Bluejay: The Protégé of Black Canary

The Bio-Chip

I gritted my teeth and resisted the urge to rip the itchy blindfold off of my eyes. The monitors taped all over my body weren't exactly comfortable either. Dinah and I had been training for days- and still there was no progress with my meta power. I flexed my hands and kept my knees bent, waiting for the gut feeling I'd been accustomed to.

"Focus, Snickers." Dinah called out.

I frowned in the direction of her voice.

"What do you think I'm- gah!"

A tennis ball struck me in the shoulder, and I jumped back, my hand on the stinging flesh. I could already feel a sizeable welt forming, along with all the other ones that peppered my body. I was not in a good mood. Well, that was a bit of an understatement. I hadn't had been in a good mood in days. My father remained locked away for his own protection in the Batcave, while Dr. Thompkins tried to work her doctor-y magic in finding a way to restore his sanity. I hated to admit it, but my optimism was beginning to run thin.

The injuries I'd sustained during the attack had finally begun to fade, but my esophagus and voice box were still sore. Dinah's therapy sessions seemed endless, insisting that an attack at the hands of my own meta-powered father was more than traumatic. But as shaken as I was, my anger was worse. If I had been more attuned with my ability, perhaps could have prevented the whole thing. So while Dad was in recovery, I was determined to get my powers up and running.

"That was on purpose." I grumbled.

Dinah gave me no response, nor did the lobster machines positioned around the Nest. I shifted my weight again, my senses straining for any indication of a tennis ball shooting my way. There. A click off to my right sounded, and I jumped forward to avoid it. I felt a burst of momentary success before Dinah smothered it.

"Do I need to get you some earplugs? Cheating isn't going to help develop your power." Dinah called.

I could hear the irritation in her voice. I fought a groan, my finger twitching relentlessly. I rolled my shoulders and tried again, trying to block out everything and reach out with my sixth sense. I tried to pay attention to the machines, hoping I could feel the kinetic energy in the tennis balls. I breathed deeply through my nose and waited for the feeling in my stomach to come. But it didn't. Another tennis ball fired and struck me in the hip.

"Again." Dinah demanded.

Time seemed to creep by at a snail's pace, dragging on and on. And every tennis ball that I failed to sense just added to my frustration. Dinah tried to call out bits of advice, but nothing was helping. I tried to be grateful- there weren't a whole lot of other known Metahumans in the world, so how convenient was it that my mentor happened to be one? Even though my ability wasn't similar to Dinah's whatsoever, she still had experience developing hers, so maybe she could help.

"It's not working." I complained.

"Just listen to your instincts."

"They're tennis balls. They aren't threatening enough."

"Hmm, no? Maybe I should get Ollie and Artemis to come shoot some flaming arrows at you."

"Great idea! At least we might get somewhere!"

"Jackie, you just need to focus-"

I ripped the blindfold off my eyes, throwing it to the ground to glower at Dinah. Even though my glare had enough heat to melt ice, she seemed unfazed. Dinah met my eyes with an unflinching expression of her own, looking undaunted and in her workout clothing with a box of Chinese takeout balanced on her knee.

"How am I supposed to focus at a time like this?" I snapped. "Dr. Thompkins is still doing her wacky tests on my dad, and within five days she's shown no progress!"