Birds of Prey

Firebrand

by

F.I. Melis

Firebrand:

Function: noun

Date: 13th century

1 : one that creates unrest or strife (as in aggressively promoting a cause)

Any city has a certain stench to it in the middle of the summer. In Gotham, it was always much worse than anywhere else. Acrid sweat, pollution, grime from years gone by, and still that faintly lingering smell of death that didn’t use to be in the town. That was No Man’s Lands gift to Gotham. A permanent reminder of what had touched the city so hard that not even the urban legends were strong enough to keep the people’s faith alive.

Renee Montoya had nearly lost her own faith that time, especially when time and time again she thought that her parents had died and she herself was kept caged.

She shook her head to shake the grip of memories from her head. Montoya had enough of distractions. The detective could feel the perspiration crawl down her neck along her spine, to the small of her back. Her hand reached up to touch her hair to adjust the ponytail to the side and out of her way, her skin felt gritty. She’d had a shower not long ago... but now it didn’t matter. All she did was sit in this car and wait. The radio was silent; she watched the building with the kind of tedium that happens when one has been on a stakeout for days. She had four hours to sleep, change, and bathe. Now she’s back. And still...nothing but oppressive heat and humidity. "Mierda…"

Elsewhere in Gotham, another sound of cursing echoed. It was joined by the sound of metal banging against metal. The room in the tower was stifling... computers whirrrred and popped and worked. Information was transferred, but their watcher was not watching. Instead she was slamming a wrench against an air conditioning unit. A crackle, a hiss, a squeal and suddenly the beast roared to life, and the ac was on again. Too bad it was going to take forever to chill the room properly. Babs Gordon just dropped her head against the machine and groaned unintelligibly.

It was then that one of her computers began to squeal, information was coming in and this was something she had been looking for. Oracle took off her glasses and pushed the damp hair out of her eyes, with a quiet motion she cleaned her glasses on her shirt then slid them back on. The redhead then wheeled her way to the computer and cursed.

There was perhaps one person in Gotham not damning the heat wave. The blond lay out on the roof of her building enjoying the sun, it was an almost vacation. She could imagine the sand and the water not far off. And even worse was the song she tried to sing...

"Do you like pina coladas…da da da da da…" So she didn’t know all the words. But Dinah knew some of it and right now this heat wave gave her a moment to relax and enjoy the day. She sipped at the drink she’d poured herself... not a pina colada of course... but well a Soder cola would do in a pinch. Her body enjoying the feel of the sun beating down on her, vast improvement compared to someone like a Lady Shiva. It didn’t take long for the weary hero to start to doze in the sun.

Renee almost missed it. The slight figure running into the warehouse, if anything it was some relief that she finally got to call in she slapped on the radio and yells to the others waiting, "GO! GO! GO! GO!"

The bodies began to move like many ants rushing to protect their queen from attack. Every cop that could be spared was there. They had to get this done.

Nash was their lead; he was the one that they knew about the smuggling. It was always smuggling. Weapons. It was always weapons. He had participated unknowingly in this bust. Sure... spill the right amount of beans to the right ears and it ends on their plate. Little did they know...

Anarknation.. them. She’d been researching those bastards for ages and they are in Gotham already. How did this slip buy her. How did they get into Gotham of all places. This is the worst possible thing that could have happened to them. The Batman..was was unavailable. Barbara Gordon cursed. A set up. It was a set up and it would be a blood bath. Her hand reached for the headset and she ruthlessly yanked it on, a code was punched in with ferocity. "DINAH!"

"Why yes Pablo you may oil my back…" Dinah grinned warmly at the towel boy. Life was good. "Si Senorita DINAH!!!!" Wait.. that’s.. not Pablo.. That was .. was Barbara.. and it sounded as bad as it could get. The pain in that girl’s voice was evident.

Dinah Lance blinked awake, her hand going to the earrings, "Oracle?" The voice came again, just as frantic as the first time.. "DINAH!"

"Its me.. what’s going on.." Gordon almost relaxed as the voice came. "The bust.. it’s a set up.. there are numerous cops heading there.. Dinah.. it’s a set up.. this is a terrorist organization called Aanarknation.. get to the waterfront .. I think you’ll be able to figure out what warehouse it is… I’ll try to get back up." All those cops.. all.. all..all of them.. it was just horrific to think what those terrorists could do to them. They had a reputation of believing in pure pain and aggression. They didn’t care who they hurt. They just lived for chaos.

"I’m on my way.."

