Thanagarian Warship, Orbiting Above Gotham
"Your work is beyond commendation Shayera. When we return to Thanagar you'll be a hero. They'll sing songs of what we are going to accomplish here. Never again will the Gordanians threaten us" Hro says, walking down the hallway as she passed the prison cells the Justice League were being held in. Shayera tries to avert her eyes, but she still knows that they are glaring at her, with hateful accusing eyes.
She didn't blame them. She couldn't.
"Traitor!" Superman shouts, rushing against the chains and bars keeping him down. If he wasn't being affected by the Kryptonite that they had thrown into his cell he would've broken free and instantly turned the tide. The two Thanagarian officers stop and stare, a slight smirk coming to Hro's face. "Couldn't be further from the truth. Shayera is loyal to Thanagar. She's always been loyal to Thanagar" he sneers, causing Superman to become silent while he glared at the woman. She despised how her former leader and friend looked at that moment. Weak, captured and full of hate.
They move on, not sharing another word as they go. Diana is still dazed, having been beaten down violently by a squad of Thanagarian shock troops. Wally? He doesn't even look at her. He just stares at his bindings, obviously thinking of how to get out of them. That was one of the most hurtful ones. Her surrogate brother was someone she came to care for very much during her time on Earth.
She knows that the next cell will be the worst for her to take mentally and she prepares for it as a soldier. "The Martian is still loose of course, slippery bastard got away. We're looking for him though, and we'll find him soon enough" he says, stopping the two of them in front of the last cell.
"And this is the one you seduced hmm Shayera? I have to say, surprised you didn't go for the Kyrptonian. This one, the Question, is strange. No face, no words since we've brought him in. We don't even know how to remove his mask, if it is a mask" Hro says laughing, undoubtedly taking pleasure out of taunting his foe.
Shayera is about to tell Hro that aerosol will remove the mask but she can't bring herself to do it. She couldn't look into his eyes right now. She was afraid of what she'd see in them. It was hard enough to deal with his mask, that blank slate that gave nothing away. He's staring at her though. She can tell. He is bedraggled, and looks as if he'd been hit by a bus. His arms were bruised, his shirt torn and his shoulder cut, the blood from said wound congealing onto the fabric.
"He resisted the most if I'm being honest. Even Batman was easier to take, but mostly because he was caught off guard, in the Amazon's arms" Hro says with a laugh. Shayera can't help the smile that breaks onto her fact at the mention of a budding relationship between Bruce and Diana.
'Finally' she thinks before quickly wiping the smile away just as quickly, her mind reminding her that Vic might take her smile the wrong way and think that it was because of his misfortune. "He has a face" she says simply, her mind drifting back to the previous month.
"Vic, you need to shave" she said, laughing as she laid on his chest, running her fingers over his cheeks and the rest of his face while they laid in bed. "Why, you don't like it?''
She shakes these thoughts away and focuses, looking back at Vic. She feels strange in her officer's uniform. It had been five years since she'd last worn it, and it didn't feel right.
'None of this is right' she thinks, wanting to move on quickly. She couldn't stand it, seeing Vic in the holding cell, looking at her. She hated it. She wanted to scream. 'Why does he have to wear that mask all the damn time?!' she thinks to herself before that treacherous part of her mind, her conscience, begins to speak. 'You know he doesn't wear it all the time. He rarely wore it around you' it says and she walks forward, remembering how he had taken off his mask for her in the wake of the brush they had with the Injustice League. Vic had been captured, tortured and finally freed after a week.
"Ugliest guy in the world. I know" he said, his nose broken and askew, his left eye practically swollen shut. She just smiled and placed her hand on the side of his cheek, rubbing it gently so as not to hurt him.
"I'd have to disagree on that" she'd said before standing up and moving towards the medbay window, closing the shades and giving them some privacy.
Without realizing it, she found that she was now standing in front of the observation deck of the ship, men and women rushing to and fro past her, off to whatever task or duty was before them. She was like them...once. Maybe even during her time in the League. They were always rushing off to put out one fire or another, not too much unlike a war. The only difference was how she felt while doing it. During the early days of the Gordanian-Thanagarian war she fought, and she fought everywhere. Wherever she went, Gordanians died. Nobody was ever happy to see her. Of course, other soldiers were "happy" to see them, but only because it allowed them to continue to fight. She could have been anyone and the response would have been the same. She wasn't Hawkgirl, Justice League member and hero. She was Lieutenant Hol, reinforcements and nothing more.
