Justice League Nuptials 62

"See anything?" Green Lantern asked as he hovered in the skies above Gotham.

"Lots." Hawkgirl facetiously replied. Stewart was on the verge of a retort but then he remembered that her visual acuity granted her vision rivaling that of her namesake. He wondered what it was like to spot things miles away.

"I mean anything important." Stewart played the game.

"Yup." Her tone became less playful and more serious, "Kestrel, Star Sapphire, Spencer Hawk, and Sinestro are cleaning out the gold repository."

"Lead on." Stewart swept his arms to his side, ushering her onward.

Hawkgirl teased him, "It's about time you let me lead. It could get interesting."

One thing that Stewart had observed over the last two years was that the new, reflective Shayera had lost none of her fire or confidence. She was simply more thoughtful. Thoughtful was good.

They dove side by side towards the Legionnaires. Hawkgirl called out to Green Lantern, "I'll take Sinestro. You've got Hawk. I'll shift to Kestrel after I've made my strike. That leaves you Star Sapphire."

"You've got it." He acknowledged.

Hawkgirl's focus grew more intent as she steepened her dive. She was building speed with every passing second. Stewart didn't match her increasing speed and she left him behind.

Hawkgirl knew her largest obstacle was Kestrel. If the other dimensional Thanagarian spotted her, this would end quite differently than she was planning for. She had an alternate plan of action but it would get messy.

As the final seconds ticked off, she was poised to strike. She drew her mace back and prepared to swing. At the last second, her shadow passed by on the next door building.

Kestrel spotted it and looked up in time to see Hawkgirl swat a hovering Sinestro aside like a bug. He slammed into, and inside, the repository. Next, Hawkgirl finished her arc by swooping in on Kestrel. The Legionnaire had no time to take flight so she braced herself for the inevitable blow.

Kestrel was slammed and slammed hard. She sailed off down the way straight into the parking lot and into an armored car. She immediately passed out.

Amethyst bolts of energy streaked out and chased Hawkgirl. She erratically dove and weaved as she sailed off into the sunset. It was enough, added to the glare of the sun, to throw Star Sapphire's aim off.

"Wait." Hawk advised, "She's probably not alone."

A giant emerald mallet smashed him into the concrete covered ground at that moment. The mallet evaporated and Green Lantern floated fifty feet away. Star Sapphire moved over to where Hawk laid splayed out in an impact crater. She erected a protective bubble over the pair of them.

Stewart was surprised, "That's awfully protective, Carol. I didn't know you had it in you."

The former Carol Ferris, possessed by the Zamaronian gem that she wore, had originally been driven to solicit affections from Terran Green Lanterns. All such attempts had failed. Hal Jordan, John Stewart, and Kyle Raynor had each successively spurned her advances. It seemed she'd finally landed her Green Lantern and not only that but one that shared her corrupted values.

Stewart truly pitied her. Carol Ferris wasn't responsible for her actions. The spirit imbued within the gem controlled her every action. When she was unmasked, Ferris suffered the consequences of Star Sapphire's crimes.

The Zamarons had imbued their gems with a single emotion: love. It was a self gratifying kind of love though. This particular Star Sapphire did all in her power to sublimate her desperate desire for affection with the acquisition of personal power. Wealth bought power and influence so she became a thief and later joined Luthor's Injustice Gang, Grodd's revived Secret Society, and then Luthor's Legion of Doom.

Her goals remained the same as always. She'd just seen the value of cooperative efforts just as the Green Lantern Corps knew the value of unified action. Her ability to achieve those goals had grown exponentially, as was displayed by this escapade.

"You and your thrice damned human GL's have spurned me long enough!" Star Sapphire spat, "This one's human and a Green Lantern. So what if he's from a duplicate Earth?"

She had a point, Stewart realized. It was also nearly impossible to argue with it. He decided he wouldn't try.

"Put the gold back." He ordered.

She laughed, "You're too late. We already transported all of it to Bailya."

A cold certainty clutched Green lantern's heart. She spoke with too much confident certainty to be bluffing.

