Thanagarian

Chapter 22

That evening Garth's training began. To put it kindly, I didn't baby him. No pain no gain! First he began with a simple punching bag while I gave him pointers. Then he went against me. For the first few days he was more bruise than boy, then he picked up my methods and was a fair sparring partner. I also solved his leash problem, I sent him and Rocket out together so he could run as fast as he wanted, and Rocket would keep him safe. It was good exercise for both of them, and he couldn't get lost because Rocket knew how to get home.

We didn't get along all the time, we were much more like siblings, insulting each other, playing pranks (I wouldn't eat pasta for a week after he put worms in mine, I don't even know where he got them!) and arguing. I never had a sibling and honestly, it was kind of nice to have another human being with Hawkgirl away a lot, even if he was annoying. He also made some mean bacon, but he was still working on his fried eggs.

He and Rocket also became very close, she watched over him like an anxious mother and was never far. I felt like she would defend him, even if I had yet to hear her make a sound.

One night I was lifting my weights and Garth was on the couch when the radio's constant murmur of voices was interrupted by the police chief. "We have a hostage situation on twentieth street, all units report. I repeat, hostage situation on twentieth street, all units report."

"Can I come?" Garth begged.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because you're not ready."

"But we've been fighting!"

"Shut up, Garth. You don't even have a name yet."

"Do too! It's Red Tail! Like the hawk!"

"But you still can't come."

"Why not!?"

"Because you'd hold me back. You can't even fly that well."

"You can teach me!"

"Not now! I have to go!"

"Please can I come? Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"Shut up, Garth."

He stuck out his lower lip and sulked off to his bed while I pulled on my armor and donned my mask. I grabbed my axe and went to fly away, then turned around. "Don't set the place on fire." Then I spread my grey feathered wings and flew away. The air was cold, it had be at least late October and the chill filled me with energy. I flew over Manhattan towards twentieth street and when I landed in an alley I saw a band of police officers with their guns trained on the door of a bank.

A woman was holding a gun out the door and in her other hand she clutched a young girl in a blue dress who was screaming and crying.

"Release the girl and I'll give you one of my men in return!" The chief shouted through a megaphone.

"I'm not stupid!" She hissed. "I'll keep the girl." She ran the gun down the side of the struggling girl's face, pushing back the child's ink black hair.

"Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa who-" I heard behind me. I whipped around to see Garth coming in for a landing. He stumbled, then fell on his face when he landed. I winced, so much for secrecy.

"Garth!" I hissed. "What did I tell you! Go back!"

"I want to-"

"Go. Back!" I said, pointing back to the warehouse. "You'll get killed!"

"But I-"

"Go back! I'll handle this!"

"Fine." He pouted. I watched with crossed arms as he awkwardly took flight and went flapping off, dropping and rising erratically. I sighed, then took my axe from its position on my hip and held it before me. I took flight and went speeding towards a window. I heard excited shouts of 'there's Hawk Kid!' and 'she'll get them!'

I went right through the window in a rain of glass shards and took in my odds. Three men and a woman who seemed to be the brains of the operation. The men had their faces covered by their burly arms to protect their eyes from the falling glass.

With a cry I rammed into the first who fell into the second. The third leveled a gun at me but I slammed my axe into the barrel, sending it spinning out of his hand. I balled my own hand into a fist and sent it whizzing towards the man jaw. It connected with a solid crack and sent him crashing to the ground. I turned my attention to the woman who was heaving a bag over her shoulder and trying to escape through a window.

With a grunt I threw my axe and it embedded itself in the bag. The woman dropped it and ran straight towards the police. I grabbed my axe and went to help the hostages out. Only one man was injured and that was only a few bruises. I led them out and to the police. Families embraced in tears of relief and joy. I turned back in and took to the sky, circling around the bank.

I was soaring above a building when I started hearing gunshots. I saw a piece of brick in front of me explode and I began 'evasive maneuvers', spiraling and ducking and looping around. A bullet hit my axe and I shivered, too close for comfort, much too close. I doubled my efforts and when I looked back I saw one of the guys I had taken down shooting at me. His bullets couldn't last forever so I dipped and rose and spun. It was much harder to hit a rapidly moving target.

A bullet took off the top point of one of the ridges on my helmet and I dove, then went shooting back up. I was a fair distance away when I felt a lance of pain in my wing. I screamed and went crashing down, landing on a roof top. Gravel dug into my hands and sides and when I reached back to feel my wing my hand came away wet with blood. My breath rattled in my lungs from the impact and my vision started blurring. My head throbbed in time with the rapid beating of my heart and my wing felt like it was on fire. I curled up painfully into the fetal position, my good wing pressed against the ground from how I landed and my bad wing draped across the edge of the building and hanging off.

The pain was just too much and my vision slowly filmed over until I could see nothing at all.