Soldiers cheered, or mostly just nodded in appreciation, The people she helped while in the Justice League shouted, cried, hugged and kissed. Gratitude was universal, and in all languages she saw joy and happiness when she arrived to help.
"Is everything alright Shayera?" asks Hro, finally walking up behind her and looking out over the dark and foreboding city. "You stormed out rather quickly. I….well….I hope you do not still have feelings for the man" he says, a light smirk in his voice that hinted at the fact that he thought such a possibility humorous.
"No" she says simply, looking out towards Wayne tower. It hadn't suffered any damage in the initial takeover of Gotham, but she wasn't really interested in the tower in and of itself. She was only using it as a marker point as two blocks over and two blocks back past the right of the tower was an apartment building where she and Vic lived. He'd moved from the Hub years back, wanting to have access to the databases located at Wayne industries. He was lucky too, as only a few months after the move, Hub city was destroyed by Doomsday, who had been dropped on the city by the Injustice League.
She doesn't say anymore and instead continues to look, imagining that she could see the apartment. She sees her special soap, that Vic was sure caused hypnosis, on the bathroom shelf next to her pink toothbrush. She sees her dresser, clothes sticking out at odd angles because of how she constantly rushes out and in, changing clothes haphazardly. She sees the waffle iron she bought Vic for last christmas, and the dishes still in the drying rack.
All these things show that she told yet one more lie to another man she loved. Or did she still love Hro? Yes. She did, but it was not the same as with Vic. She'd fought beside Hro. She'd done that and more with the masked conspiracy theorist. She'd lived beside Vic.
"That's good" Hro says, placing a hand on her shoulder, gently rubbing in a sign of affection. It was foreign to her at this point. Affection on Thanagar would have barely passed for friendliness on Earth.
"We haven't been exactly honest with you about our plans here on Earth" he says, his smile collapsing into a straight line. She turns and moves his hand off of her, confused at his words. "What do you mean?" she asks, anger beginning to bubble up within her. She had been dispatched to Earth to spy on them with the intent of reporting back on Earth's military capabilities for the eventuality of an alliance against the Gordanians. She had also reported on her teammates weaknesses thinking that it was to give the Thanagarian high command more information about the Earth's defensive and offensive capabilities.
Hro looks down, trying to avert her eyes. "We are not building a force field" he says simply before crossing his arms behind his back and looking out of the window towards Vreeland park, where Thanagarian soldiers were busy building something that wasn't familiar to her. She had thought it was a force field generator and she had been told as such by the man before her.
"What the hell are you talking about? What are we doing here then?" she asks, unable to help the anger that creeps into her voice at being lied to. "It's a bypass. A hyperspace bypass" the Thanagarian man says, speaking as if it was of no consequence or that it didn't matter if they lied to her. "It'll complete the chain of other bypasses we have placed throughout this system, allowing our fleet to sneak around the Gordanian defenses and attack their homeworld. We have a chance to end this war, right here, right now" he says, turning and placing his hands on her waist, attempting to pull her close. She resists however, and the smile goes from his face and his eyes seem to take on a cold glint.
"If you do that, Earth will be destroyed! We can't allow that" she says as the implications of everything she heard came to her. Hro just nods, sensing the turmoil from his fiancee. "Yes, and this is why we had to hide this from you. We sensed that perhaps you'd become...too involved with the earthlings" he says, accusation in his eyes. "Especially after we found out about your relationship with the Question" he says before smiling.
"But, any doubts we had about your loyalty vanished as soon as you helped us bring down the Justice League. That is why I'm telling you of our plans now" he says, his face becoming serious yet again. "For Thanagar to live, Earth must die" he finishes, placing his hands on her shoulders and staring into her eyes, almost as if he was willing her to accept his reasoning. She pushes out of his arms, enraged. "You can't do this. We promised them that we were here to help" she says, accusingly.
