Chapter 1
Oliver stood in the alley behind Verdant, again. He felt that lately he was spending as much time lurking in the alley behind his club as in it. Odd though it was that Thea had appointed herself club manager after the Undertaking and his failure to stop it; it made leading his life easier, no one really expected him to be overseeing things so his odd comings and goings didn't seem to attract much attention. The reason for this evening's lurk was Roy's signal arrow stuck high in the alley wall; over the last few months they had worked out a code with that arrow so Oliver would know how fast he needed to get in contact. Looking at where Roy left it, Oliver was pretty sure he had been standing on a trash can, it was almost out of sight of the camera watching the alley. The code was pretty simple, the higher up the arrow was, the more urgent the information Roy had. The text from Felicity about the arrow was pretty standard Felicity speak "It's in all the way, and as high up it is ever been. Come now! " He smiled just thinking of how she must have cringed after she sent that, he loved her like a sister but sometimes he wasn't quite sure if she phrased things like that just to try and get a reaction from him or if she was just that awkward. He heard a noise down the alley and slipped back into the shadows to watch.
He saw Roy approaching their usual spot, he was amazed Thea still let him wear that red hoodie. However the clothes underneath the trademark hoodie were obviously new and high end. Apparently Thea was going with small steps on renovating her boyfriend.
" Roy, over here. " he said.
" Oh hey, there's something pretty bad going on. It's kids man, someone is taking kids. " Roy's voice held something akin to fear, Roy didn't show fear often. It made him take a closer look at the kid.
'What's going on?" He tried to make his voice a bit more calming, Roy was obviously spooked. Electronically disguising his voice made it harder for subtle emotions to come through when he talked, but it was a necessary precaution.
" It's weird….I am not sure how to explain it. Look, you may not believe me but I swear it's the truth. This may take awhile though. You sure you want to hang out back here?" Roy had been trying to figure out where The Vigilante was based out of for months. Oliver had to give him credit for persistence but in this case he had a point, if this was going to take longer than 2-3 minutes someone may see them. Oliver knew about 10 ways up and out of this alley although he wasn't sure the kid could keep up with him, but he knew Roy would not be happy with being carried up onto a roof.
" Ok Roy, see that fire escape? Get up there and follow it to the roof. There's a gap though since the earthquake so be careful." That was the easiest one of the paths Oliver usually followed. Roy rolled his eyes, smirked and hopped up onto the escape. He cleared the gap easy with a nice jump and muscle up to the next level. The kid moved well, almost as well as he did. Oliver followed him up to the roof. Once on top they crouched down out of sight .
Roy looked at him " Was that supposed to be hard? "
Oliver took a breath, stopping any harsh reply. " No, what's this information?" The kid's eyes lost the cocky teenage look and got nervous and a bit wide.
" Ok, this has been going on for about 2-3 weeks now. At first I didn't think anything of kids not 2showing up in the usual places, it's the Glades, people move around a lot so not seeing someone for a few weeks is no big deal. " He stopped as if trying to find the words. " Look the Glades, it has a feel to it, you can tell when things are OK , when people are nervous, if there's a new big bad guy in town. You know? " Oliver nodded for Roy to continue. " Ok so, the last few days, things have felt wrong. Like something big is coming, or some new player. So I started looking into things, asking questions and here's where it gets spooky. I know some of the kids that have disappeared, I know their families, I know who has grandparents, who doesn't ok? Anyway, I went to some of their houses and I was going to talk to their parents but as I was walking up to the first house, I don't know, something told me not to knock on the door."
"So I looked through the windows. The parents were there, but they weren't acting right. They were just staring at each other, not sad, not crying , just blank stares, like zombies or something, no TV on, no movement nothing. I watched for a like 5 mins they didn't move once. I left then because ..well something made me afraid, like I was looking at something totally wrong."
