Chapter 18:
Gliding within the veil of darkness, Shayera Hol soared high above the supposed mercenaries, keeping them within her range of vision, as with each beat of their wings, led her deeper into the base of the mountain. From what she could tell, they had suddenly plunged downward into the depths of a deep canyon, and leveled off into a wide sub chamber of granite, well away from the main populace of the Thanagarian outpost, and well away from the prying eyes of the famed Black Talon. Landing softly behind a huge outcropping of stone, she watched the duo enter into a corridor, one that wouldn't allow her to maintain flight.
The helmeted pair strode leisurely within the narrow path, and then turned left to face what resembled a slight recession about midway within the passageway. It looked completely natural to the naked eye, but when trained in the methods of observation, she quickly noticed the subtle differences that had set it apart from the rest of its surroundings. The winged men stood there for a moment, and then took a step forward, their forms shimmering slightly as they phased into the wall of rock, vanishing from the nebulous passageway.
Whoa… Shayera thought.Surprised with their sudden disappearance, her shadowed form scurried into the corridor, and faced the embrasure of rock within the small alcove, studying it closely with her acute eyesight. Feeling along the right side of the wall with her hand, she came across an imperceptible indentation upon its surface, which was uniform in size and shape, her instincts determining that this was something not so natural. Pressing the impression with the palm of her hand, the wall of rock began to radiate somewhat, slowly dissipating, as if its composition had dispersed into nothingness. Shayera hesitated with understanding, when she could see a faint source of light from a room on the other side. Quickly, she stepped forward, sensing that the wall would become solid once again.
A holographic entry with density confinement… clever… Shayera thought, as she slowly made her way into the room, looking around. It was not the natural edifice of stone that she had expected to see; instead its smooth walls indicated it was something otherwise, that it was indeed, man-made. Did Kragger construct this?
The room stretched out a few meters, and then cut sharply to the right branching into a corridor, where she came to a stop at its entry, listening intently, until she picked up the trailing sound of their voices, still deep in conversation, still unaware of her presence.
"He's gonna give us grief over this… I tell ya…" Ghanja mumbled nervously, looking around within the darkness of the corridor. "He's an officer… and you know how officers get… when things ain't done by their specifications..."
"Let me correct you, Ghanja," Turlak snipped coolly. "He's not going to like it that you and Verdya screwed up... I, on the other hand, have no reason to worry, for as you already know, I completed my mission."
Ghanja eyed him warily, realizing that his colleague's smug remark didn't sit too well with him, recognizing that it was a sign of disrespect, in which Turlak had exhibited numerous times before whenever he had spoken to him. For some reason Turlak acted as if he was better than he was.
"Well… that may be true, but… at the least, I face my foes head on… as a true warrior should, not by ambushing an enemy from within the secrecy of the shadows," he rebutted, boastfully.
"What's that supposed to mean!"
"Nothin'…" Ghanja said, feigning bemusement, smiling inwardly with satisfaction.
Exiting from the corridor, they stepped into a spacious warehouse; its walls were part of the cave itself, with several rows of brightly lit lamps hanging down from the ceiling, where towards the rear, moderately housing a stockpile of thanagarian weaponry, munitions, and equipment. Passing through it quickly, they walked to its far side, entering into a meeting room, half expecting to see the one had employed their services.
"He's not here…" Ghanja said, sitting down sluggishly, onto one of the cushioned chairs that were placed around the large metal conference table.
Before making her way to the doorway of the conference room, Shayera quickly scanned the arsenal of weapons, and picked up an energy mace from a nearby shelf, all the while listening keenly to the pair's parley.
"Weren't we supposed to meet here… so that we could take care of any loose ends before we returned to our unit?" Ghanja voiced with uncertainty, nursing his injured arm.
"Yeah… we were…" Turlak responded without interest, sitting and placing his disruptor on the conference table.
"So… what now?" Ghanja asked dejectedly, looking over into the corner of the room. "Do we take care of the prisoner now?"
"No…" Turlak said nonchalantly, also looking over to the far corner of the room. "We wait…"
Prisoner? Shayera questioned silently to herself.
