The Brave and the Bold: Black Canary and Hawkwoman

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

by HarveyKent

Chapter 1

“I don’t care what it says on the card!” Ollie shouted.

“Are you going to do this every time?” Katar snapped back. “Because I came here for a friendly game, not a shouting match!”

“The card is wrong,” Ollie insisted. “The Beatles released ‘Rubber Soul’ in 1966, not ’67!”

“All right, you two!” Dinah shouted above them. “Can we for once get through a friendly evening without it turning into WrestleMania?”

Shayera only sat back against the sofa cushions, her arms folded across her chest, rolling her eyes. She and her husband Katar had been invited to Ollie and Dinah’s place in Star City for a friendly get-together. Unfortunately, these “friendly get-togethers” almost always degenerated into the two men pounding their chests and shrieking at each other like apes fighting over territory. It wasn’t even an hour into the evening and both men were on their feet, having a loud argument over a board game.

“Look, Ollie, we have to go by what the cards say,” Katar insisted, a little more gently. “We can’t challenge the cards every time we don’t agree with the answers. Besides, how do we–”

“How do we what?” Ollie demanded. “Choose your next words carefully.”

Katar looked Ollie defiantly in the eye. “How do we know you’re right?”

“Are you suggesting I don’t know the Beatles?” Ollie demanded. “Why don’t you use your Absorbeen Junior or whatever it is to learn the right answer? Or is that how you got that question on the capital of South Dakota?”

“How dare you?” Katar snapped, unaware how melodramatic he sounded. “To stand there and accuse me of–”

“ENOUGH!” Dinah shouted, and Ollie and Katar both shut their mouths. “Ollie, sit down and quit acting like a child. Katar, read Ollie another question. And if either of you says anything else, it had better be ‘Pass the crab puffs’, preferably followed by ‘Please’. Capeesh?”

Ollie opened his mouth to reply, then looked at Dinah’s expression. He closed his mouth and sat down. Katar sat, too, and pulled another card from the box. He read the Entertainment question on the card.

“What future Oscar winner had an uncredited cameo in the 1968 Boris Karloff film ‘Targets’? he read.

“Jack Nicholson,” Ollie said, confidently.

“Right,” Katar said, putting the card back.

“Loser says ‘what’,” Ollie muttered under his breath.

“What?” Katar said, confused.

“Exactly,” Ollie said. Dinah shot him a frosty glare, but Shayera put a hand to her mouth to hide a smile.

“I got that!” Katar snapped. “I just got that!”

“Well, bully for you,” Ollie sneered. Katar was about to respond to that, when Dinah leapt from her chair.

“That’s it!” she cried, throwing up her hands. “I give up!” Without another word, the young woman stormed out of the room.

Chapter 2

Dinah stormed into the kitchen, where she placed her hands on either side of the sink and leaned forward. Why did she even bother? It was so frustrating!

“Dinah?” Shayera’s voice behind her asked softly. “Are you OK?”

“I’m fine,” Dinah said, bitterly. “No I’m not. I’m furious! I know I shouldn’t let it get to me, but it makes me so mad!”

“I can tell,” Shayera said. “The muscles in your back are so tight I can see them from here!” Shayera placed her hands on her friend’s shoulders and began to gently but firmly knead them. Dinah relaxed almost instantly under her touch.

“Ooh…that’s good,” she whispered. “Thanks, Shay.”

“Don’t mention it,” she said. “I know how aggravating the boys can be.”

“It doesn’t seem to bother you, though.”

Shayera shrugged. “I’m used to it, I guess. At first it surprised me; Katar never acted that way on Thanagar. But then, he’s done a lot of things different since coming to Earth. I guess the boys just need an outlet for their baser instincts, and yelling at each other is a fairly harmless way to get it.”

“Monk and Ham,” Dinah commented.

“I’m sorry?” Shayera said.

