Part Two

"MAN!" Griff yelled over to Brook who was wrestling with a robber twice his size. "I haven't had this much fun since I managed to beat Silverbeak!"

"Which is…in an alternate universe? As in: It NEVER happened here?" Brook grunted, as he heaved the robber onto the growing pile of unconscious robbers.

"You're just jealous!" Griff growled, as he pinned down a robber with his knees and proceeded to beat the guy's head.

"Jealous? Of you?" Brook scoffed, finally managing to throw his robber onto the pile. "Never. Dude, I'd never be crazy enough to go against Silverbeak."

"Shut up!" Griff scowled, glaring at his best friend. "What do you think you're doing anyway?"

"I could ask you both the same question."

Shivers went up their spines as they slowly turned to face…Hawkeye. And she did not look happy. When did she ever?

Her face was in her normal scowl, her eyes narrowed and eyebrows curving down. Her arms were crossed and she stood, her eyes piercing through them like spears.

"Oh…uh…hi Hawkeye. Um…we weren't doing anything…"

"...Except teaching these robbers a lesson."

"Don't you two think that the Earth people would think it was strange that two boys, arguing and acting like they're barely in their teens are beating up men much bigger than them?"

"Oh." Brook and Griff said in unison, as the thing they've overlooked was in their minds.

"Why…" Hawkeye snarled disgustedly. "Do I put up with you two? It's bad enough that Jayna's missing, but now, Silverbeak's turned back!"

Griff's ears perked up. "What?"

Hawkeye turned around and walked away. "Silverbeak's turned back. You want to teach him a lesson? I've heard that you've said you've beaten him once."

"But that was in an alternate universe!"

"HEY, DUDE!" Brook glared at him. "THAT WAS FROM ME, WASN'T IT?"

"SO?" Griff stuck out his tongue. At that moment, Brook lost all self-control and pounced on his best friend. The two began a no-holds-barred wrestling match.

Hawkeye was scanning the skies with her eyes for any sign of Silverbeak, ignoring the sounds from behind her. She had been with the army for quite a while before she quit to join the Elementalists and improve and gain control over her powers.

In the army, there's always an occasional brawl once and a while and Hawkeye was used to brawls which were much louder than Griff and Brook's one. Finally, when she couldn't take it anymore (when did she ever?), she whipped around angrily, stomped up to the two of them, grabbed them by their collar and yanked them apart, off the ground.

Feet dangling in the air, they stared at each other, and then and Hawkeye, at each other, Hawkeye, then at each other, and at Hawkeye before deciding watching each other wasn't as scary as watching Hawkeye.

She dropped them and they both landed on the hard concrete ground. Brook opened his mouth to complain, but when Griff clamped his hand over his mouth and glared a warning, he shut up.

"Now, make yourselves and your powers useful to get rid of the pile of men." She spat out the word 'men', with obvious dislike for them. At that precise moment, Brook and Griff looked at each other and wished for the same thing: When I grow up and become a man, Hawkeye will KILL me! Please don't let me grow up…pleaseohpleaseohpleaseohplease-

Their thoughts were interrupted from the groans of the robbers as they slowly got back to unconsciousness. This snapped the two boys awake. "Like, dude, I'll get the ones awake to the 'police station'." Brook said, grabbing as much men and hauling them onto the ground. "Later!" He disappeared in a blur. Then, he came back for the others, which Griff helped him carry comfortably.

Within a few minutes, everything was done. Hawkeye actually smiled as the two sat down, huffing and puffing, tired from their work. "Was that so hard to do, working together?" she asked.

The two shared a warning look. "No." they said in unison.

"Good." Then, the familiar scowl appeared on Hawkeye's face again. "NOW GET UP, YOU LAZY BUMS!" she yelled. They leapt up immediately, too scared to be insulted. "Griff, I want you to search all forests and concealed places for your step-brother. You don't have to be human to do that."

Griff beamed and rubbed his hands in anticipation. "When do I start?" he asked.

"Brook," Hawkeye continued, her eyes narrowed. "Search for Silverbeak as well, but in open spaces that Griff can't get to when he's himself. If you find him, then get him to help find Jayna."

"But what if Silverbeak doesn't want to help me?" Brook asked.

