Chapter 55: Salute

Black Canary huffed as she punched her assailant in the jaw, and then buffed her nails on her suit. Then, almost offhandedly, she backhanded another one, sending him sprawling onto the rough pavement of the alley. All around her, groaning, near-unconscious bodies were writhing about, cursing her name. Ignoring them, she eyed the horizon, noting that the faintest vestiges of the sun were starting to rise in the east.

"Well done."

She turned around to see her newest teacher melt away from the shadows, something that she was oddly fond of doing. Nyssa still wore that ensemble of hers, and it was only as they spent more time together that she noticed the similarities between it and what Green Arrow wore. From this, she surmised that they had shared a teacher, or at least training; why else would Arrow trust Nyssa with Black Canary's?

"Thank you." Canary nodded politely. "Anything I need to improve?"

"Try not to be too straightforward with your attacks." Nyssa advised. "For common riff-raff like this, it hardly makes a difference, but with a more skilled opponent, it could get you killed. They will know the tells, so you must limit projecting your blows. You do well with feints, take advantage of that."

Canary nodded along, hanging to her every word. While there was still an air awkwardness between them, Nyssa was a master combatant, almost on par with Green Arrow. She had proven that during their first spar together. She internally winced when she thought about it.

She was also a better teacher than Green Arrow. Not to say the vigilante was a bad teacher, but their situation was hardly ideal for learning. Green Arrow had his own responsibilities and he barely had any free time to dedicate to her. Not to mention, he was a man, and applying the training he had to a woman's form had been difficult. Nyssa had none of these issues.

While Black Canary had not been cleared on the specifics (and been told that it was better if she didn't), Nyssa was not allowed to be seen in public. All that was said on the matter is that is wasn't safe, and while Nyssa could take care of herself, it was saving everyone a headache if she stayed out of sight. This meant Nyssa had all the time in the world to focus on Canary's training. And seeing as she was a woman, one that had professed to have trained several other women beforehand, it was as ideal as it could get.

Except for one thing: her identity. While Canary had already seen what was beneath Nyssa's veil, she had yet to reveal her own identity. While she trusted her teacher, it was secondhand trust sourced from Green Arrow. And she had yet to reveal her identity to him as well.

Despite this barrier, however, the training was going well. Nyssa accompanied her throughout the night as she patrolled through the Glades, taking down criminal after criminal, hiding in the shadows and appearing to praise and criticize her performance. She was strict and blunt, but not too harsh and was willing to give her praise when it was due. Provided Canary wasn't too exhausted at the end of the night, they'd then have a spar to finish off before Canary returned to Ted's gym for her customary four hours of sleep before she started her day. She was proud to note that every time they sparred, she lasted longer than the last time.

Speaking of Ted's gym, she was speaking with her first mentor about getting her own hideout. While Ted stated she was always welcome with him, it was dangerous if someone managed to connect Black Canary to the building, and therefore, him. She had already began exploring the Glades, searching for a place of her own; the current frontrunner was an abandoned clock tower. She would have to take a day or two to clean the place out and install equipment and such, but just the thought of having her own hideout filled her with glee. It reminded her of when she had gotten her first apartment years ago.

It was great for logistics too. She knew Nyssa was staying at Green Arrow's place, wherever that was, and traveled there after their nightly patrols were done, but it would be better for both of them if they had another place for her to stay - a place where she and Canary could meet more frequently, even during the day. She obviously could not stay at Ted's gym (Ted didn't even know she had new teacher), but if Canary had her own hideout, that would be the perfect solution.

Black Canary broke away from her thoughts to dodge a kick from her mentor. It seemed it was time for the usual spar.

"I heard you died." Kara greeted Barry calmly with a hug.

Barry winced even as he returned the embrace. "Technically, that was Chance."

"Who was impersonating you." She pointed out as they separated.

"Point."

Kara smirked before looking around. They were at the Queen Mansion; true to his word, Barry had been hiding out in Starling City until all the furor surrounding the heist had died down. With Kara on her own trip, helping out with a rash of disasters that had appeared on the east coast while Oliver was overlooking the construction of the mall over the base and Slade off visiting Grant, Barry had been slotted in as the primary caretaker/watcher of Kal, J'onn, and Nyssa.

