no subject

"You don't scare us."

Dinah knows he's lying - not because of his body language, the catch in his voice, or the expression on his face, but because she knows she was scared when he first showed up, and she's good.

These guys, however, aren't backing down, and they don't really have any reason to think they needed to. Nearly a dozen of them, all armed - Dinah counts three guns, some heavy duty chains, a number of blunt metal instruments - and all with the stance and poise of experienced fighters. Dinah would think twice about taking on a gang like that.

She'd do it anyway, but she'd think twice.

She certainly has no intention of letting him take them all on without help, but at first it doesn't look like he needs it. The first two guns to be drawn are removed with the slightest movement. The first thrown swings are blocked and men start falling quickly.

But he makes one mistake so basic, so stupid and so dangerous that Dinah immediately wants to hit him for it. He seems to forget the third gunman, and then leaves his left side open. From where Dinah's hiding behind the criminal, she can see that there's a perfectly good, and fatal, shot right at the Bat.

She launches herself out from the trashcans she's been sheltering behind. With one twist of her arm she's disabled him and another strike brings him down, before he even realises he had the shot.

With two expert fighters in the fray, the rest of the fight was over in a matter of seconds. It's strange fighting alongside someone - unlike Gordon, he fights similarly to her - and it feels slightly awkward, but she puts that down to him, not her.

"You left your flank open. He could've killed you."

"I knew you had me covered."

So he knew she was following him. Big deal, she tells herself. She's new at this and he's really good. It's not nearly as important as the fact that he trusted her skills and prowess, and finally seems to have unclenched enough to accept her working in the same city.

"So you're not going to rat me out to my Mom?"

"No."

It's a huge weight lifted off her shoulders, as she realises she doesn't have to play her trump card.

"Thanks, Bruce." She can't help herself: what's the point of holding an Ace if no one sees it?

His expression was unreadable. But she imagines she sees a very tiny hint of a possible maybe smile. And she decides it's approval.

no subject

She changes into civvies in the alley behind her school and catches a late bus back home, all the time grinning like a crazy thing. It isn't that she needs approval or anything, and certainly not from a new cape who isn't even J.S.A. recognised, but it's nice to have it anyway: finally someone's found out what she's doing and hasn't told her to stop. He respects her, even trusts her, and has definitely acknowledged her competence. She isn't going to mess this up. She's finally made it and the Black Canary's going to be the greatest superheroine in the world again.

She's practically humming as she silently turned her key in the front door and slipped inside. It's late - it always is - but her mother would be...

"Dinah!"

Dinah sr is standing in the living room, hands clenched in fury and behind her sits Ted, guilt and worry all over his face.

Oh crap.

Dinah's eyes slip to the side table by Ted, where the ledger she stole from his office sits like Courtroom Exhibit A.

Ted himself looks awkward, as if he's regretting what's just about to happen. "If you need to know something, Junior, you ask me." He's able to say this because Dinah's mother is almost speechless, shaking with fury. She marches across the room towards her, and grabs the strap of her sports bag.

"Mom..." Dinah tries to feign innocent indignation, but she's never been good at lying, and Dinah sr has already ripped the bag open, spilling the wig onto the ground.

"I can't believe it!" her Mom screams. "You disobey me, use an old friend against me..."

"He's my friend, too!" Dinah's temper rises in the face of parental anger. "And he's only helping me like Grandad did you!"

"I told you the rules were different then!"

"The rules are the same!" And even if they weren't, Dinah's got the bug now, she won't stop. She can't. "Uncle Ted told me about..." He's sitting right there, but Dinah has too much momentum to stop herself now. "...about Jake. It's always been dangerous!"

"You betrayed my trust!"

"Trust? You never trusted me to do anything!"

(Uncle Ted, Dinah notices, stood up when his name was mentioned, trying to act as mediator. "Stop it! Would you two...")

It's so unfair. Her Mom's always tried to holdher back, to stop her from doing the only possible thing she can do, from...

SO UNFAIR. She's never been this angry before. Never had the need to scream, even when her Dad died. It's like a storm inside her.

"You can take your trust and go. To

"HHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLL

Which is an appropriate word for what happens next.