Dinah Lance hated knives, and never more so than right now.

Damnit.

She was pissed, so very pissed. All she could do was watch as Sportsmaster fled, squinting through the smoke from the bombs he'd thrown down to cover his tracks. They'd fought for almost an hour after the mercenary set fire to Star City, earning the attention of herself, Green Arrow, and Batman. It had not been an easy battle and it left them both with injuries, most notably his broken nose and nearly dislocated shoulder and her with a rather serious knife wound. But it wasn't even a normal knife wound.

The mercenary almost never used knives but desperate people do desperate things. He had pulled out a dagger, surprising her enough for him to get a lucky shot in between her ribs. Her only reaction had been a face of pain and gritted teeth, but no sound. But then he had to go and make it so much worse by twisting the blade and then removing it, further worsening the wound to the point of being potentially fatal. Dinah had sunk to her knees, clutching her ribs as she felt blood seep and start to flow between her fingers.

Now, she was struggling to stand, and she was only able to do so using a nearby car, one of the only ones not in flames at this point. She pressed two shaking fingers to the comm link in her ear. "Canary to Bats," she said, signaling the Leaguer that had come to Star City to help. She paused, coughing, and watched the blood splatter against the ground beneath her. "I'm going…to need…some help."

The fires in the buildings around the main area of Star City were just being put out when Batman received the alert.

"Canary to Bats," The voice he heard on the other end was weak, followed by a wet, sickening cough as she paused. "I'm going…to need…some help."

He pressed his own comm link to respond, a spark of worry igniting. "On my way."

When he turned, he found Oliver helping the firemen. "Green Arrow, I'm going after Canary. Keep a look out for Sportsmaster." He didn't bother to wait for confirmation, going off with a swish of his cape. Fortunately, he remembered the direction Canary and Sportsmaster has disappeared to and lost no time in following the trail. Soon enough, he was able to spot a figure through the smoke. When he came closer, he realized it was Canary, who seemed to be in worse than bad shape.

Bruce rushed over to her, observing her, and her injuries, more closely. One side of her face was red with a trickle of blood running from a small cut. She was leaning heavily on the car next to her, one hand clutching her ribs. She looked, literally, like she could fall over at any moment. Blood stained the ground around her, most likely from the coughing he heard earlier, as well as another small trail leading up to her. He was relatively sure that it's was Sportsmaster's blood, meaning Dinah hadn't been beaten at all easily.

Approaching her, he steadied her with one hand, while gently pulling her shaking hand away from her wound with his other. It was deep, with a steady stream of blood gushing from it. And ugly didn't even begin to describe it.

"Had a knife," Canary managed to get out, practically gasping. "Stabbed me." Bruce nodded, reaching into a compartment in his belt, retrieving gauze and a small roll of bandage, always prepared. As carefully and gently as he could, he widened the hole in the fabric of her costume, exposing the skin around the wound. As soon as the hole was big enough, he quickly pressed the gauze to the marred flesh. Dinah sucked in a sharp breath at the pain, and even Bruce winced a bit under his cowl.

He had to admit, it was one of the worse knife wound he'd even seen. A good part of that was because of the fact that the blade had been twisted and that it seemed to have been serrated, based on the appearance of the edges of the wound. Coupled together, those two would give someone enough complications. The removal of the blade only served to mar the flesh further. Anyone who knew much about wounds, especially stab wounds, was that you never removed the weapon if you could help it. This made the wound possibly lethal. Dinah wouldn't be back at full strength for a couple weeks at the very least, most likely more.

"Is Sportsmaster gone?" He asked, receiving a nod from Canary in reply, even though he expected as much. She was breathing hard, her legs, most of her body really, shaking from exertion, exhaustion, and blood loss. With the ease and finesse that could only come from years of self-doctoring wounds, Bruce unrolled the bandage one-handed and quickly started wrapping it around her torso, trying to staunch the flow of blood that anyone could tell was too much to be at all close to any 'healthy' level. When he had finished, he said, "We need to get you patched up." He knew those bandages wouldn't last long and that she needed some proper medical attention, and she needed it fast. Bruce called the Batplane with a touch of his belt. By now, he was supporting most of Dinah's weight, her legs now refusing to cooperate. As the Batplane appeared, he pressed into his comm link again, calling Green Arrow.

"Batman to Green Arrow. Taking Canary to the Batcave. She's seriously injured." After a brief exchanged with a near-hysterical Oliver, not that he could blame the man, he was helping Canary into what was usually Robin's seat. Then, they were speeding off towards Gotham.

A lot of people would say that Batman is a generally unemotional person. However, most of them fail to differentiate the difference between unemotional and not actually showing the emotion. The latter of the two was much closer to the truth. Bruce wasn't unemotional, but in fact, he was quite far from it. He blocked out his emotions when he fought; he had to. But, when the battle was finally over, even if it was only for the day, and the cowl came off, he showed his feelings far more easily. And right now, the overwhelming emotion on his mind was concern.

