A/N: Set during Emma's very brief stint in the JLU. Set post upcoming Red chapters 12 and 13. So I guess this is a spoiler.
Shayera could distinctively remember when her daughter had acquired her fear of heights.
Emma had to be around the age of five when she made this realization. She was in the Metro Tower with Emma and the young girl had looked out of one of the bay windows.
Shayera figured something must have clicked in the half-Thanagarian's mind as she looked down and slowly backed away from the window. Within seconds she ran and hid behind her mother.
Most likely she put two and two together that if she were to fall from that great of a height, that she wouldn't make it. Emma must have figured out that even with the help of Thanagarian genes to strengthen her human endurance, not even she could survive a fall like that. Not unless she was covered in armor.
Shayera found that even as an adult, Emma never got over this fear.
"Do we have to do this?" The newly ordained Red Lantern warily asked the Thanagarian next to her.
"Scared?" Shayera asked with humor laced in her tone as John rolled his eyes.
John knew Emma was terrified. He saw that every once in a while she would lightly tremble. She was also keeping her fists clenched to hide the fact that her hands were slightly shaking.
On the other hand, Shayera found the situation almost laughable as Emma had a power ring that could protect her from practically anything.
"Listen if anything happens we'll catch you," John tried to reassure her.
Emma groaned. She knew they were in the simulation room of the Metro Tower but that still didn't alleviate her discomfort. At least they hadn't turned on a simulation of a cliff or anything of the like yet. The simulations were a bit too realistic for her liking.
"Emma that power ring can protect you from anything, trust me," John placed a hand on her shoulder. "Even if it couldn't your mother and I wouldn't let anything happen to you."
Emma looked away, "I'm still not comfortable doing this."
"Exposure therapy it is," Shayera grabbed Emma.
That was when Emma began to panic. "Mom what are you doing? Let go!"
"Shayera don't even think about it," John scolded her.
"I'm not thinking about it. I decided on it already," Shayera smirked as she took to the air with Emma fighting against her for every second of it.
John let out a sigh, "That isn't helping."
"Let me go you overgrown buzzard!" Emma yelled as she tried desperately to elbow her mother or twist out of her grasp but with no success.
"Let you go?" Shayera rhetorically asked with a shrug. "If you say so," Shayera loosened her grip, allowing Emma to fall.
John quickly reacted by using his ring to catch Emma, who had only fallen about twenty feet at that point. He knew with how terrified she was that she didn't have the concentration needed to use any function of her red power ring. He gently lowered her to the ground and turned his attention to his wife.
John sent Shayera a glare the second she landed next to him. She held up her hands in defense, "I thought it would work. Direct exposure is normally the best solution."
"How about I lock you in a small box and we'll see if that works?" John cynically suggested. That silenced the Thanagarian immediately and caused her to back off.
John sighed as he walked over to Emma, who had wrapped her arms around herself. He placed a hand on her shoulder, "You ok?"
Emma stared absently for a few seconds before slowly nodding. She then hugged John and that took him by surprise. He hugged her back and looked pointedly at Shayera. "Terrifying her isn't going to help, even for someone that likes to act like a hard-ass."
Shayera sighed in defeat, "Alright I get it, more sensitivity and less scaring."
This time John used his ring to fly about fifty feet into the air and looked down at Emma, "Your ring can do the same exact thing. All you have to do is concentrate. Even if you were to fall, the ring can protect you."
"What if it breaks and doesn't work anymore?" That sounded more like she was trying to get out of this than asking a serious question.
John let out an amused chuckle, "Power rings don't break Emma. No matter what corps they're from. They all work the same."
Emma bit her lip as she looked at the red ring on her right hand and then back up to her father. She took in a deep breath as a red aura washed over her body as she began to slowly lift herself off the ground. She only made it about fifteen feet before she abruptly stopped, "I'm not going any higher. This is already too high."
John went down to match her height, "That's perfectly fine. You made progress. You took both feet off the ground and went up in the air. Little by little you just have to increase how high you go."
"So I don't have to go like a hundred feet in the air first try?" Emma asked as she narrowed her eyes at Shayera.
"No," John answered. "You don't at all. If you want to go a hundred feet in the air under your own will then by all means you can do that. If you want to do it five feet at a time, that's perfectly fine too."