Kneeling, she carefully peered around the doorway, managing to stay out of the two Thanagarians' view, to see whom they were talking about. She almost dropped her mace when her eyes met with the eyes of the 'prisoner'. Bound and gagged, with a look of disbelief on his helmeted face, he was staring back at her, eyes enlarged.
Kragger!
It was then when the muzzle of a disruptor touched the back of her head, as she suddenly sensed the presence of another, standing behind her.
"Lieutenant Hol… let's not be rude…" the voice whispered maliciously, as an armored hand reached around her, taking the weapon she held, roughly from her hands.
"Please… join us!"
It had appeared to the Thanagarian search squads, while scouring through the numerous black crevasses that were littered throughout the encampment, that time slithered by too slowly, as each of them were groping heedlessly in the dark for anything that could lead to the whereabouts of their absconded collaborator. All the while, their thoughts slowly began to converge upon the realization that Lieutenant Shayera Hol, well versed in the art of concealment, was trained exclusively for this particular game of cat and mouse.
Despite that fact, their certainty continued to remain bound, not because their quarry had perhaps caused the very destruction of Thanagar, by choosing to save this feeble planet, thereby averting their one chance to forever eradicate their most hated enemy. No… not for that… it was because of her cowardly and perhaps her most dishonorable of acts, to needlessly take a life, an innocent life… in order to escape from the responsibility of her actions. And for that, each of them silently swore to themselves that she was going to pay… and that payment would be… with her blood.
Upon reaching the detention center, Pilar P'thal and John Stewart rambled briskly down the corridor; leading them deeper into the recesses of the caves, away from the occupied sections of the encampment, away from the groups of armed soldiers who continued with their inane hunt for the 'escaped' prisoner.
Stewart suddenly came to an abrupt stop, looked around briefly, and then closed his eyes momentarily as if focusing inwardly. P'thal stared at the dark skinned human ponderously, not understanding his delay. He opened his eyes, and then turned to his right, nodding his head slightly.
"That way…" he whispered, looking upward.
P'thal turned, and looked into the direction he had indicated. The terrain had jutted upward into the darkness, and she could see that it would be impossible for the human to climb it, especially without the required gear that it would warrant. She smiled to herself, as she quickly realized why he had come for her. She would have to carry him over the high mesa of rock to get to the next level of the cave's floor. Understanding this task, P'thal walked behind him, placing her arms underneath his, interlocking her hands together across his chest, ignoring the pain caused from her earlier injury, and with a stalwart sweep of her wings, the pair sprang upward into the darkness.
Having had no previous interactions with humans, P'thal was astonished that with each stroke of her wings, she became slightly aware of the aromatic smells of the human's perspiration, filling her nostrils with each breath that she took. Bred from a warrior race, P'thal knew all too well, that there was no other element that could induce a thanagarian female's primal instincts which fueled attraction other than the stimuli of smell, and John's fragrance, she realized, was pleasing to her senses, and to her amazement, very distracting, making it difficult for her to concentrate.
I believe that I have found at least one reason why Shayera is so attracted to this human… P'thal mused to herself.
Clearing her throat, P'thal quietly forced herself to focus on the things at hand, and began to have uncertainty about the choice of method in which Green Lantern was using to search for his ring. She also acknowledged the fact that she had never ventured this far into the caves before, and therefore had no idea where they were, and for that matter, where they were going.
Finally, they touched down onto the next level of the cave's floor, allowing John Stewart to continue his trek, and once again, he withdrew within himself, looking absently about, his face filled with strain.
"This way…" John declared finally, walking off into the darkness.
After a short while, they came upon another group of despondent searchers, and P'thal could clearly see the anger in their eyes as they leered at Stewart with disparagement.
"Why are they looking at me that way?" John questioned, passing them by, ignoring their glances.
P'thal shook her head. "They're wondering how you… could be involved with one that is so… dishonorable…"
"Are you saying that you believe that Shayera is capable of murdering that girl?"
"Of course not… I just know that we need to find her… before anyone else does!" P'thal sputtered, feeling uneasy.
"I know… That's why we need to go… there," John said, stopping as they approached an escarpment, pointing downward.