Hro doesn't take this well and glares at the woman. "We must. We have no choice. All other tactical options have been exhausted. By the end of the day, we will activate the hyperspace bypass and save Thanagar. Nobody will care about Earth, or those lost on it. Unless" he says, stopping to advance on her. "You still love him?" he asks, looking into her eyes. She tries to look away, knowing that it would be impossible to hide the truth if she allowed him to see, but he gently grasps her chin and moves her head so she cannot avoid eye contact.
She doesn't answer and this confirms everything to the man. He scowls, releasing her and moving back to the observation deck. Shayera doesn't move and she can't help the traitorous tears that roll down her face. Despite the ambient noise throughout the entire ship, she feels the silence between them as if it was a physical force. She'd never felt further away from the man and part of her mind questions what she even feels for him anymore. Five years turned out to be so much longer than anticipated. How much could really change in that time?
"I love you Shay" Vic says, cuddling her close to him and nuzzling his chin against her forehead.
Everything could change.
"Hro, please spare Earth. I'll do anything" she says, advancing on the man and gently placing her own hand on his shoulder. "Please. We can leave. FIght the Gordanians ourselves" she adds, still feeling like she is betraying Vic. Could she leave him? Yes. If it meant saving his life, she could.
Her mind begins to flash with images, the first of which being the departure of the Thanagarian fleet. The League would watch their departure and do nothing, with Vic standing off to the side, unyielding as ever. He would be pained though, or maybe he wouldn't. Maybe his justified rage at her would make him glad to see her go. The thought of him hating her sends a jolt of acidic sadness through her heart, but she stomachs it. Over time he'd move on, meet someone else. Her vision of Vic's future without her shifts, with each possibility coming to the forefront. One minute it is him and Fire dancing the salsa, the next he is kissing Ice in a buggy ride through Central park. These images are only replaced by other possibilities, more intimate in nature.
His marriage to Black Canary, or an arm wrapped around Vixen's shoulders as she holds their newborn child in a hospital bed. They all stretch on in her mind, endless possibilities where Vic is happy without her, and it hurts. The tears fall freer now, but she steady's herself and hopes against hope that Hro will listen to her. She could deal with the pain if she at least had Hro to distract her. She would much rather mourn the loss of their future together than mourn Vic.
"Hro, we can find a way to save Thanagar, we could even ask…" she says, seeing that the man deflates at her touch. He has to know, and it would not be good for his pride. He'd lost her long ago, and only now just realized it.
"Commander Talak! The League has been freed! The Martian, he's on….aggghhhh" the intercom crackles to life before dying, causing the man to look up in rage. "They must be heading for the cargo bay" he shouts, picking up a mace as he moves to rally the already moving crew. "We have to stop them. Nothing can hinder our plans!" he shouts, spurring the others into even quicker action as they arm themselves and move off into the ship. Shayera follows, reluctantly drawing her mace. She didn't know what to do, and followed Hro out of military obedience, but it was clear that he didn't trust her.
'Do you blame him for that?' a voice asks within her head. 'After all, you don't even know what you're going to do yourself'
She shakes it away as the group moves closer and closer to the cargo bay. The signs of battle become clearer and clearer as knocked out Thanagarian soldiers lay sprawled out everywhere, and holes in the ship allowed the normal Gotham weather, which is to say rain, to seep into the interior. "What happened here?" one of the soldiers asked, gripping her sword tightly. Shayera would bet that it had been Clark, undoubtedly having wanted to damage the ship before moving off the disrupt operations on the ground. Or one of them were powerful enough to rip holes in the hull of a ship. It reminded her of when they first fought together, and how they'd used the sunlight to kill off the parasites.
"It was the Kryptonian probably" says Hro, moving forward, nonplussed. Or so it seemed. Shayera could tell that underneath his bravado that he was scared.
"Commander! The Kryptonian and the Amazon are on the ground! They've destroyed the bypass!" a soldier shouts through the communicator, causing Hro to hiss in impotent rage and throw the communicator away. The soldiers all look at each other, confused and some visibly shaken. They had all been told that the bypass was their last hope. The commander stares at her, and Shayera keeps his gaze. Earth was saved, but she could feel no true joy in it. Thanagar was now doomed, and the accusing eyes of her former, and she was sure it was now mutually former, lover hurt more than she'd imagined.
