II
Thanks God that she didn't have to work today. When Josie finally woke up, it was nearly noon. She stretched out her arms and legs. Since her apartment was so small and there was no door between her bedroom and the living area/kitchen, she could practically see every inch of her home. Minus the bathroom of course, that has a door.
The cardboard was still blocking the broken window, some scorch marks peeking out around the edges. That reminded her, she needed to make a call to her insurance company. She got her phone and started to make the call, putting it on speaker so the waiting music played out loud as she got on some new clothes. Some jeans and a black and white striped tank top is what she picked out before finally hearing an actual voice coming from her phone. She took it off speaker to talk.
"Yes, this is Josie Maxwell…I'm fine, thanks. I'm calling because late last night, my window got destroyed by a fire and there are scorch marks on the surrounding wall inside my apartment." As Josie talked, she walked over to her kitchen-which was basically just a fridge, sink, and microwave, with a few cabinets full of plates and glasses.
"The cause? There was some sort of meta-human fight in the alley beneath my window, so collateral damage…oh, uh, Black Canary was one of the people." Josie smiled a little bit as she got herself a glass of water. "Yea, I saw her. Asked me if I was all right after it was over…yea, I'll wait."
Josie turned on her TV, putting it on mute. She was turning it away, but then she saw the name Heat Wave on the screen. Turning on closed captions, the news channel talked about how the criminal known as Heat Wave was captured last night by Batman and has been turned over to GCPD. Josie was happy about this, but a thought popped into her mind that got her a little sad.
"Yes! Sorry, I'm still here." But that thought had to be pushed to the back of her mind right now. "So, is there anything you guys can do? Yea, that sounds good." The amount was a little less than what she hoped, but it would still cover the repairs. "Yea, that's still my mailing address…thank you. You too." Josie hanged up her phone and drank some water, turning back to her thought.
If Batman had been the one to capture Heat Wave, what does that mean for Black Canary? Did she already leave Gotham? Josie hated the idea that last night was probably the last time she will see her. But, a part of her assumed that something like this would happen. She can't really blame Black Canary. How can she? Things change quickly in her world.
Still a little disappointed, Josie tried to think about the good thing that still happened today. The woman said the check will arrive tomorrow, so she should make a couple of calls. One to the people that can help fix her window, and another to work, asking for someone to cover her shift for tomorrow.
"How is it looking so far?" Josie walked out of her bedroom to check in on the two men fixing her window.
"I think we are just about done Ms. Maxwell." From what Josie can see, it looks like they were right. The marks were gone and the new window seemed to be in place.
"That was a little quicker than what I thought."
"Yea, but when you live in Gotham, you get pretty good at fixing these kinds of damages." Josie smiled and nodded, grabbing her checkbook from her hoodie's pouch and writing out the check for the two men.
"Hopefully you don't have to call us again."
"Yea, hope so. Thank you so much!" She waved as she closed the door behind them. She walked back to the window to check out the finished product. It looked pretty good. She should probably learn how to do this kind of work herself, but she really doesn't have that kind of free time to spare.
She sat down to put on her white sneakers. Being inside of her home for a good chunk of the day, she wanted to go out while it was still afternoon and the sun was still out. A walk around the block will probably be good exercise for her. She locked the door behind her and walked down and out onto the sidewalk.
It started off just fine, the weather feeling pretty good. But her route was cut off short due to some construction on the sidewalk. She decided to take a short cut through the alley. But as soon as she did, she came across something that made her hide quickly.
She crouched behind a trash can, watching some guy grab and push a girl up against the wall. She couldn't hear anything, but it looked like the best case scenario was that she was about to be robbed of what she had on her. Josie frantically went through all the thoughts in her head, trying to think of something. This isn't her usual shtick, but she can't just leave someone like this!
Josie saw a rock near her and, without logically thinking it through, grabbed it and hurled it right at the attacker. It hit him right in the leg, forcing him to let go of the other girl so she can run.
Yes! Her victory was short lived, because the guy immediately looked in her direction. FUCK! She instantly started running, the guy loudly following her. She tried making a couple turns to get rid of him, but he was closing in on her. She tried turning around, attempting to use her powers for the second time in one week. But it didn't do that much before she ended up falling backwards onto the ground.