"I moved on to the next house. It's a single mom with a daughter and the mom was sitting out on the porch, humming. I walked up to her and she looked up at me, now it was dark so maybe I was seeing things but I swear she looked at me like I was food, then her face shifted real quick and looked more normal. I asked her if her kid had been sick or something since I hadn't seen her around, she said " Oh no, she's at her grandparents for a trip. Should be back next week. "That lady's parents died in the quake and she has never sent her daughter to see the dad's family, ever. He abused them. I just played along and left quick. I swear though she stared at me the whole time I walked away and….." he trailed off. He looked at Oliver, Oliver saw it again, a deep, deep fear. He remembered that kind of fear, when he had been hunted by Fires and the rest on the island.
" ...and what Roy?"
" I have been in a lot of tight places, in a lot of fights and the look she gave me, the way it felt….it wasn't right...it...it…"
" It felt as if she saw you as nothing but an obstacle in her way, like you were an ant waiting to be crushed. It was cold yet hungry...almost soulless…." Oliver said in a hushed voice.
" Yeah, like that. " Roy was holding his arms tight across his chest and not from the chilly night air either. " So far I know of about 10 kids personally that are gone, I did some snooping and it seems the number may be as high as 20. It's hard to tell, but a lot of people are nervous. They are talking about hearing kids yell "You look like mom and dad but you're not!" at night. I had Thea ask Laurel to ask her dad if there had been any kids reported missing, none of the kids I know that are gone have been reported missing at all and the parents are all still at the houses, acting like everything is ok. "
Oliver didn't know what to make of this, but he had to see for himself. "Can you give me addresses of some of the missing kids?"
Roy nodded and gave him a piece of paper " Here's all the ones I know of personally. Look, I know you're pretty badass in a fight but if I were you, I would not go in there looking for a fight or asking questions. I just...I don't think it would go well. Not that I am telling you your job. "
Oliver smiled a bit at him "Thanks for the heads up. I'll be careful. I am going to check some of these out. Thanks, just sta3y close to your place for awhile ok? "
" Yeah man, home and work. That's it for me for the near future. " Roy stood up and headed back down the escape to the alley. Oliver stayed put for awhile, he liked the night air sometimes, standing above the city on a roof. From up here he could lose himself in the idea that all of his problems were far away and down below, in someone else's life. He started thinking over what Roy had told him, could the parents be being bribed? Maybe selling their kids? What would make someone do that? None of that accounted for the fear that Roy obviously felt and he made it sound like the parents weren't afraid of anything or emotionally upset; maybe some new drug had showed up in his city. He felt his jaw clench at that thought and a surge of anger, after what happened with Vertigo, both times it showed up, he had an incredibly violent reaction to the thought of any more drug dealers setting up shop. He shook his head to clear the anger, took a deep breath and headed across the roofs to Verdant. He had put in some roof access points that led down some false walls to his home away from home. The room beneath Verdant felt more like his home than the Queen mansion did, he wasn't sure he liked that thought and chose to dismiss it. He squinted his eyes against the bright lights as he walked into his base of operations.
"Oh hey Oli, so….about that text...umm it sounded much more professional in my head…." Felicity trailed off and squirmed a bit, dropping her eyes. Oliver smiled a bit at her which caused her to turn quickly away. Felicity was dressed casually tonight, he was surprised at first and then remembered it was Saturday. He hadn't seen her in jeans and a sweater before, it seemed wrong for some reason, like she was beginning to fit it too well with what they did. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. She was in many ways the most important member of their little group and the most vulnerable, she had no survival skills, no danger sense and couldn't lie her way out of a paper bag. She was however, one of the most intelligent, clever and solid people he had ever met. When he had dragged her into this whole life by showing up bleeding in her car, she hadn't blinked, hadn't frozen with fear or confusion, but had acted very decisively and that had saved his life that night. Since then she had been adapting fast and becoming more courageous but her courage was way outstripping her survival skills. He had been wrestling with a way of addressing that with her without crushing her spirit.
" Hey Felicity. " He started putting all his gear away. She looked at him oddly.
"Was the message not that important? I figured you would be going out tonight." Somehow she made that sound like he would be going to dinner or a date, people can adapt to just about anything it seemed.
" No it's important but I think I need to check things out before busting into houses and asking questions. " He replied.
