I Wish I Was Special

John had to admit, the girl had serious talent. The two songs she just finished were very well done. He was not really a fan of alternative music or rock but Sarah Hawkins was very talented. He noticed though that she looked a little pale but she quickly shook and waved at the crowd and smiled. The crowd was cheering very loudly and John had to smile when Mari cheered beside him. John watched as Sarah lifted her hands and motioned the crowd to get quiet. John was surprised how the whole arena quieted down just because she silently motioned them to. She placed the mic on its stand and took out a conductor's baton out from her sleeve. Mari took an excited breathe and John watched as Sarah Hawkins remain still until she suddenly turned around and began to conduct her band. The curtain behind them lifted to show an entire strings orchestra began to play along with her bandmates. The lights on stage changed color to white and blue, giving an almost dream –like appearance. John had his breath taken away at the sound the music was giving, it was… magical.

Sarah stopped the pretense conducting and threw the baton into the crowd where an excited fan managed to grab it and keep it away from her friends' reach. Sarah took the mic again as the music settled down a little and began to sing:

Time is never time at all

You can never ever leave without leaving a piece of youth

And our lives are forever changed

We will never be the same

The more you change the less you feel

John almost wished he knew the lyrics as the crowd sang along with her. Mari though was having a fun time at least and John looked a few seats behind him to see Ollie and Dinah smiling and singing along.

Believe, believe in me, believe

That life can change, that you're not stuck in vain

We're not the same, we're different tonight

Tonight, so bright

Tonight

John was enthralled as the dream-like lights of the stage suddenly turned starry. It was almost as beautiful as the real thing and he was very much impressed by it. A few seats up, he could see Clark and Lois cheering on the artist. John wondered how many members of the League were fans of Sarah Hawkins but looked up onstage to see that the Hawkins had jumped up on the platform that led down the center of the audience. She continued to sing as she walked down the runway,

And you know you're never sure

But you're sure you could be right

If you held yourself up to the light

And the embers never fade in your city by the lake

The place where you were born

Believe, believe in me, believe

In the resolute urgency of now

And if you believe there's not a chance tonight

Tonight, so bright

Tonight

Hawkins was close to where John and Mari were sitting. Mari had her phone out and was recording Hawkins as she continued to sing,

We'll crucify the insincere tonight

We'll make things right, we'll feel it all tonight

We'll find a way to offer up the night tonight

The indescribable moments of your life tonight

The impossible is possible tonight

Believe in me as I believe in you, tonight

The sting orchestra and the band ended with a high note as the crowd cheered. John clapped as Hawkins walked back to the stage. John noticed though the slight slump of her shoulders and the frown that passed her face briefly before it was replaced with a large smile. John always had the uncanny ability to notice the small things and he was sure Clark might have seen it, but he wasn't so sure when he saw Clark and Lois kissing. John had to roll his eyes at their very public display of affection but was happy for him. It takes a lot of stress just to be Superman and the man deserves a little slab of happiness in his life. The band began to play again, but this time, Hawkins was playing on the grand piano and a melancholy song began to play. It was different from the last song, where the last one had a dream-like quality to it while this one, John felt as though it was reaching into his soul. Her voice was almost husky and the lights had dimmed until a spotlight was on her as she sang,

When you were here before,

Couldn't look you in the eye,

You're just like an angel,

Your skin makes me cry,

You float like a feather,

In a beautiful world,

I wish I was special,

You're so very special.

A clear crystal tear ran down her cheek, but Shayera didn't care. She hoped that in some way, John knew she was singing to him but how could he? He had moved on in his life and Shayera was foolish to believe that he wouldn't. She had written this song when she had flashbacks of the times when it was just her and John. She wishes she could go back in time. She felt a little sense of pity for herself before she took a deep breath and sang the chorus,

But I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo,

What the hell am I doing here?

I don't belong here.

