Disclaimer: ……….

Richie: She doesn't own them, plain and simple.

Raven: Just as well.

Colton: Just as well, what?

Raven: Rich kept it plain and simple.

Colton: ….so…?

Raven: ….Well, it's not like either of you could comprehend anything more than that anyway.

A/n: Well, now that my computer and have seemed to have reached an agreement glares at the computer…

Eternal Shattered: Chapter Five

Flash stared expressionlessly at the screen as Batman brought up a map.

"This is us," he commented as matter-of-factly as if he'd just told them the Earth was round. A large red circle appeared around a miniature replica of the Earth. "This," he began, zooming out and typing in a few more commands so that another red circle was scripted around a large mass of several tiny dots, "is a fleet. A fast approaching fleet whose course I've calculated. This fleet is on its way to Earth."

"And?" Flash questioned incredulously.

Batman turned around in his feet to face him. "And," he mocked Flash, gritting his teeth, "it happens to be Thanagarian."

"Impossible," Shayera whispered.

"Very possible, Ms. Hol; it's happening right now." Nobody spoke for a moment after Batman.

"So… what are we going to do?" Flash asked.

"We've already decided on a course of action," Superman intervened, turning to the kid himself. "J'onn, if you would kindly send the signal?"

"What signal?" Flash began to vibrate slightly enough for it to be barely noticeable. "Why didn't I have a say in this?"

"For the same reason I didn't," Green Lantern informed without blinking and without removing his gaze from the screen.

"Ok, so what exactly is this 'course of action'?"

"… Batman, do we have all personnel present?"

Batman pulled up another window and scrolled for a while, clicking his way through a series of rosters and tables. "We have a team of four about three minutes from Watchtower Two."

"How long will it take to get everyone to the debriefing deck?"

"Five minutes, give or take, depending on how many are in the living quarters and cafeteria of Watchtowers One and Two."

"That gives us just about enough time, then," Superman sighed "Has Bruce Wayne already taken care of those who regularly use the living quarters?"

"I've already pulled a few strings and tied up the loose ends; unless they rebel in a 'blow-up-the-Watchtowers' kind of way, I don't think anyone will have any consequential problems with the transitions," Batman shortly answered him as Flash grew impatient.

"Will somebody please explain what the hell is going on around here?" All the eyes at the table turned in his direction, but Flash didn't back down or retake his seat.

Diana and Superman traded glances. "…Tell them to make it as fast as possible, J'onn," Superman muttered, rising from his seat at the round table and exiting the conference room. Diana turned to Flash.

"Flash… I don't know how to explain this… I honestly think it would be easier if you heard what Superman is about to announce –"

"He's disbanding them, isn't he?" Diana stopped. "And you guys agreed to it. …Why?"

"Flash, you don't understand –"

He hit the table with both fists, glaring down at the smooth metal top he rested his hands on. "I'm tired of being told… that I don't understand things. Why doesn't anyone ever believe me? Why doesn't anybody think I can handle anything?"

"We just don't want them to risk their lives for something that could possibly be avoided. We all agreed that it would be best if we tried talking with them first, without the backdrop of the current League."

"Yeah, right," Flash snorted. "Because they're coming with an entire fleet, and the last time, they only tried to destroy the Earth and every shred of life on it…"

Diana frowned. "We know that last time they were only looking for a way to save their world; they were going about it the wrong way, true, but… if everything that happened has taught us nothing else, it's this: we need to practice solving the problem before we allow it to get out of hand and have spilled blood. That's what makes us different from the Lords, remember? You told us that."

Flash angrily back away from the table and edged to the door stiffly, his eyes glowing under his mask as his back hit the door. "Yeah; great plan. And hey, everyone even agreed to it. Except for us," he gestured to Shayera and Green Lantern. "But hell, you guys always made all the decisions anyway, didn't you?"

He fell through the entrance, the door closing on his irate countenance before Diana could say anything.

Flash, breathing heavily, stared at the door for a long moment, unsure of what he should do next.

Finally seeming to be able to think again, he sprinted down the hall and to the elevator, waiting impatiently for it open. The doors had barely slid apart before he had ducked inside was pummeling the button for the observatory level directly above the debriefing room. The mechanism climbed too slowly for Flash's taste.

