Disclaimer: This story is inspired by The Incredible Muffin's BEN 10 UNLIMITED. I do not own anything from DC or anything else in this fic. I would be a very happy person if did, but unfortunately that's not the case. Now without further ado, let's get on with it.
Beacon of Justice
Chapter 1
The skies were gray. The dark clouds were fast approaching. Flashes of lightning and sounds of thunder could be seen and heard from every direction. It didn't matter though, nothing seemed to matter anymore. The only thing that existed at the moment was pain, the pain of suffering… and loss.
She was on her knees in the middle of a field. White rubble both large and small were scattered everywhere as far as the eye can see. The girl hung her head, and tears flowed endlessly from her eyes as she stared at the bright green puddle of liquid in front of her.
"No… no…." was all that escaped her lips in a low whisper as she continued to cry. Why did this happen? Why wasn't she faster? If she had only been faster and stronger, he would still be here with her… They would all be.
The clouds loom ever closer; the sounds of thunder were getting louder. Rain began to fall down into the field. Making small ripples appear in the puddle of liquid. She took her eyes off the puddle and looked at her hands. Her left hand was clutching a plain piece of white cloth. Her right hand was empty, but stained with the same green liquid that was in the puddle in front of her.
She clenched her hands tightly as she squeezed her eyes shut. Her body shaking uncontrollably as she made small whimpers. She had lost everything, she couldn't even understand it. It wasn't fair! Unable to hold it in any longer, she jerked her head upwards and screamed. It was a scream fill with absolute rage and agony. The rain that fell on her face mixed with her tears and flowed down towards the ground. She hung her head again as she finished screaming, her eyes still shut, listening to the pattering of the rain as it bounce off every surface. The thunder was still getting louder, and bright flashes appeared beneath her eyelids. Yes, she thought as the thunder and lightning continued at a faster frequency, yes hit me, please. Everything would be over. The pain will stop, and I get to see them again. The sounds and flashes were getting louder and brighter, she tilted her head upwards again, with arms spread out in acceptance, waiting for the impending oblivion. Robin, Jonah, Mom, Dad, A-Ariella, I'll be with you soon. She remained motionless as she saw a blinding white light, and felt a jolt course through her entire body.
Then everything was consumed by darkness.
The city of Metropolis
She took a large breath. Instantly she knew she wasn't dead, the dead don't need to breathe, and they wouldn't able to feel their heart pounding violently in their chest. Why was she alive? Better yet, why was she denied what she wanted the most? She slowly pulled herself from the ground and surveyed her surroundings. She appeared to be in an alley between two buildings. Odd, considering she was just in an open field laden with rocks everywhere. She couldn't understand how she ended up in a place filled with large skyscrapers.
"Perfect, absolutely perfect," she mumbled sarcastically, "I asked for death, and I end up in a dark alley of all places." She tucked her chin into her hand, trying to make sense of her situation. Until she heard footsteps approaching fast behind her, she turned around to see what was coming her way and blinked confusedly. At the entrance to the alley were two muscular men holding spears in their hands. What caught her attention, though, were the large pair of bird wings that protruded from the men's backs.
"Stop right there human," one man barked, "Show us your identification, or face the consequences." She grimaced and looked up and down at the pair. She was still trying to figure out what had happened to her.
"Show us your identification, human!" the other man ordered impatiently, "We won't ask again." Anger was threatening to boil out of her, but she just sighed, she knew in order to find out where she was; she needed to get out of here. Complying with their demands wouldn't work, and running wasn't an option either. This meant only one thing.
"Sorry, but I'm not in the mood." She finally replied. The two men looked at each other in confusion. The next thing they saw and heard was a dim light followed by a whoosh. The two men were sent flying out of the alley, landing unconscious on the other side of the street. She looked up at the night sky and saw a spacecraft floating in the air. Huh, never even noticed it until now she narrowed her eyes as surveyed the ship. Those fighters are in a defensive formation around that ship, there could be something on it that can help me. She made her decision; after tying the piece of cloth on her left leg, she bent down slightly and sprung off the ground, flying towards the spacecraft at breakneck speeds.
Thanagarian Prison Ship
Separated in holding cells were six members of the Justice League, some of Earth's mightiest heroes. They were defeated because one of their own, Sheyera Hol, formerly known as Hawkgirl, betrayed them and gave their weaknesses to the Thanagarians. Lying in a cell surrounded by red sun radiation was Superman, the Man of Steel. In another prison cell was Wonder Woman, the Amazon Princess of Themyscira, she was tied to a metal pillar by her own indestructible Lasso of Truth. Next to her cell, the Fastest Man Alive, aka the Flash, was being held to the ground by the increased gravity in his cell. Across from Flash in another cell was J'onn J'ozz, known to the world as the Martian Manhunter, bound with metals he couldn't phase through with his intangibility. The last two cells in the holding chamber held Batman, Gotham city's Dark Knight and the World's Greatest Detective, while the other held John Stewart, also known as The Green Lantern. He was sitting curled up in a ball. His face contorted with anger and shame. The Lantern didn't have his ring, therefore he was powerless. Batman was simply handcuffed and wasn't considered much of a threat. All six Leaguers were dead silent in their respective holding cells, the sense of defeat and failure hanging over them.
The silence was broken when the Thanagarian guard patrolling the chamber grunted and fell over unconscious. The Leaguers all tried to see what happened, but only saw the knocked-out guard.
"Ooookay," the Lantern said slowly, "What just happened?" Wonder Woman continued to look in confusion when the barrier in her holding cell vanished, and then suddenly something phased into view directly in front of her. The Amazon gasped loudly at the surprise.
"Wonder Woman!" the Manhunter yelled in concern.
"Hey! What's going on in there?" The Flash questioned.
Wonder Woman didn't respond to her teammates, she just stared in awe at the person in front of her. Standing before Diana was a teenage human-looking girl with long straight snow-white hair that ended below her shoulder blades. She was wearing an unzipped white, short-sleeved jumper jacket, with a blue compression shirt the sleeves ending just before it hits her elbows. She had on a pair of tight fitting black gloves. She wore a black micro-skirt, and a pair of navy blue compression shorts. Lastly, she wore black knee high boots with low wedged heels; a piece of white cloth was wrapped around the top of her left knee. The girl had stunning sky blue eyes and… and a thin vertical scar running down her left eye.
"Based on everything I've seen so far," the girl began in a soft calming voice, "Those bird-men out there are the enemy. Am I right?"
"Y-yes, we're the Justice League; we protect the earth and her people," Wonder Woman finally spoke up. The white haired girl blinked for a moment. What's the Justice League? I'm on Earth? The heck is going on here? She shook off her thoughts after she realized those are questions for later. She simply nodded at the older woman and grabbed the lasso as she knelt down. The second later, lasso turned from gold to see-through, light was passing through it as if it wasn't even there. The girl stood up, yanking the lasso as she did so. In one swift motion, the bonds that held Wonder Woman phased out of her and the pillar. She looked down with amazement until she saw the girl extend a hand.
Smiling, Diana accepted it, allowing the girl to pull her to her feet. The young girl handed her lasso back to her, and Wonder Woman reattached it to her hip. The girl couldn't help but notice that all the Amazon wore was a red, white, and blue leotard, a pair of high heeled boots, a golden tiara, and two silver bracelets. She also noticed how well-built the Amazon was. In short the princess was the perfect mix of brawn and beauty.
"Thank you," Diana said, "I'm Wonder Woman, what's your name?"
The white haired girl opened her mouth slightly before she furrowed her eyebrows and jerked her head behind her. A split second later, the chamber door opened and a squad of Thanagarian soldiers rushed inside. "Hurry, get your friends out, I'll handle them," she hurried out of the cell and met the soldiers head on; she punched and kicked all of them with blinding speed. She was blocking every attack with complete ease. As the number of unconscious Thanagarians steadily rose, Diana freed her captive teammates.
