The Darkest Part

Riter's Fury

A/N: I started working on this story over a year ago and decided I should post it to celebrate Slade Wilson's return to Arrow. Hopefully, some of you out there will enjoy it. The story is set during season 3.


Chapter One

Atticus flexed his long, capable fingers as he waited in the dark alley. In earlier years, his hands had been more adept to academic work, but now they felt just as comfortable doing dirty work. The dumpster he crouched behind smelled vile, and dripped a reddish brown liquid that he couldn't rule out as blood. His lab had always been clean, the sight of dirt and filth used to repel him, but he had long since moved beyond that. He checked his watch and smiled. It should be happening any moment.

It had been too long since working in the field. It felt good. So good, Atticus might have a hard time giving it up again. The familiar feeling of adrenaline, the thrill of the challenge, it was all a drug to him. He had to stay in control, or risk losing everything. His work was much too important and profitable to risk over some foolish addiction.

He shifted his weight, trying to keep his excited muscles from showing his impatience. A noise across the alley caught his attention as a rat scurried out from under a soggy cardboard box and disappeared into the darkness. A stillness settled over the alley, but the hair standing up on the back of his neck warned him he wasn't alone.

"You have information for me." a deep voice spoke. It was hardly a question, but more of a demand.

Atticus stood and turned. He smiled at the dark silhouette of the caped figure. "Yeah, that's right."

When Atticus didn't continue the man barked. "I'm waiting."

"They're called meta-humans."

"That's all you have. I ruled that possibility out weeks ago."

Atticus chuckled. "Just checking to see if you've done your homework."

"And apparently you haven't." The caped figure seemed to grow in the shadows. "I don't like my time wasted."

"All right, all right. I might have something." Atticus flicked his wrist downward causing a small vial with a needle to slip out. He smiled again. "But I'm going to need something from you first."


One week later

"I need to know where this guy is now!" Oliver shouted as he and Roy zoomed down the street on their motorcycles.

"Give me a second," Felicity answered, in his ear piece. "I'm only one person." She paused. "Gotcha. Take your next left, he's two streets over riding a... Where did he get a horse?"

Oliver's right leg brushed against a lamppost as he made a quick turn. "Did you just say horse?"

"Yes, I did."

"That's a first," Roy said as they roared into the warehouse district.

"Stay on him," Oliver ordered. "I'm gonna try cutting him off."

"Got it," Roy answered, speeding ahead. He knew if the robber continued on his current course he would come to a large parking lot with nowhere to hide.

It didn't take long before Roy caught sight of the man on horseback. The rider looked as if he had stepped out of an old Western film—he even wore silver spurs and a Colt Peacemaker strapped to his side.

Roy shook his head. The criminals in this city were getting ridiculous. "Guys, we've got another one playing dress up."

"Oh, dear," Felicity said.

"Give it up," Roy shouted to the cowboy.

The man ignored him. Reaching out with his left hand Roy grabbed at the reins to slow the horse down. In hindsight, he realized it was a poor decision, considering he had no idea how to actually slow a horse. Watching Westerns on Saturday afternoons as a kid didn't prepare him for this. The horse veered toward him, forcing Roy to adjust his course. The front tire of his bike scraped the curb and he lost control, skidding across the pavement.

Roy pushed himself off the ground as Oliver fired an arrow in the cowboy's path. It exploded, causing the horse to rear and throw its rider.

"Stay where you are," Oliver yelled.

The cowboy pulled out his gun, but a well aimed arrow knocked it from his hand. Oliver raised his bow and fired again. The Cowboy turned and caught the arrow before it struck him in the knee. He stared at the arrow then at the masked vigilante. Oliver fired two more arrows as he moved closer, yielding the same results. Roy came from behind trying to block the cowboy's escape. They had him. Until the cowboy fell to the ground, his body convulsing. Oliver rushed forward, trying to help him, but within seconds the cowboy was dead.

"What happened?" Felicity asked.

Roy stared down at the man lying on the ground. "We lost another one."

Things were getting out of hand in Starling City. There were half a dozen costumed criminals with enhanced abilities robbing banks, jewelry stores, and museums across the city. Whenever one of the criminals were cornered they collapsed and died. This was the fourth casualty.

Oliver bent down and searched the man's pockets. "Roy, check out the horse. See if there's anything that might help us identify this man."

Roy looked at the horse standing at the other end of the parking lot. "He doesn't look very happy. Are you sure I should... What's that?" Roy knelt down and opened the dead man's hand. Inside, lay a crumpled card with a name and number printed in red on the front. "That's strange."

"What?"

"It's a business card." Roy handed it to Oliver. "Isn't that...?"

"Isn't that what?" Felicity chirped. "What does it say?"

Oliver stared at the name on the card. Maybe it was a mistake, but somehow he knew that was wishful thinking. Taking a deep breath he answered, "It says, Max Queen. It belongs to my brother."


