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Chapter Two – "Paper Wraps Stone"
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Green Lanterns didn't like waiting for anything and Hawkgirl liked waiting less than a Lantern did. The Green Lantern and Hawkgirl had been seated outside the reception area of the high city Administrator's office of Jennia for ten minutes and to Hawkgirl, it was nine minutes too long.

She stood up and walked over to the receptionist and said angrily, "Tell the high city Administrator that he has one minute or we are leaving and you and this ant-hill of a planet can take its chances with our wrath."

"Sit down! I'll handle this," Stewart snapped at Hol as he levitated in front of the receptionist.

Stewart looked at the receptionist with a cold steel glare and pointed to Hawkgirl. "What she said minus thirty seconds."

The receptionist gave Stewart a confused look and then buzzed the intercom. A few seconds later, the intercom buzzed again and the receptionist smiled at the Lantern and said, "Go in."

Hol and Stewart entered the room behind the receptionist.

The city Administrator stood up from behind his large, polished wooden desk as the two heroes entered his office. Hol assumed a position by the door as the Stewart approached the city Administrator.

The Lantern spoke, "Administrator, I am the Green Lantern of sector 2814 and this is Hawkgirl. I have been sent by the Guardians to ensure that the upcoming election process is peaceful. We wish to review your security procedures and see how we may assist your security specialists."

"Very nice...very nice and thank you for the gesture," the Administrator said brusquely. "But the Green Lanterns are not needed here. Galtos is providing security for the referendum vote. Now please leave - I am a busy man." He waved his tentacles toward the door and suddenly stopped. He stared at Hawkgirl for a moment.

His tone softened suddenly. "You! By the door. The one called Hawkgirl. You are a Thanagarian."

Hol's response was curt and sharp. "Obviously!"

A smile came across the Administrator's face. "Thanagarians are proud and turn on you when you're ready to take a relationship to the next level. And that is among their smaller problems."

Hol leaped in front of Stewart. "Do you wish to feel the wrath of a proud Thanagarian who is not afraid to turn on a Jennian?" she snapped as she unclipped her mace and energized the weapon.

The Administrator turned to Stewart and smiled broadly, "Oh, my. Green Lantern, you and your young friend here have 'frightened' me into giving you my security plans. But let me suggest that you go to Galtos and view their plans as well to ensure they are appropriate to the threat as you see it. I will set up an appointment for you with the Galtos officials for tomorrow. Meanwhile I will have my plans ready for your friend here tomorrow morning."

Hol looked at Stewart. "You go to Galtos in the morning while I'll get the plans from this Jennian at eleven o'clock tomorrow and then we can compare notes, okay?"

Then she turned to the Jennian, frowned, pointed her energized weapon at the Jennian's head and said in a soft voice that Stewart couldn't recall hearing before, "There are things we have to do even when we would rather not do them. If anything happens to my friend on Galtos tomorrow; if he so much as loses an eyelash, nothing in nature will stop me from coming back here and killing you. I want you to understand that – nothing will stop me!"

She then turned and walked out the door.

Stewart and the Administrator looked at each in stunned silence for moment and then the Lantern said, "Contact Galtos and setup the appointment. But know this; if anything happens to Hawkgirl, your prospects for a long life are severely diminished."

Stewart turned and departed.

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Once outside the building, Stewart spotted Hol on top of a single story building across the street from the city Administrator's office. He joined her on the rooftop. She never took her eyes off the front door of the Administrator's office.

"What was that all about?" Stewart asked. "Do you know him?"

"His name is Matuia Ta," she said looking up at Stewart. As she looked back at the front door of the Administrator's office below, she said softly, "I met him some years ago on the third moon of Galtos while I was searching for a way back to Thanagar. I'm not sure I know him now. When I did know him he was among the most honorable of all beings I've ever known."

She looked at Stewart and smiled. "If he hasn't changed, he'll be very helpful. If he has changed, he'll be our worst nightmare."

"Look I don't want to pry but did you – did you have a history together?" Stewart asked, uncertain that he wanted to hear the answer.

She turned back to look at the street below. "I had a life before the Justice League and I am not ashamed of anything I've done." She paused and then added, "Or who I've done it with."

She looked toward the sky. And away from him, he noticed. So that's a yes, he thought.

She looked back down into the street; he noted sadness in her voice. "At one point in my life, he and I were as close as two people could be."

