A/N: Set about five years after the events of Aftermath.

The pain was more unbearable than it should have been. Every fiber in her left shoulder, wrist, and knee felt like it was being twisted, burned, and stabbed at the same time.

Shayera refused to look up at J'onn as she sat on the edge of the bed in the medbay. She felt the Martian place a hand on her left shoulder as he manually manipulated it. A sudden, upward motion made Shayera yelp in pain.

J'onn frowned as he looked her in the eyes, "That was a simple movement your shoulder should be able to make and handle. Your range of motion has decreased further from before. The braces aren't working anymore."

Shayera growled through clenched teeth as she placed her hand on her left shoulder, "I don't need you to tell me that. I can feel it every single day. There has to be something you can do."

"You know I can't do a shoulder replacement. We don't have the means on this planet to do so, not without damaging the tendons that lead down to your left wing." J'onn then gave the Thanagarian a sympathetic look as she sighed and looked down. He placed a hand on her right shoulder as he spoke, "There are other positions within the Justice League that would not require you to be in combat."

With that Shayera glared at J'onn as she shrugged his hand off of her shoulder, "I am not going to sit around and be some field coordinator. Just because you and Terrific like doing it doesn't mean I will." She then stood and began to limp towards the door. "I can still fight."

J'onn exhaled as he lightly shook his head, "You can fight but not like before. You need to seriously weigh your options Shayera. You will cause additional permanent damage if you continue. You are highly intelligent and you would do a good job delegating roles to our League members. You know how to form efficient teams from your time in the Thanagarian military."

Shayera paused as she turned her head and scowled at J'onn, "I am not sitting around up in this tower on my ass all day. It's degrading."

"But tearing apart your body is a better solution?" J'onn rhetorically asked her with a frown. "You need to be practical Shayera and stop being so prideful for once. You have damage to your shoulder and knee that we were not able to repair and never will be able to. That is not including the scar tissue building up in your wrist reducing your motion. You never should have been approved to return to active duty. Today alone proved that."

Shayera turned around fully and glared at the Martian, "Why did you return me to active duty then? Was it out of pity for the poor, little Thanagarian who almost got herself killed? Or was it out of guilt that you were up in the Watchtower nice and safe during the invasion while everyone else was either getting themselves injured or even killed down on Earth?"

J'onn was the one narrowing his eyes this time, "I only returned you back to active duty because the braces seemed to work and I thought your body would be able to handle it. That obviously proved to not be the case. I should have thought of the future and how your body would continue to deteriorate if you resumed fighting. You need to ask yourself Shayera if fighting is this worth it to you."

Shayera continued to glare at him before moving towards the door again, "If you can't help me than I'll just find someone who will."

"At least put your left arm in a sling for a few days to rest it and help with the inflammation," J'onn called out to her before sighing. "You know as well as I do that there is nothing on this planet that will ever make you whole again. The damage is permanent."

"Go to hell!" Shayera shouted as the door slid shut behind her.

Shayera closed her eyes as she took a deep breath and exhaled. After a moment she opened her eyes and knocked on one of the large doors of Wayne Manor. She wasn't particularly surprised when the door opened and Diana was on the other side. Instead the Thanagarian smirked, "Should have known you'd be here Princess. I'm guessing that means you brought Cassie along as well?"

Diana as well smirked, "Mother doesn't approve of me taking her here so often. She thinks it's a bad influence on her."

"Last time I checked you were Cassie's mother," Shayera stated as she walked in. "Besides Bruce adores her. Well adores her as much as a brooding black hole can."

Diana lightly chuckled, "Now Shayera that isn't nice. Cassandra is his daughter after all."

Shayera shrugged, "When was I ever nice?"

"Not often enough," Bruce grumbled as he walked towards the two. "What's with the unannounced visit?"

Shayera lightly rolled her eyes, "As direct as ever Bruce."

Bruce raised an eyebrow, "That didn't answer my question Shayera."

Shayera swallowed as she averted her gaze, "I need something back that I left here a long time ago. Granted if you still have it."

"I'm surprised you're even asking for it back. Especially after all of these years," Bruce stated before glancing over at Diana. "By the way, your daughter is flying down the hallways again."

Diana placed her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow, "Why is she suddenly just my daughter whenever she misbehaves?"

A faint smirk appeared on Bruce's face as he replied, "Because you're the authoritarian, not me." He then looked back at Shayera and gestured with his head as he began to walk, "Follow me."

Shayera lightly smirked as she looked at the glass cabinet that stored the Batsuits and other costumes, "Been quite a while since I've last been down here."

"Don't get too comfortable," Bruce gruffly retorted as he sorted through a container.

"Don't worry I won't," she humorously replied.

