she had thrown on when Mister Terrific had called her early that morning. "Yeah, I got shot earlier today."

"And your wing?" She asked as she continued to sound and look highly unamused. "Looks like that was treated as well but it's not bandaged properly."

Shayera raised an eyebrow, "Oh and you know better?"

Becky let out a sigh as she rolled her eyes, "Who was the one who treated all of your injuries all the time? I think I'd know Hawkgirl."

Shayera lightly frowned, "My name's not Hawkgirl. I don't want you calling me that."

"That's what you always had us call you. You got a problem with it now?"

"Yeah but that was before-"

"Before you let your people try to take over followed by you running off to probably do some kind of pathetic self-pity thing?" Becky rhetorically asked before letting herself lightly smirk at the Thanagarian's mildly shocked expression. "You realize how big of an idiot you are for never coming back here?"

Shayera lightly sighed as she looked away, "I know that now but I didn't think that way back then. I didn't think I'd exactly be accepted back with open arms after everything I did."

"They built a goddamn statue of you in the middle of Midway Memorial Park," Becky responded with a light glare. "You think that means no one would have wanted you to come back? You think we would have gotten some pitchforks and torches like some kind of mob straight out a monster movie? Are you really that stupid?"

Shayera frowned as she looked back at Becky, "They built a statue of Hawkgirl."

"Keep telling yourself that," Becky replied with a shrug. "If you aren't Hawkgirl anymore then I guess we should reintroduce ourselves." She then took off her gloves and put them in her coat pocket. Shayera at first tilted her head in curiosity until Becky held her hand out to her, "Doctor Rebecca Montgomery."

Shayera paused for a moment as she looked down at Becky's outreached hand before she lightly smiled and shook it, "Shayera Hol."

Becky immediately recoiled her hand and rubbed it with her other one, "Jesus your hand is freezing. How long have you been flying in this weather for? Are you trying to give yourself hypothermia?"

Shayera let out an exasperated sigh, "It's not the first time I've ever flown in the winter. I don't like the cold either but I made sure to dress appropriately."

"At least you managed to do that," Becky sarcastically remarked as she rolled her eyes. The physician then went silent as she once again looked the Thanagarian up and down with narrowed eyes. "Have you gained weight?"

Shayera's eyes lightly widened as she managed to splutter out, "I...that's just...no I didn't!"

"You know, I would have chalked it up to just not having seen you in so long and this is technically the first time I've seen you up close without that mask of yours that you used to wear. But I know how you are when you get caught off-guard like that. You get all flustered just like how you are right now."

Shayera looked away, "No I don't."

"And you're doing that thing where you look to the right and avoid all eye contact," Becky dryly pointed out.

Shayera lightly growled under her breath as she glared Becky, "I hate you sometimes."

"Now you know how I used to feel," Becky merely smirked in satisfaction. "I got to know you a little too well over the years Hawk...um Shayera. So my next question is why did you come here? I know it's not for a social visit to come see a friend so just spit it out."

Shayera scratched the back of her neck as she once again avoided eye contact, "Well um...I was just hoping-"

"Oh no you don't," Becky cut her off. "I know this tone. You're about to ask for a favor and, knowing you, it's going to be something stupid or ridiculous."

Shayera lightly chuckled, "Now I wouldn't say it's necessarily stupid. It might be ridiculous."

Becky let out a frustrated groan as she pinched the bridge of her nose, "Do you realize that I've been at work since five in the morning yesterday? It's now almost two in the morning today. Is this really so important that it couldn't wait?"

"How about this?" Shayera began. "We go inside and I tell you what I need. That way we don't have to freeze our asses off anymore than we already did."

"Well it is warmer inside than out here. I'll give you that," Becky agreed before she sighed. "Alright fine, let's go."

"Ow!" Shayera placed her hand to the back of her head before she lightly glared at Becky. "What the hell was that for!?"

Shayera had never considered before how much a simple clipboard could hurt. She also did not know that Becky had that much strength in order to hit her so hard. It momentarily made Shayera wonder if Becky was in fact secretly a meta-human.

"What the fuck is wrong with you!?" Becky yelled at her before whacking her over the head again with the clipboard. "Fighting those freaks while you're pregnant! Also, thanks for letting me know, you dip shit!"

"It's not like I come here every other week or something," Shayera shot back before yelping in pain again as the clipboard hit the back of her head once more. "Would you stop hitting me already?"

Becky pinched the bridge of her nose as she deeply inhaled and shook her head. She then deeply exhaled as she lowered her clipboard back down before glaring at the Thanagarian, "I need to know what this favor of yours is. What is it that you exactly want me to do?"

"Um well," Shayera awkwardly shifted on the medical exam table. Suddenly Shayera found herself faltering.

"Stop beating around the bush. How many months are you?" Shayera began to count on her fingers causing Becky to groan. "You don't even know how many months pregnant you are?"

Shayera rolled her eyes, "Of course I do...just had to make sure. I'm about a week from being seven months...I think."

"Close enough, when was the last time you had an ultrasound?" Upon not getting an answer and just a blank expression from the Thanagarian, Becky let out an agitated sigh, "I swear to God if you say you never got an ultrasound before I will hit you with this clipboard again."

Shayera nervously chuckled, "That's kind of the favor I was hoping for. Considering you're pretty much the only doctor I actually trust to even touch me."

"And it never occurred to you to come here early?" Becky harshly asked. "I'm going to make a fair assumption that you never had any type of prenatal exam this entire time."

"Possibly not but-ow!" Shayera's hand once again flew up to the back of her head as Becky suddenly whacked her with the clipboard. "Look I know that I'm stupid okay? I should have done this a lot earlier but I let my own stupidity stop me. At least I'm here now, doesn't that count for anything?"

Becky had raised the clipboard to hit Shayera again but then slowly lowered it with a sigh, "You have a point there. You are here now. Honestly I wouldn't have pegged you for being nearly seven months. I would have guessed somewhere in your fifth month but you were always physically fit."

"Thanagarian pregnancies last longer than humans one," Shayera stated. "From what I've been told human pregnancies last nine months. Thanagarian pregnancies last twelve months."

"Like nine months isn't bad enough," Becky sarcastically muttered with an eyeroll. She then sighed, "Alright, alright I'll look you over but I don't want any resistance. You are going to let me do my job. Even if I have to tie you down to a gurney."

A/N: Credit for the clipboard scene idea with Shayera and Becky goes to DisneyFreak010 and the fantastic scene she drew out for that moment.

Chapter Text

Shayera never knew or had even considered before just how invasive a prenatal exam could be. Though she also figured that if she had done this earlier than Becky probably wouldn't have needed to go so in-depth while examining her. Her only saving grace was that it seemed that Becky was now getting into the much less invasive side of the exam. Even with how much she trusted Becky, Shayera still found herself feeling apprehensive the entire time. Each poke and prod over her body reminded the Thanagarian of the fact that she absolutely loathed anything related to the medical field. That and lying on her back for over an hour now was not easy for her. Her lower back was killing her and the base of her wings felt like pins and needles. Shayera's lack of sleep had already made her feel irritated and now combined with the pain in her back it did not help improve her mood in the least. It was taking a lot of restraint on the Thanagarian's end to not snap at Becky or just storm out of the hospital.

Becky then pressed down on the bottom of her stomach which caused Shayera to shift uncomfortably. Shayera let out a light growl as she slightly sat up and frowned, "Do you have to press down right there?"

Becky rolled her eyes and lightly shook her head as she let out a sigh, "Maybe if you wouldn't complain every five seconds than I could do my job and this would have been all over with at this point. Now lay back down before I make you."

Shayera begrudgingly complied as she muttered, "I'd like to see you try."

"Don't tempt me," Becky replied as a faint smirk ghosted her lips. "Don't forget I managed to sedate you once. I can do it again if I wanted to. I know it'd make my job a hell of a lot easier right now if I did."

Shayera's frown deepened at the memory. It had happened well over a year before the Justice League had been formed. Shayera had been in the middle of attempting to stop a bank robbery when one of the robbers had managed to fire off a shot during the scuffle and had struck the Thanagarian in the ribcage at close range. She wouldn't have thought anything of it except it hadn't been a through and through shot. The bullet had managed to lodge itself into the bottom of her right lung. On that day Becky had learned that the combination of herself and six other nurses could not hold down the bleeding Thanagarian no matter how hard they tried. Prior to that incident, Becky had also learned that Shayera's metabolism broke down medications faster than they could become effective. In order to sedate Shayera enough for her to be able to extract the bullet, Becky had been forced to administer what would have been considered a lethal dose of anesthesia for a human. The dosage hadn't been enough to knock Shayera out completely but it had managed to tranquilize her for a few hours.

"Look," Becky began in a somewhat sympathetic voice. "I know how uncomfortable these exams can be and I'm not talking from my experience as a doctor. They're not the funnest thing to go through for any woman, human or alien."

Shayera tilted her head slightly, "I didn't know you had kids."

"Well you never asked me before," Becky simply replied with a shrug. "I only have one though and that's enough for me."

Shayera paused as she glanced at Becky. It suddenly dawned on Shayera that Becky was correct. She never once asked about her private life over the years she had been in Midway City. Even with George she had never asked about his life. Whatever she knew about him came from any information he had willingly offered her; normally this occurred when they used to drink together. It also made Shayera realize how much she kept everyone at arm's length, especially during her Hawkgirl days.

"So," Shayera began with a small smile. "I'm assuming you're married then, right? Honestly I thought you'd be too grouchy to have a kid or a husband."

"I was married," Becky mumbled with a light frown. Seeing the curious look on the Thanagarian's face, Becky sighed before she continued, "He said I spent too much time at work and not enough time with him at home. On the other hand, I saw it as him trying to hold me back in my career. When I had our daughter things progressively got worse between us. Eventually we both called it quits and we had an amicable divorce despite everything."

Shayera swallowed as she looked away, "I'm sorry. If I had known I wouldn't have asked about it."

"Don't be, it's the way life is sometimes," Becky shrugged once more. "Not everyone gets a happy, fairytale ending like in a book or movie. At least I get to see Elena on my days off and during the holidays."

"Your daughter doesn't live you?" Shayera asked as she raised an eyebrow. "I thought all children lived with their mothers on this planet."

"I could have had primary custody but I agreed with Austin that he should have her. My work schedule is too chaotic anyways. I would have been dumping Elena off either on a babysitter or him most of the time. It was for her best interest in the end." Becky then deeply sighed, "Sometimes I regret it and think about what could have been but everything happens for a reason I guess."

"If you don't mind me asking," Shayera tentatively began. "How old is your daughter?"

"Twelve, she'll be thirteen in August." Becky then snorted back a small laugh, "Good luck if you end up having a girl. Let me tell you, my daughter is barely a teenager and she's already driving me up a wall. Teen girls can be the worst sometimes with how moody they get."

"And here I was told teen boys were the worst with their hormones," Shayera rolled her eyes. "Now you're telling me girls are just as bad."

Becky waved her off, "They're both bad, trust me. My little brothers were horrible. They must have hit on every single girl in our school at least twice if not more. Me on the other hand, I was just a straight up bitch as a teen."

Shayera chuckled, "I can imagine by knowing you now."

Becky lightly backhanded the Thanagarian's shoulder with a smirk, "That wasn't very nice."

Shayera likewise smirked, "I never once said that I was nice."

"That certainly is true," Becky stated with an amused look. She then went back to pressing down on the bottom of Shayera's stomach, causing the Thanagarian's eyes to faintly twitch in annoyance. Noticing this, Becky let out a sigh before she spoke, "Look I'll be done with this in less than two minutes. You just need to endure it a little bit longer and stay still."

"Easier said than done," Shayera murmured. She was highly tempted to complain but was stopped when she felt that subtle poking sensation come from within her stomach. At this point Shayera couldn't count the number of times she had felt it over the past hour. She noticed it occurred more often whenever Becky, in Shayera's point of view, was manhandling her.

"You definitely have a very active baby which is a good sign," Becky commented as she moved to pressing against the side of her stomach. "I'm surprised you haven't complained about that considering this is annoying you. Unless you just got used to it by now."

Shayera tilted her head and raised an eyebrow, "How can you even tell how active a baby is? It's not like you can see it. Unless you have x-ray vision or something that you didn't tell me about."

Becky let out a sigh and then slowly shook her head, "I don't have any special, freaky powers and I don't need them in order to feel a baby moving."

Shayera continued to keep her eyebrow raised in utter confusion, "I still don't see how you can tell any of that."

"You seriously didn't feel that a moment ago?" Becky incredulously asked. "You are really clueless after all."

"Feel what? All I felt was that annoying muscle twitch," Shayera grumbled with an eyeroll. "I've had that going on for a few weeks now. I did want to ask you if that was normal at all."

"You thought it was..." Becky voice trailed off for a moment before she began to laugh.

Shayera's eyes widened a bit in surprise. She had never seen or heard Becky laugh before. She also didn't know how Becky found any of this humorous in the least. Shayera lightly glared at the physician, "What's so damn funny?"

"Nothing...it's just..." Becky tried to bite back her laughter. It took her well over a minute to get herself composed to the point that she could form a proper sentence. "You thought those were muscle twitches. It should have been obvious what those were."

Shayera gave her an unamused look, "Well maybe enlighten some of us that don't know about medical stuff like you do."

Becky shook her head in amusement, "You are so dense sometimes. Those muscle twitches are the baby moving. Haven't you read at least one book about pregnancy yet?"

Shayera felt her jaw involuntarily drop as she sat up straight. She tried to speak but found her mouth moved with no noise coming forth. Shayera was relieved to now know that what she had been experiencing wasn't in any form life threatening but it also did make her feel guilty all the same for thinking it had been something stupid...for thinking her baby was something stupid. She as well was now feeling incredibly foolish that she hadn't known such a simple fact and was now contemplating reading through some of the books Wally had gotten her. Shayera blinked a few times before shaking her head to come to her senses.

"Are you sure that's what it is?" Becky simply nodded her head and the Thanagarian cleared her throat before she spoke in a hesitant tone, "You mean this entire time...so that...I guess swishing feeling was also...I didn't even know it could move around in there."

"What? You think the baby just stays still the entire time until it's born?" Becky crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow. "Unless it's sleeping it'll be moving around in there. Sometimes you'll feel something like you just did and other times you won't since the movement won't be that pronounced. I'm honestly surprised you didn't realize what it was. Hell I'm surprised that you haven't felt it like I did."

Shayera rolled her eyes, "I don't exactly go and press down on my stomach like you were doing. To me that still doesn't seem like a healthy thing to do."

"You don't have to press down to feel the baby moving. From what I experienced first hand, the baby's big enough that you can feel it from the outside. We'll see just how-"

Shayera held up her hand to cut Becky off, "Excuse me but hold on for just one minute. Did you just say feel it from the outside?"

"That is what I meant." Seeing the shocked expression on the Thanagarian's face caused Becky to snort back a laugh before she patted Shayera's shoulder, "You're just getting a ton of surprises tonight. Aren't you?"

"I think I'm going to have a brain aneurysm," the Thanagarian mumbled before she silently slumped back down onto the medical exam table.

Shayera felt an involuntary shiver travel down her spine as soon as the gel was placed on her stomach, "Why is that so cold?"