“Nothing, just some magazine stories I used to read when I was a kid,” Dinah said. “Well, thanks for the friendly ear, Shay, I really needed it. But I have to tell you, I’m not ready to go back in there and listen to those two again! I need to blow off some steam, or I’ll be yelling louder than they are!”

“And with your voice, that could be disastrous,” Shayera joked. “Well, if it’s blowing off steam that’s required, I know a good way to do it.”

Dinah looked over her shoulder, and grinned at her friend. “You mean–”

“Uh huh.”

“Won’t the boys miss us?”

“They’re having so much fun fighting, I doubt they’ll even notice.”

“It sounds like fun! Ollie and I have been doing it together for so long, the idea of doing it with someone else sounds deliciously wicked!”

“Well, what are we waiting for, then?”

“Did you bring your costume?”

“Our Hawk-gear is in the trunk of our car,” Shayera said. “You never know when you’ll get the call of duty.”

“Meet you out front!”

Chapter 3

Ten minutes later, Black Canary was riding her specially-designed motorcycle down the main street of Star City’s business district. Hawkwoman flew above and behind her, keeping perfect pace with the machine.

“I know this sounds awful,” Black Canary said, over the roar of her cycle, “but I hope we find some trouble tonight! I need to hit something, in the worst way!”

“Well, you may not get your wish,” Hawkwoman said, her gaze sweeping this way and that. “The city looks rather quiet.”

“Yeah, crime has been down lately,” Black Canary commented, “at least the costumed kind. Clock King is still in prison, following that Futurian fiasco. I’m not sure what happened to the Red Dart, after Ollie captured him and his Over-Throws bunch; I think the Feds took custody of them, for some reason or–”

“Look!” Hawkwoman cried, pointing. “I just saw a flash of light, behind that building.”

“Wow!” Canary said, impressed. “You must have eyes like a– well, you know. I couldn’t see a thing!”

“The building has a sign on the front that says ‘Gem Girl’. What’s that?”

“It’s a new jewelry store,” Canary said, turning her cycle in the direction of the building. “One of the most upscale stores in town! There’s probably a couple million in precious stones in there.”

“Enough to tempt any criminal,” Hawkwoman said, banking in air to head for the building.

Canary parked her cycle about a block away, so as not to alert the criminal, and continued on foot. Hawkwoman landed behind her and walked beside her. They approached the jewelry store slowly, creeping around behind it. When they saw the source of the light, they gasped soundlessly. From behind they saw a dark-haired figure in a black and cobalt blue costume, blasting the back door with a golden beam from a ring on the figure’s left fist.

“Sinestro!” Canary whispered to her friend. “What’s he doing in Star City?”

“I don’t know,” Hawkwoman whispered back. “He is one of the mightiest villains in the Justice League’s files. Do you think we should call for aid?”

“Not until we try it ourselves!” Canary almost tried her sonic cry on the villain from behind, but some sense of honor prevented her from doing so. Instead she shouted, “Hold it right there!” The villain whirled around to face the Justice League champions. Hawkwoman and Black Canary gasped at the red-hued face, the slender form in the costume.

“It– it’s a girl!” Black Canary cried.

“I prefer ‘woman’,” the red-faced woman said simply, before the golden beam from her ring flashed out at the startled heroines.

Chapter 4

Even startled as they were, Black Canary and Hawkwoman’s reflexes were still top level. They narrowly dodged the sizzling yellow beam that shot through the night air, and scorched the side of the building behind them.

“Polaris’ flares, a female Sinestro!” Hawkwoman cried, swinging her mace. “Just when I thought I’d seen everything!”

“The name is Sinestra,” the villainess declared, firing another yellow beam. This one struck Hawkwoman’s mace, shearing the head clean off.

“Your name is going to be mud!” Black Canary declared. She then cupped her hands around her mouth, and let out a shrill scream. Her sonic powers multiplied the force of it; Sinestra grimaced in agony. Blindly, she shot out another beam from her ring. Black Canary sidestepped it, but it struck the base of a light-pole behind her, causing it to topple toward her.