"Sir, what do we do?" asks one of the younger men, his wings still holding traces of his juvenile coloration. The silence stretches on for a minute more until Hro turns away from Shayera and nods to the soldiers. "We get revenge" he says, a chorus of cheers and shouts accompanying him as he takes off down the hallway, the rest following him quickly. Shayera begins to move herself, but only halfway to the cargo bay she realizes that she wants, with all her heart, to get one last look at Vic, and make sure he was okay.
The sounds of battle get closer and closer and it soon becomes clear to her that the Thanagarians aren't winning. The trickle of wounded soldiers seems to turn to a flood, and with each foot Hro seems to become more intent on violence. Surrender would never have entered her mind before now but it soon became all she could think of as the possibility of engaging her former friends in combat herself became possible.
"No mercy. Kill these bastards. We can still salvage the bypass. I doubt those two idiots were competent enough to fully disable it" Hro says, getting nervous chuckles from the group he led. It was clear that his false bravado wasn't going to lead them to victory that day but he still had to try. She respected it. Once upon a time she would've went along with it happily. Nothing was more romantic than dying alongside your lover on Thanagar.
As the group rushes into the open bay she finds her mind drawn to how her perception about things had changed. Dying beside your lover was romantic, but it was more romantic when it was after decades together, holding each other in bed than it was in battle, bloodstained and in pain.
A Thanagarian is thrown past her, obviously having been punched very hard as he sails into a stack of crates, collapsing the whole pile on top of him. "Got one" Wally, for she knew it was his voice, shouts before a red streak shoots across to the opposite side of the bay, assisting J'onn who was fighting beside a starfighter, holding his own against two veterans. Shayera finds herself alone as the platoon peels off into combat, trying to take on the Leaguers who remained aboard. She loses sight of Hro and is unable to care. She isn't looking for him, and is instead focused on searching for a different man.
Her arm drops to her side, bringing her mace with it as she resolves herself not to fight. It was pointless anyway from a purely tactical standpoint. The bypass was destroyed and the fleet was undoubtedly damaged beyond repair. From what she could see through the viewing ports of the flagship, Diana and Clark were now busy dismantling the other ships, flying this way and that to destroy the last hope Thanagar had to defeat the Gordanians. She felt the dull ache expand.
"Ha! How does it feel you bastard?" she hears over the dying din of battle as a good number of Thanagarian soldiers were left to continue the fight. The League was still preoccupied but it had become clear which way the tide of battle was turning. She turns to see just why Hro would be so triumphant and feels as if her heart has been crushed in a vice. Hro was standing above a prone form, his mace pressed against the man's chest as he toys with him.
"Vic" Shayera says breathlessly, seeing the already wounded man unable to fight back. Hro just grabs him by his shirt collar, hoisting him up and hitting him with the pommel of his mace. She hears a sickening crunch and can only assume that he had broken Vic's nose beneath the mask. She is paralyzed at the sight.
Hro raises his mace once more and triggers the stunning effect, sending a crackle of electricity up the hilt and to the tip. She knew that he had fully activated the mace, and that he was fully intending to kill him. "No" she says, a tear leaking out of her eye as Hro smirks devilishly. She can't move, feeling as if she was glued to the spot.
"You took her from me. Now? I'm going to make sure you'll never have her"
"Go to hell" Vic says in response.
Hro is about to push the mace forward and finish the injured man when he is impacted suddenly from his side. Shayera jumped into action and used the thrust of her wings to deliver a more forceful blow, crashing her mace directly into the Thanagarian man's skull. The helmet he wore was too thin to sustain such a blow, and crumbled on impact, allowing the full force to crack his skull and send shards into his brain matter. He had died instantly and fell with a perplexed look on his face as his optical lenses took in the sight of Shayera, her mace high and having been wielded against him.
In his last moment, he knew where her loyalties lied.
She stares at the corpse for only a second, allowing it to register and then flicker out of her mind. She moves to her knees and wraps her arms around Vic, gently lifting him by his back. She is very careful in her handling of his wounded body, and she can't help the tears that fall freely at seeing how broken he was.
'You did this to him' her mind whispers. She shakes it away quickly. Now was not the time for grovelling or forgiveness, not that she deserved any of it. No, now was the time to escape. Any moment the Thanagarian fleet would retreat, with all compromised vessels self destructing. The flagship certainly counted as compromised.
