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The Councilman's Wife
A Justice League Unlimited Story - R 'Verse Story
by BillA1
Copyright September 2006
Rating: (PG-13)
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Disclaimer: The characters Batman, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Superman & Flash and their respective secret identities 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 are my own creation. This story is based on characters from the animated Justice League series episode: Destroyer written Dwayne McDuffie. This story was inspired by an email exchange with Merlin Missy

A huge shout out of thanks to Merlin Missy for her beta on this story.

Synopsis: John & Shayera come out of retirement to right a wrong - for a Gordanian.

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Note: Spoilers up through "Destroyer." Not a direct sequel to any previous work, but references material that appeared in Living with Shadows, Aftermath: Night of the Paladin and Bookends.

This story is part of the R 'Verse tales set after Destroyer and before the Batman Beyond time period. Familiarization with that series is suggested, but it's not required. A companion piece to Spring Green by Merlin Missy.

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Chapter One - You Should Get Something for Your Throat
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The Third Moon Hotel on Jennia
(54 years after the Toyman kills Rex Mason)

"Where's my breakfast?" The shout came from the bedroom of the hotel suite.

Siarus looked up as Gerfin turned the audio off the video communicator and sighed. The whiny voice belonged to Lady Hue. He was her bodyguard and at this moment, he couldn't think of anyone whose body he wanted to guard less than hers. But she was the wife of his employer, the leader of the Gordanian High Council, and it was his job to make sure nothing happened to her. Gerfin whispered to Siarus, "I'll tell you where I'd like to put her breakfast."

Siarus, seated at the writing desk, put his transcriber down and raised his claw to his snout, "Shhhh. She'll hear you. You know her husband can make you disappear, right?" He turned back to writing his trip report hoping Gerfin would take the hint and wouldn't follow up the conversation.

But Gerfin wasn't finished. "What? Are you stupid? The council leader's trying to make her disappear. Why else would our military escort suddenly get recalled back to the Homeworld, but we wouldn't be allowed to go with them?"

Siarus pointed back at the video communicator. Gerfin turned back to the device, turned the audio back on and spoke to the Jennian at the other end. "Well?"

The Jennian was apologetic as he answered, "Sorry for the delay, sir, but we're still working on it." Gerfin snorted at the screen image. "You have two minutes before I come down there and make you my breakfast." He turned the audio off again and turned his back on the stunned Jennian.

"Think about it," Gerfin continued to Siarus. "He dispatches her halfway across the galaxy to attend a conference that's cancelled when she gets here. Doesn't that sound phony to you?"

"Like a Thanagarian smile," Siarus replied. He turned his transcriber off and stood. Sitting on these humanoid chairs was hard on a Gordanian's tail. "But, I think you've got a point. Maybe it's time for us to depart from the itinerary they have us on and make our own way back."

From the bedroom came the whiny voice again, "Where's my breakfast? I'm tired of waiting."

Siarus nodded toward the bedroom. "So are you gonna tell 'Miss high and mighty' in there about changing the schedule?"

Before Gerfin could answer, there was a knock on the door. A voice on the other side called, "Room service."

Gerfin turned back to the video communicator and turned the audio on. The Jennian on the view screen looked relieved when Gerfin said, "Never mind, it's here. You get to live another day." He turned off the device.

Siarus walked to the door and glanced back at Gerfin, "Finally! Go let her ladyship know breakfast is served." Siarus waited until Gerfin went into the other room before he opened the door. A Jennian wheeled a cart with food plates on it into the room and, without looking up, handed Siarus a courier pouch.

"This came by messenger last night. It's for Madam Hue," the Jennian said as he took the plates off the cart and set them on the little dining table in the center of the suite. The Jennian waited about ten seconds for a tip that Siarus never gave him. Grumbling the waiter wheeled the cart out of the room. Siarus set the courier pouch down on the table next to the plates and called out, "All clear."

Madam Hue stepped out of the bedroom. She was having an animated discussion with Gerfin, and Siarus knew who was going to win that argument.

"No, we will not change our schedule," she said firmly. She sat down at the table, lifted the covers off the plates and sneered. Siarus shook his head slightly, not wanting her ladyship to see his disgust. It was going to be one of those days.

"I know you're trying to be helpful," she continued, "but you see conspiracies where there are none." She picked up a fork, took a bite of her meal, and promptly frowned. Then she looked back up at Gerfin and said with her mouth full, "Changing the schedule says I don't have faith in my husband. I won't ever say that and if you want to continue to serve in my household, you will drop this matter. Is that clear?"

Gerfin's frown matched hers. He bowed his head. "Very clear, my Lady. I want you to know that when we get back home, I intend to resign from your service."

Lady Hue said nothing. That in itself didn't surprise Siarus. After all they were just hired help to her and easily replaced like broken plates.

Gerfin noticed the pouch on the table, picked it up, turned to Siarus and said, "What is this?"

Siarus shrugged his shoulders. "Room service brought it up. Said a messenger left it last night for Madam Hue."