"Then, tell him he'll have to answer to me, and if he tries avoiding me, I'll find him one way or another and burn him. Very, very painfully. About 5000 degrees Celsius." She smiled sweetly.

The two best friends gulped at the same time. The only time Hawkeye smiled like that was when she was thinking of some torture and…a lot of hurt and pain, not to mention anything involving…the use of destructive and very, very, very hot fire.

Griff and Brook raced away to do what they needed to do. Within a few seconds, they were gone. Hawkeye smirked. She still had it. Quickly muttering a spell that mind-wiped all the witnesses there, she muttered another one that teleported her somewhere else.

She was on a volcano, standing along the opening. She stepped on the lava. And began walking towards the center. Once in the middle, she crossed her legs and began meditating. Pretty soon, she was inside her mind, going through her past memories. Some of which, made her remember it all over again like it had just happened.


A younger 11-year-old version of her stomped into the room. "REX!" she yelled.

"So the little sister finally discovers what I did with her spear." Rex smirked.

"Why the seven hells did you do it?" she said angrily.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, Lynne."

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!" she yelled.

"And I should do it…because…?" Rex, her big brother smirked. But before he knew what was happening, he was on his back, Hawkeye's spear point at his neck, ready.

"One: You will fix my other spear and give it back. Two: You will stop being such an annoying $$ and leave me alone when you're in one of your stupid puberty mood swings. Three: You will stop playing any pranks on me and stop making my life so rough. Four: IF YOU DON'T DO ANY ONE OF THESE THINGS I'M GOING TO SLIT YOUR THROAT WITH MY NEW ELECTRIC SPEAR AFTER I REPAIR IT AND UPGRADE IT TO THE LATEST, THROW YOUR DEAD, LIFELESS BODY INTO THE RIVER, AND SAY THAT YOUR BEST FRIEND DID IT ALL WITH SOME HELP WITH MY BEST FRIEND, JAYNA! GOT IT?" Lynne yelled.

"Yes ma'm." Rex said weakly, fear appearing on his normally smirking superior features.

"YOU BETTER MEAN IT!" she yelled again, before letting him go, retracting her spear and putting it away and stomping out of his room.


The next memory Hawkeye unraveled was when she met Silverbeak and Griff. It wasn't a memory she liked, especially because during that memory, she had been jealous of Rex and she hated to be jealous and she hated Rex. She'd rather be angry, gone crazy with bloodlust and kill everyone in sight.

But…there was a good side to looking at this memory again. At least she would know what happened back there with Griff and Silverbeak when she was stomping away.


"Mom?" Shayera looked up to see a 12-year-old girl with auburn hair and green eyes, a set of grey wings on her back, standing in front of her.

"Yes, Lynne?" The Thanagarian asked, putting down her pen to talk to her daughter.

"When's dad coming home? He said he'd teach me how to fly."

"Your father is busy right now, Lynne." Shayera's voice was cold and the mention of him. "He's at work, as you very well know."

"I know, but when's he coming home? He said he'd teach me to fly."

"I'm sure he will." Shayera said, faking a smile.

"Not true. He didn't teach me how to fly yet."

"Honey, I'm sure he'll teach you soon."

"When the sky falls." Lynne retorted, flapping her gray wings doubtfully.

"When did he say he'd teach you?"

"For the last six years." The girl crossed her arms. "It's not fair." Anger flashed in her eyes. "He spends all his free time with big brother and he never bothers spending any of it with me!"

"Lynne…" Shayera stood up from her chair and tried to comfort her daughter. "Your father…well…he tries to be reasonable with his time with both you and Rex. It's just that he believes that Rex, being older, needs more quality time to—"

"To what? Make me feel worse? I hate him!"

"Lynne!" Even though the Thanagarian had been divorced from the Green Lantern, 7 years ago, she still had a soft spot from him.

"See!" Her daughter glared at her. "You don't understand what I feel! You're always so busy doing paperwork and stuff and we never get to play together like we did when I was smaller and, and, and I HATE YOU! I HATE BOTH YOU AND DAD!"

