Chapter three
Preston Anthony Stewart made his way
slowly down the hospital corridor, his head reeling from all that he had just
heard. Rubbing his hands over his hair, he pushed through the glass lobby doors
and out into the fresh, cold air of the hospital courtyard.
The garden was small, yet made the best of the little
space it had, and because of the cold, no one had ventured out into it, save
for an older couple sitting on an intricately carved bench, apparently praying
together.
Preston took a seat
on the other side of the corridor and folded his hands in his lap, trying to
take his mind off the events of the day, to relax. The quiet and serentity of the courtyard was soothing, despite the
intense cold, but his thoughts wouldn't stop.
He now knew all of what had happened to his brother.
It all made sense. John, who he hadn't even been in
contact with for the past two or three years (John had recently returned from a
long-term Galactic assingment, only to join up with a
"secret police" like new force known as the Justice League) had
appeared on his military base about a month ago, disoriented, bitter, and
angry, looking thin and tired, with a newly stitched twenty-centimeter long
scar on his torso.
With the opening line of: "Damn! Can't I visit my
little brother once in a while?" in return to the meek enquiry about the
purpose of his visit, John had stayed on with him for about two weeks, silent
and sullen.
Preston knew
instantly that something was wrong. Stewarts didn't just "visit," or
even just "call" each other. They always had a reason for going
somewhere. And here was his older brother, appearing out of nowhere in Okinhawa, Japan, claiming to
"visit!"
When asked, "what about your job with the Justice
League?" he was meet with an icy "I
quit." When asked about the Green Lanterns, he was met with slightly more
warmth but even less information. "I took a bit of a vacation," was
all that he would say. When asked about the scar? "A fight," was all
that was forthcoming.
His visit coincided with Preston's yearly
vacation, so he invited his younger brother to join him in his apartment for a
week or two. "We'll light up the old town," he'd said. "Just
like old times."
Preston, eager to see home and to hang
with the brother that he hadn't seen for years, readily agreed. Maybe a
vacation together was what they both needed to snap John out of whatever funk
he was in.
In the week and a half they'd spent together, however,
John's "lighting up," consisted of sitting around, reading his old
"Justice Guild" comic books, watching reruns of the Jeffersons, and..........smoking Marlboros.
John had started- and quit- smoking back when he was a
teenager.
"That crap'll kill you,
man. When did you start again?" Preston had asked.
John had only laughed cynically.
"I'm calling Katma, dude," Preston had said, referring to John's old girlfriend, the only one that Preston knew of that John might listen to- and the only woman he'd ever been serious about, as far as he knew. John laughed again when Preston informed him of his plans- a bitter, sardonic laugh.
"You know what, Pres? Invite her. That'll be too
ironic for freakin' words-" and he
laughed again, turning towards his window.
What alarmed Preston the most was
the wetness at the corners of his brother's eyes, and the.......empty coldness
he now saw in them.
Something horrible had now happened to him. He was sure of
it now.
And when Katma arrived, she had confirmed it.
She came in, her usual sassy, playful self, kissing both
men, teasing, playing- and had even managed to snap John out of whatever was
bothering him for a few minutes. But when she was alone with Preston that
evening, making up her guest room bed, her countenance had turned serious.
"He's been hurt, Pres. Badly. Probably by a woman."
"John's not involved with anyone! If he was, he would
have told me."
"What, in the two five-minute conversations you've
had over the past six years?" Katma shook her head, amused. "Trust
me. A woman knows these things."
"Whatever," Preston groused. The
thought that his military-conditioned, stoic older sibling had been turned into
a shell of his former self by a mere woman was unthinkable.
Yet, it was confirmed the very next day.
A letter from a woman named Shayera had arrived at John's
apartment.
To say that he went ballistic would be an understatement,
in the least.
John had been furious, ripping
the letter, cursing up a storm- even Katma had been scared. Then he'd turned almost
deathly calm, and dressed, showered, shaved and went out, mumbling something
about "getting an address blocked."
He and Katma had exchanged knowing glances.
And now.......this woman, this Shayera, this Hawkgirl, had
appeared in person the day before complicating matters even more.
And the story he had heard from her.........he shook his
head.
Damn John for getting involved with an off-worlder! The risks, both physically,
mentally, and emotionally were endless. EVERYONE in the military knew THAT. How
could his brother be so stupid, so naive, acting like a freaking cadet?
Not to mention the fact that the alien female you fell for
might actually be a spy.......
Preston shook his
head again, trying to sort all the information now rattling round insode it. Shayera......or Hawkgirl, as she apparently was
also called, had been working as a double agent for a Thangerian
force, acting as a source of information about earth, filtered to them via
tracers and satiallite.
