Me? Posting two chapters in two months? Who even am I?
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Bwunda
June 4, 00:01 CAT
The area was silent aside from nocturnal wildlife and Jenna's barely detectable breathing. Years and years of training to be as quiet as humanly possible became vital to her work as a hero. Even when she was starting out as Siren. Especially then. There had been more than a time or two where, if it wasn't for her sister's guidance, she would have caused them more problems than they needed.
Jenna shook her head, pushing away the subconscious grimace that had curled her lip. She refocused on the scene below her, knowing that anything she was seeing, was being viewed by Oracle through her dark-wear lens. On top of the dam, a truck was sitting idly, while a couple masculine figures dressed in green paced nearby. All were armed.
Be careful.
A light smile flickered across Jenna's face at Oracle's cautious warning. Her gaze fell to the thigh she rested an arm on, moving to flash a thumbs up to acknowledge her friend. She rose up from the brush she had settled in, ready to make her presence known.
The two 'Brothers' had no time to react before Jenna was on them, swiftly disposing of them by knocking them out and hauling them back to their truck. She peeked inside, noticing that no one was waiting inside. But where there's two, there's bound to be more.
Jenna's gaze flitted to the dam behind her. She crept closer to the edge where ropes dangled and looked down to a landing ten feet below. Bingo. But her frown deepened upon further inspection.
There were indeed a couple more members of the Brotherhood–thankfully unsuspecting of Jenna's presence–and what they were setting up worried her. Explosives. Lots of them.
Go get 'em.
Jenna scowled, snatching up one of the ropes and loosening it from its anchor. Then she dropped in.
Hearing a new sound, the men glanced up to find a shadowy figure haloed by the moon was descending upon them. A heel slammed into the back of one neck, sending the man's unconscious body flying a few feet behind his comrade. The last member quickly whipped out a knife from a holster on his back, swiping it blindly at the assailant. The woman slammed the back of her hand into his wrist, causing him to lose grip as she elbowed him in the nose. As he staggered, she drove her knee up between his legs, bringing him to his knees.
"Now," Jenna said calmly, "we're going to play a little game of twenty questions. Except there's only one question and I had better get the answer, or I'm going to start getting impatient."
She crouched down, yanking the mask off the man crumpled in agony and glaring at his bloodied face. "Who really runs the Green Brotherhood? I know none of you are smart enough to be doing this alone."
The man just let out a groan, fighting to get air back into his lungs.
"Well? I'm waiting."
The sound of a gun cocking broke the tension. "Isn't this a sight?"
Jenna craned her neck to look to the top of the dam. There, she was met with a pistol aimed at her. Behind it was a cocky grin. So she scoffed.
"I didn't take you for an eco-warrior, Lynx," she called out.
The man shrugged. "You'd be right. After all, I'm just here to do a job," he said. "The one you're looking for? She's waiting back at the hotel."
Jenna was cornered. She knew that any move meant potentially getting ran through with a bullet. She didn't have time to clamber back up to the top, nor did she have any way of surviving a drop off the dam. But if she just had some time…
"So what's the deal, then?" she asked. "You're really willing to sell yourself no matter what? No matter what lives might be sacrificed in the process?" Her fingers inched towards the hem of her jacket, slowly reaching for a pocket where she kept some smoke pellets.
"Money is money," Lynx answered. "To my father, anyway. What he says goes, so I go."
Jenna barked out a laugh. "That's right," she realized. "Your crew preys on rich people who are too scared to admit what they do is wrong, which means you're willing to accept dirty money so that their own hands don't turn out the same."
Lynx smirked. "I didn't say it was morally right. The rich live in fear, and we take advantage of it. Simple as that," he said.
Jenna tilted her head, smiling lightly. "So what now? Am I just going to be another body in a long list of Devine's?"
Then she choked.
Her hands flew up, grasping at the elbow wrapped around her throat. A body loomed behind her, yanking her back toward the edge. "I got her, boss!" Of course he was lying-
"What the hell?" But when Jenna looked back at Lynx, she wasn't expecting the shock on his face. "What are you doing here?!"