Lynne ran, she ran out of the building, and she continued running. She didn't care how much that last sentence stung her mother or where she was going. All she cared for was to run away, run. Her emotions were toying with her, tears coming out from her eyes; anger and sadness mixed together, hatred and loathing mixed into that match, and loneliness added as a last ingredient into the mix.

She at last stopped, her legs tired from running and a cramp in her side hurting. She breathed heavily and wiped the tears angrily away. It wasn't fair! How come her big brother got to have all the love and attention from their parents? How come? How come everything he got for his birthday was what he wanted (she wanted what he got too) but no one bothered getting her any of the cool stuff?

How come when she had been younger, they gave her teddy-bears and plush toys, the things she HATED since her big brother had made fun of how baby-ish it was and how mom and dad would've hated her if she grew up to become a wimp. She had been one of those kids who'd do ANYTHING for love and attention and had stopped playing with her stuffed animals and toys.

She plopped down on the grass, staring at her reflection in the pond, hugging her knees to her chest. How was she any different from her brother aside from the fact that he was older, he was a boy and that he was stronger?

They both had lethal hand-to-hand combat skills, but he was better at that. She was only stronger at using range weapons, especially her Thanagarian spear which could retract. In school, she had always practiced daily to become an experienced detective like her mother one day and she had gained phenomenal powers of observation. So why did her mother like Rex better? Her big brother could barely track an elephant!

And when there had been a worldwide fighting tournament hosted at the fighting arena, when she was 5, she had been a fierce combatant, able to strike with such sudden ferocity that surprised her opponents. She had even beaten the reigning champion!

But had her parents congratulate her? Did they seem happy? Not at all. They only scolded her for competing in such a dangerous event without permission (she suspected they'd forbid her from going even IF she had asked because she was so 'young').

"It's not fair…" She picked up a stone and skipped it over the pond. Each time the stone hit the water's surface, it left a rippling pool of water and kept on going. "Five…six…seven…eight!" Her body tensed with anger.

She had done eight, while her brother could barely skip any stone twice! And still her parents praised Rex more than her. And just recently, their parents had revealed that Rex had another name: Warhawk. Father had said that Rex had been named after his best friend, Rex Mason who had turned into the creature, Metamorpho, from a long time ago. Of course, to her, he would always be a plain old big brother by the name of Rex.

It wasn't fair at all! She was just 6 years younger, so why did she have to live with this? Her big brother, Rex Stewart, aged 17 years, had kept her in his shadow for so long, her own mother didn't understand how she felt! Rex, when he ever took off that stupid helmet of his, had green eyes and thick black hair. They both had the same black hair, the same kind of wings… If they were almost look-a-likes, then why did their parents like Rex better? Was it because of Rex's green eyes, just like mom?

'I hate this life. I wish I could've stopped mom and dad from meeting and then I'd never be born and then, I won't be born and I'll be happy.' She thought.

"Daughter of John Stewart?" She jumped and whipped around, her balancing skills keeping her from falling into the pond.

"Who're you?" she demanded. A silver haired boy with stern yellow eyes stood before her.

"Who I am is not important. Are you the daughter of John Stewart, the Green Lantern who was part of the Justice League, who is now back with the Green Lantern Corps?"

"Yep." She spat out and she turned back to the pond glaring daggers of hate into it. Huge ripples of water appeared from nowhere.

"Aren't you eager to hear what I have to say about him?" asked the boy, surprised at her reaction.

"Is he dead?" she asked hopefully.

"Uh…no…"

"Too bad…"

"Why aren't you happy for your father? He just got promoted!"

"And I should be happy about that because...?" She asked.

"Because he's your father!"

"Is that important to whether I should like him or not? Because right now, I'm wishing I had never been born and that he had never met my mom so I would never have been brought into this stupid existence."

"Are you just going to throw away your life?"

"That's the plan." She smirked.

"I don't believe you! If I were you, I'd be thrilled!" Oops, bad timing.

"What do you know about me?" She turned to him, glaring angrily. He stepped back, gingerly. "If you want my place so badly, I'll give it to you! So now you're officially the daughter of John Stewart and I'm nobody!" Before he could say anything, she stomped away, calling over her shoulder, "Glad I cleared that up!"

The boy just stared sadly at her departing back. "But…" he said. "I don't want your place."

