Continuing Mark Wooden’s Birds of Prey fanfiction: Black Canary and Sonya Blade move deeper into the ship where international criminal Kano hides.
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Black Canary looked at the cargo ship and defiantly shouted Kano’s name. She then ran up the gangplank.
At the top of the gangplank, three guards stepped into her path. A Canary Cry knocked all three men off their feet and onto the deck unconscious. Canary leaped over the fallen men and onto the ship.
Canary now stood on the stern deck, an open space with a sealed hole that allowed the massive dock cranes to lower goods into the hold. A few random shipping crates, stacked high enough to conceal a body, littered the area.
To her left was the three-story, building-like structure that housed the bridge and other administrative areas. The ship’s bow lay on the other side of that. The dock’s massive crane hovered near that area. Its hook dangling over the dock awaiting new cargo to load.
Dinah wondered if her partner-in-hiding, Sonya Blade, was crazy enough to use the crane to get aboard. Or maybe she’d surprise her and find another way in. Sonya entering without blasting anyone would satisfy Canary.
Black Canary looked up the three stories of the bridge building. Two more guards armed with assault rifles took up shooter positions on the walkway. The wall protecting a fall from the upper level provided cover for them — but not for the Canary.
Bullets peppered the ground around Black Canary. She dashed for cover underneath the overhang that separated the first and second levels. The men were now two floors directly above her. Neither could throw a ranged attack at the other.
If she stuck her head out for a Canary cry, one of the gunmen could strike her down.
She’d have to finesse this.
She came out of hiding too soon, giving the men a target. Their shots went wild, much to her relief.
Already exposed, Canary belted out her sonic attack. The force of the sound wave slammed both men back against the third-floor wall. One man then fell forward, going over the railing and crashing onto the deck.
Black Canary didn’t get the chance to savor the victory.
Bullets sliced through the air next to her. She dashed over and ducked behind a stack of crates on deck. When the shooting stopped, she checked her assailants’ positions.
One of them remained up on the second floor of the bridge. The other man maneuvered down the stairs to deck level. Using crates for cover, Canary made her way to intercept.
She made it to the area just as the man reached the bottom step. Canary charged him, landing a kick that took the man down.
Suddenly, the crane’s engine roared to life.
Sonya heard Dinah’s Canary Cry all the way down at the other end of the cargo ship. She put the danger Dinah was in out of her mind. She was about to enter a world of risk herself.
A massive gantry crane loomed over the cargo ship’s bow. Sonya made her way there.
Thankfully, a neglectful dockhand left the shore power going. Sonya took the elevator up to the operator’s cabin. After a brief study of the control panel, she found what she was looking for.
Pressing a button, she started up the hydraulics that moved the crane. Sonya then turned the joystick and sent the jib arm back over the cargo ship. Its hoist ropes swung in a ten-foot arc while its hook hovered ten feet over the bow of the cargo ship.
Once in position, she lowered it to the deck via its cabling. Sonya then broke all safety protocols by climbing out of the control cabin and onto the crane proper.
A few moments of tricky balancing later, Sonya moved across the jib arm extending over the cargo ship. As she reached the ropes dropping to the hook block, two gunmen appeared on her side of the bridge structure.
They aimed at Sonya.
The detective got off a couple of shots before the men fired, but her shots missed the mark. The gunmen’s bullets ricocheted off the crane but missed her.
Sonya fired again, this time bagging both of her targets. “See, Dinah?” she said aloud. “Self-defense!”
She’d worry about how she’d explain climbing a crane onto a ship as part of her official duties as a police detective later.
Holstering her weapon, Sonya slipped underneath the crane arm and descended the ropes. Halfway down, more gunmen emerged.
Keeping a tight grasp on the cable, Sonya fired first, taking down two more men. She slid the rest of the way to the hook block, and then carefully dropped to the deck.
The element of surprise had long since gone out the window.
Kano would know they’re coming now, but the gangplank where Black Canary made her stand was the only way off the boat.
Unless he’d become a ninja who could beat Canary and slip past an area Sonya always had in sight, Kano was still on the boat.
Sonya would find him.
Black Canary and Sonya Blade close in on Kano in the next chapter!
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!
