Disclaimer: The characters Batman, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Superman & Flash are all owned by DC Comics. This story is intended for my own pleasure and is not for profit. It has been posted to this site for others to read. Places and characters not own by DC Comics are my own creation. This story is based on characters from the Justice League Animated Series episode: Legends written Andrew Kreiberg.
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CHANGING FOCUS
Rating: (PG-13)
Synopsis: In Legends, Green Lantern, the Flash, the Martian Manhunter and Hawkgirl were transported to Earth-2 where they encountered the Justice Guild of America and Ray, the Junior Justice Guildsman. Ray turns out to be responsible for the conditions that exist in the post-war Earth-2. The four justice league members are unable to defeat Ray without the ultimate sacrifice of the JGA members. With Ray defeated, the four Leaguers have to try to get home. One of them takes a little longer to get home than the others.
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Chapter One
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The four Leaguers slowly re-entered the old house that was once the meeting place of the Justice Guild of America. The wood floors creaked under their weight. With Ray gone and no longer able to maintain the illusion of the well kept house, the true age and condition of the house was readily apparent.
"Are you OK?" Hawkgirl asked the Green Lantern as the four Leaguers walked into the hallway of the house.
The Green Lantern had a sullen look on his face. He spoke slowly.
"It's just so hard. These were people...no...ideals that I grew up with. The Justice Guild saved us. I just wish there had been some way for us to save them."
The Flash put his hand on the Emerald Knight's shoulders.
"Don't be so hard on yourself, GL," the Flash said, "It was Ray that kept them alive and when Ray was defeated, they died again, but they knew that was going to happen."
The Green Lantern acknowledged that he heard his friend and continued walking.
The group slowly made its way through the house toward the kitchen and to the entrance of the basement.
The Martian Manhunter opened the door to the basement, stood at the top of the stairway and said, "The problem we have now is how to get back home?"
From the top of the stairs, the Green Lantern looked down into the darken basement and said,
"Well, Tom Turbine said that he had started work on a dimensional gateway. Maybe he finished it."
Using his ring as a light source, the Green Lantern led the four Leaguers down the steps of the darken basement.
There was a collective gasp when they saw the dimensional gateway that Tom Turbine, a hero of Earth-2, had created. The Gateway was a circular ring of metal and wires approximately 30 feet in diameter. Heavy cables ran from the gateway to what appeared to be a power generator. The power generator was almost as large as the gateway itself.
The four Leaguers approached the apparatus cautiously being careful not to touch anything.
The Flash was examining what appeared to be a control console when suddenly; he smiled and then just as quickly frowned.
"Heyyyy. That's way wrong! I just got it. I just got it."
Hawkgirl looked up from where she had been examining the cable connections on the other side gateway opposite the Flash and said, "Got what?"
The Flash turned to Hawkgirl. "The Streaks' comment about GL being a credit to his people."
Hawkgirl looked down and shook her head, then glared at the Flash and put her hand on her mace handle.
"Remember what I said about being the fastest man with a limp," she growled.
"Ahhhh...yeah....Oh...Okay. Can we go home now?" the Flash replied sheepishly,
Meanwhile, the Manhunter had completed his examination of the gateway and announced to all but to no one in particular, "This gateway seems complete. It just doesn't have a power source."
The Green Lantern took a deep breath and said, "Maybe I can power it up with my ring."
All four Leaguers entered the threshold of the gateway. The Manhunter stood next to Hawkgirl and glancing down at her mace asked, "Your mace? Is it damaged? It seems to be arcing."
Hawkgirl looked down at her mace which was clipped to her belt and then back into the expressionless face of the Manhunter.
"Yes. It was damaged when I hit Ray's force field with it. I can repair it when I get back to the Watchtower."
The Green Lantern of Earth energized the portal by focusing an energy beam on the gateway power grid. The power grid lit up and bathe the Leaguers is a massive green glow. At that moment, Hawkgirl's damaged mace started sparking and bathed her alone in a glow of white light energy. The portal flashed in green and white light and Tom Turbine's invention had worked as the Leaguers had hoped.
All four Leaguers stepped out of the portal opening and immediately recognized their new surroundings as their home.
As Hawkgirl stepped out, she groaned, "Ohhhh," and her knees buckled.
The Manhunter noticed her collapsing and quickly grabbed her by the arm and helped her to stand.
"Are you okay?" he asked with a look of concern on his face.
"I think I'm okay. I suddenly felt weak in the knees."
The Flash suddenly appeared on the other side of her, grinned broadly and said, "I have that effect on females."
