Performance
Mount Justice
December 9, 16:16 EST
Kaldur had asked me to meet him on the snow-covered beach. I took a shaky breath as I approached, his back was facing me as he gazed up at the clear night sky.
"I still can't get over the fact that you can wear sandals when its 17 degrees outside." I said, shivering as I stopped next to him. He chuckled, but it was strained.
"Atlantean waters often reach below freezing temperatures. I'm used to the cold." He explained, before turning to me, "But that's not why I asked you to meet me here."
"I know." I replied, my gaze fixated on the stars, "You want to talk about what happened two days ago. After your failed mission in New Orleans."
"You have been offered membership to the Justice League." It wasn't an accusation, it wasn't condescending. It was... hurt, the way he said it.
"Yes." I whispered, barely loud enough for him to hear, my eyes trailing from the sky to the dark horizon.
"When did you find out?" He asked.
"Less than 24 hours before Roy joined the Team." I admitted, "He and I agreed to hold off on telling the Team until we were comfortable with telling everyone."
"You're lying to me, Kara. I can hear it in your voice." Kaldur stepped in front of me, this time he faced me, "Tell me the truth."
I didn't realize I had stop breathing until I finally exhaled. Together for only four months and he's already figured out my tells. I stepped back, located a snow-free boulder and motioned for him to join me. Together we sat on the rock, his eyes on me, my eyes on the moonlit waves.
"When Arrow first told me that I had been voted into the League, all could feel was excitement. Pride. I thought it was well earned. But now that I've begun to reflect on everything I've done, I'm starting to doubt that it was my work in the field that earned me the nomination."
"What do you mean?"
"I began my training with my grandfather. Back in the day, he was a founding member of the Justice Society of America, a trainer of heroes. He has connections with almost everyone in the League. So as I was growing up, I gained connections with them too. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm concerned that I was offered a place in the League because of my connections, not because of my work with Black Canary and the Team." I confessed, wringing my hands together, "It makes me feel like they overlooked everyone else on the Team because the League doesn't know any of you the way the League knows me. And if so, it's unfair of the League to elect its members because of that."
"I agree." Kaldur interrupted, "But if that's your concern, then maybe you should speak to Batman about it. Since he's currently the chairman of the League, he may be able to help."
"Maybe, maybe so..." I trailed off. I didn't know what else to say.
"I may not have been offered a place in the League, but I know that both you and Roy have worked just as hard as the rest of us to earn one. If it were my decision, I would have elected both of you as well." Kaldur said, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. I leaned into him, resting my head on his shoulder.
"You have an impartial bias. I'm your girlfriend and Roy's your best friend." I pointed out.
"True. But even if that weren't the case, it wouldn't change my vote."
Mount Justice
December 22, 18:33 EST
Robin had dragged Roy, Artemis, M'gann and Connor off to Europe to help him with an old friend from his circus days, Jack Haly. He invited me too, but I respectfully declined. This was the perfect excuse to spend some time alone with Kaldur. Currently, we were lounging on the couch in the common area, and I was reclining across his lap. He ran one hand through my hair, while intertwining his free hand with one of mine.
"I can't remember the last time the Cave was this quiet." I said quietly, glancing up him.
"Neither can I. It's nice to have time alone with you, Kara. Especially since you won't be around for much longer." He pulled his hand from my hair and cupped my cheek.
"Just because I join the League, it doesn't mean I can't come back to the Cave. We can make it work, Kaldur." I said, reaching up to pull his face toward me. I pressed a gentle kiss to his lips and smiled, "We've been through worse."
"I love you." He said, kissing me again.
"I love you too."
My phone buzzed in my back pocket. I groaned and pulled it out. It was Dinah.
"You know today is my day off, right?" I sighed into the phone.
"Not anymore. Ollie is in hot water. Got himself captured by Merlyn. We need to go get him." Dinah replied.
"We? Why not just you?" I whined, sitting up from my comfortable spot.
"Because whether I like it or not, you're about to be inducted into the Justice League. That means you have to step up."
"Okay, fair enough. I'll be there in ten." I said, resigned. I hung up and shoved my phone back into my pocket, "I have to go."
"What happened?" Kaldur asked, standing with me and wrapping his arms around my waist.
"Green Arrow's been captured. Black Canary and I have to go get him." I explained, wrapping my arms around his neck. I kissed him softly.
"Go. You have work to do."
"I know. Though I'd rather stay here." I admitted.
Star City
December 22, 15:45 PST
I had to sprint to make it to Queen Manor, change into my uniform and rush downstairs to Ollie's 'Arrow Cave'. Dinah was already geared up and waiting for me.