Becky let out an exasperated sigh, "Look it's not like I knew you were going to coming flying here tonight for an ultrasound. If I had than I would have warmed it up for you. Now stay still."

Shayera took a deep breath before sighing. She tried to relax her body the best she could. She then bit and began to chew on her bottom lip. With each passing second Shayera was getting closer and closer to backing out of this ultrasound. As soon as the ultrasound wand had made contact with her skin, Shayera's body immediately stiffened. Shayera inhaled sharply through her nose and tightly closed her eyes.

"Don't worry, you're not going to die," Becky humorously stated. "We haven't lost a patient yet to this ultrasound machine. You're not going to be the first."

Shayera opened her eyes to glare at her, "I know that you smartass."

Becky lightly rolled her eyes, "Funny since you're acting like I'm about to slice you open with a meat cleaver. Try to relax a little."

Shayera didn't respond as she tried to keep her gaze fixed up at the ceiling. Shayera's stomach lurked as she felt Becky move the wand over her skin. She could still see the ultrasound screen in her peripheral vision and that bothered her even more. Part of her still didn't want to know and another part was scared to know. She let out a deep sigh and turned her head so that she instead looked at the wall opposite of the screen. She wanted to do nothing more than just fly out of that hospital at that very second.

"You might not look almost seven months," Becky stated, breaking the Thanagarian out of her train of thought. "But that baby definitely is the average size of one at this point in the pregnancy." Becky then lightly frowned when she saw that Shayera was purposely averting her gaze. "Aren't you going to look at all? What was the point of you having me do this if you aren't even going to look?"

Shayera swallowed but did not move her head or eyes in the slightest, "I need you to answer me a question first."

Becky sighed, "What is it?"

"It looks human right?" Shayera hesitantly asked before she momentarily paused. "I mean...it doesn't look like me right?"

"If you're talking about the kid having wings at all than no. Looks like a normal human baby to me," Becky replied as she briefly looked at the screen before looking back at the Thanagarian. "Is that what you're so worried about?"

Shayera didn't reply as she closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh of relief. She felt her shoulders relax and her restless energy from before was now noticeably absent. Perhaps it was Rex after all and she was wrong about it being a girl. From what John had told her, Rex didn't have wings. Regardless, Shayera was utterly relieved that she could pass off her child as a human at the very least. A soft smile appeared on her lips as she reopened her eyes and turned her head towards the screen.

Shayera didn't know what to concentrate on at first. There was the rapid galloping of the heartbeat on the screen which said it was beating 155 beats a minute. Oddly it felt like her own heart was currently beating at double of that speed. She could not tear her eyes away from the screen even if she wanted to. Then was the image on the screen itself. It was a mix of gray, black, and white that reminded Shayera of inkblots. The Thanagarian knew in that moment that she was not mentally prepared for this but there on the screen Shayera saw their baby. Her baby.

Shayera sat up slightly to get a better look. She immediately felt her heart swell and her breath catch in her throat at the sight. She knew her heart had never felt as full as it did just now. It was so endearing and Shayera could not believe she could love a person so much that she hadn't even met yet. All of a sudden Shayera found that her fears of being a mother had momentarily vanished and that she now couldn't wait for the rest of the pregnancy to quickly pass by so that she could finally meet this baby in person.

Becky was telling her about the baby but Shayera didn't hear anything beyond the word healthy. Her ears were ringing. She was going to be a mother. It felt so much more real to her now that she physically saw the baby. The thought reverberated around in her mind and instead of feeling dread Shayera felt something else for the first time. She instead felt hope.

A/N: Only one more chapter with Shayera and friends. Then we won't be seeing them for quite some time as we'll be spending quite a bit of quality time with John and the GLs.

Chapter Text

A/N: Yeah I'm not dead or anything. I just got distracted by work, then by Jedi Survivor, and then work again. Plus I also wanted to actually plot some things out for later in the story since I went into this with minimal planning and just a handful of established plot points that I'd use. Sorry if I'm a bit rusty now. I gotta get myself back into the swing of things.

"She wasn't at home and she's not here and she's not at the Metro Tower and I don't know where else to look," Wally frantically rambled to Mister Terrific before suddenly grabbing his shoulders. "What if something happened to her? Can't you track her or something? Why the hell else do we have these commlinks? You gotta know where she is!"

Mister Terrific let out a sigh before slowly removing the speedster's hands from his shoulders. "Listen Flash, if I could have tracked her I would have already but she threw this at me," Terrific held up a commlink between his left index finger and thumb. "I don't know what happened but she was really upset when she stormed out of here. Hell I don't think I've ever seen Shayera cry before. Regardless of all of that, without her commlink on her, I can't do anything else. I'm sorry Flash."

"But..." Wally's voice faltered as his face fell. The speedster then let out a frustrated groan as he threw his head back, "I'm so stupid. I shouldn't have said any of that to Shayera. John's gonna kill me if something happens to her."

On top of the overt panic that Wally was currently experiencing, he was also feeling overwhelming guilt and remorse for what had happened the day before. Wally hadn't meant to upset her. After everything that happened, he was just concerned. Wally understood that she had been in a life or death situation, with the fate of the Earth hanging in the mix. He understood at one point that she didn't have a choice but to fight back. He just wanted to get through to her that what she had done was reckless and the danger she had put herself in.

When J'onn had told them that Shayera had been shot Wally had honestly expected the worst. He admittedly almost passed out from the relief he felt when J'onn had then immediately informed them that the injury had been to her leg and wasn't life threatening. Then they watched the footage from the Watchtower. He wouldn't admit it to the others but Wally wanted to vibrate his hand straight through Deadshot and Lightweaver's chests for what they had done. He then had unexpectedly felt another wave of anger appear and it was directed towards Shayera herself.

Wally hadn't meant to let his emotions get the better of him but he had made a promise to John to keep her safe. That he would take care of her while John was gone. He just wanted to talk some sense into the stubborn Thanagarian but had instead run his mouth without thinking. Wally would never be able to forgive himself if something happened to Shayera and it only happened to her because he had caused it.

"Maybe if I run really fast I can cover every inch on Earth," Wally muttered to himself as he began to pace. "Yeah, yeah that'll work. I'll just run really, really fast and then I'll find her. It's not like she took and javelin and flew off into space or something." He then shook his head as he flopped down in one of the chairs next to the monitors, "No I can't. I told Shayera I'd never go that fast again. She'd kill me if she found out I went that fast again."

"I wouldn't worry too much Flash," Terrific casually said to him with a light shrug. "Shayera's smart and she wouldn't put herself in danger, especially when she knows she doesn't have a commlink on her. That and she's more than capable of defending herself."

"Yeah well what if something already happened to her?" Wally retorted with a frown. "We're just assuming she's okay and nothing happened to her."

"Wally, you don't need to worry about her." The speedster looked over to see Superman coming from the elevator. The Kryptonian offered the Flash a small smile, "Mister Terrific is right. Shayera's smart and she wouldn't do anything stupid."

"Supes," Wally raced over to him and grabbed his shoulders. "I'm so stupid and I never should have said any of that to her and it's all my fault and I can't find Shayera anywhere and I looked everywhere! You gotta help me find her!"

"I heard already," Superman calmly stated as he removed Flash's hands from his shoulders before resting his own hand on Wally's shoulder. "Listen to me Wally, she'll be perfectly fine. You have to remember, she's not a human and she's a lot stronger than you take her for."

Wally's shoulders visually slumped as he sighed heavily and looked down, "But what if she isn't? She left here yesterday afternoon and now it's morning and she's nowhere to be found. I just thought if I let her alone for the rest of the day that she'd be okay and that I could try to talk to her and apologize. When she didn't answer her commlink I thought she was just ignoring me but then when I went over her and John's place and she wasn't there it made me panic. I don't even know where to look next for her."

"I'm sure wherever she went to is safe. She wouldn't knowingly put herself in danger Wally," Clark replied. "Besides, if she went where I think she did than I know she's definitely in good hands and that you don't have to worry at all."

Wally looked up and tilted his head slightly, "And how would you know? Besides John, I'm the one who's closest to her. I think out of anyone that I would know where she went."

Clark lightly smirked as he removed his hand from Wally's shoulder, "You'd be surprised. Technically I've known Shayera for the longest out of everyone here. I might even know a thing or two about Shayera that you don't."

"I doubt that," Wally lightly frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. "I practically know everything there is about Shayera."

"I'm sure you do," Clark humorously said as he placed his hand on the back of Flash's shoulder and started to guide him towards the elevator. "How about you go back and wait at her place and I'll go find her, alright?"

Wally opened his mouth to argue but then sighed and lightly nodded, "I guess. I just want to tell her how sorry I am."

Clark sympathetically looked at Wally before lightly patting the back of his shoulder, "And you will, don't worry."

Becky let out a deep sigh as she stepped out of Midway City University Hospital and saw the snow that was still falling from the sky. She then pinched the bridge of her nose and released another deep sigh, "I've been up for over twenty-four hours. I can't believe I had let you talk me into this. I can't wait to go to bed. I should have been long asleep already. Dammit, I still have to clean off my car."

"I'm sorry for keeping you up, especially with all of the work you already had to do," Shayera stated with an apologetic look before offering her a small smile. "Though it's not like it was over something stupid at least so you have to give me some credit for that."

"That is true," Becky admitted as she glanced over at the Thanagarian. "I was used to you coming here for the stupidest of reasons from you just being a straight up dumbass most of the time."

"Like getting my stitches ripped out and having to get them replaced on the same day?" Shayera sarcastically asked with a smirk. "Thanks for rebandaging my wing by the way. It does feel a lot more comfortable now."

"More like when you managed to get staples ripped out and I had to replace them for a second time in a span of three days," Becky dryly replied before rolling her eyes. "I think I should just become an avian veterinarian at this point. I know how to fix wings after all thanks to you. Now are you sure you're okay to fly and everything?"

Shayera let out an exasperated sigh, "Of course I am. I've flown with worse injuries and a hell of a lot less sleep. You don't have to worry about me Becky." She then stretched her arms over her head before smirking at the physician, "I didn't think you liked me that much to actually worry about me like this."

"I don't," Becky retorted. "I just don't want you back in my hospital so soon. You're still the biggest pain in my ass."

"I can feel the love," Shayera muttered as she rolled her eyes. The Thanagarian then exhaled and looked forward. Despite the wind making the cold air and snow hit her face, Shayera didn't mind it in the least. Perhaps it was the amount of relief welling within her that the Thanagarian couldn't stop thinking about that was distracting her. Though Shayera also had a suspicion that her lack of sleep was finally getting to her as well. Regardless of the reason, none of it mattered to Shayera. All that mattered to Shayera right now was that she knew that her child was perfectly healthy and that she had nothing to worry about.

"So what's your plan anyways?" Becky's sudden question broke the Thanagarian out of her train of thought. "I meant to ask you earlier but forgot."

Shayera raised an eyebrow as she looked over at Becky, "My plan? What plan?"

"You just going to get a birth certificate illegally then? Plus not registering the birth of a child is against the law too if you didn't know," Becky said in an unamused tone. "Because, knowing you, you won't go to a hospital. Let me guess, you'll go up to that big space station you guys got up there right?"

Shayera was silent for a moment before she replied, "I haven't thought of any of that yet honestly."

Becky lightly nodded before smirking, "I figured you didn't. Look, when you have that kid, give yourself a few days and then get your ass over here with it. Don't wait more than a week though. You smuggle the kid in and I'll do the rest."

Shayera raised her eyebrow once more, "Won't you get in trouble for doing something like that?"

"Only if I'm caught," Becky shrugged before smirking. "You seem to be forgetting that I'm a doctor who works in a hospital. No one would question why there's a newborn baby in a hospital or why I was doing that paperwork."

Shayera as well smirked, "Have you done something like this before? You seem a bit too comfortable like you've done this before."

Becky shook her head, "No, well technically yes but not under those kind of circumstances, but it'll be something new I can put on my resume. You can never have too many skills when job hunting."

"I don't think employers are looking for criminal traits. Well except maybe a supervillain group," Shayera replied with a light chuckle. "You looking for a new job or something?"

"I could always try out a new profession," Becky stated with a shrug. "My life is a bit dull nowadays. You in the market for an archenemy at all?"

Shayera playfully nudged her, "But then you'd have to deal with me a hell of a lot more."

"Shit, I didn't think about that," Becky muttered. "I might be better off being a doctor after all."

"Well if you ever do change your mind just get in touch," Shayera sarcastically stated. "I'll give you the ins and outs of how to be a successful supervillain. I know a thing or two after dealing with criminals for so long."

"I'll keep that in mind. You'll be my go-to contact," Becky replied with a light smirk. She then paused for a moment before she continued, "I guess I'll ask you one last time. You sure you don't want to know if it's a girl or boy?"

"I'm positive," Shayera immediately responded.

Becky shrugged, "That's up to you, some people like surprises. I know I wasn't one of them. I wanted to know what to expect."

"I'd rather not know honestly," Shayera stated as she looked away.

While a part of Shayera did want to know there was a larger part that did not. It was odd that the Thanagarian now found that she was the one who didn't want to know if she was playing into the hands of this destiny stuff or not. Though it still didn't matter to Shayera whether this child was Rex or not. Neither she or John knew if Rex had been an only child. If Rex really was destined to exist and this wasn't him than Shayera knew she going to have another child. She then bit her lip. She already didn't know what she was doing with one child, why would she even think of wanting another one so soon? Perhaps, if she managed to do this whole motherhood thing correctly, she would consider having another. Though Shayera figured she wouldn't need to concern herself with making that type of decision yet for a few years, preferably five years at the least. If she did have more than one child she didn't want them being so close in age. Especially since she would have to go through the hells of pregnancy again. She rather not have to go through that while taking care of a very young child or toddler. It was hard enough going through it and she only had to concern herself with taking care of herself.

"Oh looks like a friend of yours is here," Becky suddenly stated and the Thanagarian immediately looked up to see Superman floating well above them in the sky. "Aren't you lucky? You're getting a first class escort back home from Superman himself."

"Dammit," Shayera let out a frustrated sigh and shook her head. "I don't need an escort."

"Guess I'll be seeing you around then," Becky said as she looked over at her. "And don't forget to take care of yourself. I don't necessarily want to do another head-to-toe exam on you."

Shayera lightly smirked, "I don't necessarily want another exam like that either and you don't have to worry I know how to take care of myself."

"Says the one who got shot in the leg and fought superpowered freaks while pregnant," Becky retorted with a raised eyebrow.

Shayera narrowed her eyes slightly as she looked unamused, "Smartass."

Becky then smirked as she gestured with head towards the Kryptonian, "You better get your feathered ass out of here before Superman gets antsy. I'm sure even the Man of Steel has a limit to his patience."

"Yeah I better," Shayera said with a sigh before she paused. She swallowed as she glanced over at Becky. She then sighed again before hugging her. "I'm not normally a big touchy feely kind of person but thank you."

Becky was at first caught off guard by the hug but her shock quickly wore off. The physician's lips quirked before she hugged her back, "Could have fooled me and you're welcome. Now, you better get going you pain in the ass."

Shayera likewise smirked as she let go of Becky, "You're one to talk."

As the Thanagarian took off into the air, Becky shook her head in amusement, "Still a smartass."

