The wedding music quietly leaked beneath the oak doors and floated into the small dressing room down the hall from the chapel. Family and friends chatted happily as they meandered through the old, wooden arteries of the church and slowly found their way to their seats in the beautifully decorated sanctuary. Each and every decoration was meticulously chosen and placed to give the proper aura to the whole affair. Cream and white rose bundles with a dashes of golden paint skimming the petals' edges were pinned to the sides of the pews while lace and silk ribbons were hung from the banners. Small wind chimes hung in the open windows and their soft clinks entwined with the organist's melody.
But further down the hall, John Stewart stood stiffly in his suit, contemplating the coming moments. In less than an hour, the ceremony would be over. In less than an hour, his future would begin with his wife - Mari.
Yet, as he stood there, staring at his grey jacket with the dark, marbled buttons that his fiancee loved, it wasn't Mari that he wanted to spend his life with. It was Shayera. God, it was always Shayera. It was her that made him angrier than he could ever remember being, but it was also her that made him jump in front of bombs and dive bomb a hundred stories in order to stop her from hitting the ground. He couldn't imagine not seeing her at the end of the isle or waking up with her each day. This isn't about what you need, he reminded himself. You made a promise and you have to keep it. Mari deserves better than this. She deserves for you to do the right thing.
But what about what Shayera deserves? A voice mocked in his head.
The creak of the oak door pulling at its hinges yanked him from the reverie.
John turned in surprise as a certain red headed hero who was somehow not hungover from the night before entered the room. Wally's hair was patted carefully down, probably by one of Mari's many cousins, and he had somehow managed to free himself of bright spandex for long enough to squeeze into a suit. Honestly, he would look charming if he wasn't clearly annoyed with the predicament.
Wally met John's eyes and asked him cautiously, "You sure you don't want to run?"
John shook his head, "Are they ready in the other room?"
Wally nodded solemnly, "Yeah. The organist has started, so you should probably get in there soon if this is what you want."
"It is." John said with assurance.
Wally raised his brows in doubt, but turned to go. He grasped the doorknob firmly as he said simply, "I'll see you in there then."
"See you." John whispered as his friend disappeared.
The door closed behind Wally, but John continued to stare outside the window. Mountains spread out in the distance, rising proudly in the warm summer sun. The meadows around the grounds were filled with small flowers and bright, fluttering butterflies. Hell, even the smell was sweet and joyful. A day couldn't get anymore perfect than the one before him. With a heavy heart, John turned and strode out of the room, filled with determination that he was doing the right thing.
"Watchtower, this is Atom. Are you picking up anything unusual?" A deep voice called out from the computer, pulling Shayera's attention away from her thoughts. Quickly, she pulled up the specs on anything and everything accessible to her, but it all was reading normal. From the radio waves, to the Earth's magnetic field, all the measurements she was reading were well within normal range. She squinted and leaned forward slightly, trying to find anything that seemed just a bit off, but nothing stood out.
Finally, she pressed on the response button and spoke, "Atom, this is Watchtower. Everything is reading as normal. What's your concern?"
There was a long pause as Shayera listened intently for his reply. Static muffled any background sounds for a few minutes, and Shayera unintentionally moved closer to the edge of her seat. Just as she was about to press the call button and repeat herself, Atom's voice broke the tense silence once more, "There's nothing particular, but there's just a feeling out here. It's like something is watching us."
"I'm calling in backup." Shayera said immediately as a pit formed in her stomach. The readings may seem normal, but that hardly meant nothing was wrong. Dozens of such instances flashed through her mind of major incidents that had followed mere "feelings". Not to mention that if there were a perfect time to attack the League, when they were down so many of their strongest members like now would be the perfect chance. Her hands danced over the keys automatically, knowing exactly who she wanted and where she wanted them at. Pings echoed off the walls as commands shot across the Watchtower and even to a few heroes on Earth who happened to be on call.
Atom's resistance was clear in his voice, "But what if we're wr-"
"Then it won't matter." Shayera cut him off, "But I don't think you are."
Other names began to flash across the board as heroes checked in for duty. They were all waiting for their coordinates, and Shayera immediately began calling out details for teleportation to the Watchtower. Those who could travel on their own would, but for most, it was easier to be brought in. As she worked quickly, Dr. Fate approached behind her.
"There seems to be quite a panic." He observed.
