Music blasted through the speakers just a few feet away. The thumping noise echoed in her skull, numbing her brain as she studied the grain on the bartop.
"Heya, beautiful." It might have been a compliment, but Jaina was not up for tolerating, much less entertaining, any flirtations.
"Get lost," She snarled.
The man slicked back his already greasy blond hair, taking her threat as an excuse to edge closer. "Aww...you not feeling too good, beautiful?" His hand wandered down to her knee, and she sighed. She had given him a warning.
Jaina would criticize that his breath reeked of alcohol, but she knew she didn't have the high ground here, with two empty bottles of whiskey tipped over in front of her, and a third halfway gone in her hand.
She tipped the bottle back, gulping down the last of the fiery drink with a grimace. "Name's not beautiful, bub."
"Oh, what is it then," Bub leaned in closer. He probably thought that he was really getting somewhere now, backing her into a corner.
Jaina placed her hand over his, before swiftly jerking his two middle fingers back.
"Name's Solo. Jaina Solo." She said, using that sickly sweet grin her dad always gave when he successfully outsmarted some Hutt or old Imperial Remnant. "Daughter of Jedi Leia Organa, and General Han Solo."
Bub screamed, holding his swelling fingers in his other hand.
"You b-"
"Finish that sentence. I dare you." Jaina hopped down from her stool, hands on her hips as Bub backed away from her.
Using his good hand, Bub pulled a switchblade out, pointing it at her. Jaina barked a laugh at the pitiful weapon. "You think that'll do any good against me? I'm a Jedi Knight, defender of the New Republic. I've flown through space and time. I've been to planets with names you can't pronounce. I've tamed Rancors and Nexus and crystal snakes. I've fought countless invasions."
She took a step closer, enjoying the sight of her harasser flinching.
"Oh, and did I mention that I killed my own brother?"
The bar was loud enough that no one had noticed them yet. Some part of Jaina wished that Bub had friends. She could use a ten against one fight.
Thoroughly terrified, Bub let out a drunken yell, charging at Jaina shakily, but someone stepped in front of her before the blade could do any damage.
Bub stared at the bent blade in confusion before staring up at the six-foot-five man in front of him.
"Go home. You're drunk." Connor told him gruffly. Bub didn't need much convincing.
"Jaina, you okay?" The hand on her shoulder couldn't be Connor's. It was too thin, not big enough to be the Superboy's. It was calloused, from too many hours holding a pencil, and the arms attached to it were lean and willowy, perfect for a super-speed runner.
"I had it," She hiccuped to Wally.
"You're drunk," Connor observed stoically, his arms folded disapprovingly.
"So what if I am?" She shrugged.
Wally chuckled. "He's just jealous because Kryptonians can't get drunk."
"Well, neither can you." Connor snapped back.
Jaina was drunk enough that she giggled a little bit as Wally and Connor glared at each other for a moment.
"You paid for your drinks yet?" Connor asked, ready to leave the bar already.
"Yeah, one sec." She ordered a shot of bourbon before Superboy and the former Kid Flash forcibly dragged her from the bar, just shy of Connor carrying her.
"How'd you find me?" She asked, leaning against Wally every so often as they walked.
"Carol said she mentioned that she and Hal really like that spot to you. When we couldn't find you anywhere else, figured it couldn't hurt to check it out. " Wally said.
"Ugh," Jaina's headache returned, and with it, the memory of why she chose that, of all places, to sulk in.
"You lied to us." She groaned, pointing at Wally. Well, one of the three Wallys she was currently seeing.
Connor placed a hand on her shoulder to steady her. "Wally, I know you already told me why, but Jaina needs to know."
Wally sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I guess 'Wing's not having a picnic explaining this to the freshman, either..."
"If I bought us lunch, would that make you more eager to tell us the whole thing? I'm starving." Jaina said, holding her hand.
Wally grinned sheepishly. "Well, it's almost dinnertime, but something to eat certainly wouldn't hurt."
After each getting their own personalized sandwiches at Subway, and after Connor forced Jaina to drink a bottle of water, they sat on a bench overlooking Coast City's beach. It was too cold for swimming, but a few people jogged this way and that. It was as much privacy as they were gonna get.
"Kaldur apparently came up with the whole thing." Wally started. "He told Rick about it, of course, early last year, so someone would know."
"Last year?" Connor sat upright. "You mean-"
"Yeah, after Tula died." Wally nodded sadly. "After the whole mess with finding out that Aquaman and his parents lied to him about Manta being his dad, after the whole crazy thing with Tiamat rising, and Tula letting herself die to stop him."
"Okay, I hardly have any idea what you guys are talking about- another explanation I believe I am owed at a later point- but for now I think I get enough to continue." Jaina glanced at Wally emphatically.