Clark lightly smiled as he saw the Thanagarian flying towards him. His smile was short lived when he saw the growing scowl on her face as she got closer. Clark sighed as Shayera flew right past him, blatantly ignoring him. He didn't know why he had expected any other type of response from her.

"Shayera wait," Clark called out to her as he followed.

"I don't need you to follow me back home," Shayera boldly stated with a frown as she looked forward. "I'm more than capable of getting myself home without any help. I got myself here in one piece after all."

"That's not why I came here," the Kryptonian replied. "I only came here to talk. That's all Shayera."

Shayera's frown deepened as she was silent for a moment. She shook her head before looking back at Superman, "Fine then, follow me and you better keep up."

Clark lightly smirked, "I'll see what I can do."

Shayera rolled her eyes before yelping as she unexpectedly lost altitude as a gust of wind hit her. The Thanagarian quickly righted herself and growled through clenched teeth, "Dammit!"

Clark raised an eyebrow, "Are you okay Shayera?"

Shayera scowled, "I hate to say it but flying isn't exactly easy right now. No center of gravity means it takes more effort for me to stay in the air and I don't exactly have the energy I normally do. The weather's not helping either."

"How much pride did you just have to swallow in order to say that?" Clark jokingly asked.

"Enough that I'm not going to say it again," she replied with a glare before she descended into the middle of a nearby park. "Not where I wanted to land but it'll have to do for now."

Clark slowly descended next to the Thanagarian, "And exactly where is this?"

"Midway Memorial Park," Shayera replied as she walked down one of the snow-covered pathways. "It wasn't my first choice but it's the closest."

"What was your first choice?" The Kryptonian asked.

Shayera paused for a moment before looking off in the distance, "The Graphic's building, it's the tallest building in Midway City. It's like your Daily Planet. You can see the entire city from up there."

Clark didn't say anything for a minute as he looked over and watched the Thanagarian closely. He saw as she looked down with sigh. "You missed this place a lot, didn't you?"

Shayera looked over at Superman before sighing again, "Honestly, yes I did. No matter what I've done, the people here still believe in me. After all these years on Earth, I still don't understand it." The Thanagarian stopped in front of a statue of Hawkgirl in the park and looked at Superman. "They built this after the Thanagarian Invasion. They still...they still love and respect me Clark."

Clark was silent for a moment as he studied the statue before looking at the Thanagarian next to him, "Because you're always going to be Hawkgirl to them Shayera; even if you don't see yourself as Hawkgirl anymore. They know that it was you who always protected them and risked your life to keep them safe. They know that Shayera and they'll always admire and respect you for that."

"At least Hawkgirl did some good while she was around," Shayera quietly muttered.

Clark let out a light chuckle as he stepped next to her, "I remember when I first met you in this city ten years ago. In some ways you haven't changed and in others you have."

Shayera raised an eyebrow as she looked over at him, "And how exactly did I change?"

"You were the gruffest and most impatient person I had ever met and that's saying something considering I had dealt with Bruce. You were quick to anger and you tried to keep everyone at arm's length. You were only driven to help others back then because it benefited you in the end."

Shayera lightly smirked and kept her eyebrow raised, "So you're saying I have more patience now?"

Superman chuckled once more, "Not in the least Shayera. You're still very irritable but you learned to genuinely care for the people on this planet. You came to accept Earth as your home. I could tell that you were lonely when you first came to this planet and even when we first formed the Justice League. Eventually you came to see all of us as your friends and family."

Shayera deeply exhaled as she looked at the statue again and crossed her arms over her chest, "I honestly never would have guessed my life would have went this way when I first came to Earth. I didn't expect to find a home or even a family on this planet." Shayera then paused before looking over at the Kryptonian, "You know, you technically were the first friend I made on Earth."

"I'm glad I was. When I first met you, I also never would have thought you'd be the type to settle down in some form. Given you seemed like the hardened warrior type," Clark stated with a shrug. "Yet here you are married and going to have your first child. I think I'm correct to assume that the Shayera I met ten years ago wouldn't have entertained the thought."

Shayera lightly snorted back a chuckle as she shook her head, "You're right about that one Clark. I was never allowed to think for myself on Thanagar. I just blindly followed my orders and didn't question anything. Being on Earth allowed me to see life in a different light. It's a bit cliché but I got to know my inner self and what I ultimately wanted out of life. Being on Earth is...I guess you can say enlightening."

"Getting all philosophical now?" Clark jokingly asked before he paused. He was silent for a moment as his expression became more serious, "Wally was worried about you."

Shayera lightly frowned and averted her gaze, "He doesn't need to worry about me."

"Shayera," Clark started in an exasperated tone. "He didn't mean it. He wants to apologize to you."

"He doesn't need to apologize," the Thanagarian quietly said. "He was right in what he said. I was always stubborn, too stubborn for my own good. It normally takes a lot to get through my thick, Thanagarian skull. What he said...I...I needed to hear Clark. Normally I'd have John here to say stuff like that to me. Sure it pisses me the hell off but it's the reality check I need." Shayera then swallowed before continuing tentatively, "Is his nose okay? I didn't pull my punch. I know that had to hurt."

"You broke his nose but remember he's the fastest man alive," Clark replied with a small, sympathetic smile. "It's more or less healed by now, just some bruising."

"I'm the one who should be apologizing to him not the other way around," she said with a frown. "I shouldn't have lost my temper like that. I know even J'onn was getting fed up with me. Hell even when John was here we got into an argument about it before. Though I did find it odd that they never did really press the issue further. Though John knows the result of being on the wrong end of my anger and I guess J'onn didn't want to deal with that either." She then humorlessly chuckled, "Wally was the brave one to finally say something."

Clark was silent for a moment before he spoke, "They never pressed it any further because they didn't have to. They had another way of knowing."

Shayera tilted her head in curiosity, "I don't see where you're going with this."

Clark lightly smirked has he tapped his right index finger against his right ear, "You're forgetting Shayera, super hearing. I can hear a pin drop tens of thousands of miles away if I concentrate hard enough. Listening for an extra heartbeat is easy in comparison."

Shayera's eyes widened for a moment before she frowned, "Isn't that like an invasion of privacy or something?"

"Well it's not like when-"

"I swear," Shayera cut him off as she narrowed her eyes at him and balled up her fists. "If the next words that come out of your mouth is that you used your x-ray vision on me as well than I'm going to kick your ass Clark."

"Easy Shayera," Clark immediately held his hands up in defense. "Trust me, I wouldn't go that far. Besides it kept John and J'onn satisfied so that they wouldn't keep hounding you. Though I think even you knew that you were going to eventually give into them."

Shayera shrugged, "I had to do it on my own terms and I needed a slight nudge in the right direction. Tough love and all of that."

"That's another thing," Clark began with a slight frown. "I understand what Wally said was a bit harsh but you shouldn't have run off like that, especially without a commlink. And before you say anything Shayera, I understand that you aren't a human and that you aren't delicate like one. But you have to understand how concerned we were, especially Wally, when you were nowhere to be found. What if something did happen to you? How would you have gotten in touch with the League?"

Shayera deeply sighed, "I didn't use my head Clark, okay? I honestly wanted to be left alone. I did think about it once I was halfway here and realized I didn't even take my spare commlink with me. I know the risk I took and it wasn't a particularly good one. I have no intentions on making that mistake again."

"Good," Superman stated as he held his hand out with a commlink resting on his palm. "And try not to throw your commlink at Mister Terrific again either."

Shayera smirked as she took the commlink from him, "Don't worry I won't."

Clark lightly smiled at her, "You better get home. If memory serves me correctly, you don't like this kind of weather. That and you said it yourself that flying isn't easy for you right now. I'd suggest that you just get teleported."

Shayera placed her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow, "And what miss out on this lovely snowstorm?"

Clark shook his head in amusement as he began to float into the air, "It was only a suggestion Shayera. If you want to frolic in the snow and build a snowman than that's your decision. I just don't want to hear any complaining later if you turn into a popsicle."

Shayera lightly laughed to herself as Superman flew off, "Who knew that the boyscout could be such a smartass at times? It has to be from Lois." She then looked down at the commlink in her hand before placing it into her ear and placing her finger on it.

When Shayera had been teleported home she hadn't expected to find Wally passed out asleep on the couch. That or the fact that the apartment looked as though it had been cleaned. Shayera suspected that Wally was the cause of that. The Thanagarian swallowed as she took off the oversized, black jacket she had been wearing and tossed it onto the kitchen counter. The noise managed to both awake and startle Wally as he quickly jumped off of the couch.

"What happened? I was just-" Wally cut himself off when he saw Shayera. Before the Thanagarian could even get a word in the speedster ran at her and practically tackled her with a hug. "Shayera I am so sorry. I shouldn't have said any of that to you. I'm the stupidest jackass in the world and I can understand if you never forgive me."

"It's alright Wally," Shayera quietly said to him as she hugged him back. "I deserved it honestly."

"No you didn't. I just got..." Wally let out a sigh as he let go of her. "I was just so worried when J'onn said you got shot and I thought the worst happened. Then I remembered how I promised John that I'd keep you safe and everything while he's gone. I didn't want to have to explain to him that I let either of you get hurt. That I wasn't even there to protect you or anything."

"Wally I don't need you to protect me," Shayera said to him. "I can protect myself just fine. Though I will say I shouldn't have continued to fight. You had a very valid point. You actually made a few valid points and they did figuratively knock some sense into me."

"I don't think you're going to be a bad mom Shayera. You're gonna be the best!" Wally gave her a goofy grin. "You're totally gonna be the best parent in the Justice League hands down."

Shayera raised an eyebrow, "You can stop patronizing me Wally. I'm hardly going to be the best parent there is. Hell I'll settle for being a decent one. The only thing I want to make clear to you Wally is that I do care. Don't you think I was terrified when those dumbasses almost had me bring down the Watchtower?" Shayera then paused as her lips quirked faintly. "The funny thing is, I didn't even care that it was going to be me who was going to die Wally. My own life was an afterthought. I was more concerned that my child was going to die over the fact that I was going to die. Though my second concern was how John would have reacted to it all if they had succeeded in destroying the Earth."

Wally looked away as he let out a deep sigh, "I know that you care Shayera. I just...I was stupid okay? I just said whatever came to mind without thinking it through. John said it himself once, you're one of the most loving people there is. I don't doubt for a second that you care about and love this baby to death already."

"I wouldn't say to death Wally," Shayera humorously said with light chuckle. "That would be counterproductive."

"It's a saying," Wally retorted before tilting his head slightly. "Where'd you go anyways?"

"Midway City," Shayera replied as she moved past the speedster and flopped down on the couch. "Your other point of never letting J'onn even look me over got me thinking. So I went to the only doctor on this planet that I would even let touch me. By the way, I am never getting another prenatal exam again in my life. The ultrasound I can handle but anything else, it's not happening."

Wally immediately sat next to her as his eyes widened slightly, "Wait so you actually went to a real doctor and you got an actual ultrasound done? And you voluntarily went on your own?"

Shayera let out an exasperated sigh, "Of course that's what I meant Wally."

"Did it have like four arms or something? I mean considering it's half alien and all." Wally then paused when he saw the glare coming from the Thanagarian, "What?"

Shayera gave him an unamused look, "You're really pushing it Wally. Does it look like a Thanagarian would have four arms?"

Wally scratched the back of his head as he lightly pouted, "No but you never know. What if Thanagarian DNA and human DNA makes like a super, mutant baby or something. Like something out of Resident Evil. That would be-ow!" Wally was cut off as Shayera smacked the back of his head. The speedster quickly put a hand to the back of his head and gave the Thanagarian an indignant look, "What was that for?"

"Really Wally?" Shayera raised an eyebrow. "I have to explain to you why?"

Wally was about to reply before he paused and thought for a moment. He then sheepishly smiled, "Yeah I can see why you wouldn't want to hear something like that."

Shayera rolled her eyes, "I swear Wally. You need to think before you speak." The Thanagarian paused as she felt the baby move. She then lightly smirked to herself as she glanced down at her stomach, "Yeah I know he can be stupid."

Wally tilted his head with a confused look, "Who are you talking to?"

Shayera lightly shook her head, "Don't worry about it."

"So if it didn't have four arms than what did it look like?" Wally asked causing Shayera to roll her eyes.

"I don't know," Shayera shrugged, "I guess it looked like a normal baby. At least that's what Becky said. I never saw a baby through an ultrasound before so I have to go by her word that everything is perfectly fine."

"Well that had to be cool to see."

Shayera paused for moment before smirking, "Okay I'll admit it was."

Wally as well smirked as he nudge her, "I knew that you were a softy deep down."

"Just keep pushing your luck Wally," Shayera playfully rolled her eyes. "By the way, thanks for cleaning up the place for me. It was going to be a pain in the ass for me to do."

"Don't mention it," Wally waved her off. "It was the least I could do."

Shayera gave him a small smile, "More like I owe you. Especially after I broke your nose. How does it feel anyways? Does it still hurt at all?"

"Nah," Wally waved her off again with a grin. "I've had worse. It hardly even hurts anymore. I mean unless I sneeze or move my nose or touch it. I didn't realize you could punch that hard."

Shayera chuckled, "I told you that I can fight, pregnant or not. I'm sorry though for doing that. I shouldn't have let myself lose my temper like that."

Wally shook his head, "Again don't be, I deserved it after what I said. I say we call it even. Okay?"

"Fine by me," Shayera nodded before trying to unsuccessfully stifle a yawn. "I hate to do this Wally but I'm exhausted and I need to sleep."

"I guess it has been a long day and night," Wally casually mentioned as he paused for a moment. "How about we play video games later today? I'll even get you Chinese takeout for dinner."

Shayera smirked, "Deal."

Chapter Text

A/N: Okay so this chapter is just filled with inner spite. My tablet broke and I lost not only my outline and written out scenes for future chapters but I had lost the original of this chapter as well...7k words just gone like that. I was extremely salty over losing all of that progress. It honestly killed my motivation for a good while. Now...I'm rusty as shit. I also think it was a way for the universe to tell me that 7k words may have been a bit too long and drawn out. So we're back to slow-paced plot building again. I apologize for the mess below. I promise it will piece itself together by the end of this arc.

The surface of the planet was harsh and the wind whipped wildly at his feet. The desert covered plains crunched dryly as he walked alongside his Green Lantern comrades. John couldn't believe someone would actually want to live on this planet. The last time he was on Tamaran the planet had lush and vibrant vegetation. It was now reduced to nothing but a barren wasteland. The planet was just a mere shadow of the former oasis it once was.

John continued to study his surroundings as he released a sigh and he looked up. Given they were even closer to the system's red sun, Tamaran's sky had an orange hue to it. It was much unlike the blue skies John was accustomed to seeing back on Earth. Despite the apocalyptic-state of the planet, its clear waters had reminded John of the tropical oceans on Earth. The other difference John took notice of were the two moons in the sky that were even visible in broad daylight. The last detail was the one that unnerved John. Its two neighboring planets, Okaara and Karna, were visible from Tamaran without the need of a telescope. While they were much smaller than what the moon looked like from a perspective from Earth it was enough to constantly remind John that they were getting closer to the heart of the Citadel itself.

