Disclaimer: I don't own DC Comics or any of it's trademarks. And I don't own Atlanta, the only thing I own is Isaiah Butler and a few other cast members.

Arc 1

Atlanta, Georgia

This morning If you would've said that today would've been the last normal day of Isaiah Butler's life people would've said you were crazy. Isaiah himself probably would've slapped you personally. His family probably would've scolded you or worse. His best friend, Christian Atwood possibly would've done the same thing that his best friend would've but worse So many people loved Isaiah. Family, friends, you name it. But most of all, he loved life and he always strived to get better everyday. And tonight, all he wanted was make his Aunt happy and by going to the Horizon Labs facility, he had done that he didn't know doing so would put him in the hospital bed that he currently laid in.

Both of his aunts sat in the seats next to his bed, both of their eyes bloodshot red both from crying and from the lack of sleep. But how could you sleep when one of the most integral parts of your family lay in a hospital bed in front of you because you couldn't keep him safe? Anne kept thinking in her head that it was her fault. If she hadn't asked Isaiah or Cass to be there, he wouldn't be in that situation. Part of her blamed Dr. Mac and Luthor, even though Luthor had no reason to be there but had Isaiah not pushed Luthor out of the way, Lex would be in that bed not her nephew. He was her responsibility. Everything that happened to him was on her. The judge didn't want to put the child in their custody and always tried his hardest to make sure they didn't get the kid but since John had other obligations he couldn't stop those obligations to raise a kid even if that kid was his family. He had obligations to the world. To the league.

"I'm gonna go get a cup of coffee." Anne said as she stood up while Cass looked up at her with a bit of worry in her eyes. Anne walked towards the doorway placing her hand on the door handle. She sighed as she wiped her eyes before walking out of the room turning to glance back at the boy she raised as her own. Cass sighed as she looked down at the ground. She knew how much it pained Anne to see Isaiah like this. Deep down, it was causing her pain too. Isaiah was her kid just as much as he was Anne's and everyone knew especially Isaiah. He loved to mess with her saying she was the cooler aunt because she didn't care but the truth was, she did care.

"I know you can't hear me but I need you to get better not just for Aunt but for me too. I never told you this but I never wanted kids. I could never get the point of having to take care of someone else, especially someone younger than me. I remember the day you came to live with us, it was May 3rd, 2004. Anne and I had just gotten back from our 2-year anniversary vacation just a few days before. And then you came to live with us. Now at first, I was against it. I was being forced to be an adult. To be responsible. But after a while, I learned to love it. I learned to love you, rather easily, I might add. I remember your first year with us, every other night you would go downstairs, sit in the laundry room and cry." Cass admitted as she began to tear up.

"You would cry for hours until I came downstairs. I would hug you and tell you everything was gonna be alright and then we'd sit on the couch eating the leftovers and staying up watching TV until we both fell asleep. I know I'm not your mother but you're my son just as much as your hers. I love you and I'm not ready to let you go just yet." She said as the tears fell down her face. She stood up and walked over to Isaiah giving him a kiss on the forehead. She heard the door open making her quickly wipe away her tears as Anne walked in with two cups of coffee.

"Thank you." Cass said as she took a cup from Anne's hands.

"I just talked with the doctors, they said they've never seen anything like this before. But they're hopeful."

"He'll wake up. I know he will, he's a fighter." Cass said as she grabbed her wife's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. It was mostly to reassure Anne but it had the same effect on Cass as well.

(!)-(!)-(!)-(!)

Somewhere in Asia

Explosions could be heard in the distance as several armed soldiers shouting at each other in mandarin as they began to aim their guns to the sky while they shot rounds at a pair of heroes who flew around in the sky. The pair were two of the original seven members of the Justice League of America or now simply put the Justice League. Ironically, the pair were the two with the most history whether it be good history or bad history, you take your pick.

"You're looking a little slow out there Shiera." commented a 6'3, African American male with chocolate brown skin who flew through the air with a green aura of energy around him. He had a black low-cut with faded sides and back. He had a black beard with dark brown eyes. He wore a black full-body suit with green boots that went to the middle of his calves. On both of the wrists, he had green metal bracers with black gloves on both of his hands. He had green armor on the breastplate of his suit that seemed to cover most of his shoulders as well. He had a symbol in the center of his suit. A white circle with a green lantern in the center. One of his most notable features was the green power ring on his right hand.

"Funny you're the one saying that. Last time I checked I beat you in the race over here." said the woman named Shiera. She was a 5'4, caucasian woman with auburn colored hair and green eyes. She wore a uniform with red boots with a yellow barrier at the top of her boots with a line coming down the center of the boots. She had green bottoms with a yellow line on the side of it running down to her boots and up to the brown utility belt around her waist with the center of her belt being a red circle with the black silhouette of a hawk in the center of her belt. She had a sleeveless yellow and green crop top. She had brown and gold bracers on both of her wrist. She had a black and gold helmet with a Hawk like design. Her most notable feature were the large bird wings on her back. In her hands, her weapon of choice: a Nth metal mace.