Before the conversation could continue, Jenna jabbed her elbow into her captor's stomach. The grip loosened, so she broke free and sprinted for the nearest rope before Lynx could break out of his stupor.
"Jenna! Are you okay?"
"Fine." Jenna grunted her answer to Oracle. "I'm almost done here."
By the time she clamored up to the top of the dam, Lynx had shaken himself free from his surprise. He met Jenna's gaze with wide eyes, still aiming down below. She watched as they flashed, his brow wrinkling in contemplation.
"Don't make this harder than it has to be, Lynx," Jenna said slowly. She didn't know why he was hesitating, but she wasn't going to pass the opportunity up to try to talk him down.
Lynx looked away, staring at the lower ledge in silence. Jenna could feel the tension rising, but knew that too quick movements could go wrong. So she slowly took a step closer, hoping that she could get to him and wrestle the gun away before he had time to aim it at her.
Then he took in a sharp inhale, as if his consciousness snapped back into his body all at once. Jenna's heart lurched just as she tried to lunge, knowing the slow attempt would be futile. But he didn't swivel, instead keeping his aim true.
"No! Stop!" Jenna cried out.
A myriad of shots rang out as Lynx fired.
The bullets went through the men down below, scattering across the ledge, where the explosives still waited to be set off. The pair up top were flung back as a blast destroyed the area, causing the center of the dam to break. Water gushed out, washing the evidence and bodies away.
Jenna could only watch in horror as the massive stream continued on its path. The village! Aching with the knowledge she couldn't do anything immediately, she turned on Lynx, knocking the gun from his grasp before she slammed him down. The structure trembled beneath them.
"Tell me what the fuck this was all for! Now!" she snarled.
Lynx reacted quicker this time, now that his task was accomplished. Still, Jenna had no idea what it was for, seeing him turn on what was clearly his own men. A boot slammed into her chest, sending her flying back. She landed roughly, bruising her elbow as she tried to catch herself. Then she was back on her feet.
"What was that all about then, huh? Trying to pull some change-of-heart stunt?" she demanded, even as she watched with repulsion as he finished the job on the two men near the truck.
Lynx let out a scoff, turning to glare at her. "You want to know Devine's plan, Canary? Figure it out yourself. We were both just pretty faces to her," he pointed out. "As for these traitors? That's my own business."
Traitors? Jenna's mind spun with confusion and panic. She barely had time to think, much less interrogate him any further, before the ground between them began to crack. In order to prevent herself from being counted in the casualties, she had no choice but to retreat.
So she ran, hightailing it off the dam before it could entirely collapse. Once she was on solid ground, she looked back at the chaos. Although entirely dissatisfied with how things went, Jenna was still relieved to see the small figure of Lynx making his escape before it was too late.
With a sigh, Jenna lifted her hand to her ear. "White Canary to Watchtower."
"This is Black Lightning. What's going on, Canary?"
Jenna watched the village below. She couldn't see much, but there was enough devastation in the aftermath to get a good grasp from her vantage point. "I'm calling with a major request. I'm going to need lots of hands on deck."
After a brief, detailed overview, the call ended, so Jenna began her trek to the village. She knew she was going to be here for a while.
The next week or so was busy with various Leaguers helping fix the destruction of the village as best they could. It shattered Jenna's heart every time she found another body floating in the water. And with every heart break came white-hot fury.
At one point, when she could finally take a small break, she started to plan her next step.
"Hey, Oracle? I need your help."
"Of course. What do you need?" Oracle's voice was sympathetic, having seen everything from that night on through the woman's eyes.
Jenna stood out of the way, watching as her friends and co-Leaguers cleared away what seemed like endless rubble and assisted anyone living to safety. Her expression was hard. "I want her," she said tightly.
"Want who, exactly?"
"Devine. She's our missing piece. The center of this all," Jenna growled. "Find her for me. Wherever she is."