"Er- right." Wally licked some mustard and bacon grease off of his fingers.
He told them everything. Kaldur's stupid undercover plan. Nightwing's idea to give Kaldur some backup, with their only friend who actually knew what the supervillain underground was like. Faking Artemis's death.
"And M'gann probably fried his brain when she ran into him on the Reach ship," Connor growled. With a shout, he rammed his fist into the side of the trash bin next to the bench, but the most he disturbed were a couple seagulls.
"Uh, Supey?" Wally asked as Connor held his head in his hands.
Jaina studied her typically stoic friend warily.
"It wouldn't have been the first time M'gann, uh, fried someone's brain, would it?" She asked quietly.
Connor sighed, lifting his face from his hands. He wouldn't look at Jaina or Wally.
"She's never felt like she fit in. Her powers always made her so different from everyone, no matter what she looked like." He said quietly, staring out at the crashing waves as a salty sea breeze washed over the three of them.
"The first time it happened, it was an accident. We were interrogating a Bialyan general, and found out just what Queen Bee had done to Gar's mom. She loved Marie so much, and Gar's face for those first few days when he first moved in..." Connor trailed off, running his hand over his face. "She was so upset with herself that I promised her I wouldn't tell anyone, no matter what happened. I...I never expected that she'd make a habit of it. I don't think she did, either. It was just an easier way to get information, and easier to rationalize over time." He sighed.
"I should have told someone. I tried to help her, tried to tell her to get help. She said she would, but then..." Connor grit his teeth.
"So I broke up with her." He sighed. "La'gaan was new, and they connected in the months after our breakup, so..." He sighed again, "But they're good to each other. I made sure of it."
"Wow," Jaina chuckled into the stunned silence that followed, "I don't know which of those are more shocking.
"Okay, we've spilled our guts to you, Jay. Your turn! What's your deep, dark secret?" Wally asked, leaning back on the bench with his head cushioned in his arms.
"Oh no," Jaina shook her head, "I'm gonna need at least two more bottles of whiskey before that one comes tumbling out."
"Jay, you're not drinking anymore. You have work tomorrow." Connor told her, sounding like an exhausted nanny.
"Oh right, dangit," She growled, checking her phone. "And I gotta pick up Jess from STAR sooner or later."
"Don't worry, we dropped her off at Carol's while we were looking for you."
"Thanks, Wally." Jaina grinned, tossing her hair back.
Connor had returned to his thoughtful silence.
"Jaina," He said seriously, "At the bar when you were staring down that guy, I heard you say you killed your brother."
Jaina's heart dropped to the pit of her stomach.
"Is...is it true?" Connor asked. He was so torn up over everything already, Jaina didn't want anyone to be more hurt than they already were.
"Of course not, Con! I was drunk and I wanted to scare the guy. Why would I-"
"Jaina." They both said sternly. They knew her better than that.
She bit her lip, steeling herself for the memory.
Out across the beach, someone screamed. People pointed up at the sky, eyes wide in terror.
The three heroes followed the pointing fingers, up to the night sky. It was a perfectly normal, except for the obvious.
"Um, guys? Does Earth have a second moon that only appears every four years or something?" Jaina swallowed the lump in her throat.
"No," Wally said, gritting his teeth. "Could be the Reach."
Connor was already dialing Nightwing. "This isn't over, Jaina." He told her.
She sighed. She knew it wasn't over.
It was never going to be over.
-------
They didn't need Green Beetle's data to guess that this Mongul was a bad guy, but the schematics that their scarab provided on his battle station were certainly helpful in planning an attack.
"I always wanted a chance to blow up a Death Star," She grinned, remembering the stories that she'd heard over and over again. Uncle Luke and her dad's infamous run to take down the first of the Death Stars, and their team up with her mother and Uncle Lando to destroy the Emperor aboard the second Death Star.
Karen was horrified at Jaina's obvious enthusiasm over the comms. "We can't just, 'blow it up'!" She spluttered. "It'd take half of Earth with it!"
"We can't just 'blow it up'!" Jaina huffed, mocking Karen's science voice.
"I heard that Jay," Karen informed her.
Bee made a squeaking noise that sounded an awful lot like laughing.
"Quiet, or I'll eject you into space," Jaina warned her droid.
Bee was silenced instantly, settling into his port in Jaina's x-wing.
Jaina gripped the controls. She was surprised that they were still familiar. Her ship had been collecting dust in the Watchtower hangar for a little over four months now. She didn't know if she'd been expecting to forget the controls, or if she wanted to have forgotten them. Her X-wing had brought her back to Earth, and as far as she knew, it was the only thing that could take her back to the Republic. Even after all that had happened, Jaina preferred life on Earth to life in her home galaxy, far, far away. Now that she knew Kaldur was still on their side, and that Artemis was still alive, she wasn't giving up Earth life at all.