"I was distracted."

"Who would've thought Green Lantern John Stewart would be making excuses?'

"And who would've thought Hawkgirl would be talking so much shit?"

"Both of you focus on the mission. That case holds a piece of Brainiac technology and in their hands, it could lead to the loss of lives." They heard from their earpieces.

"Alright, Hawkgirl you take out those enemy forces on the ground. I'm gonna go for the case." John said as he dove down forming a force field around himself as he flew towards the Jeep on the ground that was attempting to speed off with the case.

"Okay, if you want to miss out on all the fun." Hawkgirl said as she threw her mace at the ground before some of the gunmen causing them to fly backwards. She held her hand out with her palms opened as the mace began to leviate into the air. She smirked as her mace flew through the air taking out several gunmen who were standing. Her mace flew into her hand making her smile.

She quickly spun around swinging her mace at the soldier who attempted to sneak up behind her. He fell down onto his back groaning in pain as she stood over him looking down.

"These guys weren't even in my league, are you sure these guys are the threats we need to be worried about?"

"We're not worried about them. We're worried about the case." John said as he pointed his ring towards the jeep as a green energy formed around the van while lifting it up in the air. The guys in the jeep started shouting in mandarin until John flipped them upside down making a few start to shriek. He shook the jeep a few times making a balck metal case fall out of the jeep. His eyes followed the case as it fell into the hands of Hawkgirl who quickly flew towards the case, catching it before it hit the ground.

His eyes glanced back up at the jeep, flipping it back over and lowering them down to the ground making them quickly take off riding away as John floated there watching them drive off.

"You're not gonna chase them down?" Hawkgirl asked as he descended down standing next to her.

"No, we got what we came for." He said as he turned to look at her. He placed a finger onto his earpiece. "Batman we got the case."

"John, this is J'onn, you're needed at Grady Hospital." John heard making him frown as the thoughts in his mind started to race around. "Grady, that's in Atlanta." It hit him. Anne, Cass and Isaiah were in Atlanta, it had to be something related to them.

"Go, I'll take the case." Hawkgirl said as she placed a hand on his shoulder trying to calm him down. John turned his head to look at her, nodding in agreement before he quickly bolted up in the sky, flying off to Atlanta.

(!)-(!)-(!)-(!)

It's been a few hours since the Altratron incident that put Isaiah in the hospital and since then the man in charge, Dr. Mac, was trying to keep it under wraps. Trying to keep it away from the public and in private. If the public found it, it would ruin the reputation of Horizon Labs. It would make the price of the stocks go down. The price of shares would go from sugar to crap in a matter of minutes. The entire infrastructure of the company would be shaken down so that the people that allowed it to happen were cut from the company. People like Dr. Mac, who sat inside of a black limousine with the bald billionaire sitting next to him with a glass of scotch in his hands.

Luthor's face was all frowned up as he looked out of the window waiting for Mac to get off of the phone.

"Alright, thank you." Mac said as he hung up the phone. He let out a sigh as he massaged his temples looking out of the window thinking about the situation.

"I just got off the phone with the hospital, they said the kid hasn't woke up yet." Mac said out loud as he turned to look at Lex. Lex chuckled as he looked down at his glass.

"What the hell is so funny?"

"This night was supposed to go completely different." Mac frowned as Luthor took a sip of his scotch.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It was supposed to be me. It should've been me." Mac continued to look at Lex with a look of confusion on his face. "Ms. Graves and I had a plan. Hack the Altratron. It would've emitted enough dark matter to make me strong enough to rid this planet of Superman."

Dr. Jefferson Mac shook his head, sighing as the thoughts started to connect. It was all starting to make sense now, why Luthor asked to join him tonight to see the unveiling. It made sense why Luthor had been trying to get in on the business that was Horizon Labs for months now.

"It all makes sense now. You were never interested in the opportunity for unlimited clean energy, you were only interested in yourself."

"Damn right. What else did you expect from me?" Luthor said with a smirk as the limo came to a stop. "I believe this is your stop." Dr. Mac's door opened, making him turn his head to see a forest making him frown in confusion as his seat belt buckle was unhooked. He felt a pair of hands grab him, throwing him out of the limo. He grunted as he hit the ground looking up to see the woman in the chauffeur uniform from earlier.

"What is the meaning of this?" Luthor didn't answer, simply motioning for his chauffeur to close the door. His chauffeur entered the limo as Dr. Mac stood up to his feet dusting himself off as a figure walked out of the shadows standing behind the doctor.

"Dr. Mac, I would love for you to meet an associate of mine, Slade. Slade Wilson AKA Deathstroke." Luthor said with a sadistic smirk as Dr. Mac turned around to see a man in black and orange armor with a helmet that was half-orange and half-black with an eye slit in the orange side of his mask.

