CROSSING THE MAGINOT LINE by BILLA1

Disclaimer: The characters Batman, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Superman, Vixen, Katma Tui & Flash are all owned by DC Comics. This story is intended for my own pleasure and is not for profit. It has been posted to this site for others to read. Places and characters not own by DC Comics are my own creation. Thanks to Merlin Missy for her beta on this story.

Crossing the Maginot Line

Rating: (PG-13)

Synopsis: Shayera Hol & the Vixen help Katma Tui on a personal mission to save a mutual friend. This Alternate Universe story occurs after "Wake the Dead."

Time cast a spell on you...you won't forget me...
I know I could've loved you but you would not let me...

I'll follow you down 'til the sound of my voice will haunt you.
You'll never get away from the sound of the woman that loves you. - Stevie Nicks (Silver Spring)

Two weeks ago today on the planet Kylaq in the Capella Star System

(Four months after the death of Solomon Grundy at the hands of Shayera Hol)

"Did you forget your key again?" Natoma Oro asked as she walked to the door to answer the ringing doorbell. She had been packing most of the day and realized that she had not dressed yet even through it was mid-afternoon. Pomelo should have been home ten minutes ago, but this was his last day at work at the Ministry of Defense and maybe he was simply saying his farewells.

She and her husband were going to leave this planet today and had arranged transport to a neighboring planet. "Anywhere but here," they had said as they picked a place to go. Anyplace, anywhere but here. Leaving Kylaq was difficult and they couldn't remember hearing from anyone who had left the planet. But, they had decided that there was nothing to be gained by staying here any longer and they certainly didn't want their child born on this planet. After all, the political oppression was too great and the Defense Minister, Kanjar Ro, was not a tolerant man. So they were both surprised that after Pomelo told his supervisor that he wanted to leave that the Defense Minister himself had granted him permission.

Wearing her robe and slippers, she opened the door and found herself staring at a large dark-skinned man wearing a black and green uniform; he held a laser pistol in one hand and a burlap sack in the other. He shoved her back into the room and closed the door behind him. He pushed her hard in the chest and she tripped over her slippers and fell to the floor. He called out, "Pomelo, I know you're here. Come out before your wife bleeds all over your carpet."

Natoma clutched at her robe as she said, with her voice cracking, "Pomelo's not here. Please don't hurt me."

He looked down at the woman on the floor and smiled at her. "I know he's not here."

He dropped the burlap bag he was carrying on the floor next to her. From the bag, he took out a coil of thick rope. "Take your shoes off."

If she could stand she could run. She started to stand up. "Stay where you're at," he snapped as he pointed the weapon at her head. "Take them off right there."

"Please. Pomelo will be home any minute." Where are you, Pomelo?

His smile broadened. "I'm banking on it. Crawl and get into the bag. Sit up on your knees." His smile didn't break as he hissed the words at her.

She did as she was told. She trembled as the tears ran down her face. "I'm pregnant. Please. Please."

Once she was in the bag, he lifted her and the bag up making sure her knees were at the bottom of the sack. He raised the bag up about her and tied it off at her neck. Nothing stuck out of the tied off bag except her head.

He leaned over her. "I want you to deliver a message to your husband. You tell him, Kanjar Ro says no one quits the Ministry of Defense without paying a heavy price." He looked into the eyes of the terrified woman. "Think you can deliver that message?

Natoma nodded frantically. The man in the green and black uniform smiled at the frightened woman. "Yes. Yes, I think you can deliver it."

Pomelo knew he should have been home thirty minutes ago but they kept finding papers he had to sign. Non-disclosure papers promising not to tell anyone about the projects he had worked on. But soon, he and Natoma would put this ugly little planet behind them and start a new life.

As he approached his house, he noticed that the front door was open. In fact, he thought it strange that on his front door knob, a rope had been tied into a knot and ran over the top of the front door and into his house. What the heck. As he walked into the house, on the other side of the door, he saw his wife in a burlap bag, hanging by her neck, her eyes opened in death.

Pomelo screamed.

Two weeks ago today in John Stewart's apartment

She opened her eyes. He had never closed his.

He smiled at her and held her tightly against him but the smile she returned as she raised her head wasn't as broad as his. She placed her head in the crook of his neck for a moment giving him ample opportunity to take in her scent, her smell, and the things he had missed for so long.

He ran his hands along her back and softly, gently touched the area where wing met skin. She shuddered involuntarily and then raised her head slightly and whispered in his ear, "Don't."