"Nyssa's in town."

Not that Kara knew about the latter until now.

The Kryptonian blinked. "Really? What kind of job is she on?"

Barry grimaced. "She's not here for a job."

Kara frowned at that as her thoughts began to race. Why else would Nyssa be here? It's not like Ra's gave out vacation days, not even for his own daughter.

"She's here for protection." Barry sighed, answering her unasked question.

"Protection? Protection from who?"

"Talia."

Kara froze at that.

"Talia?" she asked carefully.

"Talia."

Kara groaned.

"Crap."

"Here's the next box." Iris announced, setting it down on the table.

Ralph, who was lying face down on the hardwood tabletop with a pen hanging loosely between his fingers, let out an audible groan. Eddie and Joe, who were sitting next to him, ignored the sound and instead started reaching inside the box for the pieces of evidence. Iris scowled at her partner, and started shaking his shoulder.

"Come on, Ralph. Just a few more and then we can go."

"I don't wanna." The man whined, his head still down.

Iris resisted the urge to strangle him. He was still her senior, and she needed to show the appropriate respect. Even if that respect wasn't returned. "You know how this goes, Ralph; you've done it over a hundred times before. Just log in the evidence for the trial and you're done. It'll be up to the DA after that."

Ralph still refused to sit up. Iris, past the point of propriety, did the only thing she could: she picked up Ralph's piping hot mug of coffee with a napkin, and placed the searing bottom of porcelain right on top of his hand. She quickly removed it as he sat up, hissing as he tried to rub the pain away.

"What did you do that for?" he demanded, though it came out rather childish.

Rather than respond, Iris simply tapped her fingers on the edge of the evidence box. Ralph glared at her for a moment before sighing and taking out one of the contents for himself.

After their shift was over, the group separated. Ralph had a date with his newest girlfriend, while Eddie was staying overtime. As the head of the Anti-Metahuman Task Force, he had extra paperwork to do in the cases of Shawna Baez and Hannibal Bates, especially the latter - it seemed Bates had gotten a large number of innocent people imprisoned for his crimes since the Particle Accelerator Explosion, and Eddie had to comb through the records for all of them.

Joe and Iris elected to go to Jitters before heading home. They had introduced new themed drinks for the Justice League, and Iris had made it her personal mission to try each one at least once.

"You know, I was worried when Singh told me he was considering you to be Ralph's new partner." Joe commented as he took a sip of his Green Arrow, which was a mint-flavored black coffee.

Iris frowned. "Why?" In her hands was a Supergirl, a milk latte with cherry and blueberry flavoring.

"Not for any lack of ability on your part," Joe assured her, "but because Ralph isn't the most… diligent of workers."

Iris nodded. She could accept that. "And now?"

Joe breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm glad he did. Not only for you, but for Ralph too. You manage to kick his ass into gear, better than almost everyone in the precinct besides Singh. With him actually having a work ethic these days, we can get so much more done."

Iris smirked. "I aim to please." She took another sip of her coffee, savoring the sweetness of it, before looking to the side, deep in thought.

Joe, sensing his daughter's discomfort, pressed his lips into a line. "Iris? Is everything alright?"

His daughter looked back to him, and there was a troubled look on her face. "Yes. Which is the problem."

Now the senior detective was really confused. "How so?"

Instead of answering that, Iris chewed the corner of her lip, and asked, "How's Barry?"

"Fine. He's living it up in Starling right now, like he always is when he's there. You know how he is with his siblings." Joe was proud to note that the last part passed through his lips without hesitation. It has taken a long time to get used to the idea of the perpetual only child that was Barry having brothers and a sister. Even when he was living with Joe and Iris for those three years, he felt separate from them, a part of the family and at the same time not.

"And he's not distressed about… anything?"

"No. Should he be?"

Iris shrugged. "Considering what he went through, you'd think he would be." She knew better than to elaborate what, exactly, her best friend went though. They were in public, after all.

"You're right about that Iris, and it is strange." Joe swirled his drink a bit. "But it's Barry. You know how he is - even in the most serious of situations, he always manages to find some humor in them." He grimaced. "Even when it's not to his best interest. I'd imagine that after the island, he's had practice coping with danger."

