Infinity Crisis Aftermath: Birds of Prey II

Disclaimer: All characters belong to their owners.

Gotham City Courthouse, Earth-66

A tall alluring Native American woman walked down the steps of the courthouse, carrying a thin brown briefcase. She wore a brown business suit with a yellow shirt. Around her neck was a bone-and-silver necklace and she wore earrings of turquoise.

Owlwoman. Real Name: Wenonah Littlebird. Birthplace: Oklahoma City, OK. Affiliations: Justice League (Honorary), Birds of Prey. Physiology: Metahuman. Powers and abilities: Night vision, superhuman senses, gliding. Skilled martial artist.

Right now, she was working her day job: as a civil rights attorney.

"Whoof, that case was tough." The Cherokee Crusader wiped her brow. She noticed a limousine at the curb in front of the courthouse. The chauffeur was standing at the door, smiling.

"Miss Littlebird?" The man said.

"Yes, that's me." The woman nodded.

"Mister Grayson wishes to speak to you." The chauffeur said, opening the door. A dark-skinned woman with blonde hair peeked out at Wenonah.

Black Canary. Real Name: Jurnee Queen. Birthplace: Gotham City, NJ. Affiliations: Justice League, Birds of Prey. Physiology: Metahuman. Powers and abilities: Hypersonic scream, skilled martial artist.

"Hey, Wenny! Get your butt in this limo!" She called out. Wenonah rolled her eyes.

"Why does Grayson wish to speak to me?" She asked as she walked into the limo. She noticed that the final member of their little trinity was with them. She had short black hair in a bob, and wore a blue tank top, and jeans with brown cowboy boots.

Bluebird. Real Name: Harper Row. Birthplace: Gotham City, NJ. Affiliation: Birds of Prey. Physiology: Baseline Human. Powers and abilities: No innate superpowers. Expertise in martial arts, electrical engineering, and gadgetry.

"Hi, Wenonah." Harper smiled and waved. Wenonah waved back as she took a seat. The chauffeur closed the door and headed to the driver's seat.

"I take it that Grayson is aware of our little...club?" Wenonah said, unsure about anyone listening.

"He is." Jurnee nodded. "Don't worry about it. He's an old friend of my family." She assured.

"I can't believe I'm going to meet the original Robin in person." Harper grinned excitedly. "This is kinda cool!"

"Yeah, he's great." Jurnee nodded. "I remember this one time when I was six, that he helped my grandma tape up my grandpa to the wall."

"Why did they do that?" Wenonah blinked. Jurnee scrunched her face in thought.

"I don't quite remember." The metahuman admitted, sipping from a bottle of water. "But knowing Grandpa, he was ranting again. He likes to rant." She shrugged. "It could be worse. Could have been Hal."

"Hal? As in, Hal Jordan? Former President of the United States Hal Jordan?" Harper blinked.

"Yup. The former Green Lantern himself." Jurnee confirmed. "He and Bruce...did not get along. Hell, Hal only attended Bruce's funeral because he wanted to be sure Bruce was dead." She shrugged. "Never understood why they hated each other."

"From what I heard, Jordan's a real 'alpha male' type." Wenonah thought out loud. "Maybe that was it." The three continued talking as the limo took them to Wayne Manor. One there, the Birds of Prey went down to the Batcave. There, they found the elderly former crimefighter waiting for them, with some guests. The first was a tall orange-skinned woman next to Dick. Her eyes were solid green, and her hair was a dark red with white streaks in it. She wore an elegant glittery purple dress.

"Koriand'r, I presume?" Wenonah noted. The woman smiled.

"Indeed, I am." The former Titan and Justice League member nodded. "A pleasure. Dick has told me so much about you." She shook Wenonah's hand.

"I'm honored he thinks so highly of me." The Cherokee woman said.

"Hi, Aunt Kory." Jurnee waved.

"Hello, little bird." Koriand'r hugged the dark-skinned blonde. "You have grown so much." She looked at Harper. "Ah, a new friend?"

"Uh, Harper Row." Harper rubbed the back of her head shyly. Oh, God! The legendary Starfire herself! Do I curtsy or bow, or... "Gwuh-!" Starfire caught her in a big hug.

"It is always wonderful meeting new friends!" The Tamaranean princess grinned, making Dick chuckle.

"Guh!" Harper gasped.

"Uh, Aunt Kory? A little tight." Jurnee reminded.

"Oh! My apologies, Harper Row." The royal heroine let the electrical engineering expert go.

"Air..." She wheezed out. Dick smiled at the young woman.

"I see you are the new crimefighter keeping Gotham clean." He noticed her hair. "Nice wig."

"How'd you..." Harper pulled off her wig, revealing her blue hair with shaved sides. Dick chuckled.

"I may not have been the detective Bruce was or the first Red Robin, but I still was an observant sort."

"Your hair is nice." Starfire complimented.

"Uh, thanks." Harper said. "I styled it this way for my brother."

"She's been talking up the path of crimefighting herself. As Bluebird." Jurnee explained. She gestured to Harper and Wenonah. "The three of us have been keeping Gotham clean as the Birds of Prey."

"The name was Harper's idea." Wenonah added. "All three of us have codenames with a bird theme."

"The name is amusing to me." Dick smiled.

"Why?"

"Owls are actual birds of prey." Dick explained. "Canaries and bluebirds are not."

"Rule of Cool, Uncle Dick." Jurnee shrugged. "So, what's the deal?"

