Clipped Wings

Summary: Shayera has been stripped of her friends, her social status, and, due to a recent accident, her powers and mace. Will she go back to the League to get some peace with herself, at risk of being massacred, or die a little inside as she gets further depressed with her situation?

Disclaimer: IF I OWNED IT, I WOULD BE WRITING SHOWS, NOT MADNESS LIKE THE FOLLOWING. If I didn't own it, (which we all know I don't) I'd be here, which I am, writing fics like I'm doing. I sound like Kenshin, don't I...

spoilers for wake the Dead

Warning: I am not a big Shayera fan, but I thought this was a good idea. So, flames will be used to roast marshmallows, and eventually the flamers themselves. Enjoy.

Chapter One

Shayera meditated on the events that had taken place the previous day. She was at Inza's Sanctuary (what is it called?) She had killed a friend and saved lives, but how many lives was his death worth?

How many…

She had been called a traitor, but was she? She thought so. She had lost the trust of not only her circle of close friends, but the entire planet. She was voted off the team by people who she thought were her friends, namely Diana and Batman. (I'm just guessing it was them…who's the third party?)

But reflecting on her actions, from distant past to recent present, all she was doing was spying on the Justice League, where she gained an identity to the world as Hawkgirl. She fought the White Martians, smashing them to bits with that magical mace of hers.

The mace…

The mace was the only thing on the entire planet that would stop Solomon Grundy's rampage. Her mace, made of Enth metal, was created for the controlling magical creatures. But Grundy wasn't magical…he was just a dead, undead zombie…okay…he was magical, but he was her friend, didn't that count for anything? Nothing? Nothing at all?

Apparently not…

Dr. Fate said his gravesite reeked of Chaos Magic. The successfulness of three wimpy students attending some school was to be determined by all who fought him. It was successful. Quite the successful endeavor.

Grundy was just a solidification of hate and rage, resurrected with powerful Chaos Magic.

Those qualities made him all the stronger. He flung Superman so far, he broke the sound barrier. Twice. Not any single Leaguer's attempt could bring him down. Even Amazo failed, and he disappeared to find out why, which made no sense to her, since he could have stayed and helped with the physical aspect of pounding him to a bloody, ghostly whatever-he-was-made-up-of pulp. Because, it would have made more sense to just beat him up if he couldn't do what he had planned in the first place. That, Amazo, was stupid.

Grundy was her friend. She was affectionately called Bird Nose by him, maybe because his mental capacity couldn't expand enough to say Hawkgirl. She tried reminding him of that, but she was rewarded with a good smash into the nearby wall.

She laughed at what came to mind next.

"I hate the beard."

That was the first thing she said to John. She thought about it.

"Well, I didn't like the beard," she mused. "Is it so wrong to be truthful?"

Well, he didn't make a comment. Nothing…but the shock was a plus. Are we so estranged that he just took the insult?

-pause-

Could he be considered her friend? Yes. He was. Grundy was her friend. That made her the one who bore the responsibility to kill him. Should she have let John do it? No…if he did it, it would be murder. But when she did it, it was a mercy killing. Mercy for Grundy, mercy for everyone affiliated with the city. Everybody period. Excluding herself.

Was she even a person anymore? A traitorous monster, perhaps?

There was just that lingering unrest that was hanging around like cat fur on a pair of cargos. (I speak from experience…YOU CAN NEVER GET IT OFF.)

And to top it all off, there was the bombardment of all those stupid reporters after she had gone through something so major.

"I should have left Grundy there to pulverize them all." she mused. "Then they'd have gotten what they so justly deserved."

Grundy was supposedly in a better place now. Heaven? Hell? Limbo? Narnia? Who was to know...

The death of a friend was a terrible thing to have to suffer through.

So was the death of yourself…whether physical, or emotional…literal…

"I'm dying a little inside." was the only thing that came to her mind.

End Chapter One……………………………………………………………….

CCMW: I've had this on my comp for quite a while and FINALLY I have gotten around to posting it. Leave a review (and some ideas!) on the way out.