He could hear Gerfin's breath catch as he said, "Did he say 'Madam Hue'?"

As he sat back down at the writing desk again, Siarus said, "Yeah." Then he froze and mumbled, "Oh… tward!"

Gerfin flung himself at Madam Hue and knocked her over and to the floor. Siarus jumped up from the desk, grabbed the pouch, and ran to the door. The pouch exploded just as he reached the doorknob.

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(Five hours later)

It had been a quiet morning in this old neighborhood. John stood in the middle of his living room staring into the bottom of his second coffee cup. He'd been up about three hours. Frankly, retirement sucked. Deep down inside, he wished for the days when he still wore a ring and every day brought the chance of new adventure and excitement. He suspected Shayera felt the same way. But it was too late to go back now. There was a new Lantern in John's old sector and a new Warhawk as well, though it wasn't as if Rex even remembered to call now and then.

A sharp knock broke his train of thought. He set his cup down on the hall table next to the pistol that he kept holstered. It was probably one of the neighbors wanting to borrow a couple of hadipp eggs for some recipe again.

He opened the door and looked into the face of a Jennian he'd never seen before.

"Are you John Stewart?' the Jennian asked.

John felt his hands start to sweat and suddenly wished he'd carried his pistol to the door. Vengeance didn't go into retirement just because a Green Lantern did. There were plenty of people who might want him or Shayera dead and wouldn't care if they were retired. He knew he still had reasonable self-defense skills for a man his age, but he'd not practiced against a real opponent in years. He quickly tried to size up the Jennian at the door. Maybe he could take him, but he'd feel better about his odds if he had that gun right now. He cleared his throat. "I am John Stewart. What do you want?"

"Your mate is a Thanagarian," came the reply. "Where is she?"

"What's this about?" John asked sharply. He mentally counted the steps to the table where his pistol lay and tried to calculate whether he could make it to his weapon before the Jennian could fire his --- except the Jennian wasn't showing a weapon.

The Jennian quickly moved inside the house, sidestepping John and turning to face him said, "I mean you no harm, John Stewart. I just need to know where your mate is."

"I'm right here," answered Shayera behind him. She'd donned her black mask and had her energized mace in her hand. "What do you want?" John stepped behind her, grabbed his pistol from the table and then slipped in front of Shayera, pointing his weapon at the floor by the Jennian's feet.

The Jennian ignored the weapons. "My name is Fam Hawf. I need you to come with me."

John shook his head. "She's not going anywhere until you explain what this is all about."

The Jennian slowly nodded his head. "This morning there was an accident. A member of the Gordanian High Council wishes to see your wife. In the interests of keeping diplomatic relations calm, Shayera Hol of Thanagar must accompany me or there might be another accident – here."

John raised his pistol. "You can't come into my house and threaten me or my mate."

Shayera put her hand on John's pistol and lowered it. "I'll go."

John's head spun in her direction. "What?"

Hawf looked relieved as he said, "Thank you. I'll wait outside, but please hurry."

As the Jennian stepped outside, John grabbed Shayera by the shoulders. "You can't go with him. They can't come here and do this."

Shayera shook her head as John released her. "Yes, they can. We're not on Earth anymore. Besides, they know my name. I need to know what else they know."

John fastened his pistol holster around his waist, threw on a gold-colored vest over his black turtlenecked shirt and put his rifle holster on his back. "Well, I'm going with you."

Shayera clipped her mace to her belt and smiled. "Well, d'uh."

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John was surprised that Fam Hawf took them to the local hospital. He'd half expected they'd be questioned at the Administrator's office, but instead they were escorted to a waiting room within the building. There were two chairs and a desk in the room. This room looked more like an interrogation room than a waiting room. John's hands started to sweat again when Hawf left the room. He wiped them against his dark trouser legs.

About a minute passed before the door burst open, startling them both. And for the first time in his life, John laid his eyes on a live Gordanian. His first thought was how big it was, followed by how ugly. Shayera let out a chirp at the sight of the big lizard. The sound surprised him. He'd heard Shayera make many sounds during their time together, but he'd never heard her make that particular noise before, like the clatter of a sparrow that had been cornered by a cat. He moved to stand closer to her and just slightly in front of her. She cleared her throat as he positioned himself.

The big Gordanian closed the distance between them and the door in seconds. He made a point of standing nearer to Shayera than to John. Speaking in a surprisingly soft voice he said, "Please sit down. I'm sorry they took you away from your home, but Jennians are not known for being subtle."

"Neither are Gordanians," John answered. "We'll stand."

The Gordanian stared at John briefly. "You are correct, Green Lantern. Gordanians are not subtle, but this isn't about you. It concerns her." He pointed to Shayera.

She fingered her mace as she answered in a strong voice, "Concerns me how?" The Gordanian noticed her restless hand.

"Don't be afraid of me, Thanagarian," the Gordanian answered. He whipped his tail in the air with a swooshing sound. "If I thought you were responsible for what happened this morning, I would have already ripped your wings out of your body and gutted you."

