Finally, he found her. There she was. Sitting on a hill. Wingless. Broken. She was staring at the full moon. It had taken him a while. But he had finally tracked her down. "You know, you're a hard bird to find," he said aloud as he walked up behind her. He could have tried to sneak up on her, but she had no wings. Where was she going to go? She was no threat.

The wingless female slowly stood to her feet and turned to face him. "You know me?" Lobo asked.

"You're a bounty hunter," she stated matter-of-factly. "Lobo."

"That's me. You had me confused for a bit," he said as the two slowly circled each other. "I was all turned around. How did you change your scent?" he inquired. "Honestly, it took me almost more than several days to find you. That's the longest it has ever taken me to find anyone." The bird studied him with an unwavering stare. It unnerved Lobo—just a bit. "Enough chatter," he pulled out a pair of high-tech, alien handcuffs. "I'm gonna need you to be a good little birdie and put these on."

"Or what?" she challenged.

"Please," Lobo said with a sly grin, "you have no wings. You can't fly. You can't run. I'm surprised you can walk. Don't make this harder than it has to be."

"You should do what he says, Shayera," another voice joined them.

Chey-Ara stepped out from the cover of the trees. "What the – what are you doing here? Are you following me?" Lobo asked in shock.

"Lieutenant Issi requested I follow you as backup," Chey-Ara replied.

Lobo rolled his eyes, turning back to Shayera. "Look, I am so sick of dealing with you hawks. Can you please come with me?" Lobo pled. "I'm begging. This is me begging." Shayera took a step back, taking a defensive stance. Chey-Ara squinted her eyes, studying the disgraced Hawkgirl in front of her.

"If you want me," Shayera bent down, "come and get me." Then she shot straight into the air.

"What the-!" Lobo shouted. "I thought you said she couldn't fly!" he screamed, running to his Spacehog.

"She can't," Chey-Ara shouted back, the shock quickly replaced with concentration. "It's not her," she stated as she took off, following the fake Shayera. In hindsight, this hadn't been her best idea. As soon as she took off straight into the air, the fake Shayera caught her by the neck, catching Chey-Ara off guard. The fake Shayera's eyes glowed green for a split second. "You have a very powerful mind," a very deep, masculine voice came from the Shayera impersonator, momentarily confusing the dark-skinned Thanagarian. "It is almost as powerful as Shayera's. Almost." Before she knew it, Chey-Ara was face-to-face with the shapeshifter. Gosh, she thought, what was that four-letter word humans used when something unexpected or unpleasant happened? Oh yeah. "Fuck," she gasped as she stared into the red eyes of The Martian Manhunter.


"Shayera."

Shayera paused mid-cobra-pose and cocked her head to the side before acknowledging Bruce. "Yes?" she looked up at Bruce, who had just dismounted from a salmon ladder.

"I have my guess, and I'm sure I'm right; but I'd rather hear from you. Why are you so integral to this peace treaty? Thanagar disowned you. Why are you still their problem?"

Shayera sighed heavily before answering, gracefully moving into the next pose. "Thanagar and Gordane have been at war for, well, no one knows when it began. We've been at war since before my grandparents' birth." Shayera pursed her lips in contemplation. "Growing up, we were all told stories and shown pictures of dissected Thanagarians who'd been captured. It was a warning to us – the price of our failure. Gordane usually left Thanagar alone whenever they had a warrior to play with and vice versa," Shayera finished morosely. Bruce opened his mouth but didn't know what to say. "Failure isn't tolerated on Thanagar. Soldiers that fell behind were usually left behind," Shayera tried but failed to smirk. "An armistice will most likely be called once I've been delivered to Gordane, where they will be free to do whatever they want with me." A depressing silence filled the space. "How close were you with your guess?" Shayera asked.

"Um…I expected the reasoning to be…different," Bruce shook his head. "So, Thanagar will offer you up in exchange…for peace? The word 'barbaric' doesn't even begin to describe that, Shayera. It doesn't make any sense."

"Yeah, well…" Shayera shrugged after finishing her yoga pose.

"That won't happen, Shayera," Bruce leveled a gaze at her. "I won't let that happen."

Shayera scoffed. "You may not have a choice."


J'ohnn tightened his hold around the young Thanagarian's neck. He could feel her trying to quell her rising panic. Even without their Nth metal masks, Thanagarians were very hard to read telepathically. This one's mind was not as powerful or sharp as Shayera's. He should be able to break through her defenses with relative ease. Before he could form another thought, he felt a chain wrap around his foot and yank him back down. J'ohnn didn't have a chance to brace for impact. He hit the ground hard, losing his grip on the young hawkgirl.

