Chapter Six

The sound of the birds chirping loudly echoed in the room and the morning rays of the sun filtered through the curtains. The lump in bed with a mop of black hair stirred at the hints of a nice Saturday morning. Well, the chirping birds got annoying after a while and the lump groaned before pulling the covers up over her head.

"No. Why. Please, it's Saturday." She whined at the birds outside her window. Not that they heard her or cared.

"Tomorrow afternoon will be your first training session with me. I have everything written down on this piece of paper."

Training session. A sleepy smile spread across her lips as she turned over to her other side.

Suddenly, with a loud gasp, she shot up into a sitting position with wide eyes. "Training session!" Her hand flew to her mouth, hoping to God no one else in her house heard her. She looked around frantically everywhere until her eyes landed on the piece of paper on her night table, which was on the other side of the bed. One second she sitting up and the next she was crawling to the edge to grab that important piece of paper, but she got tangled. It resulted with her on her belly, trying desperately to reach for the paper. Dang, this undeveloped arms.

"Finally!" She whispered loudly once her fingertips grabbed the edge of the paper and she rolled over, kicking her blankets down furiously to try and untangle them from her legs. It worked...somewhat.

Stella flopped onto her back and held up the piece of paper, the stupid smile still plastered on her face. So her brief meeting with Black Canary and Batman really had happened. It hadn't been some whacky dream.

"Mwah!" She kissed the piece of paper and sighed in content.

The smell of pancakes managed to get her out of her room and she was practically floating down the stairs. When her sister saw her, she made a weirded out face as she stuck another pancake piece into her mouth.

"Your face is freaking me out. Eww." Teresa scrunched her nose up to emphasize her point.

"It's called a smile. Or did you need a dictionary to look that up?"

Teresa rolled her eyes. "Ha, ha. That joke would've been funnier if it wasn't so childish and dumb."

Aiden's eyes nervously darted between his two older sisters as he drank his milk. In his years of experience, it was best if he didn't get in between their fights, arguments, and sass attacks. You sort of learn after the first few 'be quiet's and noogies and shouts.

"Do you two have to fight first thing in the morning?" Their dad asked while placing a fresh plate of pancakes on the table.

"She started it." Teresa huffed and grabbed a new pancake.

"Did not! You said my face looked freaky." The younger girl protested loudly, but that only earned her a sharp look from her mom. Whereas Teresa learned not to get worked up about things such as these, Stella always wanted to prove her side and defend herself. But it never worked out well because she would end up getting in trouble the most for being loud and persistent and saying too much.

Stella frowned unhappily and stabbed the pancake her dad pushed onto her plate. Aiden offered her a sympathetic smile before stuffing his face with another pancake.

It wasn't fair. It never was.

But at least she had the training with Black Canary to look forward to.

Okay ... so this was definitely not what she had in mind.

Stella tried lifting her arm up, but it proved much more difficult than she thought. With the added weights on her wrists and upper arm, she found her movements to be more awkward than anything. Not just those though, Black Canary had strapped ankle and thigh weights to her too.

"Is this really necessary?" Stella questioned as she lifted one of her legs and shook it around. They weren't that heavy, just awkward because of the added weight.

"Very necessary." Black Canary replied while handing her weighted gloves and helped the girl into a weighted vest. Basically everything was weighted except her workout shoes.

"You have to build up some muscle and stamina before we can do anything else." Canary continued as she strapped the vest. "This'll help you gain a bit of speed too."

"So, we aren't going out and fighting crime?"

"Not for a while. You've got to get the fundamentals down before you go out there." Canary responded and she watched Stella deflate a little. It was obvious how much the young girl wanted to get out there and fight crime and do good deeds, but she needed to know there was more to that. That was what Dinah wanted to teach her.

"Stella, I know this wasn't what you were expecting. But you can't go out there unprepared."

"But I know taekwondo." Stella murmured while looking down.

"Yes, but that isn't enough. Knowing some taekwondo won't keep you alive for long. There's more to it than just knowing a form of martial art. Luck won't always be on your side." Dinah was referring to Stella's encounter in the alley. The blonde woman placed a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder and squeezed gently. "I understand how you feel, but I promise this training will pay off."

Stella nodded and looked up at her mentor. "I guess so."

Dinah smiled and walked over to the punching bag. She gave it a few pats before facing Stella. "Since we've done stretches, we'll work with this now."

And so training began. Her movements weren't as swift as before and her limbs got tired a lot quicker. The added weight threw her off balance from time to time, and she could feel the strain after a few sets of kicks and punches. By the half hour mark, sweat was pouring down her face and body, and she felt like a ragdoll at the moment.