And some rock-faced kriffer who had a bone to pick with the Reach was not going to take that away.
"League, deploy!" Captain Atom shouted. Jaina saluted to Aquaman, and Kaldur's old mentor flipped the switch, opening the bay doors. Gently pushing the joystick forward, Jaina shot out of the hangar bay with a whoop of joy.
Bee squealed, just as overjoyed to be flying. Space really was the place where the two of them belonged.
Captain Marvel, Captain Atom, and Green Beetle flew out of Doctor Fate's portal. Jaina winked at Rocket, stuck behind to shield Doctor Fate while he shielded Earth from any missiles that Mongol would shoot at Earth.
Jaina and the League, with help from the bioship, would neutralize Mongul's missiles at the source, providing a distraction for the rest of the team as they took out Mongul and his ship's power. Any missiles that got past the League would be blocked by Doctor Fate's shield. In theory.
"Alpha squad to Watchtower: Green Beetle's schematics were on the money, at least so far." Superboy confirmed. "We're en-route to take down Mongul. No commander, and the threat ends."
Similar reports came in from Beta squad and Gamma squad regarding the battle station's crystal key and its power core, as added insurance to stop the impending doom.
"Hey, Delta, where's the rest of my squad?" Jaina asked, strafing the surface of Mongul's private Death Star.
"Right here, Sword." Robin promised.
"Laying down cover fire for surface forces...now!" The bioship came up behind her, taking out a missile she'd missed with the bioship's lasers.
"You doing good, Power Ring?"
"Power Ring's manning the guns with me," Batgirl said.
"I'm good, Gre- Sword." Jessica corrected herself. Jaina was pleased to note that Jessica sounded a lot calmer than usual. Maybe they should have her provide cover from the bioship more often.
"I say, Miss Sword. Your vessel design is something neither I nor my scarab have ever encountered." Green Beetle's eerily calm voice broke through the comms.
Jaina ignited seven of Mongul's missiles into a particularly satisfying fireball. "Thanks. It's an older model, back from the beginning of the New Republic Era. My dad and I fixed it up a bit-" She went into a barrel roll, destroying several turrets "-so I could be able to do that!"
"Less showing off, more stopping the missiles!" Captain Atom reminded them, hitting a missile that Jaina had missed with a beam of concentrated nuclear energy.
Jaina stuck out her tongue at him, though he couldn't see her. Captain Marvel punched a missile with his bare hands- a feat Jaina deemed impressive- and Green Beetle took out several missiles with his plasma canon.
"Alpha to Delta, how are you guys doing out there?"
"Okay so far," Jaina said, biting her lip. "The missiles just keep coming. How far are you from Mongul?"
"Beta and Gamma reported running into squads of drones, just like we have, but once they're taken care of, Mongul's command room is just around the corner."
"Good luck, Alpha."
"You too, Delta."
Jaina allowed herself to get complacent as the missiles began to slow down. Alpha had to have reached Mongul by now, distracting him from commanding his battle station.
"The United Nations are mobilizing all air defenses to aid," Nightwing informed Delta.
Jaina squeezed the trigger, igniting several more missiles prematurely. "It's a nice thought, but I doubt we'll need the help-"
The moment the words left her mouth, she regretted them. Mongul's attack returned at full force, and then some.
"Bring on the nukes, bring on the nukes!" Robin frantically encouraged Nightwing.
"Delta to Alpha, come in!" Power Ring begged, to no avail. They could only hope that Mongul had knocked them out for now, and nothing worse.
Jaina growled lowly, yanking the yoke forward. "C'mon, Bee, let's show Mongul what we got!" Bee squealed in agreement.
She found herself sweating, even in the cold of space, as she used the force to push her X-wing forward, faster and faster. Bee targeted missiles left and right, barely missing Green Beetle several times.
"Delta to Watchtower," Batgirl sounded grim, "the bioship estimates that the League and Doctor Fate are neutralizing sixty-four percent of the Warwold's attack at the source."
"But that's not going to cut it," Jaina guessed.
"Watchtower estimates that Earth's military forces will neutralize a further thirteen percent." Aquaman added hopefully.
"That's still twenty-three percent..." Nightwing said nervously.
Bee squealed, and Jaina translated, dodging an explosion. "But that's enough to blow up a hemisphere! The radiation could affect everyone on Earth!"
"We'll just have to keep going at it!" Captain Atom said stubbornly.
Jaina turned her ship away from the Warworld, just for a moment. "I'm gonna see if I can take out a couple more strays, be right back!"
"Uh, Jay, we got more than strays back here." Nightwing said, sounding shocked. A moment later, when she was closer to Earth, Jaina could see it for herself.
"Reach ships!" She shouted a warning to the rest of Delta. Hundreds of ships, all the same make and model as the Reach ship she'd seen Kaldur on, were headed past Doctor Fate and into the fight.