Gotham City, one week earlier

A dark haired tourist glanced at his watch then down the crowded street. Six was late. He frowned, but lifted his camera and snapped a picture of an uninteresting group of people in front of a store window. He looked at the photo on the viewing screen then deleted it. He hated this.

Over the last few weeks there had been a rise of costumed superpowered criminals roaming the streets of Gotham as well as other cities across the country. Not one had been caught alive, and trying to get information from unknown informants in dark alleys had proved pointless and—he rubbed his arm—painful. So this "tourist" had decided to take a different approach to get to the bottom of it. One that meant hanging up his cowl and bringing in an expert, who could find anything, or anyone that didn't want to be found.

Normally, he preferred to work alone, but there were a few people with whom it was actually a pleasure to work alongside. One being the always efficient Max Queen. Unfortunately, to borrow his talent also meant dealing with the unbearable Colton Six, who was already ten minutes late.

Bruce Wayne tapped his earpiece and looked across the street to where Max sat outside a coffee shop reading a newspaper. "If Six doesn't show we're engaging the target without him."

Max flipped the page of his newspaper. "He'll be here. And I'm the only one engaging anyone, remember? If this guy is put under too much stress because he feels threatened, we might lose him too. That's why you're just a tourist today."

"Fine," Bruce grumbled. "But if he comes after you-"

"You can dangle him off a building or something. Six would probably help you."

"If he even gets here."

Bruce rubbed his arm again, which turned out to be a bad idea because it only hurt worse than before. He distracted himself by scanning the area again. He noticed a tall slender woman drinking her coffee while she waited to cross the street. She carried a brightly colored handbag over her shoulder, and wore purple rimmed sunglasses. A boy and his dog passed by her and she took a moment to rub behind the dog's ears. She seemed completely normal, but he knew otherwise. He walked over to the woman and stopped beside her.

"You're working days now," she said.

"When I have to," he replied. "What brings you here, Waller?"

She sipped her coffee. "You're a great detective—I'm sure you can figure it out."

Bruce frowned, watching Max as he spoke. "You've ruined his life enough, don't you think."

"I only made Max the man he is today." She turned and smiled at him. "You're welcome."

Bruce gritted his teeth and would have replied if Six hadn't chosen that moment to make his appearance.

"I've got this Bats," he said. "You look like you're about to blow your cover."

Bruce glared at him, but backed away. He would rather not breath the same air as Amanda Waller anyway.

Waller watched the Dark Knight cross the street before turning her attention to Six. "I know about your little mission here. I have the entire block under surveillance."

Six smirked. "I know, I already said hello to everyone. But good news, you have some job openings. The unemployment rate thanks you."

Waller rolled her eyes. "I would appreciate it if you would stop picking off my people."

"And I would appreciate it if you would leave the kid alone."

Waller glanced at Max. He was hobbling down the sidewalk with the assistance of his cane, following a man with a cowboy hat. "You know that's not going to happen, Six. Max is still my asset."

"You keep thinking that if it makes you feel better."

"I will find a way to talk to him."

"Bats won't let you near him, and I sure as hell won't either. So talk, or I'm gone, and so is your chance to hire Max."

Waller took a small flash drive and slipped it into the pocket of Six's jacket as she pretended to straighten it. "All the information you need is on there."

"I'd like a little more to go on then an excuse for you to get your hands on me." He smiled.

Waller felt the urge to roll her eyes again. Six always had that effect on her. "The subject is a boy, age thirteen, who dropped out of sight seven years ago. I need Max to find him."

Six sighed. "You need to do better than that."

"Better?"

"Yeah, like your diabolical plan for ruining this kid's life. Did he accidentally win one of your recruiting games."

"This isn't that."

"Convince me." His dark eyes danced with mischief.

Waller stepped within inches of him and whispered. "I need the boy's father to do something for me, but I'm afraid he lacks the proper motivation."

Six smiled again. He did that far too much for her liking. "Is that all?" he said. "Nothing sinister about that."

She backed away, crossing her arms. "Enough with the games, Six. Will you take the job, or not?"

"It's up to Max. I let him make all the decisions these days."

"This is a priority."

"So are my weekend plans."

"You have an hour to decide."

"Make that three and I'll put in a good word for you. Maybe we can even work together on this."

Waller raised an eyebrow. "I don't think so."

"It's fun to imagine what that might be like though." He tapped the side of his head as he drifted into a group of tourists. "Something to think about."


Present day

Oliver swiveled in his chair, trying not to fall asleep while he inspected his equipment. Staying up all night chasing after masked criminals was catching up with him. The dead cowboy from last night only reminded him how much they still didn't know about this case. Felicity had been tracking similar occurrences in other cities across the country, trying to gather more intel, and it appeared law enforcement agencies everywhere were getting the same results. Dead suspects and no answers.

If these people started using their enhanced abilities for more than robbing banks and jewelry stores they could have something similar to Slade's mirakuru army on their hands. Oliver didn't want to think about that possibility.

