Chapter 4

Wonder Woman found the Thanagarians to be fierce opponents, but she could still take on small groups of them without much trouble. As she defeated one group, she noticed a door covered with irregularly-placed bars. Behind the bars, and inside of a force field, stood Shayera Hol. Once known as Hawkgirl, she had been one of Diana's best friends. But she had spat on that friendship, and Amazonians do not take kindly to traitors.

"I should leave you to burn." The Amazonian princess all but snarled the words. She then raised her sword and slashed it through the controls to Shayera's cell. The bars withdrew into the wall and the force field disappeared. Without another word, Diana marched away. As soon as she was gone, Shayera stepped out of her cell and, after picking up a fallen mace, flew off towards the shield control.

. . . .

On the engineering deck, Green Lantern used his ring to pry open a set of door. Behind them was a large room with a force field, shaped like a pillar, inside of which was a small device with a plunger-like attachment.

"The force field controls." John looked up to see Hro Talak, the Thanagarian commander, land in front of the force field. "That is what you came for, yes? You want it?" he raised his axe into a ready position, "All you have to do is get by me."

"It'll be a pleasure." Lantern raised his ring and sent a beam of energy at Talak, who deflected it with a swing of his axe.

"No." Talak gave a glare. "This won't be like the last time that you took something that belonged to me."

Lantern's eyes narrowed. He knew that Talak was talking about Shayera. "Anything I took was freely offered. Maybe you should take better care of your stuff."

John sent several more bolts of energy at his foe, all of which were deflected. Both flew into the air, with John forming a triangular shield to block Talak's axe. The blow still took a chunk out of the shield. After several more blows, Lantern figured that he would be better off dodging Talak's blows than blocking them. Unfortunately, he still took several hits from both Talak's fist and from the hilt of his axe. One blow in particular knocked him into some machinery, which exploded, giving him several cuts on his face.

Stunned, Lantern couldn't stop Talak from picking him up by the throat. "I've beaten you, little man." Talak raised his axe. "Any last words?"

As Lantern's head cleared, he said, "Yeah; you can kiss my axe!" His ring created a green battleaxe in his hand, and both combatants swung at each other, attempting to overpower the other.

. . . .

Humongosaur crashed through yet another pack of Thanagarians. Aside from a few cuts and bruises, he was doing alright. He wondered how the others were doing. He knew from fighting alongside them that the Justice League knew what they were doing, but in the short time that he'd known them, he had come to care for them. Even brooding Batman. He idly wondered if it was just his grief making him attached again.

As Humongosaur rounded another corner, he spotted another group of soldiers. With a roar, he crashed into them, punching, kicking and even swatting one with his tail. As he was finishing, he noticed another one out of the corner of his eye, a pretty female with long, red hair. As he turned to charge, she held up her hands.

"Wait, please!"

Humongosaur paused. Sure, she had been wearing a helmet the last time he'd seen her, but that voice…

"Shayera?"

The Thanagarian blinked. "Yes, it's me. You're… Ben, right?"

Humongosaur nodded. "Right now, you can call me Humongosaur. What are you doing?"

Shayera hefted her borrowed mace. "I want to help take down the shield controls." She looked down, shame obviously on her face. "And I want to atone for what I've done. Maybe I can never fully repair the damage I've done, but I want to start here and now, before it's too late."

Humongosaur nodded. He could understand wanting to fix a mistake, especially one that had lives on the line. He still hadn't come to terms with what happened. It was too soon.

"Let's go." As he stomped off, Humongosaur looked over his shoulder, "If you stab me in the back, you better make sure it kills me. Otherwise, it'll be the last thing you ever do."

Shayera nodded. That was as good as she deserved. Maybe even better.

They didn't encounter further resistance on their way to the shield controls. Humongosaur had to bend the frame of the walls a little in order to get through, but when he did, both he and Shayera found a horrible sight. Hro Talak had just brought down the blunt part of his axe like a club across Green Lantern's forearm, shattering the bone. With a scream of pain, John fell to his knees. Talak then delivered a wicked uppercut, sending Lantern across the room where he lay very still.

As Talak raised his axe for the killing blow, Shayera called out. "Hro! Enough!" Talak turned. His eyes widened when he saw Humongosaur, but his gaze quickly went to Shayera. The traitorous Leaguer continued to walk toward him, until they were inches apart.

"The fight's over. You're a soldier, not a murderer."

Talak paused for a moment, then delivered a vicious backhand, sending her to the ground.

"I'm a fool!" he shouted, "For ever loving you!"