Anger seized her fists as she thought of Jessica, what she and the other kids had been through aboard the Reach ship. Just as she was about to hit all of them with every proton torpedo she had, Green Beetle interjected.
"Wait, they may be here to help!"
"Seriously!?" Jaina hit the brake all the same.
"Well, Mongul doesn't seem to like the Reach any more than we do, I don't think they really like him..." Jessica rationalized.
As the ships passed her, firing at the Warworld's missiles, Jaina had to agree.
"Fine. I still hate them, though."
"You don't have to like them, you just have to work with them." Atom told her. Jaina grimaced, returning to the surface of the Warworld with Delta.
A few minutes later, at least half the Reach fleet was destroyed, hunks of insectoid ships floating like beetle carcases in the Earth's atmosphere. Much to Jaina's guilt, she felt that they deserved it. After all, they were trying to enslave the Earth.
"Hey! Where'd the missiles go?" She asked, realizing she hadn't seen any bright yellow explosions in a minute.
"All surface weapons have been silenced! Is it over?" Atom asked. With bated breath, everyone awaited the reply from the team.
"Mongul is down and contained." Superboy contained. Jaina breathed a sigh of relief, slumping over the controls.
"Great job, Alpha!" Batgirl said. Robin offered Power Ring a high-five, and she accepted gladly.
"Can't take all the credit," Connor apologized, "his own machine stung him. I'm guessing with a little help."
"Whoo! Go Karen!" Jaina pumped her fists in the air. "We'll meet you guys at the rendezvous point, and head home.
"Beta has the crystal key. We'll meet you at the rendezvous point." Blue Beetle acknowledged.
"See you in a minute, guys!" Guardian said.
Jaina docked next to the bioship, leaping out of the X-wing to stretch her legs. "Stay there Bee, be right back," She promised the droid, joining the Bats and her padawan with the others in the hangar.
"Whoo! Do we rock?" Batgirl high-fived Karen, while Impulse and Robin executed a handshake of their own.
"Girl, we rock!" Karen laughed.
"Was there ever any doubt?" Blue asked.
"Not over here!" Guardian did a quick headcount, "Hey, where's Alpha?"
"Trudging along with the big bad. the guy must weigh like a metric ton!" Arsenal complained as if he would be one of those actually carrying a hog-tied Mongul, "We're just a couple of minute out." He assured.
Jaina hugged Karen and Mal, "Glad we all made it through."
Mal removed his helmet, wiping at the sweat on his brow. "Honestly? I thought we almost wouldn't, for a moment there."
Jaina nodded, ruffling Gar's hair. "I know the feeling."
She glanced over at Jessica. She was trying to talk with Jaime, who was acting rather awkward. Well, more awkward than usual.
"Hey," She said, approaching her mentee.
"Hey," Jessica said softly.
Jaina stepped not-so-discreetly between Jessica and Jaime. "Are you good?"
"Yeah, I guess. Why?"
"You really helped out today. You kept your cool, and you helped Batgirl man the bioship's weapons. I'm really proud of you."
"You...you are? You're not just saying that?" Jessica asked.
"I'm saying it because it's the truth. You've come a long way, Jess. Even with that thing," she gestured vaguely to Jessica's hand.
"I know you've had some dark spots. Believe me, I know how it gets."
"You do?" Jessica sounded doubtful.
"I know it's probably nothing compared to what you fight every day, but that's the whole reason I came to Earth, to get out of my dark spot. And...well, if there's anything I can do to help you get out of a dark spot, just let me know."
Jessica's skinny arms were thrown around Jaina's waist. "Thank you so much," She said, squeezing Jaina with every muscle in her body.
Jaina hugged her back, gently. She didn't want to make her claustrophobic. "You're welcome, Jess."
Jessica stepped back a moment later, smiling just a little bit, as Alpha trudged in carrying Mongul with them.
"Well, gang's all here!" Jaime shouted loudly. Then something came crashing down on Jaina's head and it all went black.
WHOOOOOOO NICE LONG CHAPTER I LOVE IT BUT IT'S PROBABLY TERRIBLY RUSHED AT THE END LIKE USUAL CRAP.
SPOILERS: NEXT CHAPTER IS GONNA BE KEEPING UP WITH THE SOLO-SKYWALKERS AND FRIENDS, WHICH I NOW REALIZED I DID A BIT MORE OFTEN IN THE LAST BOOK THAN IN THIS ONE, DOUBLE CRAP.
ANWAY, I LOVE Y'ALL.
WHO'S READY TO SEE AN EMOTIONAL JAYKAL REUNION COMING UP SOON, ONLY ON POTJ!
Okay I'm done and I really do love all of you a ton.
Love,
~Lizardgurl