"Who's your new friend?" asked the Flash, shaking his arms to regain sensitivity. Wonder Woman merely shook her head.
"I know about as much as you do."
With the rest the League free, they rushed in to help the one that came to their rescue. During the fight, the white haired girl noticed that four of the Leaguers seemed to have superpowers. The Flash ran through the Thanagarian soldiers with his awesome speed. Wonder Woman had the ability to fly and processed super strength. The one call Superman had all of that and was able to emit laser beams from his eyes, and Martian Manhunter had super strength, and was able to become intangible, similar to her. When the Martian becomes intangible, he blended slightly with his surroundings. When she becomes intangible, she blended perfectly with her surroundings. She also noticed that even though neither Batman nor Green Lantern had powers, both were still extremely effective in combat.
The fight turned quickly into just a no-nonsense beating. As the heroes finished off the remaining Thanagarians, they were surprised by another group of soldiers fast approaching from behind. Wonder Woman was the first to react, deflecting the shots of energy that came from the soldier's spears with her metal bracelets. Things were going smoothly until the girl noticed a rather large Thanagarian packing an even larger cannon. Of which the barrel was slowly getting brighter as it prepared to fire its shot.
The white-haired girl widened her eyes. "Look out!" she shouted as the cannon fired a huge blast of energy towards the heroes. The young girl blurred in front of Diana and the other heroes. There was an explosion followed by a thick layer of smoke. The Thanagarian soldier that fired the cannon expressed a smirk, however, as the smoke cleared his expression quickly changed to complete shock. The heroes, instead of being incapacitated, were standing completely unharmed. Their eyes fixed on the girl in front of them, and the large flat blue disk of swirling energy that emitted from the hand of her raised right arm.
"Nice try," the girl remarked with furrowed brows as the disk shrank and eventually disappeared, but she kept her arm raised, "Now it's my turn," a small bright blue sphere appeared in front of her palm. A millisecond later, a blue energy beam zoomed towards the Thanagarian soldiers; hitting the wall directly behind them. The blast blew a giant hole through the ship, and knocked the squad of Thanagarians unconscious. The young girl turned back to the League "Alright, there's our exit. Those that can fly should carry those that can't!"
Superman flew out of the ship first carry Batman, the Manhunter followed suit, carrying Green Lantern. Wonder Woman grabbed Flash and flew out after them. She looked back as she continued to fly away from the prison ship. Sure enough the white-haired girl was flying right behind them. She saw Wonder Woman looking back and gave her a small smile and a thumbs-up. The Amazon returned the smile and nodded before turning her head back to the front.
Flash glance upwards at the woman holding him. "Y'know, whoever she is, I'm just glad she's on our side."
The Streets of Metropolis
The Justice League and their new ally have found refuge in a department store. As the Leaguers took a moment to catch their breath, the young girl phased through the ceiling to survey the surrounding area, leaving the League alone. Green Lantern took this chance and asked Superman.
"That x-ray vision working yet?"
Superman looked up at the ceiling. "There are Thanagarians everywhere within a two-block radius."
"Hey, maybe 'Invisi-girl' could go all ninja again and knock all of them out for us." Flash put his two cents in.
Ignoring the speedster's comments, Superman turned to Diana and J'onn. "Were either of you able to get a read on her? Was there anything that suggests she's really here to help us?"
The Martian shook his head. "Her mental barriers were too strong for me to break through." The rest of the League widened their eyes, apparently not only was their rescuer powerful physically, but mentally as well.
"I sensed…" Diana began, arms crossed deep in thought. The other heroes turned their heads to the Amazon, anxiously waiting for her next words, "… Pain, anger, sorrow, and loneliness. Something terrible must've happened to her, and by the looks of it, it happened only recently." The rest of the League fell silent as they each thought about what Diana had said. Then Flash looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Wait, this isn't one of those women understanding women things, is it?" The other heroes groaned loudly as they face-palmed themselves and shook their heads. Diana simply rolled her eyes.
"I was blessed by the Gods with many gifts before I left Themyscira," the Amazon answered, "and one of those gifts is the ability to read emotions." the Flash looked confusingly at Diana for a few seconds, thinking of a way to recover from his mistake.
"Uh, I knew that." Diana rolled her eyes again. Another silent moment passed, and then the white-haired girl returned, phasing through the ceiling and landing softly on the ground.
"There're patrols everywhere as far as I could see," said the girl coolly, "and even more beyond my line of sight." The Leaguers' expressions turned grim at the bad news. If they were going to get out of Metropolis without attracting the Thanagarians' attention, they needed to come up with a plan fast.
"Who knows, maybe we'll get lucky and they'll all go home," Flash joked. Everyone looked at him questioningly, "C'mon you guys, a little optimism wouldn't hurt at a time like-"
Before the speedster could finish, a voice coming out of a loud speaker boomed overhead from outside.
"THIS IS THE VOICE OF THE THANAGARIAN OCCUPATIONAL AUTHORITY. THE JUSTICE LEAGUE ARE ESCAPED PRISONERS AND VIOLATORS OF OUR MARTIAL LAW. THEY ARE TO BE CONSIDERED AN ENEMY, AND DEALT WITH ON SIGHT. ANY PERSON OR PERSONS FOUND AIDING OR HARBORING THEM… WILL BE SUMMARILY PUNISHED."
Thanagarian, so that's what they are the girl thought as she turned to look at the Fastest Man Alive, "So much for optimism huh?"
The Flash hunched his shoulders in defeat. "Yeah, something like that."
"For the time being we're going to have to go underground." Batman spoke with absolute authority.
"How exactly do we hide when the entire planet is looking for us?" asked Wonder Woman. The League fell silent again, each member desperately thinking of an idea. The white-haired girl looked around the building, when a thought struck her.
"Well, we are in a store," the others looked at her, "maybe all we need to do is to hide in plain sight."
"She is right." J'onn agreed. The other Leaguers turned to their friend as he held the sleeve of a coat nearby. "They're looking for the Justice League. But without out costumes, we are merely ordinary citizens." J'onn shapeshifted as he spoke; turning into a human man wearing a brown trench coat.
"Whoa, hold on a second here!" The Flash blurted out. "What about the whole secret identity thing? I mean, I trust you guys and all, but what about her?"
Flash jerked a thumb towards the young girl. The latter narrowed her eyes and glared at the speedster.
"Yes. By all means don't trust the person that sprung you and your team out of prison, and saved your lives." said the girl with clear sarcasm. She was starting to grow impatient; she had questions that needed answering. Instead, she was running for her life with a group of people who look like they would fit in perfectly in a comic book convention.
"Whoa, hey, there's no need to get aggressive." replied the Flash as he backed away, holding his hands up in peace.
The white-haired girl took a deep breath. "Listen, I'll do my part to help you get rid of those… Thanagarians. But afterwards I-"
Her words were cut off as her eyes looked downwards; she was at a loss at what to say. The League continued to look at the girl as she took another breath. "I don't know, after everything I've been through. I-I don't even know what I'm supposed to do anymore." She straightened her posture as turned her eyes back towards the heroes. "But I do know how to improve this secret identity issue…"
As she finished, a bright blue horizontal ring appeared around her midsection, illuminating the department store in a low bluish hue. The ring then splited off into two and started to move in opposite directions, one traveling up her body while the other traveled down. As the rings moved along the girl's body, her form began to change. When the rings reached above her head and below her feet respectively, the bright rings disappeared, refilling the store in semi-darkness. The white-haired girl was replaced by a different girl who looked exactly like her, except she now had brown-almond hair, and emerald green eyes. However, the scar was still there over her eye. She now wore a faded purple T-shirt with a white long-sleeved undershirt underneath, blue jeans, and gray tennis shoes.
"My name's Rachel," the girl told the League emotionlessly, "Rachel Robertson."
Every Leaguer stared in complete shock.
Flash shook his head as if to clear it. "Um, Okay, what did you just do?"