He stopped as she wished and loosened his hold on her, sliding his hands down to her waist. Raising herself up so that she once again looked down into his green irradiated eyes, she gave him a very small smile. Then she rolled off him and on to her side, her back toward him.

They had made a mistake and they both knew it.

Earlier that day, it began innocently enough. She had been back with the League for four months. J'onn had been working hard to assign her working partners who could accomplish the mission and were not a direct threat to her well being.

While they had not gone out of their way to avoid each other, they both knew things were different now. He had moved on in his personal life with Vixen. The two women were friendly with each other and even had worked a mission together. She accepted that he was entitled to build a life without her and she, understanding that the relationship dynamics had changed, needed to move on with her life as well. And she tried - not just for his sake but also for hers.

He met her in the cafeteria on the Watchtower. Actually he bumped into her while she was leaving as he was entering. They exchanged greetings awkwardly. In hindsight, she knew that she should have just smiled and continued walking away, but it was hard to do that with ex-lovers. You either hate them and never want to see them again or you still love them and deep down hope that reconciliation is still possible. She knew she didn't hate him.

"How are you doing today?" he asked.

"I'm okay. How's Mari?" she replied. Keep the focus on him and her. Not him and me.

"She's okay. She modeling today in Rio de Janeiro," he answered. He looked around the cafeteria and saw that the few patrons inside the lunchroom were paying scant attention to them. "Do you have a minute? I need to ask you for your advice."

She looked around for a moment parroting his previous action before answering. "Sure," she answered. That makes it official. If he wants advice from me it isn't about me, it's about her. Stick a fork in it. I am now officially the old girlfriend - the safe old girlfriend.

"Let's sit over there," he said pointing to a table in the corner.

"How about over here," she said pointing to a table in the center of the cafeteria.

"Okay," he grinned then he frowned. "Oh wait a minute. Did you think I...oh, Shayera. No, it's not like that. I...I...am sorry. I'm just used to you and me always talking in a corner and...and...."

Her smile broadened a bit as she interrupted him, "John. Stop. Sit. What did you want to ask me?" She sat down at the center table she designated.

He sat down and rubbed the back of his neck with his right hand and then shrugged his shoulders. She knew this gesture well. Some things change. Some things don't. He would start with 'Well, anyway' and then he would proceed to stammer about something that was really bothering him. The shoulder shrug to her was his truth detector. If he shrugged his shoulders, he was going to tell the truth.

"Well, anyway, after you left, Mari and I sort of starting seeing each other. It wasn't right away. Really, it was only...only a couple of months ago." He had been looking down at the table but at that moment looked up into her face. She tried to keep her face emotionless and non-committal to encourage him to continue talking, but she really knew this was going to be painful when he shrugged his shoulders again.

He continued. "Well, anyway. You know, I don't make much...er... money and she's independently wealthy. Not Bruce type of rich but much richer than me. I'd like to give her a gift but what can I give her that she doesn't already have?"

All the bells went off in her head. Now I'm being asked to sit across from you and help you find a gift for the new girlfriend. She pursed her lips together. They didn't look brass but I guess they are.

"John, Mari seems level-headed. I think she would like anything you give her. She doesn't seem to be the kind of woman who looks at how much something cost before she decides whether or not she likes it. Think about what you would like to get her, not what you think she wants, and then give her something that is important to you. If she likes you she will like it because it came from you. But don't tell her that you talked it over with me unless you want to wear it." Or sit on it. "Okay?"

She stood up and was about to leave. He reached across the table and grabbed her wrist. She looked at down at his hand. In her earlier Hawkgirl days, she would have growled at him and he would have let go. Now she looked him in the eyes and simply said, "John. Let go!" He let go immediately.

He looked down sheepishly. "I'm sorry. I didn't want you to leave just yet. I bought you something before you left and I'd like to give it to you but it's at my apartment. I can bring it to you tomorrow or you can come to my place this evening and pick it up."

John, going to your place would be a mistake. "You can bring anything you have for me here tomorrow."

He shook his head. "I understand. Tomorrow, then. But I have to tell you that I think this is silly. Maybe our personal relationship is different now, but you shouldn't be afraid to socialize with me or be alone with me or come over and get stuff from my apartment."

Suddenly, she stopped. He's right. It is silly. Surely, I can just visit. "This evening. Your place."