“Look out!” Hawkwoman cried, and dove through the air toward her friend. She pulled Black Canary to safety just as the pole struck the ground where the startled heroine had been a moment before.

“Thanks for the save,” Canary said.

“You’re welcome,” Hawkwoman acknowledged, “but I’m afraid it allowed our bizarre foe a chance to escape!” It was true; the alley behind the store was now empty.

“Can you beat that?” Black Canary said. “A woman imitating a male super-villain!”

“And doing a fair job of it, too,” Hawkwoman said, examining the charred remains of her mace.

“Well, we’d better get after her,” Black Canary said. “Don’t know if we can find her, but we’ll give it a try.” Black Canary hiked back to her motorcycle, Hawkwoman following in the air behind. As the two women approached the cycle, they heard a voice coming from the police radio installed between the handlebars.

“Car 47,” the voice said, “investigate silent alarm at Zimmerman Furriers, 86 Kanigher Way. Car 75, check out disturbance at Hasen Art Gallery, 38 Allistair Avenue.”

Canary and Hawkwoman looked at each other. “Crime wave?” Canary asked.

“Sounds like,” Hawkwoman agreed.

“I’ll take the furrier,” Canary said. “You handle the art gallery.”

“I will,” Hawkwoman said. “Which way is Allistair Avenue?”

After Black Canary gave Hawkwoman a hasty set of directions, the heroines went their separate ways. Black Canary hoped she would get another crack at Sinestra.

Chapter 5

Hawkwoman soared over the rooftops of Star City, headed for the art gallery. Upon reaching it, she pried open the skylight and flew inside. The museum was dark, seemingly deserted; but someone had tripped a silent alarm and alerted the police. Hawkwoman banked down hallways filled with paintings and sculpture, around corners and down stairways, searching for the source of the alarm call.

“By the Rainbow Falls!” Hawkwoman gasped, as she came around one corner. She saw a museum guard, in the act of drawing his gun. The guard was completely frozen, a coating of ice covering his entire body. Her first thought was to help the man; she stopped briefly to examine him.

“Similar to the effects of Captain Cold’s gun,” she diagnosed. “The guard has been placed in suspended animation; he won’t suffer any ill effects. As much as I’d like to stop to thaw him out, it’s more urgent now to catch the one who did this!” Hawkwoman continued on her way, searching the museum. In the basement storage area, she came upon two costumed figures kneeling in front of the steel door of a large vault. One was garbed in black, with an oddly-shaped helmet; the other in white and blue, and was projecting a white beam onto the vault door from a hand-held pistol.

“From back here, it looks like Black Manta and Captain Cold,” Hawkwoman thought to herself. “But after meeting Sinestra, I wonder.” Hawkwoman pulled a bolo from her belt-pouch, and announced herself by hurling it at the white-and-blue figure’s ankles. The shout that accompanied the snaring of the criminals’ legs was decidedly female. Both criminals turned to face their assailant; yes, the lines of the costumes confirmed Hawkwoman’s suspicions.

“Hawkwoman!” the one in black gasped, her voice sounding hollow inside her helmet. “In Star City?”

“Don’t waste time wondering about the migratory habits of female hawks,” the blue and white clad one snarled, as she worked at the bolos imprisoning her legs. “Get her, Black Mermaid!”

“Black Mermaid, is it?” Hawkwoman asked, taking a small round shield from its place on her belt and fastening it around her right wrist. “This is a disturbing turn of events, women mimicking male villains!”

“You should talk,” Black Mermaid shot back, as golden beams of light blazed forth from the eye- lenses in her helmet. Hawkwoman moved quickly; though the shield on her wrist was barely eight inches in diameter, she caught the beam on it expertly and turned it aside, to sizzle harmlessly against a blank stone wall. Before Black Mermaid had time to launch another assault, Hawkwoman moved forward, using the power of her wings to put speed behind a double-footed kick to the villainess’ stomach.

“This will be something amusing to tell Aquaman, at the next JLA meeting,” Hawkwoman commented, as Black Mermaid doubled up.

