Here's the next chapter for you all! It's a little shorter than most of the episode chapters, mostly because this one is Aqualad-centric and there was literally no justification for Hawkgirl following him to Atlantis, so instead enjoy some father-daughter bonding.
Shoutout to ADDBaby for coining the nickname "Brave Predator of the Sky" for our lovely Thanagarian heroine.
Also, I had no idea until I looked at the wiki entry for this episode that they actually expand on the whole Clayface fight in the comic. Since I don't own said comic, I was limited as to what I could do dialogue and action-wise, so I tried my best.
GOTHAM CITY
AUGUST 27TH, 2010
06:17 EDT
Hawkgirl wanted it on the record (and believe her, this was definitely going on her report in detail) that this situation was not her fault.
And any blame she had was miniscule compared to Aqualad.
A few hours earlier, Batman had summoned the Team (with the exception of Artemis) to respond to an emergency threat. Said emergency threat? Clayface was running rampant in the sewers of Gotham and needed to be tracked down as quickly as possible. They had been explicitly ordered by the Dark Knight that this was a tracking mission only. Hawkgirl had been a little disappointed that they wouldn't get a chance to fight him, but she understood the logic and was completely willing to defer to Batman's superior judgement and direct orders.
From the moment she dropped into the sewer, she'd been uneasy, but was doing everything in her power to make sure none of her teammates picked up on even a single iota of her growing panic. The proximity of the tunnels were unnerving her, reminding her far too vividly of their adventure in CADMUS's underground lab. But she focused on the matter at hand, expanding out her senses as far as they would reach for any indication of the clay-composed monstrosity's presence.
Naturally, things went downhill very quickly.
They had managed to find Clayface fairly easily in the sprawling sewer tunnels, but he'd caught them off guard and attacked, before trudging off once again. They'd retreated back to M'Gann's ship to both use the Bioship to track him and so Robin and Kid Flash could change uniforms. Ski'Lira had resigned herself to having muddy armor and sludge-caked wings. Eventually they managed to find him again, this time in a sprawling warehouse.
Aqualad, their prestigious leader, had agreed with her team's inane idea of splitting up.
She had immediately made her distaste for the plan known, loudly and in great detail. Hawkgirl had suggested dividing into pairs, that way they could cover more ground and they would have more protection in case they did end up in an altercation with Clayface.
But Kaldur had been adamant and her teammates insisted that they could handle themselves alone.
She'd reluctantly backed off, deferring to Aqualad's higher position of leadership and respecting the chain of command.
Thus, the Team had completely split up.
She started to grow suspicious when she heard nothing from either the comm unit or M'Gann's telepathic link, so it was likely that at least the Martian had already been compromised.
Just as she was about to start doubling back, Aqualad appeared at the end of the hall.
"There you are." He said, relief on his face, albeit his normally expressive green eyes uncharacteristically blank. "I thought Clayface had taken you as well."
Hawkgirl considered him for a moment before promptly detaching the head of her mace from the handle and launching it towards his chest with a hearty swing. The metal ball sunk into his flesh with a loud squelching noise, making 'Aqualad's' face distort. Reeling it back by the chain, she kept it spinning like the meteor hammer is resembled as 'Aqualad' exploded into a humanoid pile sentient muck that was grinning at her with misshapen teeth.
"You're much smarter than the others." Clayface practically leered, the clay composing his body pulsing slightly as he twisted and reformed his body.
"I just pay closer attention." She replied, lips drawing back in a snarl. "You smell of clay no matter what shape you take."
"Clever"
That's when a tendril of clay lashed out, only to be promptly tangled in the metal chain of her weapon, sufficiently deflected from her body, but it was just enough of a distraction for Clayface to get in close. Reaching out with a massive fist, he snagged one of her wings and threw her into the nearest wall.
Thankfully the wall was old brick, which meant that it practically exploded on impact. Sprawled out on the ground for a moment, she coughed as she pulled herself back up to a standing position, only to see Aqualad standing in front of her. A quick sniff confirmed that this was the real Kaldur'ahm.
"Hawkgirl, what-?"
"Move!" She pushed him backwards as Clayface crashed through the rest of the wall, roaring at the two young heroes.
To his credit, Kaldur immediately acted, summoning his water bearers and surging forwards to engage the monster. Taking the moment of reprieve he had given her, Ski'Lira gave a whole body shudder as she realized that the brick dust from the shattered wall was sticking to the sludge already on her skin. A quick test of her wings confirmed that flying was definitely out, as the grime had dried since they had left the sewers.
