Why We're Here

A Girl, A Test, And A Canary

The whole hall was silent. The only sound being the scratching of pencils and a hundred or so sets of breathing. The finals were upon us, and everyone was stressing.
We were required to be silent for an entire hour. Our cell phones were turned off, and our focus was on nothing but the exam. The silence is what killed me.
I did my best to forget that Clara was three levels behind me. I could hear her breathing, it sounded louder than the rest. When we arrived, we refused to look at each other. I did my best to forget she even went here,
Had it been louder, and not test day, I wouldn't have had such a hard time. My phone would have been on, for one thing.
We were all taking the test when the doors busted open. The woman walking in was not quiet in any sense of the word. The first thing we saw when our heads pulled up simultaneously was the fishnet covered legs. As soon as I saw that, I sighed. The fishnets came complete with a blonde headed superhero.
"Black Canary," the professor whispered, "What can I help you with?"
Dinah stared him down, "I'm looking for Lucille Brimsey."
I sunk lower in my seat. All eyes turned to me, including Dinah's. She had a sparkle in them, one only people who knew her could see, but her face was placid.
"Um, Lucille?" the professor had gone red in the face.
I sighed, there was no way to explain this. I grabbed my bag and hurried to the front of the room. Dinah gazed at me, "There's been an accident, I'm here to take you to GCPD."
I nodded tartly. Obviously, she was lying, which couldn't be good. For her to come get me, something was wrong. I wasn't a superhero anymore, but this was superhero business.
"You can-um-you can finish your exam on Monday," the professor whispered.
I nodded. Dinah darted her eyes to the door in a gesture to tell me to follow her. As I did, I glanced back at the exam hall. My eyes connected with Clara's for a moment. I could tell she was worried, but it quickly turned to disdain.
Dinah lead me to her motorcycle parked at the front curb. As she climbed on it, I asked, "What's going on?"
"I'll tell you when we get there," Dinah shoved her helmet on.
"Get where?"
"To Oracle."
Barbara. Something was wrong with Barbara. Without hesitation, I climbed on behind her. Dinah sped off, weaving through traffic.
As we rode, my mind came up with a million and one things that could have gone wrong. My biggest theory was that Joker came back to finish the job. Barbara could be entirely paralyzed now, or worse. I was insanely nervous by the time we pulled up to the apartment building.
"Are you using the front door?" I asked.
Dinah laughed, "You act as if you don't know the first rule of hero business."
"That's what I thought," I replied, "I'll meet you up there."
Dinah nodded. I hurried around to the elevator. It took me up faster than the stairs, meaning I arrived before Dinah. My hands shook as I opened the door.
Barbara was in her study, on her laptop, totally fine. I ran around the corner and breathed a sigh of relief, "Barbara, thank God, I thought something happened."
"Not to me, didn't Dinah tell you?" she asked, lifting an eyebrow.
Dinah came around the corner, "I thought you wanted too."
"Somebody tell me something."
Barbara took a deep breath. I could tell she was worried, deeply worried, in fact. Whatever it was couldn't be good. Especially if she came to me instead of Bruce.
"I'm sorry, I know you're retired, but we don't have much of a choice left," Barbara tapped a few keys on her computer, "Dick went missing fourteen hours ago."
I came up behind her, "How do you know?"
"He said he was pursuing a lead on Strange at eight o'clock last night. He was supposed to clock out with me at sunrise, but he never called. I waited until an hour ago to officially declare him missing."
My heart raced. Dick had been kidnapped before, Robin was a favorite target of Batman's enemies. This was his first kidnapping experience when he was all alone.
"Think Strange got him?" I asked.
"I'm not sure, that's what you're here for," Barbara replied.
I frowned, "There's better heroes than me, Babs, some that aren't retired. What about Bruce and Jason?"
"Bruce is on call with The Justice League and Jason is camping with friends," Barbara replied, "You and Dinah are the only ones available."
She gazed at me hopefully. She was asking the one question I hoped never to hear, she wanted me to be Blitz again. She wanted me to come out of retirement.
Oddly, I wasn't fully against it. For sometime now, I had been on the fence about staying retired. I yearned for the rush of hero work. While I wanted to stay retired, I wanted to go back as well. Breaking into the convent reminded me how much I missed being a vigilante.
"Alright, I'm in," I replied.
Barbara smiled, "Just like that?"
"Just like that," I replied, "I miss it, Babs."
Barbara nodded knowingly. She turned back to the computer and began to type, "Alright, start looking as fast as possible, who knows what's happening to him."
The faint worry in her voice was more than a friend. I've known for a long time that Dick and Barbara have had crushes on each other, they just won't admit it. After this, I have a feeling things will change.
"Where was he last seen?" Dinah asked.
Barbara typed, "The Harbour. From there, he said he was going to check out the theater district, but I don't know if he made it or not."
"Alright, we'll retrace his steps," I said, "We'll go to the harbour and make our way towards the theater district. Hopefully, we'll find clues along the way."
"Better go get your costume."
I nodded, hurrying towards my room. It didn't take long to pull up the loose board and get out my costume. The bags were still intact. When I pulled out my Shockers, I discovered they still had charge.
Being back in the costume felt like being back in my own skin. The way it hugged me was all too familiar. I felt like I was myself again.
As I walked back into the study, I pulled down my goggles. Barbara handed Dinah and me each a communicator, "These will connect you straight to me. I'll do my best from here."
I placed mine in my ear. Instantly, it connected. I could hear Barbara's voice much closer. It made me smile.
"Black Canary and Blitz, has a nice ring to it," Dinah flung her arm around my shoulders.
I smiled, "I'm not Blitz."
"What?"
"There's no Blitz without Batgirl, is isn't right," I smiled at Barbara, "Call me... Cataclysm ."
Barbara and Dinah were silent for a moment. Finally, Barbara smiled, "I like it."
"Me too," Dinah replied, "Let's get going, the sun's setting."
I glanced out the window to see she was right. The quicker we left, the better, who knows how much time Dick had left. With a final nod to Barbara, Dinah and I started our mission.