Dinah, meanwhile, hadn't protested, barely saying anything and only to answer Batman's unspoken question. She leaned against the vigilante heavily, with no choice really; she felt far too weak to stand on her own. She glanced down to look at the wound to see blood still flowing steadily, a constant reminder of how deep it really was. It wasn't the first she's been stabbed, of course, not in this line of work. Yet, it was the first time she'd had a wound so deep. Not to mention, she was in constant pain, a sharp, burning pain that existed, even intensifying if she was doing something as simple as breathing. So, she stayed quiet, her teeth gritted in silent pain.

As soon as the bandages had been applied, her hand had gone straight back to her ribs, clutching the wound area. God, she could hardly stand, even when she was leaning against someone or something. If Bruce wasn't there, she would've had to call Ollie to help her, who would've gone nuts just at the sight of her, never mind actually being able to help her. He was close to that point already but he hadn't actually seen her, yet. She dreaded the moment he would. Batman had much more experience in nearly anything dealing with injuries. After all, considering Gotham was his city. She trusted him with her life, not that she would've really had a choice that this point, but it was true and still not something she could say about many people, including few of her fellow Leaguers.

It wasn't long before she was in the Batplane behind Bruce, even if it had been no easy or painless task, speeding towards Gotham and towards the Batcave. It was one of the only places Dinah was actually comfortable being treated in, as she couldn't really go to a hospital, nor did she herself have what was needed to take care of her wound. She looked out the wraparound window, watching buildings blur past the fast-moving aircraft. She had been quiet, until she had to cough again. She was careful, however, to do so into her elbow, trying to minimize the blood shed into the plane, even though she knew it was futile, instead staining her sleeve with the dark crimson liquid.

Dinah could already feel blood seeping through the bandages over her torso, staining her already red hand once more. She leaned back in the seat, already feeling the effects of her obvious blood loss. There was no way that she'd be able to stand on her own anymore; in fact, she may very well not be able to stand up at all. She couldn't remember another time that she'd been so thankful for Bruce's strength, not that she herself was weak. After all, she'd managed to flip Sportsmaster into the ground not once, but twice, and had literally carried Ollie home more times than she could count. But not was not even close to being an ordinary time for her.

Her eyelids were beginning to feel heavy and started to flutter, but Dinah refused to give in. She kept focusing on random spots in the distance, forcing herself to keep her eyes open as she coughed again, something that would continue for the rest of the flight.

Bruce was also quiet on the trip back to the cave, concern for his fellow League member and valued friend driving him to silence. Dinah coughed intermittently the closer they got, leaving Bruce to worry that the damage was more severe than he had previously thought. He only hoped he would be in time to prevent the death of someone else close to him. If he failed, well, he really didn't even want even think of that possibility; it had just happened too much. He pushed the Batplane faster as Dinah's eyes fluttered, struggling to stay open. They were almost there, and he silently begged her to hold on just a little while longer.

When they finally landed in the Batcave, Canary was slumped over to one side of the seat, her breathing shallow. Blood trickled out of the corner of her mouth, left there simply because she was too exhausted to wipe it off with her sleeve. Bruce himself quickly wiped it off with a gloved finger and gently lifted her up out of the aircraft, carrying her out of the hanger. She was wincing the entire time but there was no other way. Alfred was already waiting in the main part of the cave, and if he was at all shocked, he didn't show it, not that he ever did. Instead, ever faithful, he followed Bruce to the medical bay, where the vigilante carefully laid Dinah down on the exam table. She looked up at him with barely conscious, half-lidded eyes, and he removed his cowl to give her a small smile of reassurance. After giving her hand a squeeze for comfort more than anything else, he left her to Alfred's care and went to his computers. He just couldn't bear to stay there, to see such a good friend in such a state for more than he had to.

"Batman to Green Arrow. Is there any sign of Sportsmaster?"

"None yet. How's Canary?"

"Alfred is taking care of her."

"I'm coming over."

"I didn't expect anything less." Terminating the call, Bruce settled down into his chair with the coffee Alfred had set out and reviewed case files with he waited for Alfred to finish with his patient.

He absorbed himself into the files, numbing himself to the outside world. There was only one sound he listened for: the slow, steady, albeit weak, beeping of Dinah's heart monitor heard throughout the cave, at least until Oliver arrived, when the Zeta tube would announce the archer's presence

As soon as Ollie had gotten the alert from Batman about Dinah being hurt, he had paused in his making sure that everyone had been rescued from the debris long enough to launch off an array of profanities towards the ground. One mother gave him a particularly dirty look as she guided a small boy away, and Ollie waved a half-hearted apology her way before turning back towards the debris and glaring at it, as if it were the debris' fault that all this had happened and that Dinah was injured, and, most importantly, that he wasn't there to stop it.