He bolted when the bell finally rang and he was allowed onto the catwalk-like ledge that ran along the whole of the wall's length. He glanced down to the center the ledge encircled, his hands gripping the railing tightly.

Heroes were still pouring in the doors. He assumed the Javelin with the last four had just docked as the crew personnel had left their posts and were gathered on the curve opposite him, chattering excitedly, in confusion as they glanced down to the floor below them.

He didn't see Superman; yet.

Flash imagined this had been what the first day must have looked like from a distance; everybody wandering here and there, not quite sure what was about to happen, where to go, what they were supposed to be doing. The noise they made bubbled up from them like the foam head of a beer, rising until it spilled over the catwalk suspended high above their heads.

The boy scout finally made his appearance, holding the same stance he'd adopted during their initial introduction, though his face was much more solemn this time around. The crowd quieted as quickly as they had before, without urging from a single soul. Superman had their rapt attention, and he hadn't asked for it.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, former cowboys and cowgirls," he began, his voice carrying easily. Flash wondered if the tremble under his voice was as audible to the man with super-hearing as it was to him, high above his head as a slight chuckle rippled through the crowd, "I address you today with a heavy heart. I want to begin by saying that it has been an honor and a privilege to work with and get to know each of you, brief as the time has been." He paused, panning over the crowd as if trying to meet each individual set of eyes and gauze how well this was coming off as of yet. Flash was sure he saw him glance in his direction briefly, but it had to have only been a trick of the light; he was too far up for Superman to have realized he was there unless he was looking for him.

"I hope each of you cowboys and cowgirls take as much away from this experience as I will."

"What do I care about Katar's first born son?"

"Well, considering he somehow talked their Leaders into giving him inheritance to power rivaling their own sons'…" Brian shrugged.

"We should be at home," Richie sighed, turning to glance at Wally. "Bryant should be in bed, and so should Ishan …"

Brian sucked at his teeth. "I don't like this."

"There's too much going on; anything could happen." Richie shifted uncomfortably at Wally's side.

Chris pulled at one of her ponytails and glanced around. The sky looked as if it was about to rain, but that was nothing new. Thanagarians packed the square, but that wasn't anything new, either. The Elders sitting on their thrones on the raised platform before them was, however. Their eyes were hidden behind their perpetually gleaming golden helmets, but the way they sat with such paternal manners with their own children before them did anything but lead her to believe they were malevolent. Even Katar looked harmless with the small dark green bundle he held in his arms. One of the older Leaders leaned down briefly to a man seated at his feet, and he nodded his head briefly after a quick survey of the crowd.

Chris tugged at Wally's sleeve. "I want to go home, Dad."

"We're working on it," Tim whispered, kneeling down beside her. "Just hold on, ok?" She nodded reluctantly as she directed her attention elsewhere. She took amusement in Brian and Richie's argument, as she always did, though she had yet to figure out why they seemed to have so many issues. A shiver ran down her spine and the noise around them lessened. Suddenly, Brian and Richie were blocked from view by large Thanagarians. She was pushed roughly from Tim's side by a frowning Thanagarian as a few more looked on. The Thanagarian snarled and repeated what it had just said with a frown. Chris felt her heart beginning to speed up as she was scooped up from behind.

"Stay quiet," the Thanagarian carrying her whispered. Her eyes widened as her father disappeared from her sight.

"Put me down!" she scowled at the woman. She glanced ahead, her heart skipping a beat as she saw Brian and Richie. They didn't notice them, still busy bickering though they themselves were far from Tim and Dick by now.

"You idiots!" she cried as Brian was abruptly and easily picked up as she had been by the woman.

"Hey, what's –"

"Hello, Brian," she smiled, and Chris felt herself screaming silently as neither Brian nor Richie made any effort to get away.

"What's going on?"

"If you'd wait just a few moments, you will see." The woman kneeled down, and without a moment's hesitation, Richie climbed on her back. Chris noted the swift movement of the Thanagarians and humans alike as they carefully avoided letting their gazes wander to the four of them and the woman made her way through the crowd and behind the platform. They climbed the empty steps of the Record building the crowd had been gathered before, and to the first extensive chamber, lit with dwindling candles. They stopped in the second of the numerous column encircled courtyards down the center of the rows of faintly gleaming desks. She put them down gently, then swiftly removed her helmet, shaking out her shoulder length, midnight hair.

