Batgirl Begins

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

I groan as I am woken up by the doorbell. I check my clock to see the numbers flashing. Crap!! I race into my bathroom and get ready. Fifteen minutes later I open the door and jump back. Dinah is standing right on the other side of the door with two coffees.

"You scared me, Dinah," I sigh as I take the coffee from her hands.

"I tried the doorbell, but you didn't answer."

"Normal people just wait or call..."

She laughs mumbling something about an early bird... I ignore her as I brush past with the first box. "Please don't be mad at me..."

"How can I be mad at you, Dinah?" I smile as I put the box in the back seat. Yeah I was... am tired but not mad. "You're like a sister to me, and family sticks together... even if they break into your apartment to wake you up."

She smiles, but it quickly fades. My mind flashes to when Dick did the same thing after we met Batman... "Dinah... is everything okay?"

Her face snaps back to a smile, but her eyes tell me she's hurting. "Yeah. I'm fine."

"If this has to do with what happened to you-"

"It doesn't." She says in a harsh voice that scares me a bit. Not because of the tone... but because it's so different from the girl I grew up with.

"Look, I'm not saying you have to tell me about what he did to you." I can see her stiffen as she gazes at the ground. "All I want you to know is that I'm here for you. I swore years ago that we'd be best friends forever, and I intend to keep that promise no matter what challenges come our way." I smile as she looks up at me with a few tears streaming down her face and forces a smile. "Aw come on, gimme a hug."

She laughs as I throw my arms around her. She gasps in pain, and I immediately let go.

"Oh jeez what'd I do?"

She laughs, "Nothing. I just slept on my shoulder weird the other night."

"Oooh ouch."

"Yeah... hey did you hear about this new hero that's in town?"

I shake my head as we go back inside, "No, who is he?"

"She is being called a bird of prey."

"Oh really? And what bird is she?"

"They're calling her the Black Canary."

I laugh. Probably the hardest I've laughed in weeks. A canary? What criminal is going to be afraid of Tweety Bird? Hahahahaaha I keep laughing as images of Tweety Bird beating up bad guys stream through my head. My eyes open to see a very serious Dinah. Oh no... the Dinah Death Glare. I stop laughing immediately.

"So uh... You're serious about that." I laugh nervously, "Sorry, I've been watching too many Looney Toons reruns..."

"They're saying she's the one that saved your ass at the bank, so you really should thank her."

"If I met her in person I would, but she disappeared too quickly for me to see her."

"So you heard it then? The screech?"

"Is that what that was?" I say as I hand her a box and grab one myself.

"High pitched ringing? Like nails on a chalkboard?"

"I did a little bit, but she told me to cover my ears... kind of cool actually."

I see her smile out of the corner of my eye. "Did you hear what they did last night?"