AN: Hey guys thank you for reading. This is my origin story for my favourite lady in comics, Black Canary! I've changed around the character of Tom Bronson who in the comics is a methauman shape shifting wild cat and the illegitimate son of Ted Grant, but here he was raised by Ted and childhood friends with Dinah.
Note there is some dark stuff in here in terms of an attempted rape, so discretion is advised.
The Glades weren't known for its amazing nightlife or sense of style, it smelt like a rotten farm half the time but it had a sense of curiosity about it. There were always little nooks and crannies tucked amongst the strip clubs and bars. Places which seemed to spiral out of control into the depths of an urban hell. It had given birth to several characters over the years, a slashers who pray upon prostitutes, dealers seeking to exploit young teens and criminals wishing to take advantage of the borough's plight.
After all they lived in the "city of stars".
One character that was stalking it's streets was a woman clad in a dark blue strapless top, black shorts and matching leather jacket with fishnet stockings which actually intimidated onlookers by her muscular physique. As she marched through the caverns she came upon a group of shady looking, hooded thugs shouting their asses off outside of a bar.
The people inside of the establishment cowered in fear of the two groups of thugs pumping their fists in the air. The sound sent shockwaves across the neighbourhood making the bricks of the bar walls shriek in fear.
One of the men decided to present his dominance, or insecure masculinity by shoving another to the ground. The six or so others began to push each other, letting their shouts blare so loud that they could be heard several blocks away. Upon closer inspection half of the men were dressed in navy jumpsuits with snap backs and the others in red biker jackets, obviously a motorcycle gang.
Eventually, the on looking woman became sick of the sight and grabbed one of the men by the arm and swung him over her shoulder and forced his body to the cold hard pavement, twisting his arm to keep him at bay.
"listen, I don't care what 90s gangster movie you idiots came from, but take your immature bull shit somewhere else!" the woman commanded at the group in a sassy and playful tone while smirking.
"Out of the way bitch!" One of the men shouted flipping out a pocket knife which merely caused her smirk to turn into a grin.
She popped the shoulder of the man she was pressing to the ground and then lunged at the one holding the knife and kicked him into the wall, causing him to ricochet to the ground, leaving a bloodstain. Another intended on punching her but was met with the solid slate of the pavement to his face after a quick sweep kick.
The woman flipped out a pair of brass and pummelled the next two unfortunate souls into a crying messes on the floor. The last man gave up without a seconds thought and despite her shorter stature rammed the man against the wall with her hand at his throat.
"Please lady don't kill!" he pleaded to the woman.
"I'm not gonna kill you, I want you to tell your friends about me." She said almost breaking into laughter at the sight of the poor sod. "I'm The Black Canary!" she smiled while tossing him aside as him and the rest of his contemporaries ran away into the night.
Cheers erupted from the bar as an old African American bar tender staggered out.
"Hey ma'am thank you so much! Hey listen you can have anything you want, on the house!" he asked ecstatically.
"It's fine, I was gonna meet some friends here anyways" she said while stepping in to the bar.
Once in the bar she surveyed the room, the mahogany walls and warm gentle atmosphere and the smell of heavenly brewed beer was tantalising. She eventually caught the eye of her friend Tom who was sitting in a booth towards the back by himself with a bottle of beer.
She's scurried over to her raven haired half Asian cohort and slumped into the leather seat. Tom smirked while taking a sip and then placing the bottle down on the counter as a drop fell on his black V-neck.
"Well you took your sweet ass time." He laughed with his sweet voice.
"Beating up idiots in fishnets is hard man" she said cracking open the beer bottle that he had ordered for her.
"How did your mom do it?" he giggled while picking back up his bottle.
"Yeah, crap they tore on my thigh!" She exclaimed while grabbing her phone from her Jean pocket. "you don't think anyone noticed right?"
"Trust me, everyone did" He smirked with a cheeky smile.
Dinah playfully kicked his shin which made him spill his beer which caused the two to erupt in laughter.
