Chapter Forty-Nine: White Canary Part One.
Dinah Laurel Lance, under the guise of the Black Canary, returned back home to Gotham. Despite a lot of the problems occurring in Metropolis, Dinah always thought Gotham would be so much worse. Although tonight looked to be a fair bit quiet, perhaps too quiet. Dinah hated to say it out loud, because thinking something was too quiet, would always have problems.
A sense of dread filled Dinah to be honest. The woman placed her hands on her hips and she peered down. People made their way through the streets of Gotham. One gentlemen looked to be in a hurry, looking at his watch.
"I can't believe I'll be late…my wife is going to kill me!"
A shadow of a smile flashed over Dinah's face. Granted a gentlemen being late for a dinner wasn't a crime, but it did break up the darker tone of the Gotham City night. Some people disagreed with it not being a crime, and Dinah could see their points.
Dinah thought she noticed a shadowy figure moving in behind her. The Canary swooped into the shadows and rushed into the darkness. No one stood before her, which caused Dinah's confusing thoughts to grow. Was someone stalking her, or was just being back into Gotham making her paranoid. The woman leaned back for an instant, frowning.
'Okay, this is odd, really odd. Why would….'
The sound of tinkling glass caused Black Canary to almost jump up in the air. The woman leaned herself back and walked forward. A sound of scuffled screams echoed from the distance. The Black Canary made her way forward and almost hit the edge of a railing. Casually, Black Canary dropped down and looked around.
She noticed a broken window off in the distance. Black Canary walked closer and realized was directly in front of the Iceberg Longue.
'What, did Cobblepot stiff someone on a deal or something?'
Black Canary scrambled down to the floor. She saw a set of eyes staring back from behind a table. A hand reached up, holding a screwdriver up. One of Cobblepot's waitresses stood from behind the overturned table.
The smoldering smoke filled the Black Canary's nostrils when she stepped further inside the Iceberg Longue. The waitress raised a hand with the screwdriver.
"Stand back, stand back," the waitress said. Her arm started to shake when she held it up. A nervous expression filled over her face. "He…just came in here, and went to the back….took out the security."
Black Canary looked down to see two security guards having been stabbed and dumped into the icy waters of the Iceberg Longue. The figure made her way to the backroom and opened up the door.
She stepped up towards the beaten and battered form of Oswald Cobblepot, better known as the Penguin. The criminal looked at the Black Canary with a bleary look in his face. A bruise rose on the side of his head. His arms and legs had been tied behind her back.
Reaching over, Black Canary picked Cobblepot's umbrella off of the desk. The knife retracted from it and she cut him free from his bindings.
"Who attacked you, Penguin?" Black Canary asked.
Penguin gurgled and tried to spit his words out. The more he tried to talk, the harder it was for him to get his words out.
"Tablet, vault," Cobblepot said.
Did he mean a tablet as in a computer device or a tablet in some kind of stone tablet?
"Are you back to…finish the job?" Cobblepot asked. "She….swooped in…and attacked me…hell of a set of legs….like you kind of….but she wore white, and not black."
Cobblepot slumped down onto the ground and the lights in the club started to flicker. Black Canary turned her head towards the exit, frowning as deeply as possible. Black Canary walked into the club.
"You!" Black Canary yelled. She positioned herself in a fighting stance, to defend herself from the attack. "Who broke you out?"
Slade Wilson, better known as Deathstroke the Terminator, approached Black Canary. Black Canary braced herself for some kind of defense and rushed towards him.
"The League wanted me to do a job, but….it's obvious someone beat me to the punch," Slade said. The two fighters squared off ready to go a couple of rounds. He dodged her attack and tried to jab her in the throat. Black Canary jumped onto one of the overturned tables and avoided the attack.
Slade rushed Black Canary, and tried to take her out with another violent attack. He activated an explosive he set up.
Another explosive caused Black Canary to roll over. Slade rushed her with a broken table leg, but Black Canary blocked the attack with both of her feet. She kicked off and sent Slade flying back a few steps.
From the skylight, Batgirl dropped from the heavens. Slade turned around.
"You look different," Slade said. He withdrew a blade from his sleeve. "But, I'll kill you just the same."
Dinah wondered what the hell Ella played at jumping in the middle of the battle. Regardless, her entrance caused Slade's attention to be diverted. Dinah knocked Slade over the back of the railing, which caused him to land onto the iceberg!
Black Canary jumped onto the ice and tried to nail him with a Canary Cry. The ice cracked, which forced Slade to jump off.