The thought of being even closer to finally reaching the Citadel gave John both hope and dread at the same time. On one hand, it meant the war could potentially reach its end sooner than expected. While on the other, John knew he could be thrown into the worst of the battles yet to come.

In his peripheral vision, John saw Katma fall into step next to him. He briefly glanced over and saw the frown on her face. John exhaled as he looked forward, "What is it Kat?"

Katma was silent for a moment, as though musing over her words before she spoke. "I just want to be clear with you." John frowned at her quiet yet stern tone. It were as though she were the mentor and he just the student once more. "Kilowog, Boodikka, and I had to pull a lot of...as you would say strings to get you, Rayner, and Isamot off guard duty. Do not take this opportunity lightly."

John lightly rolled his eyes, "I'll be sure not to." He was silent for a moment before he spoke again, "What happened here? This isn't what Tamaran looked like the last time I was here."

"The last time you were here?" Katma slowly asked as she raised an eyebrow. "I will pretend I did not just hear you say that. To answer your question, the Gordanians are what happened. They have been ravaging this planet for well over a year now, under the command of the Citadelians. Once they jumped ship to the Psions, things didn't change at all. They continued to plunder this planet for all of its resources and to enslave those on this planet. Despite being emotional and rather peaceful individuals, Tamaraneans are through-and-through a warrior race. It is built into their culture and thus they have yet to concede to the Gordanians despite their losses. The royal family of Tamaran was lost some time ago and the Tamaraneans have since been in a power struggle within a failing feudal society."

"They're fighting amongst each other while still being at war?" John asked incredulously.

"As I stated before they are a warrior race," Katma dryly replied. "Much like the Thanagarians but less brutish. That's the best comparison I can give you."

"Right," John muttered with an eyeroll. He looked over his shoulder and spotted Isamot trudging behind the others. John knew Isamot was purposely doing this and that he had still yet to fully recover from the events that had transpired on Euphorix. Now that he thought of it, he hadn't even talked to Isamot since they had left Euphorix. Though Isamot had refused to talk to anyone since leaving that planet. John then deliberately slowed his pace until he was walking side-by-side with Isamot.

Isamot narrowed his eyes slightly but didn't look over at John, "What is it you nir'satk?"

John rolled his eyes slightly in annoyance, "Hello to you too. I was going to ask how you were but you seem to be doing just fine if you can mouth off like that."

Isamot let out a light huff. John could tell it wasn't one of either annoyance or amusement. The Lizarkon was silent for a moment before he spoke, "Fucking mer'narkths think something's wrong with me. I won't use lethal force on my people and that's considered wrong? I'd like to see them have to plow through their friends and family and see how they like it." Isamot then glanced over at John, "I heard about how you spared that Thanagarian soldier. They might not be your people but it's the same principle. Hell I'm surprised they let us out finally."

John raised an eyebrow, "The difference is that you did lose it. You ripped apart those two Gordanians, lethal force or not, practically with your bare hands."

"And?" Isamot rhetorically asked. "Either way I was going to kill them, with or without the ring."

John sighed and lightly shook his head, "Anyways, we got out of there because of Katma, Boodikka, and Kilowog. We screw this up again and we'll be sitting on guard duty until this war is over."

"Good and bad thing honestly," Isamot muttered before he spoke up. "Don't you agree Stewart?"

John didn't immediately reply as he lightly frowned. A part of John didn't want to admit that he had preferred guard duty over battle. It meant he was relatively safe and had a better shot of making it out of this war in one piece. On the other hand, John felt like a coward just sitting around everyday as the other Green Lanterns were out on the battlefield risking their lives, with some even losing theirs.

John finally relented and shrugged, "Guess it is but us just sitting around doesn't help anyone."

Isamot glanced over at Kyle before looking back at John, "You think the kid will be okay? He's still against lethal force."

John as well glanced over at Kyle and sighed, "I don't know honestly. Kyle's not the type to fight in a war. Fighting bad guys, sure...but fighting in a war? It's not his thing that's for sure."

"How long you think he'll last?" Isamot asked in a hushed tone.

John let out another sigh, "I don't know. Honestly I don't think he'll last much longer. They should have left him on guard duty. I mean it's not like he won't fight back but at the same time he has to be willing to kill at least the Gordanians at this point."

"He's better than we are," Isamot murmured. "That's for sure."

"Halt!" Before any of the Green Lanterns could react something landed in front of them with a loud crash, kicking up dust and rocks.

John squinted through the cloud of dirt that hung over them. He could tell that whatever it was that had landed in front of them was something big. Slowly a shadowy figure appeared within the dust cloud and John could see the figure was massive. It was easily taller than him but at least it wasn't as large as Kilowog. He then paused and scanned the area. He saw there were orange-skinned humanoids standing on top the cliff edges above them. They were dressed in leotards and unitards and John immediately recognized them as Tamaraneans.

As the dust finally settled John could see the male Tamaranean in front of him had red skin unlike the other Tamaraneans. Also unlike the other Tamaraneans, who had either red or brown hair, this one had pure white colored hair. He also had full armor and a cape. If John didn't know any better he would assume the Tamaranean was a military general just by appearance alone.

The Tamaranean then scowled, "Who are you to trespass on our planet Green Lanterns?"

Katma stepped forward, "I am Katma Tui of Korugar. We came here to seek an alliance against the Gordanians, Citadelians, and the Psions. We were hoping that you Tamaraneans could help us with that."

"This used to be a beautiful world filled with cities unrivaled in all existence," the Tamaranean spoke once more. "We prospered under our king, the mighty Myand'r, but the Gordanians destroyed him and hunted his family across the galaxy like sport until they were all eliminated. Our empire has since crumbled and we're forced to struggle for our very survival. We are powerless to escape this world but you...you might be able to help us get our vengeance against the Gordanians." The other Tamaraneans suddenly jumped down from the cliff edges and surrounded the Green Lanterns. The group stood their ground as they surrounded them. The red-skinned Tamaranean chuckled, "Be at ease friends. They do not mean you any harm. Come, we shall discuss things."

The Tamaranean entourage walked down the valley with the Green Lanterns in the center of the entire group. The walk took them an hour before they reached something that partially resembled civilization. The buildings were badly damaged and were on the brink of collapsing. John saw more Tamaraneans as he walked through the ruins of their city. Most of them looked frightened while others looked angry. John was more surprised with the damage the Gordanians were able to cause over the course of two years.

"This is where we will speak," the Tamaranean said while pointing to a pathway into a large pit.

The group entered the pit and saw weapons everywhere. In the center of the pit was the most pitiful barracks John had ever seen. What was being passed off for "beds" were simple clothes on the ground with leaves and shrubbery thrown over them.

The large Tamaranean sat on a large boulder with a heavy sigh. He then waved his hand in the arm dismissively, "You can leave us. I'll speak with the Green Lanterns. Zirral, you shall stay."

"As you wish Lord Ph'yzzon," the lone female Tamaranean in the group stated as the others quickly left.

"Now then," Ph'yzzon smirked. "What exactly is it that the Green Lantern Corps thinks we can do for them?"

"Well for starters," John began but was cut off by Katma putting her hand on his shoulder. He in turn frowned but relented and let her take the lead.

"We know that your people are splintered," Katma began. "We were hoping that we could begin to unify your people and launch a counter strike on the Gordanian stronghold on this planet. From there we would use our combined forces to then proceed to Okaara and liberate that planet before moving onto Karna."

"Unify you say?" Ph'yzzon questioned. "Do you realize the scope of destruction the Gordanians have caused? This is what is left of the Tamaranean race."

"But we were told there were various factions that ruled on this planet," Boodikka stated in shock. "How did this happen? You are a warrior race."

"The Gordanians are what happened," Zirral replied with a scowl. "They went after the heads of each ruling family. One by one they killed them. Each clan was then mercilessly eradicated. With no leader, they had no guidance and no way of strategizing. For warriors it was a pathetic show and we are better without them."

"Zirral," Ph'yzzon warningly stated with narrowed eyes. He then exhaled before turning his attention back to the Green Lanterns before him, "Forgive Zirral, she has suffered much these past few years. She speaks in anger."

"Understandable considering," Katma curtly nodded. "Despite this we would still wish to broker an alliance. We can help each other."

Ph'yzzon slowly stood and turned his back to them. He then deeply inhaled as he placed his hands behind his back, "I worked my way through the Tamaranean military. I and my clan went through hell and back thanks to the Psions. I served Lord Myand'r until the end. The Citadelians then sicked their pets upon us." He slowly turned back around, "I will allow this alliance to go forward but on one condition."

John raised an eyebrow, "Which is?"

Ph'yzzon smirked, "You must defeat my greatest warriors in combat. It shall be our oldest tradition. The competition of Romkagorf."

"And what exactly is that?" John asked.

"Just a simple battle is all, a battle royale. Our three strongest warriors against three of your Lanterns," Ph'yzzon explained. "You win Romkagorf and you win our respect and allegiance to your cause. After all, you Green Lanterns must be desperate to want help from an inferior race such as us."

Katma lightly frowned and narrowed her eyes, "We shall abide by your customs. We do not want to disrespect you or your people. We know of the strain relations between the planets of the Vega system and Oa."

Ph'yzzon grinned, "I knew some of you beasts were sensible." His gaze drifted to John and the others. "You've picked a good leader. She's smart enough."

"I can't believe you let him talk to you like that," John said to Katma with a frown as the group was stationed outside the Tamaranean settlement. "If that were me I wou-"

"You would have what?" Katma questioned with a raised eyebrow. "Punched him? Impaled him with a construct? We are here to broker peace John not start yet another war. You must understand the society the Tamaraneans live by. We must earn their respect through combat."

John crossed his arms over his chest, "Where I come from respect is a two-way street and should be mutual. I don't see why we should be bowing down to some asshole demanding it."

Katma sighed and shook her head, "I understand and yes I cannot stand him either. Yet we need the Tamaraneans and their strength. Tamaraneans are extremely powerful. Even with our power rings we will be in for an arduous fight."

"For what?" Isamot cuttingly asked as his tail flicked back and forth. "A few dozen warriors? We're better off liberating my people and the Thanagarians at that point. At least they would number in the tens of thousands. These sith'mirtks aren't worth our time."

"So they can stab us in the back?" Katma asked with a raised eyebrow, earning her a glare from the Lizarkon.

Kilowog shrugged, "I say we go and just do it. What's the worst that happens? I doubt we'd lose to some Tamaraneans."

"We get our asses kicked," Kyle said. "That's what. You heard Kat, they're strong. I highly doubt it'd be that easy to beat them in a fight."

"Which is highly improbable," Boodikka stated. "We have two Honor Guard members, two Green Lantern trainers, a long time veteran Green Lantern, and you're on par with Honor Guard members yourself Rayner. We clearly have an advantage. We can easily take them on and be done with this quickly."

"So who do you suggest?" Katma asked Boodikka. "I have a reconnaissance task in mind so if at all I'd like to keep at least Isamot for it."

Boodikka nodded, "That's fine. What we need in a situation like this is teamwork. That is why I was going to suggest myself, Kilowog, and John. John and I have plenty of experience fighting together. From what I've heard the same could be said about Kilowog and John. We'll easily be able to fight with each other."

Kilowog smirked as he lightly smacked the back of John's shoulder, "You ready for a fight poozer?"

John smirked in return, "I could use the exercise. I'm in."

Chapter Text

A/N: So yes I'll be taking some creative liberties with the Tamaraneans. I do like the powers they were portrayed with in the Teen Titans animated series. There'll be some other things added but there'll be an explanation for them eventually.

John grunted as he landed hard on his back. Not long after the fight started did John learn that Tamaraneans fought dirty. Not only that but they were much stronger than he had anticipated. It was not just physical prowess but the fact that each of them had a completely different ability from the other. It reminded John of the metahumans back on Earth.

Ph'yzzon not only possessed superhuman strength but he was able to duplicate himself. He was using the ability to land cheap and dirty hits. Zirral wasn't as physically strong as Ph'yzzon yet she had a more annoying ability to go against as a Green Lantern. She was able to absorb energy and project it back by powering up her own energy blasts. So far none of them had been able to land a single strike with their rings because of this. The last Tamaranean was a much younger female. John would guess she was only in her early twenties, though he also knew not to assume ages when it came to alien species at this point. This Alisand'r was extremely powerful. John knew for certain that even Superman would have issues facing her. She possessed both super strength and super speed. On top of it all she seemed to be invulnerable as she easily shrugged off any hit thrown at her so far.

"You're..." John said through gritted teeth as he slowly sat up. "You're a bastard."

Ph'yzzon smirked, tilting his head to the side. "My, my such sweet things you say. Care to actually fight or are you finished already?"

"We're just getting started asswipe!" Kilowog exclaimed as he charged at Ph'yzzon. Just as he was about to strike the Tamaranean, a orange and purple blur plowed into Kilowog and sent him flying into the ruins of the city they were fighting in.

Alisand'r smirked as she alighted next to Ph'yzzon, "You need a little patience there big guy."

"I don't know about him but my patience is just about done," John unleashed an energy beam at the two Tamaraneans. Predictably Zirral jumped in front of the blast and threw her hands out. Her hands glowed as she absorbed the blast. She smirked as John scowled. Though John's scowl quickly turned to that of a smirk. John knew the energy blast wouldn't do much due to her ability. If they wanted to fight dirty, so could they.

Boodikka leapt out with a kusarigama construct. Just as she was about to strike she was blasted by Zirral as she expanded the energy she had just absorbed. The attack sent her careening into one of the dilapidated stone statutes. It crumbled on top of her before she blasted the rumble away. She immediately winced and placed a hand over her right shoulder.

"This is just great," he sarcastically muttered to himself with a frown.

Off in the distance John heard a blast and knew that Kilowog had as well blasted his way out. Boodikka slowly flew over and landed next to John. Only a moment later Kilowog flew over and alighted next to the two. The Bolovaxian cracked his neck and lightly growled as he glared at the Tamaraneans.

"You give up now?" Alisand'r asked in a cocky tone as she snickered.

Kilowog scowled as he punched his palm, "Yeah right poozer. That barely tickled. Maybe try throwing a punch for real next time."

"Listen," John quietly said to the two. "I know we wanted to go in with teamwork and all that jazz but it isn't working."

Boodikka nodded, "We need to separate them, face them one-on-one."

"So I take the big guy?" Kilowog asked.

"You're better off taking the girl," John replied as he glanced at the Tamaraneans. "She's the strongest out of the three of them. Out of the three of us, you can endure her hits the best honestly."

Kilowog smirked as he punched his palm again, "I'm going to enjoy this."

"So you got Ph'yzzon?" Boodikka asked John.

John shook his head, "He's yours. I'll take Zirral. She's the only one I can go toe to toe with when it comes to physical combat without the ring. She's not as strong as the other two. I think I can hold my own with her."

"Alright then, round two poozers!" Kilowog took off at a breakneck pace and tackled Alisand'r, causing the two to crash into the rubble behind them.

Ph'yzzon sighed before shrugging, "I suppose we can continue to humor you. You're giving us some nice exercise for a change little Lanterns."