The canyon was massive, at least 400 meters across, where sheer cliffs and indentations within the rock, could be seen within the shadows. P'thal looked back and upward, observing that all of the lights from the searchers were concentrated back near the outskirts of the encampment, branching outward slowly, then turned back, looking downward, noticing that no lights could be seen from within the chasm.
"My ring is down there… " John muttered, barely audible.
Pilar P'thal had always considered herself a patient person by nature, because her job had demanded it, especially when hunting wanted felons, however this situation made her realize that even she had limits. For in her mind, this was getting ridiculous, and it was time to put a stop to this nonsense, for her patience had finally ran out.
"John! How could you possibly know! We're wasting time looking for your ring when we should be looking for Shayera!" she shrieked, looking at him incredulously.
"Now you want us to go down into that abyss of darkness to look for something, that is… clearly lost! If we don't find her first, they will kill her!"
"You think that I don't know that!" John snapped back.
"Did it ever occur to you… that whoever attacked you, is most likely the one responsible for forcing Shayera to escape!"
John Stewart looked back into the chasm. "Wherever my ring is… I'd bet my life that the one who's trying to kill her is not far behind."
"What makes you so sure?" P'thal asked, not convinced.
He turned to look at her with a serious gleam in his eye, and calmly replied, "Because… my ring isn't lost, …it's linked to me… telepathically, and right now, it's calling out to me… from down there. Pilar, let's go…"
With that, P'thal sighed reluctantly, then picked him up from behind, and swooped downward into the void of blackness, even more afraid that they would be too late to save her friend from the coming wrath of Thanagar.
"Gentlemen… We have another guest!"
The winged man shoved Shayera into the conference room, as she smiled with each step that she took, looking at the surprised faces of the two 'mercs' that had led her there.
"What the…!" Turlak exclaimed, jumping out of his chair, grabbing his weapon. "Where did she come from!"
"She was camped outside of the door, gathering intelligence, I'd assume…" the helmeted figure responded, keeping the disruptor fixed on her, while placing the energy mace onto the conference table.
"You surprised me, Lieutenant. I'd presumed that you would head to the surface, and make good your escape."
Then he looked down at Kragger, his face registering understanding.
"Ahh… you came in search for the Commander, didn't you? Of course… you wanted revenge for what he tried to do to your human…"
"Yeah… well I thought that he was the one that wanted me dead," Shayera said.
"Oh, yes… you're quite right. He did indeed want you dead. However, the Commander failed to do what was necessary to make sure that your death would be… imminent."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning… I had to take matters into my own hands, before he could ruin his well-conceived plan. So… I released the Alpha into the valley, thinking it would ensure the human's death. Meanwhile, Kragger was monitoring the human's progress, and was about to stop the contest when it was discovered that the other H'rukai beast was also released… I stopped him," the masked man sneered, looking at Kragger with contempt.
Kragger gruffly barked his comments, though his gagged mouth.
"Come now, Commander. There's no dishonor when you are using whatever's necessary to destroy your enemy," Nor said, responding shrewdly.
" So… it was you…" Shayera hissed.
"Yes. However… your human proved to be a far better warrior than I had anticipated… so I had to make sure that he would not be able to help you, again… ergo 'Plan B'…"
"Forcing me to escape from the detention block..." Shayera replied, pausing, studying his uniform.
"I'm sorry… but, do I know you, what is it …Ensign?" she quipped with sarcasm, gritting her teeth.
"Oh… where are my manners. My name is Nor," the winged man smiled wickedly as he removed his helmet, placing it on the table. "Naturu Nor, and no… you don't know me… but I, in fact, do know you."
"Yeah …well… I know enough to tell that you're no junior officer. Uh uh… that's a cover... you're Black Ops," Shayera surmised, menacingly. "Praetorian Raptorclaw… I'd bet…"
"Ha! Ha! Y-you're judging me!" Nor snickered, eyeing her with distaste. "Oh the nerve! You Imperial guard types truly amaze me, with your self-righteous ways. I never understood why Talek and the High Council sent you on this mission, for it is clear that you don't honor the ways of Thanagar."
"First of all, my mission on Earth was to gauge its defense capability against an apparent Gordainian invasion… at least that's what I was told. Instead, I unknowingly, helped conquer this world by deceiving the very people I was sent here to protect… only to find out that it was all a ruse… even to me."