"Where is he?" I panted. Dinah pulled up a map of Star City on the nearest super-computer.
"His tracker showed his last known location was at Dock 12. But Oliver sent a distress signal twenty minutes ago shortly before his tracker's signal went dead."
"Why was he chasing Merlyn? I thought he was locked in Iron Heights." Iron Heights was on the other side of the country, and the cell that Merlyn was being held in had been designed specifically for him. It was inescapable. Or, at least it was supposed to be.
"It's obvious that he escaped. How still remains to be seen. But Ollie caught him doing contract work for the Shadows. They may have been involved in his escape." Dinah explained.
"So we'll start at the docks and retrace their steps?"
"That's what I was thinking."
Dock 12
16:00 PST
Dock 12 is famous for the contract kills that go down there. Locals call it The Hangman's Dock. So it was no surprise to either of us when we saw the array of arrows that spread along the boats that floated in Star City Harbor. The green fletching belonged to Oliver, the black to Merlyn. We walked the scene, looking for anything that could give us a clue as to where the archers were headed.
"No sign of a physical struggle that I can see." I called to Dinah, who was further down the dock.
"Because you're just skimming over the scene. You need to look into every detail, every crack and crevice until you find something. One of them left something behind."
"I've been looking everywhere! Maybe Merlyn had help, someone to clean up the scene and leave what the bastard wanted us to find."
"Maybe. Or maybe..." Dinah trailed off, which meant she probably found something. I jogged over to her, finding her hunched over a life jacket box that had been unloaded from one of those deep sea fishing boats.
"What did you find?"
"Powder. It looks like gunpowder, but just to be safe, we should take a sample."
I nodded, kneeling down to get a closer look, when something behind the box caught my eye.
"Canary." I reached around and grabbed a small piece of paper. It looked to be singed, like someone had set it on fire. Blood soaked one of the singed corners. "Looks like a business card. Probably belonged to Merlyn's target."
Dinah pulled the card out of my hand and tried to make out a name, while I continued to search for more blood, "We should bring this with us. We can run an analysis; the computer should be able to lift the name off the card without any trouble."
I stopped, my eyes glued to the water between the fishing boat and the concrete dock, "Might not need the card, BC."
"Why? What did you find?"
"Our victim." I pointed to a floater face down in the water, "Looks like Merlyn got his guy."
The vic's name was Adam Hunt, CEO of Hunt Multinational and one of the richest men in Star City. GA and Roy, when he was still Speedy, had busted him a couple of years ago for corruption, but clearly his dirty work ran deeper than that. Turns out Hunt was quietly funneling money to the Shadows in exchange for silencing the whistleblowers who tipped off Ollie and Roy. But after the whistleblowers had been taken out, Hunt wanted to keep the Shadows under his own thumb just in case anyone tried to expose him afterwards. And... yeah, we all know what happened next. His paranoia cost him his life at the hands of Ra's al Ghul and his assassins.
Dinah and I decided to investigate his office, in an attempt to find evidence in regards to where Ollie was being held.
"Why do these CEOs all have portraits of themselves in their offices? It's petty and self-absorbed." I commented, staring up at the large oil painting of Adam Hunt on a foxhunt with his prized dogs and sport horse.
"Most of them are narcissistic sociopaths. It's all about them and their money." Dinah explained as she began to rummage through his desk.
"Which explains a lot, considering how far Hunt was willing to go to cover his own ass."
"Looks like Hunt rented out a warehouse in the Glades a few weeks ago, but no cargo was placed there." Canary said, "Perfect place to hold a hostage."
"Then let's go! Merlyn's had Arrow for hours now, who knows what kind of shape he'll be in."
The Glades
December 23, 02:03 PST
Ollie was there. In the warehouse. He was tied to a chair, a bit bloodied and bruised, but nothing serious. Merlyn was there too, decked out in his black Shadows gear. The cowl he usually wore was hanging around his neck, revealing an aged face, maybe 45 or even 50. He had two Shadow grunts with him, one of them was armed, one wasn't. They were guarding Ollie while Merlyn interrogated him.
"How should we do this, Kara?" Canary asked me quietly as we watched from a skylight. I looked over at her in surprise.
"You're letting me call the shots on this one?" I asked. She nodded, the trace of a smile on her lips.
"You had to start at some point."
I grinned widely, though she couldn't see it through my mask. I turned my attention back to Oliver.
"If we can get Ollie free, he looks like he could get himself out of the warehouse without any trouble. But we'll need to distract Merlyn first, while one of us takes out his grunts."
"Leave Merlyn to me. You get Green Arrow out of there." Dinah said.
"Alright. Move in three... two..."
