Black Canary

“Black Canary has been missing for the last week.”

Barbara explained.

“Ordinarily I would have Huntress try and take care of this, but she’s not around right now. Plus… no offense to Huntress but her detective skills aren’t the greatest.”

Tim nodded, smiling a bit at the compliment.

“So you said you have a theory about who did this?”

Barbara turned her wheelchair around and gestured at a computer screen.

“Dinah told me that she was thinking about entering a martial arts competition for metahumans. She asked me to do a background check on the event runners since there’s a lot of potential for foul play.”

“And what did you find out?”

Wouldn’t be the first time someone had tried to create a superpowered fighting tournament. He knew for a fact that Cass had competed in a few, unbeknownst to Batman. Well, at least without permission. Tim doubted Batman was completely unaware.

“The company holding the tournament was part of a maze of shell corporations. Took me way too long to unravel it. At the end of it was a company owned by Talia Alghul.”

Tim suppressed a grimace.

“So the League of Assassins is holding a fighting competition. Wonderful. We need to let Batman know.”

“Already have,” Barbara nodded. “That’s what he’s busy doing right now.”

“What makes you think that the League is responsible for Dinah going missing?”

“She dropped from the competition last minute. That would have messed with whatever their plan might have been. The other reason is that when I went to her apartment to check on her there wasn’t so much as a strand of hair. The only group I know of who could abduct Dinah without leaving any evidence at all would be the League of Assassins.”

“You’re right,” Tim agreed. “I’ll need to see the crime scene myself.”

“I know. I’m sending all the data I’ve gathered to your suit. Stay safe out there. You of all people know that the League shouldn’t be taken lightly. And Tim... be careful.”

“Careful? Always.”

Tim smirked, turning and leaping out the nearest window out into the Gotham night.

Fortunately, Black Canary was one of the very few heroes whom Batman allowed to operate in Gotham without being under his direct supervision. Suffice to say, it wasn't a long trip. Just long enough for Tim to analyze the case file. There really wasn't much to go on other than someone went missing, which wasn't very helpful. Nobody had seen Black Canary being carried away, or seen anyone suspicious near her building.

Definitely could be the League of Assassins' handiwork. Sticking to the shadows and avoiding detection was their M.O.

The apartment was locked up tight when Tim arrived, fastened with a high grade electronic security system. Tim, however, had been taught by one of the most skilled cat burglars in the world.

Once inside he keyed the evidence scanner on his cowl and began to examine the apartment.

There was actually a great deal of evidence to be found. Footprints in the carpet, fingerprints, hair strands, shed skin cells.

All from Black Canary. None of it had been altered or disturbed in any way, none of it failed to match the expected pattern of normal, everyday life.

The League was the most elite organization of killers in the world. But even they were not so skilled that they could leave not even a single dust particle out of place. Something else was going on.

Tim tapped at his gauntlet for a moment, the scan altering to a wavelength of energy that few people on Earth were aware of. The entire apartment illuminated with residue of that energy.

“...Oracle, we have a complication. Someone in here has been casting magic.”

“Magic?”

Babs parroted.

“No doubt about it. Lots of it too. Looks like they used magic to remove any sign they were ever here. I’m gonna need some help on this one. Any chance you have contact information for Zatanna?”

“Contact information? I have lunch with her at least once a week. Don’t tell Nightwing that- he doesn’t need to know.”

“NIghtwing? No problem. I won’t say a word.”

Tim said. He almost wished that he could, since Grayson would be pretty interested to find out about two of his former girlfriends meeting so frequently. Especially since Tim knew Starfire, Nightwing's current girlfriend, also visited Gotham on a regular basis.

Mental note, investigate the ‘Nightwing’s girlfriend club’.

The air nearby started to emit a sizzling sound, a top hat appearing in mid air and settling to the floor before two feet poked out from under the rim, and Zatanna Zatara stood up, dressed in her full magician regalia: fishnets, top hat, and all.

“Hey, Babs!”

Zatanna said.

“Just got done with a show. What can I… help with. Oh.”

The magician trailed off as she looked around the apartment.

“Okay. Why are you in Dinah’s apartment? And why does it smell like out of date magic in here?”

