Laurel's first night on patrol was going to be spent solo, but on a comparatively quiet route where no one expected to have much crime. She knew how to fight, but she didn't know the city and the city didn't know her. They wanted to establish her reputation a bit, before Bruce brought her to meet with Gordon. "It'll be good to build up some good will before I give you my endorsement to him," her mentor explained.
So that's how she found herself patrolling the Diamond District, the wealthiest part of Gotham. Despite that, however, not even this neighborhood was quite as free of the crime that plagued the rest of the city. Already Laurel had to step in to stop about three muggings and (much to her fury) a few rape attempts. She had dealt with the latter using extreme prejudice.
After dusting her hands off with the latest beating she had to deliver, the commlink she had been given right before setting out flared to life. It had a direct link to Oracle, allowing them a two-way connection that could be used at any time. "Canary, you doing alright?" Barbara's voice, slightly mechanized, carried into her ear.
"I'm fine, Oracle. Just dealt with another attempted rape," Laurel replied, huffing out a breath. "I hope Batman doesn't mind me dealing with those a little more brutally than advised."
"Don't worry. He doesn't show much mercy to rapists either. You're in the clear," the other woman assured her. "I'm actually contacting you for another reason. There's a bank heist happening near your location. I know we planned on giving you an easy night for your first patrol, but nobody else is close by."
"Sure, I'll handle it. Just give me the directions."
Taking down the crew was surprisingly easy. They hadn't expected her, probably supposing Batman or Nightwing would be dropping in instead, and had underestimated her. That had been their mistake, and they paid with it with having one of her superpowered screams striking the armored truck they had been trying to hijack. She was just about done tying them up with some rope she found when Batman and Nightwing finally did drop in.
"Good job," Batman grunted, taking in the scene. "You used your power?"
Laurel nodded, her face straining a bit as she finished the last knot on the leader.
"You know, we need to come up with some kind of name for it," Nightwing added, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "We can't just keep calling it your 'power' after all."
"Why not?"
"Well, for one thing, you're not the only one in this town with powers," he pointed out.
True. Part of Laurel's training had been looking over and studying the dossiers of Batman's various Rogues, including many of his superpowered ones. It was surprising but also a bit comforting to learn she wasn't the only person around with powers they couldn't quite explain. She had even asked if the Bats had some idea of how they had these powers at all — according to Bruce, Lucius's ongoing theory was that it was likely genetic, but none of them were quite willing to take a closer look at the Rogues to confirm it. That was just asking for more trouble.
"Okay then. How about… 'sonic scream'?" She cringed immediately. Nope, that wasn't it.
Dick cringed as well. "Nah, too generic. How about something to do with your name?"
"What, like Canary Scream?"
"No, no! How about Canary Chirp! You can never do wrong with some alliteration!"
"Yeah, but that sounds too friendly." And her power was many things, but it wasn't 'friendly'.
"How about Canary Cry?"
Laurel jumped when Barbara's voice suddenly interjected into the proceedings. Dick was considerably more composed. "That's perfect, O!" he exclaimed. "Black Canary's Canary Cry. What do you think?"
"I like it," Laurel said after a moment of thought. "I guess that's it. I now use the Canary Cry."
"Wonderful," Batman deadpanned. "Now if you're both done, we need to leave. We have a city to patrol."
And as always, Batman had the final word. Laurel shrugged before taking out her grappling hook. It was time to get back to work.
Starling City
Weeks passed after their disastrous night out at the club, and Sara found herself growing closer to Alex. The other woman was smart, witty, and funny, but also had this no-nonsense attitude that Sara found appealing. It wasn't long before Sara came to regard her as a close friend, one she wanted to spend more time with. So that meant introducing Alex to her two closest friends: Ollie and Tommy.
She invited Alex to a day out in Starling, promising to show the other women all the best sights and treating her to lunch. Which was how they found themselves at Burger & Lobster, side-by-side across her two best friends. Alex didn't look too out of place with them, even a bit happy, and meshed well with the two men. For a moment, Sara thought that nothing was going to go wrong this time.
And then Tommy had to go and make things awkward.
"So, Alex," he said with the Merlyn charm turned up. For some reason, it made Sara irritated just watching it. Really, Tommy? "Ever been down to Orchid Bay? It's got some of the best beaches on the west coast."
Alex smiled politely. "No. Though that sounds nice. I always did like swimming as a kid."
"Well, maybe we can go make a visit later today. Take some pictures. It is winter, after all, and while we can't go swimming, the scenery is to die for."
And now it was Alex's turn to be awkward. "That… sounds nice, but I, uh… have to get back home soon. We've got this big exam coming up that I really need to study for."