He would have attacked her further, but a massive fist filled his vision and sent him hurtling into a wall. When his vision cleared, he saw the enormous creature, panting with rage.

Humongosaur was indeed furious. What was it about Thanagarians that made them treat women so cruelly? First had been the way that they'd treated Diana, now this? Ben had always been taught to respect women, and this stood in the face of everything that he'd been raised with. He wasn't going to let this go! He slapped the Ultimatrix dial on his chest. In a flash of green light, stood a seven-foot tall creature that seemed to be made of a green, plant-like material. His head was a red and yellow flame pattern.

"SWAMPFIRE!" he yelled in a deep, nasally voice. He glared at Talak. "Okay, buddy. Let's go!" with a yell, Swampfire charge at him, fist raised.

Talak flew at the plant creature, low to the ground. With a horizontal cut, Talak's axe sliced clean through Swampfire's leg!

"No!" Shayera was still slightly stunned, but seeing the man that she'd once loved do something so needlessly cruel was too much. She was about to rush into the fight, when something amazing happened. A vine grew out of the stump of Swampfire's leg, and attached to the severed limb, then, with a sickening, sucking sound, the limb reattached! Swampfire stood up, smirked and a fireball appeared in one hand! Talak was so stunned that he didn't have time to dodge. The ball of flame hit him square in the chest, sending him hurtling to the ground. Swampfire thought that was the end of it, but Talak got back up, his face full of rage.

Swampfire figured that he'd have to use something with a little more power. "Time to go Ultimate!" he shouted.

He twisted the Ultimatrix dial on his chest, then slapped it. Four spikes poked out of the circular dial, and Swampfire's body became a gray, wooden color. He became more hunched over in appearance, and several large, blue shells appeared on his head. His face also appeared inside of another blue shell.

"ULTIMATE SWAMPFIRE!" he roared. Raising his hand, he sent a massive blast of blue flame into Talak, who yelled in pain. "Shayera!" he called out. The Thanagarian had been helping Lantern get back to his feet. "See if you can shut down the shield while I keep him busy!"

Shayera and John both nodded. It was now or never.

. . . .

Watchtower

As the Watchtower entered the Earth's atmosphere, Batman struggled to keep the station on course. Activating his comlink, he radioed Superman.

"We're cutting it a little close." He flinched slightly as a flaming piece of debris fell near him. "Have you shut off the force field?"

Back at the outside of the flagship, Superman shot down another fighter with his heat vision before replying.

"Not yet. Where are you?"

"Aboard the Watchtower." Admitted Batman, "Guiding it to target."

"That's insane!" was Superman's worried response. "Get out of there!"

"Negative. I'm staying." Anything else Batman might have said was lost in static.

"Batman!" Without even a backwards glance, Superman flew towards the Watchtower, easily finding it with his enhanced senses, but praying that he would reach it before it was too late.

. . . .

Thanagarian Flagship

Talak knew that he was outmatched. This shapeshifting creature had been powerful before, but this enhanced form, this Ultimate Swampfire, was in a league all its own. It was probably powerful enough to kill him with ease, but he had a suspicion that the creature was holding back.

"Not going to kill me?" he taunted. "Are you too scared to bloody your hands?"

Ultimate Swampfire growled. He was doing his best not to kill him, but this guy just wouldn't stop. He decided to use a little more force. Reaching up, he took a glob of blue stuff out of one of his shells and threw it at Talak's feet. He then sent a small stream of fire at it. The blue slop was extremely explosive, and the blast sent a smoldering Hro Talak slamming into a wall, where he then slid to the floor in an almost cartoonish fashion. After checking to see that he wasn't dead, but still not a threat, Ultimate Swampfire turned around.

"Hey!" He shouted. "How's it coming, you two?"

It had been hard for Lantern to draw up enough willpower to crack through the shields of the controls. He was in so much pain, but he managed to push past it, thanks to his training from both the Marines and the Green Lantern Corps. Once the shield fell, he tried to push the plunger-like device down, but with only one working arm, he wasn't strong enough. That is, until Shayera placed her hand over his, and adding her strength to his own. Together, they deactivated the shields around the bypass.

. . . .

Watchtower

As the fiery remains of the Watchtower plummeted towards the bypass, Batman struggled to remain conscious. The extreme heat of reentry had pushed him to his absolute limit. Sweat rolled off of him in waves, and the only thing that he could still focus on was the targeting path on the computer screen in front of him, which miraculously still worked.

