BEN 10 DOES NOT BELONG TO ME. JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED DOES NOT BELONG TO ME. BUT THE LITTLE DEMON SITTING ON MY SHOULDER SAYS THAT ONE DAY THEY WILL BE MINE. THANKS FOR THE HOPE, SMALL DEMON-THING!
This chapter has absolutely nothing to do with the plot. However, I really liked the episode, so I'm putting it in. I'm not doing it because it's one of my most-requested episodes. I don't cave in to peer-pressure. Really, I don't. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to eat a cactus because all of my friends say it'll make me popular.
Ben 10: Unlimited
Chapter 17
Mystery in Space
Watchtower
"And then, the crazy miner sets off all of his explosives, and we barely make it out alive!" Ben finished his story to Shayera, who laughed. The two of them were sharing a shift on the observation deck, and since monitor-duty was boring, Ben was keeping both of them entertained by telling her about some of his adventures back in his universe.
"How you survived all those close calls is a miracle," Shayera commented, "ever tried going to Vegas with that kind of luck?"
Ben shrugged. "I don't think it'd be fair to anyone else."
Shayera raised an eyebrow. "Since when is anything in Las Vegas 'fair'? I remember when we went to stop the Joker from blowing the whole city up, and when John tried to move one of the bombs away, Joker detonated it!"
"Speaking of John," said Ben, "how are things between you and him?" He had been glad that those two had finally gotten back together, but he hadn't heard how their relationship was going.
"We've been taking things a little slower than, say, you and Kara," Ben rolled his eyes at Shayera's comment, "but we've talked about moving in together at some point. It's not like I'd have a lot of stuff to move, since I live here on the Watchtower."
"I understand," Ben said, "but still, I'm glad that you're together; I can tell you make each other happy."
Shayera gave a wry smile. "Glad you think so, but some other people…" she trailed off.
"Vixen?" Ben had seen Vixen flirting with Green Lantern nearly every time those two had been in the same room; she must have been annoyed that John had been holding out for the Thanagarian for so long.
Shayera nodded. "She hasn't done anything, she's a complete professional during a mission; I just wish she'd stop wasting her time giving me dirty looks."
"You want me to talk to her?" Ben offered. Since Shayera's return to the League, Ben had been the unofficial peacemaker between her and the Leaguers who didn't trust her. Thankfully, when Wonder Woman had finally gotten over her own issues with Shayera, many of her naysayers had also followed suit. Sadly, there were still a few diehards, and Vixen was one of them, though she might have acted the way she did out of petty jealousy.
Shayera gave Ben a glare, knocking him out of his musings. "Please, Ben; if I could get upset from just a few dirty looks, I'd have broken down years ago."
Sometimes, Ben forgot that Shayera was an accomplished soldier years before she became a superhero.
Before the conversation could go any further, they heard J'onn's voice above them.
"Shayera!"
Both Ben and Shayera heard the urgency in J'onn's voice; Shayera spread her wings and flew up to the Martian's position, while Ben, who was curious to see what was going on, followed on foot. He found the two in front of a communications screen, along with Green Lantern. On the screen was an alien, though Ben couldn't identify the species or even the gender through the large helmet the alien wore.
"Shayera," said J'onn, pointing to a readout in front of them, "is that what I think it is?"
The Thanagarian looked at the data. "It's transuranic iron ore. Nth-metal, like my mace, but unrefined; what about it?"
"We're stranded on a rock that's pretty much made of the stuff." The voice of the alien sounded strange, no doubt due to the helmet worn on its head. "We're just miners; are we in any danger?"
From the alarmed look on Shayera's face, the answer was yes. "Sit tight; don't move and don't touch anything." She spun around and headed out. "Prep a Javelin for me; I'm on my way."
"Wait," J'onn ordered, "I'll send you a support team."
"Don't need one," Shayera retorted, "I'll handle it myself."
"That wasn't a suggestion." J'onn's eyes glowed dangerously. "You haven't been pulling your weight as a team leader."
Shayera was indignant. "Excuse me!?"
"You're not alone anymore," J'onn said calmly, "so stop behaving as if you are."
As much as Ben hated to admit it, J'onn was right; ever since returning to the League, Shayera had hardly ever led a team of her own. Most of the time, she was grouped with other founding members, or on her own. For a while, Ben had thought that it might have been because of the mistrust from the other Leaguers, but maybe Shayera just didn't want to work with them.
"I'll go with you," offered Green Lantern, probably so that if Shayera had to be grouped with someone, it might as well be with someone that she trusted.
"No, you won't." J'onn gave Lantern a sharp look. "You're both founding members; I don't want any question about who's leading the mission."
"I can go," Ben said, "I'm not a founding member, and under the rules we established, Shayera outranks me. Plus, I'm probably the best person to have if we run into something unexpected."
"You just want to get out of monitor duty." Accused Green Lantern with a mock-glare.
Ben shrugged unrepentantly. "That's just a bonus."
"I'll go too." The four heroes turned to see Vixen approaching them.