" Oh, so thinking less penetration. You're moving slower Oliver, I approve. It's always good to find out all the quirks before doing something irrevocable, safer too. " She said in a perfectly businesslike tone. He started to count in his head...1..2..3.
"Or rather...um. Sooo... what database do you need me to crack?" He was starting to think that Felicity's brain was incapable of recognizing innuendos until after she spoke them, which of course made it that much more amusing.
" Roy was spooked about something, said things in The Glades felt off, some kids are missing and no one is reporting them gone. I think I need to get out there and see things for myself and not all geared up. " 4He dug through some other clothes he had stored, found a beat up jacket, jeans and a couple of shirts he could layer so he could conceal weapons a bit better. He didn't tell Felicity everything Roy said, it would be hard for her to grasp the significance of it but he did want her to pull some information up.
" Can you do me a favor though? Check the police database and see if there has been any increase in kids reported missing over the last 2-3 weeks or so please. Roy gave me some addresses I am going to check out, I'll put a tracking beacon in my pocket so you can have eyes on me if something goes wrong. It shouldn't but never hurts to be careful. " Besides The Glades is plenty dangerous on it's own not taking the new threat into account.
" OK, do you want me to call Diggle and have him drop by? " Felicity asked. He thought about it, he had been working them all pretty hard lately, and Diggle was trying to cobble together some sort of social life. He owed Dig some time off.
" No I should be ok. You don't have to stay here, I know you can monitor things from home if you want." She had told him she could remote access the computer systems she had set up for him from home if need be. He wasn't sure that was secure but when he had raised that concern with her, the look she gave him was somewhere between offended and pitying; offended that he doubted her and pitying of him for not understanding how technology worked. He decided he didn't want to have a repeat of that conversation ever.
"Umm, I don't have anything going on and, well, I'd rather be here if something came up. " She gave him a little smile but he saw the concern and fear behind it. He was going to dismiss her fears but then remembered how many times she had been there watching him sew his own stitches or fight off some drug or poison, with Diggle he could put on the tough face and go out into the night. Felicity's obvious concern and fear always reminded him of the actual fallout if something happened to him. When it had been just him and Diggle at first leading this life, he had been able to lock away the harsh reality of what him dying would do to others. Diggle had pulled him up short a few times when it became a symptom of a much more dangerous problem. After Felicity joined up and he would see her concern and fear, at first he thought it would make him weaker, more distracted, after all Slade had always said emotions and attachments were distractions to your mission. Surprisingly what he had found was that it had sharpened him, made him more focused. He was more alert, more aware, more strategic and yes in some ways more violent, because he didn't want to fulfill that fear she had in her eyes, that one day he wouldn't come back. So instead of dismissing her concern by saying something trite like it will be fine, nothing will happen he had started a new little ritual when she was there.
He turned and looked her full in the face keeping his face calm and alert while acknowledging and accepting her fear and concern. "Felicity, I will do everything I can to be safe. I'll be back in a few hours." He reached out and held her hand, he squeezed it once and then left.
Oliver swung his leg over his motorcycle and headed off to the first address on the list. Fortunately there were a few houses fairly close together so he could hit a few places and see if every situation was similar. It took him about 20 mins to get to the first house, he parked the bike a few blocks away and hoped that 5it would still be there when he got back. It was The Glades at 930 at night so the chances of the bike disappearing would exponentially increase the later it got, tracking it back down and scaring off the kids who stole it was always a pain. Felicity had added a few aftermarket improvements to make it easy to find in case of theft but still, it took up valuable time. He started walking and within a few minutes understood what Roy had been talking about. The usual late night hangout spots were pretty bare of people, no one was out smoking or at bus stops, he spotted a few of the regular bums and homeless people he saw on his rounds. He had taken to swinging through The Glades a few times a month all geared up and stopping small criminal acts in an attempt to slow crime in the area. It had done some good but now even the bums he saw seemed paranoid and jumpy. He turned down a more residential street that had 2 of the addresses on the list and almost stopped moving, something was seriously wrong.