"Do you know what tyyameans?"

"I have to get back out there," a male voice interrupted. Another Thanagarian stepped out from behind a pillar, trailing Colton. Bryant was in his arms, his crutch-like walking stick held tightly in Raven's hands.

"I wish we didn't have to leave him in the first place."

The woman frowned. "Which do you prefer? One child's safety, or six?"

He didn't respond as he let Bryant down. Raven silently handed him his walking stick, and he snapped the brace back on his arm, went back to learning against one of the columns.

"Wait until after they start to leave; carry that one," he jerked a thumb in Bryant's direction, "and take them directly; stay along the back."

Without another word, he spread his wings and disappeared into the sky through the opening above the courtyard, the woman retreating to the entrance.

They stood in silence.

Chris looked from one to another. "What's going on?"

"We have no say in this, ok? Just do what you're told; you'll be fine," her twin told her none too shortly.

"How can you trust them, Adan?"

"Think; Dad, or Tim, or Dick wouldn't have allowed them to take us at all, let along so easily otherwise," Colton replied.

Brian frowned. "Do you guys hear that?"

Five pairs of eyes swiveled to his face.

"Hear…what?" Raven asked.

Richie closed his eyes, frown lightly lining his brows.

"Is that… a roar?" Colton felt his mouth hanging open.

"No." Richie's eyes snapped open. "…He wants Ishan."

"He what?!?" Five voices demanded as one, the echo bouncing about them.

"'Y –you are to us, or against us, you… and –and the half-breed both'; …that's what he said."

Richie coughed as Colton suddenly grabbed his shirt and lifted him, scowling.

"Who?"

"Katar," he coughed again. "He wants Wally to give Ishan to him… 'lay his pledge by the heir in his loyalty'… something like that; I don't know, ok?"

"What?"

"Wally won't let him," Richie gulped. "I …I can't hear anything else; they're too loud!"

"Concentrate!"
"I am!"

"Try harder!" The noise outside the building increased, rising with Richie and Colton's voices, bouncing through the room they stood in. The woman suddenly darted into view, pulling Bryant quickly into her arms.

"We're out of here," she muttered, leading them quickly down the rose of courtyards to the back of the chamber. She turned left, lead them swiftly down narrow, crumbling stone steps and through a heavy door, etched with Thanagarian symbols. They stumbled over themselves in the dark as the stairs twisted and turned and she continued pushing on, pausing occasionally to make sure they were still with her. Suddenly, they fell from the dark to the open, their backs to the still silent building and deafening square. The woman prepared to move again.

"We can't leave!" Chris grabbed Richie, looking to the woman. "They'll kill them."

"They'll kill you, too. We have to go."

Chris glanced pleadingly to the others.

Richie and Brian's gazes briefly met. "Christina, we don't have any say."

She felt her blood drain to her feet as Colton irritably grabbed her hand and dragged her along as they sprinted from the crowd at their feet and down the deserted and unusually lifeless streets.

Richie seemed quieter, suddenly, as the time that had passed began to add upon itself and they slowed down. Children's voices rang faintly in their ears from nowhere, growing as they continued on.

"I swear, I'll tell!" a girl laughed. The fence they'd been walking along was interrupted by an open gate. The laughter ceased abruptly. The boy and girl looked up as the women led them onto the long path through the front yard to the moderate sized house. Brian found himself staring unbelievably into the girl's crystal blue eyes… eyes he'd seen on but one other person before, and that had been nearly five years ago. The air around them stilled.

"Joel? Aubrey?"

The boy turned, his bangs swinging in his dark eyes as he faced the house, but neither answered. A woman appeared in the doorway, hair pulled back in a simple ponytail, a book in her hands that was immediately dropped. The Thanagarian allowed Bryant down, hastily stepping back.

"….My…God…" the woman on the steps breathed.

"….Mom?" the little boy question in confusion.

She rushed down the steps and to them where they'd yet to move. She pulled Chris and Colton to her, hugging them tightly before she finally released them. She remained on her knees, speechlessly as she turned to Bryant.

