The Midway Museum of History was packed the next Saturday with hundreds of guest.  But Mavis Trent was in her office, away from the noise and the excitement.  “Are you sure you want to go through with this?”

“Of course.”  Shayera was standing in front of the mirror on Trent’s door.  She was wearing a pair of kaki pants, brown boots, and a black backless top.  “It makes perfect sense.  I don’t want to rely on charity while I’m here.”  She pulled her hair back into a ponytail.  “So I’ll work for my rent.  Your museum needs a stronger attendance so you don’t close.  You need someone to help with all the ancient weapons you have here.  And I’m an expert on weapons.”

“I’ve noticed.”  Trent looked down on the table.  Hawkgirl had been kind enough to repair some of the antique crossbows.  Seven cleaned weapons were scattered amongst her keyboard and coffee mug.  “What about the wings?”

Shayera turned to see her massive wings sticking out of her back.  “Well, that’s what the jacket’s for.”  Trent passed Shayera the trench coat.  She tucked her wings around her waist, flattening them as much as possible.  “And now Shayera Hol is…seven heavens…what was is my human name again?”

Trent laughed.  “Sarah Hall.  Curator for the Weapons Exhibit.”

Shayera nodded.  “I will have to get use to this…”

 

*              *              *

 

‘Sarah’ found herself in front of several older students later on that day.  “This crossbow from the Middle Ages was quite powerful, and could penetrate a knight’s metal armor.  It turned the tide on warfare, as you can imagine.  But there was a catch—the accuracy was—” Sarah stopped.  Emmett, out of uniform, was standing in the back, looking at some swords on display.  “Um, Tracy, can you take over here?  Thanks.”  She walked over to the commissioner.  “Emmett!  Jordan told you me you were released from the hospital the other day!”

Emmett smiled.  “Miss Hall I presume?”

Shayera nodded.  “Mrs. Trent picked the name.  It’s similar to my own…I find that amusing.  You came here alone?”

“No.  Mrs. Emmett is with my son.  With this place finally seeing some business, they’ve planned some sort of kid-friendly event all day today.  I heard Hawkgirl is even planning on meeting the children of Midway later tonight.”  Emmett stopped smiling.  “Jordan gave me the debriefing.  You took out Byth, I heard.”

Shayera grinned.  “Yes I did.”  She noticed Emmett’s face at last.  “Oh come on, you’re not still mad about the ‘Thanagarian Justice’ are you?”  Emmett’s face didn’t change.  “But after what Byth did to you…and to those other men…I was justified.”

“Shayera—I mean, Sarah, listen to me.  Part of me is very glad to see Byth dead.”

“And the other part…”

“The other part has to consider the people. We serve the people. That also means that we can't do anything that would endanger them or their rights.”

Shayera's eyes opened wide, a fire growing behind them.  “Seven Hells!  The people should be serving us! We protect them from scum like Byth—”

“Maybe on Thanagar,” Emmett said in a calm voice. “And I believe we've had this discussion before.”

“Yes,” Shayera said, the anger dying out of her.  “We have.  But I still don’t like your human justice.”

“Well, the system does have an advantage.”

“Like what?”

“Let me put it this way—I hate it when a case ends like this.”

“Why?”

Emmett bit his lip for a moment before speaking again.  “If only he had gone to trial.  Then, we would have know all the details.  Thanks to you, all we have is an evenly roasted crocodile.”

Shayera couldn’t look Emmett in the eye.  “Well…at least he’s dead…”

“For your sake, I hope so.”

The two walked off.  Shayera didn’t know what to think.  “Well, what’s done is done, I suppose.”  She headed back to the exhibit.

 

*              *              *

               

                Earlier that day…

Byth waited until the sun had gone down to crawl out of the tank.  He wasn’t sure what had happened.  He had changed into the crocodile to take out Officer Hol.  But then she started attacking another crocodile and killed it.  If it wasn’t for the electric charge in the water, Byth would have joined the attack on Hawkgirl.  But once he realized that she was going to win that round, he retreated to the far end of the pool.  She had killed the wrong animal!  Now, he was in the air, riding the thermals courtesy of the heat from Midway’s roads.

He had a wonderful advantage: Hawkgirl thought he was dead.  This changed everything.  Her guard was down.  Thanagarian police officers usually took a break after a big case, and Officer Hol was no different.  She probably was trying to find a way to blend in with the humans—although with those gaudy wings of hers, she stood little chance of succeeding.  But the real good news was something Byth read flying by a newspaper stand.

HAWKGIRL TO VISIT MUSEUM’S YOUNGER GUESTS

Byth smiled.  This was perfect.  Hawkgirl will not see this coming.