"Let's take a break." The moment Canary said that, Stella flopped down on the mats like a star. Not moving felt so nice right now. Dinah chuckled and sat by Stella's head, leaning back on her hands. "Not so easy with the weights, right?"

"Not at all." Stella said once she caught her breath.

"I know. It's how I trained too. My mother was the first Black Canary and she, along with other heroes, trained me." Canary paused and shifted slightly to get comfortable. "It's not easy and it doesn't get any easier. Being a hero is tough and you have to bear all the consequences, hardships, and pressures."

"It's different once you actually get out there and experience the real thing. I need you to know that this isn't fun and games, Stella."

The young girl listened to her mentor carefully, taking in everything she said. This wasn't fun and games...she knew that much better now. Unlike Superman, Wonder Woman, and the Flash, Stella didn't have any special super powers. She knew fully well that she had to rely on her human strength and agility to make up for her lack of powers, just like Batman and Black Canary - minus her Canary Cry, of course. The heroes without powers must've had to train extremely hard to get to where they were now. Canary was right, if she got tired just from this training, there was no way she could survive very long out in the crime-fighting world. She could barely get through half an hour of training without feeling like her body was made of jello. But she did manage to learn that much from just a short time.

"I understand." Stella said sitting up and pulling her knees up to her chest.

She remembered the scene that happened last week so vividly. The man beating the woman, the woman screaming and rubbing her hands and begging for his forgiveness, and the man's angry cursing and blaming as he beat her; the memory was etched into her brain. Anger had filled her as adrenaline had begun to pump through her veins. Before she knew it, her body had moved on pure instinct. In her world, men didn't beat kids or women, especially not their girlfriends or wives.

"You got angry and dove head first into it. Your emotions won over your mind." Canary supplied and Stella nodded. That was one way of putting it.

"And before I knew it, I was already in too deep. It freaked me out." She couldn't help the slight shudder that ran down her spine at the memory. The first few nights, she had been plagued with nightmares of that experience, but they gradually stopped as the weeks passed.

"What about now?"

She had to pause to think about it. "I'm still freaked out at how close I was to dying, but..." She looked down to look at her clenching and unclenching hands. "I don't regret it much. I'm not sure how to explain it, but there was a sort of..."

"Rush?" Canary smiled. "I understand. That's how I felt too my first time. Afraid and worried, yet there was that rush."

Not many people felt that sort of thing, aside from those that were already part of the crime fighting life. Some people were born with powers, some were born with the natural potential, and sometimes both. It's just like when people were born with the potential to become a ballerina, or scientist, or doctor, and so on. Of course, this didn't always, one-hundred percent apply to all the heroes. But Black Canary could sense something in this young girl. Now it was a matter of how she develops.

"Come on. Another half hour of this and some more stretches. Then I'll let you go for today." Canary patted the girl's knee and stood up in one fluid motion. The quiet groan Stella emitted made her smirk.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad, for the both of them.

"Ughhh." Stella groaned and tossed her small workout bag onto her bedroom floor. She stumbled towards her bed and fell on top of it with a loud 'oof'. Ahhh, that felt so much better. The comfortable mattress and blankets cushioned her aching muscles.

That last half hour of training with Black Canary certainly hadn't felt like it had been half an hour. Her arms and legs felt like lead, and her muscles felt like they were pulsing, but that could just be her tired mind playing tricks. She hadn't expected having weighted items on her to make her tired faster, especially when they were all in the lightest weight. Something about her slowly adding weight to gradually gain muscle.

"No one make me move." She mumbled to herself and buried her face into her pillow. Thank god, Canary said there wouldn't be any training tomorrow. Since she was still getting used to this sort of exercise, Canary wanted to take days off in between, which Stella reluctantly agreed to. She wanted to get everything done fast; she wasn't known to be a very patient person. But at this very moment, she was glad she agreed to it.

As she drifted in and out of slumber, she wondered what was in store for her.

I survived midterms? Just barely though. At this point, I've pretty much mastered the art of procrastination (said every college student ever). But hey, I still finished my essay with a few hours to spare.

Thank you for waiting for the next chapter, and thank you to everyone who read, reviewed, favourited, and followed! I hope you all had a great few weeks. So, Stella finally started her training with Dinah, and she's still pretty hot headed and whiny about it, since it wasn't what she had imagined. Trust me, as the person who created her, sometimes I want to shake her shoulders, but all in due time! It all comes together :)

I'm excited to get to Chapter 8. It's a bit away, but I can tell you that there will be a special appearance. You all know him and (hopefully) love him! Have a good weekend :)

~Mari

PS - if you like Big Hero 6 as much as I do, I wrote something for it recently. It's an AU where Tadashi lives; the very common AU idea. But this was my take on it and if you decide to read it, I hope you enjoy :)