She hugged him gently before pulling back to look at him. "Oh, you poor baby…" Without a word, Brian instinctively let her pull him into the embrace, too. Raven stared at her quizzically until she let them go, surrendered easily to the soft kiss to her cheek and the warm arms she was pulled into. She squeezed her tightly until she was afraid Raven might not have been able to breathe, then let her go, wiping away a tear on her cheek gently. "My baby," she breathed.

The woman faced Richie. He remained rooted to his spot as his eyes locked on hers. Slowly, his feet carried him to her until they were almost touching. Her hand hesitantly came up to push his hair away from his forehead, resting on his head as his eyes searched her face uncertainly.

"…Richard…" He threw his arms around her neck strongly, a tear slipping down his cheek and onto her shirt.

"Mom."

"Damn," he muttered, trying to gulp as something rose at the back of his throat. "Had to pick the one with friends…." He hesitantly stepped back, his foot brushing against the tough hide of the Gordanian he'd just knocked unconscious. One of the four, burly, thick shouldered beasts before him flicked out his purple tongue, running it along its thin, bloodthirsty lips before grinning widely. Flash winced as he imagined the dagger tipped fangs sinking in his flesh. They advanced, smiling gleefully. What appeared to be the leader yelled something to him in his own tongue, and the other three yelped excitedly. Flash wasn't sure exactly what was said, but it didn't sound to promising to his health.

"Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" he jeered. Their laughter stopped. Flash edged farther back, nearly tripping over another body; he didn't take the time to check whether it was Thanagarian or Gordanian. He glanced up as he felt his back press against something smooth and warm. The under side of the ship came into view, the red hull flaming blood in the sunset blanketing the sky. He glanced to his left; the entrance to the ship was open, about two-feet over his head. He could probably make that; a bit of calculations, the right boost, a good-timed run, and he was in; just needed a bit of their help to get in and do what Shayera had told him needed doing.

He turned back in time to see two of the beasts charge at him. Quickly sidestepping them, they both passed by him harmlessly. They stumbled blindly, blinking stupidly as Flash appeared behind them abruptly, intending to rid himself of the first. Something spiked flew toward his head, though, interrupting the execution of his plans; it managed to graze him before he spun to his left and out of its direct path and directly into a fist that collided with his left, shaking his ribcage. Flash clutched his side as his legs carried him instinctively to the right and away from the following blow. Angrily, he shook his head, the war cries of the battling warriors surrounding him ringing in his ears.

"Is that all you got?" He spat at the momentarily paused Gordanians. "And here I though you numbskulls were actually something to be afraid of." He took advantage of the slightly blank stares on their enraged faces; one of the beasts found its own, blunt weapon digging crudely into skull. Flash sidestepped to mimic the action on the second, but the beast moved faster than he'd assumed it could, and one of its fists imbedded itself again in Flash's gut.

"Twerl," Flash coughed as he sunk to his knees and glared up at them through the swaying vegetation now above his head. He wasn't sure why he'd remembered the insult he'd been on the receiving end of more than once, just then, but it was doing what it needed to.

Angrier…

They apparently understood at least some Thanagarian, because their green faces were becoming purple. The leader raised its mace-like weapon over his head, bellowing in anger as it brought it down. Flash rolled to the side quickly. A sickening crunch split the air, and a howl followed it. Black bit at the edges of his vision as the wild howls of the Gordanians above him continued. A bolt of pain shot through his right leg, effectively paralyzing him as he lay on his left side. The cold blades of the grass of the fields they fought in that were crushed down by his weight bit the exposed portion of his face as he pushed back a howl of his own. His arms continued to clutch his leg as the beast rose the weapon again. The black spikes swam into Flash's view, and the pain intensified at the promise of them digging into his skin, obvious from the grotesque smile on the beast's face. He braced himself for the impact that never came. There was an irate roar and the quick, dull successions of body hitting metal.

"Wally!"

"Shy?" His tightly shut eyelids contracted again as slender fingers brushed over his knee. He screamed.

"Damn," she glanced around herself. "You can't stay here…"

"Don't!" He pulled her by her forearm as she tried to stand.