Besides which, Star Sapphire may be in control, but the personality and mannerisms were Carol Ferris's. That was why she was held accountable. Prosecutors had successfully argued that she should be able to influence Star Sapphire to a far greater degree than she seemed to.

The point to GL's mental exercise was that he knew Carol Ferris. Carol Ferris couldn't bluff to save her life. Late night poker sessions with Hal Jordon, Ferris, and Stewart had conclusively proven that.

"What do you mean?" Stewart demanded.

"I mean you can arrest us but we've already taken the gold." Star Sapphire was gleeful, "And it's in a nation that doesn't allow UN forces in it. That includes your precious Justice League. Unless the UN grows a pair of brass ones and forcibly intervenes, you'll never see that gold again."

Stewart's frustration welled up. He was determined to apprehend the Legionnaires. They may have committed the "perfect" crime but they could still rot in the Gulag for the rest of their lives.

He was slammed across the way by a golden fist. Sinestro emerged out of the repository. He glared at Star Sapphire, "Well? Do something."

Green Lantern flew towards Sinestro and stooped seventy-five feet away. Using his power ring he summoned a giant forearm and hand. Sinestro smiled. He did the same with his yellow ring.

GL's ring had a weakness against the color yellow due to an impurity within all of the emerald rings. Sinestro's ring had the reverse problem. That meant they neutralized one another and it was a fair fight.

The Zamaronian Star Sapphire didn't have either weakness. But then again, both rings functioned at full strength when dealing with it. So once again, it was a fair fight.

Sinestro fully expected Star Sapphire to join him and tip the balance of power in their direction. His hand clasped Stewart's and they began to arm wrestle. It was a matter of willpower. The more determined would win.

Star Sapphire took action. She opened a boom tube, scooped up Hawk with her gem, and vacated the area. Sinestro's eyes bulged, "Stupid cow!"

His attention wavered and Stewart rolled the golden hand over. He then released its hand and backhanded Sinestro. Sinestro flew down the street doing cartwheels. He stopped himself and snarled.

He formed a sword and began hacking and slashing at Green Lantern. Stewart from a shield and parried every movement of the sword. This infuriated the alien.

Sinestro's frustration galvanized his attention on Green Lantern. He was completely unaware of Hawkgirl swooping in on him. She came up behind him and bashed him on the head with all of her strength.

Sinestro plummeted into the ground below and cracked the concrete. Stewart landed beside him and plucked the troublesome yellow ring off of his finger. As Hawkgirl landed beside him, he gave her a thumb's up.

"Good plan." He said.

Hawkgirl punched him in the shoulder, "You let two of them get away! What happened?"

"I learned a lot about Star Sapphire's new weakness." John replied.

"What gives?" she asked.

"She's taken a shine to Spencer Hawk. Take him out and she folds." He explained.

"Good to know." Hawkgirl conceded, "But you still let them get away."

GL sighed, "Have you called this into L-Ron so he can round up the MRU?"

Hawkgirl frowned, "I will. Go collect Kestrel while I'm doing that."

"Yes sir." Stewart saluted her.

She grinned, "And don't forget it."

She activated her signal device as Green Lantern flew away to gather up Kestrel's unconsciousness form.

Down in the retail district, the last mobile clump of Legionnaires were looting the upper scale department stores. A detachment of the GPD had stumbled across them and began lobbing rockets and stun grenades at them. The Shade neutralized the rockets and Giganta, Superwoman, and Wonder Girl merely ignored the grenades.

Mary Marvel had arrived as the cops expended their heavy ordinance. Mr. Freeze erected a frozen wall between the police and the Legionnaires. He proceeded to the opposite end of the block and did the same. Meanwhile, Mary engaged the three mightiest criminals.

She punched Superwoman, spun off of that, and kicked Wonder Girl in the stomach. She then flew up to the 100-foot Giganta to deck her too. Giganta clapped her hands on Mary. The stunned Marvel felled to the ground.

She struggled to her feet. Superwoman steadied her. She then drew back her fist and punched Mary for all she was worth. Mary staggered backwards.

Wonder Girl took hold of her shoulders and spun her around. She also delivered an uppercut. Mary lifted off of the ground and landed on the roof of an abandoned car.