Bruce was silent for a moment before he spoke again, "Diana told me about your fight with Grail after the invasion happened. What were you even thinking? You had to have known what was going to happen if you fought her."

Shayera sighed, "I panicked when I saw her go after John and his ring was dead. I initially jumped in to save him. After that I knew there was no going back. I also did it to protect everyone from her. I knew someone needed to stall until Superman made it back."

"That wasn't stalling Shayera. That was a suicide mission you brought upon yourself. You were beaten to the point that you can now hardly fight," he dryly commented. "Diana keeps me in the loop."

"I see that," Shayera lightly frowned. "I can still fight."

"Just not well, right?" He raised an eyebrow.

Shayera narrowed her eyes, "I'm not responding to that."

Bruce turned his attention back to the container as he took out a metal briefcase, "You didn't need to. You coming back for this pretty much confirms my suspicions." Bruce let out a sigh, "Trust me I know how it feels when your body doesn't want to cooperate any longer."

Shayera looked at the Batsuit with the red emblem on the front before looking back at Bruce, "I know. I guess it was only inevitable for either of us. Nothing lasts forever after all."

"Isn't that the truth?" Bruce rhetorically asked as he brought the case over to her. "Still in one piece."

Shayera hesitated before taking the case from him, "I never thought I'd ever have to wear this again."

"Back then you swore you would never wear it again," Bruce said to her. "Though you don't really have a choice at this point."

Shayera sighed as she looked away, "I guess I don't."

"Hey Aunt Shay!" A younger voice exclaimed causing the Thanagarian to jump in surprise.

"Dammit Cassie you nearly gave me a heart attack," Shayera stated as she turned around.

Cassandra lightly chuckled as she floated in the air, "Dad said you're hard to startle. I gotta be really good then."

"Yeah it's those Batman genes you inherited," the Thanagarian sarcastically replied.

Bruce raised an eyebrow as he spoke, "Are you supposed to be flying indoors Cassandra?"

"Well," Cassandra began. "Mom said to not fly in the manor. Technically I'm not in the manor. I'm in the Batcave."

"Smart kid," Shayera commented. "She found a loophole."

"Don't encourage her," Bruce retorted before turning his attention back to the young girl. "I'm pretty sure your mother meant even down here."

Cassandra groaned as she landed on the ground and rolled her eyes as she began to walk towards the staircase, "That takes the fun out of everything."

"Life isn't always fun," Bruce humorously said to her.

Shayera lightly smirked as she glanced over at Bruce, "Be thankful she isn't in one of those teen phases yet. Rex isn't that bad to deal with normally but Emma is a whole different story. She seems to hate everyone but John. I can only imagine what it would be like to have a moody teen who can fly and lift cars over her head."

Bruce rolled his eyes, "I don't want to even imagine that. She's only four years younger than Emma so I can only surmise that's not too far off for us. Diana did mention that Emma didn't particularly take the information about the Thanagarian Invasion too well. She still holding that grudge?"

"Yeah she's still holding a grudge." Shayera then snorted back a laugh, "She got that from both me and John."

"From what I saw whenever I was around them they're both stubborn like you and John," Bruce commented.

"I'm not going to deny that," Shayera then paused for a moment. "Anyway I better get going. Thanks for holding onto this Bruce."

Bruce curtly nodded, "Just make sure you don't do anything stupid. Limitations exist for a reason."

"Like you're one to talk," she retorted with an eyeroll.

Shayera sighed as she stood in her room in the Metro Tower. She crossed her arms over her chest as she stared down at the metal briefcase laying on her bed. Shayera lightly frowned as she sighed again. She had sworn to herself, after the Thanagarian Invasion had occurred, that she would never put that armor back on again. That was why she had initially left it with Bruce. Honestly she didn't think he would have held onto it as long as he did. She hesitated before she finally leaned over and popped the case open. Upon the briefcase opening she saw a handwritten note. She tilted her head in curiosity and picked it up.

I figured if you ever wanted this back you would want a new emblem to replace the old one. I had Steel design it. I think you'll like it.

Shayera raised an eyebrow as she set the note to the side. For the first time in over twenty-one years, the Thanagarian looked at her old military armor. The very first thing that caught her eye was the spot that was once devoid of its old red and black Thanagarian emblem courtesy of Kragger taking it off when he revealed it had been planted with a tracking device. The new emblem on her armor was a simple red plate with JL engraved in black into it.

Shayera lightly smirked as she mumbled, "You were right Bruce, I do like it."

Before Shayera could continue to admire Steel's handy work her commlink went off. "Shayera we have an issue down in Metropolis. GL and Static need backup. I'm already sending Captain Atom as a heavy hitter to deal with Bizarro. We need your mace down there to handle Abra Kadabra," she heard Terrific say.

Shayera paused for a moment as she looked down at the armor before responding, "Alright give me like three minutes."

