Bird Calls

[canary_noir]

She had just been getting in the shower when her cell phone buzzed with a text.  Dinah groaned and the bottom of her stomach fell out.  She had a date tonight.  Well, not some kind of important this-is-definitely-going-to-go-somewhere kind of a date, but more the so-here-we-are-in-the-grocery-store-and-I-see-you-like-Ramen-Noodles-as-much-as-I-do-

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[catalinareyes]

Not a response from Catalina, no indication that she heard him. She simply stares, her thoughts clearly far away.

[catalinareyes]

"Gotham," is her delayed, distant response. "Gotham City."

[canary_noir]

A shining motorcycle was parked in the front drive, engine still warm. The key had been in the usual spot and Dinah used it to let herself in- though it had taken about ten minutes of staring at the text and a phone call to Babs to figure out what the hell it actually said. Technology, who needed it.

Since it was an "emergency", she'd dressed- boots, fishnets, gloves, leather jacket- the whole get up... though it lost some of the intimidation from the fact that she was flopped on the couch watching a rerun of Three's Company- but she heard the car pull up outside and quickly shut it off, listening carefully. And where did he get off telling her to be nice? He was the one everyone thought was loud mouth jerk. Well he was a loud mouth jerk. That big jerk. So there.

Dinah slid off the couch and stood near the door- ready to make a move if the visitor wasn't the one she was expecting.

[catalinareyes]

The Costa Lindan woman does not look in Dinah's direction, and her sunglasses disguise much of her expression, as does a shank of dislodged dark hair. But she says quietly, "Oliver, this idea is not good. You..." She glances at Dinah before turning to face Ollie directly. "You cannot go after him. He does not have the boundaries you have, and I cannot tolerate the idea of him hurting you."

This from the woman who tried to have Ollie killed en route to taking over Costa Linda.

"Please do not leave me here with her."

[canary_noir]

Oh Ollie. The minute he walked in she started to pull up one arm to go for the hug that never came. Awkward

[jla_miscreants]

It's a good four hours later before Shreck's hired help shows up at the Bellevue residence. The Tattooed Man is only one of many hands contacted by the Calculator after Shreck put out a hit on Oliver Queen, but he has a personal interest in this one. The man bested him once before

[canary_noir]

Dinah was getting restless. In fact she was pacing the house. Something in her gut said things weren't quite right. She got off the couch and started circling, heading into the spare bedrooms, the kitchen, the den, the office space, even the connected garage, surveying each without turning on the lights. Nothing. Either she was just being paranoid or...

When she got back to the den she tapped her earring, looking around with a critical eye. "Oracle. You still up?"

Dinah turned to Catalina while waiting for a reply. "Something's fishy. I can feel it. Here." She said, patting a fist to her stomach. "If I were a bad guy I'd have been here by now. The fact that they haven't made an attempt yet is........ disconcerting." She gave a quick glance around the room, then looked at Catalina again, "You know how to use a taser?"

[jla_miscreants]

Interesting. Black Canary, but no Oliver Queen. What does she have to do with him, and who's this other woman? The Tattooed Man shifts slightly in his hiding place while his mosquito does a circuit around the house.

Time to spook the inhabitants of the house. With a smile, a cloud of thick black smoke issues from the Tattooed Man's neck, and surrounds the outside of the building, making the windows impossible to see out of and rendering the outside lights useless.

[canary_noir]

Well that wasn't good. Black clouds around the house could mean any number of villians- the Shade sprung to mind, but wasn't Ollie on friendly-ish terms with him somehow or another? She thought she'd heard that. Then again, she was never one to put her full faith in a villain-- except for that one time. Okay and those other times but that was it

[jla_extras]

"That suits me just fine." Ted cracks his knuckles, hunched over in an alley alongside the Emerald Archer.

"He's going to have a bunch of bodyguards. I can deal with them while you go for Shreck." Now he cracks his neck left and right. "My fists are aching to break the faces of some of the bastards working for that even bigger bastard. There are a whole bunch of them that I've connected to crimes, but there's never been the solid proof to get them put away. A lot of them are long overdue for a slap."

[jla_extras]

Creeping around the edge of the building, Wildcat stands up straight and pretends to adjust an invisible tie; his signal to Green Arrow that he's about to enter.

Ted pulls open a window and eases himself in, finding himself in the ladies' toilet. What with it being as late as it is, there are no occupants. Luckily. He walks through the restroom, and eases open the door to find a suited man with his back to him, standing in the corridor.

Ted lifts his hands to the sides of the man's head, and then brings one back to his mouth in thought. Hmm. How best to do this? A crack to the neck? A knee to the kidneys? An elbow to the spine?

He shrugs and punches the man hard in the back of the head, knocking him clean out. Dragging the bodyguard into a cubicle, he pokes his head out of the restroom door and then makes his way down the corridor.

[canary_noir]

Canary took off once Catalina was situated on the bike, leaving the Tattooed Man for the proper authorities. She drove like a bat out of hell to begin with- but now it was probably ten times worse. Dinah sped to the JSA Brownstone and parked the bike, then glanced back at Catalina. "I... need to go check on Wildcat. Could you..." She started and frowned and looked away

[catalinareyes]

Catalina regards Dinah for countless long seconds, her expression impassive."I have tried hurting, even killing, your friends snd the man you love," she murmurs as she slides off the bike. "The fact that you are helping me instead of killing me makes you a far better person than I. You have no reason to apologize. I deserve to die. Oliver does not."

[awesomelycosmic]

"Uh, hi?!" Stargirl is poking her head around the door of the Brownstone, looking with some amazement at Black Canary and this other lady. It doesn't matter that she's been working with heroes all this time; when one shows up at your front door, it's still a bit of an event.

"Citizen Steel was going to come out here and wait cos he said you'd probably show up what with Green Arrow and Wildcat being looked after by the Doc, but I wanted to volunteer." She steps out from the doorway with her hand out for Canary to shake. "It's a great honour, ma'am."

She also gives a smile and bit of a curtsey to Catalina, not really knowing who she is but not wanting to cause any offence. She could be some island princess, for all Courtney knows.

[canary_noir]

Dinah shrugs, chuckling a bit though it wasn't particularly humorous then smiled at Catalina, "I have a feeling killing you is something easier said than done and I'm already wicked tired." She winks at her, friendly and slid off the bike. "Maybe some other time."

Dinah looks up in surprise as Stargirl ran out and came to shake her hand and laughs a little, accepting the handshake. "Likewise. And don't call me ma'am. I'm not that old. " She turns and gestures to Catalina, unsure if she really wants her identity given out so instead Dinah says to Courtney, "This is a friend of Oliver's.... and mine. Can you take her to where ever Ollie is?.." Her breath hitches for a moment, thinking about Ollie fighting for his life from a bullet wound, but there are other things to think about first. "I'll go check in on Wildcat."

Canary glances at Catalina over Courtney's head, "Just... uh... let me know how he's doing..."