Cobblepot stumbled out, using his umbrella as a crutch. His mouth hung open. The villain almost fell over against the wall at the intense property damage the two of them performed. The man tried to keep himself as calm as possible, even though he came close to losing his mind.
"DO YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH REPAIRS COST?"
Batgirl fired a crossbow bolt in an attempt to trap Slade, but she cut one rope too many, and caused a light rigging to fall down. It put Slade behind the light rigging.
Slade rushed over and grabbed the Penguin, putting a blade to his throat, causing him to go off with a sudden squawk.
"I'm going to ask you one time, who has the tablet?" Slade asked.
"The White Canary took it, I swear…she beat you."
Slade threw Cobblepot over towards them like a sack of shit.
"Another time," Slade said.
Black Canary tried to scramble over the obstacle which Ella created before her, but she struggled to do so. Slade blew a hole through the club, forcing Black Canary to back up. She grabbed Cobblepot by the scruff of his neck, and grabbed Batgirl by the arm.
"Let's go!" Black Canary yelled.
The two of them ascended, the waitress trapped in the club having escaped some time later. The Iceberg Longue collapsed in some flaming wreckage.
Kara sat in the sitting room of the Penthouse. She recovered from her ordeal a few nights ago and her powers returned completely. Hope entered her for the briefest second Claire could return to full power, but if Kara was honest, she thought the lack of problems manifested with Claire's powers.
The Girl of Steel allowed her mind to run wild with insanity. Her fingers brushed over her head for a brief second, frowning. The enchanting emerald-eyed assassin kept entering her mind. Kara suspected when she watched her eyes up close and personal. Now, Kara knew in an instant, Alexandra Evans and the emerald-eyed assassin looked to be one and the same. Her frown increased.
Ninety five percent sure anyway, but not one hundred percent sure. The most galling thing was Kara really had no reason to distrust either Alia or the mysterious emerald-eyed assassin other than her sense of paranoia. Hell, Helena vouched for her, and Kara knew better than anyone else how difficult it was to get inside Helena's head.
The phone rang and prompted Kara to spring up to a standing position.
"Hello?" Kara asked.
"It's me," Artemis said. "There's…a bit of a situation which took place in Gotham City."
Kara frowned for the longest second. A situation and Gotham City never resulted in a good thought. With a calm expression on her face, Kara tried to maintain a professional demeanor.
"What kind of situation?" Kara asked.
"Canary and Batgirl turned up at the Iceberg Lounge to investigate a disturbance," Artemis said. "Half of the club had been totaled, and Black Canary came across Cobblepot. He was beaten within a half of an inch of his life."
Kara thought this pretty much qualified as a situation. There had to be something more, and she was sure Artemis would tell her.
"It gets worse here, doesn't it?" Kara asked.
"How did you ever guess?" Artemis asked. The archer took the lack of answer coming from the Girl of Steel as her cue to continue. "It does get worse from here….Black Canary ran into Slade Wilson, you know, Deathstroke?"
"Yes, I'm well aware of who he is….continued," Kara said. "I thought he was trapped on a prison on a deserted island. Who let him out?"
"The League must have come across his prison and let him out," Artemis said. "He mentioned to Canary the League wanted him to get….well some kind of Tablet. Only he had been beaten to the punch."
Kara thought they finally got somewhere and slowly reached the solution, at least in a roundabout way at least. The Girl of Steel chewed down on her tongue with a long frown following her after a half of a second.
"Who beat him to the punch?" Kara asked.
Many different thoughts entered her mind, but Kara squashed them. For two reasons, the first being, she didn't want to give into her paranoid thoughts. And the second reason being would be, she didn't like to speculate. It always lead her down a fairly dangerous road.
"Someone who is called the White Canary."
Now Kara's curiosity reached a different level all together.
"I'll be in Gotham in a few minutes."
Kara made her way down a set of the steps and returned, dressed in her full Supergirl uniform. Kara almost reached the window, when her cell phone went off.
"Chloe, hang on, let me switch to headset," Kara said. With a nice little click, the headset turned on and Kara made her way over to Gotham.
"Well, I overturned every stone regarding Alexandra Evans," Chloe said.
"And?" Kara asked.
"Alia looks to be perfect, almost too good to be true," Chloe said. She frowned for a long second. "But some people are what you see, is what you get."
Kara figured it wouldn't be this easy to dig up information on someone. There were times where she didn't know how Helena did it.