"Alright if we're done with this can we get the zeta-bots out and turn on a simulation now?" Shayera asked. "I was intending on smashing some things today at some point and get in some exercise."
"Actually I second that," Emma agreed. "Hitting things makes me feel better."
John shook his head but in amusement. Of course the two of them would want to wreck the simulation room and the zeta-bots. They did so on a daily basis.
"You two have fun with that. I'll turn it on and leave you two at it," John called to them as he made his way out of the room and to the control panel.
Part of him wondered how much Shayera alone cost the US government to supplies the Justice League with zeta-bots on a weekly basis. That didn't even factor in all of the other League members who destroyed or damaged the bots.
John smirked as he watched Shayera and Emma. Watching them fight together reminded him somewhat of him and Shayera fighting together. Though Emma was much more aggressive in her style and that seemed to compliment Shayera a bit more than John's more laid back approach. Emma gave Shayera the space she needed nor was Shayera constantly hovering over Emma.
Had it been John he would be constantly trying protect either of them. There were times his constructs seemed to get in Shayera's way. Though normally that happened whenever Shayera lost her cool and decided to throw reasoning to the wind when fighting. Normally Shayera was able to fight around or in conjunction with his constructs.
Emma, while able to make constructs, was more like John in her approach. She was rather rudimentary in her fighting, preferring to simply blast everyone in her way or make more simple constructs than elaborate ones. She also tended to still concentrate on hand-to-hand fighting despite having a power ring now.
Though John had seen the more elaborate constructs that Emma created and he had to admit she had more imagination than he did. She just seemed like she couldn't be bothered with thinking up constructs when she simply wanted to just hit something. Emma liked to fight more like her mother with the 'less talking and more hitting' approach she employed.
He then laughed as the two bumped into each other, which seemed a bit deliberate on Shayera's part, and immediately began to bicker. Shayera had told her daughter to watch where she was going while Emma had told her mother to stay out of her way.
It didn't take long for a full blown argument to take place and the zeta-bots were quickly forgotten. John nearly intervened but decided to let them go at it for once. He deactivated the zeta-bots and watched as the two were attempting to beat down on the other. Though it didn't take long for Shayera's hand-to-hand combat experience to gain the upper hand and have the Red Lantern on the ropes.
Emma quickly resorted to using her power ring which resulted in Shayera resorting to her mace. When they were fighting hand-to-hand, Shayera had stayed on the ground. Once the weapons were out, Shayera took to the air. Much to John's shock Emma quickly followed after her.
He watched Shayera smirk as they continue to fight in the air. Emma was clearly not aware of what she was doing and was lost in her anger to pay attention to the fact that she was quite high up off the ground.
The fight between them lasted for another five minutes before he saw Shayera point down. At that point Emma looked down and scowled at her mother. Another fight broke out because of this and lasted for a good thirty minutes before both sides seceded.
At the end of it all the two were rather bruised up from the ordeal. Emma wasn't particularly happy still but Shayera seemed rather pleased with herself.
Emma quickly left the room in a huff while grumbling under her breath.
"You two banged each other up pretty good," John commented as he reentered the room.
Shayera shrugged and waved him off, "Minor scrapes and bruises. We were both holding back."
John didn't doubt this. Both of them had plenty of opportunities to score more direct blows but neither of them took the chances. John also knew, that even though Shayera could hold her own against a power ring user, that Emma could have easily torn her mother apart. One lone Nth metal mace could only do so much against a power ring in the long term.
"Why did you do that though?" he couldn't help but ask.
Shayera remained silent for a moment before answering, "Her and I are alike in a lot of ways. You get me angry enough and I stop thinking clearly. I figured she was the same. I distracted her from her fear momentarily to show her that she had nothing to worry about once she realized what she was doing."
"So much for the subtle approach," John rolled his eyes.
Shayera snickered, "Please John when am I ever subtle?"
John smirked as he kissed her cheek, "Not often enough. Let's see if your way worked and if she can go back up in the air tomorrow."
"If it didn't stick I'll just piss her off again and repeat the entire process," Shayera retorted.
"Of course you would," John shook his head. "You two just love to fight and it doesn't matter with who."
"As the saying goes, birds of a feather."