She got out of the bed and grabbed the gift he had given her earlier in the evening. It was a thoughtful gift and she told him so when he gave it her. It was a thick absorbent bathrobe with the upper back open, cut out, so that her wings could move freely. She said nothing as she put the robe on. He silently watched her as she stood at the foot of bed for moment, folded her arms and then slowly walked toward his sofa. After standing for a moment in front of the darkened screen of the turned off television, she sat down on the sofa and stared straight ahead.

He didn't know how it had happened. He was sure neither one of them planned for or wanted it to happen when the day began. But happen it did. Maybe it was the incidental touching. Or maybe they sat too close together on the sofa or maybe it was the beer and the enjoyment of each other's company like in days past. Or maybe, deep down, each thought they owed the other something after the way it all fell apart so suddenly - so horribly. And now they knew. It was the worst thing they could have done to each other. There was no recovery. No going back. No going forward. And no repeating. They were stuck. And they were over.

He sighed, rolled out of the bed and sat on the edge. Bringing his hands to his head, he looked toward his apartment window and at the sliver of streetlight coming in from the closed blinds. He sighed again and grabbed his robe from the floor, put it on and joined her on the sofa.

She neither moved nor looked up as he sat down and he tried not to sit too close.

"Shayera," he said softly looking at her reflection in his television. "I'm..."

"John, don't say anything," she interrupted, still not looking at him. "Because if you say you're sorry, I'm going to smack the crap out you. I'm not the one who gets the apology here."

He said nothing but he knew what she meant. Neither of them were the injured party here. It was Mari.

"I shouldn't have come here. I don't know what I was thinking, but this was a terrible mistake."

"No! Maybe what we did was wrong but it wasn't a mistake. I did miss you. I missed what we had. I know I sound like a cad but I didn't realize how much until just before..." He shrugged his shoulders. "Well anyway, I didn't know."

"And what about Mari?" she interrupted. "What about her?"

"Don't you think I know what I did to her? Don't you think I know what I've done? I thought I was over you. I honestly thought I was over you. I really thought I could be adult about this and handle us just being friends. Now I find out I'm wrong - that I can't handle it. What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to say? That I have no feelings for you? If I said that, I'd be lying to you and to myself. And I've never lied to you."

He noticed she cringed when he said the word 'lied' and he immediately regretted using it.

"John, I still have feelings for you too. But I can't do this to her no matter how much I want things to be as they were. They're not... and they never will be."

"I know that - now. Look I didn't want to hurt Mari any more than I wanted to hurt you. Yet that's exactly what I've done. What we did...what I did was wrong but I can...will fix it with her. I'll make it up to her...and somehow make it up to you."

She closed her eyes and put her hands to her lips and shook her head. But we did hurt her. She just doesn't know it yet.

(Today )

Hol was tired. But it was a good tired. She had just finished working with Booster Gold on a mission where again she had the support role. The mission had gone well but she decided that if she had her druthers she would not work with Booster in the future. A small frown crossed her face as she realized that she might indeed have to work with the self-centered man again. J'onn was still assigning her missions that he knew she could do but she also knew he was assigning her partners whose first inclination would not be to kill her. She was grateful for that and hoped that her efforts to develop a reputation as a dependable and reliable partner would spread among the other members of the expanded League.

Her only consolation, at this moment, was that the senior member on the mission was responsible for filling out the after-action reports. She was confident that Booster, in writing up the report, would make sure that his contribution to the mission would be prominently featured. She could only hope that when the senior six, as she found out the second-tiered heroes called them, read the report they would know that she played a large role in the success as well.

When she returned to the League, Hol had some decisions to make regarding her heroine identity. She wasn't sure what she was going to call herself anymore. The heroine name "Hawkgirl" had always been a sham. She wasn't going to call herself that. She thought about calling herself "Hawkwoman" but still didn't feel comfortable with that name either. So for the time being she would continue to answer to her given name and to "Hawkgirl."

Upon her return, she changed her costume from the bright yellow and dark green colors that had identified Hawkgirl to white with black trim. The Flash had been uncomfortable with her change of colors, but as she told him at lunch one day a month ago, the Hawkgirl colors were really her family colors on Thanagar. "I'm dead to my family there," she'd said to him. "The white symbolizes a new beginning and the black trim my own mourning."

But the wearing of the helmet or mask was a different issue. On Thanagar, one would only be unmasked in front of close family and intimates. Only the harlots and criminals of Thanagar publicly showed their faces. For now, she remained unmasked but soon she thought she would put the mask back on - not to conceal her identity, but to show that she was a proud Thanagarian and she was proud of her heritage even if her home world wasn't proud of her.

She set her mace down on the bed and had just started to take off her boots when J'onn's voice came over her commlink.