Shayera's eyes grew cold and defiant. "Only to find that my people… the 'honorable' Thanagarian Empire …had become just as ruthless as the Gordainians themselves…"
"What did you say!"
"You heard me… there was a time when Thanagar followed a code of 'honor', and we as Thanagarians would have protected anyone from injustice, from anyone that would even think to attempt genocide… But somehow within the past five years that was forgotten, because why would it have been so acceptable to destroy an entire civilization, just so that we could claim victory…? So… if I'm a 'traitor' by preventing such an atrocity… then, what does that make you?"
Nor measured her for a moment, then slammed the butt of his weapon into her midsection, causing Shayera to gasp for air, as she fell to her knees, next to Kragger.
"It makes me… a patriot!" he bellowed angrily, loosing his temper, bringing the barrel of the disruptor up, pointing it directly at her head.
"What is this?" P'thal asked, raising the searchlight she carried, its beam illuminating the small alcove of stone, as the pair stood within the darkened corridor, unable to continue their search.
"I don't know… from what I can tell, the trail goes beyond here… past this wall," Lantern explained, his arms extended against the wall, pushing against it with his hands.
"You're saying that your ring is somehow on the other side?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying…"
P'thal stared at the wall momentarily, and then pulled her communicator from her belt, making adjustments to its settings.
"Karos… this is P'thal, over."
A minute slipped past, when she was about to call into the communicator once again, it suddenly squawked a response.
"Karos, here. Lieutenant, why are you calling me on a secure line?"
"Because I wanted to make sure that I'm talking to someone I trust. I'm going to leave my comm signal on, so that you can find me… and bring a level 5 cannon with you."
"Level 5 cannon? Are you planning on blowing something up?
"Yes… something like that…" she answered. "Hurry!"
"Yes, sir! I'm on my way! Karos, out…"
John Stewart stared at the rock wall. "There isn't time… stand back!"
"W-wha…?"
He pushed P'thal back into the opening of the corridor, then faced the wall, and raised his right hand. His eyes closed, John Stewart reached outward with his mind.
Nor wanted so much to pull the trigger, his finger trembled as he felt the firmness of the firing mechanism, knowing that it could be so easy to just kill her right now. But, he had orders.
"What do you know of 'honor'? I should have killed you outside the cave when I had my knife at your throat…" he growled inaudibly, his temper beginning to subside.
"I can see that you Praetorian types still feel that killing is the only solution to any problem…" Shayera spat, catching her breath, looking up, her eyes furious.
Kragger barked loudly with a few challenging, but muffled sounds.
"Oh, don't worry… Commander. I'm not going to kill her… not yet. After all… I need the Lieutenant to kill you, before I can proceed with my plan…" Nor grinned, looking over at Ghanja. "Pick them up…"
He eyed Turlak eagerly. "Do you have the item?"
"Of course…" Turlak smiled gruffly, relaxing his stance, disruptor in hand. Reaching into his belt, he pulled out a small bundle of cloth, placing it on the metal table, stepping back.
Nor, smiling, reached over, pulled the bundle to him, and anxiously unfolded the cloth. In the center of the cloth was a ring of emerald hue, sparkling brightly from the lights above.
"So… this is it," Nor smiled gleefully. "Hmmmm… we can learn much from this technology… once we unlock its secrets…"
Ghanja walked slowly to where Kragger was on the floor, studying the object that gleamed brightly from the table, reaching down, picking Kragger up, as he helped him to his feet.
Shayera looked over at the table, unable to see exactly what the Praetorian operative was referring to, instead, she turned her attention onto the soldier, and knew that he was the one that she had confronted in the hallway of the detention area. Instantly, a plan formed within her mind when a realization suddenly hit her.
"Where's your friend?" she whispered, still on her knees. 'Weren't there three of you?"
"She was unconscious… we had to leave her…" Ghanja paused apprehensively, caught off guard by her question.
"You do know that Raptorclaws are known to never leave witnesses…" Shayera continued, with a hint warning in her voice, slowly getting to her feet. "Which means…"
"W-what?" Ghanja stammered, hesitantly, looking at Turlak and Nor.