Boodikka quickly formed two dagger constructs. Zirral fired energy blasts from her hands. John blocked the attacks with a wall construct as Boodikka followed up by throwing the two daggers directly at Ph'yzzon. Zirral was about to shoot the daggers down but Boodikka blasted the ground, causing dirt and dust to fly up. It blocked their sight. One dagger grazed across Ph'yzzon left bicep as the other landed directly into his right thigh.

Ph'yzzon hissed in pain as he ripped the construct out of his thigh. He then scowled as he flew towards Boodikka, "You bitch!"

"You cowards thought you could fight us dirty and not expect the same in return?" Boodikka asked of them as she formed another kusarigama.

Ph'yzzon duplicated himself once and both threw a punch at her. Boodikka crossed her arms and dropped her construct to instead create a shield around her arms to hold back the attack.

"You can't hold out forever, Green Lantern," one of the Ph'yzzons mocked. The two Tamaraneans once again closed in and put more force into their punches. "Eventually your ring will lose its charge and die."

Boodikka ducked under the punches and leapt backwards. Predictably Ph'yzzon and his duplicate charged after the Bellatrixian. Boodikka as well ran towards them and quickly slid on her shins between the two as she created yet another kusarigama construct. Boodikka hooked the handle of her scythe on the legs of the Ph'yzzon on her right and swung the ball of her chain at the legs of the Ph'yzzon on her left. At the speed she slid, the attack flipped the Tamaraneans forward.

Boodikka used her ring to push backwards to give her momentum as she spun to her feet and turned. She swung her scythe cutting the one Ph'yzzon in half through the waist while he was in the air. Boodikka then wrapped the chain ball around the other Ph'yzzon's leg and pulled on it with all of her might, flinging the Tamaranean off in the distance. Boodikka quickly followed after him.

John smirked as he looked off in the direction the two had gone off in to, "Nice throw, they won't be back here any time soon." He then looked over at Zirral, "And neither is your other little friend. It's just you and me."

Zirral shrugged, "Your funeral Green Lantern. I'm not as weak as I look."

"We'll just see about that," John stated as he floated into the air. "I don't intend on dying anytime soon."

John then waved his arm to unleash a green energy shockwave. Zirral effortlessly absorbed the shockwave into her left hand. She was surprised to see John follow right behind his attack with a fist construct that punched her in the face. Zirral righted herself and rubbed her chin.

"Not a bad move there. I almost felt that," she complimented with a smirk. "Now let's see how you handle this."

Zirral flew at him and tried to punch him. John just ducked under the punch in time and then tried to punch her in the side. It felt as though John had punched a brick wall. John shook his sore hand and in doing so he got punched in the face. He was thrown back against the side of a destroyed building and he slumped to the ground. John slowly sat up and shook the stars from his vision. He looked up to see Zirral flying towards him. Getting up as fast as he could, John went after Zirral with another punch. Zirral reached a hand out to grab John's fist but the Green Lantern ducked under it by rolling on the ground. He got up on his feet and kicked Zirral in the back. John's foot now hurt a bit but he was able to push Zirral to the ground.

Zirral recuperated faster than he expected and grabbed him by the ankle. The Tamaranean swung John over her head then slammed him against the ground on his back, knocking the wind out of the Green Lantern and threatening to break his back if not for his power ring protecting him. Zirral did this several times until John managed to get his bearings with the constant pain and motion. The Green Lantern let Zirral bring him up again but with his other foot, John kicked her in the face. She let go of his foot out of surprise and rubbed her face.

John swiftly landed on his feet and then went to charge after Zirral again.

Boodikka flew through a collapsing building as several Ph'yzzons followed close behind. She went through the hallway as the building tilted over to fall. Debris and dust fell which decreased her visibility. Despite the situation this was exactly what she was hoping for. Boodikka fired a blast straight ahead and she disappeared into the dust cloud that kicked up from the blast. The Tamaraneans followed through and exited out of a hole in the building. The Green Lantern had vanished from their sight. Behind them the building impacted the ground causing the ground to rumble as it finally gave in and collapsed.

"Where did she go?" One of the Ph'yzzon duplicates asked.

"She has to be close by," one of the others replied.

"Closer than you might think," Boodikka announced to them.

The Tamaraneans turned around and saw Boodikka come at them with two sword constructs. She swung the blades as she approached. The duplicates had no time to react before they were severed by Boodikka's blades.

Suddenly, Ph'yzzon got in a lucky shot and hit Boodikka in the back with an energy blast. She cried out in pain from the attack. The area of the blast was burnt off revealing some of her skin and some smoke came off around the blast mark. The attack shocked her system and made her sword constructs vanish from her hands. Ph'yzzon smirked as his hands glowed again as he prepared to blast her once more.

John struggled out of the headlock Zirral had him in and, once he was free, lunged to grab her around the neck. He was nothing but a feather compared to Zirral's strength and the Tamaranean ripped him off and pinned him up against a wall by the shoulders. She then punched him right in the stomach. John fell to his knees and tried to gasp for the air that just got hit out of him.

Zirral knelt next to him and sneered, "Look at you. You're nothing but a pathetic, little Green Lantern. Give up already and leave with your life and dignity."

John gritted his teeth as he struggled to catch his breath. He didn't know why he was struggling more so with the Tamaranean's words than the actual physical blows. He knew this whole war could just be a futile endeavor by the Guardians. Honestly he could care less about the outcome of the war. He just wanted to get back to Earth. His only end goal in all of this was to get back to Shayera. If he didn't make it out of this alive he wouldn't ever see her again. He would never...

John shook his head and scowled. He couldn't think like that. John knew he was going to get back to Shayera. If this whole destiny stuff was real than he just had to. He wasn't about to let something like this bring him down so easily.

Zirral shrugged as she turned away from him, "And I suppose that's the end of that. You Green Lanterns are so weak it's pathetic."

John staggered up and flew at Zirral with a battle cry. He lit up his ring and brought it up in a fist. Zirral turned around in time to see the green fist before it hit her square in the jaw. She was blown back and only stopped when she had crashed through the wall of a partially intact building.

Zirral staggered out of the wreckage, rubbing the side of her head, but she didn't have any time to recover as John flew like a dart at her and punched her in the face several times. Then he brought Zirral's head down and kneed her in the face, causing her to stumble back. John created a chain and wrapped it around the stunned Tamaranean. The Green Lantern whipped the chain up and down and Zirral went with it, getting slammed straight into the ground.

John finally let go of her and created a mace construct to crush Zirral with. Just as he had swung the construct at her, Zirral grabbed the mace and crushed it within her hands. Then she quickly flew, grabbed John by the shoulders, and then headbutted him. She then kicked the stunned Green Lantern in the chest, knocking him back down to the ground. John shook off the strike and flew back up into the air.

John panted as he wiped the back of his hand against the corner of his mouth. He looked down to see blood speckled on the back of his gloved hand. He then looked up at the Tamaranean and scowled.

Zirral in return smirked before lightly shrugging, "What? I told you to just give up. I'm hardly getting warmed up."

John just continued to scowl. He knew she was bluffing. Not only did he manage to give her a nose bleed but she was as well lightly panting. It was a bit of a consolation to him that he knew that he was beginning to tire the Tamaranean. John flew at Zirral once more and threw a punch at her. Having learned from before, Zirral grabbed his fist. John was expecting to get punched in the face. He was more confused than anything when Zirral just smirked. The Tamaranean's eyes then glowed purple and the Green Lantern's vision went black.

Chapter Text

Kilowog was in a locked chase with Alisand'r hot on his tail. A Tamaranean with super strength and invulnerability would send anyone hightailing it but that wasn't why Kilowog was flying away. He was more concerned with trying to think of a strategy that could actually work. Since their fight had begun, the two were reduced to a stalemate. Neither could seem to get the upper hand on the other.

Kilowog managed to turn himself around midair and fly backwards as he shot a series of green energy beams off. Alisand'r avoided them all by weaving between each one. As she came out of the obstacle she graced the Bolovaxian with a cocky smirk. Getting an idea, Kilowog suddenly stopped and reached a hand back. Alisand'r had tried to come to a stop but before she could Kilowog grabbed her by the throat just before she could crash into him. He held her tight and with his ring hand blasted her in the chest. She skyrocketed into a building.

As soon as he felt victorious himself something caught Kilowog's eye as Alisand'r barreled out of the building and shoulder checked him, sending him into the remains of another building. Kilowog grunted as he moved debris off of him and slowly floated into the sky. He growled and glared at the Tamaranean.

Alisand'r shook her head before quickly flew at Kilowog and threw several punches directly at his face. Thankfully Kilowog had his personal shield to block some of the hits from being too damaging but he could still feel some of the force from the blows seeping through. Kilowog scowled and quickly managed to recover from one hit in order to punch Alisand'r in the face, managing to stun her for a brief moment, and then punched her in the stomach. It was enough for Alisand'r to back away.

As Kilowog gained his breath, Alisand'r snickered, "You really are strong, aren't you? You might have avoided getting hurt before but I'm sure you can't do it again."

"Yeah well," Kilowog cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders. "We'll see about that little girl. This is the best workout I've had in a long time."

With that Kilowog and Alisand'r flew at each other once more, both throwing a punch at the other. Their fists met and the resulting collision created a shockwave that rippled throughout the area. Kilowog quickly threw a jab, with his free hand, into Alisand'r sternum. The quick blow stunned the Tamaranean long enough for Kilowog to interlace both his hands and land a powerful strike over her head. Alisand'r impacted the ground hard and ground shook as though an earthquake had just struck. Kilowog slowly floated around the crater, looking for any sign of movement. It didn't take long so Alisand'r to erupt from the ground and go on the offensive once again.

Boodikka charged forward but stopped just in front of Ph'yzzon as the Tamaranean threw out a left hook. Ph'yzzon only hit empty air as Boodikka ducked down and then came up with an uppercut to his jaw. The Tamaranean stumbled back but quickly regained his balance before he could fall. Ph'yzzon stayed rooted as Boodikka flew at him and threw out two consecutive punches. Ph'yzzon took the first punch. He flinched slightly and leapt away from the second punch. Boodikka didn't show any surprise on her face as Ph'yzzon then jumped up and brought his fist down towards her head. Instead the Bellatrixian jumped back just as Ph'yzzon slammed his clenched hand into the ground. The Tamaranean grimaced but didn't waiver as he stayed kneeled to observe Boodikka.

He narrowed his eyes at the Bellatrixian. While he was physically stronger than her, she proved to be much more nimble. He was also annoyed at her quick thinking. She seemed to be able to counter anything he threw at her. It did not help that duplicating himself tired him out too quickly so he had to give up that fighting gimmick in favor for hand-to-hand combat. What angered him more was that she was toying with him at this point. He wouldn't stand for this disrespect.

Ph'yzzon charged forward and avoided an energy beam from Boodikka. Using his bodyweight, Ph'yzzon rammed himself in Boodikka's chest and pushed her back. Boodikka, for a brief moment, was left surprised as she held on to Ph'yzzon's shoulders and her heels skimmed the ground. She looked back to see the edge of a cliff was coming close and Ph'yzzon was ready to throw her over it. Thinking quickly, Boodikka created a construct rope with a spike on the end to dig into the ground. Once it was hooked, Boodikka held on as she was pulled under Ph'yzzon and the Tamaranean continued forward. He realized too late his mistake when he saw the cliff's edge fast approaching. He attempted to stop himself in midair yet his momentum instead caused him to crash into the ground face first.

Ph'yzzon clenched his fists as he picked himself off of the ground. He slowly turned his head and scowled at the Bellatrixian, who simply just smirked back. He wouldn't be humiliated by a Green Lantern.

Alisand'r intercepted another of the green energy blasts. They stung a bit but were not really dangerous to her. Suddenly Kilowog unleashed a volley of large spheres of green energy. Despite being able to avoid the majority of them, one managed to hit the Tamaranean in the back. The force of the explosion knocked her off of her flight path but she quickly corrected herself. Alisand'r managed to avoid the next attack but the force of the previous blast disoriented her for a moment.

Just long enough for another one of the balls of energy to strike her.

Alisand'r cursed to herself. She hated that she wasn't fast enough or steady enough to dodge all of the attacks. That was the second one that had hit her. Alisand'r was feeling the strain of continuing to fight at this speed and energy level for an extended period. It was becoming increasingly difficult for her to keep up with her opponent and she was beginning to break out into a sweat. To her annoyance it seemed that Kilowog noticed this as well. Frowning, the Tamaranean accelerated towards Kilowog as fast as she could. Even slowed by her fatigue, it was still fast enough to catch her opponent unguarded and she was able to land a direct blow.

Kilowog, on the other hand, was not surprised by the speed of the attack. He rolled with the force of the strike, negating most of the power of the attack, and then flew back in a loop to engage Alisand'r in hand-to-hand combat right in the middle of the air. The two traded blows, for a few seconds. Alisand'r was surprised to find a more disciplined fighting style from the Bolovaxian than from earlier in their fight. There were many more refined elements to his combat style this time around. It made the Tamaranean wonder if Kilowog had only been testing her abilities so far and hadn't fought with his real strength.

"I take back what I said earlier. You are strong," Alisand'r complimented. "Might make this interesting for a few minutes."

"I've practiced a few different fighting styles over the years. I'm more than prepared for…" Kilowog was cutoff as Alisand'r's fist smashed into his nose, sending the Bolovaxian flying backwards. The Tamaranean flew after him and and smashed Kilowog down to the ground with an overhead strike between his shoulder blades. Kilowog crashed through the ground, breaking the terrain apart. Alisand'r let out a light sigh as she waited for Kilowog to crawl back out from the hole that was created.

Predictably Kilowog emerged only seconds later. Instead of going after the Tamaranean, he instead stood his ground. Kilowog clenched his fists for a second, then relaxed them. He knew the longer he dragged this out, the more exhausted the young Tamaranean would become. He would not be goaded into another reckless fight like earlier.

Alisand'r once again flew at Kilowog at superspeed and smashed him on the cheek with a punch. Instead of responding, Kilowog stood there impassively as he shielded his body with the energy from his power ring. Sure, the hit stung a bit, but it didn't really have the power behind it to do any real damage as it did before. Kilowog resolved to maintain his position and to allow Alisand'r to hit him as much as she wanted, no matter how much it might hurt. Seeing the Bolovaxian's unresponsiveness, Alisand'r unleashed a torrent of attacks. She could see the flashes of pain on Kilowog's face but the Green Lantern would not bend or break.

After a moment, the Tamaranean stopped to catch her breath. Seeing his opportunity, Kilowog kicked off the ground to rocket towards Alisand'r to attack back. His punch was partially blocked and partially rolled away from but it struck with enough force that Alisand'r was unable to immediately counter-attack. Kilowog found himself momentarily on the offensive. He attacked rapid fire, his fists flying as fast as he could make them go. Eventually Alisand'r evaded and rolled away from Kilowog's strikes.

In moments, Alisand'r had turned Kilowog's attacks back on him, turning his motion into openings through which to strike back with punches and kicks. After ducking under one punch, Alisand'r's own fist flew up and against his rib-bones. Kilowog cried out from the searing pain as he dropped to one knee and placed his left hand over his right side. Unfortunately for her, Alisand'r got cocky and thought she could end the fight right then and there. She went in for another punch only to get blasted by a full powered energy beam at close range. The force of the beam sent her flying backwards and her body smashed through dozen buildings.