"You dirty minded freak" She said as her eyes rolled while showing him her phone screen. "What ya think of the new band logo?"
She smiled in an excited tone while showing an image of a yellow pinstriped bird against a black background.
"Dinah... It's great but isn't that your mom's?" Tom sighed.
"Look our parents stood for something why don't we be proud of it?" Dinah said putting her phone away.
"A band logo is one thing but what ya did our there 'I'm the Black Canary' Your mom got put away for a life sentence cause of it!" Tom said putting the beer down.
"I just want to help people out there Tom, just like our parents did." She told him with increased frustration.
"Our parents were criminals." Tom bluntly told her which cut so deep all the warmth vanished from her eyes in an instant.
"Seeya at practice Grant" She told him with an absence of trust and effection and got up out of her seat.
"Laurel." Grant called out to her as she left drawing back her attention with her middle name that only her father called her due to sharing her first with her mother. Grant swallowed his breath and refused to apologize like wanted to. "Those knuckles, they belong to my dad." He said plainly.
Bitter from the lack of empathy coming from those words she tossed them at him angrily, with it landing on the table. "Well no one was gonna use them." She said using the words like poison to numb Tom's emotions, leaving him.
Hesitantly she stopped at the bar counter on her way out, looking back at Tom to make sure he wasn't looking.
"Hey there's our own Superhero! That offer is still on the table by the way." The bar tender happily said, grabbing her attention.
"Could I have a vodka bottle please?" She asked sheepishly.
"Sure thing Ms." He handed her the bottle that enticed her beyond belief so much so she grabbed it outta his hand.
"Hope you and ya boyfriend have a nice night" He said walking over to another customer before Dinah could clarify the bottle was just for her and that Tom wasn't her boyfriend.
Regardless of which she slipped out of the bar downing some vodka.
Over at the table Tom chucked the beer bottle in the bin and returned to the table to find the brass knuckles, he picked it up and stared at it longingly. On the side it had the name of his father's alter ego.
WildCat.
Dinah stumbled through the grim streets, teetering on her feet as if she had just been in a car crash. She tapped the now vacant vodka bottle across the walls and fences she leaned on during her stroll. Eventually sitting on a park bench to grasp what few remaining drops were left to send her mind into a nice eternal sense of bliss.
She smiled while staring at the moth infested lights that dotted the path, as if they were sheep that ordinary people counted before bed.
She felt a hard skinned hand come round the back of her neck, she turned her head sharply to find an older man in his 50s with an evil grin on his face.
"You working tonight sweetheart?" he said in a disgusting tone that made her stomach twist.
"Always am..." She muttered.
"How much you charge?" He asked excitedly.
"I don't do it for money" She smirked at the man.
"Oh I love girls like you!" The man exclaimed while aggressively pulling her closer and moved his hand up her leg.
She rapidly grabbed the man's arm and dragged him over her shoulder onto the dirty pathway and then popping the old buzzard's shoulder, dislocating it allowing for the entire park to hear his scream.
Dinah let go of his arm and let him cry out in pain for a few seconds before kicking him in the gut twice as he whimpered.
"You dislocated my fucking arm you bitch!" He screamed violently.
"Oh my mistake" Dinah sarcastically remarked before kicking him right in the crotch with all the power in her body causing his agonising pain to grow even worse.
She spat on him and turned to leave feeling incredibly violated despite being in control of the situation. She vomited in a bush as her drunkenness overtook her. She then sobbed on the street corner as she felt entirely abandoned by everyone.
"Laurel" A calming male voice came from in front of her.
She clenched her fists ready to thrust her emotions at him but then realised the familiarity in the word and voice of the man.
She looked up to see her father kneeling down opposite her with tears in his eyes. She kept forward falling into his arms as he engulfed her in a protective hug. She cried into his shoulder as he kissed the top of her head. She fell asleep to police sirens as she often had done as a child whenever he had to leave to go to work. So she drifted into a familiar slumber as she felt his warm embrace.