Giganta brought her foot down. Mary held up her hands to ward off of the blow. Giganta's stomp flattened the car. Fortunately for Mary, the auto acted as a cushion that absorbed most of the blow.

Giganta removed her foot and bent to peer at the car to assess how much damage had been inflicted. As the foot rose, Mary sat up right and then moved into a crouch. As soon as Giganta's face was a clear target Mary leapt into the air at super speed. She delivered her own uppercut for all she was worth.

Giganta's head snapped back and she fell over backwards. Part of Bloomingdale's caved in. Mary didn't have time to celebrate her victory. Superwoman rose up and smashed her with another bone jarring punch. Mary slammed into the ground.

There Wonder Girl surged forward and snapped into action. She delivered blow after blow, raining hands and feet upon Mary. Few people knew that Minerva, the Roman name of the Greek Goddess Athena, was the goddess of wisdom and war and both were her gift to Mary. Combined with Ariadne's gift of skill, this made Mary a formidable hand to hand to combatant.

Wonder Girl, while not an Amazon born, had been raised on Themiscyra. Donna Troy received the same intensive martial training that the native Amazons underwent. She'd undergone the rites that endowed her with the Amazons' legendary strength and immortality.

That all ended while she was still a teen. She'd come to Man's World to assist her world's Diana. Wonder Girl fell in love with a man. She'd sacrificed her immortality to consummate their relationship. Diana moved to intervene. Donna killed her.

Hippolyta dispatched her Amazon army to kill her foster daughter. They managed to find and kill Wonder Girl's lover. Only Luthor's intervention had saved her life.

Now hate drove her to conquer the word and reshape it into the image that she dreamed of. She'd sought out this world's version of her lover only to find that here he had a wife and a daughter. Coldly, she planned to kill the pair of them and offer herself as a consolation prize. How the mighty had fallen.

Wonder Girl and Mary's battle waged. Only Superwoman's unexpected intervention tipped the scales. Wonder Girl had landed a left cross. While Mary recovered from that, Wonder Girl kicked her in the stomach, hurling Mary back.

Superwoman stood behind Mary. She caught the Marvel twin and hooked her arms around Mary's shoulders. Having locked her in position, Superwoman held her at Wonder Girl's mercy.

Wonder Girl stalked forward with a demented smile. Mary definitely didn't like that look in her opponent's eyes. As soon as the adopted Amazon got close enough Mary twisted and kicked her across the face.

Wonder Girl reeled. She spat blood and wiped her mouth. She looked at Mary with eyes promising vengeance, "Nice shot. Let's see you pull that trick again."

So Mary tried again as Wonder Girl got close enough. Superwoman pulled her back so that she missed. Wonder Girl closed the distance and her fist shot out for a left cross and then the other rocketed forth for a right.

Mary's head lolled. Her hair was hanging loose and getting into face. She was beginning to see the advantage of bangs. She suppressed those thoughts and focused on the here and now.

Wonder Girl was beginning to cock her fist back. Mary jerked her head as far right as possible. Wonder Girl missed and smacked Superwoman in the face.

Superwoman loosened her grip. Mary had enough slack to drive her knee into Wonder Girl's gut, knocking the wind out of her. Next she propelled Superwoman and herself back as fast and as hard as she could. Their flight ended when they rammed themselves into a light post.

Mary head butted Superwoman in her recently wounded face. Superwoman released her grip and Mary broke free. Mary spun around and delivered a one-two combo.

Sensing danger, she leapt into the air. Wonder Girl ended her headlong charge with a massive roundhouse than leveled Superwoman. She stood gaping.

Mary swooped in and delivered a savage cross kick to Wonder Girl's head. The Amazon smashed through Saks' window display. Mary tried to catch her breath. She tucked her hair behind her ears and decided against the haircut. She decided there was nothing wrong with her hairstyle.

But the Legionnaires intervened and she was slammed by machine gun rounds. KGBeast left hand replacing Vulcan cannon was hammering her with armor piercing rounds. They weren't harming her but they did hurt and it was distracting.

Suddenly her feet had a block of ice encasing them. Mr. Freeze smiled as he froze her solid. It was then that Captain Marvel arrived.