"Maybe she is," Kara said. The Kryptonian survivor kicked things up to another notch. The Girl of Steel propelled herself. "But, there's something breaking in Gotham City….looks like the League is heading to the next phase of their plan."
"Well, always wonderful," Chloe said. "Maybe you can explain it to me on the way."
"I'll try, the best I can," Kara said.
Helena Bertinelli leaned back, where Dinah tried to patch her up. The two women had a lot of tension between them. Artemis leaned back, an awkward smile on her face between the two of them.
"So, what do you think about the tablet?" Artemis asked.
"I have no idea," Dinah said. She continued to wrap up Elle's arm, making sure the bandages were on them. "You got lucky you didn't get hurt anymore."
"Oh, here we go again," Ella said. "I made a mistake."
Artemis could see the tension in the air. Did she have to step in and referee another scuffle between the two? Ella was stubborn, and Dinah could have her days as well
'Oh boy, this won't end well,' Artemis thought.
"Well, if you didn't make a mistake, then I could have gotten Slade," Dinah said.
Artemis prepared to put herself in between the two of them. Both of them looked seconds away from getting into a fight. She hated to see the two of them rip each other apart.
"Oh, you think it was would have been sure if you would have defeated Slade," Ella said. She stood up and almost got into Dinah's face. Artemis pushed herself between the two of them. "You really think you would have defeated him?"
"I would have had a better chance if you hadn't shot the light rigging down," Dinah said. She tried to calm down, but she looked very annoyed. "If you want to be out on the field, you need to keep your head in the game."
"I'm not your sidekick, you're not my mother, so you can't tell me what to do!" Ella snapped.
Artemis cleared her throat, which caused both of the women in question to turn towards the emerald clad archer. The archer knew she stepped inside some rather dangerous territory, but the two of them needed to focus on the situation at hand.
"The two of you can resolve your unresolved sexual tension later," Artemis said. The archer ignored the rather pointed look directed her way by the combination of Ella and Dinah. Her frown increased when she stared both of them down. "The more serious problem is the White Canary and what her motivations are."
Dinah nodded for a long moment. The most insane theory the woman came up with, she pushed it to the side. Given the line of work she was in, the theory wasn't a lunacy. Still, Dinah did not think she could even hope for it to occur.
"You're right," Dinah said. She could still see the angry look cast to her by a rather frustrated teenager. "So, the White Canary….we really don't know anything about her."
"Yes," Artemis said. "About the only thing we know about the White Canary is she really laid a beatdown on Cobblepot. She could be in the League, although not the faction Deathstroke has been hired for."
"Maybe your sister knows something about this," Dinah said.
"Well, good luck in getting in touch with her, because she's dropped off the grid," Artemis said. An embittered look spread over the face of the emerald-clad archer. "You'd think after all we've done for her, she'd be a little bit more….responsive."
Dinah understood the problems Artemis had with her older sister. Talk about being there before herself.
The curtain blew open and Supergirl dropped down in front of the group.
"So, anything about the White Canary?" Supergirl asked.
The looks of discontent on the face of all of them told the story. Artemis shook her head.
"All we know is she's against whatever faction of the League Slade is aligned with," Artemis said. She sighed. "Not to say she isn't aligned with the League itself, but talk about an entire convoluted mess."
"Chloe wasn't able to dig up much more," Kara said. "There have been a couple of sparse sightings of the White Canary over the last few months, but this is the most prominent of the sightings."
"Any idea if it's even the same person behind the mask?" Dinah asked.
"No, because there wasn't any chance to take any photos so we could compare and contrast," Kara said. Dinah's body language slackened and Kara understood the frustration. She reached forward and grabbed Dinah around the shoulder. "We have a better idea of figuring out what this mysterious tablet Slade was after, was, and then….we might be able to find the White Canary."
"Let me guess, our resident tech girls are on it right now," Artemis said. The archer let out a prominent whistle and sighed. "We don't have a whole lot of information."
Kara nodded, not having a lot of information was a problem they would have to deal with.
The White Canary entered towards an abandoned part of Gotham. This section of Gotham resembled one of the worst parts of town, which said a whole lot about the makeup of the city. Appearances often could be deceiving, whether you were talking about the best of times, or the worst of times.
The woman clutched a stone object against her breast and made her way past the condemned signs, down a rickety stairway. An altar of a Dragon appeared before her. The White Canary removed a knife from her sleeve and cut her finger. A small tribute of blood dripped onto the dragon statue.
The gateway accepted her as being able to enter. The White Canary took a couple of quick strides inside, walking over towards an archway. In the shadows stood the emerald-eyed assassin, along with Nightwing.
