Chapter One – First Encounters
Dinah stuffed her hands into her jacket pockets to protect herself from the cold Gotham night. Her visit to the Clock Tower to see her closest friend – Barbara Gordon aka The Oracle – had lasted longer than she'd intended and it was now 3:00 a.m.
Not that Dinah was tired.
Thirteen months ago, she'd traded places Lady Shiva. Despite being one of the world's deadliest assassins, Dinah had sensed there was more to her. The life swap was Dinah's attempt to soften her up – show her that there was more to the world than all the violence and death she knew as a member of the League of Assassins.
Shiva spent a year in America working with the Justice League and the Oracle, while Dinah endured harsh training in a Vietnamese shantytown. The training was fine with Dinah. She enjoyed the challenge and opportunity to gain skill in hand-to-hand combat and weapon handing. What kept her up at night, what weighed on her most heavily, was all the senseless death and violence. Men, women, children, the elderly – no one was safe. Despite her best efforts in patrolling the area she couldn't save everyone.
It was a lesson she figured she had to learn at some point.
Dinah had retuned to the states almost a month ago, and was still struggling with the readjustment to her life. Her life as Dinah Lance, the Black Canary: member of the Justice League, best friend of Barbara Gordon, ex-fiancée of Oliver Queen…
Nevertheless, she had to admit that it was becoming easier to get back into the swing of things with each passing day.
Dinah shook her head, sighing, as she continued the journey to the street lamp pole her motorcycle was chained to. The man in the hoodie was definitely following her. She had been skeptical at first – telling herself she was just looking for a fight. But, that was two blocks ago. Plus, the man wasn't even trying to hide the fact that he was checking out her retreating form, openly gawking. A quick scan into the rear view mirror of a parked car she walked past, told her that the he was carrying a knife.
She veered into an alleyway, preferring to deal with him in private. Despite the fact that Dinah wasn't the most inconspicuous crusader, even she tried to avoid fighting someone in the middle of the street.
Causally leaning against the cement wall of the alley, Dinah folded her arms over her chest and waited. As she expected, the guy entered shortly after her own arrival. Dinah couldn't help but be eager to knock the smirk he was wearing clean off of his face.
"Didn't anyone ever tell you not to walk alone at night, Lady?" he sneered.
Dinah didn't move from her position, leant against the wall. "Probably," she said, giving the man a smirk of her own.
"Should've listened to them, babe," He replied, reaching into his pants pocket. Just as Dinah went to take a step forward, something she saw in her peripheral vision captured her attention. A woman, no, a girl, was falling from a three story building adjacent to the alleyway.
"Knife!" the girl exclaimed, as her feet hit the ground. It wasn't a perfect landing, Dinah deduced, seeing the wince of pain flash across the girl's face upon impact.
The girl shook her head, willing away the pain, and turned towards Dinah. "Stay back! He has a knife."
"What are you going to do about it, little girl?" he grunted, stepping towards her. "Looks like I'm getting the two for one special tonight," he smiled. Dinah resisted an eye roll and willed herself to stay out of the fight. Clearly, the girl had an agenda.
"People like you make me sick!" The girl growled lowly, catching the punch he threw at her and using its momentum to pull him into her knee to his stomach. The man let out a grunt of pain, but recovered quickly, throwing her away from him.
He charged at her, then, thrusting the knife forward sporadically, as she dodged the blows. Realizing that his thrusts were ineffective, he swung the blade in a wide arc that the girl clearly wasn't expecting, since it managed to slice across her upper right arm, tearing through flesh. The girl stumbled backward, eyes squeezing closed in pain, and the man stopped, chuckling proudly at the blood on his knife.
He turned to Dinah and as she opened her mouth to give him a taste of her Canary Cry, the girl appeared behind him and kicked him the groin. As he leaned forward, screaming curses, she drove him head first into the cement wall, effectively knocking him out. The girl leaned over the man's body, bringing two fingers up to his jugular. She nodded to herself when she felt a pulse.
"Are you okay?" She asked Dinah, breathing heavily. The girl slid down the wall, one hand clutching the wound to her arm.
"Yes," Dinah nodded emphatically, approaching the girl. "Thanks to you."
The girl didn't need to know Dinah could have taken out the man in two seconds flat. She would play the part of the defenseless almost-victim, she decided. The girl deserved as much for her bravery.
"Are you okay?" Dinah questioned, very much knowing the answer. Dinah could see that blood was beginning to seep through the purple t-shirt she was wearing.
The girl shrugged. "You should go before someone else comes," she ground out.
Dinah continued. "I have a first aid kit in my motorcycle. It's parked down this street. Let me take a look at that first," she said gesturing towards the girl's injured arm.
The girl eyed her warily, quirking an eyebrow. "You don't seem like the motorcycle type."
"Oh really? You'd be surprised," Dinah responded with a smile. "Come on," she said, pulling the girl up by her uninjured arm.
