Bluejay: The Protégé of Black Canary

Zatana Zatara

"And then she was like: I was supposed to be on tour with Taylor Swift as one of her backup dancers, but my dad wants me to graduate high school first." I said in my best impression of Amelia, striking a mocking pose and pursing my lips outward.

Robin laughed, throwing his head back at my poor imitation. I paced and pounded a fist into my palm and shook my head.

"Sounds like you had a rough day. Is she always like that?" He asked and raised an eyebrow.

I groaned dramatically and dragged a hand down my face. From our spot inside the training ring, we took a few steps backwards to avoid the fight between Artemis and Kaldur. She yelled, flipping and kicking him in the chest. He seized her ankle, but managed to jump and twist out of his grasp before he could toss her away.

"Yes. But today, this girl was pirouetting over every single one of my nerves-"

"All 7 trillion of them? Impressive." Robin nodded.

"- if only I hadn't sprained my knee in Greece, I might have been able to audition for Dancing with the Stars." I mocked again, wiggling my fingers and choking back dramatic sobs.

Robin broke into a fit of chuckles again, covering his mouth with his gloved hand.

"Oh come on, Jackie." Robin smirked at me.

I pointed a finger at him.

"You better not be laughing at me." I warned.

"Oh so what? It's illegal to laugh?" Robin said to me, his same smile on his lips.

"Bluejay! Robin!" Canary called our names from the outside of the ring where she was observing.

She looked at us disapprovingly with her arms crossed. Casting a glance her way, Robin and I both got into sparring positions again like we were supposed to. I raised my fists and kept my knees bent.

"You can laugh with me, but not at me. When you ask someone how their day went, it's customary to actually listen and not agree with the brat who-"

"Jacks, I'm not laughing at you. And no I don't doubt that she's a brat, it's just you're really worked up about this." Robin grinned.

He ran at me first, going for a punch, then twisting on his foot to deliver a kick. I parried the first blow, but didn't dodge the kick. I stumbled back, but quickly recovered. I frowned.

"Am not!" I said through my clenched teeth and swung a fist at him. Robin dodged easily, ducking underhand and popping back up.

"Yeah you are. You coulda landed that if you weren't." He argued.

Robin jumped forward and twisted back to hit me with his elbow. I leapt out of the way and struck him in the small of his back in a kick.

"How was that, huh?" I asked rhetorically.

Robin swung back around and grabbed my arm. He hooked his foot around my ankle, yanking me off balance and wrapping his arm around my neck in a hold, though he was careful not to choke me.

"Better." He admitted.

Throwing all of my weight downwards, I let out a cry and flipped us over, using momentum to slam him on the ground. He grunted, and I felt his hold around my neck loosen. I grabbed his arm, twisting it and wrenching myself free. We sprung apart, rolling away from one another.

Before we could charge at each other once more, or before another snide comment could escape, Black Canary stopped the matches. She took a step forward, and Artemis and Kaldur halted their fight.