"Vic we…" she begins before he raises a hand and pushes at her mask, a clear gesture that he wanted the helmet off. She tosses it away, not caring for the symbol of her rank or former allegiance at that moment.
"I...I want you...to look me in the eyes, and tell me….how much was a lie?" he asked through ragged breaths, his hand on her arm. "What? Vic, we have to go. They're going to…"
"This is important Shayera"
She can hear it in his voice, and she knows it in her heart. It is important, and if she doesn't answer truthfully, right now in this moment, she'll never forgive herself. "So much was Vic" she says, starting to cry. "So much. Why I was here, what my plans were. Those were lies but anything I said to you? Just you? That was the truth" she says, telling him without committing it to words that their love hadn't been a lie.
He just nods before falling back, his body limp in her arms. For a minute she fears the worst, but her hand on his chest, feeling his heartbeat confirms otherwise. "You!" says a voice from behind her, and she turns to see Batman, bloodied and bruised, pointing an accusing finger. Wonder Woman and Flash are beside them, while Martian Manhunter lingers in the back.
It was sending daggers into her heart to see how they looked at her, how they seemed to hate her.
"Let him go" Diana says fiercely, her lasso already being moved about in her hands, interlaced between the two. It was clear that they didn't trust her, not even with Vic. It was touching though, how protective they were of him, even if they didn't have a need to at this moment. She'd never hurt him. 'You already have' her treacherous mind reminds her.
"Superman is destroying the rest of the fleet. It's over" Batman adds defiantly. Only the Flash and J'onn seem at all phased or upset by the turn of events that had led to her betrayal. She nods in understanding, but doesn't release her hold on Vic. "I know. I was the one who sent the data to the League, telling them exactly where to hit on the ships" she says, remembering her act of counter betrayal. She had no idea why she'd done it at the time. She was fully intent on capturing the League and saving Thanagar. Maybe she just thought it fair that they were given a fighting chance. She really couldn't answer for herself so she let it fall, but it is clear that none of them fully believe her.
"He needs to get to a hospital" she says, her mind fixating on what was most important at that moment. It was true. While he wasn't dying he certainly wasn't feeling well and his wounds would need to be dressed before they became infected. She wanted to cry, seeing how broken his body was.
A moment of silence passes between the former friends and colleagues, only the sound of destruction from outside the ship breaking it. "Alright. Diana will take him" Batman says, as usual being the one to see through the heart of the matter. Shayera just shakes her head and holds him closer. "No. I will. Diana can come with me if you think I'd hurt him" she says, taking into the air with the wounded man and making her way towards the open air bay. Diana is quickly into the air besides her, more of a prison guard than an escort as she leaves the rest of the League to make their way off the ship.
The air is filled with explosions and falling debris as individual Thanagarian soldiers make their way to the few remaining ships that are now retreating from Earth. She can see a red streak moving across the sky, ramming into and through the others. She was glad that he was busy. The Amazon's coldness she was used to, but seeing the others faces….it was almost unbearable.
She looks down and studies Vic once more, for once thankful that he wore his mask. She couldn't look at him. No, she would die if she did. The tears fall freely down her face and the cold wind that whips against her skin only makes the feeling worse. She'd get Vic to a hospital and then turn herself over to the League. She didn't know what would happen after that, but judging by how things had gone so far she wouldn't come out of it happy.
'This was a suicide mission from the start wasn't it?' she asks herself, feeling her own emptiness answer her.
Two Weeks Later, Wayne Manor, Gotham City
Much had happened, and not much of it was good. The world was safe from Thanagarian invasion with the few remaining ships and soldiers having been either destroyed or captured and imprisoned. The property damage was insurmountably large and would take years to fully recover from.
Even Wayne manor wasn't spared damage though it paled in comparison to what had been done to Gotham city. A Thanagarian gunship had crashed in the front lawn, destroying an old fountain and ruining the grass but not much else. The bodies of two Thanagarian soldiers had been recovered and buried with all the respect that Earth's citizens would afford them which, in Shayera's opinion, was much more than would've been done had the circumstances been reversed.