Rachel put a hand on her chest. "This is my human form, what you've been seeing was my ghost form."
"Your ghost form?" repeated Wonder Woman.
"I know it's confusing, but I can explain everything later." Rachel assured the League.
"I don't believe it," Lantern clapped a hand to his forehead, "first Earth gets invaded by an army of bird-people, and then a ghost kid shows up to bust us out of prison. Can this day get any weirder?"
Rachel crossed her arms as she glared at the man. "Wow, mister. You really know how to make a girl feel good about herself." Flash sniggered as he covered his mouth with his hand. Wonder Woman just smiled warmly at the girl.
"Uh, sorry, I didn't mean-"
"It doesn't matter," Rachel interrupted, uncrossing her arms, "We need to get moving before the Thanagarians find us."
"She's right", Batman said as he walked forward and removed his cowl. Rachel looked at Batman's black hair and then into his cold, penetrating eyes. What she saw made her blink; she instantly knew what lurked behind those eyes, ones that only the pain of suffering and loss can create.
"Bruce Wayne," said the man, and then he jerked a thumb at Flash, "Wally West." He point to Superman. "Clark Kent," at Green Lantern, "John Stewart, and that's Diana and J'onn." The Dark Knight finished as he raised his arm to point out the Amazon and Martian. Rachel looked at each Leaguer before nodding. With that, the League began to separate, each member looking for a set of clothes to change into.
Flash stayed put, expressing a smug face at the Dark Knight; "Show off," he exclaimed before removing his own mask. Reveal a man in about his mid-twenties with short red hair.
"Red hair, it suits you," Diana said as she ruffled his hair.
"You think so?" smiled Wally, but it quickly faded as a brown shirt hit him, covering half his face.
"Change now," ordered Bruce as he stalked passed the speedster, eyeing him dangerously. Diana sniggered before walking away.
Rachel looked at speedster with a small smirk. "Wally huh?"
"Yeah, yeah," Wally pouted as he too went to change.
Rachel leaned against a pillar, crossed her arms and stared at her feet. She was waiting patiently for the Justice Leaguers to change into civilian attire, when she felt someone watching her. She moved her eyes up and saw Wally hastily turn his head away from her. Suspicious, but not wanting to press the issue, Rachel looked down at her feet again. Sure enough, she felt Wally staring at her again, she looked up a second time and again he hurriedly looked away.
Rachel sighed. "If you curious about my scar, you could just ask." The speedster paused for a moment, and then continued to change.
When the League finished changing, they regrouped at the center of the store. Each Leaguer could now easily be regarded as a normal civilian; Superman wore a blue business suit and his trademarked pair of glasses. Wonder Woman had tied her hair up in a ponytail, and wore a plain long sleeve blue shirt with regular denim jeans. Green Lantern was in a pair of brown pants, a hoodie, and a skull cap. Batman now wore a turtleneck sweater under a dark leather jacket, with slightly lighter pants. Flash picked out a pair of dark colored jeans and a tan colored jacket.
Wally looked at Rachel. "How did you know what I was thinking?" He leaned closer to her as his expression became accusatory, "can you read minds or something?"
Rachel rolled her eyes. "I don't need telepathy when it comes to my scar; it's kind of the first thing people see when they look at me." When Diana heard Rachel's words, she inwardly smiled a little. Here was someone who wasn't afraid of her imperfections, even though it was very noticeable.
"Oh, okay, so how'd you get the scar?" asked Flash bluntly. The men just shook their heads, while Diana pinched the bridge of her nose.
Rachel's expression remained unchanged. "Long story short; I got it in a fight," she glanced at Bruce, "now are we just going to stand here playing '20 questions' or are we going to leave?"
The billionaire nodded, and led the way out to the alley at the back of the store. The heroes looked to up and saw Thanagarians flying in every direction. Further down the alley, Bruce peeked up and down the street to check if the coast was clear. He turned back and gave the others the thumbs-up.
"They'll be expecting seven of us; we'll stand a better chance if we split up," suggested John.
"We need to get to Gotham City. We can regroup at my house there. Try not to draw attention to yourselves." Bruce strategized. After that the League broke into pairs, Clark walked down the street with J'onn, Wally followed Lantern across the street opposite, leaving Rachel, Bruce, and Diana in the alley.
"So I guess I'm with you two," the ghost-girl stated.
Bruce nodded. "We can pose as a family out on a nightly stroll."
Rachel's expression became grim as the billionaire finished talking "Fine, but just so you know, Bruce, I am not addressing you two as my 'parents'." Bruce raised an eyebrow and looked over at Diana. The Amazon simply shook her head, warning the man to not press the issue. As the trio starting to walk away, Rachel simply fixed her gaze forward. The Detective, however, felt slightly uneasy as the teen walked next to him. The temperature in the air seems to have dropped several degrees. Diana could still feel the wave of emotions pouring out of the young girl. What had caused her so much pain? The Amazon shuddered as her imagination started to wander.
Thanagarian Mothership: above the Gobi Desert
Shayera Hol, formerly known as Hawkgirl, and traitor to the Justice League, stood on the bridge of Thanagarian Mothership with Hro Talak, the Commander of Thanagarian forces and her fiancé. Thinking of what had just happened several hours earlier.
When word about the Justice League's escape from the prison shuttle reached him, Talak was furious. He instantly ordered his forces to go to find the heroes. He then proceeded to have a team investigate the security footage to determine how they escaped. After several hours of fuming, Talak cooled off enough to think about the situation. There is no doubt that the heroes of the Justice League are formidable opponents, but the entire Thanagarian invasion force has them outnumbered and outgunned. With all that coupled with Shayera's information on all their weaknesses, Talak was confident that the League wouldn't win, no matter what their next move is.
However, his confidence was before he knew who had freed them from the ship. The footage caught him by surprise. Apparently this human-looking, white-haired adolescent had been able to get past the security formation surrounding the ship, navigate inside the ship completely undetected, find where the League was being held. She was then able to single-handedly fend off a platoon of Thanagarian soldiers, survive a heavy weapon blast, and finally blow a massive hole in the hull of the ship with an energy blast of her own. Talak couldn't even comprehend how someone, adolescent or not, process that much power.
Shayera was having trouble believing it herself, even though she and Talak had reviewed the footage several times. She didn't know anything about the teenage girl; she too had never seen anything like it. However, what Shayera did know was that the girl will soon become a huge problem to their cause. The teen was a complete unknown, and in times of war, unknowns can be deadly.
Currently, Talak was having a conversation with Paran Dul, a Thanagarian woman, via video-screen. Dul was tasked with overseeing the construction of the shield generator, the one that the Thanagarians claimed was necessary to protect Earth from a supposed Gordanian invasion.
"Be aware that the Justice League has escaped, apparently with the help of a white-hair teenage girl," Talak advised, "Be prepared in case they were to attack."
"Any attack on this base would be suicide," Dul bragged, seemingly no share the Thanagarian commander's concern.
"Keep me informed of your progress. Let nothing delay you," Talak said.
"By your command." Dul replied as she bowed her head. The screen went blank. Shayera took this opportunity to mention a topic she overheard Paran and her future husband discuss earlier.
"Humans as slave labor?" she asked accusingly with concern in her voice. She overheard Paran mention humans are able to 'lift and carry as well as any animal.'
Talak didn't even glance at her as he answered. "Unfortunate, but necessary." Shayera was slightly taken aback at the remorselessness in his voice, before she could respond; Talak moved to a console nearby over and checked up on some details. "We are on a most unforgiving schedule. We must move as quickly as possible if we want to finish the hyperspace bypass in time."
Shayera dropped her jaw in shock, eyes threatening to burst from their sockets. Did he say hyperspace bypass? But that would…
"W-waited, bypass?" she yelled, looking the Commander in the eye. "I thought you said we were creating a force field for Earth!"
"That was simply our cover story." Talak simply replied.