Hawkgirl unclipped her mace from her belt and held it in her left hand.
"Do you really want to see the effect you have on this female?"
The smile left the Flash's face. He cleared his throat and said, "Excuse me; I'll see if I can get us a ride to the Watchtower." He quickly disappeared in a red blur.
Hawkgirl turned back to face the Manhunter and said, "I'm okay. Thanks for the concern."
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The ride to the Watchtower was a long one. The Flash didn't stop talking and the Green Lantern wouldn't talk despite several attempts of engagement by the Manhunter and Hawkgirl.
When they arrived at the Watchtower, the Flash immediately headed for the kitchen and Green Lantern headed to the terrace. Hawkgirl followed the Lantern. She had stopped her attempts to get Green Lantern to talk and decided that she would accompany him but give him the space to be alone with his thoughts.
The Lantern looked out into the void of space, lost in thought. Hawkgirl place her hand on his shoulder and asked, "Are you sure you're okay?"
The Lantern looked at her for a moment, weakly smiled and then looked back out into space. He took a deep breath and let it very slowly and said,
"You grow up with comic books," he said. "They help form you. They give you focus. They help you learn good from bad and right from wrong. Because of the Justice Guild of America, I became a Green Lantern. Now they're gone."
Keeping her right hand on the Lantern's shoulder she placed her left hand on his forearm and pulled herself closer to him.
"Lantern, nothing is really ever gone as long as you can remember it. They will live as long as we remember them."
The Lantern smiled at her and said, "Want to get some dinner before the Flash eats it all."
Hawkgirl returned the smile and said, "That's okay. I don't feel well. I have to fix my mace anyway, and then I am going to lie down."
The Lantern continued smiling and said, "Okay, I'll see you later."
"See you later." she answered.
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Hawkgirl made the trek to her quarters. Upon entering her quarters, as was her custom, she made sure her door was locked behind her. She took off her helmet and placed it on the night table next to her bed and then laid her mace on the bed.
She went to her closet and took out a bathrobe and laid it on the bed next to her mace. Shayera slowly removed her costume, examining each piece for wear and tear. Satisfied that her costume was still serviceable, she draped it over one of the three chairs in her quarters.
She wrapped herself in her robe and opened one of her dresser drawers and took out a small tool kit. She sat down on the bed and examined her mace. She determined that the repair was minor and that the mace would be easy to fix. She decided that she would fix it after she rewarded herself with a warm shower.
She got up from the bed, stretched and spread her wings to their full length, stretching them out as far as she could. She walked to the bathroom, removed her robe and started her shower. She lost herself completely in mindless thought as the warm water beat down gently on her.
Finally, she turned the water off and spread and flexed her feathers to get as much water out of them as she could. She grabbed a towel and dried herself off. She wrapped another large towel around her now still damp hair and put her robe back on. Shayera walked out of her bathroom and was stunned as she looked into the smiling face of the Green Lantern in her bed.
"What the hell are you doing here?" she screamed as she raced to the night table where her helmet was.
In one motion, she ripped the towel off of her head and put her helmet on. She grabbed her mace and energized it. She screamed at the top of her lungs at the still smiling Green Lantern in her bed.
"Get out of my bed! Get out of my room!"
The Green Lantern slowly got out of her bed and stood next to her night table. He was nude. Smiling a broad grin, he said,
"Ohhh...the little lady wants to hurt me...okay, we can play rough tonight. Okay, how's this?"
And using his ring, the Green Lantern formed a giant hand which grabbed Hawkgirl around her waist and pinned her against the opposite wall. He then formed a second hand which started to open her robe.
Hawkgirl screamed, "Noooooo!" and fired an energy charge from her mace at the Green Lantern sending him flying against the opposite wall and landing on the floor in a heap.
The green hands disappeared when the Lantern lost his concentration dropping Hawkgirl to the floor. She leaped to her feet and then into the air and hovered near the fallen Lantern with her mace pointed directly at his chest.
"Owww, Shayera. That hurt. You're not supposed to play THAT rough," the Green Lantern groaned.
Her anger was near uncontrollable. She shouted at the Lantern, "What makes you think I was playing. How DARE you come into my quarters uninvited!"
"Shayera, what are you talking about? What do you mean uninvited? I'm your husband. What wrong with you?"
"Husband?" she yelled, "What the hell are you talking about? Mister – I am not married to you. I don't know what game you're playing but I'm not playing. And how do you know my first name."
"Shayera, what are you talking about? We have been married for two years. Ever since I was accused of destroying Aduris 4, remember?"
