Chapter 15: Respite
"How did you know?" the world's greatest detective asked.
"Admit it. Its killing you isn't it?" Shayera said teasingly before walking over to look at the diagnostic machines and monitors in his infirmary room.
"I'm sure I don't know what you mean" Bruce replied.
"Uh huh. Well, 'detective', like his power, John's costume is a manifestation of his mind" she stated.
"You mean?"
"Yes. With the exception of his underwear, John is pretty much naked when he has the ring on".
"Whoa. Wait a minute. How can he concentrate? I mean, how can he keep his mind on his outer appearance and do all the other things that he does?" Wally asked.
"Do you concentrate on breathing? Do you consciously tell your body to inhale and exhale? How about walking? Do you tell your body left foot, right foot or in your case Wally, foot in mouth?" Shayera asked, laughing a little.
"No, I guess I don't" Wally said, putting his right arm behind his head and scratching. "Hey!" he said, realizing she had just made a joke at his expense.
"It's no different for John. He subconsciously manifests his costume. Part of it is the Green Lantern Corp's mental training and part of it is the power of the ring" Shayera stated.
"So you're telling me all this time John has been walking around in his…in his skivvies? Cool!" Wally said, smiling. "I bet that came in handy when you two wanted to…"
"Enough!" Batman said, but Shayera giggled anyway. "You didn't answer my question. How did you know about Grodd and Sinestro?"
"Well, I didn't know specifically who was involved. I just knew that John wasn't in complete control of himself" Shayera stated. "But to answer your question, there were two clues that gave it away".
"Go on" Bruce prodded.
"The first clue was the color of his eyes".
"What do you mean?" Wally asked.
"John is the only member of the Green Lantern Corp whose eyes become green when he wears the ring" Shayera explained.
"Aaand?" Wally asked.
"When I was trying to talk him down, there was a point where his eyes became lime colored" Shayera answered.
"How could you tell? I mean lime and green are pretty hard colors to distinguish" Wally stated.
"Not for me. I'm able to distinguish hundreds of different hues of color" she said, tilting her head and lightly flapping her wings. "Ya know, because I've got eyes like a Hawk?" she said blinking rapidly and smiling.
"Boy, are you in rare form" Wally stated, rolling his eyes.
He was right, she felt wonderful. It was if a huge weight had been lifted. Something liberating had occurred. "Is it just the adrenaline?" she asked herself. She didn't know and she didn't care. She only knew that for the first time in a long time she felt great.
"Can you continue please?" Bruce interrupted.
"Okay, okay. Sinestro's aura is yellow and John's is green, right? When John started to fight the mind control, their collective energy fields became combined and voila, lime colored aura. To the normal human eye it would have been hard to tell" she explained. "But in my case, the rod and cone light sensing cells in my retinas are extremely sensitive to the wavelengths associated with the color green" she finished.
There was a brief silence.
"Okay. So when did you become Bill Nye the science guy?" Wally asked sarcastically.
"And the second clue?" Batman asked, exasperated.
"Well, the second clue was his costume, or rather the insignia on it" she replied.
"What about it?" Bruce probed.
"It was an upside down lantern" Shayera stated, allowing a small smile to form across her face. "So how stupid do you think I am again?"
The Batman nodded his head and then in a rarity of all rarities, smiled and proceeded to walk out of the infirmary. "Good work, detective" he stated, as the door closed behind him.
"Okaaay. What did I just miss that made Bruce…bleech…smile?" Wally asked.
Shayera laughed aloud. "John is a Marine, Wally. Remember?"
"Yeah. And?" he said shrugging his shoulders.
"The standard military signal for distress is to fly an American flag upside down. Since John couldn't vocally tell us what was happening, he did the next best thing. He used just enough mental energy to turn his lantern insignia upside down until he could break free of the mind control" she explained.
"Ohhh" Wally replied.
"When I got close to him that's when I noticed it" she finished.
"Huh. Whataya know, Batman was wrong…you are smarter than you look" Wally said playfully, before Shayera punched him in the arm. "Owww! I was only kiddin'! Jeez!"
"Get out of here Wally! Go!" Shayera said shoving him toward the exit.
"Okay, okay. I'm going!" he said, walking toward the door. At the doorway he stopped and looked back. "You know he never stopped loving you, right?" Wally said smiling.
Shayera smiled back. "I know". I never stopped loving him either.