Letting out a frustrated huff, she reeled in the chain of her mace, returning it to its usual static form before diving into the fray.
Aqualad and Hawkgirl proceeded to lead Clayface in a tag-team chase throughout the warehouse. The game was all about buying time at this point, just waiting for their back-up to arrive.
They both ended up being cornered in a large room with the unconscious bodies of the rest of their teammates, which at least explained the mystery of where they had all ended up. Hawkgirl took on Clayface alone while Aqualad checked everyone else's vitals, deeming them alright for the most part before joining it.
But it was a losing battle and they both knew it. They were both growing tired and slowing down, while Clayface was just as fully of energy as when they'd first engaged him. One of the benefits of being sentient clay, she supposed.
An unlucky hit from Clayface sent her careening, her helmet slamming onto a metal support pole with a hearty clang. Vision slightly blurred from the impact and breath thoroughly taken out of her lungs, she could only watch as Aqualad was pinned to the wall and taken down.
Their time had finally run out.
Ski'Lira noticed a rapidly growing shadow in the light being cast down through the skylight above, which was all the warning she received before Batman crashed in through the window, sending shards of glass all around them. Without missing a beat, he threw two explosive batarangs onto Clayface's arm as he whirled around. Batman back flipped out of the reach of his subsequent attack, drawing a device from his belt. Two metallic prongs stuck deep into the malleable "flesh" and electricity flowed down the wires with a press of a button.
Letting out a horrific roar, there was nothing that Clayface could do as he melted into a puddle of goo.
Casting his masked gaze around the room, Batman looked far from happy.
Hawkgirl and Aqualad were the first to recover, as they had been the only two that managed to maintain consciousness. With Batman's help, they had managed to rouse everyone and do a cursory check for injury. The worst was Kid Flash, who had suffered a minor concussion, but with his accelerated healing it was sure to clear up soon. Everyone else mostly boasted bruised bodies and equally injured pride.
Batman had proceeded to usher them out of the warehouse and escorted them to the nearest Zeta point, which was luckily only about a twenty minutes away on foot from their current position. With his seemingly boundless knowledge of every inch of Gotham City, Batman led them through alleyways, had them scale buildings and bound across rooftops, all the while remaining in the shadows that he favored.
Their mentor's presence had been more than effective in keeping them silent, even the ever-talkative Kid Flash.
But Hawkgirl was angry. So, very, very, angry. And it was well proven that when a Thanagarian was angry, they tended to lash out rather than keeping quiet.
So, she dropped back so she was next to Aqualad, who had a faraway look in his eyes that just stoked the fires of her temper further.
"I hope you've realized your mistake." She hissed, trying her best to make sure they weren't overheard.
Kaldur's eyes cleared as he turned his focus to her. "I apologize, but I did not hear what you said. Do you mind repeating it?"
A growl rumbled in her chest and she resisted the urge to immediately punch him in the face. "I said I hope you've realized your mistake. Namely, not listening to your second in command."
Aqualad glanced away, refusing to meet her eyes. Or at least the closest approximation one could get with a helmet.
"I apologize, but-"
"No, no excuses. I don't want to hear any excuses from you." She snapped, raising her voice a little more than she meant to, which meant she quickly gained Batman's attention.
"Hawkgirl, stand down." He snapped.
But Hawkgirl couldn't quite bring herself to do so, instead stopping and grabbing Aqualad's arm in a tight grip. "I told you explicitly what would happen if any of us tried to take Clayface on alone, and you. Didn't. Listen. If we had died, would you even care?"
"Hawkgirl!"
Ski'Lira froze at the barked command before releasing Aqualad's arm. Clenching her jaw, she looked up to see Batman standing in front of them, disapproval practically radiating from him.
For the rest of the walk, Aqualad was moved to the front of the group just behind Batman with Hawkgirl sandwiched between Superboy and Robin at the very back, with Miss Martian and Kid Flash acting as a buffer.
It came as a relief to everyone when they finally reached the Zeta Point.
MOUNT JUSTICE
AUGUST 27TH, 2010
07:58 EDT
"I need to talk to Aqualad." Batman announced after they had all finally made it inside the cave. "The rest of you, hit the showers and head home."
"Head home?" Superboy scoffed. "I am home."
Wally, M'Gann, and Superboy all immediately headed deeper inside the mountain, while Ski'Lira and Robin stayed behind with Aqualad. Hawkgirl had her arms crossed, more than ready for what was sure to be a hell of a lecture.