Shayera had been trained to do this. She had been sent to
earth, trained well in Thangerian fighting
techniques, detective skills, and.......lying. She'd apprently
been dropped on earth with quite an impeccably pitiful backstory-
and apparently could tell it well.
However, what she didn't know was that the Thangerian government was planning to use this information
not to better their own technology, as she had thought, but to eliminate the
Justice League, then easily overtake the earth.....and wipe out the inhabitants
thereof.......
This was revealed to her through a slip of the tongue my Kater Hol, her main Thangerian contact........and former lover.
Already wracked with guilt over her initial betrayal of
the planet she had grown to love, Hawkgirl quickly informed the Justice League
of Kator's plans (with the exception of Flash and the
GL, who were on an away mission)- but it was too late. The invasion had begun.
After a small skirmish in the North that had resulted in
the Green Lantern and Flash's capture, both thinking that Hawkgirl had betrayed
them, she had freed them in a vicious battle that had resulted in Kator's capturing of her- and their final release.
John Stewart had felt understandably betrayed- on behalf
of himself, as well as the Justice League.
However, the proverbial icing on the cake was finding out
about Katar and Hawkgirl's relationship, which was
apparently........not given closure before she left.
John Stewart had given notice to the Justice League as
soon as he found they weren't throwing her out.
And......so here he was. Or here they
were.
"Pres?"
Preston looked up
into Katma's worried face, startled at her
appearance. "Whut?"
"You've been out here for about an hour." Katma
brushed some snow off the bench he was sitting on and sat alongside him, taking
one large hand in her two small ones. "Your hands are freezing. Come
inside."
Preston smiled at her businesslike tone, but complied, following her to the waiting room, where she plied him with coffee and cough drops. Preston smirked in spite of himself. That was Katma. Your basic military-minded son of a you-know-what, but underneath? A fussy, caring, motherlike person.
Maybe that's why they'd been friends with her for so long.
"I'm sorry for shooting her. I really am." Katma's low voice broke into his reverie once more. "I
have issues.....but i'm glad she's going to be
okay."
Preston, who hadn't veen been thinking about her, didn't bother to correct
Katma. "Yeah. she'll be
alright. But what about John?"
"I called him," Katma said, quietly, running her
finger around the rim of her styrafoam cup.
"Well? What did he say?"
"He said he'll see her when hell freezes over."
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Preston couldn't surpress a smile. That answer was just so
typically.....John. "Any more news?"
"That J'onn J'onnz fellow is arriving sometime tomorrow to sign her
out......and a Bruce Wayne of Gotham city is
covering all her hotel costs. Must be a friend of hers."
Preston nodded,
still staring at his hands. "I still don't see......."
"How John could get himself into such a fix?"
Katma finished for him.
He nodded in agreement, but even as he did so, he remembered his conversation with Hawkgirl- and in the depths of him, understood his brother's fascination with the woman. She was exotic, with those wings, extrodinarily beautiful when unmasked, with that cascade of red hair, and those green, green eyes that drew you in........plus, she was a warrior and a strong, independent female.
Yes.......he could see his older brother being drawn to
her. She was much like Katma, in a way.
"She's an incredible woman," Katma said, echoing
his thoughts. When he nodded in agreement, she chuckled wryly. "The only
one I ever felt I had to compete with for his attentions."
Preston's eyes widened slightly- jealousy was NOT Katma's style. But then again, Shayera WAS a knockout- and
according to her, the two of them had been very intimate. "Well, looks
like she definetely won," he said, then clapped
his hand over his mouth. "God, Kat......I didn't mean...."
But Katma was laughing. "no,"
she said, "you're right. He did let me go. I lost this one." She
stood gracefully to her feet and began to walk away, the gentle hip sway that
was her trademark catching the attention of several male doctors in the room.
"I'm going to check on John. I'll see you later, honey."
Preston stared into
his coffee cup, as she left, glaring at the dark surface. "So, Kat's still
in love with my big bro," he muttered. "Still to be expected, I
guess......" what the hell was it with John and women, anyway? They
gravitated to him like flies.
Feeling guilty about his sudden flash of jealousy, Preston stood abrubptly to his feet, intending to find some pastry to go
with his coffee.
All of a sudden, a horrible thought struck him.
He took off down the hall, nearly knocking over a couple
of anesthesiologists, weaving around a couple of doctors, tripping over a
nurse's orthepedic shoes- and caught up with Katma in
the parking lot. "God, Pres, where's the fire?" she sputtered.
"Katma." He leaned on
her car, drawing in a deep breath. "Did you......I mean, did you tell
John?"
"About what?"
"About the baby, you
idiot!"
Katma cursed softly. "No, I forgot.....and Hawkgirl
herself only found out this morning." She stared up at him, eyes wide.
"Should we tell him? It might change things........"
"I don't know....." muttered Preston. " Man, this is screwed.........."