Jefferson jumped in fear as Deathstroke pulled out a katana from it's sheath while the limo that brought him there pulled away. Inside Lex Luthor chuckled as he looked forward while he heard the screams of a man as he drove off.

"Mercy, take me back to Horizon Labs, I think I can perfect the failures of these incompetents." Luthor commanded as he took another sip of his scotch.

(!)-(!)-(!)-(!)

John Stewart came rushing out of the elevator at Grady Memorial in a pair of blue jeans with a black leather belt with black leather boots. He wore an olive green bomber jacket with a marine's logo on the right chest side of his jacket with a black v-neck underneath.

He quickly made his way down the hallway and turned into the hospital room, immediately setting his eyes on the hospital bed seeing his nephew lay there unconscious. John turned to see his sister and her wife sitting in the chairs next to the bed.

"John." Anne said with tears in her eyes as she rose up out of her seat and walked towards him wrapping her arms around him in a tight embrace. John sighed and wrapped his arms around his sister giving her a hug. It was painful for John to see his nephew the way he was but his pain probably had nothing on Anne's. Anne pulled away from her brother's embrace and wiped her tears away as Cass stood up and gave her brother-in-law a hug.

"How's he doing?" John asked as Cass pulled away from the hug and turned to look at Isaiah.

"The doctors said they've never seen anything like it before but they're hopeful. His vitals are good but for some reason, he won't wake up. I don't know if it's something they're not looking for or noticing." Anne replied.

"He'll be up soon. I know it. My little soldier's gonna come through." Ever since Isaiah was a young boy John had called him his little soldier. John was the prominent male figure that Isaiah needed in his life. Now granted for the past 3 years, John hadn't been in his life that much due to his league obligations but he had been keeping an eye on him and sending him money every 2 weeks. But still that didn't make up for the time lost.

"I know he will, he's a tough kid." Cass said.

"Tough like his aunts."

"And like his uncle." Anne said with a smile looking at the young boy. A knock at the door caused everyone in the room to turn to the doorway to see the Auburn-haired "friend" of John's at the door. John looked with a hint of confusion on his face as Anne and Cass did the same.

"Hey, I hope I'm not intruding. Can I come in?" Shiera asked.

"Yes, come on in." Anne said with a friendly smile. Shiera smiled walking into the room wearing a pair of skinny blue jeans with a pair of brown leather boots with a white t-shirt and a brown leather jacket over it.

"Shiera." The Auburn-haired woman introduced herself as she offered a hand out to Anne.

"I've heard a lot about you Shiera. A lot of good things from John, he can't stop talking about you. Anne Hill." Anne said, shaking the woman's hand as John looked away while Shiera smiled.

"It's nice to finally meet one of the few women who can handle my brother-in-law, I just wish it was under better circumstances. Cassandra Hill." Cass said, shaking hands with Shiera.

"It's kinda late, why don't you guys go home shower and try to get some rest, I'm gonna stay with him through the night." What John said was true. It was rather late at the moment, it was currently 1:18 AM.

"I-" Anne was about to argue but Cass cut her off.

"We're gonna go. Call us if he wakes up or anything changes." John nodded looking at Cass. Anne walked over to Zay and bent down giving him a kiss on the forehead before walking over to John giving him a kiss on the cheek. Anne and Cass walked out of the door but not before taking a glance, looking back at the unconscious boy.

"What are you doing here?" John asked, turning to look at Shiera.

"I know how much this kid means to you and seeing him like this is painful. A pain no one deserves. I wasn't gonna let you be in pain alone." Shiera said as she placed a hand on John's shoulder.

"Thank you." He said, turning to look at her.

"So this is Isaiah. In a way, he kind of looks like you." Shiera said, walking over to Zay looking down at him.

"Yeah, I've heard that alot." John said as he walked to the seats next to the hospital bed, taking a seat as he looked at his nephew with a smile. Shiera joined him sitting next to him, crossing her legs as she folded her arms.

John hadn't been around for the past 3 years but now he was gonna be in his life. He had no choice, the world had it's heroes. It was always gonna have heroes. But now it was time to be a hero to his nephew. He wasn't gonna depart from the league and neglect his obligations but he was gonna make it his mission to be a part of his nephew's life. And once John made something his mission, he had to see it through.

A/N: Alright so here I am with Chapter 2 of Pulse. I'm really excited about writing this story and I'm gonna try to update as soon as I can, which might be difficult considering that today is my only day off for the next 6 or 7 days. And for some who might be wondering, I actually looked it up and the Nth Metal Mace that Shiera uses has the ability to be recalled kinda like Mjnoir and it actually has many other abilities/functions. And one more thing, I'm a real big fan of the John Stewart/Hawkgirl pairing mainly because I grew up on the DCAU Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, so expect that to be in this story. If you prefer Hawkman/Hawkgirl then I'm sorry, although I know that they're backstories are connected and will always be connected.