J'onn considered that for a moment. "Fine. Javelin 26 is ready on pad 9; I'll also have Vigilante go with you, as additional security."
Ben had mixed feelings about Vigilante. On the one hand, he got along with the guy fairly well, even if he dressed and acted like a crazy cowboy. On the other hand, he was another member of the "Do-Not-Trust-Shayera Club". Still, maybe this mission could show both him and Vixen that Shayera was worth trusting.
With a huff, Shayera relented. "Come on." She, Vixen and Ben left. As soon as the elevator doors closed after them, Green Lantern glared at J'onn.
"Yes?" J'onn had an idea of what Lantern was going to say, even without using his telepathy.
"Why did you do that?" demanded Green Lantern.
"Neither Vixen nor Vigilante have spent much in space; it's good experience for them."
"You know what I mean!" Green Lantern growled. "Putting my girlfriend on the same team as the woman who's always hitting on me, plus a crazy cowboy, both of whom hate her guts?"
"I have no doubt that they will act professionally on a mission." J'onn turned back to the communications screen. "And even if they don't, Ben is with them; he should balance everything out, should something occur." He reestablished contact with the alien. "I've assembled a rescue party; help is on the way."
"I don't know how to thank you…" The alien bowed its head as the screen in front of it went black. Then it pulled off its helmet, revealing a very human-looking face. The bulky space suit fell away, revealing white, formfitting body armor, with a gold trim. A pair of large, grey wings spread from the alien's back.
"But I'm sure I'll think of something." Finished Lieutenant Paran Dul, of the Thanagarian Empire.
…
Just Outside the Site of the Distress Call
"No, no, no!" barked Shayera, as the Javelin dropped out of light-speed, "Reset your hyperdrive vectors!"
Though Vigilante, who was piloting the Javelin, wore a red bandana that covered most of his face, anyone looking at him could tell that he was frowning at her.
"No one likes a backseat-driver, ma'am."
Shayera glared. "You need another twenty hours of flight time before you're certified."
"And some of us are already right certifiable." Vigilante's words were muttered and muffled by his bandana, but Shayera still heard them.
"Vigilante, if you've got a problem with me, we can take it to the gym after the mission's over."
Vigilante shook his head. "No, ma'am; resetting vectors." As the Javelin began to descend to the surface of the planet, he said, "Maybe you oughta think about riding sidesaddle for a change."
Shayera started to rise out of her seat, but Vixen, seated behind her and next to Ben, placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Let him be," she said, "men have fragile egos." Ben raised an eyebrow, but Vixen ignored it and kept talking. "To get what you want, you have to know how to talk to them."
"Yeah, I don't really do that." Said Shayera, tapping the handle of her mace.
"So I've heard." Vixen smirked, "But maybe you should learn." Surprisingly, neither the smile nor the comment had any malice behind it. Shayera still huffed and looked away.
While she was busy fuming, Ben turned and whispered to Vixen. "Okay, what's going on? Yesterday you looked like you wouldn't care if Shayera got hit by a truck, and now you're giving her advice?"
Vixen sighed. "I don't know; maybe I'm starting to see that John will never be with me. I can't stay bitter at Shayera for something that neither of us has control over."
Ben was surprised by how honest Vixen was being, both with him and herself, as well as her change in attitude; it was a pleasant surprise. Maybe he wouldn't have to sooth any frayed nerves today.
He gave her a smile. "Hey, don't worry about it, I'm sure you'll find someone." He looked to the front of the Javelin. "Maybe Vigilante?"
Vixen glanced at the gun-toting hero, who was directing several colorful Texan idioms towards the controls. Ben and Vixen glanced at each other, then only partially suppressed a case of the giggles.
"Something wrong?" Shayera had gotten over her anger and looked behind her to see two of her teammates holding their sides and snorting.
"Nah, nothing," said Ben, straightening in his seat, "just laughing at a joke."
Shayera said nothing, the Javelin coming to land on the surface of the planet. Around them stood a lush, jungle environment, and a breathable atmosphere, according to the sensors. Before they left the Javelin, however, Vixen tapped into the snake's ability to see heat, and looked around.
"Guys, I'm not seeing a mining ship out there."
Ben frowned; the people they were supposed to help had said that they had come to this planet to mine. What happened? Shayera went back to the sensors.
"There's nothing on the instruments, either."
Vigilante raised his hands in protest. "I followed the distress beacon, just like in the manual." Shayera gave him her best reassuring smile, which was basically an expression that wasn't a scowl.
"Not saying you didn't, but this is weird." She fiddled with the sensors. "I'm not detecting any Nth-metal, either."
Vigilante took out one of his pistols and checked the bullets. "We could sit here studyin' on it all night, or we could go take a look-see."
Shayera thought about it for a moment. "All right, but stay sharp; this looks funky. Ben, we're going into a mine; think you could use Armodrillo?"
Ben nodded. "Sure thing, just let me go outside to change." Armodrillo was a good choice; if something happened while they were inside a mine, he could just tunnel a way out for them. As soon as the Javelin's ramp lowered, Ben transformed into the large, yellow alien.