"I heard there was a Martian on Earth," Lobo said as he began to drag J'ohnn towards him, "I just assumed it was a myth, you know, since all y'all were supposedly eradicated." J'ohnn phased through the chain while still keeping a mental eye on the hawkgirl – who had flown to Lobo's side. "But look at you," Lobo said as he pulled something from his back pocket. "You must be the last martian. Ever." J'ohnn allowed his hands to morph into scythes. To her credit, the young female hawk took a small step back. But Lobo released a laugh. "Now, is it just you, or is it your entire race that has an allergy to fire?" Lobo asked as he held up a…grenade launcher? "Let's find out." Lobo pulled the trigger, and a fireball/grenade – J'ohnn didn't have the time to contemplate what it was – because a ball of fire was heading right towards him. He expertly dodged the fiery onslaught. As Lobo fired one after the other, J'ohnn bobbed and weaved and dodged before defending an attack from Chey-Ara, who was brandishing a sword.

J'ohnn responded by transforming his arms into scythes once more, blocking every swing and parry by Chey-Ara. The girl was good; J'ohnn gave her that. But fortunately, she was still on the defense. He sensed/heard the trigger of a gun and quickly became intangible, causing Chey-Ara to get hit by the projectile. "Aahh!" she screamed as she flew back, a few trees breaking her fall. "What are you doing!" she yelled at Lobo as she slowly tried to stand back up.

"Sorry, sweetheart," he said as he aimed again. "Forget this," Lobo said, dropping his weapon. Instead, he grabbed his chain whip, which he immediately lit on fire. He whirled it around, failing to hit the Martian. "Why won't you just stand still?" Lobo grunted. Then, J'ohnn disappeared. "Aww, crap," Lobo said, realizing his predicament. He began to back up slowly. "Where'd you go?" Lobo asked, pulling out a blow torch that resembled a gun. "When I find you…." his voice trailed off as he looked through his gun's scope. He looked over at Chey-Ara, who was now on her feet, looking around desperately for the invisible man while gripping the handle of her sword with both hands. "Why didn't you tell me he could become invisible!" Lobo demanded of the bird.

"I thought you were the Main Man who knew everything about everything!" Chey-Ara shouted back. Lobo growled under his breath. Did he mention how much he hated hawk-people?

But then, he froze. He didn't mean to freeze, but something was crushing his chest. An unseen object was constricting his arms, legs, and torso. Lobo looked down at his body, his neck straining. There was nothing there. His weapon suddenly flew from his hand and away from him. "What the…!" he gasped as the Martian Manhunter slowly appeared face-to-face, wrapped around his entire body like a python. "What…are…you?" Lobo gasped.

"You are after a friend of mine," was all J'ohnn said as he squeezed Lobo like a boa constrictor. "I cannot allow you to go free."

"I'm just…doing my…job," Lobo struggled to speak. "The Thana…garians –"

"The Thanagarians will be dealt with accordingly-" J'ohnn was cut off when he felt small yet strong arms wrap around his neck, putting him in a chokehold. J'ohnn released his hold on Lobo, focusing on the small but muscular arms cutting off his airflow. Lobo, no longer restrained, turned and began to land punch after punch into J'ohnn's gut. J'ohnn used one of his arms to hold Lobo at bay while still trying to release himself from the young Thanagarian's hold. "You're starting to piss me off," Lobo growled, picking up the blow torch he had dropped. The flames shot out of the pistol-like object, engulfing the manhunter's face.

J'ohnn released a dreadful roar as he flew back, Chey-Ara still on his back. But J'ohnn had blindly flown them back into a tree, effectively knocking Chey-Ara out. J'ohnn continued smacking his face, trying to extinguish the flames that were no longer there. He stopped when he felt a heavy weight on his chest. Lobo had placed his heavy boot on J'ohnn's chest, and J'ohnn was now staring down the barrel of a blow torch gun. "Man," Lobo said, "you, the Kryptonian…fire and a pebble is all that's needed to bring y'all to your knees. It's pathetic. Now, why don't you save me the tro—Umph!" The weight was suddenly off of J'ohnn's chest. J'ohnn slowly raised himself onto his elbows to see a flurry of wings, a mace, and fists. The newcomer was clearly out-of-practice but did enough damage to send Lobo running. The newcomer – a tall male, Thanagarian – reached J'ohnn and helped the green alien to his feet. "I'm Carter Hall," the Thanagarian spoke before J'ohnn could say anything. "Are you hurt?"

"No," J'ohnn answered gratefully. "Thank you."

"Mmm," a soft moan interrupted the two males. They both looked down to see Chey-Ara regaining consciousness. She blinked her eyes a couple of times. Her face then contorted into a scowl as she swore in Thanagar. "Crap." Lieutenant Issi was going to destroy her.