Warning: contains spoilers for Batman: Urban Legends #6!
As Black Canary, Dinah Lance’s partnership with Green Arrow is an iconic aspect of both characters, but the Bird of Prey’s latest mission has her betraying the Battling Bowman to partner with an old acquaintance: Deathstroke. Black Canary and Green Arrow are one of DC’s most popular duos, even if they are constantly breaking up and getting back together. But the circumstances behind Black Canary’s latest partnership aren’t so cut and dry, and this mission could cost her more than just her life.
Recently, in issue #65 of Justice League by Brian Michael Bendis, Ram V, Sumit Kumar, and Steve Pugh, Dinah learned about Green Arrow's connection to the clandestine Checkmate agency. Needless to say, Dinah wasn’t pleased about Oliver keeping such a big secret from her. But now, it seems that Joshua Williamson and Trevor Hairsine’s story, 'Solo' - featured in Batman: Urban Legends #6 - is putting Dinah in a similar position.
With the Joker stealing most of Batman’s vehicles and gadgets during the events of the Joker War, Oracle has tracked the remaining tech to the clutches of a mysterious new clandestine organization known as TRUST. Naturally, Barbara calls in her best operative, Black Canary, to infiltrate the group and find out just what they’re up to. Dinah proves herself by saving the life of TRUST’s leader - from a staged assassination attempt - only to be invited to join almost immediately. Claiming that their mission is a righteous one, Juliette Ballantine reveals that Canary’s parents were members as well and tells her that they believed in TRUST’s agenda of ridding the world of evil. Going along with Oracle’s orders, Dinah accepts the invitation and is immediately introduced to her newest partner, Slade Wilson, aka Deathstroke the Terminator.
Black Canary was furious with Oliver for working with a dangerous organization like Checkmate behind her back, and now she’s found herself in the same situation with an even less trustworthy group. Oliver may be working alongside characters like Talia al Ghul, but his funding of Checkmate allows him to steer the group towards outright heroism against a deadly opponent. Meanwhile, at the behest of Oracle, Dinah's found herself undercover in a brand new shadow group that nobody has ever heard of, that has all of Batman's old vehicles and conveniently claims to have a history with her family. Plus, she’s now stuck babysitting the deadly assassin Deathstroke.
Shockingly, this isn’t the first time Dinah and Slade have worked together. During the New 52 era of continuity, both characters' origins were rewritten to include time spent serving together in Team 7 alongside Amanda Waller, Steve Trevor, and even Cole Cash who would later become Grifter. Whether DC's new Infinite Frontier continuity includes this history remains to be seen, but given this era's premise is that every different version of the past happened and can be remembered to varying degrees, it's likely they recall something of their time as partners.
Whether or not Slade and Dinah remember their past in Joshua Williamson and Howard Porter's upcoming Deathstroke Inc. - for which this story serves as a prologue - it's Lance’s future with Oliver that’s currently at risk. Black Canary and Green Arrow have been through tougher spots than this, but Deathstroke is an amoral killer, and Ollie and Dinah are deep within the world of espionage without being able to call on each other for support.