Shayera couldn't believe her ears; she shook her head as she came up with another question.
"When were you going to tell me this?" she questioned. "Did you not think you could trust me?"
The room was silent for what seem like an eternity. In all those years of being together, Shayera never once had been this frustrated with the Commander. She just couldn't understand how the man she once loved would resort to this. How could he?
Talak broke the silence. "Follow me." This brought Shayera back to reality. The two Thanagarians began to walk out of the bridge and into an elevator.
A few minutes later, the pair entered the ship's war room. They stopped in front of a large video-screen that was used for devising battle plans.
"As you are well aware, the Gordanian homeworld has been protected for decades by an impenetrable defensive line," Talak began, as he spoke, an image of the Gordanian home planet appeared, orbited by fleets of starships and several space stations. Clearly, any head-on attack would be suicide.
The image shifted into a row of planets, each encircled and connected as if they were a part of a connect-the-dots image. "But this chain of hyperspace bypasses will allow the full force of our armada to go around their defenses by jumping behind them, which will let us wage a direct assault on the heart of their empire."
Shayera saw the brilliance in the plan. However, she knew there was more to this, and sure enough the screen shifted once more to reveal an image of Earth, considerably larger than all the previous planets.
"Earth is the last link in the chain. Once we finish it, we can finally attack and annihilate the threat of the Gordanians forever."
The Ex-Leaguer could hear a hint of pride in his voice. However, there was something much bigger that was worrying her.
"But ripping a hole in hyperspace would destroy this entire planet, and everyone on it!" she pointed out loudly.
"Unfortunately, yes," replied Talak, his voice became dark and quiet, as if that moment showed how much the war had affected him, how much it cost him, how much it is still costing him. The touchy subject of the soul was usually disregarded by the Thanagarians, but Commander firmly believed that he will eventually face the consequences of his actions.
"For Thanagar to live, Earth must die." Those words left Shayera absolutely aghast. She had no idea everything would come to this.
"No."
Metropolis: Outer limits
Rachel, Diana, and Bruce were able to make their way out of Metropolis without encountering any Thanagarians. Both the Amazon and Detective thought about the ghost-girl. Bruce was concerned about the how Rachel's powers could affect the world; he was still having a hard time adjusting to the fact that the young girl was a total powerhouse, despite looking nothing like one. Diana, however, was thinking Rachel's mental health. Even though she hid it very well with her neutral expression, the princess could still feel the girl's agony. Diana hoped talking to her would get Rachel to ease up a little, and maybe learn more about her in the process.
"Rachel?"
The girl turned her head to the Amazon, but her expression didn't change. "Yes, Diana?"
"I was wondering about your powers," Diana started, "may you give us more details about them?"
Bruce glanced at the princess. "It could help us a lot actually," he added.
Rachel looked both Diana and Bruce, and then realized what the Amazon's intentions were, and complied. "Sure, at the moment I've got flight, super strength, super speed, intangibility, invisibility, energy manipulation, sensory, and oh you haven't seen it yet, but I can also duplicate myself."
The billionaire and princess once again stared shocked at the girl. She seemed very keen on constantly surprising them.
"At the moment?" questioned Bruce.
Rachel looked at the Detective, slightly impressed that he caught on. "Yeah, those are just the powers I currently have. I don't know if that's all I'll get though."
Bruce and Diana exchanged looks, both thinking the same thing. If what Rachel said was true, she could virtually become unstoppable.
"I know," continued Rachel, the two Leaguers looked back at her, "having all these powers could drive you insane, but that's why I have my human side," she pointed her thumb to her chest, "it keeps me honest."
Bruce nodded in understanding, glad to hear that even though Rachel had all these incredible abilities, she valued her humanity just as equally if not more.
Diana wanted to know something else. "If you have all these powers and are as powerful as we witnessed. How it is that we've never noticed you, even in the slightest?"
Rachel halted as she thought briefly about the Amazon's words. Her neutral expression changed into a brooding one. Bruce and Diana stopped as well. "I think it's because I'm in a different dimension." Upon hearing this, Bruce and Diana stared at the girl, waiting for her to finish her hypothesis, "yeah, it makes sense, back where I'm from, there's no such thing as a Justice League, or Thanagarians, and there any cities named Metropolis or Gotham. And… And." Rachel tilted her head up to the sky as if hoping to find something amongst the stars. The Dark Knight and Amazon copied her, but saw nothing but plain sky.
"And what?" asked Bruce, looking back at Rachel.
Rachel lowered her gaze. "It doesn't matter right now, we should keep moving."
Bruce nodded and the trio started to walk again. Even though their minds were teeming with questions, now it is not the time to ask. There was still an invasion force that needed to be stopped.
Wayne Manor
The pretend family was the first to arrive at the billionaire's mansion. The double doors opened as the trio approached it, revealing an old, balding man wear a black suit and bow tie. Bruce quickly introduced the man as his butler, Alfred. Rachel took a moment to survey the inside of the mansion; the place seemed very spacious, very comfortable, and very nicely kept. She gazed forward again as Alfred stood in front of her, holding a tray full of snacks.
"Refreshments?" he asked calmly. Rachel smiled as she gratefully accepted his offer. She couldn't even remember the last time she ate.
A few moments later, Bruce led both ladies to a grandfather clock. He opened the cover and moved the hour hand to the 12 o'clock position. A light gong that sounded, and the billionaire pulled the clock aside like a door. Behind it was a tunnel, stairs leading into a gigantic cave. Rachel looked in awe as she saw the enormous computer console standing against one wall, the unusually designed black car parked on a platform a few yards over. In another area, she noticed the various objects stood on their respective podiums and were in glass cases. Behind the displays was a penny that looked to be twenty feet in diameter, next to that was a giant mechanical T-Rex.
Bruce smirked a little at seeing the ghost-girl's reaction to his headquarters. "Welcome to the Batcave."
Rachel looked him questioningly. "You really live up to the whole bat-persona, don't you?"
"I do my best to." Bruce shrugged.
A Few Hours Later
The Flash and Green Lantern were the last Leaguers to arrive at the manor. They were escorted into the Batcave by Alfred.
"You're late." Bruce remarked.
"Good to see you too." John answered with sarcasm. "We had a slight mishap."
Wally said nothing as he noticed the T-Rex, grinning like a child. "Hey, that's a giant dinosaur."
Alfred was behind him, his expression calm. "And I thought Batman was the Detective." Rachel smirked, she knew there was a reason she liked the butler.
Flash rejoined the others as J'onn continued to speak. "We were just speculating why the Thanagarians are really here."
"We know it's obviously not to protect us." Clark said certainly.
"But if the Gordanians aren't anywhere near Earth," said Diana, "why do they need to build the force field?"
"If it is a force field." Questioned Bruce.
As the League talk amongst themselves, Rachel turned her head to a part of the cave that was covered in darkness. "Guys, we have company." The other heroes glanced over at Rachel's words, their eyes widened as they saw someone emerge from the shadows.
"You're good," said Shayera, then she looked to her former teammates "I can tell you what it is."
Clark glared at her as he pulled off his glasses. "You've got a lot of nerve showing up here."
"We should thank you," the Amazon said coldly, "it saves us the trouble of hunting you down."
Before the situation could escalate any further, the ghost-girl stepped between the League and the Thanagarian traitor.
"Wait," she said, "she's obviously not here to pick a fight. We should hear her out." Everyone looked at Rachel, eyebrows raised.
"She's right, I came to help." The Former Hawkgirl told them.
"Hawk-people all over the planet?" Flash sarcastically pointed-out, "Martial law? I don't think we need any more of your help."
Superman and Wonder Woman nodded in agreement. Shayera paused for a moment, and then continued. "They're building a hyperspace bypass. When it's active, it'll destroy the planet and everyone on it." She walked up to Bruce and took out a small purple rectangular device. "Here; this has all the information on the project." Bruce said nothing as he kept glaring at her. "Believe me; I didn't know the magnitude of Talak's plan."