Hro Talak, commander of the fleet and of the Thanagarian Earth Expeditionary Force was just another unmarked grave somewhere outside of Gotham. She places the tea cup on the table, making sure to use the provided coaster that Alfred provided.
She felt numb about the whole thing.
"Another cup of tea Ms. Hol?" Alfred asks, coming up with another cup of tea on a silver tray. It was strange, finding out that Batman and Bruce Wayne were the same person. She hadn't thought much of the Gotham playboy before but now that she knew who he really was it made sense. "No thank you Alfred" she says, being polite to the man. It was rather strange. The British butler had been nothing but kind to the woman, and even now, while the League was assembled to decide her fate, was offering her refreshment.
"Very well madam" he says, placing the tray down on the table and moving her empty cup onto it. He then takes a seat in a recliner next to the couch and nods, taking a deep breath. "The years are not as kind to you as they go on Ms. Hol. I've been a servant here for longer than I could remember and I can testify to that myself" he says, picking up the cup and drinking from it.
She can't help the smile that breaks out on her face at the older man's words. Her head nods up and down in appreciation of what he said. "I hope it isn't as bad as you say" she retorts, happy to be distracted from the situation if only for a moment.
"May I speak frankly with you Ms. Shayera?" Alfred asks, beginning almost tentatively.
"Yes. And please, just call me Shayera" she responds, fully expecting the well deserved scorn of the butler to manifest. Instead he nods and starts. "I was in the army myself. The SAS during the second world war and in quite a few other scraps I don't care to remember. Despite the fanfare and mythology of it, we weren't always the good guys so to speak. We did many awful things to win and we followed orders. I know the situation you were in and you have my utmost sympathy for it" he says, stopping to take another quick sip of tea.
"At the end of the day what matters is your loyalty to those you fight beside, and the care you exhibit for them. From what I know, you were not aware of the high command of your planet's true plans and thus, the scope of your betrayal was limited. When you found out the truth however, you rushed back to their side. Why was that?" he asks curiously, gazing at her from over the rim of his cup.
She tries to avert her eyes, not wanting to give her reasonings away, but from what he said of his experiences she doubted that he didn't already know. Before she can say anything he raises his hand. "No need. One soldier to another. You don't need to explain. I just needed to pose the question. Humor an old man?" he asks and stands placing a hand on her shoulder. "Whatever happens Shayera, I will always consider you a hero" he says comfortingly, moving back to the table and picking up the tray.
"Now, back to the kitchen with me. My work is never done" he says with a smile.
Shayera knew that from that moment on she would forever be indebted to one Alfred Pennyworth, for his kind words that lifted her spirits when she most needed it. Just at that moment, the large oak doors that enclosed the League's makeshift council room, which was really just Bruce Wayne's dining room, open, and the Flash walks out.
He walks, slowly, which was rather funny to see Wally doing. He stops in front of her and rubs the back of his head nervously. Shayera stands, slowly of course, and tries to keep her balance. She was going to have to meet this situation head on.
"Uhh, well, we're ready for you. Whenever you are but...before you go in there" he says, trying to think of the right words but failing. Instead he closes his mouth and hugs the woman close, making her want to cry. How could Wally have forgiven her so quickly? Why? Maybe some things were just unbreakable.
"Just know that I'm always rooting for you huh?" he says, letting her go and motioning for her to follow. "Don't worry too much about it you know?" he says, trying to assuage her and calm her fears which must've been evident on her face. "Thank you Wally, that...well that means more than I can tell you" she says with a teary smile. She quickly walks toward the door, wanting to get the whole thing over with. The Flash opens it for her and they enter together, her eyes settling on the large table at which all the members of the League were seated.
Her heart seized at seeing Question, his arm in a sling but still relatively unchanged. His mask and clothing covered much up. Superman, Manhunter, Wonder Woman, Batman and finally the Flash who takes his own seat at the far end, all look towards her.
"Shayera, we have come to a decision which, while not unanimous, decides your future in the League. We'd like to…"
"Please, just...let me speak first?" she asks, a hopeful look on her face to which the caped crusader has no choice but to nod, allowing her to address her former friends. Diana scowls while Superman nods as well, a light smile tugging at his lips as he encourages her. Manhunter is unreadable as is the Question, but the Flash also seems to be on her side. It was unclear in which camp Batman was.