Kilowog flew off in the direction of the Tamaranean. It didn't take him long to find the young woman lying limply in a crater. He sighed in relief when he saw she was finally unconscious. Landing next to her, Kilowog grimaced as he bent down to pick Alisand'r up in a bridal carry. He then lightly chuckled, "Not bad poozer, you did good."

Ph'yzzon was quickly losing the last of his patience. Boodikka mused over this while the Tamaranean threw punch after wild punch, which she dodged without even raising a hand. With each fraction of a second that Ph'yzzon failed to strike his opponent, he grew more and more frustrated. Then he threw another punch only to have Boodikka easily dodge it once more before flying back to create distance between them.

With that, Ph'yzzon charged after Boodikka at a speed that rapidly increased over the distance he was traveling. Unfortunately for him, the distance was not enough to build up the velocity he would need to actually hit the Bellatrixian. This time however, Boodikka did not simply dodge. She pushed Ph'yzzon's arm inward and made it cross over his body awkwardly. With her right hand, Boodikka made a fist and thrusted it forward in a quick jab, twisting her fist around as it connected with Ph'yzzon's gut.

Pain flared through the Tamaranean's body and he doubled over, holding the area where Boodikka had just struck him. Boodikka had not struck him hard, it had been just a mere jab, but the placement of the strike was perfect. Boodikka backed off while Ph'yzzon staggered away to deal with the effects of the blow. The Green Lantern patiently waited, prepared to continue the battle if needed, but hoping the hotheaded Tamaranean would stop his angry assault.

Ph'yzzon started to fly off again, preparing for a series of long distance attacks as his fists glowed. Before he could start his attack, Boodikka flew ahead of him. The Green Lantern unleashed a barrage of green hued balls of energy at the Tamaranean. He dodged out of the way but in doing so was unable to accelerate fast enough to escape. He found himself dodging and swerving around dozens of energy balls which Boodikka was continuously throwing out at him.

"Go ahead! Keep that up and your ring will run out of energy!" Ph'yzzon mockingly called out as he continued to dodge the ever-increasing number of green orbs.

Boodikka merely smirked as she raised an amused eyebrow. Ph'yzzon had evaded all of the orbs of energy which had come near him but he didn't realize that the balls of energy remained in the air behind him. Ph'yzzon was now well within range and her attack was just about complete. Boodikka released another, and rather large, energy ball.

Ph'yzzon saw the attack thrown towards him and stopped himself before he flew too close to it. The ball of energy exploded harmlessly a few yards behind him. That was when the Tamaranean suddenly noticed the dozens of other balls of gathered energy all around him. They began to explode as well, each explosion getting closer and closer to him. Ph'yzzon cursed and tried to out-fly the cascade of explosions. He never realized that these energy balls were exploding in a pattern that was leading him inwards towards the center of it all, where the largest cluster of the energy balls had collected. When he got to the center of the pattern the spheres of energy collapsed in on him and there was no escape.

Boodikka's smirk widened as her trap was sprung. It took some time for the energy of the explosions to dissipate. As the smoke cleared, Boodikka looked intently at the center of explosion. She could barely make it out but there was a form in the middle of all of the smoke.

Ph'yzzon shook his head as he slowly recovered from the pain, wanting nothing more to pummel the Green Lantern before him into oblivion as he had done to many of his other adversaries in the past. Few beings had ever stood up to him for so long as she had so far. The Tamaranean felt incredibly frustrated. He shouldn't be losing to a Green Lantern. Though, even with his temper, Ph'yzzon was not a fool. He knew when to concede a fight. This fight gave him a taste of just how strong these Green Lanterns were and he knew they would prove to be useful.

Ph'yzzon deeply inhaled before raising his hands in the air in surrender, "You win Green Lantern. I yield."

Someone was trying to drill a hole through his skull and simultaneously run his body over with a truck. What the hell had happened to him this time? He hated the feeling of regaining consciousness. Keeping his body still, John racked his mind for some memory of how he came to be this way.

Nothing.

He frowned slightly to himself. His mind felt like it was in a fog. He felt like he should know why he felt like he had just been knocked around and hit over the head multiple times.

Slowly he opened his eyes and saw the familiar ceiling of the Watchtower. He exhaled deeply. Was he just on a League mission? He must have been. He tightly closed his eyes as he strained his mind. He knew the answers to these questions but they felt just out of reach. Everything was foggy, jumbled, confused...his mind and memories felt unraveled and tangled.

There were fragments of recent memories. He vaguely remembered something about the Green Lantern Corps but they were faint and difficult to grasp. They felt more like memories of a dream than anything that had actually happened.

And perhaps maybe that was all it was.

John sat up in the bed. He looked around, trying to figure out where he was, but when he saw he was in an all too familiar bedroom he relaxed. He wasn't in any danger. John took a deep breath and put his hands over his face, sliding them down as if rubbing the tension right off his skin. He slowly laid back down and stared at the ceiling. He still felt as though something was off. Like he wasn't supposed to be here.

John's thoughts were then abruptly cutoff when he felt the blankets move and a slender arm wrapped around him. He then felt another body nestle against his. John didn't know why but he felt confused when he finally looked down. Something was telling him that neither of them should be there. Something wasn't right but he didn't know why.

Continuing to look at the body snuggled against him, John finally spoke, "Shayera?"

Chapter Text

John just blankly stared as his mouth wordlessly moved. His mind was going haywire. Why did he have this feeling that he wasn't supposed to be there with Shayera? A better question that presented itself to him was why did he feel like something wasn't quite right. Slowly he moved his left hand and placed it on her back and slowly ran his hand up her bare skin.

He had been in this position before, caught somewhere between dreaming and waking. A place he secretly wished he could visit more frequently; a place where it was normal for him to feel her soft hand splayed across his chest. John sighed contently before closing his eyes in the hopes of savoring the moment for as long as possible. John then slid his other hand to lightly grasp the hand that was laid on his chest. Her hand was soft like silk, something he always noticed whenever their hands touched, yet he was always surprised by. Given her chosen profession it would be customary for one to believe her hand to be rough and calloused. It was just one more thing that added to the enigma of Shayera Hol.

John felt the soft puff of air that had escaped Shayera's lips upon his cheek, as she released a contented sigh of her own. Her fingertips began to draw light circles around the bare skin of his chest, leaving goose bumps on his skin. The more John laid there the more he started to wonder if this really was reality or not. It certainly felt like it.

Finally letting curiosity win over, John sat up. Raising an eyebrow John broke the silence between them, "Sha-"

The Green Lantern couldn't even get the first syllable out before Shayera's lips crashed against his and her arms wrapped around him. No this certainly didn't feel like a dream at all. Wrapping his arms around her, John lost himself to her touch. Why did he feel as though he hadn't seen or touched her in so long? They lived together after all.

Pulling himself away from the kiss, John let out a sigh. Out of his peripheral vision the Green Lantern could have sworn he saw a faint pair of glowing purple eyes. John lightly rubbed his eyes before turning his head. All that greeted his vision was a blank concrete wall. John let out another sigh as he shook his head. He must have still been groggy. It had to have been in his mind. It was just him and Shayera alone in that room.

Wasn't it?

He then grimaced. His head was beginning to pound again. John gritted his teeth as he placed a hand to the side of his head. He felt a chill run down his body as Shayera's left hand laid over his. He then felt her lips against his. It was odd that, as soon as she touched him, his headache instantly disappeared. Not that John was complaining. He rather have her soft touch on him rather than a radiating pain inside his skull.

He moved and then placed his hand on top of hers and lightly gripped it. He gently ran his thumb over her knuckles. He then paused, something wasn't right. John slowly ran his thumb back over her knuckles once more. Both of her rings were missing and John found that to be odd. Shayera never took off either of the rings except when she took a shower. He knew the Thanagarian was overly cautious with keeping the rings in perfect condition.

"Shay," he softly began as he pulled away from her. "Where are your rings?"

Shayera blankly blinked at him for a moment before lightly smirking, "Why would I wear them to bed? I wouldn't want to lose them. Now would I?"

John cocked his head to the side slightly as he raised an eyebrow, "That's never stopped you before."

"I'm just being considerate that's all," she quietly replied as she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him into yet another kiss.

John felt himself melt into the kiss. Perhaps he was overthinking this. After all, this was Shayera he was dealing with. John felt his body relax as he ran his hands over her body again. One hand caressed her back and John's brows knitted together as he slowly ran his hand over her back once more. It took him a moment but he finally figured out what was missing from his touch.

Where were her wings?

John then felt the dull ache begin once more in his skull. He ran his other hand up from her hip and over her slender body. That was when John's eyes widened. Even with her pregnancy advancing much more in-line with a typical Thanagarian one rather than human one, it should have been blatantly obvious that she was pregnant. The Shayera before him clearly wasn't. John finally pushed "Shayera" away from him. He shook his head and glared at the woman in front of him. This wasn't his Shayera.

The gears then began to turn in his mind and his headache finally began to subside on its own. He couldn't possibly be with Shayera right now. He was in the Vega system and she was back on Earth. He was currently being punished by the Guardians because of his own actions, or rather inactions. John knew that he was last on Tamaran. He had been fighting that Tamaranean Zirral. She had...

John then paused and noticed the faint pair of glowing purple eyes directly behind the impostor of his wife. He clenched his fist and felt his ring flare to life for the first time since he had woke. He quickly thrusted his fist forward and blasted the Shayera before him with a full-powered energy beam from his ring. The last thing John heard before his vision went black once again was the pained grunt coming from the fake Thanagarian.

At first John was disoriented when he instantly found himself back on Tamaran and not on the Watchtower. He slowly looked around and noticed Zirral was on her back, clearly having been struck at close range by his energy beam, and grimacing as she held her hand over her chest. She then slowly stood and shook her head.

"Impressive," she breathlessly muttered. "Very few can get themselves out of-" Zirral grunted as she was cut off when John tackled her to the ground and began to repeatedly punch her, powering each hit with his ring.

"Do you have any idea what you did to me!?" John bitterly asked her as he didn't stop his assault on her.

He didn't even care of the pain in his knuckles as each punch landed on the Tamaranean's face. All John currently wanted to do right now was to cave her skull in. It was only a minute later when John felt a large hand grab his forearm and tried to pull him off of Zirral. He then felt another hand as well latched onto his shoulder and tried to pry him away.

"John!"

His brain finally allowed him to process that Kilowog was the one who had first grabbed him. He finally stopped pummeling the Tamaranean and panted. He looked to his other side to see Boodikka kneeling next to him with a concerned look on her face. He then slowly looked down at the Tamaranean in front of him. Zirral groaned as her head slowly moved to the side. She was bruised and unconscious but still alive. John scowled as he finally stood.

"John," Boodikka as well stood and softly placed her hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

John lightly growled under his breath as he glared down at Zirral. He then clenched his fists at his side. He felt someone push past him as Alisand'r ran forward and knelt next to Zirral. He watched as the younger Tamaranean lightly shook the shoulders of the older one, trying to beckon her awake. He was slightly surprised when Ph'yzzon calmly walked past him and towards the other two.

Ph'yzzon deeply sighed and shook his head as he crouched down next to Zirral, "Always resorting to those little mind tricks of yours. I warned you this would happen some day." He then glanced over at Alisand'r, before speaking "Be at ease, she is fine. A fine Tamaranean warrior such as Zirral wouldn't fall in a battle such as this. After some rest, she will be fine and looking for yet another battle."

"Are you sure Lord Ph'yzzon?" Alisand'r cautiously asked.

Ph'yzzon lifted Zirral up in a bridal carry before curtly nodding, "Yes Alisand'r, you must remember how resilient we Tamaraneans are. I know you are young and this was but your first battle but you must never forget that." He then paused and glanced back at the Green Lanterns. He heaved a heavy sigh before frowning, "You have won Romkagorf and thus our allegiance to your cause. I must say you Green Lanterns are much more powerful than I would have anticipated."

Boodikka looked at Kilowog and then John. Neither were saying anything and it appeared as though neither were going to. She herself sighed before bowing her head slightly, "Thank you Ph'yzzon, hopefully now we can regroup and formulate a plan of attack."

Ph'yzzon nodded as he turned away, "Yes we shall go back to our base camp. We have much to discuss."

Isamot mused on the fact that this was supposed to be but a simple reconnaissance mission. Katma had sent him out to simply survey the area and to see just how far the Gordanians were to their current location. Of course the mission had been anything but simple with the Lizarkon being involved. He ended up finding a stationed Gordanian flagship and had decided to venture close to it. Before he could investigate further, he had made his presence known when he had set off a rather annoying sensory trap nearby the ship.

A very distant and very annoying ringing sound could still be heard in his ears but right now Isamot was far too caught up to really notice it. Too many things were going on right now. He had saw a lot and heard a lot. One moment blaster fire rang all around his head. The next moment volleys of explosions blew everything apart that was near him and the next moment again his constructs were being shot to pieces.

Isamot scowled at the Gordanians in front of him before smirking. He placed a hand over the stub where his left arm previously was and tried to put pressure over the wound. At least a hundred of them and only himself. He had worst odds before and certainly more injured than he was right now. Honestly he'd need another Green Lantern or two to make this a fair fight. And these Gordanians were highly trained soldiers compared to the ones he had fought on Euphorix. They weren't relying on Thanagarians or Lizarkons to do the work for them.

The Green Lantern took a deep breath to calm himself. He could feel all of their eyes on him. "Think it through Isamot," he mumbled to himself. "Don't be stupid. Think."

Isamot swished his tail back and forth. He was clearly outnumbered as more Gordanians came out of the ship. Seeing all of the blasters aimed at him, Isamot slowly lifted his right arm in the air to surrender, green blood beginning to ooze out of his wound once more as the pressure was taken away. Isamot knew that the only way to see what was inside that ship was to go in willingly. With his cover blown, Isamot knew the only way now was as a prisoner. The Lizarkon knew that he could get away if he tried but he needed to know what was in that ship that the Gordanians were guarding so heavily.

Isamot then frowned. He knew his plan was risky and that he was bound to get an earful from the Korugaran later. He knew that the Gordanians would jump at the chance of having a Green Lantern as a prisoner of war to use as a bargaining chip. Isamot also figured that it would only be a matter of time until the others came for him.

Katma silently watched Kyle, as he paced back and forth, with narrowed eyes until she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Would you stop that already?" She snapped at him. "What is it with you humans and your incessant need to pace? It's annoying enough when John does that."

Kyle rolled his eyes, "Well sorry if I'm worried. Isamot hasn't come back yet and we have no idea how this whole Ronfadork-"

"Romkagorf," Katma corrected him.

"Whatever," Kyle frowned. "We still don't know what's going on with Kilowog, John, and Boodikka. For all we know they lost and those Tamaraneans are killing them. And for all we know Isamot could be dead as well. These Tamaraneans don't like us Kat."

Katma silently looked around the settlement and saw how the Tamaraneans kept a fair distance from them and actively made their contempt known through glares and scowls. She then sighed, "I know that Rayner. Yet another soured relationship courtesy of our fine Guardians."

Kyle crossed his arms over his chest, "You sound bitter."

Katma shrugged, "It's a known fact Rayner. The Guardians pick and choose who they protect or not protect. It's a harsh reality we Green Lanterns must face and deal with the consequence of."

