Beyond the Limit (DC) Chapter 126: 126

| Thanaldar, Thanagar - August 30

Thanaldar—the jewel of Thanagar, the seat of its Ruling Council—had taken more than a century to build. Towering spires of Nth tal stretched into the heavens, constructed to house the elite and serve as a monunt to Thanagarian power, pride, and imperial glory. It was here that Lieutenant Shayera Hol and her husband, Captain Katar Hol—known on Earth as Hawkwoman and Hawkman—had lived. It had once been ho.

Now it lay in ruins.

The planetary shield had been shattered, breached by a coalition of Gordanians and Thanagarians—the latter manipulated by a hidden force later confird to be Despero. Yet strangely, once the fighting began in earnest, the Thanagarians had regained their minds and Despero had vanished. No trace. No body. Just silence.

Shayera fought high above the ruins in her Nth tal battlesuit, Katar close beside her. Their suits aiding their flight as they clashed against the invaders. She ducked just in ti as a Gordanian plasma spear zipped past her face before she smashed its owner's skull with her Nth tal mace. Years with the Justice League had made her hesitate before killing, but that hesitation vanished now. Thanagar was her ho. And she would defend it.

War was in Thanagar's blood.

Millenia ago, Thanagar had itself been a slave world under the oppressive Polaran Empire. The legends told of Kalmoran—the first hero—who rose with 3,000 warriors, overthrew the Polarans, and led his people to freedom. Kalmoran's vengeance didn't stop at liberation. He conquered the Polarans' howorld, laying the foundation for what would beco the Thanagarian Empire.

But history has a cruel sense of irony.

In ti, Thanagar began repeating the very sins it had once defied—conquering worlds, stripping them of resources, and enslaving populations. Among the conquered were the Lizarkons, a proud reptilian people who now made up a vast and oppressed underclass on Thanagar.

As the centuries passed, Thanagarian society stratified. Towering spires, the High Towers, beca havens for the elite—immaculate sanctuaries of light and opulence. Below them, in the shadows, sprawled Downside: grim slums plagued by disease, famine, and death. Enslaved laborers and impoverished citizens struggled to survive under the boot of apathy.

Shayera had always found it abhorrent.

Though a daughter of privilege—Shayera Thal was the daughter of Emperor Thal Provis, leader of the Thanagarian Ruling Council—she had chosen a different path. She beca a law enforcent officer, working side by side with her partner Katar Hol, who would later beco her husband. When Thal Provis made the decision to abandon Thanagar and flee, her older brother Corsar Thal followed suit. But not Shayera. She stayed. She believed she had a duty to her people, especially the ones who couldn't escape. She would not run from the fires she was sworn to put out.

And now, millions of Downsiders had perished in this war, as the Ruling Council chose to evacuate only the High Towers. The rest were left to die. The Council's destination? A deserted planet in the sa sector as Rimbor and Rann that they'd acquired after bribing the xenophobic Rannian Science Command with a large amount of Nth tal.

In their absence, they left Hro Talak—Thanagar's commander—in charge.

Shayera loathed Hro. He had nearly destroyed Earth, a planet she'd co to love. It turned out his attempt to use Earth to open a hyperspace route had failed, likely thanks to League intervention. She hadn't known that Hro had manipulated her and Katar into returning to Thanagar and cut off their communications with Earth. Had they known of his plan, they would've stopped it.

Ironically, the plan he failed to execute was the sa one the Gordanians managed to pull off. They opened a hyperspace route, likely at the cost of a slave world, and brought their armies straight to Thanagar's doorstep.

In desperation, Hro stepped up. For all his faults, he did love his planet. Now, he fought on the front lines, commanding the defense of their dying empire.

Before the shield fell, reports ca in of a mysterious figure clad in white and gold Thanagarian lieutenant armor fighting in orbit. Yet, he was not a Thanagarian or Lizarkon—this unknown warrior had no wings or tail. He had battled Despero directly, and though no one expected him to win, Despero's sudden disappearance raised new hope. Could he have succeeded?

Shayera didn't have ti to ponder. Two Gordanians attacked her in tandem. Katar blocked them with his mace, and together, they struck the invaders down.

All around them, the battle was turning. The Thanagarian mothership barely clung to life. Their warships were decimated. Waves of Gordanians descended endlessly, desperate to claim a foothold on the planet and, more importantly, its abundant Nth tal.

Then, sothing changed.

A Gordanian carrier craft plumted from the sky, crashing through a skyscraper. Then another. And another. Shayera looked up.

A humanoid figure hovered in the air. Shirtless, save for gold pants and a golden Thanagarian lieutenant helt.

Without a word, the figure raised his hand. Every Gordanian and their vessels within 200 feet suddenly slamd together into a grotesque sphere of flesh and tal, then smashed violently into the ground.

All combatants on the battlefield paused.

The Gordanians, realizing the threat, turned their focus on the floating figure, firing energy beams from their plasma spears. The Thanagarians, sensing the opportunity, rallied and launched a counteroffensive.

It didn't matter. The man's outfit moved like liquid tal, blocking their attacks, which then simply disappeared–absorbed, perhaps?

Those who approached the stranger were slaughtered—either crushed by invisible force, flung into buildings, or torn apart by sheer strength. He soared across the battlefield, flinging ships and cratering war machines. The Thanagarians followed his path, carving through the enemy while the skies were cleared from above.

When the dust settled, and silence reclaid Thanaldar, the figure descended.

Shayera's heart skipped. Upon closer inspection, she knew soone that wore gold helts—ironically, he'd been wearing a golden Gordanian helt the first ti she'd seen him. Then there were his gravity manipulation abilities.

This was the League's ward, Nova.

But how? And why was he on Thanagar?

He landed before her, calm and composed. The boy whose capture sparked the war.

"Bring to your leader," Nova said in Thanagarian.