She nodded, but continued to type quickly. Already, the Watchtower's noise was starting to slowly crescendo as League members hurried to their stations. Fate looked around intently, showing little concern, although his expressions were generally pretty unreadable. Looking back at Shayera, he noted the same thoughts as Atom, "This could be nothing."
At that exact moment, a loud explosion could be heard throughout the Watchtower. The entire entity shook with the force of the blast while dust and debris filled the Monitor Bay. Shayera was thrown from her seat, but managed to move her arms fast enough that she rolled before landing on her feet. The screens flickered for a moment before alerts began pouring in as systems went into emergency lock down. Making eye contact with Fate, she muttered drily, "I'm pretty sure it isn't nothing."
"What was it?" He yelled as sirens began to go off throughout the Tower.
"I don't know, but it looks like we're under attack." She said as she rushed back to her chair. Verifying the coordinates for the last few arrivals before running another diagnostic check, she worked quickly. Bright reds and yellows colored the screens, drawing attention to a plethora of problems, but one caused Shayera's heart to stop, "We're losing air pressure in some of the lower levels."
"The building will take care of itself." Fate said as he looked over her shoulder, "But we're needed on the upper floors!"
Shayera shook her head, "The manual locks should have already activated! We need to do it manually."
"I'll go." He said as he turned to leave.
"No. She said as she ran past him, her hair whipping by her face, "You're right, you're needed on the top floors. I've got to do it."
He nodded as they split paths. Lights flashed around the tower, creating a haunting and alarming effect, while the clicks of boots on the metal floors echoed through the structure. Before she knew it, Fate was flying through the air, off to see what kind of fight the others were caught in while Shayera let herself free fall down one of the elevator shafts, careful to not let herself fall into the vacuum of space. Wires and bolts whizzed past her until she was more than twenty floors down, and she let her wings catch herself.
When she opened the doors to the level she needed, she found a barren, abandoned hallway. Sirens continued to squeal in her ear, and she found feel the oxygen being slowly sucked out of the air. Knowing she had to isolate the leak before the whole Watchtower started experiencing catastrophic problems, she ran down the cavern, searching for the lower level technical room. Batman had talked her through situations like this before, but it had been ages ago and both of them had hoped they would never actually need to do this. Room after room passed by, but finally, Shayera found the one she needed.
She kicked in the door with hardly a thought, and grabbed the USB she kept in her back pocket whenever she was on duty. Machines and computers were buzzing in panic, and lights flickered in warning of oxygen loss. She herself could feel her lungs complaining about the lack of clean air, but she knew she had a few minutes before it was anything severe. Quickly, she found the monitor she needed and inserted the USB without a second thought. Her fingers flew over the keys, and she tracked the progress of her program quietly.
Yet, nothing responded. It was as if she weren't doing anything.
Touching her comm link quickly, she called out to Fate, "Fate this is Shayera! How much damage was sustained throughout the middle portion of the Tower?"
He called back a moment later, "Next to nothing. Why?"
Shayera shook her head angrily and jumped back from the computer like it might reach out and choke her. Automatically, she reached for the oxygen suppliers that Bruce had stored in every room like this throughout the Tower. As she began to unpack the equipment, she muttered back to Fate, "The communication systems appear to be reliable, but the lower level preservation programs are malfunctioning. I'm not sure how far the program defects have spread, but you'll need to manually override the survival programs and cut off access below the 35th floor."
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Atom's voice asked.
With a heavy click, Shayera secured the oxygen pack to her belt and called back, "It means we've been hacked!"
"Where are you?" Fate asked, sounding out of breath.
Shayera hurried back into the hall and responded, "I'm on my way up. Give everyone a three minute evacuation warning and then do what you have to!"
"Understood." Fate and Atom said at the same time.
A second explosion suddenly came from the bottom floors, and Shayera dove into the nearest room. Like she expected, a spiral of flames shot up the elevator shaft and hot currents speed through the hallways. But how had she known that would happen? Heat licked across Shayera's wings, but she found shelter just in time. The fire system didn't respond, and that's when it all clicked for the heroine. Why she felt like she had done this all before. Why she knew the second explosion would come from the elevator shaft. The catastrophic loss of function reports. Someone had found their plans for the worst that the Watchtower could handle and was following the exact schematics that she had helped make. The color drained from Shayera's face as she realized there was no way she was going to make it to the 35th floor in time.
Because the only way to stop all of this was to descend deeper into the Tower.