Which was technically true, but not really. They did have a big exam, but it was in three weeks. Any studying that she did now would be foundational at best. Useful, but kind of pointless until she got closer to the test. Sara didn't bother calling her out on it, though. She was pleased Alex hadn't become another 'Merlyn girl'.
Tommy, for his part, accepted the tacit rejection with grace. He knew better than to push. That being said, that awkward air remained for the rest of the outing, and Alex never looked more uncomfortable.
Sara was almost glad when it was time for them to go. She loved Ollie and Tommy, she really did, but sometimes, the two of them really could be the biggest pair of boneheads in Starling.
"You know, it's rare when someone manages to resist the patented Tommy Merlyn charm."
Alex, who had been looking out the window, gave a half-hearted shrug and a strained smile to Sara. "Tommy's nice and all, but he really isn't my type," she commented.
Sara hummed in agreement. "And something tells me that you're not one for one night stands, I guess."
"Nope. Even if he wasn't interested in something like that, I'm really too busy for dating." She paused. "What about you, Sara?"
"What? Dating?" At Alex's nod, Sara gave a shrug of her own. "Haven't given it much thought, ever since my older sister died a few years ago. Before that, I was always partying around and having fun. But after… well, I felt like couldn't keep coasting by like that anymore and decided to make something of myself in her memory. Dating's mostly a distraction from that, so I haven't done a lot of it in recent years." The closest had been that one, awkward touch of the lips with Ollie, and Sara knew that had been a mistake the moment they made contact. Whatever they could've had together, it died with Laurel, and she could honestly say now that her feelings for Ollie were never quite as serious as she had once thought them to be.
"So you haven't dated in a while?" For whatever reason, Alex sounded really eager to know.
Sara shook her head, keeping her eyes on the road. "Nope. I don't want to be alone all my life, obviously, but right now it's just not a priority."
"Yeah. That makes sense."
Another period of silence fell between them. For some reason, Sara couldn't help but think that Alex sounded unusually sad when she was speaking. And for whatever reason, that made her sad as well.
Weeks passed. They continued to meet up at Alex's place and study for their exams. Then the exams themselves came, and Sara felt herself wracked with nerves the entire week. She had always been a solid test-taker but the material for medical school was hard, and there wasn't just herself she was worried about. There was Alex to worry about now as well.
But she needn't have been so anxious. They both passed all their exams with flying colors. They'd be able to make it to the next quarter easily. When Alex met up with her with a wide grin and a solid A on her pharmacology exam paper, Sara didn't hesitate to give her the biggest hug she possibly could. "Glad to see all the hard work paid off," she declared.
"Yup. And now, we've got three weeks before returning to the grind," Alex noted happily. "Including Christmas!"
"Which also happens to be my birthday," Sara mused. That had made things awkward the past couple of years. Understandably, Sara had not been up for any serious celebration of Christmas or her birthday in the months after the Gambit's sinking, and neither were her parents for that matter. Things were better the year after that, but the celebrations had been relatively small-scale by design. A nice dinner with her parents, the Queens, and Tommy, an easy thing to arrange since the Queens had opted out of their own traditional Christmas Party since the tragedy.
They had done the same for last year. But this year, Ollie had decided it was time to take a stab at hosting the party again. It wasn't going to be as big as it used to be before the Gambit, but it was something a little more inclusive than their usual secluded gatherings. The Lances, of course, had been at the top of the invite list, and Sara had even been promised a birthday cake if she wanted one.
If this had been the years before, Sara would've immediately said no and arranged another small-scale celebration in a different time slot. But almost four years had gone by now. The wound still felt a little raw, she had a feeling it always would, but it didn't hurt nearly as much as it used to. She could let herself feel happy and not too guilty that her sister wasn't there to share in the feeling with her.
"You're a Christmas baby?" Alex asked, blinking in surprise.
Sara nodded. "We've always made it something of a tradition to celebrate Christmas in the morning and my birthday in the evening," she explained. "This year, however, Ollie is re-hosting his family's annual Christmas Party for the first time in the last few years since his dad's death, and he offered to have it serve as my birthday party as well. You're welcome to come if you want," Sara added shyly.
Unfortunately, Alex shook her head no. "I can't. Heading back home to Midvale for the holidays," she explained apologetically.
"Oh." For some reason, that made her feel extremely disappointed. "That's too bad."
"Yeah," Alex agreed. She hesitated for a moment, then said, "If you want, we can celebrate your birthday together when I get back during the last week of winter break. Maybe go out to another club or something."
Sara immediately brightened. "I'd like that."