It was carnage. They had one expectation on heading in and this wasn’t it. A cry rang out after the first shot, after that it was too hard to hear a sound other than the echoing gunfire. The cops were being picked off with precision accuracy. Kevlar had saved Renee from a fatal shot but her arm was now bleeding rapidly from a wound she’d taken in the arm. The pain was numbing, odd she noted that the blood felt much like the same sweat that had run down her back. She stumbled backwards and into a corner. "No fair.. survive No Mans.. to get nailed like this.." She took a breath and shifted to undo her belt. The leather was made into a loop, which she lashed about her arm and tightened as best she could. It was at best a stopgap measure, but she had to continue.

She staggered up again and fired her gun. The weapon sounded like dulled thunder to her mind. One of the attackers went down. Officers were still firing, both injured and uninjured. Renee stumbled as she moved. Stanz.. she’d tripped over Dalton. One look at the officer let her know that there was no hope for him. She could hear an officer screaming into a radio begging for backup. Hoping beyond hope that they would get there on time. With an odd sense of detachment she realized that the voice was her own as she continued to try and survive this.

A pair of hands grabbed her from behind; there was a sickening giggle and then her own gun slammed against her skull. The last thing she heard before she fell into blackness was the sound of the giggle.

Oracle had been understating the matter. The sounds of gunshots were like thunder on the waterfront. It wasn’t hard to hear the gunshots or the sound of pain from with in the warehouse. Dinah was geared up now, "Yeah.. it’s a mess Oracle.. looks like a third world civil war.." A window was open, how convenient. The blond woman swung into it landing on her knees into a wet puddle.. "Motherf.." She stopped talking as she looked at the puddle. Blood. It flowed. "Oracle.. you’ve got to get some EMTs out here… they’re dying.."

"GET Up Bitch…" The gun jabbed into her spine. Dinah slowly turned around to look at the aggressive one, young, dumb, and looks like something bad had happened to him. Something in the eyes was dead. "I’ll be taking that.." Dinah moved like a cat and kicked the gun and the hand holding it. Her own hand reaching forward and taking the weapon into her grasp. A swift move and the butt of the gun smacks into the face of the thug. The gun became a makeshift club in her hands as she worked against terrorist and tried to get aid to what officers there were still up. So many were down. So.. many of them. So many of them looked dewy faced as if they were newborn, so many of them wouldn’t have the chance to breathe again let alone look upon this city that they had joined up to protect. Dinah could feel the sting of tears against her eyes one hand reached up to roughly dry her eyes and get back to the matter at hand.

Hours had passed. And in all. Dinah was tired. Every muscle screamed with weariness. She gulped at water that some EMT had handed her. So many dead. And there was something worse. Much worse. Officers who had gone in were missing. The terrorists that she had caught weren’t talking. Oracle was trying to find a hint. A sign an inkling. And all that could be found was nothing.

It was dark. So.. dark. No sound. No light. No sensation. If she wanted to, it could have been peaceful enough to stay forever. But there were others with different ideas. Pain! Sharp new pain. Pain blossomed against her face forcing Renee to come through. The woman groaned. "C’mon piggie.. wake up…" Again that sickening giggle. A splash of water hit her in the face forcing her to gasp as it stung against raw scratches and scrapes. "We got plans for you.."

Barbara tapped her pen with frustration as she looked over the names scrolling past. She’d talked to her father, she’d.. not heard him like that since Sarah died. Everything. He was visiting the families of the fallen officers. He’d not the heart to contact the ones who were missing yet. She was going to be with him tonight. But first the missing. Where…where where.. she’d not called Bruce yet.. he was with the JLA somewhere and she wasn’t ready to tell him what had gone wrong in his city. Another name came up on the list… oh no.. Renee Montoya. Her father was already wracked with guilt. That name doesn’t need to be there.

"5."

The number came tersely. So much so that Dinah almost missed it. She had to ask again. "What was that Oracle?"

"5. 5 are missing Dinah. These cops have to be found. They have to be… please.. and try to find them before it’s too late. These…guys are vicious to captives.. they like old style executions.. disemboweling and the like.."

The blond pressed her head to her knees. She wanted to cry. She was tired, she was in pain. But instead she drew in a breath and stood on her feet. Her face growing determined and cold. "Do we have any leads as to where they can be?"