The four walked to the mine's entrance, when Vigilante squatted to get a better view of some footprints.
"Somebody was here," he mused aloud, "maybe they went into the mines."
They walked inside, Shayera leading the way. The darkness of the mine was illuminated by the crackling energy of her mace. Vixen and Vigilante stayed close to Armodrillo; if they needed to get out fast, they'd have to stay right on his tail. After a few moments of walking, Shayera stopped and squinted at one of the support struts; something wasn't right.
"What is it?" asked Vixen.
Shayera knelt and waved the mace near the strut; no matter where the light moved, the shadow stayed the same. When the mace actually made contact, it passed through the strut!
"The whole mine's a hologram!" Shayera shouted, "We've been suckered!"
"Move!" Armodrillo grabbed the two women and shoved them behind him, just as a blast of energy ricocheted off of his armor. The four backed out of the mine, Armodrillo using himself as a shield, while Vigilante returned fire from around him. As soon as they exited the mine, however, more shots from the surrounding jungle fell all around them.
"Back to the Javelin," Shayera ordered, even as she deflected a shot with her mace, "we'll take cover there. Vig, lay down some cover fire; Ben, turn into something that can help him!"
"On it!" Armodrillo slapped the Ultimatrix dial.
"CHROMASTONE!" The purple alien simply absorbed the energy-blasts and used them to empower his own energy-based attacks and sent them right back at the attackers. He also used himself as a shield for Vigilante, the only normal human of the group. Since they couldn't see what they were fighting, the heroes had no choice but to make a mad dash for their ship, dodging (or in Chromastone's case, absorbing) energy-blasts all the way.
Shayera looked up, just in time to see a large rocket headed straight for…
"Scatter!"
All four dove out of the way, just as the rocket hit the Javelin, blowing it to pieces. The shockwave sent all of them flying. Shayera caught herself in midair, as did Chromastone; Vixen used her natural agility to land on her feet, but Vigilante was slammed into a tree. Shayera picked him up, and yelled for the other two to take cover.
Chromastone swooped in and picked up Vixen, making sure that any energy attacks sent their way would only hit him; the two landed at the top of a large rock formation, and were quickly joined by Shayera and Vigilante. Shots from their still-unknown attackers hit their cover, and Vigilante started returning fire, only to get dragged back down by Shayera.
"Can you even see what you're shooting at!?" she snarled.
"Nope," said the cowboy, reloading his pistols, "just keepin' 'em honest."
"Giving away our position is more like it!" she yelled.
"Hey," Vixen interrupted, "how about we fight the bad guys instead of each other?"
Wait a second, thought Chromastone as he stood up, ignoring the energy getting absorbed into his body, these lasers look really familiar…
"Ben," said Vixen in a warning tone, "I know you think that Chromastone can't be hurt by energy attacks, but I don't think that this is a good time to test that theory!"
"Shayera," Chromastone said, ignoring Vixen for the moment, "does this energy remind you of anything?"
Shayera stopped and really looked at the energy flying over their position. Now that she thought about it… her eyes widened in recognition, just as the shots ceased and a voice rang out.
"Shayera Hol!" The other three Leaguers poked their heads out from cover alongside Chromastone, and saw an unexpected and unwelcome sight.
Thanagarians; five regular soldiers, along with one female in white armor. Behind them stood another Thanagarian, minus his wings, and strapped into a bronze exoskeleton. All of them were armed and looked very angry.
"Paran Dul?" Shayera barely whispered the name, but the others heard her.
"Friend of yours?" asked Vixen. Had this encounter occurred even a few days ago, she might have been snide about it, but now she was just annoyed; these Thanagarians had laid a trap for her teammate, and dragged them all into it as well.
"Huh," commented Vigilante, "birds of a feather."
"Not the time, dude." Chromastone hissed.
"Did you really think you could get away with betraying the entire Thanagarian Empire?" Paran Dul's voice was a mix of arrogance, grief and rage.
"Hold up," Vigilante whispered, "I thought we were the ones she betrayed."
"Sounds like she betrayed everybody, cowboy." Commented Vixen.
"Yeah," said Chromastone, "but at least she joined the right side in the end. I should know; I was there."
The two heroes glanced at him in surprise; they'd heard stories of Ben's exploits in the past, but he'd never said anything about helping to stop the Thanagarian invasion. It took them both a moment, but they realized that it was probably out of respect for Shayera; he didn't want to bring up any unpleasant memories.
Paran Dul continued. "You helped the Justice League and that shapeshifting freak to destroy my hyperspace bypass."
"Freak?" repeated an indignant Chromastone.
Shayera called out from behind her cover. "I only did it to stop you from killing everyone on Earth!"
"That bypass was our last hope." Suddenly, all emotions save for grief left Paran Dul's voice. "Without it, we were helpless against our enemies." Then the rage came back. "Because of you, the Thanagarian Empire lost the war!"
The Leaguers were shocked; they hadn't realized that by saving the Earth, they'd doomed another species. Even Vigilante, who hated Thanagarians, wasn't unmoved by this news. Shayera, however, took it the hardest; her posture slumped, and a single tear fell down her face.