The Detective kept his glare on her as he took the device. "We'll check it out," when he starting to walk away, he told her, "there's the door." The rest of the League except Green Lantern walked past Shayera without giving her so much as a passing glance. Rachel exchanged looks with the Thanagarian before she too walked away. Just before Shayera turned to leave, she gave John his ring back. He stared at it as he rejoined the group.
Rachel eyed the ring curiously. "What's with the jewelry?"
John slightly smirked at her, and then placed the ring onto his right middle finger. A second later, his eyes glowed green as his civilian clothes disappeared, changing him into his Green Lantern suit.
"Ah, I see." Rachel understood.
They turned to look at the computer, where it was showing a simulation of the effects the hyperspace bypass would have on Earth. They continued watching until the simulation ended, confirming what Shayera has told them.
"Ingenious." The Bat whispered.
"Yeah, impressive," Superman added, taking off his glasses again, "Let's go wreck it."
"And how do you suppose we do that?" Lantern asked, "The whole thing's behind a force field."
Rachel stepped forward and stopped next to where Bruce sat. "Let me take a look." She said as she narrowed her eyes, as she did so, a light blue visor-like, see-through strip appeared in front of her eyes. As the girl stared at the screen, lines of code and numbers appeared on the visor's screen, scrolling up at speeds barely detectable by the average human.
"It looks like the bypass is too dangerous for a crew to maintain the force field on-site. They're probably transmitting a remote signal that's keeping it active." Rachel extended her hand to the keyboard and typed a few keys. An image of the bypass appeared, followed by a line of arrows, the screen moved with the arrows as they landed on the Thanagarian Mothership. "There, if we disable it, the force field's history."
The visor disappeared into thin air as Rachel finished talking, Flash leapt at the opportunity. "Okay, again, how'd you do that?"
Rachel looked at the speedster, and then tucked her hair behind one ear, revealing a small, black, flat-studded earring on the lobe. "See this? It's a holographic interface that I use whenever I need to analyze something more thoroughly."
The Fastest Man Alive whistled. "Fashion and function. Nice!"
Rachel smiled warmly as she brought her hair back. "Thanks, they were… a gift." Her smile faltered slightly as she turned her face away from Wally. Diana looked sadly at the girl; realizing the meaning in her words. Suddenly Rachel's eyes widened as she turned her head to look at the entrance of the cave.
"They're coming!"
Bruce looked at Rachel, and then at the computer screen, sure enough the proximity sensors surrounding the manor have been triggered.
"Suit up!" the Detective ordered as he sprung from his chair and ran to his spare Bat-suit. The other heroes, with their costumes being underneath, simply shed their outer clothing. J'onn merely shapeshifted back to his Martian form, and finally Rachel transformed as the blue rings returned, turning her back into her ghost form.
When everyone finished, Flash grinned at the girl. "Wow, it'd been awesome if I could that." Rachel just smirked and shrugged her shoulders.
"Get ready to ambush them." Batman said as he regrouped with the rest. As the League ran to find a hiding spot, Rachel just vanished into thin air.
"Show off," Flash muttered smugly, and then he felt something smack him in the back of the head, "Ow." He turned but wasn't able to see what hit him, only hearing a slight chuckle. "Ha ha, very funny." He pouted before running off.
A few seconds later, the entrance exploded, two squads of Thanagarian soldiers landed in the center of the cave. All but two carried axes, maces, spears and swords; the last two carried heavy cannons.
"Spread out," the squad leader barked, "they're hiding here somewhere."
The Thanagarian trespassers didn't get far however as a pair of blue energy blasts hit the two heavy weapon carriers squarely in the chest, knocking them out cold.
"You just made a big mistake," Rachel said as she reappeared, and then the League charged from the shadows.
"Come get some," roared Green Lantern as he blasted one of the Thanagarians attempting to shoot him with his ring.
Wonder Woman caught another soldier by the ankles with her lasso and swung the alien towards Manhunter, who stuck his arm to the side, clotheslining the Thanagarian's head. Flash was running in a weaving pattern through the soldiers, hitting them with incredible speed, not stopping for anything.
As one Thanagarian soldier was drawing a bead on the Fastest Man Alive with his weapon. Superman blurred in front of him, crushing both the soldier's pistol and hand. Making the Thanagarian scream in pain, Superman simply told him, "Let's use our indoor voice." Then he punched the soldier, sending him flying into the stone wall.
Flash was able to avoid the shots from his new Thanagarian pursuers. He ran passed them and spun his arms rapidly, two small tornadoes blew the two Thanagarians into the giant penny's stand, causing it to collapse on them, tails facing up.
Flash expressed a wide smirk. "Tails, I win."
As Batman landed on the ground, he threw three batarangs into the three Thanagarians' chest harnesses. However, when they didn't penetrate, the soldiers stopped in their tracks, hovering in the air, looking at the Dark Knight with disdain. What they didn't notice, was the red light blinking on each batarang.
"Your weapons are pitiful." A soldier snarled
"Wait for it." As Batman finish, hundreds of eyes appeared into focus in the darkness behind him. Then an enormous swarm of bats flew towards the three Thanagarians, seemingly attracted to the batarangs. The soldiers screamed, and tried to wave the bats off, but to no avail. When the bats finally flew away, the Thanagarian soldiers lay unconscious, with scratches covering their bodies.
Rachel was having no trouble dodging the Thanagarians' shots. She flew towards the group at speeds faster than the blink of an eye. She swung her leg and kicked one Thanagarian soldier squarely in the temple, causing him to slam into the opposite wall ten yards away. Before other two soldiers could react, Rachel hit one of them with an uppercut, sending him flying to the ceiling, before following through with a back fist to the last Thanagarian's cheek, sending the unconscious soldier crashing to the ground.
With that, the fight had been won. The heroes tied up the Thanagarian intruders, and then walked out of the Batcave. The heroes reentered the Detective's mansion, where Alfred was sweeping up the glass that used to be the front windows.
"Mind the glass, sir." Informed the butler as the League walked past him.
Once outside, Batman turned to Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Rachel. "Go and disable the command ship." He then looked at Flash and Manhunter. "We'll take care of the bypass."
Flash widened his eyes skeptically. "Whoa-whoa, wait! That thing's the size of a city. What are you going to do, throw a batarang at it?"
The Detective looked at the Thanagarian aircraft parked a few yards over. "Something like that." He answered as he narrowed his eyes.
"What do you plan to do?" The Martian asked.
"First, you two are going to help me retake the Watchtower." Rachel looked up at the sky, picturing the League's advanced space station orbiting the planet.
"B-But it's crawling with Thanagarian soldiers," Flash protested, "How are we going to get inside?"
Batman pointed to the Thanagarian aircraft. "With that, " was his simple reply.
Superman nodded. "We all've got our assignments, let's go." The Man of Steel soared upwards, with Wonder Woman and Green Lantern flying right behind him. Rachel floated in the air a few feet before turning back to face the trio.
"Good luck." Three men nodded as she turned again and flew off after the others.
Batman, Flash and Manhunter stood inside Thanagarian aircraft, with J'onn in the pilot's chair staring at the controls.
"Well?" asked the Dark Knight.
"I have no idea how to fly this vessel."
"Aw man, if we only had Rachel's holographic thingy," Flash quipped as he looked at a button on the control panel. "What's this do?" he pressed the button. The ship shot a blast of energy at Wayne Manor, creating a big hole right next to the already glassless window. Alfred lifted his head as he had ducked from the explosion.
"My Word!"
Batman got right up in Flash's face, gritting his teeth. "That's. Not. Helping."
J'onn turned to the two. "I'll need one of the hawk-men."
Several minutes later, Batman grabbed Kregor, the one who led the attack, as well as one of Talak's chief advisors, and threw him against the side of the aircraft.