"Just Aqualad." Batman said, his tone leaving no room for argument.
Shooting Aqualad one last scathing glare, Ski'Lira headed towards the showers. Vaguely she registered Robin muttering something under his breath as he walked beside her, clearly unhappy with the turn of events, but she was too preoccupied with both her outrage and the mud that was clinging to her.
When she walked into the shower section designated for the female team member's use, M'Gann was humming an aimless tune to herself in one of the cubicles. Setting her set of civvies on the counter, Ski'Lira stripped down and stepped into the spray.
"The mission… didn't really go well, huh?" M'Gann asked tentatively.
"Understatement" Ski'Lira mumbled, scrubbing the top of her head as hard as she could, not caring that she was only tangling it further. All she cared about was getting the unidentified sewer detritus off of her. "I told him that separating was a bad idea."
"Yeah, it…it was. I still can't believe I let Clayface trick me like that." There was a soft smack noise that was presumably M'Gann hitting her hand against the wall of the shower in frustration.
"Now you know for next time. This won't be the last time someone will try to use our teammate's faces against us, I can guarantee that."
"I'm definitely not looking forward to that…" M'Gann paused when she heard a hearty whump noise. "Um… Are you okay?"
Hawkgirl let out a frustrated snarl as she turned in the shower stall, whapping her wings firmly on the walls again. "This cubicle is too small to properly clean my wings."
"Do you… need help?"
Letting out a long huff, Ski'Lira turned off the shower and mentally declared defeat. "I appreciate the offer, but I doubt it will help. I'm just going to go home." Not caring that she was still dripping wet, she retrieved her clothes and pulled them on, along with her cloth mask that quickly soaked through with water thanks to her hair.
As she tucked her dirtied uniform, armor, and mace under her arm, M'Gann stepped out tentatively from the shower, a bright yellow towel wrapped around her. "Um, have a nice night, Hawkgirl."
"You too." Giving a farewell wave with her free hand, Ski'Lira trudged out of the bathroom, leaving wet footprints in her wake.
H
ST. ROCH, LOUISIANA
AUGUST 27TH, 2010
07:12 CST
"Well, this is definitely one of the stranger things I've caught you doing."
Ski'Lira shot a glare her father's way, but didn't stop her task. Namely, she was carefully trying to power wash her wings via the hose attached to the side of the house.
Shaking his head with a fond smile on his face, he took the hose from her hand. "Turn around"
Relieved that she wouldn't have to keep twisting her arms into steadily more impossible angles to wash off her feathers, she complied and stretched her wings to their full length. The moment the first powerful stream hit her, she tensed a little, but stayed still.
"What the hell did you get into?" Katar asked as he stepped closer. "It's like glue."
"Sewer sludge, mud, Clayface, and brick dust." She listed off in monotone.
"… I do not envy you."
She twisted her head to snap at him, only to earn a blast of water straight in the face.
"I missed." Her father smirked, looking far too pleased with himself.
Exhaling sharply through her nose, she faced back forward.
By the time the last particle of dust and the final smudges of goo had finally been removed from her feathers, Ski'Lira was a sopping wet mess.
"Go dry off and change," Katar told her. "And then we're heading out."
Ski'Lira's brows furrowed and she momentarily ceased squeezing water out of her hair. "Where are we going?"
"I need to get back to the museum. I still have some work I need to get done."
That just confused her further. "Then why did you come home?"
"Because a certain bat told me I might need to have a talk with my daughter."
H
Casting a last look around to make absolutely sure that no one had somehow managed to sneak into the room without her realizing, Ski'Lira plucked the aviators off of her face and stuffed them into the front pocket of her baggy green khaki jacket. After rolling up the sleeves of said jacket (and the black shirt she wore underneath) and snapping on a pair of disposable latex gloves, she snagged a pair of long tweezers and a bottle of specially made adhesive from a nearby drawer.
Laid out on the metal tabletop before her was a section of mosaic art, torn straight from a wall in Venice. The piece had very recently been recovered from an art smuggling ring, thanks to the efforts of a certain pair of winged vigilantes. Thus, the piece had been snapped up by the completely civilian (and definitely not alien vigilantes) curators of the Stonechat Museum of Art and History.
However, during transit the mosaic had suffered some damage, with a good chunk of the tesserae falling off. Most of them were still intact, but a few had broken or cracked. Work had already been done to both clean the mosaic and its pieces as well as remove the rest of the loose tiles. Replacements had been provided for the tesserae that were lost completely or too damaged to reapply.
