To his eyes, she was falling in slow motion. He had just dispatched
his current opponent, one of the myriad robot Key-Men employed
by the League's adversary, the Key, when he saw her fall. She
had taken the brunt of a blast from the villain himself, fired
from a gun which looked like a huge old fashioned key.
"Dinah!!!!!" Green Arrow screamed, calling out the real name
of his fallen teammate (and girlfriend), Black Canary.
Seeing that she isn't moving, Green Arrow feels real fear for
her well being rising in his throat. Spotting a Key-Man stooping
to grab her, he nocks and fires a blunt tipped arrow in one rapid
motion, knocking the robot to the ground. He slides through the
battle between the rest of the Leaguers and the Key, desperate
to reach her. But just as he is nearing her side, suddenly, everything
goes black.
THE JUSTICE LEAGUE SATELLITE 23,000 MILES ABOVE
THE EARTH
"Dinah!" Green Arrow screams as he bolts awake.
"Easy, Ollie. She's safe." Green Arrow, whose civilian name is
Oliver Queen (Ollie to his friends) looks over to the speaker
who has been sitting next to his bed. The speaker, Hal Jordan,
Ollie's best friend and fellow Justice League member, Green Lantern,
raises his hand to try to calm him down.
"Where is she, Hal?"
"She's in the sickbay. Diana & the Tornado are running some
tests on her with the computers. They said she should be OK, but
they'd rather be safe…."
"Then sorry." Ollie finishes the sentence. "Can I go see her?"
"I think they'd rather you didn't." Hal replies.
"Figures." Ollie pauses for a moment. "I need a beer."
A couple of hours (and several beers) later, Hal and Ollie are
sitting in a well furnished den type room on the satellite.
"I thought she was gone, Hal. I saw her go down."
"You've seen her hit before. You've seen us all take hard hits."
Hal replies.
"I know. But it never seemed as hard as what happened today.
Remember that time you, me and Dinah took on Mark Shaw after we
busted out of the Manhunter base?
"Yeah. Shaw almost took my damn head off"
"It was a harsh shot. And I was looking right at you when you
got hit. But I knew you'd get up. Today, I just wasn't sure Dinah
would get up and it scared the hell out of me."
Ollie swallows the rest of his beer and opens another.
"She's a pro, Ollie. And a tough one at that. She's a lot tougher
than you or me." Hal tells him.
"Yeah." Ollie stares off into space for a moment. "Sometimes,
I wonder if I should be doing this. I'm not a world beater like
you guys. Sometimes, I look at the League and say 'What do I add
to the mix?' To me, Bats is the brains, Superman is the muscle,
you're the big green fist and so forth. But what am I? I'm a guy
with a boxing glove arrow."
"You're the balls, Ollie."
"You saying that I'm a dick, Jordan?" Ollie asks with a smile.
"Very funny. You're the guy that stands up to some super villain
like Darkseid or Amazo with your boxing glove arrow, fully expecting
him to back down, so Batman has the time to come up with some
brilliant plan to take the bad guy down. You're the bravest of
all of us."
"You're the one without fear."
"Is it braver not to have fear or fight the good fight despite
your fear?" Hal replies.
"That's deep, Jordan. Total BS, but pretty deep, nevertheless."
"Probably. You going to be OK? I've got to get back to Earth"
"Hot date?" Ollie asks and Hal nods. "Another M.A.W.?"
"M.A.W.?"
"Model, Actress, Whatever. That's what Dinah calls your various
conquests."
"Something like that."
"I'll be fine. Get out of here."
They slap hands and Hal walks out. Ollie turns and stares out
a window into space.
In the monitor room, Hawkman sits and watches the screens. He's
lost in thought and doesn't hear Wonder Woman enters the room.
"I'm here to relieve you, Katar." She says as she walks up to
him.
"I thought you were caring for Canary." He replies.
"There's nothing I can do that the satellite's computers cannot
do a better job of.." She leans against the monitors.
"I'm scheduled to finish out the night here. Shayera's already
gone home "
"So surprise her. It's not that late." She says pointedly.
"She's asleep. She's got an early meeting with the museum staff
tomorrow. Waking her would not be as romantic as you might think."
He responds.
"Then go talk to Oliver. He could probably use the company."
"That might not be that good of an idea, Princess…." He trails
off.
"I thought you had resolved the issues between you. Buried the
hatchet, so to speak."
He pauses a moment before answering. "We have for the most part.
Our "feud" is a thing of the past. Despite that, I'm not sure
he'd welcome comfort from me. Although I may be the person who
most understands what he's going through."
He doesn't go on and it's clear he doesn't want to. Perceiving
this, Princess Diana stops and picks up his hawk's head mask from
the bank of monitors.