~/~/~/~
London
July 1, 14:32 BST
It had taken a few weeks of searching, but Jenna never doubted once that Oracle couldn't do the job. So once Jenna had returned from Bwunda, she knew where to go next.
The heroine was on a warpath. As she made her way into the fancy headquarters where Oracle said Nicole Devine was having another meeting, she didn't let anything or anyone stand in her way. She stepped over the unconscious security guards that had been blocking the door to a conference room. It was easy to assume who would be on the other side.
"-We'll cut your refinery and extraction costs in half with this facility. That'll put you in with the high rollers in the oil trade. How do you gentlemen feel about that?"
"Why don't you tell them the whole story, Nikki?"
All heads in the room whipped around to stare at the doorway. Jenna rubbed at her knuckles, glaring through her eyelashes at the woman sitting at the very end. "Tell them how you'll be using inferior building materials and inexperienced labor. Tell them you'll pocket up to sixty percent of the budget in kickbacks and hide it in the books as legit expenses."
Everything she recited was what Oracle had finally managed to dig up while searching for Devine. All of it was extremely incriminating evidence. There was no coming back from this for Miss Nicole Devine. Her business partners understood this, as they scrambled to flee the room.
"Tell them how you'll cover the whole thing up by having your pet terrorists destroy the project so no one will ever know the scam you pulled," Jenna continued, stalking into the room even while the security inside began to draw their weapons. "Tell them how you've become the woman you are today by stepping over countless graves."
The guards rushed at Jenna, yelling out warnings as they surrounded her. But Jenna wasn't in the mood to mess around. Dispatching the guards was quick work, as she hauled one into the door and launched the other across the table to land at Devine's feet.
"What's the matter, Nikki?" Jenna asked with a slight smile. "Got nothing to say?"
For once, all of Nicole's suaveness was gone. "Who do you think you are?" she demanded. "Lynx, do your job." She took a step back to let her bodyguard take over.
Only there was a deep laugh from behind her. Jenna glanced over to see Lynx leaning against a couch, his hands shoved into his pockets. A lazy grin spread across his face as he made eye contact with Jenna. At that moment, she knew they had come to some sort of truce.
"Sorry, Nikki. That's not my job anymore," he said, "considering how I quit my last job."
Jenna's eyebrows raised. Huh. Did he really not know the Ghost Dragons were part of the Brotherhood? Wonder what that conversation between him and his father was like.
Nikki scoffed, her face twisted like she had bitten into a lemon. "Fine. I can hold my own," she declared. She turned around, already moving to raise her fists.
Jenna grabbed one of her hands, yanking it out from their bodies. She reached out with her other hand to latch it around the other woman's throat. "Is that so?" She hauled Nicole back against the table, cornering her.
"Did that village hold their own?" she asked, her eyes starting to water in anger. "All those people. All those innocents. You held hope out to people who had none. And then you killed their children. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't throw you to the street via window."
"She's not worth it, Jen."
Jenna's scowl deepened at Oracle's words in her ear. "You weren't there. You didn't see the bodies. Lying in the mud as far as I could see."
"I know. But you've stopped her. This evidence we've dug up will have her doing life in half a dozen countries. Right now, the police are coming to pick her up."
"That's not enough." Jenna's voice slightly wavered.
"I'm sorry."
Jenna looked down at Nicole, whose face had been turning red. "Me too," she sighed before pulling Nicole up just enough to slam her head back into the table and letting her slump over into unconsciousness.
Jenna stood still, staring down at the woman, even though she knew she had to make herself scarce soon. As she contemplated the events of last month, she felt a presence move beside her.
"So," she said calmly. "You left the Ghost Dragons. What's the story there?"
Jenna looked up at Lynx. He was also examining Nicole before he let his gaze flicker off to the side.
"Nothing that you need to know, Canary."
Jenna chuckled. "Can't blame me for trying." She watched as he stepped away. "Gonna at least give me a hint where you're going next? I gotta stay on my toes around you, after all."
Lynx paused at the doorway and turned to grin at her. "I hear Star City's a pretty nice place to be this time of year."