Shayera could sense that the audience was actually surprised to see her begin to cry. She will have a lot to explain to her bandmates and Emmett, who she can see on the side giving her a sad look. One of the greatest pillars of support, Shayera always made sure that Emmett and his family received all the luxuries in the world. His small son Hector was spoiled by her constantly, her desire for children as strong as ever. Shayera continued to sing though,

I don't care if it hurts,

I want to have control,

I want a perfect body,

I want a perfect soul,

I want you to notice,

When I'm not around,

You're so very special,

I wish I was special.

But I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo,

What the hell am I doing here?

I don't belong here.

Oh, oh

He's running out again,

He's running out...

He run run run run...

Run...

Shayera quieted down and the band followed until it was only Shayera playing on the piano. She felt a sob coming but contained it as she quickly decided that if John was happy, then she should be too and sang the final verse,

Whatever makes you happy,

Whatever you want,

You're so very special,

I wish I was special...

But I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo,

What the hell am I doing here?

I don't belong here,

I don't belong here.

John was moved by the song. Mari was hugging him on his side, her head on his shoulder. John though didn't think about the model in his arms but of Shayera, who God knows where she is, hasn't been since for over three years. He could almost imagine her telling him this, telling him to be happy and move on. He wishes he could though. As much as he loves Mari, it never really went anywhere past friends. They have sex, sure, but it was just that: sex. John sighed and watched as Sarah Hawkins dried her tears and smiled at the crowd as they cheered on. John watched as Sarah Hawkins grabbed the mic from its stand as the band began to play when the lights shut down.

Shayera was confused and looked at her bandmates, who were just as confused as her. Shayera looked over to the side to see Emmett and the stage manager calling out to random people as they tried to bring the lights back on. Shayera was thankful that despite having her wings taken away by Artemis and her ability to speak normally by Athena, Shayera still had her hawk senses. This meant that she was able to see the shadows from up above in the rafters. She waved her arms and captured Emmett's attention and pointed up at the rafters. Emmett quickly notified the security and he called out, "Everybody! To the dressing room now!"

Shayera and her bandmates tried to quickly leave the stage: trying being the operative word. The shadows immediately descended onto the stage much to the audiences' and Shayera and her bandmates' horror. The shadows made a grab for Shayera and she quickly leapt out of the way.

"Get her! We only need Hawkins! Leave everyone else!" ordered one of the shadows. Shayera wished for her mace right there, but with her mace lost somewhere with the Greek goddesses, she could only rely on her skills. She continued dodging the shadow's grabs and she managed to clear across the stage as the shadows chased her. So long as they kept their focus on her and not on the innocent people and her bandmates, then Shayera would try her hardest to elongate the chase. She ran down the hallways, the shadows quickly gaining speed on her. Shayera looked over her shoulder to see that whoever they were, their disguises were very sophisticated. Their garb moved in the air like smoke which helped disguise them very well. Shayera kept running until she hit the doors, slamming them open until she was outside the arena. The shadows followed her and Shayera was running towards the fence and attempted to climb over it. She couldn't get a proper hold though, the shoes she was wearing didn't have proper soles for gripping.

Shayera fell over and fell on her back as the shadows quickly gained ground. Shayera stood up quickly and faced them, her back against the fence. The shadows circled around her and one of them approached her. Shayera was ready for anything except when the shadow removed the hood and the face of Vandal Savage appeared. He gave her a wicked grin and said, "Hello little siren. I'm surprised to see a majestic hawk turn into such a little nightingale."

Shayera stiffened at his words and he laughed at her reaction and said, "Oh I know. I have special plans for you Chay-era."

He put his hood back on and flicked his wrist. Two of the shadows approached her and were about to grab her arms when a green bubble formed around Shayera and lifted her up. Her heart began to beat loudly as she looked up to see John in his Green Lantern uniform.

"It's ok, I got you." assured John as he flew away with her in the bubble. Shayera though was concerned when she saw people running out of the arena and the shadows turned their attentions to them. She beat against the bubble, trying to break free when John spoke, "It's alright, miss. The Justice League is on it."