Every instinct he had developed in 5 years on the island was screaming at him to turn and run yet nothing visually seemed wrong. Cars were parked, some lights were on, tvs were on in a few of the houses but there was a sense of foreboding, of darkness , of almost evil here. He had thought being in the freighter was the darkest place he would ever be in, he had been wrong. He forced himself to move forward, his hands inched closer to the knives he had brought with him.
As he got further down the street, abou block away from the first house, the doors to the house across the street opened up. He made a snap judgement and ducked into some shadows provided by the trees on the street. A couple came out, the man was carrying a child, it looked like a little girl, still in her pajamas and certainly not dressed for the chill night air. The girl was struggling : " NO NO NO NO! Daddy let me go! The ropes they hurt! "
Oliver tensed up, ready to rescue the little girl, then he saw something that made him stop dead in his tracks. The man held up the girl by her arms with one hand, she was bound hand and foot and a woman was coming out behind the two of them. " Let's get on with this. " The woman said " They are waiting and we have two more to get tonight. " She reached up, laid a hand on the little girl's head, muttered something in a guttural tone of voice, the little girl stopped moving, her eyes rolled back into her head and she went limp. As they carried the child under the streetlight, the man took a quick look up and down the street and Oliver swore his eyes had no whites to them, they were jet black , then the man blinked and the eyes went back to normal. They shoved the girl in the back seat of the car and drove off, Oliver slumped against the tree and he noticed his hands were shaking.
Chapter 2 - One week earlier
Sam sat down at yet another nameless diner in some backwater town and swore if he had one more shortstack of pancakes he would not have to worry about the coming war between heaven and hell, he would just shoot himself with the Colt and hope wherever he ended up afterwards had made to order omelets, fresh fruit that was composed of something other than grapes and honeydew and maybe, just maybe d6ecent coffee. The only flaw in that theory was the Colt might completely destroy his soul, which still sounded better than another diner breakfast.
He looked across the formica table at his brother, happily devouring bacon, sausage and undercooked eggs as if they were the best meal he had ever had. Sam shook his head and wondered, not for the first time, if in some genetic fluke, Dean had never developed taste buds.
"So Sammy! " Dean said, way too enthusiastically for 8 am "Find anything exciting? " Sam decided to be daring and ordered the skillet breakfast, it had green peppers, which he hoped would have some flavor.
"Not really. Things have been quiet, which is probably bad. " Sam replied in a very flat tone.
" Come on Sam! Be optimistic, maybe all the demons decided that they needed a vacation. Or they could be planning a party for me when I show up! Yeah that'd be awesome! " Dean was still making light of his contract, Sam hated that, but he understood why.
" Sure Dean, ham and hot chicks on every table. Of course they'd be on fire, along with you. "
" Heh, I am always on fire Sam. You know that. " Dean winked at him. Sam shook his head but had to laugh a little. Dean raised his coffee cup as in a salute, appreciating the fact that Sam was willing to laugh with him and ignore the glaring, hellish truth of their lives.
Sam's breakfast arrived and he had to grudgingly admit it was decent, he could actually detect the peppers. They finished up and headed back to their room to see if they could find a job to do. Sam could never decide which part of this life was the best part, he loved the research and could lose himself in it for hours. That skill had served him well in college, but he had to admit there were times that he craved the adrenaline rush of being on a hunt, even though he would never admit that to Dean. When the two of them were actually on a hunt, everything else faded away, they had a problem to solve, someone to save and something to destroy, exorcise or provide a sense of peace to. There was meaning in it, a sense of purpose. He and Dean had been hunting together long enough that they moved without talking anymore they knew their strengths and weaknesses and protected each other. These lulls in between hunts, Dean's smart ass side came out more, it was his way of dealing with the lack of focus. There had been many, many times when Sam had been tempted to break something on the Impala without Dean knowing just so Dean could fix the car instead of sitting in the room being obnoxious. Unfortunately for that plan, Sam liked keeping his face intact so he tried to tune his brother out as much as possible and focus on other things.