"Nothing to say, traitor, or hadn't you heard?" Paran Dul stood there, mocking Shayera's pain.
Shayera's head snapped back up. "Hro," she said softly, then raised her voice, "what happened to Hro?"
Chromastone remembered; Hro Talak, the commander of the Thanagarian invasion, and at one point, Shayera's betrothed. He'd beaten Hro as Ultimate Swampfire, back on Hro's flagship; after the bypass had been destroyed, Hro had ordered a withdrawal from Earth. In Ben's mind, he hadn't been that bad a guy, aside from the whole "trying to destroy mankind" thing.
Paran Dul sighed. "After you and the Justice League destroyed the bypass, our fleet was ordered back to Thanagar. By the time we exited hyperspace, the Gordanians had already begun their final assault on our home world."
For a moment, Dul's voice became proud.
"In their minds, the war was over; but not for Hro Talak. He single-handedly destroyed a dozen of the enemy battleships… but finally, the battle was lost. Of our entire fleet, only Hro Talak's ship remained. He ordered us into a scout ship. We barely made it out. With his final breath, he destroyed the Gordanian flagship."
Paran Dul brought herself out of her own memory. "Too little, too late. The war was already lost."
"I didn't know." Whispered Shayera.
"Did you…" Chromastone didn't know how to put this delicately, "did you still have feelings for him?"
Shayera sighed. "For a lot of people I've let down."
Chromastone, Vixen and Vigilante glanced at each other, an unspoken agreement made between them. Despite any misgivings, they wouldn't let anything happen to their teammate.
"All we want is Shayera Hol," said Paran Dul, "if you hand her over, the rest of you can go free; even you, shapeshifter. If you choose to fight with her, you will most assuredly die with her."
"Let me think on that." Vigilante stood up and unleashed a fusillade of bullets at Dul, who took cover behind the shield she'd been holding at her side. With a snarl, Dul pulled out an energy-pistol and opened fire, but Chromastone caught the shot on his arm, absorbing it. Shayera grabbed Vigilante by the shoulder.
"You don't speak for the team," she growled, "I do. Maybe I should let them take me."
"Like horse hockey." Vigilante shot back. "Pardon my French."
"We're Justice League," added Vixen, "we don't turn our backs on our teammates."
"We won't let them take one of our own," Chromastone finished, even as he sent blasts of energy at the Thanagarians.
"Kregor!" shouted Dul, "Take care of the freak!"
"Yes…" mumbled the Thanagarian in the exoskeleton. He charged forward and grabbed Chromastone by the face. Chromastone tried to shoot the offending arm off, but the metal was made of sterner stuff. Kregor lifted Chromastone up and slammed him into the ground, then did it over again.
"Ben!" yelled Shayera, "We need to go, now!"
Okay, thought Chromastone, let's see how he likes this!
Chromastone built up his energy and then released it in one blinding, but otherwise harmless, blast. Kregor might have had incredible strength and resilience, but his eyes were still organic, and that meant that they could be blinded. In a reflex, Kregor released Chromastone, vainly trying to shield his eyes. When the light faded, and the Thanagarian's vision returned, the heroes had vanished.
Paran Dul gritted her teeth in frustration; they'd almost had the traitor!
"This is a waste of time," said one of her soldiers, "we should be headed back home to join the resistance."
"Not until the traitor is dead," was Dul's response.
"Or until she kills us." The soldier didn't get a chance to say more, because Kregor wrapped his giant metal hand around his throat.
"No," he rasped, "we're here to kill Shayera."
"Calm down, Kregor, calm down." Dul put a hand on Kregor's metal elbow.
"We're killing her though, right?" Kregor's voice was pleading, like a child that wanted a toy.
"Of course," Dul assured, "now put him down." Kregor threw the soldier to the ground and stomped towards him.
"Don't confuse me," he warned, "my head doesn't work so good since…" he seemed to think about it. "It doesn't work so good! But I remember that it's Shayera's fault I'm this way, right?"
During the invasion, Kregor had been Hro Talak's chief lieutenant; he and a squad of soldiers had stormed the Batcave, but had been defeated by the League. The heroes had needed the security codes that he possessed, but he wouldn't give them up. As a last resort, the Martian Manhunter had taken the information, using his telepathic powers in a violent manner; as an unintended result, Kregor had suffered severe brain damage, as well as paralysis. In order to get him into fighting shape, he had been placed inside of his new body. He was now only a weapon to be unleashed in a direction.
"Right, that's right," agreed Dul, "she hurt us all, and we're going to hurt her back." Kregor nodded, then used the thrusters on his back to fly off, while Dul helped the soldier to his feet.
"I'm just saying," the soldier continued, "Shayera Hol was an instructor in Espionage Wing. She's better trained than all of us put together."
Dul didn't look impressed. "Then we'll just have to out-think her, won't we?"
…
Vigilante spotted one of the Thanagarian soldiers flying just over the trees that they were hiding under and drew a bead on him. Before he could fire, however, Shayera pulled his arm down.