"Wally…I have to move you," she repeated patiently. "This is going to hurt; your knee's completely shattered…" she muttered to herself, linking her arms under his. She pulled him, his head braced against her abdomen as he silently screamed, his body being drug over the sharp-bladed grass bending to his mass.

"Let me go!" he yelled at her.

"I can't let you keep fighting." She drug him haphazardly into a ditch and leaned him against one of the grassy sides stained red.

"Tim will have to check out your leg when you get back –"

"I can't let you go."

"You can't get anywhere near the mother-ship in this condition, much less into it and to the control room to –"

"I promised," Wally whispered as he winced. "I promised him I'd watch out for you."

"You promised me you'd watch out for him, Wally," she replied, grabbing one of his hands with both of hers. "Promise me."

"Shy –"

"Tyya say it." He turned his head from her. "Wally, do you understand what that means? Show me if you do; show me you understand."

"…Tyya."

"That's your word."

"That's my promise by my word," he inhaled shakily. "It's cold."

Shayera brought one of her hands to gently trace his jaw. She shook her head sadly. "Their weapons are poisoned."

"I lied; you're making me lie."

She didn't respond.

"Don't."

She wiped at her eyes, threatening to form tears.

"I'm sorry."

"Please."

"Close your eyes." Slowly, her hand made it to the side of her black pants, toward the mace that had been re-clipped to her belt loop. Her fingers traced down he handle to a small niche, and with a slight tug, she flipped the switch held within it. A miniscule section of the handle top was raised from the smooth surface, and she removed it, revealing the thin bit that ran the length of the handle, ending in a needle-sharp apex. It glowed a slight red as she briefly fingered the metal; she pressed the tip swiftly through the bloodied fabric of his leg and below the shattered knee. It sunk in easily, and the glow fell from it, traveling his leg and encasing his body. He didn't scream. Even behind the mask, she could tell his eyes were trained heavily on her until his lids became too heavy and his eyes slipped closed. The glow fell from him.

She pressed an ear to his chest, listening for his heartbeat. She pulled back and pushed his mask from his pale face, the material sticking to his sweaty skin. She pulled the com-link from his ear and opened it, facing the blinking red light of the tracking device inside. The device was removed carefully and its case pulled apart to open it; her thin fingers disconnected two of the entangled wires without hesitation. She slipped a small, black, ticking box between the two of them. The blinking stopped, and she replaced both before pulling his mask back over his face, slipping the rod back into the mace handle, and standing silently.

"…Let him know that I still love him, Wally."

She placed her mace at his side and spread her wings, taking flight above the body filled ditched and the blood bathed fields. The battle was on the ground for now, but she wasn't concerned with that. She flew overhead the fighting, moving as fast as she could, never letting her gaze wonder from her goal. She dodged the occasional blows thrown in her direction, kept those on her tail with murder in their eyes at her heels and no closer.

She muttered a curse in frustration; the opening to the ship was closing. Fast. She dove for the shrinking entrance, tucking her wings to her body. The counterclockwise rotating doors came together, snipping at her feet. Spreading her wings again, she pulled out of the roll, soaring down the dark corridor as the tell-tale sounds of the Gordanians that were unable to pull up in time hitting the now closed entrance ringing around her. Instincts kicked in as the corridor finally ended, branching into four larger ones. Choosing the second from the left, she soared onward, the blue illuminated gray panels floating bass her in a blur until it abruptly ended, but she was prepared for it, and her wings took her upward, bringing her face to face with a small panel divided into numerous squares, each bearing a different Gordanian symbol. Shayera's fingers brushed over the appropriate buttons without her mind pausing to contemplate the possible combinations; she already knew the correct one. The panel split into four parts that receded into the walls of the corridor. Shayera floated into the large chamber the panels revealed.

"Lieutenant."

Shayera didn't bother turning around to face the creature as she landed easily on the tiled floor and walked the control room to a low set panel in the back wall. His voice was deep, jagged as a shard from a broken window, hard and hollow as a rotted log when he spoke, the tangled accent almost too thick to understand.

"I've got a job to do; you can let me do it in peace, or go about it the hard way," she shot over her shoulder as she knelt before the panel and automatically typed out the sequence to command the beginning of the warriors' self-destruct. The room around them began to glow purple and the floor beneath her pulsed. Suddenly, she found herself turned around and lifted, pressed against the cold, purple bathed wall.

