Wednesday Morning September 20th, 2024. Northern-Hollywood California.
Kyle arrived at his apartment by sunrise. He didn't fly in the window all spectularly like usual. His ring was just about dead and every muscle in his body felt on the verge of tearing irreparably. A feeling that only grew worse when he lost his suit and hopped on the bus.
It didn't feel real anymore. Parties, girls, petty fights all while small genocides and age old wars were waged beyond the stars. Stars he could reach in minutes. Seconds if he pushed himself. He could feel it.
Twice he had to forcibly pull his mind elsewhere before he began drawing on his pant leg with his pen.
He was thankful when the bus finally reached his street. The walk to his apartment was a battle. He stumbled twice as he nodded off midwalk.
But that was history.
He'd made it to his apartment. When he got the door open, Guy was in his kitchen burning a boatload of bacon and sausage. John was reading about Greek history and Ganthet was eating a bowl of cheerios, pickles and grape soda being subbed in for milk. They both looked up from the couch at the same time in worry.
Their faces only grew more extreme as M'gann revealed herself. Now holding a form more similar to a girl in middle-school except she had no hair, pure white skin, red eyes and claws.
Immediately, Guy suited up with a sausage in hand like it was a sword.
"Don't move, rookie! You brought back an unwanted souvenir!" He threw the sausage at her.
Kyle caught it before it could hit her face and slowly handed it to her.
She scarfed it down before flying over to the table and taking a seat, "More please….! Cool hair." She morphed her own head of hair into existence. Red. The same color as Guy's.
They all looked back to Kyle.
"I take it your field trip with the veteran went well." John said.
"I wouldn't say that."
"I would."
Kyle turned around in the doorway at the sound of the familiar female voice. But he wasn't the one to recognize her right away.
"Sheyara.." John said.
His tone made Kyle turn around. He'd never seen the marine space-hero so off-center.
"I—what are you doing here?" John asked.
"Since when do you stutter?" Kyle asked.
"Since his ex showed up."
"Hawkgirl?" Kyle suddenly could put a name to the voice.
As the tall and well muscled woman walked in, she held a finger to her lips, "No mask, no moniker, rookie."
M'gann waved from the table.
Sheyara winked at her with a wolfish grin. Kyle didn't know whether to put a shield around the Martian or whoever even thought of disrespecting her. Probably the latter since the bird woman already threatened to mince her own friend over her.
"Wait— did you say ex?" Kyle asked.
"Kyle." John said, seemingly back in his own skin.
"My bad— it's just. I've never met one of your exes."
"A story for another time."
"Ah. And here I thought we could all take a nice bus ride down memory lane." Sheyara said. Her short brown hair was styled in a pixie cut. She wore dark eye makeup and had a septum in her nose that gleamed unapologetically in tandem with the studs on her leather jacket. She looked….. like she swung maces in her spare time and had giant hawkwings.
"I see your sarcasm hasn't lost its edge." John replied.
"Just trying to make up for what you lack." Sheyara replied.
An awkward silence loomed.
Not really. No such thing existed around Guy Gardner.
"So should we get you guys a room, or are you going for it right here in the livingroom? If you are, can I bring popcorn?" Guy asked.
"Nobody is going for anything." John said as the two continued to stare at eachother.
"I like the greys. It suits you." Sheyara said in reference to the greying hairs on his faded head.
"Thank you, Sheyara."
Awkward silence came for real this time as Guy scooped all of the sausages off the skillet and onto a plate he handed to M'gann. Her head expanded into a massive serpent shape allowing her to inhale the whole thing, plate included. Then she was back to her current normal, letting out a salty burp.
Guy smiled, "Badass."
"Badass." M'gann replied.
Kyle looked back to the exes, "Sheyara, how'd you find where I live?"
She tapped her cheek, "Hawk vision, remember? I watched you from a mountain range in Nevada and it led me here."
"And what was that for? A mission debrief? Please don't tell me something else happened— I'm already on the verge of fainting." Kyle replied.
"There's always something happening. You're a space-cop. Get used to it."
"I'm an artist actually….. but you're right." Kyle replied.
Sheyara nodded, "Ok artist. I'm actually here because there was more to that Mars madness than what you experienced."
Kyle nodded.
Sheyara turned to John and Guy, "He threw a nuke at Darkseid's son."
John sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
Guy looked at M'gann.
"….Badass?"
Guy nodded, "But don't give Abercrombie and fitch over there an ego. He's still a noodle-armed rookie, you understand?"
M'gann didn't reply and instead shot her tongue out like a frog and skewered four of Guy's sausages.
"What? It wasn't that crazy— I had help. As you all know." Kyle replied.
Sheyara leaned forward and pulled up Kyle's shirt.
Aside from his abs that looked ready to rip through his skin, he was covered in bruises and frost bites.
"He was so low on ring power his suit was evaporating when he did it." Sheyaea explained.
John cursed, "If I would've known, I would've never let him go."
"What's the problem? Now that I think about it, Alan was acting different after mars too. Did I do something wrong?" Kyle asked.
"No. You did something right. Too right. I have a special place in Apokalips saved for me because I beat Kalibak as a child— I'm in his nightmares. Because of me, a demigod is terrified of hawks. But it's been years since then. He's an established warlord who by the looks of it, is being trained to become a second coming of his father. You saw the whole of Mars was ruled by Apokaliptian enforcements. They're probably the reason the Saturnian genocide was even attempted."
"Darksied wants to take away any concept of godhood they might have. He was trying to make them destroy what they created. To reduce them to simpler beings." John said.
"So they can be his soldiers and nothing else." Guy completed.
"That's…. dark." Kyle mumbled.
Sheyara looked at him, "Pun intended?"
"I don't know, I'm sleep deprived."
"Evidently, you're also in a planet conquerors crosshairs." John explained.
"Darkseid…" Kyle mumbled.
"Last person to do that and live to tell the tale was Superman." John said.
"And the last Lantern?" Sheyara asked.
"You know what." John said firmly.
"Does he?"
"Kyle Rayner of earth the last lantern for a reason." Ganthet replied casually, reminding everyone he was there.
"I saw it through the boom tube. Darkseid was watching. Like a child seeing a new toy they wanted."
"Yea, well tell him to get in line." Kyle said with a yawn as he stretched.
"I think he already is." Sheyara said.
Kyle audibly gulped.
"What are you boys doing tonight?"
"Probably gonna take John to the bar after you leave." Guy said.
M'gann nodded enthusiastically, "Bar!"
Sheyara sighed.
"Wrong. You're coming with me. To metropolis. We need to bust a couple Intergang HQ's and get some answers." Sheyara said.
"Wait, that works perfectly." Kyle realized, "We needed to go there anyway to look into Lex Luthors business dealings."
Sheyara raised an eyebrow.
"We heard from an informant that he might be funding an underground government agency looking to recreate the Justice League under the command of… well, the wrong people. We don't know it's him for sure but it's someone with enough money to buy out or silence all the other major villain groups we've run into. Project Cadmus, Bloodpack, I guess now we can see if Intergang fits the bill too."
Sheyara nodded, "Great. I'll meet you guys back here tonight."
Kyle nodded. The bird woman shook up with everyone once before leaving.
Kyle and John stood in the open doorway watching her leave.
"Mr. Stewart…. I wasn't familiar with your game." Kyle held a fist out.
John bumped knuckles with him, "You don't know the half of it son. You haven't even left our solar system."
"….yet."
"Yet."