Renee cringed as she heard the screaming. The voice was a man’s she could tell. The skin along her body crawling as the sound died out. Something was very wrong. Again she tugged against the cuffs that held her in place. The indignity of it all, held in place by your own cuffs. Her eyes scanned the barren room. Metal all around. She could count the bolts that held the room together. There was slight movement in the floor under her. It didn’t take much for her to realize that she was probably on one of the tankers. That was good.. they hadn’t taken her far. Maybe they were still near enough she could get help. If she had the chance.

She waited. She knew they would be coming for her soon. It would just be a matter of buying her time. Idly with growing frustration she pounded her foot against the metal of the floor listening to the hollow clang. The sound echoed dully. Then it took a few moments. It wasn’t her sound echoing.. it was the footsteps approaching her.

Canary had few options and she was unhappy. "So not far from here.. of course that’s still needle in a haystack territory Oracle.. but we have a number of choices here… bars, warehouses, more warehouses, abandoned warehouses, hellholes, dives, ships, dips, chains’n’ whips.." Here’s the part where Oracle should mutter about bad jokes at inappropriate times. But it didn’t happen. Dinah leaned back against a brick wall and watched the sun slowly sink below the horizon. The rusty oranges fading to a dulled indigo. Not even the sunset could bring relief to the heat in Gotham. The city still roasted in its own juices.

The blond just watched the water and the ships moored in Gotham Harbor. Time was running out, and all they had was absolutely nothing but the names of a few officers.

Oracle couldn’t even give out the hoarsest of laughs to Dinah. She just stared at her monitor typing and checking and searching and cross-referencing information and dates and anything she could pull together. Not a building. They moved a lot. It had to be a ship. A lot of needed evidence often disappeared with the Anarknation when they left down.. mostly evidence of a base. Had to move with them. A ship.

Of the ships in town…39 could be ruled out because they had been in different harbors at the time of attacks. 2 ships were left because they had been in port when attacks occurred. Anomie and the Nelowet. She idly tossed a pencil into the ceiling as she waited for the last bit of data.

The steps kept coming and soon the door was pushed open hard enough to make it slam against the wall. "C’mon pretty pretty piggie.." again there was that sickening giggle. It wasn’t the joker, that noise could drive her insane. This was some little kid who got his kicks torturing puppies. He only thought he was up to the Joker’s level of malevolence. Montoya looked up at the boy, 18 probably.. stringy blond hair.. acne in scattered patches. He probably was only shaving every few weeks. Battered sneakers and gray fatigues, if she didn’t know better she would think he was already dressed for prison.

"C’mon Piggie.. c’mon.." He grabbed her roughly shoving her to her feet. Renee stumbled awkwardly moving in the direction he wanted her to. He was stronger than she thought. That wasn’t good. He kept up the pushing as they wound their way through the ship’s bowls, everything upwards. Her knees were taking a beating as he enjoyed making her stumble on the stares most of all. She only had a moment to glance down but she saw blood staining her needs and slight tears in the material.

He was pissing her off more and more. But what could she do, once they got to the surface.. she’d make her move.

"DINAH!"

The yell came over her earpieces hard and loud. Fortunately the blond was expecting it. "The Nelowet.. you have to get to the ship immediately. That’s where they are. Its in Pier 39 Dock A. Be careful. They aren’t done yet."

"I’m on it." Dinah Laurel Lance began moving from one rooftop to another. Her agile body allowing her to make the leaps easily from the warehouse to warehouse. She pushed past her pain, ignoring the cries from her body.

Oracle kept up talking as Dinah made her way through the city, "Remember heavily armed and they have a penchant for pain and torture. I don’t know what you’ll find there Canary. But you have to get there at least so we know what has happened."

"I’m on it…"

Nothing was going to distract the blond from this. She found herself nearing the pier she could see movement near the boat so without a thought she arched her body and flung herself into the water with a graceful move. It was like ice on her jangled nerves. Unsettling and sharp.

Strong strokes pushed her through the water. Each one moving her rapidly. Moments passed until she reached the chain that held the ship into the harbor. Slowly Dinah’s hands hauled her up the length slowly.

She found herself staring through a slot in the hole looking onto the deck.

Dinah’s been through a lot in her history as a hero. She’s seen things felt things. Dinah was nearly destroyed, if it wasn’t for her own strength of will a hundred times over she could have given up and walked away from this life. But there was nothing that could have prepared her for this.

"Mother Of..

".. Dios!"

Renee Montoya felt as if she’d been kicked in the stomach. There were four officers she could call brothers in arms. It was as if it were some scene from some morality play. She wanted to think it was some sort of sick joke, but now she knew why they had been taken. It wasn’t enough to cause the carnage. These sick bastards wanted to leave a message. And what better way than to use a symbol that a good part of the population would recognized. They were crucified. Hands nailed to wood. Their feet nailed as well. They breathed raggedly as if they were little broken dolls.