"Roger that," Terrific replied. "Let me know when you're ready so we can teleport you ASAP."

"Where the hell is the rest of the backup?" Virgil asked as he was standing in a bubble construct with John. Abra Kadabra was on the other end blasting away at the construct with spell after spell.

John gritted his teeth as he focused on keeping the bubble in one piece, "How should I know? I'm a little preoccupied right now Static."

Virgil put a finger to his ear, "Yo Terrific what gives? We need help already."

"Captain Atom should have arrived already," Terrific stated. "Shayera said to give her a few minutes."

"Yeah Captain Tightwad is already here and is dealing with Bizarro," Virgil replied. "Shayera needs to get her feathers moving. Wannabe Voldemort will have us turned into a pair of chipmunks by the time she gets here."

He then heard Terrific sigh on the other end, "Shayera just got back to me and said she's ready. I'm teleporting her in under ten seconds."

"Finally," Static muttered before smirking at Abra Kadabra. "Hey you better start running if you know what's good for you!"

"Run?" Abra Kadabra asked with an amused look as he paused his magical onslaught. "As I see it I'm winning."

Virgil continued to smirk as he crossed his arms over his chest, "Not for long you won't be."

John rolled his eyes, "Would you shut up already? You're not helping at-" The Green Lantern suddenly froze mid sentence as the blue light from the transporter dissipated and Shayera was now in front of them. The bubble around the two heroes disappeared as John's attention was no longer on his construct but instead on the Thanagarian armor his wife was wearing. John slowly found himself beginning to frown as he continued to stare at the armor.

Virgil's eyes widened as he looked on in shock, "Um well that's new but not new."

"You have three seconds to give up," Shayera warned Abra Kadabra as she began to threateningly march towards him. "Or else I'm busting my mace over your damn head."

Abra Kadabra raised an eyebrow, "Is that supposed to intimidate me?"

"No," Shayera began as she energized her mace. "This is."

"If I remember correctly I knocked you and the Green Lantern out cold during one of our encounters," Abra Kadabra mentioned rather smugly.

"Yeah that was a long ass time ago. Trust me that won't be happening again," Shayera frowned as she continued to move towards him.

"Hard way it is then," the magician shrugged as he fired a beam of magic from his hand at the Thanagarian.

Shayera deflected the shot with her mace, "Was that supposed to stop me?"

Abra Kadabra narrowed his eyes slightly and frowned, "Fine we'll have to up the playing field then." He then shot a ball of fire at her.

Once again Shayera's Nth metal mace deflected the blow, "Now it's my turn."

Abra Kadabra decided in the sake of self preservation to begin to fly away. Shayera quickly took off after him and it didn't take her much effort in order to cut him off in air. Predictably the villainous magician attempted to create a magically barrier between himself and Shayera. This proved to be in vain as one swing from her mace brought down the barrier. The following left hook that connected with Abra Kadabra's face knocked him out cold. Thankfully for the villain Shayera had caught him before he had the opportunity to hit the ground.

Once she landed, Shayera flexed her left wrist and then rolled her left shoulder. She let out a soft and rather relieved sounding sigh.

John inhaled as he walked towards her, "Um took you long enough to get here."

Shayera turned to look at him and saw that he was purposely averting his gaze. She then noticed that Static likewise refused to look at her.

"Like ripping off a bandaid," John then deeply exhaled and scratched the back of his head as he finally looked at Shayera. "What's with the armor?"

Shayera paused before she replied, "Believe me John, I don't want to be wearing this either."

"Here I thought the Thanagarian Invasion was over," Captain Atom remarked with a deep frown as he landed nearby, dropping Bizarro's unconscious form on the ground. "You got nerve wearing that outfit out here. Though I guess you really will always be loyal to those hawk people of yours. Once a filthy hawk always a filthy hawk."

Shayera didn't get the chance to respond as John scowled and sucker punched Captain Atom. At that point Virgil and Shayera jumped between the two before Atom had a chance to retaliate.

"You ever call Shayera that again and I'll knock your goddamn head off with her mace myself," John threatened as Shayera was holding onto his arms to hold him back.

"John it's not worth it," the Thanagarian quietly said to him as she moved in front of him. "Leave it be."

"But Shay," the Green Lantern faltered.

"You can't change anyone's view on me," Shayera sighed as she placed a hand on his chest. "We both know that."

"Not much of a view to change," Atom retorted.

Shayera scowled as she turned and faced Captain Atom, "You've had a problem with me since day one. So let's just get it out in the open. Say what you want and get it over with."

"Gladly," Captain Atom glared at Shayera and moved so that he was standing over her, attempting to intimidate her. "The Justice League never should have allowed you back. Hell why the US government never held you accountable is something I'll never understand."

