Disclaimer: the usual ones.
CHAPTER SIX (of Eleven)"Sweetheart, listen to me.. don't run. Shot only when you are 100% sure that the arrow will it the bull's-eye. Wait to be ready, and when you are, do it."
"Harper, we both know that I'm able to use a bow and arrows, I though you've already understood that… so, please, make me the favor to stay in silence while I'm trying to show you what I can do…"
Once entered inside the so-called kitchen of the JLA headquarter, few days after their last conversation via ring, Hal finally sees the person he is looking for, the so called Phoenix , dressed with simply jeans, a black t-shirt with her logo on and tennis shoes, in Roy's company, taken by the sudden desire to teach her archery inside the hologram of a green field. And Roy, unmasked for once, is a way too close to her for Hal's judgment, but, soon, he rationalizes everything is happening, stopping to think what' he is not supposed to think. you stupid jerk, it's how they teach archery, besides, you're not jealous of her, since you don't have any reason to actually be jealous of her, right?
"Sweetheart, I know that you can be that good, but the fact that you are physically here – he says few steps from her, indicating the floor of the room – doesn't mean that your mind and soul are here as well" he ends the sentence, indicating her heart, once she has finally fully turned in his direction, crossed arms and a sarcastic expression on her face.
"Oh, sorry if I can't give you all my attention 24/7 and my mind tends to fly somewhere else, but it's, you know, trying to find all the missing pieces of this damn incomplete puzzle, being my consciousness." That sarcasm, he knew, he was sure from the beginning that a girl with all that fire inside her had to have a little of sarcasm somewhere inside her.
"I'm not saying that you need to concentrate on everything but you, just that, when you do this, you have to be one with the bow, you have to forget everything – he pauses, smirking evilly – and everyone"
"I don't know what you are talking about"
"yes, you do"
"no, I don't"
"yes"
"I told you no!"
"everybody can see that you are head over heels for him…"
"Everybody is wrong, then! Jeez, Roy, seriously, I really don't know what you are even talking about!"
Who the hell is Roy talking about?
"Please, even Connor has understood that you like his old uncle Hal, and we're speaking about Connor here, who's normally quite… retarded about relationships. - He grins evilly again. Did Roy just said that she….- c'mon sweetheart, you're both adults, there's nothing wrong in you two being in an adult relationship…" Did he just said…. Does he believe that she and I… that we…
"You believe that Hal and I….that we…"
"No?"
"No! no way!"
"You're telling me that you're not physically attracted by him? Because I thought it was quite clear, and if I'm wrong about this, then I could be wrong about many others things…"
"It's not what I meant!" what did she mean, then?
"What did you mean, then?"
"Ok, Roy, listen… it's not working. I'm not going to tell you something you want me to tell you although it's not what I want to tell you and what I mean, right? – he looks at her, confused and questioning, arching his eyebrows, while she has the look of someone who's definitely having fun – oh, God, I know it… you are definitely like someone I knew back then… I'm sure of it!"
"Once you'll admit your feelings for him, you'll feel better" he says at crossed arms, skeptical of her answers.
"I've nothing to admit, Roy"
"yes, you do, and switching topic isn't going to work with me! I'll win this one, sweetheart!"
"I don't"
"you do"
"no"
"yes"
"Ok, considering the time and the point of the conversation, I think they'll continue with yes and no for another good half an hour, then Roy will finally temporary give up, for the moment, then tomorrow they'll start again."
"So, I guess they do this often, don't they?" Hal turns, and face the person who just entered inside the room, standing to look at two 20-something years old kids.
"She is comfortable around Roy. He is the only one she is opening her up with, totally. Kendra is a little jealous, well, she was, now she seems to understand."
"He remembers her of a shadow she has in her mind, someone she knew very well, I think…. Although, he is older than Roy, and blonde."
"She remembers something?" canary looks at her longtime friend, in disbelief, then turns to look at the girl and then back to Hal.
"She showed me what she remembered…. There were 3 girls, a little pet dragon, I know, don't laugh, and 4 men, well, there were 6 men, but with 4 of them I saw her, too, there were 4 moments she shared with them."
"Moments she shared with them? You don't mean…." she looks at him maliciously, but he can't see it, he is still taken by Phoenix and Roy constant arguing.
"The first one, she was with a brown head man, they were sitting on the grass, and he was looking at her, although she was looking somewhere else…. Then I saw a black haired man, around her age, sad eyes, they were on a balcony, he was hugging her from the back, and he was resting his chin on her head, and she was doing the same with his chest…"
"boyfriends, husbands, exs…."
"Then, I saw her, her hair was shorter, she was speaking with an older black haired man, she was in tears, and was looking at the soil, hands in her pockets, turning him her back, she was walking away, and he tried to reach her."
"maybe he hurt her, but didn't want to…"
"Then I saw her inside a garden, it was a rich MNSION, it seemed, and there was the blonde man I was talking you about, teaching her archery. It was, like, see her and Roy, even there she was having fun arguing with him."
"So, what's the problem? Are you telling me you're jealous? – Dinah can't help but see how worried Hal seem – Hal, seriously, what's the problem? It must be serious, 'cause I bet that, under that mask, you've passed the last days sleepless."
"I know them. Well, not all of them, just the last two men I was talking you about."
"your friends?"
"more like yours, especially the blonde archer"
"Ollie? Then the Guardians must be right and she really comes from another dimension, because they met and he didn't recognize her, but if she knew him, why didn't she recognize him?"
"'cause it's not him I'm talking about"
"Connor? No way, they've met, too, and then, he is younger then her."
"I'm not talking about Connor, either"
"Then, sorry, but who the hell are you talking about?"
"Remember Clint Barton, the Avenger known as Hawkeye? In the distorted reality created by Krona's actions, you were his wife - she looks at him, a little shocked and in disbelief – don't be surprise! Just because at the time I was the spectre, doesn't mean that I can't remember it! In fact, I remember everything. And it's not over yet. The black haired man she was turning her back to? Another Avenger, Tony Stark, Iron Man if you prefer."
"I wonder… a girl with mind powers, connected to the Avengers… maybe she was one of us…."
"Well, I don't know if she was a hero or not, but I think there's a reason behind the fact that the Phoenix Force choose her as its host…"