"You think I'll tell you anything?" Kregor taunted, "I'd sooner choke on your bones."
"Fine by me," Flash retorted, his fist ready to strike. "Can I start with these?" The Manhunter grabbed his arm before the speedster could punch the Thanagarian.
"We're short on time," said J'onn said, "I'll take the information from him."
"Wait, I thought you couldn't read their minds?" Flash looked curiously at his friend.
"I'll just have to try harder." J'onn answered as he gripped Kregor's head, eyes glowing.
As the Manhunter attempted to break into Kregor's mind, slashes and claw-marks appeared throughout J'onn's body. Apparently the Thanagarian's mental defenses stronger than the Martian had anticipated. A few seconds later, J'onn pulled himself away from Kregor, swaying as he stood. Flash grabbed the Martian's arm to steady him as his injuries slowly began to fade.
"I… I have what we need." J'onn said grimly. He did not seem proud of what he had done.
Shortly after, the aircraft took off towards the Watchtower. Alfred walked into the yard, spotting Kregor lying sideways on the ground. The butler noticed the Thanagarian was softly moaning. His eyes were wide, but unseeing, and drool was falling from his open mouth.
It seems Manhunter's attack on his mind did some serious damage.
Alfred wrinkled his nose slightly at the sight of the crippled Thanagarian. "I'll have to ask Master Bruce to not leave trash in the yard."
Outer Space: approaching Watchtower
J'onn shapeshifted into a doppelgänger of Kregor as the stolen ship approached the Watchtower. Pressing a button on the control panel, he spoke with Kregor's voice.
"Shuttle Elipson-sixteen, requesting entry." He pressed another button on the panel. "Confirm docking code."
"Docking code confirmed." The ship's on-board speakers responded as the doors to the Watchtower's docking bay opened. "You are clear to come aboard."
After the ship landed, the disguised Martian walked down the ramp where two Thanagarian soldiers stood waiting.
"We weren't expecting you, sir." One of them said, surprise in his voice.
"There's been a change of plans." 'Kregor' said, and then his form changed into large blue Cyclops like creature. The two soldiers gasped in fear.
J'onn hastily incapacitated the two Thanagarians, but realized more had ran into the docking bay. As one attempted to take a shot, a batarang flew in and disarmed him. The soldier was just able to see Batman run at him until the Detective knocked him unconscious with a pair of electrically-charged brass knuckles. The remaining Thanagarians in the space station were no match for the three heroes.
Thanagarian Invasion Fleet
Rachel, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern were fast approaching the Thanagarian Fleet. However, it became clear that they were discovered, as every fighter aircraft was converging on their position.
"Pretty bad odds." The Amazon stated.
"It's absolutely terrible." Rachel added.
"Yeah, they don't stand a chance." Superman responded in a serious tone.
To call the following event a battle is completely incorrect. A battle would imply that both opposing sides were receiving damage. The Thanagarian fighters were being blasted out of the sky in a matter of seconds. Leaving the heroes completely unharmed.
Green Lantern constructed an electric drill with his ring, and then proceeded to bore a hole at the bottom of the Mothership. Afterwards he made his way inside, zooming down the halls of the ship.
Watchtower
Batman, Flash, and Martian Manhunter have successfully taken out all the Thanagarian soldiers that previously occupied the Watchtower.
"Okay," Flash boast, fists on his hips, "the Watchtower's ours again." He then rushed over to the Detective, who made his way over to one of the computer consoles during the fight.
"So where's this secret weapon of yours?" asked the speedster.
"You're standing in it."
Flash looked at him, completely shocked. "Wait… you mean you're gonna…"
"Take the Watchtower out of orbit and drop it right on top of their little science project." Batman finished for him. He then pointed at the unconscious Thanagarians. "Get them to the escape pods."
The Watchtower's engines turned and the giant space station started speed towards the hyperspace bypass. The heroes hurriedly brought all the soldiers to the escape pods. With the Flash's speed, they were done in no time.
"Are these the last of them?" J'onn wanted to make sure.
"Yep," replied Flash confidently, clapping his hands clean. However, neither of them noticed Batman slowly backing away from the escape pod. "The tower is completely pest-free."
"Good." The Detective said as he pressed a button, launching the escape pod away from the Watchtower, with him still on board the station.
The two Leaguers inside the pod bolted to the window. "Bats! What are you doing?" yelled the Flash.
"I can't risk having the Watchtower burn up on reentry. I'll have to guide it in manually." Batman stopped for a few seconds, selecting his next words carefully. "Gentlemen… It's been an honor."
J'onn hung his head as Flash slowly sat on the floor, hugging his knees to his chest. Both heroes knew that the chances of Batman surviving are slim to none.
Thanagarian Mothership
Standing on the Mothership's bridge, Commander Hro Talak was watching live security footage of John Stewart flying through the ship's halls, blasting anyone and everyone out of the way without any hesitation. Upon seeing the human, Talak became hoarse with rage. He despised the Lantern with the deepest passion. The Justice Leaguer had stolen Shayera Hol's love away from him. Shayera was currently being held in the brig for warning the League about their plans, giving Lantern back his ring, and ultimately betraying her entire race. Talak had tried his best to reason with her. Trying to make her see that in order for the Thanagarians to prevail, Earth must be sacrificed, but instead of listening to him. Shayera had betrayed her people, had betrayed him, because she grew to love the Earth, to love John Stewart.
"Intruder alert!" a soldier on the bridge made a ship-wide announcement. "All security teams to engineering!"
"Belay that!" shouted the Commander, as he walked out of the bridge, tightening the hold on his battle-axe. "Green Lantern is mine."
If Talak had remained in his spot for just a tiny bit longer, he would have noticed Wonder Woman slamming a fighter into the bridge. She immediately flew into the room, with Rachel hot on her tail. While the Amazon took out the remaining soldiers in the bridge, the ghost-girl blasted every control panel she could see. Soon enough, the room was filled with smoke and unconscious Thanagarians. Diana picked up a sword and rushed out of the room, followed by Rachel. They ran alongside each other until they reached two separate hallways leading to engineering.
The Amazon looked at her young friend. "Are you ready?"
Rachel floated a few feet off the ground. "You bet'cha, you go that way," She pointed to the left hallway, and then to the right, "and I'll go this way?" Diana nodded. "Awesome. A little race to see who gets there first?" she finished with a grin.
"You're on." Wonder Woman smirked, and then charged down her hallway, war-crying as she went. Rachel soared down her own hallway, shoving Thanagarians out of her way.
The Amazon princess had to admit, the Thanagarians were worthy opponents, but she was able to get past them with hardly any trouble. After she defeated the squad, she was fighting, she approached an unusual door that had bars in various angles. The door was an entrance to a room, in the center of the room, and stood inside of a force field was the traitor, Shayera Hol. Anger boiled inside Diana as she glared at her former friend.
"I should leave you to burn." Wonder Woman growled. Then she slashed the control panel to Shayera's cell with her sword. Instantly the door opened as the force field vanished. Diana glared at Shayera for a few more seconds, and then she walked away. Shayera walked out of the room, picked up a mace from an unconscious soldier, and flew towards engineering.
Green Lantern pried open the door to the force field control room with his ring. At the center of the room was a large room with a pillar shaped force field; inside of it was what looked like a small plunger-like device.
"The force field controls." Lantern glanced upwards and saw Hro Talak, landing in between him and the force field. "That is what you came for, yes? You want it?" he held his ax at the ready. "All you have to do is get by me."
"It'll be a pleasure." Lantern replied as he raised his ring, firing a beam of energy at the Thanagarian commander, who just simply deflected it by swinging his ax.
"No." Talak objected. "This won't be like the last time that you took something that belonged to me."
John realized he meant Shayera. "Anything I took was freely offered. Maybe you should take better care of your stuff."