“If Aquaman wants to talk to you,” the female Captain Cold imitator declared, “from now on he’ll have to use a ouija board!” A flash of cold white light shot forth from the woman’s gun; despite the villainess having telegraphed it with her taunt, it caught Hawkwoman square in the chest. In a heartbeat, the heroine was encased in ice.

“Nice shot, Contessa Cold,” Black Mermaid commented, massaging her stomach. “That’s one birdie who wishes she’d flown south for the winter!”

“Help me get these things off,” Cold said, tugging at the bolos. “We’ll have to abandon the museum; there may be more heroes lurking around! We’ll rendezvous with the others at the Dome!”

In moments, the villainesses were gone, leaving the frozen Hawkwoman staring blankly ahead of her.

Chapter 6

Black Canary’s motorcycle tore down the Star City streets, headed for the furrier’s. Her mouth was a grim line of determination as she urged more speed from the steel horse. A female Sinestro? She hoped this wasn’t some new trend among the underworld. Then again, she could easily see where the super-criminals would get the idea. How many of her fellow super-heroines had based their identities on established male heroes? Supergirl; Batwoman and the two Batgirls; Aquagirl; there had even been a Miss Arrowette, long ago, before Black Canary migrated from Earth-Two. Shayera didn’t count; she had been a Hawkwoman before she even met Katar. But still, it was a disturbing trend.

Finally, Canary swung her motorcycle onto Kanigher Way. No stealth this time; the alarm had been given, the theft was in progress. She roared down the street, made a screeching turn at the furrier’s and zipped around behind the building. Sure enough, two costumed women were coming out the back door with armloads of furs. One wore a familiar orange and green costume; the other, a brightly colored outfit with a yellow cloak. Canary sighed. Oh yeah, it was one of those nights.

“Mirror Mistress, look!” the yellow-cloaked one cried, pointing.

“I have eyes,” Mirror Mistress snapped. From beneath the furs she produced a hand-held mirror, which she aimed at Black Canary. The mirror caught the light from a street lamp and magnified it tenfold, sending a bright beam into Canary’s eyes. The blinded heroine leapt off the motorcycle and somersaulted in the air, coming down on her feet; the villainesses screamed, dropped the furs, and leapt away just in time for the cycle to roar past and smash into the back wall of the building.

While the villains were still off-guard, Canary leapt into the air, somersaulted, and came down feet-first at Mirror Mistress. The toes of her boots clipped the villainess in the side of the head, and she went down.

“Seven years bad luck,” Canary quipped, landing expertly. She turned to the other criminal. “If that was Mirror Mistress, who are you? Clock Queen? Chrono-Chick?”

“The name is Lachesis,” the white-masked villainess snarled.

“Lachesis. I like that. Keeps the Greek motif,” Canary said. “I don’t suppose you’ll surrender without a fight?”

Lachesis’ only answer was to thrust forward her left wrist. Springs leapt from her wristwatch and struck Black Canary, winding themselves around her, mummifying her from shoulders to waist. “Let’s go!” Lachesis said, helping Mirror Mistress to her feet. “The cops will be here any minute; we have to leave the furs!” The two villainesses fled, leaving Black Canary struggling in the steel bands.

Chapter 7

In her prison of ice, Shayera strained, exerting metal control over her antigravity belt. Her Thanagarian body system, capable of surviving unaided in the vacuum of space for brief periods, kept her from going into suspended animation, but she had to get free of the ice before she suffocated. The bottom of the ice-block was frozen fast to the ground. Hawkwoman strained as hard as she could, willing the belt to draw her up, up, up! Finally, with a loud crack, the ice broke free and shot skyward. Hawkwoman sent the block flying as fast as she could, faster, faster, faster! Bits of it flew off behind her as the air friction gradually wore it away. In a few minutes, the block had weakened enough for Hawkwoman to flex her wings and shatter it. She gulped in huge lungfuls of sweet air; then she unhooked her JLA communicator from her belt.

