In this episode of Birds of Prey fanfiction, Seattle vigilante Black Canary plays hero, only to land herself in a trap.
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Over at the Crocodile in Belltown, Dinah Lance belted out the encore song with her band, Ashes on Sunday.
Bringing her voice to the edge of her Canary Cry without blasting the audience with a burst of sonic energy challenged Dinah’s skill.
She loved a challenge.
Minutes later, the band brought their set to an end. The crowd gave a raucous thank you with their applause. Dinah soaked it up for a moment.
She then thanked the audience, thanked her band, and waved as she walked backstage.
The bar’s manager raced up to Dinah and the band. He looked panicked. Before she could get out a quip, he said, “You have to go back up there and do another song!”
“But we just did the encore!” Dinah replied, not understanding the manager’s insistence.
“There was an explosion down the street! You have to keep the people in here!”
Dinah heard the frightened gasps from her bandmates. Sure, it was essential to keep the streets clear, but Dinah knew she could do more good looking into the explosion. Her skills as a costumed adventurer could aid in a recovery operation.
Whoever detonated the bomb — if it was a bomb — could still be around.
Turning to her bandmates, Dinah insisted they head up on stage and start another song. She used the excuse of needing to go to the bathroom to slip out the back door and onto the streets.
Several blocks down, Dinah found chaos.
Traffic had ground to a halt. People ran northward on the streets. Some remained in place, looking south.
Following their gaze, Dinah saw a building with its fifth of five floors on fire. Debris littered the street below it.
From her time in Belltown, Dinah knew that building housed several condos. It was also frequented by members of the LBGTQ community. Was this a hate crime?
Dinah had to get closer to find out. Weaving through traffic, she forced her way closer to the building.
A police cruiser had pulled up to the area. Two uniformed officers worked to control the scene, keeping people at bay the best they could. Sirens hinted at more police and fire trucks on the way.
People in various states of dress due to the lateness of the hour flooded out of the damaged building.
Then Dinah noticed something else.
Typically, a late model sedan wouldn’t draw any attention in this neighborhood. However, this one had two men inside who looked nonplussed by the chaos around them.
Sensing the police could handle the more significant problems, Dinah slowly moved toward the men in the sedan.
When she was within two cars’ lengths of the sedan, the men got out of the vehicle. Within one car length, they turned and ran.
A Canary Cry could take them down, but Dinah wasn’t in costume, nor did she have her mask.
Unless she wanted to field a bunch of questions and possible arrest as the vigilante Black Canary, she’d have to contain the men without her metahuman abilities.
The two men headed for an alley. Dinah pursued. She could have caught up with the men; they had trouble navigating through the terrified crowds.
Instead, she allowed them the false security of slipping into the alley.
The men were halfway down the alley when Dinah called out, “That’s far enough, boys. And tell your men on the roof they can come down and join us.”
Dinah’s quarry stopped and turned to face her. They had some muscle to them but didn’t move like trained fighters. They were meathead muscle if even that.
Up on the roof, two men looked down at her. Both had rifles. Dinah realized that the explosion wasn’t a hate crime.
It was a bait to draw her out.
The thought that these men — whoever they worked for, actually — would endanger so many lives just to get to her angered Dinah.
Unluckily for the four men, they’d “lured” her to a place where she didn’t have to hold back.
To be continued next Thursday…
While writing this fanfiction, I used Green Ronin’s Mutants and Masterminds, 3rd Edition RPG, to leave some things to chance. Check it out!
Like this Birds of Prey fanfiction? Check out Mark’s original “Shadowdance” saga books!