Finally, just when he knew that there was no way that the station wouldn't hit the bypass, did Batman allow himself to pass out. Fortunately, before the impact, Superman crashed through the walls of the station, and pulled both Batman and the seat he was strapped to, to safety. Seconds after they exited, the Watchtower, home and base of the Justice League for two years, crashed into the hyperspace bypass. The entire device, the size of a city, exploded with a force not seen since the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan. Over 200 miles wide, and nearly 20 miles deep, the crater could be seen from orbit.

Superman and Batman, who'd regained consciousness, took a moment to look out over the devastation, before the Man of Steel turned to the Dark Knight.

"Always have to be the hero, don'tcha?"

Batman looked at his friend for a moment, before giving a tired smile. "Right back at you."

. . . .

Thanagarian Flagship

Ultimate Swampfire, Green Lantern and Shayera looked at the crater that was the hyperspace bypass via a viewscreen in the room. Shayera gave them both a satisfied smile before she looked down at the floor with a sad, guilty expression.

She's realizing what she's done, thought Ultimate Swampfire; she's betrayed her entire species. What will she do now?

Further introspection was interrupted by the appearance of several dozen Thanagarian soldiers that flooded the room. The three prepared to defend themselves, when cries of pain from the back of room caused everyone else to turn. Standing over the unconscious forms of several Thanagarians, bloody, bruised but unbowed, was Wonder Woman!

"Who's next?" she asked, raising her sword. As more of the soldiers began to charge, a voice rang out.

"Stand down!" Charred, bruised and beaten nearly to a pulp, stood Commander Hro Talak. "Lower your weapons." The soldiers quickly obeyed.

"Commander?" one of them asked.

"Our mission is a failure." Talak went on. "There's no more reason to fight. Let them go." He ignored the incredulous looks from both his soldiers and the heroes and limped over to Shayera. "I hope you're proud of yourself. It'll take years for us to rebuild elsewhere."

Shayera stared at him, unflinching. "Then you'd better get started." With that, she, Lantern, Wonder Woman and Ultimate Swampfire marched out of the room. No one made a move to stop them.

. . . .

Wayne Manor, the Next Day

Ben Tennyson and Shayera Hol sat next to each other on the couch, watching the news. The television showed hundreds of Thanagarian ships leaving the planet. The reporter went on to thank the Justice League for what they did to save the world.

Another thing that's different here, Ben mused, instead of hating heroes, like Will Harangue, the media gives them props. Go figure.

Shayera turned off the TV and looked at her feet. "They've been in there a long time."

"Yeah," Ben replied, "they have."

They were referring to the League, which was currently having a discussion about its future, and the future of its traitorous teammate, in the dining room. Since she had betrayed them, she had lost the right to voice her opinion on League matters. Since Ben wasn't a League member at all, he had been politely asked to leave.

The two had spent the last several"hours talking, Ben trying to raise her spirits, and she spent the time listening to some of Ben's adventures from when he was younger. She had been more than a little surprised to learn that Ben had begun his superhero career at only 10 years old.

Though Ben had been trying to make Shayera feel better, in truth, he'd actually improved his own mood. Talking about the good times from that fateful summer vacation allowed him to remember the other happy times with his friends and family. Maybe he'd never get over it, but at least he knew that he could feel better. At the very least, he knew that he wouldn't try to kill himself again.

Although he was feeling slightly better, he could tell that Shayera was still depressed. She had lost everything. So had Ben, but he had gained a few friends that would support him. Shayera had betrayed those friends, as well as her entire species.

Now here she was, watching her people fly off in defeat, knowing that it was her fault. Without her Thanagarian armor, and all of her other clothes destroyed along with the Watchtower, Bruce Wayne had at least provided her with a pair of jeans, shoes, and a white shirt with the back cut away to allow for her wings.

Ben sighed. "Look, Shayera." The Thanagarian stopped staring at her shoes to look at him. "I know at least part of how you feel. I know what it's like to lose everything." She looked at him, confused. Mustering up his courage, Ben continued. "You may have lost your friends' trust, but at least they're still alive. You can rebuild that trust, as hard as it might be. My friends and family, everyone that I've ever cared about, was killed two days ago." There. He'd said it out loud.

Shayera looked at him in shock. He'd gone through that kind of trauma, and had been thrown into a universe that was completely strange to him, and he'd still risked his life to save a world that wasn't even his?

"I'm just gonna say this," said Ben, "if you hadn't made the sacrifices that you made, there's a good chance that we wouldn't be here today to hear that reporter's annoying voice." Shayera gave a weak smile. Ben put a hand on her shoulder. "Whatever they decide in there, in my eyes, if no one else's, you're a hero."