One of the members of this group idly spun a crown of thorns on about his finger.

"Don’t worry we won’t make you haul the cross around.." He giggled again and shoved her towards the empty cross. Renee didn’t think she just reacted. Her booted foot lashed out in a savage kick. She was going to get out of this. Chuckles was kicked away from her. But it wasn’t enough, another pair of arms grabbed her before she could make her way. They laughed.

She struggled and pushed and tried to thrash her way free. It wasn’t working. She felt her body pressed against the wood then her arm pulled forcibly away from her and into place. There was a loud bang and, Renee screamed feeling as every nerve in her body was on fire. They had done it, her right hand was nailed down. Chuckles was standing over her clutching a nail gun. "I got two more for ya piggie."

Her mind was failing her, she could only feel the pain of the nail in her hand and the other man pushing her hand into place. She heard a cry of no from somewhere but it didn’t register really. It sounded like a woman. No, not today. She can’t die. Not like this.

Chuckles yelled to his cohort, "Keep her down Corin! Ignore the other bitch.." He brought up the nail gun to aim at the other hand. His friend pushed harder on Renee. As his finger started to push against the trigger, she again reached out with her legs kicking upwards hard. It connected with the hulk on her his body staggering to the side as the nail gun fired. The nail plunged into Corin’s head piercing him in a way he probably never envisioned. Renee could hear the startled yell from Chuckles, but now wasn’t the time to hesitate. She pulled forward, the nail tore at her flesh as she moved, her free hand balling up into a fist and she knocked him in the jaw. It wasn’t enough to knock him out but it was enough to send him reeling backwards and dropping the gun.

Dinah had come out as soon as she saw what they were going to do to the cop. However she was mobbed almost immediately. She couldn’t see, a flash of gray uniform was all she had. The woman didn’t give up. The Black Canary called on her years of training. Each action she made brought a reaction. She wasn’t holding back. She was striking out to hurt and harm so she could bring this to an end. Who were these sick bastards that they thought this was the way to get their message across. What happened to gathering peaceably. Ooooh no. That wasn’t good enough. They had to take action messily. Well they had her attention and they were going to wind up healing in the prison’s hospital for a long long time.

Renee watched Chuckles fumble about looking for his weapon. She needed to find a way to break free from this, and ripping her hand off the cross wasn’t going to work. There wasn’t a hammer or a convenient crowbar. She took her free hand to the hand that was nailed and dug into the mess of blood and meat and bone trying to find the head of the nail. Blood was pooling on the cross. Several times stars appeared before her eyes as she felt the nerves touched burn by the shifting of the metal nail. The woman swallowed her bile and slowly pulled the implement free from her hand. Renee gulped at the air and cried out loud. Her injured hand balled up protectively while the other clutched the bloodied nail.

As she staggered up, he was up as well. He didn’t have the nail gun either but he had strength and a lack of injury on his side. Renee just threw herself at him. Running wasn’t an option at the moment and, she had to get him out of the way before anything got out of hand. Her sudden motion worked knocking him onto his back. However the man was quick to respond with a fist to her side. Lights exploded in Renee’s mind at the sudden pain. However she wasn’t halted and kicked out back at the man. The pair were soon embroiled in a tangle of a fight.

Dinah growled to herself as she pinned one of these jackasses to the ground. Her fist slammed into his jaw, and she rolled off him to find herself dealing with another one. They just seemed to keep coming, how the hell many people wanted to destroy civilization? What is their desire to mad max through life? Rules serve a purpose. Rules are what make society. And if you can’t abide by them. You have to suffer the consequences.

Her booted heel connected with the face of her opponent. The crack of breaking teeth and jaw heard. She twisted away with the agility of an Olympian. If the situation wasn’t so dire, she might be enjoying this. It was easy to get lost in the action of it. However in the distraction of the fight a new addition to the mix was easily missed.

They flailed their bodies about, the action a pallid mimicry of lovemaking from a distance. Renee’s felt a fist connect with her jaw. Her knee shoved into his stomach as she tried to focus. Her fist tightened as she slammed it back into him. Then she realized.. she was holding something. Renee didn’t look cause she knew it was the nail, the sweat making the nail slick in her hand. She couldn’t wait any longer.. before her eyes the man reached up to backhand her.. as he brought his hand across her face she slammed the metal implement into his side causing him to cry out and clutch at his side. Renee hadn’t expected it to go in that easily. He rolled off her to deal with his wound while she moved onto her stomach and simply wretched.

