Beauty and the Beast

Shayera Hol looked down from the top of a building. The bleak, decrepit Gotham cityscape oozed darkness despite the lights emanating from the buildings and street lights. It was as if the very light itself was being suffocated by the misery and darkness of the city.

“I shouldn’t be here,” she muttered. She instinctively glanced around, half-expecting Batman to be waiting behind her. She found nothing but the bare gray rooftop.

Shayera and Gotham’s Caped Crusader weren’t on the best of terms. The last time she was in Gotham she had been at the head of an army of Thanagarian warriors who sacked and subjugated the city. A lot of humans had died that day, despite her attempts to minimize casualties.

"I wonder if Bruce would attack me if he knew I was in his city."

She dismissed the idea as soon as it entered her head. The man had been adamant that she be removed from the Justice League, but he’d said nothing about Earth or Gotham itself.

Her exile from the Justice League had been a very public affair. Her former teammates had tried to minimize her role in the invasion, but the damning truth had still come out. Not even the good word of Superman himself could mitigate the near-universal revulsion that followed her everywhere she went. She bore it like a soldier, her chin held high even though sometimes she thought about ending it all. Mercifully, she'd always worn her helmet while she was out as Hawkgirl, so no one recognized her face. She could still live among humans as long as she didn't wear her helmet and armor and kept her wings hidden.

She donned a simple black Thanagarian jumpsuit. The outfit hugged her voluptuous body like a second skin. The upper part of her tits spilled outwards over her cleavage and the pants conformed a little too tightly around her big ass, but it allowed her to fit in surprisingly well among humans if she stayed at a distance. Her wings were tucked behind her back, ready for use if needed. Those could always be covered by a raincoat or something similar, but she hadn’t thought to bring one.

Shayera’s red hair rippled in the cool Gotham breeze. It was surprisingly peaceful there, like the eye of a hurricane.

“John…” she whispered. Her piercing emerald eyes focused on a man on the street below.

One of Earth's Green Lanterns, John Stewart had just exited a movie theatre and was walking down the street, arm in arm with another woman. The dark-skinned man was smiling, a rare thing for an austere military man like him. The woman was shorter than him, with short hair and dark skin. She leaned into his broad shoulders and giggled.

I can tell from her bearing that she's not a soldier. She's nothing like me, really. Does John hate me so much that he'd choose a mate who was the furthest possible thing from me?

A knife of hurt stabbed through her chest. A lesser woman would have wept or clenched her fists and stewed in self-pity. A greater woman would have swooped down and demanded that her ex give her a second chance.

Instead, she merely watched stoically as the man she loved found love with another woman. She'd never felt more alone.

They’ve been dating for months. It won’t be long before they move in together. Why the hell am I still doing this? Just to **** myself?

She looked away from them. The sky was beginning to darken as the sun finally crested over the horizon. The night air was peaceful, unlike the city.

She spread her wings and took off into the sky.

Her emotions whirled as she flew, but the peace of the sky mollified her somewhat. Her wings flapped as she slowly ascended above the city.

A small metal object whooshed past her, within inches of her face.

“What the-?!” her eyes widened as she swerved to evade. It whistled through the air before stopping and falling back down, smashing through the roof of a nearby tenement.

She hovered in the air for a few moments, trying to digest what had just happened.

What the hell was that?

A noise and a flash of movement drew her attention downward. A being that could be described as a monster was climbing out of what appeared to be an open manhole.

I guess that explains what that metal disk was.

She drew her mace. The silverish weapon was impossibly light, yet incredibly deadly. Such was the case of all weapons endowed with her world’s most important commodity; nth metal.

The mace crackled with electrical energy. She felt the familiar rush of the anticipation of a fight. This is what she had been born and trained to do, so why was she hesitating?

Batman wouldn’t take kindly to me cleaning up criminals… or monsters in his city.

Another flash of movement drew her eyes.

A boy?

An older boy who looked to be in his late teens was lying prone on the ground, his eyes wide. The monster grinned viciously at him.

“Food,” it hissed in a tone that seemed only vaguely human.

That settled it.

She clutched her mace in both hands and dove towards the alley. The monster lunged towards the boy, its scaly claws extended. She doubted the boy would survive a single slash of those claws.

Hawkgirl grunted as she increased her speed. The air whistled around her and time seemed to slow. She drew her mace back and slammed it against the giant crocodile-man’s skull with a loud crunch.

The monster was propelled away from her and crashed into the side of a building, cracking brick and mortar and smashing glass.

The monster’s eyes blinked, unfocused. She took the opportunity to get in another vicious strike, sending it careening across the alleyway.

The giant crocodile-man snarled. Crimson blood poured out of a gaping wound in its head, giving it an altogether more menacing look.

The creature seemed to have some level of intelligence, however, because it apparently decided that the fight was too much for it and made a break for the manhole it had crawled out of, disappearing into the darkness with horrifying ease.

Shayera let it go. She wasn’t going to risk fighting the thing in its home turf without her armor.

She looked over at the boy, who had only just managed to get to his feet. A look of awe crossed his face before his eyes fell to her chest. She snorted and quirked an eyebrow at him and he looked away, blushing.

Shayera shook her head. She knew she was an extremely attractive woman by human standards, but it was still sometimes jarring how uninhibited most human men were, especially the ones still going through puberty. She tried not to take it too personally.

Hm. If Power Girl were in my place, I doubt she’d have been nearly as forgiving.

“Are you alright?” she put on a friendly face as she walked towards him. She was taller than him and more muscular, but he didn’t seem intimidated by her. That was good.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little rattled. That was… the way you just smashed Killer Croc over the head with that mace of yours was amazing! Thank you so much. If you hadn’t shown up I’d be gator food,” the young man gushed and she couldn’t help but feel a little prideful. It had been a while since someone from Earth had praised her. “Say, Hawkgirl. You’re really beautiful. How come you always fly around with that obnoxious helmet? Why aren't you wearing it now?”

"Who are you calling obnoxious, kid?"

The boy's eyes widened and he raised his hands.

"Sorry, I meant no disrespect. I just think it's a shame that no one knows how beautiful you truly are. Um, I'm Jason, by the way."

What a strange guy. Well at least he’s not taking out his phone and snapping pictures or anything. I really need to find an alternative to my helmet if I'm going to try saving people without panicking them.

“Well it was nice to be able to just live my life without people recognizing me on the street,” she said, ignoring the insult to her people’s wargear. "But now? I'm not exactly the most popular person on Earth at the moment."

“Yeah, no kidding. Pretty much everyone thinks you're a traitor,” he said. She crossed her arms and glared at him. She felt her breasts being pushed upwards and noticed the boy's- Jason's eyes flick to them for a moment. “Um, but I don’t. Especially not after Superman said you switched sides at the end and helped save us all. No one really gives you any credit for that."

She raised a red eyebrow.

Huh. That's a first.

Shayera sighed again.

“Look, are you going to be alright getting home tonight? I really should be going,” she said.

The guy waved away her concern, much to her relief.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. I doubt Croc’ll be back for a while since you scared him off. There’s… there’s just one thing I’d like to ask you before you go.”

His eyes fell to her breasts again.

“What is it?” she asked curtly, clutching her mace in her right hand where he could see it easily.

The boy smiled at her.

“Could you look into my eyes real quick?”

Well aren’t you a little creep?

Still, she did as the boy asked.

Hm. He has such pretty eyes…