"Yeah." Iris said, trying to hide how unconvinced she was by that answer. "Yeah."

On the surface level, it did make sense. But the more she thought about it, the more it didn't. Because there had to be some mark on Barry. Something that showed he was affected by all that had happened to him. He couldn't just brush off things like this so easily, regardless of what he'd gone through before. The island couldn't be that bad, could it?

And as that thought passed through her mind, another came with it. She didn't know anything about Barry's time on the island, only that there were people with him while he was on it. Whenever they spoke about those ten years, they only ever really talked about what happened to her; Barry only spoke of his trials in broad, vague terms, then deflected the conversation to another subject. And Iris, too happy to have her best friend back, fell for it each and every time.

Suddenly, her coffee no longer looked appetizing.

Another night, another patrol.

Black Canary prowled from rooftop to rooftop, searching for trouble. More specifically, searching for Brick. Every single one of the lowlifes she had taken out in the last couple of weeks had something to do with Brick, whoever he was, and that was not a good sign. More than likely, Brick was some thug trying to fill in the massive power vacuum left behind by Green Arrow, and, to a lesser extent, Supergirl. Whether he succeeded or not was trivial compared to the almost assured collateral damage that would come with his rise.

She already used some of her connections with the DA's office to get a file on him, but some personal anecdotes wouldn't hurt either. Better yet, she could get a location - then either her or Green Arrow could hit the place up and stifle this before it got any worse.

Crunch!

Black Canary looked down to see a pair of thugs throwing rocks at a storefront. She knew that storefront - she dropped by there from time to time after her shifts at CNRI for a smoothie or two. The owner was a nice old man who had seen of two children to college.

Infuriated, she didn't hesitate to drop down and attack. The two were no match for her, of course, they were just a pair of punks looking to commit larceny, but even as she brought them down to their knees and into the thralls of unconsciousness, she felt a fire in her blood. Something was wrong.

"Hello there, pretty birdie."

The vigilante whirled around to see a tall, heavy-set man stepping under a streetlight, illuminating his appearance. He was cracking his knuckles audibly. Even under the night sky, Canary could see the outline of muscles beneath his clothes, and readied herself. This would not be an easy fight.

"You know, my boss is real unhappy 'bout you and the Arrow taking out all our fodder." He said casually, now popping his neck to loosen the muscles there. "But with Arrow always leaving town for some new thing, you're the only real issue for us. He figured it's time we take you out."

With that, he charged. Black Canary blinked at how deceptively fast he was, and dodged his first blow by a hair. But regardless of how fast he was, she was faster, and started making her own attacks.

Unfortunately, they weren't that effective. While Canary was stronger than the average woman, it wasn't enough to really hurt the mass of muscle this man was. He simply grunted with each blow, and then grabbed her by the shoulders and threw her to the side.

Canary hissed as she skidded on her shoulder across the concrete sidewalk. While her suit protected her, she could feel the burn on her skin. She would have to look at that when this was all over. Ignoring the pain, she rolled over to dodge a hard stomp to her solar plexus that probably would've broken her ribs, and jumped to her feet.

Immediately, she jumped backwards to dodge another fast blow, and grabbed the offending arm, trying to flip the man over. But he spread his legs, locking himself in place and countering whatever leverage she had managed to get. Then, using his superior strength, he threw her over his shoulder, sending her flying.

Canary landed on her back, and bit her lip, trying not to let out a cry of pain. While she had managed to ready herself for the fall, including planning her shoulders, it didn't make it hurt any less. She was duly reminded of how much force those training mats absorbed on impact. Before she could get up herself, her opponent lifted her up by the neck.

She tried to scratch and claw away from his hold as it gradually tightened and then -

Thwack!

Black Canary breathed in several deep breaths. She looked over to the man who had tried to kill her, and found him completely unconscious. Standing above him was Nyssa, who was holding her bow in her hand.

"Next time, please wait for me." Her teacher deadpanned, as she took out a syringe and plunged it into the man's neck.

"What are you doing?" Canary wheezed, coughing.