We burst through the skylight, landing in perfect synchrony, Dinah in front of Merlyn, myself in front of Oliver. The grunts moved to surround me, but I moved fast, unsheathing my claws and disarming the first Shadow with ease. As I bobbed and weaved, evading the two grunts' sluggish swings, I cut Ollie's ropes, releasing him from the chair. He staggered a bit, but corrected himself quickly and tackled one of the grunts.
With one of them occupied, I was able to nail the second one quickly in the jaw, sending him flying into a pile of crates, where he remained unconscious. Not far off, I saw Oliver's bow and quiver, leaning against a sheet of rusted metal. I grabbed them and looked up to see Canary knocking Merlyn out with a Canary Cry, while Ollie slammed the other goon into the nearest wall. We didn't waste any time getting out of there, rather we ran for several blocks before taking a breather down an alley on the edge of the Glades.
"Thanks... guys..." Ollie panted, resting his hands on his knees. "I owe you... big time."
"Oh, stop, Ollie." Dinah hushed him, wrapping him in a hug, "We're just glad you're okay."
"Thanks to the two of you." He replied, his breath returning. He finally managed to wriggle out of Dinah's grasp, extending his hands toward me. I handed him his bow and quiver, "Thanks for grabbing those, Kar."
"Well, we couldn't let Green Arrow go without his gear." I replied, "I'm happy you're okay, GA. You had us worried for a bit. What happened?"
"Adam Hunt was being targeted by the Shadows. But what the Shadows didn't know was that Hunt had worked out a deal with myself and Star City PD to expose a ring of corruption within Star City's social elite. I'm talking human trafficking, drug smuggling, illegal arms dealing, you name it. In exchange for his help, Hunt would receive reduced minimum security prison time for his prior conviction. He had called me when he realized he was being tracked by the Shadows, but by the time I had gotten to him, it was too late."
The three of us fell silent for a moment, unsure of what came next.
"Let's head home. I need to be patched up and I'm sure we could all use some sleep." GA sighed. Dinah and I nodded and we helped him up the nearest fire escape.
Minutes later, we were back in the Arrow Cave. Dinah was cleaning up Ollie's cuts while I called Roy for an update.
"How are things going stateside?" He asked me, though his voice was a bit tricky to hear, given that he was on a train and probably had shitty reception.
"As is to be expected. Ollie got nabbed by Merlyn and the Shadows today, but Dinah and I got him back alright." I replied.
"Is he okay?" Roy asked, concerned for his former mentor. The sentiment made me smile.
"A bit bruised, but he'll be okay. What about you guys?"
"I've been looking into the potential mole on the Team-"
I groaned loudly into the phone to make sure he heard it, "Roy, I thought we were letting Batman take care of that!"
"Hey, you, Kaldur, Wally and Dick are in the clear, but we all know that Superboy, Miss Martian and Artemis are suspect." He argued.
"Whatever. I would trust all three with my life, but feel free to dig into their lives." I growled, before taking a calming breath, "When you guys get back, I'm gonna talk to Bats about my nomination."
"Why? Having doubts about joining the League?"
"No. I'm having doubts about how I got the right to join it."
Mount Justice
December 26, 10:25 EST
"Batman, can I talk to you?" I asked. The Dark Knight had just dismissed us after introducing us to our newest addition, Rocket. He nodded.
"What about?"
"My nomination to the League and the circumstances surrounding it." I admitted. The Dark Knight nodded once and waved me over toward the zeta tubes. Once we were certain the others had left, we began to speak in hushed tones.
"You're having second thoughts?"
"No. I'm concerned that I wasn't fairly voted in, given the circumstances of my upbringing." I replied, wringing my hands together.
"You believe that members of the League voted with bias?" Batman asked. His tone wasn't accusing, rather it was curious. I nodded.
"Yes. I do."
Batman hesitated for a moment, I would assume it was to find the best way to phrase his response. He sighed.
"I can assure you that's not the case. Each member of the Team, even Rocket, was considered for potential membership to the League. But it was decided that we would choose people that we would trust to fight alongside us. That isn't to say that I wouldn't trust any member of the Team, but-"
"You can't say the same for the opinion of the rest of the League." I finished for him. He nodded.
"The others will have their time. But now is yours and Red Arrow's. You've both impressed us with your work in the field and in training. That is why you were invited to join the League."
I took a moment to let his words sink in, before nodding in understanding.
"Thanks, Batman. I'm just relieved to hear that I actually earned my place, instead of having it handed to me."
Batman cracked the smallest smile, before setting a large, yet gentle, hand on my shoulder.
"Of course. If you need anything else, know that you can come to any member of the League. That's why we're here."