Shayera looked out to see that sure enough, Superman was there along with the Black Canary, Green Arrow, and John's new beau. Shayera watched as the woman managed to lift one of the shadows over her head with one hand and threw it with ease into the car. Shayera was stunned but couldn't help but admire the gracefulness the woman possessed. No wonder John fell for her. Again, another tear in her heart and she wondered how much pain she can handle in the night. Shayera waited until John placed her on top of a building away from the arena, but Shayera would be damned if she didn't help not only her bandmates and Emmet, but her fans as well.

Shayera quickly ran down the fire escape stairs. Thankfully the building wasn't so high and Shayera was able to run down the streets and back to the arena. She wasn't aware however of a certain Daily Planet photographer who had earlier took a picture of the Lantern placing Sarah Hawkins on the roof and is now following after her with his camera. Shayera was quick on her feet and was able to avoid the crowd of panicked people. These shadows were something, and if Vandal Savage was leading this then there was some serious dark magic involved. Shayera heard people gasp out "Is that Sarah Hawkins?' or 'Look! It's Hawkins!' as she ran down the street. She managed to break free from the crowd and was able to get into the parking lot where the fight was happening. Shayera didn't think (like she always did) when she jumped in the fray.

The first thing she did was grab the nearest trash can lid and threw it like a Frisbee at an unsuspecting shadow. It hit the back of its head and the shadow turned in time to see a broken pipe hit the upside of its jaw. Shayera heard Canary give a cry of surprise when Shayera managed to flip a shadow over her shoulder and onto another shadow. Shayera looked over her shoulder to see Canary stare at her wide eyed, distracted not to see the shadow rush at her from behind. Shayera didn't think and immediately grabbed Canary's arm and brought her around so Shayera took the brunt of the hit.

"NO! FOOL! SHE MUST NOT BE HARMED!" cried out Savage. Shayera was knocked to the floor and was almost tempted to unleash the Siren's Cry when Canary unleashed her own cry. The sound knocked Savage back and Shayera weakly got up from the ground. She looked around to see that the shadows were surrounding Savage. Even with his hood on, Shayera can almost see the glare as Savage ordered the shadows to fallback. In a whirlwind of shadows, they disappeared and the only ones left in the parking lot were Shayera and the Justice League.

Dinah Lance would say that she had seen everything that could be thrown her way but to see a famous singer suddenly know how to fight like a Valkyrie and withstand an almost fatal hit, it was amazing. She watched as Sarah Hawkins got up shakily on her two feet before she shook her head to clear whatever confusion she had. Dinah was about to give a helping hand when she watched the singer suddenly run towards the arena. Confused, Dinah followed after her and shouted, "Wait! Miss Hawkins! It's not safe!"

For a singer, she was really fast. Sarah Hawkins easily closed the distance though between herself and the arena and ran inside with Dinah and now Ollie chasing after her. Dinah was about to stop the star when she heard someone in the arena crying out, "Sarah! Where are you? SARAH!"

Multiple voices were calling out for her and Sarah Hawkins ran through the stage doors. Dinah and Ollie stayed behind as Sarah whistled her appearance and her bandmates and manager looked towards her with relief. They rushed around her and hugged her, some of the band members demanding that she explain herself and why she had run off on them. Dinah and Ollie watched as a bearded man hugged Sarah Hawkins and said, "If you run off on us like that again, I'll tell the wife to stop making those brownies you love."

A light laugh escaped Sarah's mouth and she ruffled the man's beard. His attention though was diverted when he saw the Black Canary and Green Arrow approach them.

"Thank you so much for your help, please if there's anything we can do to show our gratitude name it." said Emmett. He was nervous. He knows that Shayera was at a risk of being recognized by the Lantern and Superman if he didn't get them out of here quickly.

"We'll keep that in mind," said Green Arrow with his charming smile, "We want to say thanks though to Miss Hawkins. If it wasn't for her quick thinking and reflexes then Canary here might have been shadow chow."