"Can’t stay.. down.." The woman pushed herself onto her feet and tried to see what was going on around her.

It was there Renee saw the other fight, the other woman. The fray. Where did all this come from? It was as if a small war had broken out. Then she saw it… the blond.. she didn’t see.. the terrorist… He was going to..The weapon swung down towards the Black Canary…Renee threw herself in a low tackle hitting the man. He fell away and she staggered. Before she knew it though…

The little Hispanic girl came out of no where. Dinah noticed her over her shoulder and just swung out with a roundhouse catching her quickly and knocking her out cold. Jeeezus everybody was in with this thing. As the young woman landed in a crumpled heap, something flew free of her pocket and clattered at Dinah’s feet. A glint of gold.. Gotham PD… detective second class.

"Ohhhhhhhh no.." Dinah looked and really looked at her victim. It was the woman she saw get nailed to a cross. How’d she get off… the officer was a mess of bruises and blood.

With a wail that could have chased a banshee away the sirens came.. cops and emts began to descend on the ship. Dinah couldn’t wait and tossed herself from the boat and into the waters below. Oracle’s timing had been perfect after all, there was nothing left for her to do now.

"Dinah can I again tell you how smooth that was…" The voice was trying for some amusement at least. That meant something… that she’d managed to complete the mission. The missing cops were all found and in the hospital.

"Will you shut up, or I’ll turn you off, and do this by myself…" The Black Canary stooped on the ledge of the building peering down at the cars moving below. People teemed through the sultry night in Gotham, after all that happened over the past couple days.. there should be a change. But it wasn’t changed. Why should that little insignificant event affect anything in Gotham after NML. These people have lives again and they weren’t going to let anything tear them down again.

"Okay Canary.. third floor down.. second window on the right.. I’d recommend quiet and not trying anything toooo fancy.." With that Dinah dropped a swingline.. her body sliding down it easily instead of the usual swooping about. And there she was.. a gentle push and the window opened. Her feet took her lightly in.

Dinah was quiet; years of Ollie had her moving like a cat across the floor. The package was carefully placed on the nightstand. Mission accomplished.

But with a click and a sudden filling of the room with light it was clear this wasn’t the case. "Hello there." Renee Montoya managed to croak the words out. "Black Canary right…" The slender woman was propped up against some pillows. Bruises lined her face; bandages were on a number of areas on her body. It was hard to tell what she really looked like under all the medical care.

"Yeah.. Heh.. that would be me.. I um sort of stopped by to drop these by…" Dinah picked up what she had brought, a small pot of violets with a card, "with an apology. Sorry for kicking you. It just was a bit of a mess." A soft chuckle filled the blonde’s ears. She should have taken off the earrings. The flowers were placed back down, "I’m glad I decided against giving you tulips… someone already sent you some..anyways better to give plants. They last longer."

The tired looking woman stared at the tulips blankly. There was recognition but nothing was said about them. Her eyes went back to the hero in the room, Renee’s voice again came shakily, "Thank your people for finding us…if you hadn’t.. well things’d be different tonight." Her good hand reached out to scratch at the bandaged left. "Don’t worry about kicking me. I’ve.. dealt with worse." A grin formed on her mouth, it was a touch crooked as if something was holding her back from the true smile.

"Look Detective Montoya.."

"Renee.. you’ve earned that…"

"Renee.. sometimes.. if you ever need a backup.. there’s a number in the card.. you can contact me.." Dinah gave a shrug doubting it would ever come up. After all not many cops like vigilantes. "Just ask for Dinah…"

She didn’t wait for an answer. The woman, the hero, known as the Black Canary moved back towards the window and flung herself from it, a swing line soon carrying her from the hospital and deeper into Gotham city. It was cooling off considerably, rains were coming. No sunshine tomorrow or for the next couple days. The sky was clouded over and in the distance a rumbling was heard heralding the change to come.

And there in a hospital room, the woman, the hero, known as Renee Montoya drifted to sleep not worried about what was coming tomorrow. Yesterday was worse. There was someone that she could someday call friend, and the air was already sweetened with the ozone from the coming storm.

In a room in the city, the woman, the hero, unknown as Oracle sat back to observe the flickering of her monitors. Her vigil was an endless one.. but not as lonely as it used to be. She and others had done good things. And that would not end.