She looked back at Stewart and with the same softness in her voice that he thought she used when she spoke to the Jennian in his office, she said, "But, if something happens to you – I will kill him. Justice League code or not."

Stewart shook his head and looked Hol in the eyes. "Don't kill because of some misplaced desire for vengeance. You're better than that. Much better than that."

She looked back out over the street. "John, let me be clear about this. In my life, in my travels, I have taken lives when necessary and people have tried to take mine. I have watched friends die. I make you no promises except one. If he causes harm to you tomorrow, history or not, he will not live to see the sunset and he knows that."

She then looked at Stewart and smiled. "So where are we camping tonight?"

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Stewart left for Galtos early the next morning. The trip wouldn't take long but it would give him time to think about what he really knew about Hawkgirl. Prior to their meeting with the Administrator, he had thought of her as a friend and as a teammate. Now, traveling in space, alone with his thoughts, he was concerned about her death threat to the Jennian official. There was no doubt in his mind that she could carry out that threat without hesitation if she so chose. This new revelation helped him realize how little he knew about her despite their years together in the Justice League. Maybe he didn't know her at all. Maybe being a detective on Thanagar was such a dangerous occupation that it made one cavalier about the value of life and taking a life.

And was he a little jealous that she and the Administrator had a "history?" He hoped not, but he wasn't sure. She certainly had a life before the Justice League. They all did. Just because they now formed a League didn't mean that their pasts ceased to exist. Yes, it wasn't what they did in the past that was important but rather what they did today that mattered. In her own words, she wasn't ashamed of her past and now that he thought about it, her past shouldn't concern him.

It was none of his business.

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The capital of Galtos was highly industrialized and urban. While the streets of Jennia were dirt and cobblestone, the streets of Galtos were paved with asphalt or concrete. It was readily apparent that the economy of Galtos was much more robust than that of Jennia.

Stewart had no difficulty in finding the Administrator's building. Instinctively, he circled the building, looking for ground exits in case he needed to make a hasty retreat. He entered the building and made his way to the outer office of the Administrator's office.

He stood over the receptionist desk and said, "I am here to see the city Administrator. The Administrator on Jennia arranged an appointment." The receptionist looked up at Stewart and then went back to working on her papers without acknowledging his presence.

Stewart stepped back from the desk and created a giant hand that tapped on the desk lightly. Then he pointed the hand at the receptionist. The Lantern said in a calm voice, "Excuse me, I am the Green Lantern of sector 2814 here to see the city Administrator. Please let the Administrator know I wish to see him now. Thank you."

The receptionist stood up with terror showing on her face and ran into the other room. Immediately, Stewart shook his head. What he just did was exactly what Hawkgirl would have done, he thought. He scared a civilian without reason. He knew better and was upset with himself for pulling such a rookie act trying to show how powerful he was. The receptionist stuck her head out of the door and waved for the Lantern to enter the room she was in.

He walked into the room and saw an old, frail looking man standing behind a desk. Stewart smiled briefly at the Administrator who looked nervous and terrified. He didn't want them fearful. All he wanted was compliance and cooperation. He sat down in one of the two chairs in front of the Administrator's desk.

"Administrator, thank you for seeing me," Stewart said. "I had hoped that the Administrator on Jennia would have notified you of my arrival. I apologize for my method of getting to see you, but it is important that I see you now."

The Lantern gestured with his hand. "Please sit down."

Without waiting for the Administrator to sit, he continued. "I am here to ensure the upcoming referendum election is peaceful and to aid your security specialist. If you will tell me where I can find your specialist, I will start providing assistance."

The Administrator sat down in his chair and smiled nervously at the Lantern. "Green Lantern, the Administrator on Jennia notified me that you would be here today. I for one am happy that you are here. But most of us are surprised by and do not appreciate the... intervention... of the Green Lanterns in what is clearly an internal Galtos matter. Please wait here and my security specialist will be here shortly to provide you with what assistance we can."

The Administrator seemed to emphasize the word "intervention" Stewart noticed.

"Great, I look forward to your cooperation," Stewart said flashing a brief smile.

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Matuia Ta, the Jennian Administrator, was at his desk working on the last administrative details of the upcoming election when he heard his secretary, Futi, in the outer office holler at someone. "Stop! You can't go in there."

Matuia looked up in time to see Hol barged through the door and into his office with his secretary, visibly frustrated, standing behind her.

