Bluejay: The Protégé of Black Canary

Training

Now, I wasn't expecting it to be easy. Easy would have been a sorry understatement. But I did wish I'd read the fine print that might as well have said, Welcome to Justice-League-Boot-Camp! Once Dinah finished showing me The Nest where I'd be training, she finally brought me to her apartment, on the fifth floor.

There, I would stay in her guest room for the time being. We shopped online, ordering me clothing and toiletries because going back to my apartment was certainly a death trap. Until my clothing could arrive, Dinah lent me a pair of sweats and a loose T-shirt to sleep in. But I didn't sleep at all that night. I lay silent in the bed Dinah was letting me sleep in, with a knife I'd stolen from the kitchen tucked under my pillow.

The next day, Dinah grilled me for information about the Intergang, and I was happy to comply. I was managed to roughly sketch a few weapons I was able to identify, as well as what they did. I cooperated well with Dinah and gave her names, like Bruno's and Whisper's and Dr. Sivana's. Dinah also had me sit over a scrapbook of mugshots to pick out any henchmen I recognized. It was tedious work, but eventually we were able to gather enough information to actually be useful.

Because people were looking for me, I was on lockdown. I wasn't allowed to leave Dinah's apartment. Ever. But if I'm being honest, it wasn't that bad of a deal at first. Dinah's apartment was very spacious in comparison to the apartment I shared with my dad. In addition, I was able to access the Nest as often as I wanted. But I was rarely ever left alone, so there wasn't much time to do as I pleased.

I asked Dinah more about The Nest, and apparently I'd been correct about it being an old parking garage. They'd salvaged it, and turned it into an HQ. But it wasn't for years until Dinah had actually bought her apartment above it and added the elevator access.

At first night, I was sick to my stomach that couldn't go check on my dad. Dinah assured me that the League had set up certain precautions around the hospital to make sure my dad was safe. Now that they had a few faces and names to work with, a recognition program would immediately send an alert to both the police and the Justice League should they ever enter the hospital's property. It didn't do much to reassure me, but I tried to squash it down for my sanity.

George passed my mind several times too. He probably thought I was dead because I'd never made it to my apartment that night when I'd met Dinah. I wished there was a way that I could tell him that I was alright, but I knew better. Any communication between us would certainly lead Dinah to the conclusion I'd been lying about Dr. Laurence. The best way to protect my father was to keep my distance, even if it killed me.

Besides, I was now an enemy. That had been the reason Bruno had wanted to kill me in the first place- to make sure any information I had would die with me. No doubt I wouldn't be safe here forever. But, by risking my neck to help the Justice League figure out a way to take the Intergang down, the sooner my father and I would be safe.

After my grilling session, Dinah declared it was time to start my training. If I was going to be on the run or in hiding, I would need to depend on myself for survival. We both knew that Dinah couldn't protect me forever. If I was now a big fat target, I would need to know how to defend myself. One thing became very, very clear. I sucked at combat.

Dinah made even the toughest drill sergeant look like a pansy. For the first few weeks of my training, I ran drill after drill and I worked out for what felt like non-stop. I ran laps around the Nest too, because I was forbidden to go outside. I ran until I collapsed. I lifted weights until my arms would tremble and I would be drenched with sweat. I'd almost would've rather taken another knife to my leg in comparison to the painful burning sensation that would run through my entire body. Good. It means your muscles are growing, Dinah had said. You wanna know the absolute worst thing she did? She took complete control of my diet!