"You mean anything or one they themselves deem worthy of protection. My planet of Thanagar hasn't received assistance from a Green Lantern in decades. Your Guardians turned their backs on us long ago. Hell even neighboring planets to us haven't received aid from them. We are so far from them that they care little of what happens to our edge of the galaxy. We could all be wiped out and they would never flinch."

Kyle paused as he recalled Shayera's own words from when he had first met her. He wanted to earnestly believe that they weren't true but this war alone was proving to him that he was mistaken. Hell the past eight years alone had proven her point to him. He then frowned before muttering, "Dammit, she was right."

Katma raised an eyebrow as she glanced over at him, "Who was right?"

"No it's just," Kyle lightly shook his head and sighed. "When I first met Shayera years ago she told me about the Guardians and how they'd pick and choose who to save. I didn't want to believe her back then. Hell I don't even want to believe it now but she was right."

Katma was silent for a moment before she spoke, "Despite my feelings towards the Thanagarian, she is correct. Species deemed as unworthy by the Guardians are more or less ignored. Thanagarians are one of many species classified as such."

"Why though?" Kyle asked. "What happened? You'd think they'd want people like Shayera in the Green Lantern Corps. Thanagarians are stubborn as shit and they'd probably make some of the best Lanterns because of it. The Corps is all about willpower after all."

"It's not that simple Kyle," Katma softly replied. "Centuries ago there was a Thanagarian Green Lantern named Rayn Kral. He had staged a coup against the Guardians. From the stories told he had managed to kill the Templar Guardians."

Kyle tilted his head slightly, "Templar Guardians? I've never heard of them before."

"They were the protectors of Oa and the Guardians themselves," she explained. "Having killed them, he set his sights on the Guardians of Oa themselves. That Thanagarian had managed to will his ring to ignore the commands of the Guardians when they attempted to have the ring return to them. The Guardians had struggled against the power of his Nth metal and power ring combined. He managed to kill one and severely injure another before finally being subdued. From there the stories vary. One dictated that he remained in a Sciencell until he was executed, one stated that he was banished to a desolate planet in exile, and another has him escaping from either his Sciencell or exile and returning to Thanagar. His final fate is still unknown to this day except by the Guardians themselves."

"Just one lone Green Lantern did all that?" Kyle tentatively asked. "I mean I guess it's possible but you'd have to be crazy strong in order to do that. And I know for a fact that Thanagarians aren't strong like a Kryptonian like say Superman."

Katma shook her head, "He had accomplices at first but many perished during the fight with the Templars and the rest against the Guardians. The Guardians I believe fear the Thanagarians for what they are capable of when given a power ring. They are a species that is filled with an abundance of willpower as you said. That and the Nth metal they wield is near unrivaled in this universe. Very few metals can compare to it. That is why Vath Sarn's ring still to this day remains on Oa."

"Vath Sarn," Kyle quietly repeated. "That was Isamot's old partner right? From Rann?"

Katma nodded, "Yes he died assisting Isamot on Thanagar. They tried to push back the Gordanians from the planet but two Green Lanterns against hundreds of thousands of Gordanians was just a disaster waiting to happen. When Vath's ring attempted to recruit a Thanagarian soldier, the Guardians immediately pulled the ring back to Oa. Despite protests, they rather have Isamot be the sole Green Lantern of Sector 2682 than have a Thanagarian be recruited once more."

Kyle scratched the back of his head, "Makes sense why the Thanagarians are so disgruntled with the Green Lantern Corps. The Guardians are holding a grudge after all of this time but I can see why. Though Shayera said even the neighboring planets to Thanagar were suffering. Shouldn't the Guardians at least help them out?"

Katma narrowed her eyes slightly, "Don't let her fool you Rayner. The Thanagarians have as well ravaged their neighboring planets for materials and resources well before the Gordanians arrived. They are hardly innocent. The only thing I do not agree with the Guardians on was them allowing the Gordanians to advance so far into that sector. It is practically overrun at this point."

Kyle lightly smirked, "So we gonna be sent to Thanagar next for another war?"

Katma rolled her eyes, "I'd pray not Rayner."

Chapter Text

A/N: So I got promoted at work since the last chapter. I now travel across country and open stores on the training team. It doesn't leave me with much time to write so update will unfortunately become even more sporadic and slower than before. Though I am by no means ever going to abandon this story. It will see its end. Just no telling how long that'll be.

Isamot stirred as he heard shouting all around him. His head buzzed and throbbed, and as he fluttered his eyes, his vision went from black to blurry. The last thing he remembered was surrendering to the Gordanians that had surrounded him before everything suddenly went black.

Right now the world felt like it was spinning. The Lizarkon let out a moan and lightly shook his head as he fully opened his eyes. What was once blurry started to become more clear. He saw the energy field buzzing at the front of his cell. He saw the Gordanian guards marching up and down the aisle of, what Isamot assumed was, the prison block of the flagship. He then glanced down to his right hand. Predictably his power ring was gone and Isamot found that he couldn't will it back but he could very faintly sense its presence. The Gordanians had it on the ship but it was being held behind something that was interfering with the Lizarkon's link with the ring.

"Hey you," Isamot lightly scowled as he at first ignored the female voice from behind him. He didn't necessarily want to make conversation at the moment. "Hey nir'satk I'm talking to you!"

At that Isamot's attention was immediately behind him. Isamot lightly growled under his breath when he saw the young, female Thanagarian kneeling right behind him. For a brief moment, he was hoping it was another Lizarkon in the cell with him but it could have been worse. The Thanagarian was smirking though Isamot saw the bruises littered across her body. She had been captured as well but obviously had put up one hell of a fight in the process.

The Thanagarian then chuckled, "You're finally awake. I was starting to wonder if you were dead."

"Take more than this to kill me," Isamot gruffly murmured before flinching in pain. He looked down to his left side and the stump left where his arm used to be. Isamot snorted through his nostrils. It was an annoyance but a temporary one. Unfortunately it would take at least a few months for his arm to fully grow back. Isamot knew he didn't necessarily have that kind of time to wait. If he had his power ring than that time would be cut down to just a few short weeks.

"So," the Thanagarian began with a bit too much humor in her tone. "Got captured too Green Lantern? Snooped around a bit too much where your little cor'jekth tail doesn't belong?"

Isamot scowled though he knew not to expect anything else from a Thanagarian. He then smirked, "Seems like I can say the same about you. You're trapped here too nir'satk."

She shrugged as she let out a humorous chuckle, "Not for long I won't be. I was just doing my job and wandered into the wrong area."

"Your job?" Isamot questioned. "Where's your squadron?"

"You're looking at it," the Thanagarian smirked once more as she stood and tucked a strand of her white hair behind her left ear. "The name's Tarra Karn."

At that Isamot's eyes widened and he found himself involuntarily swallowing. He had heard horror stories about Tarra Karn. She had left Thanagar many years ago as a freelance bounty hunter. She had a particularly high success rate along with a very morbid way of hunting down her targets. There were rumors that she was only allowed out of the Thanagarian army due to her proclivity of accidentally killing her comrades with friendly fire or miss swings from her mace.

Seeing the fear in the Lizarkon's eyes sparked something in the Thanagarian as she began to lightly chuckle, "What's wrong?"

Isamot slowly stood and faced Tarra. He flicked his tail back and forth as he looked her over. With the stories he had heard, Isamot had expected her to appear much more intimidating than she was and he honestly had thought Tarra Karn was a male Thanagarian due to the brutality of the killings. She was a petite little thing and wasn't much taller than he was. Tarra's outward appearance didn't do much to strike fear yet Isamot could see the coldness in her blue eyes. There was nothing behind them, no emotion, just a predatory stare as though she was constantly on the hunt.

"Fuck me," Isamot inaudibly mumbled to himself. Out of all of the Thanagarians he had to be placed with. It just had to be with a psychopath.

Tarra continued to chuckle as she sauntered towards Isamot. She then stopped and titled her head to the side. Isamot felt his body tense as Tarra's finger glided horizontally across his neck. He then heard her release a deep sigh, "Oh don't worry cor'jekth, you're not my target. I have very little interest in hunting Green Lanterns. Not fun sport at all honestly. Besides, it'd be too easy to kill you right now. I don't see the joy in that. Besides I think we can all help each other."

Isamot took a step back and felt his body shutter, "Help each other how?"

"By getting ourselves out of here," Tarra then suggested to her right. "Plus these mer'narkths got themselves captured as well."

Isamot looked over until his eyes met with a small group of three other Thanagarians. Two were females and the other male. He could tell by their armor that the sole male was the highest ranking as he wore traditional, blue-plated Thanagarian armor. The two females were of different ranking though. One wore white-plated and the other wore red-plated. Though Isamot knew that the two females were most likely nothing more than frontline soldiers.

Tarra shook her head with a short, humorous snort, "Dumbass bi'mesk'jiets try to resist and instead of just outright fleeing, get themselves captured instead. Should have left when you had the chance."

The lower ranking female scowled and let out a small growl through clenched teeth but did not speak. Instead the male stood and skulked over. Isamot frowned when he saw the male Thanagarian's heavily scarred appearance. Most of the male's right side of his face was missing and covered in heavy scars. Isamot was amazed the Thanagarian still had his right eye and that it seemed to be fully functional. The left half of his face was covered in metal plating. Isamot knew that the metal plates were reinforcing whatever bone and skin structures were left. He then saw the cybernetic right arm and left leg and the metallic wings. It was rare for a Thanagarian soldier to live this long with these types of injuries, especially after the loss of their wings.

"Thanagarians don't...surrender," the male gruffly spoke. Isamot could tell there was damage to his vocal chords as he barely could speak without gasping. "I suggest...you keep you mouth shut...Karn."

"Easy brother," the higher ranking female calmly stated as she stood. She walked next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't waste your energy." She then turned her attention to Tarra and Isamot. "We did resist against the Gordanians. Our squadron fought back and we managed to win but at a cost. We're all that's left. We tried to take over another flagship on Euphorix but were caught. We're been on this ship since. At least it was quiet until this fir'zerth got placed here too."

Tarra laughed, "Oh it's only been a week now. I've been quite hospitable considering the circumstances."

"How'd you get in here then?" Isamot asked. "Them I can see but you. Why are you out here?"

Tarra smirked, "I had a bounty on some Tamaranean War General, Ph'yzzon something or other. Next thing I know I'm surrounded by those vah'sekth'mirs. I tried explaining but they didn't care one way or another. All they saw was a rogue Thanagarian and didn't care where she came from. At least the Gordanians were fun to play with for a bit." Tarra then wistfully sighed, "But there were even too many of them for even me to handle alone. That's how I ended up in here."

"I'm Corsar Thal," the male Thanagarian spoke. "Lieutenant Thal."

Isamot glanced over to Corsar and nodded, "Isamot Kol, Green Lantern though that's obvious." He then looked at the two red-headed females. "And them?"

"Private Vetalla Dae," the lower ranking female responded with a frown.

The higher ranking female glared at Isamot, "Corporal Thal, filthy cor'jekth traitor."

Isamot scowled, "I'd watch my tone if I were you. I rather not be in this position either but here we all are. We were exchanging courtesies so your name Corporal?"

"My sister does not...speak her name any longer," Corsar stated as his sister looked away. "To her the name...it's tarnished."

Isamot tilted his head slightly, "You do something to tarnish your name Corporal?"

"No," she sternly replied. "It was not me who tarnished the name. I shall speak my name once and only once. After that you shall not address me with it. I am simply Thal to you."

Isamot curtly nodded, "Fine then."

"My name," the female then let out a deep sigh. "My name is Shayera Thal."

"Not even one sign of him?" Kyle asked Katma. "It's been hours. Isamot should have been back by now. Something had to have happened to him. There's no way he'd just up and leave us here."

Katma sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose, "Yes I am well aware of that Rayner. That's why Kilowog went to look for him and he knows how to stay out of trouble. Unlike Isamot apparently."

Kyle let out a frustrated sigh as he frowned. Boodikka, Kilowog, and John had gotten back a few hours prior along with Ph'yzzon, Zirral, and Alisand'r. Though Kyle saw how all six of them were beaten and battered. While the Green Lanterns may have won this Romkagorf thing but it clearly wasn't an easy victory. Kyle didn't have a chance to ask questions as Kilowog was immediately sent out to look for Isamot. Boodikka was tending to hers and Alisand'r's wounds. John was off to the side and refused to speak to anyone. Kyle could tell that John was furious and he didn't particularly want to ask why in fear of John turning his anger onto him.

Zirral groaned as she placed a hand to the side of her head. Ph'yzzon lightly chuckled as he knelt next to her. She in turned glared up at him, "I don't see how this is funny. We should have killed them."

"Easy Zirral," he quietly replied. "They'll serve their purpose and then we can rid ourselves of them. Besides, if you truly wanted to kill him, why play your little mind games then? Hmm?"

"No fun in not doing so," she retorted. "Like I told him, very few are able to escape. I wonder what he saw that enraged him so much."

Ph'yzzon briefly looked over his shoulder at John before turning his attention back to Zirral, "Whatever it was, it was very personal. You obviously struck a nerve with that one. Impressive strength though once he was angered. We need that kind of strength."

"You mean we need that strength as long as he doesn't turn it on us again," Zirral stated.

"True," Ph'yzzon then smirked. "I think it's time I make friends with the Green Lanterns. Don't you?"

Zirral as well smirked, "Play nicely Ph'yzzon."

John scowled as he clenched his fists and glared at the ground. He still hadn't gotten over the rage he felt from the illusion Zirral had put him through. It had been roughly a month since he left Earth and last saw Shayera. Seeing her, even if it was just an illusion, had awaken every desire John had tried so hard to suppress. John felt his scowl grow as he fists grew even tighter when he caught the sight of Ph'yzzon walking towards him in his peripheral vision.

"My, my," Ph'yzzon began. "You put up quite the fight with Zirral. Quite impressive honestly for a Green Lantern."

"Thanks," John sarcastically muttered. "That means so much coming from you."

"I was only trying to be cordial and create small talk." Ph'yzzon quietly studied him for a moment before speaking again, "Whatever it was that Zirral had you see, you cannot hold against her."

"And why the hell not?" John snapped at him. "You have no idea what she did to me."

"She did nothing to you Green Lantern," the Tamaranean dryly replied with a frown. "Her power simply enhances whatever it is that you desire. She cannot see nor permutate whatever it is that you saw. That was all on you Green Lantern. Your own desires is what caused every bit of that illusion to happen. Now I can see you're in no current mood to speak so I'll take my leave. Perhaps we can talk later."

John swallowed as the Tamaranean walked away from him. He wanted very much to be with Shayera again so obviously that had been one of his biggest desires. He then paused when he thought back to everything else. Her not having wings or being pregnant were two very distinct callouts from that illusion.

By even Shayera's own emission they both knew that if she wasn't a Thanagarian that their lives would be a hell of a lot easier and John would be lying if he said he hadn't fantasized how their lives could have been like if she were a human. For one they never would have had to deal with the whole Thanagarian Invasion fiasco. They could have had a normal life outside of the Justice League and not always having to worry about being out in public together. Shayera was too recognizable with her wings and John never bothered to establish a secret identity for himself once back on Earth.