"Great. Then that's what we'll do."
"Awesome. I'm already looking forward to it."
She was. She really, really was.
A few days later, they met up again for a girls' night out at a local Christmas village. It was the last day before Alex flew back to Midvale, and she wanted to take some pictures back to show her parents. They went to every single stall and took selfies and videos, even a brief phot-op with Santa and his elves. All in all, it was a great bit of fun.
As the sun began to set and night began to settle in, however, they began to wind down. It was getting colder by the minute and both of them wanted to beat the chill. Which led to the second reason for their meeting — a gift exchange.
"Open yours first," Alex insisted, sliding over the large box to Sara.
"Okay," Sara said as she accepted the gift and carefully began untying the bow on top. Once it was removed, she went about tearing off the wrapping paper, revealing a white rectangular box. She lifted the lid, and gasped.
Alex grinned. "You like it?"
"I love it!" The blonde exclaimed as she pulled out the stylish black leather jacket Alex had gotten her. Almost immediately, Sara went ahead to try it on, marveling at how well it fit her. She tugged at the lapels and did a small pose. "What do you think? Looks good?"
"Looks amazing."
At that, Sara couldn't help but blush. "Thanks. I'll definitely be wearing it often, then." She pulled the jacket off, carefully folding it back into its box. Then she took out her purse and pulled out her own gift to Alex. "Sorry if it seems a bit childish or cheap. I couldn't afford to splurge a lot this year but I still wanted it to be meaningful."
Her friend took the small gift and carefully opened it, removing the bow and wrapping paper. Before she knew it, she had a small bracelet hanging from her fingers, embossed with her initials. "Are you kidding me?" Alex said, sounding genuinely delighted. "I love it, Sara."
Sara felt her blush deepen. "Thanks."
Alex slid her new accessory on, making sure to rotate it so the initials rested on the inside of her wrist. She showed it off to Sara, who gave her two thumbs up. They made another quick selfie with it, and then another one with Sara's new jacket. By the time they were done, the sun had fully gone down and a light snow was beginning to fall.
"Well, we better head home," Sara noted, feeling a bit of disappointment. She didn't really want to separate from Alex, knowing it was going to be weeks before she saw the other woman again. They had been hanging out on a consistent basis for months now; Sara had gotten used to having her around. "What time is your flight?"
"Ten a.m. tomorrow. It's about five hours. I've already got myself a book to read."
"Smart."
They were just about out of the village, right at the gate. Before they exited, however, the noticed right next to the gate was a sign telling them to look up. Sara, out of instinct, did just that and blinked.
Mistletoe.
She stared at it for a bit before looking at Alex. Alex had already noticed it herself. For that brief moment, they locked eyes, and in the next, Alex was kissing her.
Sara stiffened in shock at the unexpected lip contact, before gradually returning it. It didn't last too long, and before she knew it, Alex was pulling away. The younger woman couldn't help but keep staring at her, in complete disbelief at Alex's unexpected actions and her own.
"I, um, better go," Alex said nervously, bidding a farewell wave before hastily exiting through the gate. Sara didn't bother to return the gesture or follow her, still too stunned. She just stood there silently, wide-eyed.
What… just happened?
Gotham City
If she had to be honest with herself, Laurel's first few months as the Black Canary were going pretty well. She was still giving the less 'intensive' routes, but still saw plenty of action. Already she was developing a reputation for taking down many of the lower-level crooks in Gotham, including some of Bruce's lesser Rogues such as Condiment King and Killer Moth.
Even more than that, however, Laurel was a novelty simply because she was someone with powers who wasn't trying to terrorize the city. Already there was word on the street about her being the first "freak" not to try and take over Gotham. There was speculation over whether or not she was putting one over Batman or genuinely trying to play vigilante. It said a lot about the kind of damage Batman's more powerful Rogues caused that the first theory had so much traction no matter how much good work she did.
For her part, Laurel put it out of mind. Vigilantes always had bad raps and she wasn't going to let anyone's opinion stop her from trying to help people. As long as people didn't actually do anything about it, they were free to believe whatever they wanted believe. It was a free country, after all.
The next big break in the bank heist case came when Laurel encountered her most dangerous Rogue yet: Selina Kyle, more famously known as Catwoman. Her file in the Bat-Computer had been particularly detailed, thanks to how early she appeared in Batman's career and the frequency at which Selina and him tangled with each other. When she asked Dick why that was the case, the man had laughed himself sick for five straight minutes before telling her that she would figure it out as soon as she saw Selina and Bruce together. As if such a thing would be a given, and Laurel could only wonder why that was.