"It's okay, Futi," Matuia said to his secretary as he stood up. "She's an old friend. Why don't you take your lunch now and lock the outer office door on your way out."

"Are you sure, boss?" Futi replied openly wary of this winged woman standing just inside the doorway.

"I'm sure. I'll be fine. Enjoy your lunch," he replied smiling as he waved his tentacle at her. Futi sighed and closed the door behind her.

Matuia sat down at his desk, waved for Hol to come closer and smiled. "Just a minute," he said.

He signed some papers on his desk and put his pen down. He then stood up and pointed to one of the plush chairs in front of his desk. "How are you doing, Shayera? Won't you have a seat?"

She sat down on the armrest of one of the chairs. "I'm doing well, Matuia. Looks like you're doing very well. A high government official, I see." She paused and then asked, "So, how did you know it was me?"

Matuia sat down in his chair and laughed. "Shayera, you have a small birthmark on your right shoulder and a matching one on your left..."

She cut him off. "I know where my birthmarks are. How did you know it was me?" Her tone was surprisingly sharp and decidedly unfriendly he thought.

He smiled and leaned forward on his desk. "Shayera, I was joking. I've seen you in that helmet before when we took leave together, remember? But I really wasn't sure until you spoke. How's the leg?"

She stretched her right leg, flexed it and sighed. "Hurts most of the time now."

He ran his right tentacle down the side of his long face and grinned broadly. "'Hawkgirl,' huh? I thought I made a woman out of you. I guess it didn't take."

She tilted her head slightly and arched an eyebrow. She gave him a brief smile that disappeared quickly. "Wipe the smirk off your face. What we had, we had a long time ago. It's gone, whatever it was, like yesterday's sunset."

Her tone was emotionless as she continued. "Plans. I came here to get your security plans."

Matuia reached into his desk drawer and pulled out several sheets of paper and handed them to Hol. As he handed her the papers he now thought that she didn't seem as happy to see him as he was to see her.

"Here they are, as promised," he said. "I called and arranged the appointment for your friend as I said I would. You know that was a very impressive speech you gave yesterday about killing me. I almost believed it. But we both know that speech was for his benefit."

He cocked his head toward her and leaned forward. "So, is that Green Lantern the new man in your life? I see you're wearing earrings. Are you promised to him?"

She smiled again, this time a little longer, stood up and took the plans from him. She gave them a cursory look, put the papers away and sat back down on the chair armrest.

"Matuia, I meant what I said. If something happens to him I will kill you where you stand. The Green Lantern is very important to me but I am not promised to him."

Matuia shook his head and then suddenly pounded his tentacles on his desk. "It's Hro Talak, isn't it? You're promised to that Korschian slug."

"Don't say that," she said as she looked away from him and down at the floor. "He's a good man. He's strong and brave and his family has a lot of influence back home. I thought you could be happy for me." She looked back at Matuia.

"You know that I loved you. And I know at one point I thought you loved me." And I bet you don't notice you never said you loved Talak. "But Talak went out of his way to drive us apart."

"Matuia, please," she said as she walked to his inner office door and locked it. She kept her back to him as she unclipped her mace, slipped her wrist through the handle strap and held the mace in her right hand. He could hear her take a deep breath and exhale slowly. She turned around and faced Matuia.

"This is not about Hro. Hro did nothing to you. Once I was assigned to his guard detachment, you and I just grew apart. That's what happens in the military. You know that. You promise to stay in touch. Promise you'll write. Then it becomes a promise to write in a week, then a month, and then you don't write at all because it's been so long."

She walked back to the chair, but didn't sit down. She stood behind the chair holding her mace with both hands.

He stood up and walked around his massive desk and leaned against the desk so he was facing her. Mask. I hate those stupid masks. Why can't I read her face?

"You underestimate Talak, Shayera. He assigned you to his unit to break us up. He had me kicked out of the military thirty days before I could draw a retirement pension."

She said nothing but her eyes appeared to widen in disbelief as he continued.

"He is a vengeful man who believes in the purity of the Thanagarian race above all. He wasn't about to let me or you contaminate it. If you were still in the military today, he would have assigned you to some outpost as far away from Thanagar as he could as punishment for associating with an outsider."

Hol was silent. She looked down into the chair briefly and then back at Matuia. "It's not punishment. He told me it is an important assignment."

"You're still in, aren't you?" He shook his head. "Please tell me you're not on an intel mission now."

She looked away from him.