“Dumb, dumb, dumb!” Black Canary cursed herself, as she struggled in the steel bands. She had become too cocky, allowed the absurdity of the situation to make her overconfident. Now she was paying the price. Black Canary dropped her chin, and opened her canary amulet with gentle pressure. A powerful acid dropped onto the steel bands and began eating through them. When one band was eaten all the way through, it broke the tension and the entire mess unraveled with a loud twang, like a piano wire snapping.

“Hawkwoman to Black Canary, 9-5-6,” Shayera’s voice came through Black Canary’s JLA communicator. “I struck out. I came up against a female Captain Cold and Black Manta, but they got away from me. How’d you do?”

“Not much better,” Canary said into her communicator. “Add the women’s lib versions of Mirror Master and Chronos to the list. They flummoxed me, too.”

“What’s going on, anyway?” Hawkwoman asked. “Female versions of five well-known male criminals? That’s a bit odd, even for our line of work.”

“It sure is,” Black Canary said, examining her cycle. It hadn’t sustained much damage; it was still usable. “Now we have to find them.”

“I heard Contessa Cold say something about a dome,” Hawkwoman offered.

“StarDome!” Canary cried. “The big Star City municipal arena. There’s a fashion show there tonight, a charity event. All the money collected for the charities is on display in a giant fishbowl! A prime target! Meet me there!”

“Where is it?” Hawkwoman asked.

“It’s a big dome,” Black Canary said, revving up her motorcycle. “You can’t miss it from the sky.”

Chapter 8

StarDome was a scene of panic. Patrons and models were running everywhere, screaming. Security guards were down, some frozen in their tracks, some bound with steel springs, others rendered unconscious. Three colorfully-costumed women stood above it all, on the elevated runway used by the models in the fashion show.

“That’s it, run, you cowards!” Mirror Mistress shouted. “Run before the terror that is the Secret Sorority of Super-Villainesses!”

Atop the giant mounted platform where the money-filled fishbowl rested, Sinestra shrugged at Mirror Mistress’ soliloquy. Let her have her fun, she thought. With her power ring, the villainess melted a hole in the base of the money-filled fishbowl. Black Mermaid hooked up a vacuum tube to the hole, and turned on the industrial-sized shop-vac they had brought. The money in the fishbowl began disappearing into the vacuum sack.

“About time we successfully completed a robbery tonight,” Black Mermaid commented, her voice echoing hollowly in her helmet. “After being stopped three times by Black Canary and Hawkwoman!”

“Well, they won’t bother us again,” Sinestra commented. “One of them frozen solid, the other stuck in unbreakable steel bands. Now we just have to get away from here with the loot before Green Arrow or the police show up!”

“I can’t believe anyone still says ‘loot’,” a new voice behind the women said.

Sinestra’s head snapped around. “You!” she hissed.

“Me,” Black Canary agreed, hands on hips. “I don’t suppose you’d be interested in the customary chance to surrender?”

“Get stuffed!” Black Mermaid cursed, as the eye-beams blazed from her helmet. Black Canary executed a perfect back flip and avoided the beams.

“Mirror Mistress!” Lachesis cried, pointing. “Black Canary’s here!”

“What do you want, an engraved invitation?” Mirror Mistress spat. “Get her!”

“Oh, I think you’ll be too busy for that,” a voice from above suggested.

“Hawkwoman!” Contessa Cold cried, pointing up at the winged figure circling above.

Chapter 9

Black Canary did a triple somersault in the air, narrowly avoiding the sizzling energy-blasts from both Sinestra and Black Mermaid.

“Keep it up!” Sinestra commanded. “She can’t avoid both of us forever!”

“She’s doing a good job so far!” Black Mermaid snarled, her voice ringing hollowly in her helmet. The hollow ringing gave Black Canary an idea. She twisted in air as she came down out of her somersault, and lashed out with a fierce kick. The heel of her boot glanced against the side of Black Mermaid’s helmet.