"I...I did an awful thing to each and every one of you. I can't express how deeply sorry I am. I don't expect your forgiveness, or even your understanding. I don't deserve it" she says, rubbing her arm in nervousness. "I just want you to know that none of what I did was personal. I put my duty to Thanagar before my duty to my friends and my adoptive planet. I will never forgive myself for that. What I will do, from this day on, is seek to make what I did right by helping whoever I can. But I have to do this on my own, and that is why I am resigning from the League myself. I...I…" she says, attempting to finish before turning and walking out.
The Flash attempts to stand, readying himself to go after her but he is stopped by Batman's hand on his shoulder. "Let her go" he says, the whole table being affected by the heartfelt apology.
Vic stands and quickly moves towards the exit, with nobody attempting to stop him.
Wayne Manor, Overlooking Gotham Bay
She let the wind caress her skin, enjoying how her long red hair blew in the breeze while her eyes scanned the horizon. She should just leave, she knows this, but in the end something is keeping her tied to the ground. She can't leave quite yet, as there is unfinished business. He needs to have his say before she goes. He deserves it.
"You don't know how we voted" a voice says from behind her, and she doesn't even need to turn to see who it is. What surprises her the most is that he took off his mask. His mask had always been what he turned too when he felt hurt or sad, using it's anonymity to cloak his emotions. She hated that mask. She didn't want him to hide his emotions or who he was, as she wanted him to share that with her. It was fine if he decided to wear it around the others, but it was never supposed to go on around her. She remembered when that rule was first introduced and how he fought tooth and nail until giving into his demanding girlfriend.
"I don't need to. I know how I voted" she says, turning and wanting to run into his arms, hoping that he'd comfort her and push all her fears away with one of his conspiracies and how he was going to stop it and bring down the illuminati once and for all while fixing all the world's problems.
He is silent for a moment but eventually he walks toward her and stands beside her, looking at the sunset himself. "So that's it? I don't get a say anymore?" he asks, causing her heart to break a little more. She desperately wanted to give him the final word, hopeful that he'd tell her to stay and work on rebuilding. But she couldn't allow him to, not when he could be hurt, when she'd already hurt him so much.
"You're always going to have the last say Vic. But...I can't allow it. Not this time. I need to go" she says, readying her wings to take off and go….wherever the winds took her. She is stopped by a hand on her arm, keeping her grounded. "At least tell me, how much of it was a lie? I know I asked already but…" he says, trailing off with a light sad smile. She understood perfectly. For a man so immersed in conspiracies and so distrustful of everything, he needed to believe that what they had was real. And it was. It still was.
Instead of answering she wraps her arms around his shoulders and kisses him deeply, feeling the tears break free once more at the thought of this being the last time she'd hold him or feel his lips against hers sent a chill down her spine.
She draws it out, pouring as much as she can into the kiss and holding her breath for as long as possible until she slowly disengages. "Nothing between us is a lie Vic. I love you and that's why I have to go" she says.
"Will you come back?" he asks in return, moving his working arm around her back, trying to hold her to him. "I don't know" she says honestly. "Then let me come with you. I can track the conspiracy anywhere…" he starts before she presses her finger against his lips. "I have to be alone for a while Vic". He understands, he really does, and she loves him all the more for it.
"I'll wait for you then" he begins. "I prom…" she stops him, holding her hand up and shaking her head sadly. "Don't. I'd be cruel to let you. Vic..I may never come back" she says, stepping out of his grip and gaining enough thrust from her flapping wings to move a few feet off of the ground. She looks at him one last time and smiles sadly before turning and moving off over the ocean, feeling numb once more.
Vic watches until she disappears from view, himself overwhelmed by all that had happened. "I...I'll always love you" he whispers to the empty air, feeling as if things would never be as happy or as bright for him as they were before.
(Hey, I know. I'm awful for starting another story arc when I haven't even touched my Justice Lords one in a while. I know, stone me please for I have sinned. Anyways, I basically ran into a brick wall with that one but I will be continuing it. This story will be about five chapters long and I know EXACTLY what I want to do with it. Yes in this story the Question was a founding member of the League instead of John Stewart. Maybe I'll find a way to write a prequel on how they all met. Anyhow, I hope you guys like this)