Sam had been trying to figure out a way to make gathering possible jobs go faster, he had been working on building and moderating a website where people could post things they thought might be "Supernatural" in nature. Like most sites it had started out slow, he had contacted Ellen and told her about it. His idea was hunters could post things as well to help keep in touch with each other, give heads ups on new information, divvy up jobs with the general populace posting weird things. In the last few months the site had been picking up traffic and he tended to start his day off looking at that first. There weren't a lot of new posts but one caught his eye. It was a new user and the style of typing and phrasing made it pretty clear in was a kid typing on a cell phone. All it said was " Hlp me, M and D r not real! They r monsters! 7My frnd is gone n I thnk Im next. msg me pls!"
Sam logged on and sent the user a PM " What's going on?" Then set it aside and started looking at news sites. Dean had settled down on the bed and was looking through some local newspapers, Dean didn't like computers for some reason. Sam had tried to get him to use the net but he steadfastly refused for some reason and after awhile Sam had given up, Sam was convinced that Dean's idea of technology like his taste in music was stuck in the 80s. After an hour or so of fruitless searching the tab he had the website on started flashing, looks like the new user had messaged back.
" I don't know, they came home one day and seemed weird, then two nights later I was looking out my window and saw my friend's parents carry him to the car. He wasn't moving, they were just holding him by his wrists. I haven't seen him since. I AM SOO SCARED, more kids are gone now...PLEASE HELP ME! I haven't been home in three days and my "parents" don't seem to care. After I realized more kids were gone I was too scared to go home. "
Sam closed out all the other windows on his computer. " Hey Dean I think we got something. " Dean joined Sam at the table and read the message.
" So what are we thinking? Shapeshifters? " Dean said. He always wanted to jump to conclusions before they had even left the hotel. " Hey what is this anyway? Some "post your freaky life here" site? "
Sam sighed, " No Dean, I made this site to try to get jobs faster, and maybe get tips and leads from other hunters. The job we did a few weeks ago came from here. Anyway, let me see if I can get more details. "
Sam typed back " What do you mean your parents are weird? "
"They just aren't right, they don't care what we eat, or what we do and it's like they're just waiting for something….and, their eyes, something is wrong with their eyes. "
Dean snorted, "Never thought I would see a kid complain that their parents aren't caring about what they eat or are doing. I think that's more suspicious than how the parents are acting. "
Sam started typing again, " What's wrong with their eyes? " He waited anxiously hoping it wasn't going to be that the eyes were all black.
"I know it sounds weird but once when I was spying on them, they didn't see me but I saw them. Mom blinked and her eyes went all black, then she blinked again and it went away. I swear it! "
Sam flung his hands up in disgust. " Demons, why did it have to be demons!?" He pushed the laptop away from him, stood up and paced the room.
" Uh, cause that's what we do, hunt demons. " Dean replied. Sam spun and glared at him.
Dean raised his hands in an attempt to pacify Sam " Look, I know the last couple of times...ok just about every time we've dealt with demons things get a little messy.." Dean started
" A LITTLE MESSY!" Sam screamed. "Do you want the list of how much worse things get? Dean, we know after the last run in that there is some new super demon trying to make a play and that they want to kill 8me, and you…..well you they are just waiting until you hit your expiration date. After Mom, Dad, Jess and everyone else that keeps getting caught in the crossfire part of me just wants to not deal with them anymore. I know, I know, that sounds bad and there are kids that are probably getting hurt right now. It's just…." he trailed off. Things in his life just kept spiraling out of control and it all came pressing in on him. He had lost everything, just like Dean, and he was going to lose Dean too. He wanted so badly to run away from it all but he knew he couldn't. He took a deep breath and looked at his brother. Dean was looking at him with that expression that Dean thought masked everything but Sam saw right through.