"Yes, thanks," said Canary as she approached Sarah Hawkins. She noticed though how some of the band members had unconsciously moved a little closer to Hawkins, as though to shield her from danger. Hawkins though gave a shy smile and took Dinah's hand to place a small gold whistle in it that she fished from her pocket.

"Um, thanks? But I should really actually tell you that perhaps you might need some League protection if this happens again," said Dinah as she pocketed the whistle, "Do you know who these shadows were or why they were after you?"

Sarah gave small frown and shrugged her shoulders, indicating that she was just as confused. Dinah asked, "I'm sorry but… do you not talk?"

Sarah blushed and her lead guitarist, Simon Jared, said, "Listen, she's a social phobe ok? We'll contact you if there is anything we need."

Dinah blushed and said, "I'm sorry to intrude, but I do insist that maybe you should have someone keep an eye on you in case they come back."

"We'll accept protection, if it is just you and the Arrow then." said Emmett.

"Uh, sure," said Arrow, "Let me just clear it with the League then. Where is your next stop on the tour?"

Sarah quickly sign-language to Emmett, who nodded his head and said, "We're actually going to try to reschedule the concert for Metropolis, seeing as how we were interrupted."

"Ok then, we'll clear it up with Superman then and we'll be here to provide some extra security." said Canary. The two heroes left and the whole band and Emmett waited until they heard the door slam when the drummer, Emma Acres, asked, "Do you think they know?"

"No, but we'll continue this at the Hastings Manor, no point having a conversation like this so public," said Emmett as he turned to Shayera and asked, "Are you sure you're ok?"

Shayera nodded and pointed at himself and the others with a worried look.

"We're ok," said Simon, "They were after you so they left us alone. The audience at least managed a clean getaway."

"Alright, let's pack up and get on with it. No point waiting around for those ghouls to come back. I'll wait here for the heroes while the rest of you get ready to leave." said Emmett. As Shayera and the band members packed up the instruments, Emmett waited for the heroes to return.

"You two want to spend the whole concert tour as extra-security?" asked Superman.
"Sure why not?" said Ollie, "We'll be in Metropolis for the first part of the tour and we can even switch out patrols if need to be. I hear that Hawkins is supposed to be at a Poetry Slam in Gotham so Batman can take over if he's still being a stickler for being the only hero to be in Gotham."

"It's not a bad idea," said Mari, "if we take a look at her concert touring and scheduled appearances then we can easily rotate the security."

"So she's staying here to provide another concert? Ollie and Dinah can take over then while I go to the Summit Meeting in Sweden for the week," said Superman, "I'll tell Batman to be prepared for the Poetry Slam and to have his team provide more security. Did you find out if anybody knew about why those Shadows could have been after Hawkins?"

"I recognized Savage from a distance but he was the only one to remove his hood," said Lantern, "do we know anything about Sarah Hawkins? I could have sworn I left her safe from a distance."

"HEY BIG RED!" cried out the voice of Jimmy Olsen. Superman turned and smiled at Jimmy's wave and flew towards him with the others following after him.

"Jimmy! What's going on?" asked Superman, thinking that Jimmy might have spotted trouble.

"I was going to ask if maybe you can ask Sarah Hawkins to sign this neat photo I have of her." said Jimmy, showing them the pictures of Hawkins easily running and weaving through the crowd with little effort.

"Girl's got some stamina to run all the way from Fort Street to the arena." said John.

"You should have seen her!" said Jimmy with an almost dreamy expression, "she was like the wind and she has this look, see? She was determined to get back and help people!"

Dinah looked at the pictures when the camera was passed and remembered how skilled the singer was at deflecting the blows from the shadows. Something was strange about the singer and she decided to bring it up to Batman later.

Hey readers, Hope you're having a fantastic week. I'm going crazy. Tell me what you like about the story and if you would like to see any type of song or favorite artist. For the second song, I'd recommend that if you're curious to go to Postmodern Jukebox on Youtube and watch Haley Reinhart version of the song so you can see what I imagine Shayera's singing voice to be.

Song 1: Smashing Pumpkins; Tonight, Tonight

Song 2: Radiohead; Creep