Neither of them spoke about it but John knew they were going to have a problem with raising a child whilst having no secret identities. John knew that Shayera most likely already had the same thoughts and that they both knew the target they were already placing on their unborn child's back. Perhaps that's why John did partly wish that Shayera had never gotten pregnant to begin with. Though it wasn't like he was unhappy that they were going to have a baby together. Perhaps a bigger part of this was that John was still afraid of falling into the clutches of this supposed destiny and not having control over his own life.

"It's Kilowog," Kyle's voice broke John out of his thoughts. John let out a sigh as he shook his head and walked over to Kyle and Katma. Kilowog landed next to them and heavily sighed. John noticed the severed arm gripped in Kilowog's hand. He had a sinking feeling he knew who it belonged to.

Evidentially Kyle as well saw it as he looked at Kilowog in horror. "Is...is that?"

"I take it you didn't find him," Katma quietly said. "Or at least not in one piece."

Kilowog shook his head, "This is all I found of him. It wasn't too far off from a huge ship. My guess it's a Gordanian ship."

"We're going to try to save him right?" Kyle asked but none of the others immediately answered. "Right?"

John sighed, "One thing at a time Kyle. We don't even know if Isamot's on that ship or not. If that's some kind of flagship than it'd be suicide for us to just go running in all gung ho. We'll need a plan and a damn good one at that. We can only hope that he's still alive if he's on that ship."

A/N: So Tarra Karn is a character I've wanted to introduce for a while now. Originally I had a storyline where she went to Earth with a bounty for Shayera. It would have been set very shortly after the Moments Captured in Time chapter Instructor. I might end up just doing a few, very long chapters in MCiT since I could never flesh it out no more than 6-7 chapters and it would have been a bit too short as a standalone story. Though maybe I can make something out of it still. A bit of a spoiler but the premise of the story would be a very rusty Shayera coming off of maternity leave playing cat and mouse with a murderous, psychopathic Thanagarian bounty hunter with a very reluctant to fight Jessica along for the ride.

Chapter Text

The dim emergency lights flickered, casting their huddled shapes in jagged shadow. Tarra crouched over the scratched-up panel she'd ripped from the wall, dragging a rivet across the metal to mark corridors and junctions.

"This is Deck 5," she murmured, tapping one angular line. "Guard shift changes here, every six hours. They move clockwise—north corridor first. That buys us a two-minute blind spot if we start here." Her rivet scratched a path westward. "Maintenance tunnel. Narrow, but we'll fit if we crawl single file. It leads past the fuel cells and into launch prep."

Behind her, Isamot growled low. "And my ring?"

Tarra didn't look up. She kept scratching the plan into the metal, slower now.

"That's not on the way. You know that," Thal's voice was curt. Her arms were crossed, feathers slightly ruffled. "We go for that ring, we lose our window. We risk the whole escape."

Vetalla sighed, her voice tight, "We already talked about this. The vault's off-route. We're pushing our luck just reaching the hangar."

"So you wanna to punch through the hangar doors and half a Gordanian platoon with your fists and optimism? Good luck with that. I'll take my chances with getting my ring back," Isamot scoffed, sharp and bitter. "To me you all sound like you have a death wish."

"It's not about what you want," Thal snapped. "We're trying to survive and get the hell out of here."

"We won't without it," Isamot snarled. "You think they've kept it close because it's useless? The ring's close. I feel it calling to me constantly."

Corsar shifted behind them, his voice low, "It's a risk."

"A stupid and unnecessary one," Thal muttered.

Tarra finally set the rivet down, brushing metallic dust from her fingers. Her expression was unreadable, but her eyes gleamed with something just a little too calm.

"It is a risk," she said quietly. "But the nir'satk is right."

Thal turned to her, incredulous. "But you said earlier that we couldn't afford detours."

"I said it would be dangerous. It still is," Tarra shrugged. "But it might be the only way we survive the hangar. His ring levels the field. Without it, we're practically throwing rocks at a starcruiser."

Isamot's jaw tightened, but he nodded.

Shayera's gaze lingered on Tarra, "And you're just...what? Suddenly fine with it?"

Tarra lightly chuckled, "Let's call it strategic compromise."

She turned the panel slightly, sketching a sharp line diverging from their planned route. "Vault's here. Two corridors past the coolant tanks. Guard rotation's lighter this cycle. If we move fast, we hit it and loop back to the launch chute before the next patrol."

Corsar leaned in, frowning. "What if they reinforce once the vault's tripped?"

"They will," Tarra said with smile, one that didn't match the coldness behind her eyes. One that unsettled Isamot. "But they'll reinforce there, not at the hangar. So this could become a beautiful diversion."

The forcefield thrummed like a predator breathing, casting harsh blue light across the rusted walls of the cell. It was the only thing separating them from freedom and possibly their deaths.

Vetalla knelt at the exposed control panel, her hands slick with grime and sweat, fingers working faster than her heartbeat. Sparks snapped at her knuckles but she didn't flinch.

"Three seconds," she said coldly. "That's how long the surge will drop the field."

"Three?" Isamot's voice was a growl from deep in his chest. "That's not long enough."

"It's what we've got," she snapped. "You want longer? Break a hole through quantum shielding with your fists."

He glared, teeth bared, but he said nothing more.

Vetalla didn't answer. She jammed the last wire into place, hissed through her teeth, "Corsar now!"

Without hesitation, Corsar slammed his armored fist into the relay conduit.

There was a split second of buzzing noise before the forcefield collapsed in a surge of static.

Tarra was already moving. "Go!"

They spilled into the corridor like a breach in a dam, adrenaline propelling them forward. The narrow tunnel stretched ahead, the vault door glowing faintly at the end of their detour.

But suddenly, a deep, grinding roar shook the entire ship.

The floor vibrated beneath their boots. Lights flickered wildly, casting their shadows in frantic bursts.

"The ship's moving!" Vetalla shouted, her voice sharp with panic. "Why is the ship moving?"

Tarra skidded to a halt, eyes scanning the corridor. Heavy thuds echoed through the metal, reverberating in their bones.

"Launch sequence started," Corsar rasped. "They're getting ready to take off."

The narrow corridor smelled of burnt circuitry and stale coolant. The hum of the ship's engines thrummed beneath their boots, a steady reminder that time was slipping away faster than they could run.

The vault door loomed ahead, its surface etched with complex circuitry and shimmering locks. Vetalla dropped to her knees beside the control panel, eyes narrowing as she traced the tangled web of wires and energy conduits beneath the grime. "Give me a second," she muttered, voice tense but steady.

"Can you bypass the lock?" Thal asked sharply, eyes scanning for reinforcements.

Vetalla didn't answer directly. Instead, she carefully traced the flow of power through the panel, her hands steady despite the flickering emergency lights. "They've layered quantum encryption over the physical locks. But it's old tech. Pretty much a rat's nest of redundant failsafes. If I can reroute the power flow and overload the main node the magnetic seals should drop temporarily."

"Temporarily?" Isamot growled, impatient.

"Just enough time," Vetalla said, sweat beading on her brow. "Thirty seconds, maybe forty until the doors close again."

Isamot shifted nervously but Vetalla's fingers never stopped moving. Sparks crackled faintly as she jammed a thin wire into an access port hidden beneath the panel.

"Okay," she breathed. "Now."

The vault hissed open with a pressurized gasp, the air inside colder than the rest of the corridor. Pale containment lights lit the small chamber beyond, casting long shadows over racks of confiscated tech. Floating at the center, humming with restrained power, was Isamot's Green Lantern ring.

He froze. For the first time since capture, his breath hitched.

"There it is," he murmured, stepping forward like he was approaching an altar. "Finally."

"We need to get that energy shield down," Thal moved to flank him, eyes never leaving the ring. Corsar hung back, watching their rear.

The corridor shook with the pounding of armored boots. Gordanians flooded in from both ends, their heavy weapons raised, voices harsh and commanding in guttural bursts.

"Hold them off!" Thal snapped, feathers bristling, wings tense.

Isamot stepped forward, muscles coiled to strike, but there were no weapons—only fists and fury. The narrow corridor gave little room to maneuver and the Gordanians pressed in like a relentless tide.

Vetalla's breath came sharp and fast as she grappled with a towering soldier, twisting his arm behind his back before careening him head-first into the wall. A grunt of pain and the soldier went down but there were too many more.

Isamot threw a savage punch, sending another Gordanian reeling against the wall, but a brutal blow from behind sent him sprawling onto the cold metal floor. His fingers scraped the ground, just inches from the glowing ring secured behind a forcefield inside the vault. So close. Too close.

Tarra's eyes flicked to the side corridor, the only way out unguarded. Tarra's jaw tightened. Her gaze flicked to the oncoming Gordanians then back to the vault doors where Isamot struggled to rise. "Forget this, I'm not sticking around," she said quietly, quietly stepping to the side with cold finality.

Tarra's boots echoed sharply against the metal as she darted toward the side corridor, heart hammering like a war drum. The shouts behind her were a rising storm—Gordanians closing ranks, bloodlust thick in the air. She didn't look back.

The narrow passage swallowed her whole, the stale air biting at her lungs, but there was no time to slow. Ahead, the hatch leading to the launch prep bay flickered dimly, its panel cracked but unlocked an old maintenance oversight. Freedom was just beyond.

Suddenly, a guttural roar exploded behind her. The vault's heavy blast doors slammed shut with a thunderous clang. The pounding footsteps ceased. Then silence taut and suffocating. She could no longer hear Isamot's strained growl and Thal's fierce commands. But Tarra's mind was already elsewhere: freedom, survival, vengeance.

Now she only heard the cold hum of failing lights and the sharp hiss of the ship's engine thrumming to life. Tarra's heart hammered, adrenaline sharpening every sense. Her eyes narrowed, muscles coiling like a predator's. There was no mercy left here only the raw, brutal instinct to survive.

Tarra didn't flinch. She didn't turn back. She ran.

Tarra surged out of the corridor like a missile. The first Gordanian guard barely had time to blink before she slammed into him, shoulder first, driving his head against the wall. His helmet cracked. His body went limp as his mind was in a daze.

She snatched his sidearm as he fell, aimed, and fired twice, both clean headshots. Another guard dropped and the fallen one went still, armor still hissing with the heat of the plasma.

Tarra raised the rifle again as she stormed the hangar. Her entry shocked the soldier who froze on the spot. Tarra sneered as she pulled the trigger but the rifle jammed.

"Cheap ship tech," the Thanagarian muttered.

Tarra didn't hesitate though. She hurled it like a club, catching the soldier in the jaw, and was already on him before he hit the floor. She slammed her elbow into the side of his head, driving him into the wall. The impact dented the plating behind him. He reeled, dazed, but reached for his blade. Unfortunately for the Gordanian, he had done so too slowly.

Tarra grabbed the hilt first, stabbed, and twisted, driving the butt of it into his throat. He crumpled without a word.

She didn't linger. The ship's launch countdown echoed from distant intercoms, garbled but unmistakable.

Tarra vaulted over the body and hit the deck running. In the center of the bay, a single-launch sled waited on a raised platform. A maintenance model, short-range, but fast. Not meant for combat but meant for escape.

Tarra smirked. It was perfect.

She sprinted for it, boots clanging on the metal grating, every second a lifetime.

Her wings twitched, aching to unfurl, to lift her free of the pressurized choke of the ship's innards—but there was no room. Not yet. Not until she was in the air.

Tarra leapt onto the sled, fingers flying over the ignition panel. It was locked, of course, but she didn't need finesse now. She ripped the cover off, hotwired the conduit, and jammed a power cell into the breach. The sled whined to life beneath her, thrusters trembling.

A snarl rang out behind her.

Tarra spun just in time to see a massive Gordanian brute barreling toward her, massive arms raised to crush. His armored boots pounded the metal floor, each step shaking the air, a juggernaut bent on stopping her.

Tarra's eyes narrowed to cold slits...no hesitation, no mercy. She braced herself as his shoulder slammed hard into her chest and throwing her body across the hangar bay. The impact sent her skidding across the grated floor, scraping metal and pain shredding through her ribs. Dazed but not broken, she snapped her wings out in a desperate reflex.

The brute charged forward, roaring—a thunderous bellow of raw rage—and raised his heavy fists to crush her. Time slowed, the hangar around her a blur of steel and flickering lights. Tarra's mind sharpened, instincts honed through years of combat kicking in.

With a snarl, she twisted mid-fall, catching the incoming fist with her forearm and rolling with the blow. Pain exploded up her arm, but she gritted her teeth and shoved off the floor, slamming her elbow into the brute's exposed ribs. The Gordanian grunted, staggering but not falling.

"You will not leave this ship," he growled in low, guttural.

Tarra stared at him for a beat and then smiled, slow and dangerous, "Don't promise me with a good time now."

The Gordanian charged, a hulking wall of muscle and rage. His fist swung down like a wrecking ball, but Tarra twisted away at the last instant, the air ripping past her as his fist smashed the metal floor where she'd stood.

Pain flared in her ribs, sharp and unforgiving, but she didn't falter.

With a savage snarl, she ripped the blaster from the brute's belt as he stumbled forward, still recovering from the missed strike. Without hesitation, she jammed the barrel against the bottom of the Gordanian's jaw.

"Too easy," Tarra purred with coy smile.

Tarra's grip on the blaster tightened, her eyes cold and unblinking. The Gordanian's defiant growl was cut short as she pressed the weapon harder against his throat.

Without hesitation, she pulled the trigger.

A blast of searing plasma tore through the side of his neck, cartilage and bone shattering beneath the force. The Gordanian's body convulsed violently, spasming with raw pain, then went limp, collapsing like a fallen tower onto the grated floor.

Tarra barely spared him a glance. There was no time for mercy here.

She kicked the corpse aside and yanked herself into the cockpit, slammed the canopy shut, and punched the ignition. The engines roared to life, the platform vibrating beneath her.

Behind her, furious shouts erupted from the other Gordanians flooding the bay, but the sled was already accelerating.

The sled tore across the hangar bay, metal grinding beneath the thrusters, lights blurring into streaks. The ship's hyperdrive sequence echoed through the air, a countdown warning Tarra that freedom was slipping closer with every second.

Tarra's wings twitched fiercely, restrained by the cramped cockpit, but the sled shot out the open hangar doors and into Tamaran's orange skies. The flagship behind her trembled as it rose from the planet's surface but Tarra was already a speck racing away, fueled by ruthless determination.

Inside the ship, the emergency lights flickered erratically, casting jagged shadows over Isamot, Thal, Vetalla, and Corsar. Their frantic scramble for freedom was cut brutally short.

Gordanian guards poured into the corridor, weapons drawn, cutting off every exit. Before they could react, strong hands seized them from behind—grapples, cuffs, and brutal force overwhelmed their resistance.

"Your escape ends now," a guttural voice snarled as Isamot's limbs were forced into restraints.

Thal struggled, feathers ruffling fiercely, but there was no breaking free. Vetalla's fingers twitched with frustration, and Corsar's armored frame was wrestled to the ground.

The vault door slammed shut before them, cutting off the faint glow of the Green Lantern ring.

The ship trembled again, and the hum of the hyperdrive grew louder—signaling their departure from Tamaran.

A harsh announcement echoed through the corridors: "Prisoners secured. Hyperdrive engaged."