AN: Thanks so much to everyone that reveiwed! And to get all of you off my back, no it's not Hro who took the kids, but it is someone from Shayera's past! Anyway, it's all revealed in this chapter, so read on and don't forget to review once again! Thank you!

CHAPTER NINE

"That son of a bitch!" Shayera fumed, throwing the bag away from her and jumping to her feet. She started to pace as she continued to rant. "That rat bastard! I'm going to kill him! I'm going to slit his stomach, take out his guts and put them in a bowl!"

"Who? Shayera, who are you talking about?" John asked, still sitting on the couch, giving her the space and distance he knew she needed when she was angry and need to pace. He look closer, and suddenly noticed how much she was shivering. "Shy? Are you okay?" She finally raised her eyes to look at him, and he was shocked to see them filled with tears.

"No, I'm not." She whispered, practically flying into his arms. He stood up to receive her, and Shayera buried her face in his chest. "I'm not okay. I'm scared John. Scared for the twins."

"Shayera, who took them?" John whispered, touching her hair as he tried to soothe her fears. "Who does that feather belong too?" Shayera took a deep breathe and pulled away from John, but letting him take her uninjured hand and lend her strength that way as she faced the rest of the Justice League.

"It's a feather from the wing of a Thanagarian." She whispered, confirming their worst fears. "But not just any Thanagarian. That feather came from the wing of one of Wings of War."

"The Wings of War?" Superman questioned, putting his daughter down when she started squirming.

"Thomas, go play with Andrea." Diana told her son quietly. Thomas looked up at her, his huge bright blue eyes lighting up with a smile.

"Okay Mama." Thomas took Andrea's hand and led her from the room. Shayera smiled after them, then turned back to her teammates.

"Shayera, sit down." Diana insisted softly. "You've been through a lot and still need all the rest you can get."

"Okay." Shayera agreed, allowing John to lead her to the couch where they sat down, Shayera still maintaining her death grip on John's hand. She took a deep breath and began.

"The Wings of War, are just what they sound like, their warriors. But their not just any warriors. Their bigger, stronger and faster than the normal Thanagarian, and if they were smarter, they would be more dangerous. A few years before I was born, just as my father was starting at the police academy in fact, someone high up in the government noticed that babies born with wings that were light blue with white lines, a very rare occurrence in a world where our wings usually match our hair, or are at least muted colors like light brown or gray, grew up to be bigger, stronger and faster then others their own age. Unfortunately, most of them were also mute, or deaf, or for some reason could not think for themselves. Somebody got the brilliant idea to train these people to be soldiers. Not just soldiers, but warriors, warriors who would only obey orders given to them by certain people and never question orders.

"By the time I was in grade school, the government was taking any children born with blue and white wings away from their parents almost as soon as they were born and putting them into what they called 'special' schools. But they weren't schools, they were training camps. While I was learning how to read, the government was training children my age how to kill. That's all these kids knew, and the worst part was, they were being raised to be drones, nothing more. Simply soldiers that would follow any order given to them, and would fight until every last one of them was dead if that's what it took. 'Surrender' meant nothing to them, they hadn't been taught how to lose, or how to survive in the outside world. They also weren't taught 'mercy'. They went into battle and slaughtered everyone that opposed them.

"And you have to remember, these were kids, children, that they were doing this too. They were training children how to kill. They were training children how to be soldiers, without teaching them about love, or happiness, or sadness, or any emotion. They were turning children into robots, killing machines, plain and simple. Anyone who saw these children got the chills just looking at them. I saw them when I was still in training at the academy." She looked up at the rest of the Justice League, her eyes haunted and filled with tears. But her eyes were also unfocused as she reached deep into her brain and brought forth memories she had tried to forget.

"Have you ever seen a child with no soul? That's what those kid's eyes looked like. They were hollow, and blank. There was no emotion, no feeling, there was nothing. It was like they were nothing but shells, operating by remote control, performing actions they didn't understand, for reasons they didn't understand. These children didn't understand what killing was, didn't understand what it meant to take a life. To them, killing someone was simply a command, something to be done. They had no understanding of family, of the pain of losing someone. They didn't even mourn when one of their own went down, simply put their bodies with the bodies of their enemies and burned them all."

Shayera shivered, hugging herself, and John put his arm around her, offering his warmth and support. Shayera briefly focused on him and gave him a smile, then returned to her narrative.