"Hold your fire!"
"What?" demanded Vigilante, "That's loco! I got him!"
"He wouldn't be flying so low unless he wanted to be seen." Replied Shayera.
Vixen walked up to them. "You think he's a stalking-horse to trick us into revealing our position." She said it as a statement, rather than a fact.
"Sounds smart," commented Ben, who'd needed to turn back to normal and allow the Ultimatrix to recharge, "risky, but smart."
"What makes you so sure that's what he's doin'?" asked Vigilante.
"Because that's exactly what I would do," answered Shayera, "and I'm one of them."
"Okay, I'm gonna stop you right there." Ben walked up and looked her in the eye. "You might be the same species as them, but you are not one of them."
"Why's that?" asked Shayera.
"Because if you were one of them, you'd be up there, hunting us down." Ben gestured to the others and himself. "But you're not, and I'm sick of you saying that you deserve getting treated like this, just because you made a mistake. You're down here, trying to keep us all alive. I don't care what anyone else says, Shayera; you are one of us." He glanced at Vigilante and Vixen, who stepped forward.
"Ben's right," said Vixen, "right now, I don't care what you did in the past, and I don't think that you should, either. If you can stop beating yourself up, I'll consider the slate wiped clean."
Vigilante nodded. "I reckon we should save the one hawk worth savin'. After all, ya did help save Earth; I reckon we owe ya for that, at least. Now come on, Miss Special Ops, where to?"
Shayera stared at them, shocked by their support, simply nodded and marched off, the rest of her team right behind her. After a few minutes of walking, Vigilante spoke up again.
"Hey, Vix, why don't you use them animal-powers of yours and give us a leg up?"
Vixen gave him a look. "I live in a loft in Chelsea, Vig, what makes you think I know anything about the jungle?"
Vigilante took off his cowboy hat and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. Ben sighed and moved forward, before his friend dug himself into a deeper hole.
"Do we actually have a plan, Shayera, or were we just going to walk aimlessly through the jungle for a while?"
"I do have an idea," said Shayera, "I just wanted to get under some deeper foliage first." The other three looked at her expectantly. "We should split up. Ben, you come with me; Vig, go with Vixen. We'll spread out and find their ship. We can either use it to get back to Earth or call for help, whatever we get time for."
"Might be easier if there weren't so many hawks in the sky," commented Vigilante, "think we should thin the herd first?"
Shayera shook her head. "No, we can't afford to slow down for anything. The second they even suspect what we're doing, they'll move the ship into orbit, and we'll never get to it. We'll have to be sneaky and smart about this."
Vigilante nodded, the plan making sense to him.
Ben gave a lazy salute to the pair. "You guys better get there."
Vixen gave Vigilante a pat on the back. "I'll make sure he comes back in one piece."
Shayera gave a small smile. "Good luck."
…
Vixen and Vigilante marched through the jungle, doing their best to avoid branches and roots. For a while, it was silent, but awkward between them. Finally, Vigilante tried to strike up a conversation.
"So, now we know what ol' Ben was doing during the invasion. What about you?"
Vixen shrugged. "I fought them as best as I could. Couldn't do much, there were too many of them for as straight fight, but I like to think I did some good. What about you, what did you do?"
Suddenly, Vigilante regretted bringing up the subject. "I… I fought 'em too, but, well, I got caught; they locked me up in at tiny cell. It was… humiliatin'." He didn't want to say any more than that, and Vixen could see it. She could also see…
"You're hurt!" she pointed at Vigilante's leg, which had a bad gash on the shin, courtesy of a Thanagarian energy weapon.
"I was in a fight, remember?" Recalling his treatment at the hands of his one-time captors had made him a little snappish.
"Why didn't you say anything before?"
Vigilante shrugged. "Didn't wanna raise no fuss."
Vixen sighed. "Men…" She ripped off the torn part of Vigilante's pant leg and wrapped it around the wound. "That'll hold for a while, at least."
Vigilante tipped his hat. "Much obliged." Vixen could tell that the cowboy was smiling underneath his bandana, and she returned it. "So, if ya don't mind my askin' why're you bein' so nice to Hawkgirl?"
"Ben's said it before," explained Vixen, as they continued to move, "Shayera made a mistake, and she's had to live with it. Now she's got another piece of guilt: the end of her species' civilization. I can't be so petty about Green Lantern when the girl's already got all that hanging over her head."
Vigilante nodded, if a little reluctantly. "I guess you're right, darlin'. No need to kick 'er while she's down."
Vixen gave him a smirk. "Darlin'?" she echoed, then laughed as she saw a hint of red on Vigilante's face that wasn't his bandana.
Further conversation was halted when an energy blast ripped forward and struck the spot between them. Vigilante whipped out a pistol and fired in the direction of the offending shot. He was rewarded by a cry of pain as a Thanagarian soldier fell out of a tree, clutching a wounded wing. Another soldier flew towards them, firing his rifle as he moved.
"No time for a shootout, cowboy, we gotta move!" Vixen picked Vigilante up and tapped into the power of the cheetah. In a blur of motion, they were gone.