Lantern shot more beams of energy at Talak, who deflected them all. As both flew into the air, Lantern formed a shield in an attempt to block Talak's attack. The strategy didn't seem very effective as eventually his shield was broken. He then resorted to dodge the Commander's attacks; this didn't work either as Lantern was hit by the hilt of Talak ax and fist, sending him flying into some machinery, causing several cuts to his face.
Talak landed in front of John as he slowly regained his feet. "I've beaten you, little man." He said with no pity in his voice, "any last words?"
Green Lantern finally got back on his feet, glaring at the Thanagarian. "Yeah, you can kiss my ax!" He snarled as he created a green battleaxe with his ring. Then the two swung their weapons at each other, both refusing to back down.
Rachel plowed through another group of Thanagarians, she realized she could simply fly past them using her intangibility, but she didn't want them following her. She was doing extremely well aside from a few nicks. She was more concerned about the others; in a short time they've been together, the girl had grown to care for the Leaguers, even the Detective. She realized that the bonds forged by battle can become very powerful. But was it real, or was it just my grief making me attached?
As the ghost-girl noticed another squad of soldiers up ahead, she decided to use a different tactic. Leading with energy blasts, she took out half the soldiers before they got too close. Then she punched and kicked the rest, even throwing several to the walls or into other soldiers. She hovered for a bit when she felt someone approaching from behind her. Instinctively, she spun around rapidly, a punch ready to strike her pursuer.
"Wait!"
Rachel stopped inches from her face. "Shayera?" the ghost-girl exclaimed.
"Yeah, i-it's me" she answered, "You're Rachel, right?"
Rachel nodded as she lowered her fist, glaring at the former Leaguer. "What are you up to?"
Shayera looked away in shame. "I want to try and fix what I've done, and maybe I can never repair the damage I've done completely. But I want to start now before it's too late."
Rachel took a good look at the woman in front of her. She understood how Shayera felt about the situation; all she wanted to do was fix her mistakes, to seek redemption.
"Okay then," the girl said calmly before turning around to fly down the hallway.
Shayera followed Rachel, but something confused the Thanagarian. "Wait, so you're going to trust me, just like that?"
"I know you won't try anything," the ghost-girl answered, and she looked over her shoulder at Shayera, "because we both know what would happen if you did." Shayera nodded as Rachel looked forward again. Rachel's statement wasn't her being cocky; it was just a simple fact. Both knew the ghost-girl would destroy the Thanagarian in a fight.
The coast remained clear as the two reached the door to the shield controls. Their eyes widened as they saw Talak bring the blunt side of his ax down onto Lantern's forearm. John fell to his knees, screaming in pain as the bone shattered. However the Thanagarian commander didn't stop there, he hit Lantern with a sickening uppercut, causing him to fly across the room until he landed motionless on the floor.
Talak lifted his ax above his head, ready to end it, when Shayera shouted. "Hro! Enough!" The Commander turned his head to see the former Leaguer walking towards him. Stopping until they were only inches apart.
There was a moment of silence, and then Talak backhanded Shayera viciously, sending her crashing to the floor.
"I am a fool!" Anger was in every letter as he shrieked, "For ever loving you!"
Before Talak got another chance to attack his former lover, the Commander was sent flying across the room and slamming into the wall. He shook his head in an attempt to clear it, and when he did, he saw Rachel hovering above him, holding his ax. Talak looked at the weapon in shock before looking at his empty hands.
Rachel looked down at the Commander; her face was contorted with anger and disgust. "That is enough!" she barked, and then with seemingly no effort, she snapped the ax perfectly in half. Dropping the pieces at Talak's feet.
"Shayera!" Rachel called out to the former Leaguer as she helped Lantern back to his feet. "I'll handle this, shut down the shield!"
After both Shayera and John nodded in understanding, they walked up the control panel, the latter leaner on Shayera for support. Talak looked at Rachel furiously, he was not about to be defeated by a child. He wouldn't allow it. With a shout, he flew at the girl, aiming a fist straight at her face. However, in one swift motion, Rachel both deflected his attack and punched him in the jaw, causing Talak's head to whip back violently. Then she grabbed his arms, and kneed him in the gut as she pulled him in, Talak made a wretched sound as he felt the pain. Finally, Rachel shot an energy blast straight into the commander's chest, sending him flying into a wall.
Watchtower
Batman struggled to keep the Watchtower on course as it descended through Earth's atmosphere. The station began to grow red hot as it continued to fall. He contacted Superman via his comlink.
"We're cutting it a little close." He pointed out. The Watchtower shook violently; electrical systems were sparking under stress, and debris was falling from the ceiling. "Have you shut off the force field?"
Superman shot a fighter out of the sky with his heat vision before pressing the comlink in his ear.
"Not yet. Where are you?"
"Aboard the Watchtower," the Detective replied, "guiding it to target."
"That' insane!" the Man of Steel exclaimed with shock. "Get out of there!"
"Negative. I'm staying." Grunted Batman as the communication was cut, replacing it was static.
"Batman!" Superman wasted no time and sped up towards the falling space station. Thanks to his enhanced senses, he was able to easily find it. Superman just hoped he could save his friend in time.
Inside the Thanagarian Mothership
Talak's entire body ached with pain. He now realized that the odds are against him. The Commander had undoubtedly underestimated the young girl; she was stronger than anyone he had ever faced. However, he couldn't escape the feeling that the girl was pulling her attacks.
"What's the matter?" Talak jabbed as he got back to his feet. "Afraid to kill me? Too scared to get blood on your hands?"
Rachel landed a few feet in front of him, eyes narrowed as she glared at him. What's his problem? Why does he have to make it so hard for himself? A split second later, the ghost-girl drove her fist into Talak's midsection, causing him to double over. As he did so, Rachel grabbed his chest harness and brought him inches from her face.
"Shut up!" She barked as she punched directly between his eyes. With a final grunt, the Thanagarian commander slid across the floor.
After glaring at the unconscious Talak for a few more moments, Rachel turned around to see the Lantern had just broken the force field with his ring. Stumbling forward, he reached the device and tried his hardest to push it down, but he couldn't because of the amount of pain he was in. He continued to struggle until Shayera walked next to him and placed her hand on top of his, and together they deactivated the shields.
Watchtower
The Watchtower continued its descent. The former engineering marvel was now a twisted, red hot, metal wreck hurtling towards the now unprotected bypass. It took Batman every ounce of will he had to stay conscious. Sweat was pouring out of every pore in the Detective's body as he struggled to keep the Watchtower on the correct trajectory.
Batman finally lost consciousness when he knew the Watchtower was guaranteed to crash into the bypass. Seconds after he passed out, Superman crashed into the station, he hurriedly ripped the seat that Batman was strapped to, and then flew both the seat and the Dark Knight to safety. After landing far away, Clark watched as the space station, the headquarters of the Justice League for the last few years, crashed into the Thanagarians' hyperspace bypass. The massive structure exploded with the force of a nuclear weapon. Leaving a crater that was several miles deep, and so wide it could be seen from space.
Batman, having regained his consciousness, looked at the devastation with Superman. Both men knew their mission was a success. A moment of silence later, Superman turned to his friend, a light smirk on his face.
"You always have to be the hero, don'tcha?"
The Dark Knight glanced at the Man of Steel, giving him a tired smirk of his own. "Right back at you."
Thanagarian Mothership
Rachel, Green Lantern and Shayera looked at the viewscreen in the room; it was showing the giant crater where the hyperspace bypass used to be. After smiling at them both, Shayera stared at the floor, looking sad and guilty.
Rachel sensed people approaching and quickly spun around to face the entrance. John and Shayera noticed the girl turning around, and hurriedly followed suit. A platoon of Thanagarian soldiers burst into the room, completely surrounding the trio. The three were prepared to fight, when cries of pain from the back of the room made everyone turn. Standing over several unconscious Thanagarians, covered with bruises and scratches on her body, panting, but still ready to fight, was Wonder Woman.