"Then one day, someone discovered that one of the older Wings of War that they had believed mute, wasn't. He could talk. Not only could he talk, he could hold a conversation with someone and understand it. He was a genius. A genius killing machine. A machine that could think for itself.

"The high command started getting nervous. The whole point of the Wings of War was that they couldn't think for themselves. They just did what they were told, no questions asked. One that could think, not only think but understand new ideas, was a threat to that power they had over the Wings. So they decided to kill him. But one thing they hadn't counted on was the fact that Graykon, that was his name, had the complete and total loyalty of the Wings. They were totally committed to him. When the regular soldiers came to the barracks to take Graykon away and kill him, they were attacked by the Wings. They didn't stand a chance. Not only were the Wings totally ruthless, they also had surprise on their side. No one expected them to attack when no one had ordered them too. But Graykon had control now. He had ordered the Wings to protect him and they did.

"That night every single member of the Wings of War, all over Thanagar, even the newborn babies in the nursery, disappeared from their bases. They were completely under Graykon's command now. But now everyone was scared. Yes, Graykon was a genius. But he was also crazy. Within weeks of the escape, he and the Wings took over a city. They slaughtered everyone and set it up as their base of operations. The army tried to attack it, but they didn't stand a chance against the Wings. These were soldiers that had been trained to kill since before kids their age had learned to read.

"Then Graykon took it one step further. He declared that the Wings were not just a military group that had gone rouge. No, he said that the Wings were the chosen people of the planet Thanagar, and that everyone else had to die so that he could assume his rightful place as the ruler of our world. He demanded that every Wing baby be delivered to them. The government refused of course. To prevent any more Wings from being turned against them, the government swept through cities, grabbing and killing every Wing baby they could find. Remember, Wings were born to perfectly normal, healthy Thanagarian women. But the government was too slow. The Wings got there first, and took every Wing baby, killing the mothers who cried and tried to hold on to their babies, or doctors and nurses who refused to hand over Wing babies that had been born in the hospitals.

"Then Graykon really flipped. He declared that the death of all the half breed children would herald the coming of his age of power. He took control of a nearby volcano, and the Wings started rounding up any young child who looked different. He said that the world had to be purged of the half breeds, that his God had told him that the only way he could assume his rightful place was if he threw every half breed child into the volcano. When all the half breeds were gone, the volcano would erupt and the lava would spread until it covered the whole planet, sparing only the Wings."

"Wait a minute." Superman interrupted. "I thought that the Thanagar's hated off-worlders."

"They do, that's the problem." Shayera said, her face and eyes telling of a horror that the others had never seen. "All the children that Graykon had his Wings round up, all those small children he killed, that he threw into a volcano, were all pure breed Thanagarian children. There was nothing wrong with them, other than the fact that their skin was a little darker, their hair was dark, or their wings were a slightly different color than normal.

"Well anyway, after killing a lot of children, and not having the volcano overflow, Graykon came up with the solution. His God had revealed to him that there were half-breed adults too. So the Wings started rounding up adults too. But these adults weren't rounded up based on what they looked like. They were simply picked at random." Shayera closed her eyes and clutched John tighter, trying to protect herself from her memories. "I was one of the first women rounded up. Graykon saw me before I was thrown into the volcano, and suddenly twisted his views. He said that God had revealed to him that he had to father two children who's death at a young age would bring about Graykon's true power. And I was supposed to be the mother."

John's grip tightened around Shayera, also trying to protect her from the pain of the past. Shayera opened her eyes and gave him a small smile, then continued. "Fortunately, Hro had mounted a rescue team and managed to save me and isolate Graykon away from the Wings so they couldn't save him. But we couldn't kill Graykon either. If we had, there would have been no one controlling the Wings, and they would have been running loose across the planet. Can you imagine that? Hundred, maybe thousands of ruthless warriors, who only know how to kill, running wild, with no one who can stop or even control them. So we made a deal with Graykon. He would take his Wings and leave the planet, never to return, and we would let him live. Graykon may had been crazy, but he was also a genius. He accepted the deal. But before he left, he looked right into my eyes and said 'You carry the secret to my power in your womb. I know you do. Believe me, your children will be mine, and their death will give me my power.'"

Shayera looked up at the Justice League. "After that, we got word that the Wings had tried to land on a planet and been shot out of the sky. All survivors had been shot on site. One was Graykon. I thought I was safe, that any of my future children were safe." She swallowed hard and looked at the feather. "Obviously, the report was faked. He's found me." Shayera turned to look at John, her fear evident on her face. "My God John, that manic has our children! Our half-breed children!"