Bluejay: The Protégé of Black Canary

Plants

Then I sprinted down the hallway and towards the Zeta Tubes. There was nothing but the sound of pounding blood in my ears. Thankfully, Batman and the other two Leaguers had left, so there was no one to stop me from charging into the teleportation machine. Carbonation filled my bones as I could feel myself being whisked away to the Nest in Star City. 

Opening my eyes, the familiar landscape of the safehouse I'd lived in appeared before my eyes. The same weapons were hung up on the walls, and the walls showed live feed from the monstrous plants outside. Not wasting a moment, I ran for the line of motorcycles. 

"Emergency override! Bluejay B08! Open garage door!" I shouted. 

There was a chime as the system recognized my voice. I climbed on the closest motorcycle, kicking back the stand and yanking on the helmet as the hidden garage door began to open. Dinah had taught me to ride one for emergencies, but we'd only ever gone on slow laps around the Nest. 

Here goes nothing. 

My hands shook as I grabbed the handles. I gunned the engine, and it roared to life. The tires screamed underneath me and I shot forwards, a streak of black and the smell of rubber behind me. I ducked, narrowly avoiding the still opening garage door and emerged onto the road. Thankfully both tires landed on the pavement and the bike didn't skitter out from under me. I yelped, jerking the handles and narrowly avoiding a moving car in the middle of the street. 

I may or may not have screamed as I merged on to incoming traffic, my heart leaping into my throat as other drivers honked and slammed on their brakes to avoid me. My grip was so tight on the handles, it felt like the tips of my fingers had lost circulation. Through the muffled interior of the helmet, I could still hear the wind and the screams of frenzied citizens. People were streaming out of apartments and stores, all heading towards the nearest evacuation point away from the deadly plants that invaded Star City. 

I breathed deeply, trying to keep myself calm. "It's okay, Bluejay. You can do this." I told myself.

Thankfully, I already knew the route to get to S.T.A.R Labs. I kept my body close to the bike as I sped down the road, weaving between cars and trying to get to my dad as fast as possible. I felt like I was in a scene from Mission Impossible. I heard the wailing sirens of fire trucks and police cars, probably heading towards the Labs as well. Suddenly, the cars in front of me slammed on their brakes. I yelled, squeezing the brakes before I could be part of the pile up in front of me. 

There it was. The sound of twisting metal and glass shattering. My stomach roiled terribly and my head began to spin. Like hell you're going to throw up in this helmet, I told myself. I stopped the bike before my spinning vision would cause me to wreck. Two cars had smashed into each other, and the passengers were screaming and running out of their vehicles. Now that the road was blocked, the rest of the drivers around me followed their behavior, yanking their car doors open and running back the way they came. Then I saw what had likely distracted one of the drivers. 

A monstrous plant was tangled around the Star City Bridge. I swallowed at the sheer size of it. Green limbs tangled themselves in the bridge's cables, smashing cars as they thrashed. Suddenly, one of the limbs seemed to tear apart, bits of shredded lettuce-looking chunks flying everywhere. Dinah. 

I made sure all the passengers of the wrecked cars had made it out before I gunned the motorcycle again, hugging the bike and racing towards the laboratory. Here, I was on my own. There was no Team to back me up, and no Black Canary. If I wanted to save my dad, I had to do it on my own. 

I could feel my limbs trembling underneath me as I watched the speedometer needle inch it's way past numbers. 90...95...100... I was almost there. I rounded the corner of the last block, and my stomach plummeted to the floor. The green vines that wrapped around the magnificent S.T.A.R. Labs was slowly crumbling to the ground. The plant had erupted on the south side of the building, and had already collapsed part of it. Its creeping vines and red thorns tore through the glass windows and dove into the hallways like snakes.