"Aww, good grief – you are. That's how you met the Green Lantern. That's why you're calling yourself Hawkgirl, so they won't use your real name. Does the Green Lantern know that you're a spy?"

He shook head and answered his own question. "No, of course he doesn't. Even if you and he were lovers I taught you better than that. You wouldn't tell him."

His eyes suddenly widened as a realization hit him like a punch to the stomach. "Oh damn. That speech really was for me, wasn't it? Especially that part about doing things when you'd rather not do them. That explains why you locked my inner office door."

She nodded and tapped her mace in her left hand. She went to the office window behind his desk and closed the blinds so that the only light in the room was the artificial light coming from his desk lamp. She then stood behind his desk chair.

He sighed and sat down in the chair next to the one she had been standing behind before she closed the blinds. Nice going, Ta. You trained her too well. She cut you off from your desk where you had a weapon. She cut off your escape locking the inner office door after you told Futi to lock the outer office door. She followed the checklist perfectly and you never saw this coming. Nice work, Shayera, but maybe I can buy a little more time.

"So, Shayera, tell me how you're doing, really doing?" There was a quiver in his voice.

She let out an audible sigh and smiled weakly at him. "It's hard, Matuia. It's harder than anything I've done before. And I'm so lonely. I've been away from Thanagar for so long and now my leg hurts all the time." She paused. "I ran out of pain medication three years ago and no Earth medicine seems to work. I am always in pain."

He was stunned. "Three years ago!" he blurted out.

He quickly tried to change his facial expression but he knew she saw the look of shock on his face. He cleared his throat. "How long have you been on this mission?"

"Four and a half years," she shrugged.

"My poor Shayera," he replied shaking his head. He paused and then smiled. "Remember the mission where you got wounded and I said the Gordanians didn't kill us because they wanted their informant back?"

She nodded. He thought he saw sadness in her face but it had been such a long time since he had to "read" a masked Thanagarian, he couldn't be sure.

"Well," he continued. "The informer was Tufb."

"The scribe?" The feathers in her wings bristled as she spat out the words. He didn't need to be able to read her mask to tell she was angry.

"He was transmitting information about what we were doing back to his media outlet and he was also transmitting on an open frequency back to the Gordanian Homeworld."

She put her hands together, interlaced her fingers and pressed her hands against her lips, letting her mace dangle from her wrist.

Matuia continued, a little more nervous now about being unable to read any emotion in her face.

"I know this won't help you and can't make up for the pain you still suffer, but I wanted you to know that last year, Tufb met with a most unfortunate accident here on Jennia. Seems someone drove about ten wooden spikes into his body before they finally killed him."

"So, why are you telling me this?" she asked, removing her hands from her chin and stepping from behind the chair. She energized her mace.

He didn't change his position in the chair, but his eyes locked on her face. His expression was stern.

"I wanted you to know that you have been avenged." He took a deep breath and let it out very slowly. He then cracked a small smile.

"You see, we both know that you can't leave any possible loose end that might compromise your mission later and that now includes me. Our personal history aside, I just realized I became a threat to your mission because I know you're in the military and on assignment and your friend doesn't know what you're doing and you can't risk I might say something that might give you away."

She stared at him hard for a moment and then turn her weapon off - but didn't put it away.

"We both know the checklist," he sighed, now fidgeting in his chair. "Damn, I taught you the checklist. And the checklist says I am a threat to your mission and must be removed."

She kicked the chair away from her that she had been standing next to. The chair crashed into a corner of the room. Only the desk was between them now. "Matuia, it doesn't have to end like this. I...I don't have to do this if I can trust you not to compromise me."

He started to stand up.

"Sit down!" she snapped, raising, energizing and pointing her weapon at him in one fluid motion.

He smiled to himself and sat back down. Very good, Shayera, very good.

He rubbed his left tentacle across his brow. "Look, I'm not trying to be brave here. If I had suspected that you intended to kill me when you came back here, you wouldn't have made back into this room before I got you first. Remember the hospital ship, when we talked about the perfect ambush."

"I remember," she replied lowering the weapon and looking down.

He tried harder to read her expression. She remembers more than that talk I bet. I bet she remembers we made plans for a life together that day.

"Shayera, right now you're in a position to execute the perfect ambush. You better do it now because I swear to you, you won't get another chance."

She shook her head and raised the energized weapon again. "I don't have to do this at all if you simply promise me on your Jennian family honor to take my mission as your mission and not to compromise me."