Sportsmaster was going down for this. For attacking his beloved city, for threatening and hurting his family; Sportsmaster was going to pay, and that was the point. Oliver Queen was going to make very sure of that. The mercenary wanted to make it personal, and in that he did far more than simply succeed. And there was no way Green Arrow was going to just let that go.

Batman's voice cut through his thoughts and asked him if there was any sign of Oliver current most hated villain. "None yet," Oliver growled through his comm, not that he'd expected to. A lump formed in his throat and, with some difficulty, he was able to finally force out his next two words, almost scared to get an answer. "How's Canary?"

"Alfred is taking care of her." Oliver resisted the urge to tell the Dark Knight, and in less than quiet and polite terms, that 'Alfred is taking care of her' was not a proper answer, but he did trust the skills of the butler of Bruce Wayne, who'd gotten Green Arrow himself out of some spots of trouble in the past. Oliver scanned his surroundings to see if he was needed anymore, but it seemed like everything was under control. Besides, he probably wouldn't have been much help in the emotional state he was, and not much would've stopped him anyway from going after Dinah. "I'm coming over," he said, already heading in the direction of the zeta tube that would take him straight to Wayne manor, the Batcave, and Dinah.

It somehow seemed bright, even for a cave. And loud, too, with echoes all around. Dinah's eyes fluttered open as she tried to focus on the immediate scenery around her, memories starting to flood back from the day. Right. Alfred was looking over her, the smallest of his kind smiles on his face as he spoke to her.

"I trust you are feeling a bit better, Miss Lance?"

She smiled weakly back at him. "Yeah. Thanks, Alfred," she said, her voice having become slightly hoarse. She sat up, wincing more than slightly and looked down. The bandages around her torso were finally not completely stained red. She found she was able to stand up, even if she had to lean on whatever was there to do so. But, at that moment, she was just glad she could.

Dinah walked out of the medical bay, although slowly and leaning on the cave wall to see two not unexpected heroes waiting for her. She gave the pair the same weak smile she had given Alfred, though it morphed into a small smirk when she spoke two quiet, hoarse, but joking words.

"Miss me?"

Bruce's lips turned up only slightly at the corners, but there was still no mistaking the undeniable relief he felt as he saw his friend walk on her own two feet after what seemed like an eternity, even if it was only slightly longer than an hour since they'd landed in the cave. He just couldn't stand to see her lying on that table, pale and bleeding and just so close to lifeless. To see her walking towards them was like a breath of fresh air, but it was also a reminder that he hadn't failed.

"It's good to see you recovering, Dinah," Bruce said. "I knew you wouldn't let someone like Sportsmaster keep you down for long." The intent of the statement was obviously light-hearted, not something that came easy to Bruce. There was a reason, after all, he counted on Dick to lighten a situation. But, beneath it was true concern for his friend and fellow League member. Lawrence Crock would get what was coming to him, he would make sure of it. Bruce had no doubt in his mind that Oliver was thinking something very similar.

As Dinah walked out of the medical bay, Ollie felt the knot around his chest finally unravel and release. He looked up from his conversation with Bruce and smiled in relief, walking up to his partner as she straightened up against the wall and rested a hand lightly on her waist, close to where she had been wounded. "Glad to see you up, Pretty Bird," he said softly, meeting her eyes. Those same eyes rolled at the nickname and gave the archer an unamused look. "What?" He held his arms out in surrender. "I'm allowed to be cheesy sometimes, aren't I?" He asked, grinning at her.

But he, like Bruce, was also just glad she was alright, at least as much as she could be at the moment. When he had arrived at the Batcave, he'd gone straight to the medical bay to check on her as Alfred worked. It had definitely spiked his concern more than a considerable amount. She had just looked so…not like the Dinah he knew. It was like someone had taken the strong, tough heroine he loved and replaced her with someone too weak and helpless to even move. To see her just standing, even, was a complete relief.

In answer to his question, he received another eye roll, followed by a question everyone already knew the answer to. "Did you find Sportsmaster?"

Oliver's smile turned grim at Dinah's query. "Lost him," he muttered, his eyes glaring at a spot on the cave floor. But none of them had expected to find him after the way he'd fled without a trace after stabbing Dinah.

"Well then, we're just going to have to find him again, aren't we?" His eyes snapped up to meet her smirk and returned it with a grin. Besides, there was no way Dinah wouldn't want her own rematch with the man.

"You bet'cha. Ol' Sportsy's got an appointment with my boxing glove arrow." He received another eye roll but this time, it was followed by a quiet chuckle.

"Whatever you say, Ollie."