"Dude it's been over twenty years," Static said with an eyeroll. "Get over it."

Captain Atom turned his glare towards Virgil, "Get over that our home was nearly destroyed? Get over the injuries and deaths that occurred during the Thanagarian Invasion? You want me to simply get over that? All of it was caused by Hawkgirl."

Shayera scowled once more, "I've told you time and time again to not call me that."

"You're not in a position to make me do that. Are you?" Atom asked in a condescending tone. "Even before Grail you weren't."

Shayera growled before taking to the air flying off. John shot Captain Atom a dark glare before following after her.

"Shayera wait!" John called after her.

Shayera glanced behind at him for a brief second before turning her focus forward again, "Why should I? I saw the look you gave me too. I even saw the look on Virgil's face."

John sighed as he flew next to her, "Look it came as a shock to see this armor again. I'm sorry if I offended you. Just I never expected to see this again."

"I know and I never expected to ever have to wear this again either," Shayera sighed as well. "I had to do something John. The braces don't work anymore and there's nothing J'onn can do at this point. It was my last option. Thanagarian armor is designed to help with these types of injuries."

"If you were still on Thanagar you would have fully recovered and you wouldn't even have to go through this," John stated. "We both know that."

Shayera was silent for a moment, "Maybe if I was wearing this armor while fighting Grail none of this would have happened to begin with."

"You don't know that Shay. Grail was a monster. She nearly even defeated Clark."

"Point taken but that doesn't change things. What are the others going to say when they see me in this armor? Is it going to be just as bad as Captain Atom's reaction? That's not including how the people of Earth will react. Many of them still act like the Thanagarian Invasion just happened yesterday."

"Or people might not even care."

Shayera rolled her eyes, "Please don't patronize me John. I can only imagine what Emma's going to say when she sees me."

John swallowed, "That's an entirely different issue we have."

"Even after all of these years it didn't make a difference," Shayera frowned. "Inza was right. Redemption isn't something that comes easy or ever."

"There's plenty of people that still believe in you Shayera," John said to her with a light smile as he flew underneath her.

"Yeah but still there always seems to be more people against me than for me."

"If it's any consolation I'm not against you," John kissed her cheek.

"We'd have a problem if you weren't," Shayera lightly chuckled as she wrapped her arms around him and stopped flying.

John raised an eyebrow at this as he wrapped his arms around her, "You normally don't let me do this while flying."

"If the whole thing with Grail taught me something it's that sometimes it's best to take life easy and slow," Shayera quietly replied as she nestled her head right under John's chin.

John snorted back a chuckle as he kissed the top of her head, "You were never good at taking it easy."

"That I wasn't," she agreed. "But that did teach me how to. Though I have to admit that being home with Emma and Rex so much was rather nice."

"Why because you got to play video games nonstop?" He humorously asked as he tightened his arms around her. "How many times did I catch you three playing Grand Theft Auto?"

Shayera snickered, "More times than I can count. Though being home did make me realize one other thing."

"What was that?"

"I'm no housewife and I never will be," she laughed.

John as well laughed, "No you're not remotely a housewife but that's fine by me. That's just who you are Shay."

She smirked, "That's true. Being home with them also made me momentarily consider something but I ended up changing my mind."

"About what?"

"Having a third kid," John felt like he had been punched in the gut by Superman as soon as those words left Shayera's mouth. Perhaps being punched by the Kryptonian would have felt better. He then heard Shayera lightly chuckle, "But I don't think I ever want to go through the whole baby phase again, let alone go through pregnancy again. Those two things alone made me change my mind."

John swallowed as he forced out a short chuckle, "Yeah you weren't the easiest person to deal with."

"Besides," Shayera shrugged. "If I want to really take it easy in life I won't be having anymore kids. Anyway I say we go home and call it a day."

"It's only early in the afternoon Shay," John raised an eyebrow.

"Yes but then there's the whole taking it easy thing. As much as I don't want to admit it, my body can't handle back-to-back fights anymore. I was already on a League mission this morning and got my ass kicked. This was enough for me for one day."

"How much of your pride did you just have to swallow in order to say that?" John asked in an amused tone.

"Enough of it that I'm not going to say it again Lantern."

Though Shayera had already made up her mind that she was going to need to have a conversation with J'onn about her involvement within the Justice League, as well as to apologize to him. While she was by no means going to retire, Shayera knew she had to pick her battles. She figured that she could relegate herself to being used for fights against magical users. That and J'onn was correct that she could easily work as a field coordinator.

"So what did you have planned for us?" John asked, pulling Shayera from her thoughts.

"Pizza and a movie marathon night?" She offered.

John shrugged, "Works for me."

A/N: Let's be real that tracksuit never offered Shayera any protection. At least her old Thanagarian armor would.