With a reference image tacked onto the desk's lamp and containers bearing the necessary tesserae, it was Ski'Lira's job to reassemble the mosaic so it was ready for display. Checking the reference image, she started from the upper left hand corner and set to work.
She remained undisturbed in her work, music filling the silence via the radio in the corner, which was set to the classical music station. After the day she had, a menial task and soothing music was exactly what she needed to reign in her explosive temper.
The telltale sound of the door opening roused her from the nearly meditative state she had slipped into while working.
"It's just me." Carter announced his presence immediately. "How's it looking, Skylar?"
Despite the fact that they were the only two people in the restoration section of the museum, all of the Halls still enforced a strict 'No Thanagarian names outside the home or pre-approved settings' rule. It was better to be safe than sorry, hence why both were wearing baggy jackets that completely obscured their wings.
"It's coming along." She scooted her chair over slightly so he could see for himself. In the process, he sat down a Styrofoam cup of tea and a blueberry muffin on a cleared part of her workstation. As he inspected her project, she pulled off her gloves, throwing them away before snagging the tea and sipping at it.
"Excellent work" Carter stepped back and headed to his own table (which was right next to hers). Instead of a mosaic, his bore several different pieces of Viking jewelry that needed to be thoroughly inspected before they could be put on display.
"How's upstairs?" She asked, mouth full of muffin and words coming out barely legible.
Carter was nonplussed, sitting down, putting on gloves, and starting on his own work. "We finally got in the replacement cases installed for the gem collection and the security system reconnected. That took up most of today, really."
Despite what one may believe, the replacement wasn't due to a break-in. A new hire on the janitorial staff had accidentally tripped the alarm and panicked, shattering the glass with a broom handle. Needless to say, the man had been given a stern warning from both of the curators.
And no one ever wanted to be on the wrong side of a lecture from Carter and Shayera Hall.
"All in all, not nearly as interesting as what you did today."
There it was. She had been waiting for her father to finally bring up the disastrous Clayface mission. She'd been suspicious of his near silence the entire car ride over to the museum and how he'd merely left her to her own devices in the restoration room.
Choking down the last of her muffin, she pulled on a new pair of gloves and returned to replacing tesserae. "I suppose."
"Why don't you tell me about it?"
"I don't see why, considering…" She trailed off, checking the corner security camera.
"Security feed's off, the doors are locked and alarmed, and the only other person in this building is the night guard who is well out of earshot." Carter explained succinctly. "I thought you would appreciate some privacy."
Ski'Lira just continued her prior thought. "Considering Batman probably already told you what happened."
"I won't deny that, but I'd like to hear your perspective."
Clenching her jaw, she ordered her thoughts, and did as he asked. In as professional a manner as she could manage, she recounted the events of the mission, starting from their debriefing with Batman to the moment he dismissed them from Mount Justice. All the while, she kept steadily replacing tesserae, the task grounding her.
Katar remained silent for a seemingly endless minute before he ripped off his gloves with a heavy sigh, tossing them idly into a nearby trashcan. "You know, your mother and I figured something like this would happen sooner or later."
"Something like what?" The young Thanagarian looked up from her work, setting the pliers back down on the tabletop, abandoning them for the moment.
"To put it crudely, butting heads with your superior." He answered, running a hand through his brunette hair, making it stick up in odd angles. "Though we thought it would be a little bloodier."
That earned him a burning glare as a silent response.
"The fact of the matter is that the mission was technically a success, despite the fact that you deviated from your objective. And what's rule five?"
"Always expect a plan to go wrong and adapt accordingly." She recited, but she narrowed her eyes a little. "But that wasn't the problem. The problem was that our appointed leader approved a terrible plan and didn't listen to my superior advice."
"Fair, but this isn't unexpected." At her confused look, he continued. "Your team is new. Very new. You've been together for barely two months. If you were already a well-oiled machine, I and the other members of the League would be very concerned. Not to mention, your different backgrounds probably aren't helping. Robin, Kid Flash, and Artemis are all street-trained, Miss Martian has trained extensively in power use with little to no actual combat education, Superboy is effectively starting from scratch, Aqualad has formal Atlantean military service under his belt, while you have standard Thanagarian combat and military training. You can see where problems might arise."
"I knew that from the moment we agreed to stick together." Ski'Lira pointed out, nose wrinkling a little. "But that doesn't change the fact that Aqualad made a mistake that nearly got us all killed."