Oh boy… Jenna rolled her eyes, causing one last laugh from Lynx before he was gone. So, she decided it was time to leave too.
"Are you okay?" Came her friend's voice once Jenna had left the building. She had ducked away from where authorities were starting to swarm, wanting to prevent any sort of confrontation.
"Not really," Jenna admitted as she walked down the sidewalk. "I'm glad all this is over, but it's just been a way to distract myself from everything else. Right now, I just really need a strong drink."
"Come over to my place? I'll get everything ready, and we can have a girl's night."
Jenna smiled at that. "Deal."
~/~/~/~
Star City
July 5, 10:44 PDT
Coming home was something Jenna desperately needed. After being busy with the Devine ordeal, she knew she needed a chance to breathe. Reality was still waiting for her, and she wasn't thrilled to address it.
Although, pretty shortly after returning to Star City after the debrief she had with Black Lightning, she received a call with some good news. Kaldur was coming home.
His own extensive mission had finally come to an end. Arion's crown was found. Only to find out that the man appearing to be the long-lost Arion was actually a fraud. In some strange turn of events that Jenna didn't quite understand, Mera was now the ruler of Atlantis.
Regardless, waiting for Kaldur to return had Jenna feeling antsy all morning. Despite being frustrated that he went on the mission in the first place and feeling concerned when the mission began to stretch out over weeks, she just missed him and wanted to feel him and kiss him again.
Especially once she saw the beard he was sporting through the video call they had.
Jenna had been spending the morning cleaning up around her apartment to try to expel some of the impatient energy she had been putting up with since the night before. She knew that it wouldn't be long, going off of what Kaldur had told her. He was going to see his parents to reassure their own worries and inform them that he was going to be taking a break from Aquaman duties for a while, then he would return the next day. And there was a Zeta-Tube only a couple of blocks down from her apartment, but Jenna just couldn't wait any longer.
When she was in the laundry room—finally getting her gear washed from the work she and the League did in Bwunda—she almost missed hearing the front door open when the washer started. She did hear it shut, though, and a big grin split her face.
She poked her head out of the bathroom, eyes lighting up when they laid on the love of her life. When he met her gaze, she was sure her expression matched his.
"The beard looks even better in person," Jenna teased as she met him halfway.
Rather than respond, Kaldur ducked his head to kiss her deeply.
It was like Jenna had melted, her body molding with his as she wound her arms around his neck. Everywhere that Kaldur touched was tingling. From her hips to her back to her face as he cradled it gently.
"Someone missed me," Jenna chuckled, having to pull back to breathe.
The look in Kaldur's eyes made her heart thump. "More than you could know," he whispered.
Jenna raised a challenging eyebrow. "Then show me."
Kaldur's gaze became heated before he suddenly wrapped an arm around her and lifted her. Jenna couldn't help the giggles that escaped as she latched her legs around his waist so she wouldn't fall. Not that his grip would ever falter.
Jenna paid attention to Kaldur's lips and only Kaldur's lips while he carried her down the hall and to their bedroom, the door clicking shut behind them.
~/~/~/~
And that's the end of Jenna's arc! Thank GOD. That was admittedly the hardest thing to write because I'm definitely not equipped to write a story with a comic as the source material. I can't wait to get back to some episodes :D
So if you have read the Birds of Prey comic that this story was taken from, you'll realize that Lynx's end in that story is different than this Lynx. I could have very easily just copy-pasted both Lynx and Devine from the comics, but as I was trying to flip the story around a bit to suit Jenna more–thus making Devine a woman and Lynx a man–I also really got into Lynx as a character. So hey! If we get more seasons of Young Justice, or if I somehow get enough inspiration to continue the Sirenverse on my own, maybe we'll see him again after that little goodbye ;)
And now we'll be getting back into the episodes of season 4! I've already had some plans for those since I knew this fic was going to be significantly shorter than the last three. Next time, we'll get to see Jenna and Raquel hanging out! Which I don't think I've done in a while, so I'm excited! Til then!