The sun beat down hard on the Tokyo rooftops, but Marcus no longer felt it. An icy dread clenched in his chest, more persistent than any enemy. It had been four days. Four days without a message, without a call. Shayera was always brusque, but never silent for this long. A bad feeling, heavy and familiar, had settled over him.
He was pacing his apartment, his phone uselessly scanned for the hundredth time, when there was a knock at his door. A sharp, urgent rhythm.
Marcus opened it, expecting to see Batman or maybe even Shayera herself, smiling and full of some improbable excuse.
But on the landing stood a man he hadn't seen since joining the League. Dressed in a green costume, his bow slung over his shoulder, his features drawn with worry and anger: Green Arrow.
"Kane," Oliver Queen said without preamble, stepping inside. "I need your help."
Marcus closed the door, his own unease intensifying. "What's going on, Oliver?"
"Dinah's missing," Green Arrow said, the words seeming to burn his lips. "Black Canary. She was supposed to be on a solo investigation three days ago. No contact. Nothing. I started digging, calling other contacts..."
He fixed Marcus with a piercing blue stare.
"She's not the only one. Hawkgirl hasn't checked in for the same period. I've also heard whispers about Wonder Woman, who was on a diplomatic mission to Themyscira. No updates. And Zatanna was supposed to appear at a gala in London last night. She never showed up."
The floor seemed to drop out from under Marcus. This wasn't just Shayera being silent. This was a pattern. A target.
"Heroines," Marcus murmured, his blood running cold. "They're specifically targeting heroines."
Green Arrow nodded, his face hard as stone. "Exactly. No threats, no ransom demands. Just... disappearances. Silent and clean. Too clean. The League is on alert, but with Superman still missing and Batman on the Intergang case..."
He left the sentence hanging, but the meaning was clear. Their resources were stretched thin.
"You were the last to see Hawkgirl," Green Arrow continued. "Did she say anything? Mention a lead, a hunch?"
Marcus ran a hand over his face, trying to push away the images of their last evening on the roof. The kiss. The promise.
"Nothing. She was... normal. Well, normal for her." He looked up, a cold determination replacing the anguish. "But you're right. This isn't a coincidence."
He moved to his desk and activated his secure terminal, linked to the Watchtower.
"The League may have the resources, Oliver, but we have the motivation. You for Dinah. Me for Shayera."
His fingers flew across the keyboard, cross-referencing the last known locations of the missing heroines.
"They want to play in the shadows? Fine. We'll find them there."
The mangaka and the archer. An unlikely team, united by the disappearance of the women they loved. The hunt was on.