…
"So, Shayera, what changed your mind?"
Shayera was focused on clearing some bramble in front of them, and didn't think about Ben's question.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, one second you were all 'I deserve everything that's coming to me', and now you've suddenly got this, I don't know, spring in your step."
Shayera raised an eyebrow. "Spring in your step? Who says that anymore?"
Ben sighed. "Just answer the question."
It looked like Shayera was about to, when a blast of energy shot towards them; she managed to deflect it with her mace, but she was put on the defensive. Ben reached for the Ultimatrix, but before he could even activate it, Kregor fell out of the sky, landing in front of him and slammed him away with one mighty blow. Ben crashed into a rock formation and fell still.
"BEN!" Shayera tried to rush to her friend's aid, but she was pinned by the fire coming from the two soldiers attacking her.
Seeing that Ben was no longer a threat, Kregor marched towards her. "You took Commander Talak from us, Shayera, and your friend, the green one, did something to my mind; something bad." He looked down in thought, as Shayera readied her mace. "I miss Commander Talak. I miss being able to think without pain." His head snapped up. "But no one's going to miss you."
He pointed his arm at her, and it turned into a large cannon. Before he could fire, however, an orange-colored blur slammed into him, knocking him off-balance. The other two soldiers scattered as bullets whizzed by their heads.
"You okay, Shayera?" asked Vixen, not taking her eyes off of Kregor.
Shayera nodded. "I'm all right, but Ben's down."
"Okay, I'll buy you some time to get him and Vig to safety; he's hurt too, by the way." Before Shayera could tell her no, Vixen called on the strength of the elephant and tackled the Thanagarian cyborg, slamming him into the other two soldiers, then jumped on top of him. With the elephant's strength also came its weight, so the aliens were pinned.
"I got this, go!"
Shayera, who had been checking Ben for a pulse, looked at her teammate in apprehension. "I can't leave you behind!"
"I'm right behind you; I'll ditch as soon as you guys are clear!"
Reluctantly, Shayera grabbed Vigilante and the still-unconscious Ben and flew off. Vixen looked down at her captives, who were struggling to get out from under her.
"You're wasting your time," she said, not seeing one of Kregor's arms moving behind her, "right now, it's like an elephant is sitting on your AH!" she screamed in pain as Kregor struck her with an electricity-charged fist.
As she fell to the ground, twitching, the Thanagarians got up. One pointed his rifle at her, intending to finish her off. Vixen's eyes went wide, and she held up her hands.
"Wait! Wait!" she yelled in a panicked voice, "Don't shoot, please!"
The soldier sneered. "I can't think of a good reason not to."
Vixen stared up at them. "Because I can give you Shayera Hol. You still want her?"
Kregor pushed the soldier aside and picked Vixen up by her wrists. "I'm supposed to believe you would give me your teammate? Ha! I'm brain-damaged, not stupid."
Vixen glared at him. "My animal senses are a hundred times more acute than yours; I can find her with ease."
One of the soldiers scoffed. "And why would you want to?"
"You mean besides saving myself?" Vixen had to give a good reason, and fast. "Shayera and I… we want the same man." While that wasn't necessarily untrue, she had done some thinking about her and Green Lantern. She'd recently come to accept that there wasn't going to be anything between them. Still, she added in a little heartbreak to her voice, trying to sell it.
"Enough of this," said one of the soldiers, clearly not buying it as he raised his rifle.
"Wait!" barked Kregor, "I believe her." He dropped Vixen, who landed with a pained grunt. "Lead the way."
Vixen tried to rise, but fell back down, groaning and clutching her ankle. "Any of you got a med kit?"
The two soldiers looked at each other. "We've got an analgesic projective back in the ship," said one, "after you help us."
Vixen glared at him. "If you want me in condition to track someone over this terrain, you'll take me to it right now."
"Do it." Kregor ordered. The soldiers looked at him incredulously, but still obeyed. One picked Vixen up and flew towards their ship, the other soldier and Kregor not far behind.
After a few minutes, they reached the horseshoe-shaped craft, which had clearly seen better days. It was battered and scratched, lending further credence to Paran Dul's story that the Thanagarian Empire really had fallen, and it wasn't fabricated merely to hurt Shayera. Kregor waited outside, while the soldiers took Vixen to the med bay and placed her on a table. One held out a bronze rod and knelt by her feet.
"This will kill the pain," he said, as Vixen smirked. Before he could ask what she was smiling about, Vixen kicked him across the room with her suddenly-uninjured leg and into the other Thanagarian, knocking them both out. She slipped the rod back into the unconscious soldier's hand.
"You'll be needing that when you wake up."
Vixen rushed to the cockpit and looked over the controls. The design of the new Javelins had been based on configurations seen in Thanagarian ships, so she was able to deduce where the communication systems were. On top of that, she recognized the same frequency used by the Watchtower.
"J'onn, it's Vixen; can you hear me? Over."
For a moment, all she got was static. Then she heard a familiar voice. "Barely. Increase your H.M. gain. Over."