"Who's next?" asked Diana as she raised her sword. Before any more Thanagarians could charge at her, a voice could be heard from the opposite side of the room
"Stand down!" Commander Hro Talak barked as he stood up, bruises both light and dark covered the majority of his body. "Lower your weapons." every Thanagarian soldier obeyed without hesitation.
"Commander?" one soldier questioned.
"Our mission is a failure." The Commander elaborated. "There's no more reason to fight. Let them go." Talak paid no attention to the disbelieving looks from the soldiers and the heroes as Talak limped over to Shayera. "I hope you're proud of yourself. It'll take years for us to rebuild elsewhere."
Shayera simply glared at the Commander, her expression stoic. "Then you'd better get started." was all she said as she, Lantern, Diana, and Rachel walked out of the room. No Thanagarian made a move to stop them.
Wayne Manor, 24 hours later
Rachel and Shayera sat next to each other on the couch, watching the news. Rachel was back into her human form, and Shayera was dressed in a plain pair of jeans, shoes, and a white shirt with the back cut away that made room for her wings. They watched the television as it showed the Thanagarian fleet leaving Earth, the reporter narrated off screen.
"This is Snapper Carr reporting, in a stunning turn of events. The Thanagarian forces have ended their occupation of Earth, departing for locations unknown. Once again the world owes a debt of gratitude the selfless heroism of Justice League."
Shayera turned off the TV and stared at her feet. "They've been in there a long time."
"Yes, they have." Rachel replied.
They were currently waiting for the League to finish their discussion about its future, and the future of its traitorous teammate, in the dining room. Since Shayera had betrayed them, she was prohibited to be involved in the discussion. Rachel had been politely asked to leave, since she wasn't a League member at all.
The two women had spent the past few hours in a discussion of their own. Rachel hoped that would raise the Thanagarian's spirits, even if it's minuscule. Shayera was astounded with what Rachel was telling her. The world that she was from sounded so amazing it might as well have been imaginary.
While Rachel had originally intended to try and make Shayera feel better, her own mood improved well she told the Thanagarian about her world. Talking about how beautiful it was making her remember all the good times she had before everything…
No! No! Don't think about that, she thought as shook her head.
Rachel could tell that Shayera was still depressed. She had just lost everything. Just like her, but she was able to gain new friends almost immediately. Shayera had not only betrayed those friends, but also her people. Shayera would now live the rest of her life knowing that the defeat of her species was her fault.
Rachel took a deep breath. "Shayera, look." The former Leaguer looked up at the young girl. "I know at least a part of what you're going through. I know how it feels to lose everything." she raised an eyebrow as Rachel looked down and her hands. The girl mustered up her courage, there's no going back now, "You may have lost your friends' trust, but at least they still have their lives. You can regain their trust, as hard as it might be. My friends and family, everyone that I've ever cared about, was killed less than a few days ago." The words stung horribly, but she'd managed to say it out loud.
Shayera looked at her in shock. The girl had gone through that kind of trauma, and had been thrown into a universe that was completely foreign to her, and she'd still risked her life to save a world that wasn't even hers?
"I'm just gonna say this," Rachel said, "everyone here is alive because of the sacrifices you made. Your selfless acts kept the world safe." Sheyera gave the girl a faint smile. Rachel reached out and held her hand. "Whatever they decide in there, you're a hero in my eyes."
Shayera gave Rachel another smile, and this time, however, the smile was genuine.
"She exploited our weaknesses, betrayed us…" Wonder Woman ranted about what Shayera had done to them. At this point, some of her points are probably repeated.
"Come on," Flash countered, the Speedster had been defending Shayera since the meeting started, "she was in the ultimate no-win situation; but when push came to shove, she came through for us, just like always."
"She is a pariah to her people." J'onn added. "We are all she has left."
"Believe me, J'onn, I feel for her." Said Superman, "But after everything that's happened, I honestly don't know if I can ever completely trust her again."
Green Lantern looked at the table, silent since the meeting began.
"We're arguing in circles." Batman stated, "It's time to vote."
"Excuse me, Miss Hol," Alfred said as he entered the room. Both Rachel and Shayera stood up, their faces apprehensive. "They sent for you."
"Thank you, Alfred." The butler nodded, and walked away. Before she headed to the dining room, she gave the ghost-girl a small hug. "Thanks, Rachel."
Rachel returned the gesture, "Of course, Shayera."
She sat back down on the couch as Shayera entered the dining room, what went unnoticed was the invisible duplicate phasing through the wall. Rachel knew that doing this would be rude, but curiosity got the better of her. Shayera was facing the other six League members as they stood in a line, all completely upright. Even Green Lantern, who wore a cast on his right arm.
"Hawkgirl…" Superman began.
Before Superman said another word, Shayera interrupted him. "Before you start, I have something to say." She took a deep breath. "I came to this planet as a patriot. I had a mission and I carried it out... what I couldn't know, was that I would come to care for the Earth and her people." She looked at each Leaguer in the eye; even Batman, who looked at her suspiciously, and Wonder Woman, who looked at her with condescendingly, "that I'd come to care for all of you. I've spent the last five years torn between my feelings and my duty. I won't ask you to do the same." She straightened her posture, some of her old flame returning. Therefore, I am resigning from the Justice League, Effective immediately."
Both Rachel and her invisible duplicate widened their eyes, the latter taking great effort not to gasp. Taking Shayera's last words as a cue, the duplicate blinked out of existence. Shayera turned and walk towards the door, leaving her six former teammates stunned. Flash was the first to recover and gave her a hug. As she returned it, the Thanagarian whispered in his ear.
"Tell the others to take care of Rachel; she really needs friends right now."
With that, they separated, and Shayera exited the room without looking back.
"Great," muttered Flash, "no Watchtower, now no Hawgirl; what's gonna happen to the League now? Do we all just walk away?"
"No," J'onn said, "we rebuild. Starting today."
"J'onn's right," agreed Superman, "Earth still needs us, and we'll never let her down. It's our duty."
Green Lantern just looked at the floor, still silent.
Rachel didn't know what to say. While she'd known Shayera for even less time than the rest of the League, but she still counted her as a friend, and now she was leaving? Where would she go? Although she wanted to say something, she knew Shayera's made up her mind.
Rachel stood up and gave her one last hug. "Good luck." She muttered as they broke apart and she walked out of the manor. In a way, Shayera was very similar to her. Both women had their lives shattered, and now the former Leaguer is trying to find her own way in the world. Maybe she should try and do the same, but was she ready to do that?
Alfred walked in as Rachel continued to think about her future. "Miss Robertson?" she looked up at the butler. "They're ready for you."
Rachel sighed, got up and smoothed out her clothing. "Thank you Alfred, but you could just call me 'Rachel or 'Rach' even."
They looked at each other for a moment, and then Alfred smirked a little. "Very well, Miss Rachel." The ghost-girl smiled in return, shaking her head as rolled her eyes. She entered the dining room, where the Justice League was waiting, minus Green Lantern.
"Okay," Superman began, "now, what to do with you?"
Shayera stood at the edge of the cliff near Wayne Manor. She heard footsteps, but knew they belonged to. So she didn't turn around
"You never asked how we vote."
Shayera barely looked at John Stewart before returning her gaze to the sunset. "It doesn't matter."
"So… where're you gonna go?"
"I don't know." Shayera answered after the moment. "Some place where the fate of the world isn't in my hands. Someplace where there are no more secrets, no more lies."
"Was it all a lie?"
Shayera turned around, looking Lantern right in the eyes. "I love you, John." She told him. "I never lied about that."
Another a moment had passed, Shayera Hol turned around, spread her wings, and flew off into the sunset.
John Stewart watched her fly away, not knowing where she's going. Once she disappeared from sight, the tears fell down his cheeks.
"I love you too."
A/N: There you have it folks! The first chapter of my first fic, I hope you enjoyed it. Now I would love some feedback, because it's you, the readers, that helps me improve and make the story better. Till next time!