"Shayera, this doesn't sound like you." He wiped his brow again. He cleared his throat trying to get the nervousness out.

"You're breaking protocol and we both know it. The Shayera Hol I knew, the one I taught, would have killed me as soon as she got the plans and made up some excuse so the Green Lantern wouldn't be suspicious and maybe even protect you."

"Matuia, I don't want to do this, but I will do it." Her gaze was piercing. Her voice was firm as she repeated: "I won't do it if you promise on your Jennian family honor."

He didn't answer her immediately. Talak let you mix with people who don't share the Thanagarian moral code. And then he left you out there too long. I bet on the planet you're on, they don't kill and now you don't either.

Suddenly he smiled at her. No...No, that's not it. They kill, but they try to avoid killing when they can. That's it. The Green Lantern avoids killing and he's your model for the local moral code, isn't he? Shayera, sweetheart, you've gone native.

"Okay, Shayera, I promise you on my Jennian family honor, and you obviously know what that means to me, I will protect you and make your mission my own so that you don't have to make that moral decision to kill me. On three conditions."

"You're not in a position to state conditions," she snapped at him. The smile left his face as he stared at the mace still pointed at him. She glared at him suspiciously for a moment, lowered the mace and then asked, "What are the conditions?"

He smiled. You did go native and it serves Talak right if this comes back to haunt him. "One, in your report, you do not mention me or that you were ever on this planet. Two, you never come back here again. If you do come back I will have to assume it is to finish this business, in which case I will feel free to kill you at the first opportunity presented. And unlike you, my dear Shayera, my moral code has not changed. I do still kill."

She cleared her throat. "That's two. What's the third condition?"

He smiled and settled back into the chair. "You take off that damn helmet so I can see your face one more time."

She hesitated for a moment. She then turned her mace off, removed her helmet and moved her hair off her face. She smiled briefly at him and said, "I promise not to mention you and this planet in my report. I don't plan to come back here, but if I do, I will be prepared to accept the consequences of all that might happen."

She then frowned and added, "And so should you."

She put her helmet back on.

"Agreed," he said.

She walked to the door and unlocked it. "I told the Green Lantern we met on the third moon of Galtos while I was searching for a way back to Thanagar. Remember that."

"I'll remember that." He paused and added softly. "Shayera, be careful with Talak. People change. You remember him the way he was when you last saw him. He may not now be same person you remember."

As she left she said, "Some people are exactly like I remember them."

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The return to Jennia for the Green Lantern was a quick one. His meeting with the security officials on Galtos had gone very well and he felt pleased with the results. The Galtos city Administrator and his security team had been most helpful. Stewart had inspected the plans and was satisfied that the security plans in place were appropriate – at least as far as Galtos was concerned.

Stewart met her at their campsite at the agreed upon time that evening. She appeared to be relieved to see him and she listened as he told her what he had learned from the Galtos security people. She gave him the plans she got from Matuia Ta and together they discussed what they would do in light of the provided plans.

There was silence during their evening meal broken only by the crackling sounds of burning wood. Stewart was just thinking about getting his battery to recharge his ring when she broke the silence.

"John?" she said softly gazing into the fire.

"Yes?"

"Why do you do this? I mean why are you a Green Lantern?"

A small smile creased his lips as he answered her. "Probably for the same reason you became Hawkgirl. I mean you weren't born as Hawkgirl. It's a name you've taken up to become a crime fighter, right?"

She didn't look up from the campsite fire as she parroted softly, "Yeah, a crime fighter."

He looked at her almost hypnotized by the way the flames reflected off her helmet.

He continued, "Anyway, I do it because it gives me a chance to make a difference. To fight for the little guy on a big scale. Like this election. People will get a chance to decide their own fate because I will be responsible for ensuring their safety. It's a chance to make a difference. What about you?"

She turned toward him and he was suddenly embarrassed that he had been staring so intently at her the entire time. She looked up toward the stars apparently ignoring him. "I became Hawkgirl because it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. And now, at this moment, I'm glad I did."

She turned back toward him and smiled. "I have learned so much about Earth and its people. Being Hawkgirl has allowed me to meet people like J'onn and Batman and you who I otherwise would have never met. And I'm really glad I got to meet you."

He smiled back at her. A gorgeous smile and a sexy walk –wow. "Well, I'm glad I got to meet you too."
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