“YOWW!” the villainess cried, staggering as the echo resounded inside her helmet, again and again.

“Look out, you idiot!” Sinestra snarled, as the dazed villainess staggered toward her. “You’re in my way, I can’t get a shot!” Black Mermaid tripped and stumbled right into Sinestra’s arms.

Black Canary pressed her advantage, giving the two villainesses a blast of her sonic cry. Black Mermaid instinctively tried to cover her ears with her hands; the result was that she slapped both sides of her own helmet, hard. The resulting echo, combined with Black Canary’s sonic assault, rendered her unconscious.

“Blasted overgrown parakeet!” Lachesis snarled, taking a small hourglass from her belt. “I’ll salt her tail with this!” The super-villainess hurled the hourglass at Hawkwoman. When it had nearly reached its target it shattered in midair, releasing thick clouds of yellowish gas. Hawkwoman arced above the gas, and hovered.

“Let’s see if Lachesis was stupid enough to use a gas-weapon without immunizing herself against it,” she thought, as she beat her wings rapidly. The gas was blown back down at Lachesis, who began coughing and covering her mouth. In seconds she sank to her knees, then collapsed altogether. “I thought so,” Hawkwoman grinned. “She’s that stupid.”

“Enough of this!” Contessa Cold cried, bringing up her cold-gun and squeezing off a shot.

Hawkwoman dodged the blast, and it struck the dome ceiling harmlessly.

“I’ll bring that harpy down to earth!” Mirror Mistress declared, whipping out her mirror weapon. The polished disk reflected the artificial light into an amplified beam, which Hawkwoman narrowly dodged.

Hawkwoman caught Black Canary’s eye. Canary gave her the high sign; Hawkwoman nodded, acknowledging it. Black Canary somersaulted in front of Sinestra, drawing her fire. Hawkwoman soared down at Mirror Mistress at an adjacent angle. The Secret Sorority’s leader brought her mirror-weapon around to aim at Hawkwoman, just as Sinestra fired a blast from her ring. Black Canary flattened, and the yellow beam went over her head. Hawkwoman pulled out of her dive and soared back up. The golden beam struck Mirror Mistress’ mirror-weapon and bounced back at Sinestra.

“Yipes!” the villainess cried, leaping backward to avoid the beam. It missed her, but she was unable to check her backward leap; she fell off the elevated platform, ten feet to the floor of the arena, landing in a row of padded chairs.

“Ouch,” Black Canary grinned.

“My mirror!” Mirror Mistress cried, looking at her ruined weapon. “She melted my mirror!”

“My weapon’s still good,” Contessa Cold declared, firing the cold-gun at the flying Hawkwoman. She did not see the small object the JLA heroine held in her hand; a large plastic cup of soda, quickly snatched from the refreshment stand. Hawkwoman hurled the cup at Contessa Cold; it splashed all over her cold-gun and her right hand, and the liquid quickly froze there.

“What happened?” Mirror Mistress demanded, confused. “What’d she do?”

“I- I don’t know!” Contessa Cold stammered, flinging her hand this way and that, trying to dislodge the frozen gun. “My cold-gun–it gets super-cold when I fire it! My gloves protect me, but that flying witch hit me with water or something! I-it froze the gun to my hand!”

With a leap, Black Canary landed on the runway, next to Mirror Mistress. “Care to surrender?” she asked.

Mirror Mistress’ only answer was a powerful savate kick aimed at Black Canary’s head.

Chapter 10

Black Canary just barely sidestepped the kick. She hadn’t been expecting that. She thought these were just silly girls playing with fancy weapons; she hadn’t expected them to be able to fight. A sly grin creased Canary’s face. But that was quite all right with her.