"Shayera, I need to see you in the third floor conference room in ten minutes. Please hurry."

"I'm on my way," she replied. That Booster probably screwed up the report and now I'm going to be the one to hear about it. Please don't let Diana be there. She put her boots back on, grabbed her mace and headed out the door. No, I'm not working with that Booster Gold again.

The tub was full of hot water and bubbles. The scented candles were lit. The music of Otis Redding played on the stereo. The only thing missing was the woman who drew the bath.

Seated on her bed, dressed only in a robe, Mari was on the phone with her agent Solomon Samuels and was determined to have a one-way conversation with the man.

"No, Solomon. You're not listening. I'm in transmit mode and you are in receive mode. Now, for the last time and I mean the absolute last time, you tell Lana Lang if she wants Macabe to model her LL Fashion crap in Tokyo - - - and you tell her I said crap - - - she has to up her offer by fifteen percent. I don't need her. She needs me. You got it? Good."

Macabe paused just for a moment and then resumed her blistering monologue into the phone. "Then when she tries to lowball you with a five percent increase, you tell her ten percent and I'm available next Friday. Make it happen, baby. Make it happen. And I love you too."

Macabe hung up the phone and fluttered her chestnut eyes. Solomon was going to screw this deal up. Lang's offer was a good one for any model. But I am one of the world's top models and everyone expects me to be hard to get and hard to keep. She figured Solomon might get her the extra ten percent, she might even get the original fifteen but knowing Solomon she would end up with seven.

Her contemplation of changing agents was interrupted by a call from J'onn on the commlink.

"Vixen, I need you in the third floor conference room now. You will be transported directly to the conference room from your signal in ten minutes. Please be ready. J'onn out"

What is this crap? No acknowledgment. No - are doing you doing something important? Just be here. Go there. If it wasn't for John I don't think I would still have anything to do with these people. I'm a hero in my own right. I don't need this and when I see John again I'm going to tell him.

She looked toward the bathroom with its inviting bath and then back at her closet where she kept her costume. She sighed, grabbed her costume from the closet and uttered, "Damn!"

Hol knocked once on the conference room door, pushed it open and entered. In front of her in the dimly lit room seated at the yellow circular conference table facing her were J'onn J'onzz, the Flash and the Green Lantern known as Katma Tui. Hol immediately thought to herself This is not about Booster's report. This was clearly about Lantern business and all Lantern business was bad business to her. It must concern John and I haven't seen him since that night.

Hol approached the table, nodded a greeting at J'onn, smiled slightly at the Flash who smiled back but didn't break eye contact long with Katma. Katma turned, looked at Hol, gave a flat smile and resumed looking at the Flash.

This meeting was so different than her last meeting with Katma, Hol thought. At their last meeting, Katma was the old girlfriend and Hol didn't like her much. She recalled telling John that Katma had a bit of an edge to her but in hindsight Katma wasn't that much different than she was. Except now, Hol was the old girlfriend. Friend and equal. That what she had said to John that day. Friend and equal. Now she wasn't sure what her relationship was with John anymore. Whatever it might have been, they'd broken it two weeks ago. Now it was a "never going to be" relationship.

Hol sat down at the table without waiting for an invitation.

The Flash was in a rare mood even for him. He was flirting, trying to make small talk that he hoped would lead to bigger talk but Katma wasn't listening. She appeared distracted and that worried Hol. That worried her a lot.

Suddenly, Vixen materialized in front of the seated group. She smiled at Hol, then sat next to J'onn.

Katma stood up and started walking around the table. "I asked the Martian to call you all together because you constitute John Stewart's known family. I have been sent by the Guardians to give you bad news concerning John Stewart of Earth."

Hol felt her heart leap into her throat. She placed both palms on the table and concentrated on her breathing. Her eyes quickly flashed to Vixen and then locked back on Katma.

"Two weeks ago today," Katma continued walking around the table. "A man thought to be John Stewart murdered a woman on Kylaq, a planet in my sector. Witnesses saw a man resembling Stewart in a Green Lantern uniform leave the crime scene. The man did not fly away, he drove away. Stewart swears it wasn't him but he will not say where he was when the woman was murdered. This planet is the home of Kanjar Ro and he has made no secret of his hatred for Green Lanterns. I can't help but suspect that he is somehow connected to this. But I can't prove it yet."

Katma looked around the table and stood next to J'onn. "Many do not know, including some Lanterns, that our rings keep a holographic record of all Lantern activities. Stewart knew and erased his record for that day. He has no alibi and he won't offer a defense."