"She's dead…"
Ghanja turned, looking at her, his look of bewilderment was not surprising to her, but Turlak's expression, she noticed, never changed.
"Don't believe me, then ask them…" Shayera said, knowingly.
Nor looked up from the table, and shrugged.
"Oh… Ghanja… Unfortunately, Verdya… will not be joining us…"
"W-what! What do you mean!" Ghanja responded, eyeing Nor suspiciously.
"She made a mistake… and left herself open to defeat," Nor informed him, with justification in his voice.
"He killed her…" Shayera smirked.
"K-killed her? W-why?" Ghanja voiced with uncertainty, clearly agitated now.
"She was a-alive when we left her…"
"I had no choice… there were others approaching her position and she was…"
"A liability… just like you…" Shayera finished his sentence, nodding towards Ghanja.
"You knew about this?" Ghanja asked Turlak, realizing that his companion had maneuvered his disruptor so that it was pointing directly at him.
"I 'm not surprised… But, it's like… I told you, Ghanja," Turlak scoffed bleakly. "You never pay attention."
Suddenly, a resonant droning became audible from the conference table… steadily growing louder… vibrating from the ring itself. Its aura began to illuminate brighter, as all eyes turned toward the unexpected disturbance.
"Ch' tera!" Turlak squawked loudly, unable to comprehend what he was seeing. "How is that possible!"
Shayera stared at the object on the table, apprehending that the source was Green Lantern's power ring. Within her mind an image began to form… it was an image of John's face.
Shayera… I'm coming… it whispered.
The humming suddenly blared into a loud screeching noise, as a green energy bubble formed around the ring. Nor tried desperately to seize the ring with both hands, but it quickly sprang upward, out of his reach, then shot forward, crashing through the thick wall, leaving behind a crumbling hole in its wake, as it shrieked across the expanse of the warehouse.
"NO!" Nor screamed in disgust.
He turned to pursue the ring of power not realizing that within that same moment, Shayera swept her wings out and back, catapulting herself towards the conference table, then grabbing the energy mace with an outstretched hand, and used her momentum to collide violently into the winged officer, sending them both flying through the door, out into the warehouse.
Ghanja yelled in defiance as he lunged towards Turlak, his arms flailing. Turlak fired his disruptor wildly, missing numerous times, until finally hitting the burly soldier in the shoulder.
Ghanja's body slammed painfully to the floor, as Turlak ran over, pointing the weapon at his ex-partner's chest.
"I'm sorry, Ghanja," he grinned, "This was bound to happen…"
Before Turlak could squeeze the trigger, a leg whipped out, kicking the disruptor out of his hands, followed by another kick to the mid-section that sent him sprawling face first into the wall.
Quickly, Turlak shook his head, as he realized that he was merely stunned by the surprise attack, and picked himself up, then turned, grinning even more when he saw who it was who had thrown the kicks.
Kragger, bound and gagged, let out a moan of frustration, wondering how he had gotten himself into this situation.
"Oh… I'm going to really enjoy killing ya," he threatened, clenching his armored fists, walking menacingly toward Kragger.
Ghanja momentarily stunned as well, realized that he had turned away from Turlak's shot at the last moment, which, in fact, only grazed him. He then jumped up from the floor, and barreled into Turlak's stomach, crashing the winged ruffian into the wall. Then, unmercifully continued his onslaught onto his former comrade, by pounding him with a multitude of blows.
P'thal stood in the entryway of the corridor, prepared to reprimand the human for pushing her out of the way, when suddenly, a deafening sound resounded from what seem to be from the other side of the stone wall. Before she knew it, the wall exploded outward, causing her to throw her arms up, closing her eyes to protect herself as she realized that there were shards of flying stone everywhere, enveloping the lone figure of John Stewart.
"Wings of Ratok!" she screamed.
When P'thal opened her eyes, she'd expected to see the human's body impaled by the debris, but instead, she saw John Stewart with his arm still extended, the power ring affixed upon his right hand, and no longer wearing the ceremonial alien garb from the T'jinn Jakat, but wearing the uniform of the Green Lantern Corps with all of the fragmented rock suspended in mid air within a bright green aura.