"You've taken it, before Deathstroke could, haven't you?"
The White Canary nodded, sinking to one knee before her mistress. The stone tablet slipped from her hand into the hand of the Dreaded Dragon.
"You've done well," the Dragon said. "But, there's still a lot more to do if we want to bring the rogue factions of the League in check. The Ubu clan bringing Slade into this situation proves to be a pressing danger and one we're going to have to deal with immediately."
The tablet pressed in her hand showed her one path to returning the Demon to his throne. Many other paths existed though, and she knew the splinter factions of the League were an ever varying monster.
"I've had gone one step closer into restoring your full abilities with the experiment regarding the Gold Kryptonite," the Dragon said to Nightwing. Nightwing extended her head down and looked a bit anxious. The jade eyed assassin smiled at the prominence of eagerness in her pupil's face. "There is another couple intangibles we must test. Patience, my fledgling, all good things will come to those who wait."
"If I've learned one skill as part of this League, it is the art of patience."
Nightwing almost feared what would happen if her powers returned. Her skills sharpened over the past number of years, even if it had been months on the outside world. Thanks to the mystical talents of the Dragon, she had been taken to realms where she could learn how to fight. And the Dragon also taught her a fair bit about her powers.
Using them as a blunt force hammer resulted in nothing but trouble.
"You have learned patience. And you have served me as well as any of my fellow League members, and you will have a place by my side always. But I made a deal and I always hold up the end of the bargain."
"And I understand the sacrifice which will have to be made," Nightwing said.
The Dragon nodded, given the method of which they needed to restore Kara's powers, a sacrifice of sorts would have to be made. Helena didn't mention how she brought Kara back, not exactly a topic Alia could bring up at the latest board meeting.
The White Canary returned to her meeting, going through the bad section of Gotham. She owed her life, in more ways than one to the Dragon. The Dragon found her, an inch or two away from death.
"So, it's a nice night for a walk, isn't it?"
The White Canary stepped back, allowing herself to take a long breath. She came face to face with the Black Canary. The older woman stood, almost face to face with the White Canary. Time slowly ticked by on the clock as they wondered what would happen next.
"You should back off," White Canary said. "I would hate to have to hurt you."
The Black Canary raised her eyebrow, the confidence; the cadence in her voice, the theory became even more sound with every single second. And yet, Dinah didn't want to admit it out loud because it would lead to questions, questions she very much dreaded receiving the answers to.
"You could never beat me."
White Canary smiled beneath the mask and stared down the woman who she called sister in another lifetime.
"Don't say I didn't warn you."
White Canary jumped up into the air with a flash kick towards the Black Canary. The Black Canary dodged it in a snap. White Canary returned fire with a rapid fire series of jabs and strikes. Some of them broke through the Black Canary's defenses, while others caused her to back off, almost going over the edge of the roof.
Black Canary propelled herself over the head of her adversary. She swung a kick, but White Canary rolled underneath it. She flipped into the air and slammed both of her feet down onto the Black Canary's chest and knocked her to the ground.
"You're good, but I've improved."
Black Canary took down White Canary by both legs and mounted her down on the ground. She picked up the woman by the head and threw her hard.
White Canary landed against the puddle which had been left by a rainstorm. She splashed into the puddle, which caused her outfit to become transparent.
Not even missing a beat, White Canary picked up the attack, nailing her adversary with a stinging flurry of punches and kicks. She dipped behind her enemy, and started to rip at her adversary.
The two Canaries tussled, with ripped and soaked clothing. Dinah flipped her adversary to the ground and pinned her. She writhed underneath her.
"So, do you enjoy….."
The mask ripped off and Dinah stepped back, like she saw a ghost.
"Sara?"
Sara Lance slipped away and rushed over to the edge of the building. She jumped off, but landed in the waiting arms of Kara.
"Hello, Sara, long time, no see. Weren't you dead?"
"The Dragon brought me back," Sara said. "But I came back wrong for a while and the dragon set me right…she tamed me."
"Where is the Dragon?" Kara asked.
Sara responded with a round of laughter, which caused Kara and Dinah to both be slightly unnerved.
"You don't ask to see the Dragon; the Dragon asks to see you."
From the distance, Slade Wilson watched, and smiled. He located the White Canary, which meant he could locate the contract and get paid. The fact Sara Lance and the White Canary were one and the same made the prospect of revenge all the much more sweeter.
To Be Continued on February 9th, 2016.