With the wind knocked out of her, all she could really do was watch as her pursuer got up, shaking some water off of him as he slowly walked towards her. Reaching to his back, he pulled out a pistol, getting it ready to shoot Josie as revenge for what she did to him.
But before he could even put his finger on the trigger, a loud scream erupted out of the blue. Josie put her hands over her ears, the sound deafening. But she still watched as the air rippled, crashing into the attacker, sending him flying up against the wall to the side, knocking him out cold, the gun sliding out of his hand once he landed on the ground. As soon as the air seemed to turn back to normal, Josie took her hands off of her ears. A figure walked into her sight, from the direction the scream came from. As the figure turned towards her, Josie was able to recognize her. The clothes were different, torn jeans and a long-sleeved black shirt, but the body and face belonged to her super heroine crush, Black Canary!
"Josie? That is you, right?" She looked down at Josie, who was once again in shocked to see her again.
"You're here! But the other day, the news said Batman…I just thought you left Gotham."
"Yea, things changed-again-but I promised you I would swing by afterwards. I hoped it was under different circumstances." She held her arm out, which Josie grabbed. Pulling her up to her feet, Canary checked out the guy the she just knocked out while Josie made sure she didn't break any bones.
"Didn't you say that you aren't really the super hero?" Canary asked.
"Yea, but he had this girl, and I just had to do something."
"Of course. But why is he…wet?" Canary looked back at Josie.
"Well…water is sort of my…quirk." Josie smiled in an attempt to lighten the mood. Canary seemed to grin.
"So, where's your…usual attire?" Josie asked. "Not that it's bad, you always look badass and hot!" Josie covered her face again. "Damn it! I'm sorry, that came out wrong."
"Don't worry about it. As for the other thing, I have them stashed at a friend's place. Well, more like…colleague."
"Well, thank you so much! You saved me! Please, let me repay you somehow!" Josie still felt super excited to be standing right in front of Black Canary.
"Well, first of all, how about you can start calling me Dinah. Second…I wouldn't say no to a drink. Is there a bar near here?"
"Yes! It's uh, this way." Josie lead the way, Dinah following close behind her. They quickly came across the bar, and the two women found a table that was a near the back. A waiter then came over to ask if they wanted anything to drink.
"Just a beer, whatever you got." Josie said.
"Whiskey would be good, thanks." Dinah smiled at the waiter as he went to the bar and brought them back.
"So…" Now that Josie was here, she didn't really know what to talk about. Might as well start with the basics. "How long do you think you'll be in Gotham?"
Dinah leaned back a little as she thought about it. "I'm not sure. There's always enough crime to fight here until I can figure something out. Plus, there's really nothing in Star City to go back to."
"What do you mean?"
"Well…you heard of Green Arrow, right?"
"Oh, yea! Some of the tabloids and gossipier articles always claim you two are some sort of item. Sorry, I'm just a big fan." Josie felt herself blush a little bit.
"Well, they weren't wrong. But recently, we decided that we might not be the best fit."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I have had a few bad break ups…well, way more. More than I care to admit. But I get that sort of stuff." Josie decided to go for it and place it on top of Dinah's. After a couple of seconds-or from Josie's perspective, hours-Dinah actually turned her hand upwards and grab onto Josie's hand.
"Thanks." Dinah smiled, causing Josie to smile back, the red drained from her face to make her skin tone normal again. "So, that's why I'm in no rush to get back. I think I'll stay in Gotham until I figure things out. Maybe meet a nice woman, I don't know." With those last words, there seemed to be some sort of look in Dinah's eyes that was meant for Josie to recognize. Maybe it was some sort of signal. Should Josie say something? How should she respond? Well, since she seemed to be getting used to being in Dinah's presence, she thought about saying something, but while trying to be cool about it.
Josie pretended to clear her throat, using her other hand underneath the table to adjust the front of her jeans. "Well, if you're staying in Gotham for some time, we could get together every now and then. I mean, my job as a waitress can have some long hours, but I can still have plenty of free time."
Dinah nodded. "Yea, let's do that. Sounds like a lot of fun." She took a sip of her whiskey. The two then talked a little longer, trying to get to know each other a little more, before Dinah had to get back to her colleague's place. Josie walked back home feeling more confident than ever before.