Lantern looked at her with his green eyes, smoldering with energy.
"I've found Shayera. You comin'!"
Nor rolled to his feet quickly, grabbing a baton that was attached to his belt, then extended his arm, where it quickly, and methodically protracted from both ends until its length had melded into the size of a staff, aglow with electrical energy.
Shayera rolled back to her feet, as well, and began to smile even more, both hands on her mace, as it also began to scream with energy, glowing brightly.
"Looks like it's just you and me, Sport!"
"It seems that way… dog. Do you really think that you're much of a match for me?" Nor jeered heatedly, feeling a need to take his frustration out on her.
"Only one way to find out!" she declared.
The pair took to the sky, as Nor swung the staff downward in a wide arc. Shayera countered by swinging her mace upward catching the staff at the pinnacle of its arc sending electrical sparks flying everywhere within the warehouse.
Nor parried by twisting in air swinging his staff from left to right, as Shayera easily evaded his next barrage of thrusts and swings, as he tried desperately to pierce her defenses with the mace that she used so effectively.
Then, Shayera zipped upward, away from his attack, flipped, then bucked to the right, and down, swinging the mace downward within the same motion. In defense to this move, Nor reached upward to ward off the attack, where the mace caught the center of his staff, knocking it out of his hands, sending it flailing to the ground below.
Shayera then swung the mace upward, catching the Thanagarian, full in the jaw, sending him flying headlong into the far rock wall, crashing to the ground.
"Arrrrggggghhhhh! You will die… Shi' akni scum!" Nor bellowed violently, standing up.
Depressing a button on his belt, Nor began to glow brightly, where the metal from upon the belt began to disperse evenly about his body, making him fully armored,now. Once completed, he bounded back into the sky, reached out into the direction of his staff, as it streaked upward from the rock floor below, and back into his waiting hands.
"Wow, I'm impressed. But, you know that's cheating. How cum I can't get my own exo-skeleton?" Shayera jested.
"You dare joke with me, wench!" Nor screamed, clearly frustrated now. "You die, now!"
He twirled the staff with his hands, quickly until the staff blurred with white energy, and then directed the concentrated blast at Shayera.
She darted downward within the confined space of the warehouse, realizing that the energy bolt was fixed on her and her alone. She had heard of such weapons that could produce concentrated energy that would allow the wielder to mentally direct it to any foe. Zipping in and out, between the rows of stacked munitions, and other equipment, she knew that the ball of energy would follow. Shayera then swepted upward, straight for the ceiling, then broke horizontally, along the jagged edges. The bolt followed her path, heading straight for her, where she abruptly stopped in mid air, turning, facing it.
"uuuuuHHHHHAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!" Shayera screamed, slamming the energy bolt with the electrified mace, diverting it downward, back to its originator.
"No!" Nor exclaimed ruefully, as the orb of energy screamed towards him, no longer able to find its intended target. He tried to lash to his right, but didn't move fast enough, when the blast caught him fully, driving him into the munitions storage racks below. He crashed into the rock floor violently as the impact from the distructive blow left a contoured shape of his body throughout the damaged industrial storage units.
Green Lantern and P'thal entered the warehouse from the corridor, looking about warily. Kragger, and Ghanja dragging the unconcious body of Turlak emerged from the conference room as the pair approached.
"Commander!" P'thal cried out.
"Where's Shayera?" Lantern yelled, disregarding pleasantries.
"I don't know… we just heard a crash from over there…" Kragger replied, pointing towards the back of the warehouse.
Shayera hovered above as she looked down at her defeated opponent, happy that it was finally over.
"Do you think that you have defeated me!" Nor laughed, looking over to his right as he lifted his right hand, depressing a button upon his wrist from his left. "You should know that a Raptorclaw never misses his target. You will not escape our wrath, Traitor!"
Nor's suit began to glow as it illuminated within the damaged storage units revealing that this particular one housed a couple of thanagarian warheads.
"Shayera!" a familiar voice called from across the warehouse floor. It was Lantern.
She turned to warn him of the impending danger as the glow of the explosion shined brightly from below.
KHARRRRTTTTOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!