B E Y O N D . C R I S I S

A few years ago.

”Looks like you missed a couple of spots.”

Rex Stewart sat on a barstool with a beer bottle dangling from his intertwined hands and a grin on his face. A few fewer scars, a little less muscle mass, some fuzz on his chin that he believed actually looked good once upon a time. This was not the Rex of today. He had not yet been hardened by his father’s death. ( ”Far )

Siena Harper’s suspiciously secretive behavior did not go unnoticed by the keen senses of Tay Lance. When someone gets a phone call and immediately ducks away someplace private, that is potentially interesting.

( ”What )

On an unsurprisingly cloudy afternoon, Rex Stewart is walking home from... well, that's not anyone's business. Not that he has ever particularly been a private person, but this isn't something he shares. There's a small smile on his face as he slips between two parked cars and jaywalks across the street. But the smile fades, and he abruptly stops before reaching the other sidewalk.

Out of the corner of his eye, he has noticed someone watching him back on the side of the street he just left. A familiar vibe shudders through him, letting him know who it is before he even looks to confirm.

( Go back to wherever you came from while you can, Dawn. )

Rex slides out of bed quietly, not waking Tattoo Dawn. He's real sure of that, because it's easy to tell when the crazy bitch is awakened. She'd probably sick a leopard or one of her other crazy ass tattoos on him if she was awake. And he just doesn't feel like dealing with that shit right now.

He's sick of laying awake. All these sleepless hours have done is given him time to think about how the past few days here in St. Roch have been bullshit. He's no better off than before he came -- worse in some ways, he guesses. It was a stupid idea, but still... he thought it would've worked anyway. Getting mixed up with Tattoo Dawn is always an experience however it turns out. Rage, lust, pain. Every time it's some combination of those feelings pushed to the breaking point, and he always walks away from it fucked up.

( This time it's empty. )

It's not that strange to see Warhawk in this city. Midway may be his town, but there exists an overlooked history between him and St. Roch. It was Warhawk who ended the serial murders of '44 and brought in the Shadow Slayer. He prevented a siege on the city by sinking Harpoon's ship in the Gulf. And he tore up Neville Lane in a long, vicious fight with Jurassik. However, it has been quite some time since he has appeared in St. Roch. For those who have noticed the long absence, the common theory persists that his membership to the Justice League hasn't left him with the time to come down for whatever reasons he ever had to come down, and that it is as simple as that.

( Tattoo Dawn knows it isn't anything so simple. )