Dinah used the short walk to the motorcycle to take in the girl's appearance. She looked to be around sixteen or seventeen and had shoulder length black hair. She was wearing a t-shirt and battered jeans, and a necklace with a cross pendant hung from her neck. The girl also walked with a slight limp.
When they arrived, Dinah gently pushed the girl onto her motorcycle seat, and fetched her kit. She crouched down in front of the teen and placed the opened first aid kit on the ground next to her.
"I'm going to take a look at it now, okay?" She said reaching to roll up the girl's sleeve. The girl nodded and Dinah examined the wound. "It'll heal just fine," she said carefully, "but you need stitches."
The girl let out sigh. "Of course it does," she muttered to herself.
"I'm equipped to give you them, but you should probably go see a doctor. They could make you more comfortable."
"Could you just do it?" the teen asked, resignedly.
"Sure," Dinah replied. Reaching for the antiseptic and gauze. "I'll clean it first."
Dinah was very familiar with the potent sting of antiseptic against a fresh wound, and noted the way the girl clenched her jaw against the pain. Her body tensed up and she shifted slightly.
She was good. Dinah noticed, wondering where the girl had learned to hide her pain so efficiently.
"I'm Dinah by the way," she said, realizing they hadn't had the chance for introductions.
"Helena," the teen offered, with a short nod.
"So, Helena, can you usually be found jumping from buildings in the middle of night?" she asked, her tone light. "Not that I'm not grateful or anything, but don't your parents worry?" Dinah saw the flash of panic cross the girl's brown eyes, but she recovered quickly.
"Umm," Helena let out a nervous chuckle, avoiding Dinah's eyes. "Not usually. I live in that apartment. There's a nice view from its roof and I sneak out to visit it sometimes when I can't sleep. I stay with my mother, and she never notices when I'm away at night, she's a heavy sleeper."
Lie. Lie. Lie. The whole response was bologna, Dinah gathered immediately. She could tell when the worst of criminals were being untruthful. Helena definitely did not have a chance.
Nonetheless, Dinah nodded. Having finished cleaning the cut, she gathered the needle and thread from the kit. As the needle slipped through the teen's flesh, Helena released a shuddery breath. Dinah immediately stopped, and grabbed the teen's left hand. She lifted the girl's uninjured arm and placed its hand on her own leather-jacket-clad shoulder.
"Squeeze it as hard as you want. It'll help," she said. Feeling Helena grip her shoulder tightly, Dinah resumed the stitching.
"Where'd you learn to fight like that?" Dinah asked, hoping to distract the girl and figuring that her walls would be somewhat lower due to the current pain she was experiencing.
"My uncle taught me," Helena answered, immediately.
Dinah was pleased to discern that the teen had told her the truth. "That sounds pretty cool of him."
"Yeah," Helena agreed. Was that bitterness Dinah detected in her tone? A comfortable silence developed, the women lost in their respective thoughts.
"All done." Dinah said, eventually, wrapping a bandage around the stiches. Helena's body sagged with relief and she moved to stand, but the blonde stopped her, placing a hand on each of the teen's shoulders and remaining in a crouched down position in front of her.
"Before you go, I want to thank you for saving me. It was very brave of you to intervene like that. Most people wouldn't have."
"It wasn't a big deal," The girl muttered, staring at the ground.
Dinah frowned and gently raised the girl's chin until Helena was looking her in the eyes. "It was," she stated resolutely. "Thank you, Helena."
A beat of silence passed and the girl seemed to be having some sort of internal debate. "You're welcome," Helena whispered. Dinah smiled and removed her hands, allowing the girl to stand.
"I can walk you back to – " Dinah started, but Helena cut her off.
"It's okay. You've done more than enough. I should go though, before my dad wakes up and sees that I'm gone."
"Okay," Dinah, conceded reluctantly, not wanting to push the teen any further. "It was nice meeting you, Helena." The teen nodded, walking back towards to the apartment building she claimed to live in.
"Dinah?" Helena called, stopping mid-step and turning back to the blonde.
"Yeah?"
"Stay safe."
"I will," Dinah promised. Satisfied, Helena resumed her walk to the building and disappeared into the alleyway. Dinah loaded the first aid kit back into her motorcycle and donned her helmet, preparing to drive off, when suddenly she froze, her conversation with Helena replaying through her head.
"I stay with my mother, and she never notices when I'm away at night, she's a heavy sleeper…"
"I should go though, before my dad wakes up and sees that I'm gone."
The teen had slipped, Dinah realized. Why would she lie about which parent she was living with, Dinah wondered.
Unless.
Unless…she was living with neither – with no one – alone.
Author's Note:Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. Helena is younger in this story and her background has been slightly altered. The next chapter will reveal what has happened to her over the years.
If you can, please leave a review to let me know what you think!
Thanks for reading!