Vixen did so, then began to explain. "We've been ambushed by a bunch of Thanagarians who have a serious mad-on for Shayera. Over." She didn't get a response. "J'onn? J'onn!" Then she heard the cocking of a gun.
Paran Dul stood behind her, a pistol aimed at her head and a fistful of wires, all that remained of the communications systems, in her free hand.
"I don't think he heard you, human."
…
Outside in the jungle, Shayera paced, waiting for her teammate's return. Vigilante rested next to a large pond, while Ben was still unconscious. Shayera had found that he had a minor concussion.
"She's taking too long," Shayera growled, "I'm going back for her."
"Only reason she ain't back," said Vigilante, "the hawks got her. You already know that, so where are you really going?"
Shayera's back straightened. "I'm going to turn myself in; maybe they'll let her go if I give them what they want."
Vigilante stood up. "Dagnabbit, girl! I ain't gonna allow it! I thought that Ben'd gotten you outta that self-pity thing!"
Shayera narrowed her eyes. "I'm not doing this because it's what I deserve; I'm doing this because I can't see any other way to get Vixen back alive!" then she raised an eyebrow. "And you're not really in a position to stop me, are you, cowboy?"
Wordlessly, Vigilante pulled out one of his pistols. Shayera put one hand on her hip and twirled her mace with the other.
"Oh, please."
With a defeated sigh, Vigilante put his gun away. Shayera put a hand on his shoulder. "The Justice League is bound to send a search party in a day or two. Keep an eye on Ben; stay safe."
Vigilante stared after her as she flew off. "Vaya con dios." He whispered. As she disappeared, he heard a groan behind him, and saw Ben sit up. "You okay, partner?"
Ben rubbed his head for a moment. "What happened?" he looked around. "Where are Vixen and Shayera?"
Vigilante sighed. "Vix got caught by the hawks; now, the boss-lady is givin' herself up to save her." Seeing Ben's outraged look, he continued. "Neither of us were in any shape to help."
Now it was Ben's turn to sigh. "So, now what do we do?"
"Well, the way I figure, them Thanagarians are gonna look for us, no matter what Shayera does. I say, we get ready."
…
An hour later, a lone Thanagarian soldier found Vigilante kneeling at the pond, using the water to clean his face. The cowboy heard the alien's footsteps, and spoke without turning.
"Appears that you've got the drop on me, partner." Before the soldier could fire, a long vine wrapped itself around his leg and lifted him into the air, turning him around to see the face of Wildvine. In surprise, he dropped his rifle; several more vines wrapped around his body, preventing him from struggling.
"May have spoke prematurely on that." Said Vigilante, walking up to the bound Thanagarian, twirling his pistol. "Now, you, me and my green friend here are gonna have a little confab concerning the location of your spaceship."
…
Shayera found herself facing Paran Dul, all of her soldiers, and Kregor, who held Vixen by her skull, his claw the only thing keeping her from falling. This wouldn't have been so bad, except that everyone present was flying over 100 feet in the air.
"Would you care to surrender now?" asked Dul, her tone suggesting that she already knew Shayera's answer. "Or shall I have Kregor do something unseemly to your friend?"
Shayera glared. "Let her go and I'm yours; no tricks."
Dul smiled. "I'm sure; drop your mace and we have a deal."
Shayera glanced around as the soldiers surrounded her. She could probably take them, but there was no way that she would willingly put a teammate's life in jeopardy. She lifted her mace, showing it to all, and then dropped it to the jungle below. Two soldiers flew towards her and grabbed her arms, while Kregor developed a sadistic grin. He then let go of Vixen, and everyone watched as she fell, screaming.
"NO!" Shayera struggled against her captors, but knew that even if she did get free, there was no way to catch up to the falling Vixen in time.
Dul smirked, but her mood changed to confusion when she saw the Thanagarians' vessel moving to intercept the plummeting heroine.
"Who's flying my ship!?" she demanded, but she had no time to do more than that; she raised her shield and deflected a pair of neuroshock beams, courtesy of Jet Ray. The red alien then flew off to attack Kregor.
Inside the Thanagarian ship, Vigilante was struggling to keep the ship on a steady intercept course.
"Consarned, dang-busted, horse-thievin', alien control panel which can't nobody work proper!" at the last second, he got the ship under control and moved under Vixen. "I'm comin', darlin'!" Just before Vixen hit the trees, her claws caught onto the roof of the ship, which pulled up just in time. Vixen smiled when she heard Vigilante's voice.
"YEE-HAH!"
With the soldiers distracted, Shayera slipped out of her captors' hold, punching and kicking any who tried to come near her. While she wasn't defenseless without her mace, she would definitely be kept busy for a while.
…
Jet Ray smiled at Kregor. "Whaddya say, ugly? Wanna go for round three?"
Kregor only snarled and headed for the jungle floor. Jet Ray followed, slapping the Ultimatrix dial as soon as he hit the ground. After the flash of green light faded, a humanoid bird stood tall. It had brown and beige feathers, with a white mohawk sat on top of his head, rising over a green mask. A green harness, armguards and shin guards adorned his body, but didn't conceal his large elbow-blade, nor the large talons on his hands and feet.