Those thoughts briefly crossed her mind when she answered a call for help from the Gotham City Museum of Modern Art. Apparently, a silent alarm had been triggered and the security guard had taken one look at the culprit and knew he wouldn't be able to take her down. The moment he mentioned the gender of the intruder, Barbara had told her immediately that it had to be Selina. "The museum is having a limited-time exhibit on a series of cat-themed sculptures from Ancient Egypt," she explained, voice rather dry. "That's right up her alley."
"I take it you've all been expecting this?"
"Ever since the exhibit was announced. Even the museum has been expecting this — they've installed some seriously effective security measures in preparation for a potential theft, but there's nothing that can keep Catwoman out of somewhere she wants to be for long."
Laurel took the hint and put her foot on the gas of her motorcycle. Another addition given to her by Bruce, modified to go to similar speeds comparable to both the Batmobile and the Wingcycle. She had been given lessons on how to properly maintain the bike, with eventual plans to modify it to her own liking.
She arrived at the museum soon enough, just in time to catch sight of a distinctly cat-like shadow escaping from one of the museum's side windows. Laurel revved her motorcycle before moving to follow the shadow, eventually arriving at the end of the row of buildings. She quickly parked the motorcycle before taking out her grappling hook and using it to pull her up to one of the rooftops, landing on the concrete with practiced grace.
"Mmm… so you're the big guy's newest little bird."
Laurel looked up, and spotted her quarry. A relatively tall, svelte woman dressed in a black leather suit, she had a mask on, one that covered the entire top of her head and was unironically was decorated with cat ears. On her forehead was a pair of goggles with orange-yellow lenses, and in her right hand was a whip she snapped out with an audible sound. Behind her was a large burlap sack — her loot, no doubt.
"You're a bit older than than the other two were when they first started," the older woman noted. "What's your name?"
"Black Canary," Laurel answered, readying herself for battle.
Catwoman grinned. "Oh, honey. Don't you know what cats do to canaries?" With that final word she darted forward, her hands stretched out like claws.
Laurel barely had any time to react to the first blows, blocking the punches and palm strikes on reaction. Catwoman was fast. By the time barrage was over, the younger woman found herself having to leap to dodge the sudden leg sweep her opponent nearly got her with, rolling through the jump and landing on the other side of Selina, near the sack.
Selina was quick, however. She snapped her whip before using it to try and grab onto Laurel's wrist. Laurel was prepared for it however, drawing out her quarter staff to take the blow instead. She gave the staff a quick tug and Selina was drawn forward, right in time to be met with a waiting haymaker.
The blow rocked the older woman, breaking her nose. Laurel, never one to dismiss an opening when she saw it, took advantage of Selina's disorientation and delivered several blows to her midsection. Selina, however, wasn't one to go down so easily and clawed away at Laurel's face, leaving a deep gash. The new vigilante reeled from the strike, wiping away at the blood in an attempt to make the plasma coagulate faster.
It was a mistake. Selina grabbed her leg, and much like how Laurel had done with her whip, tugged forward, causing Laurel to fall onto her back with an ungraceful splat! That earned a groan from the former assassin, but Laurel, ever opportunistic, soon retaliated with a kick to the face, further damaging her opponent's nose.
"Ugh! You bitsch! Are you twying ta force me ta get facial reconstwuctive surgery?"
Laurel didn't bother answering. Instead, she grabbed the sack and swung true. Selina was out like a light before she even hit the ground.
So, we get a glimpse of Laurel's first few months as BC, including the naming of the Canary Cry and her fight with Selina. That was fun to write, though we haven't gotten to the really good stuff yet.
And of course, we finally get to Sara's storyline for this year: realizing and coming to terms with her bisexuality. The one thing I hate about a lot of fan fics involving Sara is that they tend to be bi-phobic and refuse to acknowledge that she's attracted to both men and women. Some just use her as "Oliver's hot assassin girlfriend", as if that's her only characterization and ignore or downplay the fact that she's also attracted to women and had a serious relationship with Nyssa. On the other hand, there are some who say "ew" when Sara is paired with a man and say she only belongs with women. Arlyss and I actually got at least two comments on the Forgingverse relating to that, just because we opted to pair her with Tommy in that series.
So here, I intend to clearly demonstrate Sara is attracted to both genders. I've already touched on her canonical crush on Oliver and had her flirt with Kyle Rayner. And here, I intend to go through her growing feelings and attraction for Alex. Please note that Sara/Alex is currently not the final pairing for Sara; I'm still debating on that, as there are two other options that might work out in the future.
Next Chapter: Selina divulges a bit on the heists, and Laurel catches the Calculator's attention.