And then there was the business card with his brother's name on it. He was hoping no one would mention it. As desperate as they were for leads, that was one he didn't want to follow. He'd find another way, any other way, but that.

"How's it going," Diggle asked, descending the metal stairs.

"It's not," Oliver replied.

"That bad, huh?"

"I got another hit," Felicity said, clicking away at her keyboard. "A bank was robbed last night in Gotham City, by a man in a cow costume."

Oliver raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure Arkham Asylum didn't have a breakout? That seems to happen a lot."

"Funny, but no I already checked. Some guy ripped the door off the bank's safe using his bare hands and took everything inside ."

"I'm not getting this whole costume thing with these guys," Roy said, leaning back in his chair.

"I think the costumes are just meant to hide their faces and mask their height and build, so no one can get an accurate description of them," Diggle said.

Oliver stood and walked to Felicity's desk, where he studied the monitors over her shoulder. "What happened to him?"

Felicity scrolled through the information on the screen. "Well, his body is in the Gotham morgue, so they haven't made any more progress than we have."

Oliver paced the room. "We're not getting anywhere."

Everyone stared at Oliver for a few moments before Roy spoke up. "What about the card with your brother's name on it?"

"Yeah, I still don't understand how that ended up in the dead guy's hand last night?" Felicity said. "Wait, your brother's not involved with this stuff is he?"

"No, of course not, Felicity." Oliver rubbed his eyes. "Max isn't that kind of person."

"Well, I didn't mean to imply he was a bad person, just that maybe he got caught up in something bad and..." Felicity turned back to her computers. "Never mind."

"Oliver, you have to admit it's strange and worth looking into," Diggle added. "I know you've said before that things were a little rocky between you two, but-"

"Rocky is a bit of an understatement," Oliver said.

"But at this point any lead is worth checking into," Diggle replied.

Felicity turned in her chair to face Oliver. "The Arrow could pay him a visit and he'd never need to know it was you."

Oliver flinched. "That's not a good idea. Max would never talk to him."

"Why not?"

"Max has this..." Oliver squinted trying to think of the right word, "gift for seeing through people. He'll know it's me and I don't want the first time I see my brother in seven years to be spent lying to him."

Felicity stood and faced Oliver. "We can't just ignore this because you're afraid to see your brother. We need to do something before it's too late."

Oliver looked away, letting the room and everyone in it fade.

Felicity touched his arm. "We all make mistakes, Oliver."

He knew Felicity was right. She had this way of bringing him back to reality when he was determined to stay lost in the darkness, focusing on all the wrong things that would only make matters worse.

He let out a deep breath, bringing the room back into focus. "I'll give Captain Lance a call and see if he's looking into it."

Felicity smiled. "Good. I'll get him on the phone."

A few minutes later a reluctant Oliver was talking to Captain Lance.

"Last week an astronaut this week a cowboy, can things get any stranger?" Lance chuckled.

"Captain, did you find the business card in the cowboy's hand?" Oliver said, his voice disguised with the usual electronic tone changer.

"Yeah, we did. Kind of strange. I gave Mr. Queen a call. As luck would have it he's actually in town on business. He's coming in this afternoon to see if he can help."

Oliver hesitated a moment. Max was here in Starling City. How had he missed that? "Did he say anything about why the man had his card?"

"Said he was a client, but couldn't say anything more over the phone. I know the kid, he was always a little odd, but he's smart. Hopefully, he'll have information to shed some light on this. I'll let you know how it goes."

"Thank you, Captain."

Oliver ended the call, rubbing his tired eyes. Max had come home, but why? Certainly not to see him. Not after all this time. Part of him felt excited, but another apprehensive. He couldn't pretend their reunion would be all warm and fuzzy, in fact it would be quite the opposite. There were things that had been done and said between them that couldn't be easily resolved or forgotten. Things The Arrow couldn't help him fix.

"So..." Felicity said. "Did Captain Lance find out anything?"

"Apparently, our cowboy use to be one of my brother's clients."

Felicity adjusted her glasses. "Okay... Anything else?"

"We'll know more later today after Lance meets with him."

"Your brother's in Starling City?" Diggle said.

Felicity scanned one of her computer screens. "How did I miss that?"

Oliver crossed his arms and stared at the floor. "Max doesn't like to be noticed."

"I guess he's not here for a family reunion then," Roy said.

"I don't think so."

Diggle leaned against a table. "What are you going to do, Oliver?"

"Nothing. He clearly has no intention of seeing me because I didn't even know he was in town. We'll just wait to see what Lance has to say and in the meantime we should all get some rest."

Oliver headed toward the stairs. Felicity followed and watched him disappear through the door. "You think he's going to see his brother?" she asked.

"Probably not," Diggle said.

Felicity turned toward him. "This case just got more complicated, didn't it?"

Diggle sighed. "I think so."