Chapter Six


Dinah and Brenda Cantrell -- a.k.a. Spoiler -- were sitting next to each other in the cafeteria, huddled over an English Lit textbook and parsing the Romantic Poets.

Across the room, a muscle-bound senior named "Mad Dog" Mike McLaughlin stood up. He was six-foot-three and a tight end on the Varsity football team. He had short brown hair and was wearing a New Gotham letter jacket.

He shouted, "I'LL KILL THE BITCH! I'LL KILL THE BITCH!" loud enough for the entire cafeteria to hear. His friends who were sitting at the table with him had just told him that his girlfriend was seeing another guy behind his back.

Dinah and Brenda each looked up from their textbook, searching for the source of the disturbance.

McLaughlin suddenly grew an extra three feet in height, tearing his pants, shoes, and jacket. His human head morphed into that of a wolf's. His fingernails began curving into long razor-sharp claws. A coat of long, thick, dark brown hair began to sprout from his skin. His transformation complete, the Wolfman let out a roar and overturned a table, sending lunch trays tumbling to the floor. Nearby students began making a mad dash towards the exits. Students jammed themselves into the doorways as the deans blew whistles and tried to restore order with shouts of "No running! Single file!"

After having seen that escape was impossible at that moment, Dinah and Brenda hid underneath the table. I'm wondering if I should call Huntress, Dinah thought. She was about to touch her comm earring when she noticed Brenda staring back at her. No … not now … not while Brenda's here.

"What do you wanna do?" Dinah asked Brenda.

"I'm gonna try for the kitchen," Brenda replied.

"Good luck," said Dinah. Please bring back Spoiler, she thought as Brenda grabbed her backpack, crawled out from underneath the table, and ran away.

Brenda ran into the kitchen and ducked into a broom closet. Once inside, she took off her jacket and shirt, revealing Spoiler's trademark purple Lycra bodysuit.


Barbara was in class going over last night's homework when an announcement came over the PA system:

"ATTENTION, FACULTY AND STUDENTS. PLEASE REMAIN IN YOUR CLASSROOMS. SCHOOL IS NOW IN LOCKDOWN. REPEAT, SCHOOL IS NOW IN LOCKDOWN. THERE HAS BEEN A DISTURBANCE IN THE CAFETERIA. FACULTY AND STAFF SHOULD INITIATE LOCKDOWN PROCEDURES NOW."

"Class, stay in your seats," said Barbara to the room. "I want you all to work on the homework problems that I assigned earlier." She then wheeled over to the classroom door, locked it from the inside, and wheeled back to her desk.

School's in lockdown session, she thought. This is no garden-variety lunchroom brawl. She looked at her watch. Dinah's lunch hour. That means she's at Ground Zero of whatever nastiness is going on in there. Her notebook PC sat encased in its black carrying case upon her desk. After taking care to see that no one was watching her screen, she took off her comm earring and put it inside the breast pocket of her jacket. She then took a wireless modem and a pair of mini-headphones out of her PC case. Having done that, Barbara inserted the modem into the side of the computer, plugged the headphones into their jack, put on the headphones, and logged into the Clocktower network.


The Wolfman was still going strong inside the cafeteria, upsetting tables and throwing chairs into the walls and windows, shattering them into splinters.

Dinah was at a loss as to what to do next. Okay … should I take this guy? Or should I call in Huntress?

Dinah's reverie was interrupted by a vibrating sensation on her hip -- her pager had just gone off. Who could be calling me at THIS hour? Dinah wondered. Dinah gathered her pager -- a notice onscreen indicated that she had received a text message. Dinah scrolled down through the menu and read the message:

:Dinah, this is Oracle. What's going on?:

How do I reply? Dinah thought.

As if Barbara had heard, the answer came onscreen (in the text-messaging equivalent of screaming at the top of her lungs):

:DINAH! TURN ON YOUR COMM!:

If you insist, Dinah thought as she touched her comm earring. "Oracle, this is Dinah. Over."

:Dinah, what's going on in there?:

"What makes you think something's going on?"

:School is in lockdown session. I was told that there was a disturbance in the cafeteria. You all right?:

"I'm fine. Why aren't you on comm?"

:Can't talk. I have students with me. What's going on?:

" 'Mad Dog' McLaughlin finally lived up to his name."

:How so?:

"I think he's a Meta. He's just transformed into this nine-foot wolf monster. He's tearing the place apart!"

:I'm calling in Huntress:

Dinah crawled out from underneath her table hiding place and looked around the cafeteria. The room was in shambles -- smashed tables and chairs were strewn everywhere. The windows bore spider-web cracks from having had tables and chairs thrown into them.

A flash of purple suddenly entered Dinah's peripheral vision. Dinah looked just in time to see Spoiler -- in all her blue-masked, purple-caped and hooded glory -- explode out of the kitchen door and onto the scene.

"Don't bother," said Dinah. "Here comes Spoiler."

:SPOILER?! SHE'S with you?:

"Umm, yeah … we were having lunch together." Dinah paused for a moment. "I'm gonna back her up."

:Be careful, wrote Barbara. :Stay under cover.:

Dinah crawled closer to the Hot Zone. The cafeteria was now deserted save for Dinah, Spoiler, and the Wolfman; staff and students had long ago evacuated the building. Spoiler leaped and delivered a flying kick to the monster's chest, sending him staggering backwards a couple of paces.

She knows martial arts, Dinah noted silently to herself.

Spoiler then delivered a kick to the Wolfman's knee, having no effect save making the monster all the angrier. The enraged monster then let out a roar, lunged forward, and swung a razor-sharp talon-tipped arm at Spoiler, taking a bloody piece out of her side and sending her to the ground.

"Spoiler, stay down!" shouted Dinah to the fallen superhero. Mother, help me, pleaded Dinah -- daughter of the late legendary Black Canary -- silently. As if the Ethereal Realm had heard, a supernatural force seized her. Mustering all of the Meta-human power that she had at her disposal, she let out an ear-splitting scream -- the legendary Canary Cry, a gift passed down from mother to daughter -- which slammed the monster into the wall behind him. He then collapsed in a heap on the floor.

Spoiler -- now partially recovered from her injuries -- rushed forward with a jumpline and bound the more-than-slightly-dazed beast's hands and feet together.

Barbara couldn't believe what she had just heard. The Canary Cry, she thought. I never thought I'd hear it again. Dinah, was that really YOU?

"Spoiler, you OK?" said Dinah as she rushed to Spoiler's side.

"I think so," Spoiler replied. "Why did you call me by that name?"

"That was the name of your predecessor in that uniform," Dinah replied as she noticed Spoiler's wounds. "You're hurt. You need help."

"I'm fine," protested Spoiler. "Anyway, how would YOU know such a thing?"

"There's a lot that I haven't told you about myself," replied Dinah quietly. "C'mon … I know where to find a First Aid kit."