Takes place during Hunter's Moon
Disclaimer: They don't belong to me, never have, never will and I'm not getting paid for any of this.
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CHAPTER ONE
Vigilante's fingers gripped the steering mechanism of the Mark X ship so tightly that it would have broken if he had super strength. His jaw ached from not saying what he was thinking. He was just glad his mask covered his expression from Shayera and Vixen sitting behind him.
"Men have fragile egos. To get what you want, you have to know how to talk to them." Vixen's words to Shayera were soft but he still heard them.
In a different mood, he would have laughed at her comment and made a joke back to the mocha skinned woman. As it was, he was hard pressed not to explain in loud, explicit and potentially profane terms exactly why he was so surly and that it had nothing to do with his ego.
It did, however, have to do with the conniving harpy, Shayera, sitting next to Vixen.
The honest part of him forced him to admit that he was being unfair in though. What was really bothering him wasn't completely her fault, possibly not even mostly. All the winged woman had done for a certainty was betray Earth, leave John...and then come back. Too late or too early depending your point of view.
It had been better before Shayera's return. Not good for Vigilante but better because, at least, Vixen had been happy. Not like he'd seen earlier. His blood still boiled at the memory.
He had noticed Vixen duck into the storage room earlier and had decided to hang around in the hall to see what she was up to. When she had pulled John into the room, Vigilante had been ready to walk away, imagining what might be going on in a small dark room between a man and the stunning beautiful woman. Just as he had decided to head up to talk to Sir Justin, the door had opened up again to reveal a scowling John. Vigilante's curiosity had made him stay long enough to hear John's ridiculous "It's not professional" comment.
That had done it and Vigilante had headed straight to the workout room, pausing only to send a request to his best friend, Sir Justin, to join him there. The knight might be a man out of time but he understood that, sometimes, Vigilante needed to vent frustration and anger through shear physical exertion. Of course, since Vigilante, himself, was somewhat of a man out of time himself, he guessed it made sense that the knight understood him.
He glanced at Vixen's reflection in the glass window of the Mark X. John was an idiot. If it had been Vigilante she had pulled into that supply closet...He decided to stop that thought right there before he added sexual frustration to his already obvious bad mood.
He couldn't help noticing her worried glance at both him and then at Shayera, though. He couldn't help noticing her period. Not since the first time he saw her.
He remembered it was soon after the Thanagarian War. It had been his first week on the Watchtower and he had finished exploring the large space station so he had decided to hang out in the lounge and get to know his fellow superheroes. When she had walked into the lounge, he felt like someone had hit him. She was all long legs, grace and beauty. He didn't know who she was but he sure intended to find out. Quickly figuring out how long it would take to arrange a nice meal in one of the more private observation booths he'd found in the Watchtower, he'd walked up to her and managed to introduce himself and get her name before Green Lantern had walked in.
The founder had strode right over to Vixen and made it real clear they were a couple by arranging their next date and a hot steamy kiss before heading off for monitor duty. Vigilante had felt like he'd been hit in the gut but managed a friendly tone, grateful for the mask that covered most of his face, when Vixen had turned back to him to continue their conversation. He and her had spent all of GL's shift talking. She was as interesting and enjoyable to spend time with as to look at and much too tempting.
However, Vigilante made sure to keep himself under control, treating her with the respect he treated all women and offering nothing from friendship. He wasn't a snake to try to steal another man's woman. Besides, he was pretty sure she would tar and feather any man that made a serious play for her when she was taken...just like any woman worth the time would do.
So, he kept it at friendship that day and every day since. He'd at least, had the satisfaction of seeing her happy. However, that had seemed to change awhile back. There was a tension there around John, Vixen and Shayera. People talked about it but Vigilante didn't put too much stock in rumors. It was obvious, though, that something was going on and John pushing Vixen away like that in the storeroom...The pain in her eyes.
It had taken all his self control not to hit the man right there. He hadn't been close to spending his anger when the call came and seeing who all was in the party hadn't helped it.
The fair side of himself pointed out, once again, that he didn't know of Shayera doing anything to actively cause whatever was wrong between GL and Vixen. Unfortunately, he knew she was involved in it somehow and, angry as he was, he just couldn't make himself be nice to the woman especially in light of the Thanagarian War.
Hopefully this mission would provide him with some kind of action so he could be something other than the mean spirited cuss he was being at the moment.