"Making sure this doesn't come back to haunt us." Nyssa replied. "This syringe contains a drug that will wipe away the last few hours from his memory. That way whoever his boss is doesn't know about me or your injuries." She dropped the syringe back into one of the compartments of her suit to be discarded, and held out her hand to her student. Canary took it with gratitude. "No more patrol today. That was enough of a scare for one night."

"Where are we going?"

"To my place." At Canary's questioning look, Nyssa smirked. "You didn't think you or Green Arrow were the only ones with a hideout here, did you?"

Nyssa's hideout turned out to be one of the many abandoned construction sites in the more derelict sections of the Glades. When they arrived there via car (which Canary heavily suspected to have fake license plates and tinted windows), she saw that there was a cot, a mini-fridge, a computer, and piles of medical supplies. The assassin set her down on the bed while she rifled her supplies for bandages and disinfectants and anything else she might need.

Canary was still rubbing her neck when Nyssa got back to her with the necessary supplies in hand. The two exchanged a long look, and then Canary sighed and removed her mask.

"Laurel. Laurel Lance."

Nyssa nodded, careful to hide her shock, and got to work.

Once she was all patched up, Laurel used one of the half-completed bathrooms to change in some extra clothes Nyssa had lying around and wash out the dye in her hair. Idly, she wondered how Nyssa was able to get running, clean water in this hideout, but decided she was better off not knowing.

Nyssa handed her a towel after she was done, so she could dry her hair, which Laurel took with a grateful smile. The vigilante sat back down at the cot, and dried out her hair in relative silence. It was a chore to do this every night, but it kept people off her tracks and was far more practical than a wig that could fall off at any time.

After she was done, she handed the towel back to Nyssa, and the two stared at each other, not knowing what to say.

"Thank you." Laurel finally said, feeling that was the best way to start. "For saving me again."

Nyssa shrugged. "Think nothing of it. You are my student, a good one, and you couldn't continue your training if you were dead." She raised an elegant eyebrow. "Though, I must admit I'm surprised you revealed your identity to me so soon."

Laurel sighed. "You saved my life twice. That's enough for me. Plus - I need more training, and I can't have that with this… gap between us. It's better this way."

"Very well then." Nyssa nodded. "You must realize that if you want more, you must patrol less. Even if you didn't have any injuries, I would still advise this."

Laurel gulped. "The city still has Green Arrow and Supergirl."

"That they do. And the Flash is appearing here more often as well. But they are not always available, and they often deal with 'bigger' situations. Are you willing to leave more innocents vulnerable for the sake of training?"

Laurel grit her teeth, then nodded reluctantly. "Yes. Because I'm no used to them dead."

Nyssa stared at her for a long moment, and then smiled. Laurel blinked at the unexpected sight.

"Good. You understand." Nyssa got up to another section of her base, where a duffel bag was sitting. She unzipped it open and started rifling through the contents. "Your drive to help people is admirable, Laurel, but I've seen it in others as well. You, however, understand a fundamental aspect of your goal that others lack; sometimes, the best way to help others is to help yourself. And the best way to help yourself, and others, is by getting stronger." Finally finding what she was searching for, she took it out of the bag and went over to Laurel.

She held her hands out to reveal a pair of black tonfa.

"I think it's time you learn how to use a weapon."

Laurel gazed at the tonfa in wonder before grinning.

We're going back to Central City next chapter, and after a short mini-arc there (max three chapters), we will finish off the arc in Starling. There will be a short time skip (two months or so) right before the end of the arc; specifically, right before the last mini-arc of Arc III. You'll love it if you're a fan of Laurel, and that's all I'm going to say.

After Arc III finishes, there will be another time skip. This one will be much longer. I won't say why that is, but you'll probably figure it out within the next couple of chapters as things continue to unravel more.

As for the contest, I am thinking of revising the finish date. Initially I planned for when Arc III finished, but I realized that I am going through these chapters faster than I thought I would. So, most likely the finish date will be a chapter in Arc IV. Nothing is definitive yet, so don't hold your breath.

Constructive criticism is welcome! Flames will be ignored and deleted! Remember to update the TV Tropes page! And don't forget the contest!