“That’s what I was hoping you could tell me. Nice entrance by the way.”

“Thanks! You’ll have to give me a few details about what’s going on though.”

Tim told her about what had happened, and Zatanna started looking around.

“Definitely not the League of Assassins.”

The sorcerous deduced nearly immediately.

“How can you tell?”

“This is old school magic that was used here. Like, really old. Older than the League by far. Trouble is, I can’t really tell who might have cast it. There’s a lot of potential culprits too.”

“Hmm. Well, thanks for your help. You’ve already helped quite a bit.”

“Well hold on, I wasn’t done.”

“I’ve got an idea for how we can find out. Have you ever heard of psychometry?”

“Token object reading.”

Tim nodded.

“It’s a field of parapsychology where practitioners claim to be able to determine traits of a person or event by touching objects associated with said person or event.”

“Well if you want to make it sound dry and boring, yes. In magic, it’s a proven concept. So what we’re going to do is, I’ll cast a spell while you’re holding an appropriate object, and you’ll be able to live through the last couple of hours of Dinah’s life, just like you were literally walking in her shoes. It should bypass whatever magic was used on the apartment too.”

“I don’t usually like to rely on magic during an investigation, but this is an exception.”

“You do realize that I wouldn’t trust anyone else to do this, right?”

“I’m just that good.”

Zatanna said with a smile.

“Here. This should work.”

She handed Tim Dinah's toothbrush.

“Now, don’t move.”

So Tim stood there, holding someone else’s toothbrush, as Zatanna began to chant.

“!won litnu pu gninrom siht did haniD tahw ees niboR deR teL”

She repeated the phrase, over and over, the sound becoming louder and more resonant in his ears, the sound echoing and layering over itself until the chant was more of a rush of white noise than anything, a rush of static.

Tim blinked hard. Wait—where was Zatanna? Tim was still in Dinah’s apartment, that much was certain. He had just somehow moved into the bathroom. He was still holding the toothbrush as well. Had something with the spell gone wrong?

“Zatanna?”

No response.

Great. Should have known this would be more trouble than it was worth. He rubbed his eyes. Why wasn't he wearing his gloves? Where was his costume?

Uh oh.

Tim looked down at himself. His Red Robin costume was gone, replaced by a dark tank top and loose fitting sweat pants with a floral pattern. Pajamas? Probably Dinah's. When Zatanna had said that Tim would live Dinah’s memories he hadn’t expected it to be quite so… comprehensive. He turned to set the toothbrush down on the bathroom counter, and froze.

The reflection in the bathroom mirror showed a lovely, athletic woman with blonde hair tousled from sleep. Dinah Lance. Wearing the same tank top and pajama pants that Tim was wearing and making the same perturbed expression.

Tim grimaced, the image of Black Canary mimicking his expression perfectly. He moved again, and this time he watched as his arm… blurred. He lost focus. It was almost like watching a movie with a slow internet connection, except it was just his arm. The world around him remained in crystal clear focus.

The effect spread every time he moved, and after a moment his entire body looked like a blurred mess.

“This, this right here is why I hate magic,” Tim groaned.

After a moment though, the blurring started to diminish, his body coming back into focus. Except it wasn’t his body anymore. Smooth, fit, hairless arms, short but manicured fingernails.

“What the—Oh come on!”

Tim annoyedly took in the appearance of his newly dainty hands, his voice raising in pitch and coming out notably breathier.

“I hate magic!”

The blurring continued to clear, revealing a full chest, created a deep cleavage and rested firmly in his tank top. His legs elongated, replaced with athletic thighs and wide hips. Luscious blonde locks fell across his eyes, his lips suddenly feeling swollen as he pressed them together. Thankfully, none of it actually hurt—it just sort of happened. From what he surmised, he was being adjusted to better fit the memory that he had stepped into.

After a minute or two, it was over. Tim tossed the hair back over his shoulder, and sighed.

“This had better work.”

He grumbled, looking at the image of Black Canary in the mirror, unsettled by hearing Dinah's voice in lieu of his own. The woman's face red from embarrassment.

At least he matched the reflection now.