Chapter Text
“So, how’s about dinner tonight? My place. You’ve been so busy with your nighttime activities that I hardly get to see you anymore.” Quentin Lance asked as Laurel got up from her seat in front of his desk.
Laurel raised an eyebrow. “Nighttime activities?”
Quentin cringed. “Oh, God no. You know what I meant.”
Laurel laughed. “With Sara off doing who knows what, someone has to make the joke.”
Quentin chuckled. “I hope she’s doing well…”
“I’m convinced she has nine lives.”
“Somehow, I don’t doubt that.”
“I’ll meet you at your place. Say nine o’ clock?”
Quentin smiled. “That sounds perfect.”
Laurel decided to set a reminder on her phone, as she finished she noticed the time. “I was here longer than I thought…” She reached for the door handle. “I’ve got to get back to my office. Love you Dad!”
Quentin watched as his daughter left, bumping into a female plainclothes officer with a badge around her neck that he only vaguely recognized. Laurel apologized to the other woman before leaving the bullpen and the officer made her way toward his office. She was about to knock on the slightly ajar door before he gestured for her to enter, it’s then that he recognized her badge as being from Gotham City.
“You must be Detective Montoya.” Quentin greeted as he got up and offered his hand, which the officer shook.
The woman nodded. “Yes sir. Detective Renee Montoya, Gotham PD. My Captain sent me to pick up some casefiles.”
“Sit, sit. I’ll brief you on the case.” He gestured to the chair in front of his desk that was most recently occupied by Laurel. Renee took a seat and he sat down before handing her a few files from a drawer and deciding to throw out something to break the ice. “Your Captain doesn’t believe in email?”
Renee shook her head. She understood that the Star City Captain meant well so she decided to answer as casually as she could while discussing her department’s corruption issues. “My Captain’s paranoid about security with this one, and I just made Detective so I’m stuck doing his legwork getting these in person.”
“This have anything to do with that corruption scandal?” Quentin decided to get straight to the point, unable to stem his curiosity.
“We’re just trying to keep things together.”
Later that night, just as the sun was setting, Laurel was leaving work and walking to her car which—thanks to a food cart and some stolen parking spaces—was parked a few blocks away. The immediate area around the DA’s building was considered safe. However, once at least a block away the safety level went downhill, especially at night. Thanks to her defense training along with her nighttime crime-fighting duties as Black Canary, Laurel wasn’t worried about not being able to protect herself. But, due to a slightly longer-than-usual workday and lack of caffeine, she was far more ready to go to bed.
Her car finally within eyesight, Laurel breathed a sigh of relief just before she was grabbed from behind and dragged into an alley. She fought back for a bit before the man gained the upper hand, almost knocking her unconscious.
“You guys didn’t think, huh?” The man said as he approached Laurel, who pulled herself into a sitting position against a wall.
It’s then that Laurel recognized one of the man’s tattoos and realized he was a member of the gang she prosecuted earlier that day. She couldn’t use anything within reach as a weapon, and she was still out of it so she decided hand-to-hand was out of the question. Instead, she moved to talk him down when a trashcan clattered at the end of the alley.
The gang member looked to the opening to see what caused the noise. Laurel followed his gaze to see the figure of a woman standing just far enough from light that her features were undiscernible.
The mystery woman walked closer, her gait displaying a measure of confidence. She then conveniently stopped in a patch of light, revealing an athletic looking woman wearing a custom blue leather jacket, slim-fit black leather pants, a blue fedora, and combat boots. For a second, Laurel assumed she was more out of it than she thought, as she could not make out the woman’s face. Then the woman began to speak, her voice oddly smooth and a bit distorted, and Laurel realized she wasn’t that out of it. The woman had no face.
“Hey buddy, I ask the questions. That cool with you?”
The gang member, in an effort to disguise how nervous he was, countered by pulling a gun on the faceless woman.
The new arrival let out a laugh before pulling a strange looking gun of her own and vaporizing the gang member with a single shot. She then made her way over to Laurel, who was nearly fully recovered and also fairly confused about the entire situation.
“You just killed a guy.” Laurel said, as she struggled to wrap her head around the entire situation.
The faceless woman offered Laurel a free hand and helped her off the ground. “He’s not dead. He’ll show up later near the police precinct. Don’t ask me how it works, I inherited this thing… I only know they don’t die unless I want them to.” She held up the strange gun for a visual. “You okay counselor?”
“I’ve never seen you around here. How do you know who I am?” Laurel asked, feeling a bit foolish when the faceless woman gestured toward her DA’s badge on the ground. Laurel picked up the badge and some other strewn belongings as the other woman found her purse.
“You sure you’re okay?” The faceless woman asked, handing Laurel her purse and watching as she put her things back inside.
“I’m fine.”
The faceless woman shrugged. “Alright.” She then put the vaporizing gun back into the holster on her thigh and pulled the trigger.
Laurel watched as the other woman disappeared in a cloud of vapor, leaving her standing alone in the alley.