"KICKIN HAWK!"
Kregor growled. "What sort of abomination is that!?"
Kickin Hawk smiled, which was odd, considering he had a beak. "Hey, one flightless bird should fight another." He gestured Kregor, whose wings had had to be removed in order to fit him inside the exoskeleton.
Kregor roared and rushed forward. Kickin Hawk easily leapt over the cyborg and punched his back, creating a sizable dent. Kregor swung his own fist in a wide arc, but Kickin Hawk ducked, then kicked upwards, knocking Kregor into the air. Before his opponent could hit the ground, Kickin Hawk jumped into the air and kicked him into the ground, creating a large crater.
Sparks began to fly out of the exoskeleton as Kregor struggled to his feet. "You… you and Shayera took everything from me!" he charged forward, wildly swinging his fists. "Destroy you! DESTROY YOU!"
Kickin Hawk dodged most of the blows, but one managed to connect, sending him falling into a bush. He sat up, rubbing his sore chest, when his hand felt something metal. He picked up the object and smiled.
Kregor stomped towards him, but was suddenly hit by something metallic that left another dent in his chassis. He snarled as he saw Kickin Hawk idly twirling Shayera's mace.
"Look what I found," Kickin Hawk grinned, "think Shayera'll mind if I use this on an oversized piñata like you?"
Before Kregor could respond, Kickin Hawk shot forward, using everything at his disposal. His claws, talons, elbow-blades and Shayera's mace left huge gashes and dents in his metal body. After a few minutes, he was defeated, his exoskeleton limbless and nonfunctioning. As a final insult, Kickin Hawk lightly tapped Kregor's head with the mace, knocking him out.
…
Vixen crawled her way to the ship's doors and pried them open. She was about to walk in when a white-garbed blur slammed into her, both of them falling inside. The impact rocked the ship. Vigilante glanced behind him to see Vixen battling Paran Dul.
"You folks mind?" he yelled, "Doomed driver up here!"
Paran Dul grabbed Vixen by the throat and slammed her against a wall, then extended three metal claws from her gauntlet. Vixen ducked, just before the claws punched at least an inch into the ship's hull. She kicked her alien opponent away, then charged. A few punches and kicks later, and Dul was left clinging to the doorframe, barely conscious. Vixen finished the fight with a roundhouse kick that sent Dul hurtling out of the ship and towards the jungle floor. Vixen walked up to the cockpit.
Vigilante looked at her and tipped his hat. "You okay?" Vixen smiled.
"I will be, if you let me drive." Then she gave Vigilante a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thanks for the save, cowboy."
Vigilante only blushed.
…
Shayera finished the last of her opponents with a haymaker, then took a deep breath. She hadn't had to fight trained soldiers like that in a while, and she was tired. She was going to try to find Ben, but needn't have bothered; she saw Big Chill flying up to her, holding…
"I think you dropped this," Big Chill said, tossing the mace to her, "try not to lose your stuff, okay?"
Shayera smiled, but before she could reply, the commandeered vessel hovered up to them. The ramp opened up, revealing Vixen.
"You two need a lift?"
…
Watchtower
Several hours later, the Thanagarian vessel arrived at the Justice League's space station. Ben used the Ultimatrix to tell the League what had happened, and they were assured that the Green Lantern Corps would send a team to arrest the Thanagarians that they'd left behind. As soon as the ship landed, a large group of Leaguers, as well as a medical team, marched forward.
Vigilante was put on a stretcher, Vixen right by his side. Both Ben and Shayera had noticed how close Vixen had stayed to the cowboy throughout the return trip. It looked like another couple had been made in the League.
As they watched Vigilante and Vixen leave, Green Lantern ran up to them.
"Are you all right?"
Though he looked like he was directing the question to both of them, Ben knew that John was more concerned about his girlfriend; Ben didn't take offense.
"I'm fine, John, really." Shayera gave John a sincere smile. "I just got a bad reunion, that's all."
Green Lantern sighed in relief. "You wanna talk about it over dinner?"
Shayera linked her arm through his as they walked away, nodded, then she turned her head. "Hey Ben!"
Ben had begun to walk away to his own quarters when Shayera's voice reached him. "Yeah?"
"Thanks for what you said back there; I guess I needed it."
Ben shrugged. "Sometimes, you need the obvious explained to you; but you're welcome, anyway. I meant what I said; you're one of us, and nothing will change that."
This episode rocked so hard! My absolute favorite scene was when Vigilante saved Vixen with the ship. For those who've seen the show, have you noticed that Vigilante has his own theme music? I mean, it makes sense for Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and I guess Green Arrow, to have their own theme music, but Vigilante? I think he spoke in 3 episodes in total. Why didn't Supergirl get her own music? She was in more episodes.
But I digress.
Next time, I'm going to be doing things a little differently, combining two of the episodes into one. Should be fun, there'll be more Cadmus shenanigans, and The Question, and lots of plot!
Maximum muffin; engage!