Daughter of the Arrow

Chapter 1: A Missing Home

Four years.

Four years.

That was how long he had been gone.   That long since he had been in Star City.  That long since he had seen the former protégés who were the closest thing to children of his own that he had.   That long since he had been anything besides a man too far from home.   And most all, that long since he had seen her, his wife, his love, his Prettybird, Dinah Queen.

He looked around at the inside of the spaceship, at the other two who had been lost in space with him.   They had stuck together through the arduous journey back to League space.   They had fought, stolen away, bribed, begged, and worked their butts to get home.

It had been long, but if he could see the people that he loved again, it would be worth it.

He gazed out the window of Hal's  ring created spacecraft, into the oblivion.   Hal , John, Clark, J'onn, and Diana had come to retrieve the three of them.   They were obviously shocked to see the three Leaguers alive.   His heart sank with the thought that Dinah had had to live with the belief he was dead for the last four years.

His head jerked up as something entered his peripheral vision.   Something blue.   Yes, it looked like a blue and green marble.

Earth.

It was the most beautiful thing he had seen in four years, and wasn't likely to be surpassed until he saw Dinah again.  

The ship docked at The Watchtower.   He and the other two were whisked off for medical examination.   It was apparent that he had nothing significantly wrong, so he was released.   As he left the Medbay, Batman stepped out of the shadows, "I have something to tell you".

Oliver jumped.   He frowned at the Bat, "What?  No 'welcome back'?   No 'glad you aren't dead'?"

Batman glared at him.   Oliver rolled his eyes, "Fine.   What?   And make it short would you?   I need to find my wife."

"You won't find her up here."

"What?!" Oliver looked sharply at the Bat.   What the hell did he mean by his previous statement?!

"You won't find her up here because she left the League."   Batman's face was as stoic as ever.

"When?"   She had left the League?!   She loved being part of the League.   She had joined as soon as she could, at eighteen.    Dinah never would have left the League.

Would she?

"She left less than a month after your disappearance."

Was it connected to him?    Had his apparent death caused her to leave the League?

"No one has seen or heard from Black Canary since then, " continued Batman.

Now that got his attention. 

Leaving the League.   Maybe, she would have done that.   But quitting  being a hero entirely?  Never.    It was in her blood, her mom had been the original Black Canary.   Dinah loved being a hero.    Sure, she enjoyed other things, like floristry.    But crime fighting was her passion.

"No one?" growled Oliver.

"No one," confirmed Batman.   "And no one has heard Dinah Queen either."

Oliver was aghast at that.   "That sounds more like she's missing than she quit."

He turned, done with the conversation, and headed for the Zeta-Tubes.   He needed to talk to Roy or Artemis, Batman couldn't be telling the whole truth.

Could he?