She didn't hear him because he said it so softly. When she was gone, the boy turned another one who had just appeared, with light brown hair with an orange and a yellow eye and a smirk.

"Nice going, bro. Real smooth."

He ignored the sarcasm in the other boy's voice. "Come on, Griff. We're going after her."

"We? Silverbeak, it's you who's going to apologize, not me, bro." With that, Griff turned to go, but he grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and started walking, pulling him with him. "I shoulda known." Griff muttered, letting himself be dragged. "Stepbrothers are always evil."

Silverbeak walked faster, purposely choking his younger stepbrother. "Just shut up for once, Griff."

" 'Just shut up for once, Griff.'" Griff mimicked in a high girly voice. "OW!" Silverbeak had just dropped him. "Whatcha do that for!" Silverbeak didn't answer. He merely looked around for anyone and seeing known, he morphed into a Hippogriff, his original form. He had yellow eyes and a silver beak, silver feathers on his forequarters and on his hindquarters, which were of a horse's, was silver as well.

Griff turned back into a griffin. Griff, I'm going to have a talk with that girl. You coming? Silverbeak mind-thought to his stepbrother.

How stupid do you think I am? the younger of the two backed away, his lion paws moving quickly.

On a scale of 1 to 10? The silver-beaked Hippogriff smirked before flapping his wings and pushed off the ground.

Well, see you at your funeral! Griff thought-spoke cheerfully to his older stepbrother and he pushed off the ground with his lion paws and his wings flapped. He flew away from his brother, away from the forest, and to a cave where he landed in and curled up, falling straight to sleep.

Silverbeak, on the other hand, had no intention of sleeping until he found out what made Lynne so angry. Lynne was the key to help find the girl who would save his species and he wasn't going to let her go that easily.


Lynne stared gloomily at the water in another pond. She plucked out a hair from her head and tossed it down. The hair fell deep into the water and the water rippled, showing that her request would be granted. Images showed on the surface of the water and Lynne watched, emotionlessly.

"I believe we are the Hol's reincarnated and we are true lovers." Hawkman told her. Shayera didn't believe him but he merely smiled and said, "I've waited thousands of years for us to find each other; I can wait a little longer."

Lynne nearly gagged, but managed to suppress it.

Batman looked up to see Shayera. She sat down on the chair next to him and said, "Tell me about my son."

Her hands clenched into fists, her gaze hardening. Why, oh why, was Rex always the important one? The one, even her mother, always cared about?

When the images finished, Lynne plucked another hair from her head and dropped it into the pool as an action of thanks. "I'll be back later, ok? But not too soon. I'll come back with Jayna, your daughter soon, I promise."

The water rippled an, 'ok', and Lynne smiled for once, before turning away to be face-to-face with a heavily breathing Silverbeak. She stood stunned before demanding, "What do you want? Don't look so surprised. It's obvious that you're the same boy I was talking to because you both have something silver and you both have yellow eyes."

"Why do you hate your father so much? Why do I sense jealousy from you for your older brother, Warhawk? Why do I sense hatred for your mother?"

"LYNNE!" She stood emotionless. That angry voice didn't scare her. It was Dr. Fate, her history and telekinesis teacher.

"What?" she mentally thought to him.

"I've word from your mother. She's looking for you."

"So?" She heard a sigh.

"Running away again?"

"Just leave me alone, Dr. Fate! I can do what I want! YOU'RE not my father. Besides, I wouldn't listen to him even if he did order me around. I HATE HIM! I HATE MOM AND REX TOO!" Another sigh was heard.

"Let me guess. Green Lantern promised to do something with you but he never did it."

"Bingo. Now leave me alone. I'm talking to someone right now." And with that, she used one of her abilities to block Dr. Fate from her mind. To the boy, she spat out, "Because I hate her, I hate him and I hate my big brother." He said nothing. She looked him in the eye, glaring with all his might. "I wish I had never been born." She growled.

"LYNNE!" Oh no…not Dr. Fate again. How had he managed to get past her block? Wait…it wasn't Dr. Fate. It was Rex. "Lynne, where are you?"

"Rex, just leave me alone!"

"Lynne, please. Mom is worried about you." Hmm… There was no 'It's Warhawk now!' angrily being spoken. It really MUST be serious. But she didn't give a though to her mom being worried.