Hawkgirl landed near the foot of her bed still pointing her mace at the Lantern.
"Stay where you are!" she commanded. The Lantern adjusted his position on the floor but didn't attempt to get up.
Hawkgirl continued in a firm but softer tone, "Lantern! I remember the trial but I don't remember us being anything else but team mates. You're a team mate that I like a lot, but we are just team mates. Believe me; I would remember if we were married."
She sat on the edge of bed, and kept her mace pointed at him. She grabbed the towel laying on the bed that she had previously wrapped around hair and tossed it to the Lantern. The Lantern caught the towel in mid-air and covered himself with it.
"Damn you," she said softly. "Damn you!"
She looked at the Lantern sitting on the floor. He looked confused, no longer smiling and she was fighting back the tears. "I liked you. I liked you a lot. I never would have thought that you were capable of ...of...something like this."
She paused, "Wait a minute... Lantern, your trial was a year ago not two."
The Lantern never took his eyes off of her. He tried to make eye contact with her but from his position on the floor he wasn't sure he actually did because the helmet hid her eyes.
"No ma'am", he replied. He sighed and continued; "It was two years ago - right before Wonder Woman was killed?"
"What??? Diana's dead? Lantern, When?"
"Shayera, are you okay?" The Lantern's concern showed in his face. "Diana was killed by Aquaman almost two years ago and please stop calling me Lantern. And please take your helmet off. It's just John and Shayera in here."
Shayera didn't immediately move. She then nodded her head and removed her helmet. She turned her mace off and set it on the bed next to her. She ran her fingers through her still damp hair moving it away from her face.
"Lantern...er...John. Diana was alive two days ago."
Even though she had turned off her mace; the Green Lantern didn't attempt to get up.
"Shayera, I don't know what world you're living in, but she's been dead for a long time."
She looked down at the floor and then looked at John. "John, I don't know what world I'm living in either - but I do know she was alive two days ago."
Suddenly, Shayera felt panic. She grabbed her mace and energized it. Her eyes turned cold. She looked at John and said firmly, "Tell me what you know about me. Tell me what I have told you about Thanagar."
John was clearly puzzled by her change of tone.
"Well," he offered sheepishly, "you told me you were a soldier on your home world, not a detective as everyone else believed. But you worked hard everyday and even Batman is impressed with some of your sleuthing skills."
Her tone didn't change but her eyes did soften. "John, this is very important to me, so bear with me. For the moment, I will assume that we are married but do we have anything in common? I mean we are so different?"
His tone was equally soft to match hers,
"All I ever saw was a man and a woman who are as close as two people can be. You are warm and caring and we were all so happy for you when Thanagar opened its consulate in New York last year. You managed to get all of us an invitation to the opening and..."
Shayera cut him off. "Thanagar here? Last year?"
Her voice rose, "No. No. No. This is wrong....This is not right!!!"
John's voice now showed his concern. "Shayera, you are starting to scare me. Let's get you down to sickbay and have the Manhunter take a look at you."
She turned her mace off and set it beside her on the bed.
Without looking at John, she spoke, "Lantern... John. I need to think for a moment. Everything is wrong. This is so very wrong."
She looked at John. "John, I like you a lot but I don't love you enough to share my bed with you."
John looked at her and grinned. "Shayera, you have been sharing your bed with me for two years. Let me show you our wedding album." He paused, looked directly at her and then added, "If you will let me get up."
Shayera nodded.
John got up, walked over to the night table on the other side of the bed and opened the drawer. He pulled out a small white photo album and handed it to Shayera.
She opened the album and flipped through a couple of pages. The album held photos of the wedding couple of Green Lantern and Hawkgirl, taking their vows, cutting the cake and the couple dancing surrounded by fellow Leaguers and friends.
She then closed the album, placed it on the bed and started laughing hysterically, shaking her head.
"That's it. I have officially gone insane. Let me get dressed and let's go to sickbay."
Shayera grabbed her costume from the chair where it was draped and giving the Green Lantern a small smile walked into the bathroom and changed. She came out a few minutes later in her Hawkgirl guise. She noticed that the Green Lantern now was dressed in his uniform.
Shayera picked up her helmet and placed it on her head. She took her mace off the bed and clipped it to her belt mentally reminding herself that she still had to fix it.
The Green Lantern formed a transport bubble around them both.
As soon as the bubble was completely formed and started to move, Shayera heard a voice call her name. The voice created a pain in her head. Shayera moaned and fainted.
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