"I have a couple of guests who wished to meet you." Dick explained. He gestured to the shadows, and two men walked up. The first man was a dwarf, with wild dark hair that was graying at the temples. He also had a mustache and beard, and wore a green jumpsuit with pockets. On the chest of the jumpsuit was a logo of a stylized yellow "T" with three Bohr model orbits around it. Around his waist was a futuristic golden belt with the T logo on it.

The second man was slightly heavy-set with short neat red hair. A pair of goggles rested on his head, and he was dressed in a blue short-sleeved jumpsuit with pockets in the legs, beige boots, and matching gloves. Wenonah noticed his facial features, which indicated that he had Down's Syndrome.

"Greetings, Birds of Prey." The dwarf said warmly. "My name is Thomas Thompson. But on my Earth, I'm known as Tom Thumb."

"Tom Thumb?" Harper snickered quietly.

"I've seen sillier codenames." Jurnee shrugged. Unaware of their conversation, Tom Thumb glanced at Wenonah...and her jewelry. "Nice to see another Native superhero. Your jewelry is Cherokee in design, correct?"

"Why, yes." Wenonah said. "I am Cherokee."

"I am Seminole myself." Tom said. He gestured at the man next to him. "And this is my associate and comrade: Raleigh Lund, aka Shape."

"I'm happy to meet you." He shook the Birds' hands. "You are very pretty." He complimented Wenonah.

"Thank you, Mr. Lund." Wenonah smiled.

"She gets that a lot." Jurnee snickered.

"No kidding." Harper blushed slightly.

"They are visiting us from another Earth." Dick explained.

"Wait, like another universe?" Harper blinked.

"Sounds like something out of a comic book." Wenonah agreed.

"Eh, nothing new to me." Jurnee shrugged. "My parents could tell you stories."

"We've visited other universes back in our Titans days." Starfire recalled. "I distinctly remember one where we met that other team of heroes about our age." She turned to Dick. "What were they called again, my love?"

"The X-Men." Dick recalled.

"I do wish that our visit was for pleasant reasons, but unfortunately, that's not the case." Tom sighed. "You see, Mr. Lund and I are members of a superhero team called the Squadron Supreme."

"They are very nice." Raleigh nodded. "They saved me from the Institute of Evil. I thought they were my friends, but..."

"Poor Mr. Lund here was manipulated by them. They were old enemies of ours. Thankfully, we were able to convince him to join us instead."

"The Squadron are very nice." Raleigh smiled.

"So, what can you guys...do?" Harper asked. The other heroes looked at her. "What?" She blinked. "I can't be the only one that's curious!"

"I can stretch my body." Raleigh said. He then demonstrated by stretching out his arm.

"I can change my size. Shrink and grow." Wyatt said. "Mr. Lund's also very helpful assistant in my lab. But that is beside the point. Recently, my teammates encountered an evil version of one of our comrades."

Their powers remind me of Eel and Ray back in the day. Dick thought.

"What, he comes from a mirror universe and has a goatee?" Harper joked. Tom Thumb chuckled.

"Unfortunately, no." Tom Thumb held out a small device that showed a hologram. "This evil Hyperion recently attacked our world." The five heroes glanced at the image of the redheaded muscular man in the gray and yellow outfit, and seemingly abnormally-sized grin.

"He's not like our Hyperion." Shape shook his head. "Our Hyperion is very nice. This Hyperion is really mean."

"Yup, that's...a perfectly normal smile. Nothing mad about that." Wenonah remarked.

"I had no idea a human grin can be that big." Harper said.

"Remind me to introduce you to Uncle Eel sometime." Jurnee said.

"This Hyperion character reminds me a lot of Superman." Dick noted.

"He looks quite fearsome." Starfire pointed out.

"He caused quite a bit of damage to our world before my team was able to stop him." Tom explained. "He fled into the Multiverse. So, my group has been traveling to other worlds to warn them of his arrival."

"We also want to give you something to help stop him." Shape added. Tom pulled a lead box out of a pocket in his jumpsuit and handed it to Wenonah. The Cherokee woman blinked as she opened the box and peered at the red crystal inside.

"It looks like Red Kryptonite." Dick noted.

"It's called Argonite." Tom explained.

"It hurts Hyperion." Shape said.

"Indeed, Mr. Lund." Tom nodded. "This substance helped stop him. He's also just as vulnerable to magic as anyone else is."

"We know quite a few sorcerers, so magic won't be a problem." Dick said.

"Thank you for the warning. And the argonite." Starfire smiled.

"You are welcome, your majesty." Tom Thumb smiled. "We hope that the miscreant doesn't come to this world."

"...mis...miscrant..." Shape struggled to repeat the word.

"Miscreant. It means 'bad person'." Jurnee explained.

"Am I the only one that is a little...nervous about all this?" Harper said. "I mean, these guys are basically saying an evil Superman could be coming to wreck our world.

"Forewarned is forearmed." Tom Thumb said sagely.

"Indeed." Dick agreed. "Miss Row, there were not many costumed adventurers back in my day. There are a lot more now. I have a little faith we can handle this." Not to mention, we can always call Clark back from retirement...

Thanks for reading!

I kind of imagined this Starfire resembling Helen Mirren.

For the portrayal of Shape, I drew inspiration for the character of Reggie Jackson from the British series Call the Midwife. Reggie in the show has Down syndrome, so I decided to establish that this Shape has Down's as well.