Hawkwoman watched, as she bound Contessa Cold’s wrists behind her back. It was beautiful, in a savage way. Black Canary and Mirror Mistress faced each other, maneuvering for position, then launched a simultaneous attack, swiping, striking, weaving, dodging. Black Canary scored a glancing blow along Mirror Mistress’ collar bone. Mirror Mistress landed a kick in Black Canary’s left kidney. More blows, more lunges, more dodges. Hawkwoman wanted to stop the fight, but she knew she couldn’t try. Any move she would make might possibly cost Black Canary her concentration, and allow her foe to land a truly damaging blow.

Mirror Mistress struck Black Canary along the side of her head with a karate blow. Canary dropped to one knee, apparently dazed. Hawkwoman gasped as Mirror Mistress pressed the attack, lunging in for the kill. But her fear was groundless; Canary had been faking more serious injury than she suffered, to draw her foe in close. She grabbed Mirror Mistress’ wrist and executed a perfect judo throw, sending the costumed villainess hurtling down the runway like a bowling ball. She landed in a crumpled heap, all the fight knocked out of her.

“Bertha!” Contessa Cold cried, seeing Mirror Mistress’ defeat.

“Bertha?” Black Canary asked, an eyebrow raised. “Wait the hell a minute!” Black Canary rushed up to Hawkwoman’s prisoner, yanked back her hood, knocked off her glasses. “Marcy!” she gasped.

Hawkwoman was confused. “You know these women?”

“We met, a few years ago,” Black Canary said. “They were calling themselves the Women’s Resistance League, posing as a feminist organization. But they were henchwomen working for the Catwoman, plotting to free her from prison!”

“Yes, and Catwoman repaid us by going straight, giving up crime,” Marcy spat. “So we went our own way. Bertha got the idea to emulate male super-villains, like some female heroes do. Figured to make a quick rep for ourselves.”

“Amazing,” Hawkwoman said, shaking her head. “Where did you get the weapons?”

“There’s a couple of guys who make them,” Marcy said. “Criminal scientists, trying to turn a fast buck to finance their own operations.”

“But how did they get a Qwardian power ring?” Black Canary asked.

“A quarter-what?” Marcy asked, confused. “You mean Sinestra’s ring? That’s just a miniature laser-projector.”

“So you were trying to make a quick name for yourselves, cashing in on the reputations of the Mirror Master and the others,” Hawkwoman said.

“What of it?” Marcy asked, proudly.

“Well, I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes when he hears of it,” Hawkwoman said. Marcy swallowed audibly.

Epilogue

After the Secret Sorority had been taken prisoner by the police, Black Canary and Hawkwoman changed back to Dinah Lance and Sheira Hall, and returned to Ollie and Dinah’s apartment. “Think the boys have come to blows while we were gone?” Dinah asked.

“We’ll probably find they’ve knocked each other out,” Shayera said. “I just hope the furniture survived!”

When the women entered the apartment, they found Ollie alone on the sofa, watching television. On the screen, a young man with a scope-sight rifle was taking aim at an elderly Boris Karloff. “Ollie,” Katar’s voice came from the kitchen, “where did you say the salt substitute was?”

“Cupboard over the stove, middle shelf,” Ollie called back. “Want some help?”

“No, I’ve got it,” Katar called.

“Ollie?” Dinah said. Ollie turned around, grinned at the women.

“Hey, you’re back!” Ollie said. “Katar, the ladies are back!” he called. “Where’d you go?”

“Oh, just… out for some air,” Shayera said. “What’s going on?”

“Well, after you left,” Ollie said, “Katar challenged me about the ‘Targets’ question. And wouldn’t you know, it was on cable tonight!”

“We started to watch it,” Katar said, coming into the living room with a large bowl of popcorn. “It’s an excellent film, a fascinating character study.”

“Yeah, we’ve been into it,” Ollie said. “It’s almost over, though. Sorry you missed it, gals!”

“We’re sorry we drove you out, with our arguing,” Katar said, taking his wife’s hand. “We’ll try to be more civil from now on.”

“Yeah, we promise,” Ollie said, as Dinah sat down in his lap.

“Ollie,” Dinah said, teasing his beard with her index fingertip, “don’t make promises you can’t keep!”