Continuing the “Birds of Prey” fanfiction: Batman coordinates with Commissioner Gordon. Meanwhile, Black Canary prowls Gotham’s streets.
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Detective Sonya Blade departed a few moments ago.
“Did you get all of that?” Commissioner James Gordon asked, seemingly to no one.
Batman swung into the room through the open window, having hung outside from his Batline during Gordon and Blade’s conversation.
Leaving a piece of tech would have made listening to the conversation easier. But Batman wanted to earn Gordon’s trust. Leaving tech that could spy on Gordon was the opposite of that.
Batman detached his Batline and strode over to Gordon’s desk. “Detective Blade is a good cop on paper,” Batman said in his barely discernible growl. “Who did you assign to work with her?”
“Detective Montoya,” Gordon said.
During his second year as Batman, the Caped Crusader recognized the corruption of the Gotham City Police Department. He compiled files about all the police, noting which ones were too far gone, who could be redeemed, and who were honest cops.
Montoya was in the third category. In the five years since he’d operated as Batman, Montoya kept her nose clean. Under Gordon’s tenure as commissioner, she earned her way onto the vice detective squad.
When Batman had nothing to say about Montoya, Gordon asked, “And what about the Chechen, Gamble, and the rest? If White is forcing their hands…”
“I convinced Gamble to hold off on retaliation.”
Gordon leaned back in his chair. “I hope he fared better than Kano.”
Batman ignored Gordon’s sarcasm. “After Batgirl and I helped him at his theater, Gamble was willing to give us time. But not much. I’ll see the Chechen tonight.”
“You think he’ll be amenable to stopping this war?”
“The Chechen thinks he has outside muscle. Sever that tendon, and he’d never go up against Gamble,” Batman said. “He’d also rather avoid Penguin’s wrath if he tries bringing in new product without paying Penguin’s fee.”
“I’m sure the Chechen had the means to keep that secret from Cobblepot.”
“Unless a little bat had a conversation with Cobblepot.”
Gordon shook his head. He turned from Batman to knock the burned tobacco from his pipe bowl. “Did you leave anything for the police to do?” he asked.
Batman turned back to the window and prepared to exit. “Keep the rest of Gotham safe.”
Gordon threw up his hands. “Thanks for giving us the easy part!”
The commissioner said his words to an empty room.
A year went by since Dinah Lance visited Gotham City with her band, Ashes on Sunday.
A year since her fateful confrontation with Heihachi Mishima.
He was the crime lord and wannabe music mogul from China, who tried to pull Ashes on Sunday into a contract that amounted to slavery. He also wanted them to carry his contraband across the country.
Eventually, it all came to a head with a confrontation on the roof of the Rusted Note bar and music venue in the city’s Burnside neighborhood.
Dinah should have done her homework and learned beforehand that Mishima was a competent martial artist. She also should have noted how close they were to the roof when she flying side-kicked him.
Though she was angry with the crime lord, she didn’t intend to kill him.
Batman didn’t accept that. He banished her from Gotham.
Yet here she was, helping her friend, the out-of-town cop, hunt down the crime lord who tried to kill them both.
When they arrived in Gotham, Sonya went to police headquarters dutifully to offer her assistance and expertise with Kano and China White.
Dinah took to the streets to see what she could find through unofficial channels.
From the newspapers, Sonya and Dinah learned the police arrested Kano in the Crime Alley/ Park Row section of Gotham. Dinah headed there, remembering from Sonya’s interdepartmental reports that the area used to be a hotspot for a variety of low-level crimes.
Unfortunately, a few hours of snooping under the guise of a blonde-haired, blue-eyed reporter in the predominantly African American neighborhood gained no more information than when she’d landed in the city.
By nightfall, her investigation garnered the attention of some intimidating men in their twenties, who started following her. They wore heavy jackets, perfect for concealing small arms.
Dinah cut down a side alley and then climbed up a fire escape that was so rusty it surprised her it held under her weight.
Once on the roof, she threw on the domino mask she kept in her jacket pocket. She also removed her jeans, revealing her Canary fishnets underneath. No point in blowing her fake reporter’s cover.
The three men followed her into the alley but lost sight of her. Thankfully, they didn’t think to look up.
With the men unaware, Dinah leaped down from the fire escape, immediately taking down one man. She lashed out with a kick that felled a second man.
The remaining man fumbled for a pistol in a shoulder holster.
“Pull that and things get lethal,” Black Canary said. It was a hollow threat; Canary didn’t kill. This guy didn’t know that.
“The Bats don’t kill.” The man’s hand inched further toward his gun.
Black Canary balled her fists, hoping her aggression would call his bluff. “I’m not with them.”
The would-be gunman stopped cold. He took his hand away from the pistol and held both hands in the air. Black Canary stalked toward him. “Why are you following that reporter?” she asked.
“She was asking too many questions,” the would-be gunman replied.
“That’s her job. Which questions bothered you?”
“She was asking about that red-eyed bastard who attacked the theater.”
Black Canary now stood in front of the man who had followed her as Dinah. “Yeah? Tell me everything you know about this red-eyed bastard and what he was doing here.”
Canary saw the man look at something behind her. She turned to see one of the first men she’d tackled aiming a gun at her. His hand was shaking; he struggled to focus because of the concussion she probably gave him.
Before Black Canary could react, a bat-shaped boomerang knocked the gun from the man’s hand. Then, a person in leather and a cape looking like a bat dropped and gave the man a second concussion.
To Canary’s surprise, this bat wasn’t a man… but a girl.
You can’t operate in Gotham City without one of the bat-vigilantes knowing. Come back next chapter for the first meeting between Black Canary and Batgirl!
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!