"That's enough," John snapped as he drew his pistol and pointed it at the lizard. "I'm tired of people threatening my woman. The next words out of your mouth better be an apology or the next thing you say will be your last."

The Gordanian stared down at the pistol and then nodded slowly. "Yes, human, I think you would shoot." He turned toward Shayera. "Please accept my apology if anything I've said has caused you any discomfort."

Shayera glanced flatly at John and then back to the Gordanian. John noticed her wings move just enough to touch him, bringing a quick smile to his face. "What do you want with me," she said, "and what about this name the Jennian called me to get me here?"

"First things first. My name is Gerfin and the Gordanian Homeworld requires your services."

Shayera bristled. "I don't wish to serve. If you require nothing else, I'm going home."

Gerfin folded his arms across his massive chest and whipped his tail again. "You misunderstand, Lieutenant Hol. I require your services, but I'm prepared to pay for them."

John raised his pistol again, pointing it at the lizard's head. "This woman is nobody's lieutenant, but you said something about payment. How much are you talking about?"

This time it was Shayera's head that spun. "John, I'm not taking any money from these people for anything."

John holstered his pistol and stepped next to Gerfin, positioning himself between the lizard and Shayera. "Okay. She won't take your money, but I might. What do you want done?"

Shayera put her hand on John's shoulder and forced him around. "No. You. Won't." She turned to Gerfin. "Why did you call me Lieutenant Hol?" She cleared her throat again.

Gerfin looked at John. "I'll pay 10,000 credits." He looked back to Shayera. "You should get something for your throat. There is a large file on you in the Thanagarian military archives. The helmet is different, but you Thanagarians live a long time. Sixty standard cycles ago, you or someone with your name who looks like you prevented completion of some sort of weapon that would have allowed the Thanagarians to get to the Homeworld and win the War of Liberation. At least they believed they would have won. How old are you, Thanagarian?"

Shayera frowned. "You're the one telling this tale. You tell me."

Gerfin turned back to John. "They don't tell their age just like they don't show their faces." John thought the lizard was frowning but he couldn't be sure. Gerfin looked at Shayera and hissed. "All you Thanagarians look alike. While I don't personally think you are that Shayera Hol, you are close enough. You see, Thanagarian, you've been set up to take the fall for an assassination and you didn't even know it."

"What?" John and Shayera chorused.

"This morning," Gerfin continued. "Someone tried to kill Madam Hue, the wife of the leader of the High Council. My partner and I are her bodyguards. Personally, I think it's her husband." Gerfin looked around the room as if he thought that he'd said too much and someone had overheard him.

"And this is where you come in," Gerfin added as he sat down. "Our security service knew there was a Thanagarian here. That's how I knew where you lived. I had your house and both of you under surveillance for two days before our arrival. You didn't make a move I didn't know about. The explosion was supposed to kill Madam Hue and us, and you were to be blamed for the deaths. The wing ripping?" He shrugged his shoulders, then scratched his claw across the desk. "Very real possibility for you if they hadn't screwed up."

Shayera's eyes narrowed. "Screwed up, how?"

"The bomb was in a courier pouch addressed to Madam Hue. They brought it with the morning meal. But, they didn't know I registered in the hotel under my name with two guests. Any official packages should have addressed to me. Our security service knows that's the protocol. Someone wanted to be sure she opened the bomb. My partner was killed trying to get rid of it when it went off. Madam Hue wasn't hurt."

John rubbed his chin. "So what do you want us to do for 10,000 credits?"

"I want you to take Madam Hue back to the Homeworld."

Shayera threw her hands in the air. "Are you crazy?"

"20,000 credits and we'll do it," John said.

"Are you crazy?" Shayera exclaimed as she dragged John toward the door. "Don't you see? If anything happens to her, someone will be coming after me … after us."

John smiled, reached up and gently stroked the side of her face with the back of his hand. "You're absolutely right. If anything happens to her, someone will be coming after you. So I would think that you'd want to make sure she gets home safely so no one comes after you. Get it?"

Shayera grabbed his hand and squeezed it tightly in hers. "You know, I could learn to hate you."

John rubbed his hand after Shayera let go. "Too late for that."

"I know," she smirked.

John turned back to face Gerfin. "Seventy-five percent up front, the rest on delivery."

Gerfin shook his head. "Fifty percent now. The rest when her ladyship gets back to her husband in front of witnesses."

"You heard him," Shayera barked. John wondered who the anger in her voice was really directed at. "Seventy-five percent on deposit with the City Administrator of Jennia in the name of Rex Stewart. The rest of the credits are to be paid by the husband on delivery."

Gerfin was quiet. Then he stood. "Done! I want you to meet Madam Hue now."

Shayera shook her head. "Bring her to my house. But not before the money is deposited."

John and Shayera turned to leave. As John opened the door for her, Shayera stopped and turned back to Gerfin, "And just so you know," she said. "Shayera is a common Thanagarian name. It means bitter. I imagine a lot of girls were named Shayera during your occupation."

She turned and walked out of the door. As John followed her, he noticed she was trembling.

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