Shayera gave Ben another smile; this one, however, was genuine.

. . . .

"She exploited our weaknesses, betrayed us…" Wonder Woman had been ranting about what Shayera had done to them, and by this point had probably repeated several of her own points.

"Come on," Flash said, in Shayera's defense, "she was in the ultimate no-win situation; but when push came to shove, she came through for us, just like always."

"She is a pariah to her people." J'onn added. "We are all she has left."

"Believe me, J'onn, I feel for her." Said Superman, "But after everything that's happened, I honestly don't know if I can ever completely trust her again."

Green Lantern looked at the table, silent since the discussion began.

"We're arguing in circles." Said Batman, "It's time to take a vote."

. . . .

"Excuse me Miss Hol," Alfred said as he entered the room. Both Ben and Shayera stood up, apprehension on their faces. "They sent for you."

"Thank you, Alfred." The butler nodded, and walked away. Before she headed to the dining room, she gave Ben a small hug. "Thanks, Ben."

Ben returned the gesture, though it was hard to hug someone with wings. "No problem, Shayera."

As soon as she entered the dining room, Ben quietly went over to the adjacent wall. He hoped to hear what the League had to say. Maybe they'd go easy on her. He jumped slightly when he heard a soft cough. He turned to see Alfred, with a small smile on his lips. Before Ben could explain what he was doing, the butler put his ear to the wall, and gave Ben a wink. Ben grinned, then mirrored Alfred's action.

. . . .

Shayera entered the dining room to find the other six League members standing in a line. All stood with their backs straight and their shoulders squared. Even Green Lantern, whose right arm was in a cast.

"Hawkgirl…" Began Superman.

Shayera interrupted him. "Before you start, I have something to say." She took a deep breath. "I came to this planet as a patriot. I had a mission and I carried it out. What I couldn't know was that I would come to care for the Earth, and her people." She looked at each of her teammates in the eye; even Batman, who looked at her in suspicion, and Wonder Woman, who still gave her a look of contempt. "That I'd come to care for all of you. I've spent the last five years torn between my feelings and my duty. I won't ask you to do the same." Her spine straightened, and some of her old fire returned. "Therefore I am resigning from the Justice League, effective immediately."

She turned and walked towards the door, leaving six stunned ex-teammates behind. Flash recovered fastest and stopped her long enough to give her a hug. She returned it, and whispered in his ear.

"Tell the others to take care of Ben; he needs friends right now."

With that, she let go, and walked out the door. She didn't look back.

"Great," muttered Flash, "no Hawkgirl, no Watchtower; what's gonna happen to the League now? Do we all just walk away?"

"No," said J'onn, "we rebuild. Starting today."

"J'onn's right," agreed Superman, "Earth still needs us, and we'll never let her down. It's our duty."

Green Lantern looked down, still silent.

. . . .

Ben didn't know what to say. He'd known Shayera for even less time than the rest of the League, but he still counted her as a friend, and now she was leaving? He wanted to say something, anything, to get her to stay, but found he couldn't

"Good luck." Was all he'd managed to say. Still, he made sure to give Shayera one last hug before she left. . She was a lot like him, in a way. They'd both had their lives shattered, and now she was going to find her own way in the world. How could he do any less? He wasn't sure if he was ready to be a superhero again, but that didn't meant he couldn't live his life.

As he sat there, thinking about his future, Alfred walked in.

"Excuse me, sir." Ben looked up. "They're ready for you."

"Thank you, Alfred." Ben walked into the dining room. The Justice League was present, minus Green Lantern.

"Now then," said Superman, "What to do with you?"

. . . .

Shayera stood at the edge of the cliff near Wayne Manor. She heard footsteps, but didn't turn around. She knew who it was.

"You never asked how we voted."

Shayera barely glanced at John Stewart before returning her gaze to the sunset. "It doesn't matter."

"So… where're you gonna go?"

"I don't know." Said Shayera after a moment. "Some place where the fate of the world isn't in my hands. Some place where there are no more secrets, no more lies."

"Was it all a lie?"

Shayera turned to look at the Lantern. "I love you, John." She said that with a small smile. "I never lied about that."

After a moment of staring into his eyes, Shayera Hol turned around, opened her wings, and flew off into the sunset.

John Stewart watched her go, until she was too far to see. Only once she was gone did he allow the tears to fall.

"I love you, too."

. . . .