Chapter 8

The Watchtower.

More Leaguers had come and gone, all had varying degrees of emotions: from morose to righteous anger. The rec room had become the gathering place when the superheroes were not away on duty where they could all mourn together. Black Canary sat at a table off to the side, beside herself with deciding whether to be angry or to be sobbing. The Flash was zipping through the room, twitching nervously without pause but sopped long enough to pat Canary on the back. Aquaman was talking to Zantanna while standing in the corner, they were surreptitiously glancing at the scene being played out in front of them.

Wonder Woman was pacing like a tiger ready to strike while Hawkman was facing her on standing tall. Wonder Woman growled, "Your not even waiting until the body's cold until you take his place."

Hawkman's wings spread, like a peacock showing his plumage, "He will be missed, but someone needs to take charge while your all just crying out 'poor me'. The burden that Superman took is now on all of our shoulders." The were circling each other now. "And, what your the best for the job." Black Canary muttered.

Hawkman turned sharply, shoving his wings into Wonder Woman's face. "Dinah, I'm sure you would want us to fight it out. The winner takes all. Isn't that what happens in your ring fights your so fond about."

Black Canary slammed her fist down on the table surface, her voice rough from crying, "Don't your dare talk down to me like that. I know that fighting wont help because no matter how hard I hit," her voice level dropping with resignation, "no matter how much we take, it wont bring him back."

For the first time all the Leaguers took each other in. They noticed that Black Canary had red raw fists from overuse and that Wonder Woman still had blood on hers. They noticed that Zantanna had bloodshot eyes and that Aquaman had bags under his. They noticed that Hawkman had been malting with worry and that Flash could not stop moving.

Black Canary's voice broke the silence, "This isn't helping. Fighting. With each other. While whoever killed Big Blue is laughing at us." Canary stopped at this, looking at the few who had come to the Watchtower. So few were ever gathered at a time that no one had though about it but, "What if we're still being played. Aren't we still having trouble contacting some members."

Flash jolted to Canary's side, "That's right. I haven't seen Firestorm lately."

"Or Atom or Red Tornado," Zantanna cut in, looking increasingly worried.

Wonder Woman's fiery glare ignited to a full blaze, her eyes pulled to Hawkman, "Can't forget Hawkgirl."

Hawkman stiffened at this. While the others had mentioned names of their colleagues out of worry, Wonder Woman had done it out of malice and suspicion. If anybody else had noticed they did not show it.

At that moment J'onn J'onzz phased through the floor behind Flash. "Hawkgirl is missing?" the Martian's monotone voice resounded in the room. The Flash jumped a mile.

The room was surprised at the Martian's entrance. Aquaman was able to answer first, "Yes, Hawkgirl is missing, along with several other members of the Justice League."

"Why do you ask?" Zantanna queried, she looked mildly hopeful that the telepath would be able to locate Hawkgirl.

J'onn looked very still for a moment but then he continued on, "They found a feather at the crime scene. Batman wanted us to go to the investigative agency's headquarters to ascertain if the feather was from one of our enemies." A look of genuine shock on crossed everyone's face.

After a moment of silence had crossed the room, Black Canary's voice grated over their ears, "Some of us should go to the HQ like Batman stated, but I think that right now we need to find Hawkgirl too before it's too late. We will need to work fast if..." her sentence trailed off. They all knew what.

As the team filed out of the room, The Flash caught up with Black Canary. "You know there's a possibility that Hawkgirl isn't a victim in this." Canary just looked at her friend, "We have to start somewhere."