Thanagarian

Chapter 4

I woke up the next morning with a head ache and dry throat. I dimly remembered being sick, and Hawkgirl at my side, but other than that the rest of the night was a fog. The sunlight that streamed through the dusty windows was a harsh wake up call, but what roused me wasn't the sun. I heard a thud, Jet growling, the screech of a chair and Hawkgirl. "Ooh, they got away again, but next time I'll have their heads. Those little jerks. Good boy, Jet." I sat up.

"Rats?" I asked.

"Yes, they stole my breakfast." I sat up in time to watch her pull her flickering mace head from the wall, a series of cracks radiating from the site of initial impact. "Jeez, you must have really wanted that breakfast back." She came to my side with a bottle of water which I gratefully drank. "Thanks." I said when I done.

"No problem. How are you feeling?"

"My head hurts, my mouth tastes horrible, my wings ache, my shoulders are on fire, my throat burns, and my stomach is practicing gymnastics. You?"

"I'm good thanks. Anything you need? I called in and said I couldn't do Monitor Duty today, Black Canary's filling in for me. Everyone hopes you feel better."

"I'm fine, just some sleep should do it."

"Well you should have gotten enough of that, you've been asleep since yesterday. If that clock is right that's about 17 hours."

"Holy crap, maybe I should get up."

"Maybe, drink a lot of fluids too,"

"No problem." Jet came up and put his head near my hand and I stroked his head rhythmically. I sung my legs out of bed and tried to stand up. I reached for my head and went right back down. "Add dizzy to the list."

For the next few days Hawkgirl stayed at the Warehouse and I slowly recovered. Eventually I could eat an entire meal and within a week I was back to training.

"Okay," Hawkgirl began. "Do this." She spread her wings. My wings had begun to obey me and now opened. They no longer dragged on the floor either so the feathers remained in fair condition. "Now fly." Hawkgirl commanded and I took off, my wings flapping. Jet erupted into barking and tried to bite my feet. Hawkgirl picked him up and put him on the cot. I landed not so gracefully and stumbled forward a few steps. "We'll have to work on that, now what are the three rs of fighting?"

"Reaction, recovery, retaliation." I said.

"Good. Now react!" With that she grabbed my arms and pinned them behind my back. I slid to the floor. "Good, now recover!" I slowly folded my wings and straightened my posture. "Now retaliate!" I threw my head back and felt it hit something hard. As soon as her grip loosened I threw out my wings, hitting her in the face and throwing her away. I leaped up and hovered a few feet above her, watching her stand up and smile. "Good job, you're getting better!"

I landed again and stumbled forward again, catching myself by throwing forward a foot. Before I could think Hawkgirl had my wings pinned and a battle axe across my throat. "React." She said. I straightened up and lowered my head to protect my neck. "Recover." I tried to wrestle my wings free but she held them fast. "Retaliate." I put my fist in my palm and closed my fingers around it, then with all the strength I could muster I drove my elbow into her stomach. She backed off and let go of my wings. "Great. Ariel combat?"

"I guess so." She  spread her wings and took to the air, wielding her mace. I grabbed mine and charged towards her. She flew above me and I flipped over onto my back, blocking her blow with my mace. She flew on and turned around and mirrored her movements. She charged and this time I flew below her and kicked up my foot as I passed, catching her in the chest. She did a loop to turn around quickly and we clashed again. We were matched but she got in a hit that threw me to the ground.

She landed beside me and pulled me up, then backed away. "You're getting better, but if you want to be a hero you need an alias. And a costume." She held out a mask just like the one she wears. I took it and put it on, adjusting it so it sat just right. "Ladies and gentlemen..." I began. "I would like to introduce you to the new hero on the scene. The one, the only, Hawk Kid."

A/N: I know this is short but I needed to reveal her crime fighting name some way or another. I would like to send my gratitude to Maplefang who gave me Abi's name and also several ideas. Go read her book, "Running to Heaven with an Angel" Her two main characters had a cameo in chapter one. It's great for all you Hamilton lovers out there!