"Forgetting something?" The Gordanian smiled wickedly, reaching under his armor and removing a strand of small, black spheres.

Shayera narrowed her eyes. "Don't need it."

"'s right; you know what this is, don't you?" He pressed one of the smooth spheres to her cheek. Shayera turned her head from the burn. "Cold?"

"Go to hell."

"Not yet, darling," he smiled. "'s water; straight from the B'rgh, ta be 'xact. Ya need it ta trigger the self-destruct in the Black Wings."

Shayera didn't respond.

"The majority of us aren't stupid, ya know."

"Just most."

"'got spunk; no wonder yer one of the Carriers," the Gordanian bristled slightly, his gleaming black wing twitching. "No, dear, we'd be mad ta train the strongest of our species ta kill relentless, knowing fully well that their intelligence and ability ta determine between right and wrong is all but non-existent, and not be sure ta have a fail-safe." He squeezed one of the beads between the sharp, black fingernails of his forefinger and thumb. Dark red dripped to his fingers, and the sphere shrank to a small, translucent material. "You've, of course, been taught how ta carry out the procedure?"

"While your species might not hold the talent to recovering information and utilizing it, mine does; it's part of the training."

"Of course; only ten fer ever generation, though? Hand-picked, correct? Determined at the time of yer…Trials, are they?" he burst two more of the miniscule spheres in his palm. "Yer running out of time, but it'd be a shame for us ta not talk. Now, yer blood; what 'xactly's in it?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

"'mittedly, Lieutenant, yes. However, 's of my superior's curiosity I ask."

"Figures; everyone answers to a higher power."

"Myself included. As I was saying, yer fiancé was one once, was he not?"

"I am not his."

"'s not anymore, is he? What happened?" he continued questioning as if she hadn't spoken. "Let me try this again. What is it… in yer blood... that mocks B'rgh's water?" His eyes searched hers for a moment, then his face creased into a frown, and he squeezed her throat tighter. She gasped slightly as his nails bit into her neck, more from want of air than actual pain.

"What does yer blood give that is needed ta complete the process? What is it yer blood contains that holds the same as the waters from the very heart of our home world? I lose my patience, Lieutenant." His voice was much lower now, less distinguishable, and she had to strain slightly to understand his questioning. Shayera winced as the fingernails dug deeper into her skin.

"Tell me!"

"Kill me, you lose. Let me live, you lose," she managed. "Your choice."

His eyes widened in rage, and he yelled, throwing her to the other side of the room. Shayera didn't stand immediately.

"Up! Get up!" he bellowed, stalking toward her.

"You really want to know?" she smiled, pushing herself to her feet slowly. His advance was halted as Shayera came chest to chest with him. She tugged the dagger from his belt; he twitched slightly as her fingers brushed over his skin, and he tossed her again to the panel. She moved to stand, but he was already lifting her up along the wall again, pinning her by her neck. Shayera merely raised her right hand between them, still clutching the dagger. She slid the tip of it into her index finger, drawing blood.

"There is nothing in my blood," she chuckled, dropping the dagger to her floor and her arm to her side, right above the panel. "My blood runs from my heart; my heart is pure."

"You, who betrayed two worlds, pure? Give what ya say is true, yer blood is useless."

Shayera didn't respond, merely glanced at the floor. He his gaze following hers to the tile she'd kneeled upon before the panel, where her blood had just dropped, was continuing to slowly fall in miniscule drops, and was running its way slowly through the engravings in the tile. He released his hold and she slid to the ground where she sat, watching lazily.

"We'll see. You know…I'd ask where you get your information since you obviously lack the skills needed to determine any of what you think you know, but I'm already aware of that." She drew up one of her legs, dropping her arm easily across her knee and tilting her head to the side slightly.

He removed the sword at his side from its thick, black sheath, the blade shaking with the sword in his hands.

"I think… you deserve to know: most of it's lies."

"My orders for ya, Lieutenant, are dead, not alive," his voice shook, rising from its barely audible state to a roar that filed the now glowing red room. "Dead, not alive."