Hol involuntarily shuddered. She was sure Katma noticed even if no one else did.

J'onn asked, "Are the local authorities stepping in like they did on Adjuris Five?"

Katma sighed heavily and shook her head. "It's not like it was in the old days, before Stewart's trial, when the Green Lanterns were the policemen of the galaxy and the Guardians would allow a Lantern to be subject to local justice. Now we are a more military organization with our own self-discipline code."

Katma looked first at Vixen then at Hol. "John asked for the Ritual of Endurance. It is scheduled to start tomorrow."

The Flash asked the question that Hol was certain was on everyone's mind. "What's the Ritual of Endurance?"

Katma sat down at the table next to Vixen. She raised both hands, palms together, to her lips and looked at Vixen. "Tomorrow, John will be taken before the Guardians on Oa. He will be permitted to charge his ring before he begins but he will not be permitted to speak his oath. He will be dropped into a portal in the council chamber's floor, which leads into a pocket of space strafed with anti-matter blasts and bolts of yellow energy. If he survives for 25 hours, he is considered innocent of the charges. If he dies, he was guilty."

Hol stared hard at Katma and frowned. "But the charge on the ring only lasts 24 hours." She swallowed hard. "He's going to die."

Katma turned to face J'onn, ignoring that the statement came from Hol. "Exactly! I know John Stewart. He has a martyr complex but he's not stupid. He says he didn't do it and based on his body lang...." She paused and looking at the two women and ignoring the two men said, "I am convinced he didn't do it. But once he asked for the Ritual of Endurance, the Guardians suspended the investigation into the murder. He's going to die for something he didn't do. He's clearly protecting someone and I think it's someone in this room."

Katma stood up and leaning on the table said, "All of us have a history with John Stewart. Do any of you know who he is protecting?"

Vixen looked up at Katma and then at J'onn. "Look, I was in Rio de Janeiro two weeks ago, but he called me on the phone so he must have been somewhere on the planet. Does that help?"

Katma fixed her gaze on Hol ignoring Vixen's question.

Hol looked down at the table, not making eye contact with Katma or Vixen. She quickly inhaled and in doing so made a sniffing noise. She cleared her throat and said softly, "He's protecting Mari because... I'm his alibi."

Hol looked up to speak to Vixen as tears formed in her eyes. She took a deep breath and let it out very slowly. "He and I spent most of that night together." She paused and swallowed again. "Mari, I'm sorry. We both knew it was a mistake. But he was going to die rather than tell you."

"Whoa," the Flash exclaimed. J'onn glared at him but didn't say anything. The only outward gesture J'onn made was to fold his arms and place them on the table.

Katma sat down again. "I guessed that it was one of you two he was protecting. I never would have thought it would be both of you." Looking at Hol she said, "I want you to come with me and tell the Guardians what you just said. That at least will at stop the ritual and allow the investigation to continue."

Hol stood up and tried to make eye contact with Vixen. "Mari...I'm so sorry."

Vixen's voice was firm as she answered back looking Hol in the eyes. "Go. You two go save him. He told me all about it. We'll all talk tomorrow when you get back. Now go." Vixen looked at J'onn and with a small quiver in her voice said, "J'onn, would you have them send me back to my place as soon as possible?"

Katma stood and looking at Hol said, "Come with me. We have just enough time to make it there before the ritual begins." Hol followed Katma to the conference room door, her head down. When she reached the door she turned toward the conference table and the seated heroes.

"Mari," she said. The seated Vixen turned away, choosing to look into the darkness. Hol wiped the tears from her face and turned to leave with Katma.

As she was walking out the door, she heard the Flash apparently ask J'onn, "What just happened?"

A nightmare.

The transporter brought Mari back to the bedroom, exactly to the spot she had left twenty minutes ago.

She picked up the phone and dialed her agent.

"Solomon, sweetheart," she said softly. "I want you to call Lana Lang back and tell her I will be in Tokyo tomorrow and I'll model her line for scale...yes, I know you worked hard to get... to get me a plus-up but tell her I had something fall through and want the work right now. Yes, tonight. Thanks, Solomon. Book my flight and hotel and call me back. I'll be waiting on your call."

She hung up the phone and sat on her bed. She took the glove off her left hand and looked at the ring John Stewart had given her last week. She took the ring off her finger, held it in her fist and cried.

END

A/N: The sequel to this story is "The Chain" which is already posted on this board. My additional thanks to xffan_2000 & crhblack for being sounding boards on this story.