His injuries were healing, but his heart that is another matter entirely. The argument is going in circles. Wonder Woman is adamant to kick Hawkgirl, to kick Shayera out of the League. Batman also calls for her dismissal though not for the same reasons as Wonder Woman. Some took Shayera's actions with the Thanagarians as betrayal, their weaknesses were exploited well during the capture. An angry Diana used a Hawkman's physicality against him to begin their breakout. However the surprises only really began after that flirtatious kiss over the reflecting pool in D.C. First there was Hro Talak, her Thanagarian commander and lover, but of course there was also Kragger who was a mental mess thanks J'onn prying knowledge from his brain.
"Whose side are you really on?" shouts John.
"Don't you know," sighs Shayera.
He hesitates to blast her, just like he had done with that alternate Shayera. As the mace struck him in the face, it was only himself that he blames for believing her, but of course his heart still belongs to her. As he is stuck in restraints aboard the prison ship, he can hear her and Kragger passing each of the six in captivity. Kragger's commentary would have gotten him a beating if they were not beaten down and held in place.
Her response is nothing short of saying killing them is a bad idea. She might have been after the symbolic value of an imprisoned League. She is of two minds, one for duty to Thanagar and the other of loyalty to her friends, to John. She took no joy in smacking him with a mace. As she took up her military uniform look again, she saw not just what she was as a soldier, but she saw that other Hawkgirl, the one that was de-powered by the Achilles disruptor. The headgear looks almost exactly like it, disturbing that they might found their own way into recreating a variation of that reality though she had seen little of that reality as she was unconscious.
She remembers awakening in his arms to a bittersweet smile.
He remembers the anguish of finding her like that in the alternate Arkham.
She watches their transport fly away.
He smashes into Hawkmen with the heavy cuffs.
It is a blur to the Batcave by dodging a military strike force led by Kragger. She appears, the enraged six stare her down, but all except John step forward. Bruce takes the bypass data from her, he directs her out, the others though John remains behind her. He wants her, loves her, but part of him still distrusts her.
"You sucker punched me."
"It wasn't personal."
"Keep telling yourself that."
She hands him the ring after speaking of doing the right thing. His expression shifts from surprise to suspicion. It felt better to have the ring back especially after Kragger's squad tries to ambush them in the cave. The scene blurs again to the chamber where the bypass shield controls are except Talak had been waiting for him from the moment he had put Shayera away for treason.
She sat in her cell torn worse than ever as first the League and by extension Earth is of a mind to hate and distrust her forever while now the Thanagarians are liable to do the same. Diana releases her despite reservations so she picks up a mace then goes looking for Hro. John was down and almost about to take a killing blow from Hro's axe. They take flight once clearing John's position.
As they fight she recalls the last time they were happy together on Alura. As he closes in to finish her off, she implores him again to find another way, but he insists a death to traitors and for Thanagar's survival again. She falls to the deck and so John will have to fight him again without the ring. He exploits Hro's feelings for Shayera as well feelings of contempt for him. Hro goes right into the console's force field and is knocked out.
He struggles to push the enormous pad button with his good hand then her clawed gloves come down on his. The force field drops just as the descending Watchtower comes into range smashing right into it. After that a troop of Hawkmen surrounds them until Hro calls them off. The scene blurs yet again to Shayera watching the news in the sitting room of Wayne Manor.
"I'm not qualified to judge you by their standards, but if not for your great sacrifices we would not be here to share this hot cup of tea."
She weakly smiles before she takes the cup from him after sharing a warm moment. She suspects this kindly butler has been a great comfort to Batman for many a year. As she finishes the tea, his hand is on her shoulder before telling her they are ready for her now. Alfred watches her poised figure recede from his line of sight. He too understood a thing about being torn between ideals and people he cares about though in the realm of costumed heroics, personal qualms had more fatal and far reaching consequences.
"If to no one else, but me, she is as much a hero as your son," he murmurs to the Waynes portrait.
She gave her parting comments before retreating to the promontory outside the manor. John goes to her after hearing Superman speak of never letting Earth... her down. It was not the Earth bit that got him, it was him attributing a feminine identity to the planet. As he nears Shayera, she looks truly sad yet determined, ever so lovely yet lonely, she is a woman without many things. They briefly talk until he broaches the question.
"What is it all a lie?"
"I love you John that was never a lie."
She turns spreading her wings then takes flight again, as she did so many times before, but this time it actually made him tear a little as he hesitates to stop her from leaving now.
"I love you too."
She in flight wonders what John had said, but she had to leave, because otherwise how else she work out what was bothering her to the core even though she left physically, she is never leaving him behind in her heart. She barely heard him, but she heard the word love somehow even on the wind. She cries, the tears drop from her face to the water below mixing with waves. She did not know when if ever she would come back. Hawkgirl and Lieutenant Hol is no more, there is only Shayera perhaps.
Sometimes when in love,you must let loose the bird, and then wait for its return if you believe in it, and maybe after you will have the answer that you already felt all along if the love be true. The song echoes in their ears even as both are miles if not light years apart.
A/N 1: Not exactly linear of course, but a string of scenes meshing together until that last scene in Starcrossed where Shayera takes flight to leave after leaving the League and turning against Thanagar and by extension Hro. Of course it does not seem like she hears him, but one can wonder what her reaction might be if she did. The song lyrics at that end don't belong to actual song, just something I thought of when writing the close to this segment.
A/N 2: The tidbit with Alfred, what I can say never underestimate the fatherly nature of this butler. Efrem Zimbalist, his voice actor since BtAS, had permanently endeared the character to me and of course Michael Caine in the live action Batman films has done it too.