"Go home, Katar. Get some sleep."
Ollie is still staring out the window when the Red Tornado enters
the room. Tornado stops and waits for him to register his presence.
Finally, Ollie does. "Is she OK?"
"With rest, she should regain consciousness in the morning,"
the Android replies.
Ollie is silent for a moment and the Tornado turns to leave.
"Tornado, wait."
Red Tornado turns and faces him "Yes?"
"Look, I'm not very good at apologies and maybe its just the
beer and what happened today but I've been sitting here reflecting
on the way I am and the things I say to people. And well, I'm
sorry. Sometimes I talk before I think and I say things I shouldn't
and do things I shouldn't."
"I take no offense in the way you treat me, nor do I think anyone
else does. No matter what the words you say come out as, those
who know you see the person behind them. Words in the heat of
passion are just that. Words."
Ollie considers this for a moment. "Thanks."
"It is a pleasure. But, Oliver, may I say that retrospection
is not an emotion which suits you." Red Tornado tells him.
"Get out of here, you damn tin can." Ollie replies.
Ollie turns his back . Although neither can see the other's face,
since the face which Tornado uses in his John Smith persona is
covered by his metal face plate and Ollie has his back to the
android, both men are smiling and know that the other is smiling
as well.
Katar Hol hangs his Hawkman wings in the closet which he and
his wife and fellow Justice Leaguer, Hawkwoman keep in their Midway
City home. He turns and is surprised to see her standing in the
doorway.
"Shayera, I thought you were asleep," he says to her.
She walks over and embraces him. "I thought you had monitor duty.
But I couldn't sleep. I was worried about Dinah."
"Diana said she should be fine with some rest. She offered to
relieve me, so I came home"
She smiles. "I'm glad. How is Oliver holding up?"
"I'm not sure. I didn't see him before I left." He embraces her
again for a second and then kisses her.
"Not that I minded, but why the sudden affection?"
"Because I love you, Shayera Hol. I think Oliver thought Dinah
was seriously injured today. I saw him cut across the battle,
completely disregarding everything but her. I would have done
the same had I thought you injured. Before Diana came in, I sat
there tonight on monitor duty, imagining myself in his shoes,
imagining you on that hospital bed. It was horrible."
"I was doing the same. But fortunately, neither of us is on a
hospital bed."
"No, not this time, thank goodness."
"But I must say that all of this bed talk has gotten me thinking."
She smiles archly and extends her hand as she says this. He takes
her hand and they walk out.
Dinah Lance slowly opens her eyes and surveys her surroundings.
Seeing she's in a sickbed surrounded by computers, she tries to
rise, but a throbbing pain in her shoulder stops her.
"Ouch." She settles back on the bed and tries to work a kink
out of her shoulder. She's stretching her arm as Ollie enters.
He looks very hungover.
"Morning, pretty bird."
"Hi, Ollie. You look like hell. I would think you had been the
one who got beat down by the Key," she replies, taking in his
bedraggled appearance.
He shrugs and pulls a chair up alongside the bed. "I did a lot
of thinking last night."
"In between drinks?" she quips.
'I'm serious, Dinah. I thought you were dead and it scared the
hell out of me." She begins to respond but he raises his hand.
"Wait. Let me finish. I've decided something. What we do is dangerous
and I thought I lost you and the thought of a life without you…..
Well, it'd be no life at all. I love you, Dinah."
He pulls a small jewelry box from a pocket in his uniform. "Will
you marry me?"
She's clearly shocked. "Is this for real?"
"I'm afraid so. Well?"
"Of course I'll marry you, you big idiot. It may be pretty dumb
on my part, but I love you."
She strains to try to rise, but fails. She does manage to grab
the strap from his quiver and pull him forward. He doesn't resist
very much. She pulls him to her and they kiss.
"But I'm keeping my own name." They both laugh and kiss again.
NEXT ISSUE: Wedding bells
are ringing and the League gets ready for two of its own to marry.
Plus, certain interested people who are not on the guest list
get wind of things and plan to crash the party. Be here next issue
for Part Two of JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA: The Wedding: "Wedding
Preparations"
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
This story, for the most part, takes place in actual pre-crisis
DCU continuity somewhere between issues 170 to 190 of JLA (1st
series). However, I will be taking certain liberties with DCU
history from the time period. For example, Firestorm will be appearing
next issue, but Iris West (who died right around Firestorm's induction,
give or take a few months) will as well. I will try to keep as
historically accurate as possible, but certain things are going
to be inaccurate to fit the storyline.
The goal here is to present a tribute to the League in its glory
days with its greatest roster, before the angst wrought by Crisis
and, later, Zero Hour. I hope everyone enjoys it.
Thank you for reading, David Tillinger
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