Katar was silenced by that frank statement for a good few minutes, mouth set in a grim line and eyes glazing over slightly, clearly debating his next course of action. His daughter merely remained silent and waited for whatever justification he would offer for Aqualad's decision or reprimand for her behavior.
What she hadn't expected him to do was start telling a story.
"Back in my days as one of the Wingmen, one of my fellow officers, someone who I had gone through the academy with, was promoted as our commanding officer after the former leader died in a raid gone wrong. We all agreed he was best suited to the position, as he had proven himself highly competent with a knack for coming up with improvised plans in the field. Of course, there came a day when things just didn't go his way. Our squad was sent to investigate a series of seemingly random murders, but we ended up finding an entire faction of organized mercenaries. Their base was well defended and our escape route had already been blocked off, which meant that it was either fight or die. Our leader came up with a plan to take our chances and move the entire squad forward to engage the main body of mercenaries. None of us agreed with him. I suggested splitting the squad in half, one group to distract and the other to sabotage the building itself to bring it down right on top of the mercs. He refused and we went with his plan instead." Katar paused, gaze dropping a little. "We lost two good officers that day… The rest of us ended up in the hospital. While we were there, my comrade apologized for not listening, admitting that he had grown overconfident with his planning and should have listened. He learned from his mistakes and was eventually promoted to captain… I believe he still runs his own precinct now."
Tilting her head back, Ski'Lira stared up at the ceiling. "So… Aqualad was wrong. And I should forgive him for it because it's unlikely he'll make the same mistake again."
"That was the gist of it, yes."
Ski'Lira sighed and cracked her neck from side to side, picking up her pliers and glue once more. "I understand, ta'me. And… thank you."
H
MOUNT JUSTICE
SEPTEMBER 3RD, 2010
18:05 EDT
"I like you guys, but I have to admit, it was very nice having some time off." Wally announced from where he was gracelessly sprawled on the couch in the common room.
"You know I hate to agree with Baywatch, but he has a point." Artemis chimed in, folding her arms. She was sitting cross-legged on the kitchen counter, bow lying across her lap.
Batman had called them all in for a new mission and told them to wait in the kitchen until he was ready to fully inform them of the situation.
"Time off?" Robin cackled a little. "There's no such thing in Gotham. Unlike you guys, I was still out every night."
"Oh yes, please do tell us in detail how you are the superior vigilante." Wally said dramatically.
Leaving the two to their good-natured bickering, Hawkgirl nudged Superboy's shoulder with her own to garner his attention. "Did you enjoy your break?"
Superboy's eyes flickered over to Miss Martian, who briefly met his gaze before looking away, blushing a little. Hawkgirl cocked a brow as she noticed the small smiles appearing on both teen's faces. "I'm going to take that as a yes."
Before she could interrogate him about this new development, Robin received a virtual summons from the Bat, ordering them into the main hub. Artemis hopped off the counter, slinging her bow back over her shoulder as Kid Flash zipped up to his feet.
Just before they stepped fully inside the main room, Hawkgirl heard the Zeta Tube power up as the computer announced a new arrival. "Recognized: Aqualad, B02."
Batman continued staring at a holographic screen and tapping away at the accompanying keyboard. "Made your decision?"
Aqualad gave a terse nod. "The decision is made. I am here. One hundred percent."
Hawkgirl had no idea what that was about, but she was pretty sure that Kaldur would probably tell them himself later.
"Just in time for your next mission." The Dark Knight announced as the Team all regrouped in front of him. "The Watchtower detected an immense power surge in the Bialyan Desert…"
The 'Wingmen' are basically the Thanagarian equivalent of police officers (hence the original name 'Hawk-Police'), of which Katar Hol is canonically a member in multiple incarnations and occasionally Shayera is too. For this fic, I've opted to mix different timelines, so Katar was one of the Wingmen while Shayera remained with the Thanagarian military, a fact that will be expanded upon later on in the story.
So, originally the next chapter was supposed to be an original chapter akin to 'The Direct Approach' (chapter 9 of this story, in case you've forgotten like I did), but in writing this one I realized Bereft picks up right after Downtime. Thus, instead you'll be getting Bereft next time!
As always, comments, questions, and concerns are always welcome and I hope you all have a lovely day!
Final note before I let you go, last time I published a chapter at one o'clock in the morning in an attempt to publish it on Halloween. As I am writing this, it is currently 2:30 in the morning and I still regret nothing.