White Canary's History
Mysterious Figure
After receiving a troubling briefcase filled with endless documentation and files on countless heroes, as well as villains, Oracle calls the Birds of Prey back into action to investigate. The files contain such detailed information that even she is astonished. Everything from addresses to secret identities, even the number of people Power Girl has slept with. There are even files on each member of the Birds of Prey themselves.
Also contained within the briefcase is a message declaring that every hour a name from the briefcase will be killed until the Birds of Prey stop the carnage. After speculating on the possible identity of the killer, a signal light is seen just over the skyline much in the same way the Bat-Signal is used causing the Birds of Prey to track its source. Upon arriving they find the Penguin cowering and pleading to a shadowy figure to spare his life. Blinded by the light the mysterious figure's face remains hidden, yet Black Canary deduces from the posturing that the figure has a sense of royalty, and is most likely Asian. Immediately two names flash through her mind, Cassandra Cain, or Lady Shiva. Without warning the shadow attacks, easily taking down Black Canary and disarming the Huntress.
Her attack so precise, so proficient, that Black Canary comments that, "If it is Shiva, she's gotten better." Unabated the shadow plunges one of Huntress' arrows into the neck of the Penguin but does not kill him. She then reveals herself to be the White Canary and challenges Black Canary to stop her.
Accepting the challenge, Black Canary and Huntress attempt to bring down the illusive martial artist with little success. Both heroines are easily dispatched with minimal effort. Although displaying remarkable martial arts ability, the emotions that accompany the assassins strikes cause Dinah to comment that she is not Lady Shiva, but can not understand how a fighter of White Canary's caliber has gone unnoticed. The Birds of Prey briefly gain the upper hand as Huntress wraps up the villain long enough for Dinah to land several shots that only seem to anger the white ninja. Hawk, Dove, and Lady Blackhawk arrive just as White Canary slips free from Huntress' grasp.
Arrogantly Hawk charges ahead only to be sidestepped and cut open, but not before snatching a handful of White Canary's hair. The fight is then interrupted as local T.V. stations and Gotham City, police arrive on the scene. It is revealed that White Canary has set the team up, and possibly even murdered Savant, and Creote. She leaves them with a cryptic message -
With no other options the Birds of Prey retreat, barely escaping a collection of rogue Gotham City police officers determined on killing the team. They briefly hold up in the Penguins nightclub before it is eventually stormed by the police and Hawk is seriously injured when he is stabbed through the back by one of the White Canary's specialized daggers adding to the Birds of Prey's already overwhelming situation. Black Canary determines she must face the mysterious assassin alone or more lives will be lost.
After ordering the remaining members to take the injured and run, Black Canary meets White Canary on the rooftop for an epic one on one showdown. Through the course of the fight Dinah narrows down the identity of her assailant, throwing out Cassandra Cain and Lady Shiva as possible suspects when White Canary becomes visible agitated at the mention of "family." The battle continues and soon, Black Canary believes she has figured it out, she knows who the White Canary is. The bigger revelation that the deadly martial artist suggests that she is merely the tool who a much richer villain has chosen to use in his plot against the Birds of Prey.
Origin Revealed
Nineteen years ago, along the ancient "Silk Highway" in the Saanxi Province, White Canary was born to the martial artist Si Fu Huang. Her mother passed away during child birth, and like all female infants born to Si Fu, she was condemned to death despite the desperate pleas of her mother's midwife. However, before she could be taken down to the river and drowned, a freak bolt of lightning struck the midwife killing her instantly. The divine intervention did not go unnoticed by Si Fu, and he decided to spare the child's life. Thus White Canary became the lone sister of the Brothers Silk. Si Fu was a great fighter whose reputation was the stuff of legend. Consumed by his own legacy and obsessed with the realization that one day his age would catch up with him, Si Fu decided to pass his knowledge on to a new generation. Taking many wives, he fathered many children, all male, to carry on his linage. Each one was born under a different sign of the Zodiac and if any of the infants were deemed unfit or female, they were immediately put down. In the end, twelve remained (thirteen counting White Canary).
They were dubbed the " The Twelve Brothers In Silk," rumored to be as skillful in the art of combat as Lady Shiva. Eventually the brothers were defeated by Black Canary and her band of heroes. This defeat would later be the death of the brothers as White Canary deemed it a shameful act that had dishonored her legendary father, thus motivating her to murder all twelve of her brothers.