"My answer is NO. Now leave me alone!"

"You know I can't do that. You're my little sister." At hearing 'little sister', the thing that had kept, everything from bad words to swearing to insult words hidden, which Lynne had held back in most of her life, snapped.

"Just shut up you ss! I don't give a damn hll's thought to what your frickin'mouth is talking about so get your damn consciousness out of my mind before I find you and kick your frickin'ss you stinking bstrd! And if you continue to bug me, I'll start tracking you down and kicking you where you are, so leave me alone, you frickin' jckss!"

With those thoughts hurled at her brother, Lynne blocked her brother's consciousness from her mind and glared at the boy in front of her. "What's wrong with you?" she fumed, trying not to get her temper riled up again.

"I need to show you something." He held out his hand. She didn't take it.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Something…about your father. Your mom doesn't know, because it'll hurt her feelings. You know your mom and dad don't live together. They're divorced, you know that. Well…do you know about Mari?"

"Of course I know about her." She met his gaze. "Mom used to teach me Thanagarian language, but when she found out that I was using that knowledge to find out what she was swearing everytime Mari's name is mentioned, she stopped teaching me."

"What does she swear?" asked the boy, curiously. Lynne snorted.

"Something about Mari being some kind of slug from the Alpha 9547 sector of the universe. And when I went to the library to find out what it looked like…well…let's just say it's not very pretty and it's not very pleasant to have around."

"So…do you think Mari is just like that slug?"

"I don't know." She shrugged. "Mom never let me meet her. I can't blame her. I'm not exactly what you'd say thrilled to see the one that caused my parents to divorce and possibly made my father so 'busy' all the time."

"I see." He said. "So…you are coming, right?"

"I guess." He gestured for her to follow him and turned away, snapping his fingers once. A portal of wind opened and he walked into it, disappearing. She stood, still as stone, before gathering the courage to walk in as well.

What she saw that made her regret ever following the boy for the rest of her life was horrible. As soon as she came out of the portal, she was horrified. There, her father, right in front of her, was kissing…Mari.

Now she knew why her mother hated the woman and why her parents had had a divorce. Her hands curled into fists and her gaze hardened. For the rest of her life, Lynne would be wishing that if she ever lived that moment again, she would die on the spot. Besides, death was only another journey in life. No pain, no game. That was life. Wasn't it?

Death… she inwardly grinned at the thought. Would that journey be a lot better than the one she had now? Well, she had nothing to lose. She stepped back, back into the portal. "Lynne?" the boy exclaimed before she disappeared.

When she arrived back at the other end, where she had come from, she stepped right into the pond and calmly sank. She closed her eyes. Hopefully, death would come soon. Strange, why didn't she feel like she wanted to breathe? Why did she feel like she despised water, and longed for fire? Oh well. It didn't matter. She would die anyway, one way or another.

She felt water push her back up. 'You don't belong here in the water with me,' it whispered. 'My daughter, Jayna, does, but you don't. You belong…in fire, with Fire, my sister.'

Suddenly, she was in fire, burning altitudes around her. The strange thing was, she didn't feel hot at all, nor like she was about to burn. What was going on here?

'Welcome…' the fire hissed. 'It's all right. Go to sleep now. Everything will be solved. You won't have to see your parents or brother again for a while. Now go to sleep.'

She fell into unconsciousness, into a sleep that would last until Fire completed her new task: Get my daughter an attitude adjustment. She is too goody for her own good.


"HAWKEYE!" she snapped awake and stood up.

"What is it, Griff?" she growled, annoyed at being stopped at sorting through her memories. The griffin was not in a mood to be scared even more.

"It's Jayna." He said, horrified. "And Aoi isn't with her. Fire is."

Hawkeye's eyes widened as she realized what was going on. "But…but…Water can't stand fire!"

"Exactly." Griff met her frightened gaze. "And if what Brook told me was true, then both him and Silverbeak are in for a very painful experience, more painful than any of ours from you."

"Come on." Hawkeye got out of the lava. "Let's go." She muttered a spell and her concealed wings appeared back.

Two figures could be seen, flying quite urgently in the sky, on their way to help a friend that was very precious to them.