" Look Sam," Dean said in a hushed tone. "The last time Ruby was here she told me what hell is, and the point of hell. All the pain and agony is for one purpose, that purpose is burning your humanity away. When you lose that, you become a demon. God knows how Ruby kept some of hers but I know...at least I hope I know..that when my time is up, it's saving people that will help me not turn into one of them. If I can hold onto those memories..that's all that matters. Knowing that I spent every moment I could killing those evil motherfuckers will keep a smile on my face for a long time. "
Instantly Sam's anger evaporated. People always said that Sam was the smart one of the pair, but that's because Dean hid his intelligence behind smart ass remarks, bravado and a devil may care attitude but underneath all that he had a keen intelligence and he didn't miss much, he wasn't "book smart" like Sam, but survival smart. Dean had kept both of them alive and safe since childhood, he had sheltered Sam as much as he could, but in doing so had learned to conceal what he was to not attract too much attention, he hid it so well that sometimes even Sam forgot how smart he was.
"Why didn't you tell me? That was weeks ago. " Sam said, not really hurt about it but trying to get past a moment that threatened to overwhelm them.
" Yeah well, you know me Sammy, all that hellfire and brimstone talk, who needs it when there's hunting to be done. So, where is this kid? " Sam took some deep breaths, settled down and headed back to the table and the laptop.
"Ok, well staying away is probably the best idea. Where are you? Maybe we can help you. " He typed back, belatedly hoping this wasn't some new police sting to arrest pedophiles or something.
"I don't know what you can do..but I am in Starling City...in WA. "
"Ok. Look, I know something about what happened with your parents. Find a church or holy ground stay there. Keep some salt on you, put a ring of it around your bed wherever you sleep. It sounds weird I know but it will help keep you safe. My name is Sam. Keep in touch ok? " Sam replied. He hoped this kid would follow his advice.
" Thanks Sam, I'm Tara. If you come to town let me know. I'll be at St. Michael's Church on 5th Ave. My brother is a priest there. Thank you for believing me. I need to go now. Bye"
Sam looked up at Dean " Well? " Dean turned to look at the door to their room. " Dean, what are you doing? "
" Waiting for Ruby to show up and tell us it's a trap. Give it a minute. " Dean kept staring at the door.
" 9I know it's probably a trap Dean, trust me, but if kids are being hurt we have to do something. " Sam had a feeling that it was more than a trap, that something bigger than just killing him was brewing out there, after all hadn't Ruby said a new power was rising in the West.
Dean turned to look at Sam, he knew that look. Sam had some sort of hunch about this job, even before his visions had kicked in Sam had always seemed to get hunches and intuitions about things. Dean had always been jealous of Sam's ability to read people and get people to open up to him, those were the traits that would have made Sam a star in the courtroom, a rich and happy attorney. Of course now it was far too late for his brother to have anything like that kind of life, even after the hellhounds came for his soul and he was long gone, Dean knew Sam would keep hunting, he would never be able to return to a "normal " life. He hated the fact that the yellow eyed demon had ripped that life away from Sam when he killed Jessica. Before that moment, Dean was hunting because that was the way to stay connected with his Dad who had become so lost and obsessed after their mom had been killed. After Jessica died, it became incredibly personal to him, he had so hoped and wished that Sam could escape this life, could become something more, someone happy, with a wife and kids. It would have justified his whole childhood of keeping Sam safe from harm. Dean had never wanted to see that haunted, lost look in Sam's eyes…..ever. He shook his head to clear his thoughts.
" Yeah ok. Do you think we should check first to see if other kids are missing?" Dean asked
" Well Tara said no one was reporting them so I am not sure if we would find out, if demons are possessing the parents and stealing the kids it's not like they are going to run to the cops and say the kid is gone. Wait, Starling City...I remember reading something odd about that city. Something about a man made earthquake devastating the poor part of town. " Sam started searching on the net. " See here, more than 500 people died in this quake. I guess the rich people were waging some sort of war to save the city or something. Nothing was really clear as to why. Something else too, there's this Hood guy, shoots arrows or something, He appeared about a year and a half ago. Lots of strange things happen there it seems. "
"Well chaos and death does attract demons. How does a person cause a quake anyway?" Dean asked.
"I have no idea, seismic destruction wasn't part of the Bar exam. " Sam replied dryly.
Dean smirked " Well Sam, it sounds a hell of a lot more interesting than hanging around here. Looks like about a 4 day drive. We should probably get started. " Dean got up and started packing. Sam felt a surge of excitement, the beginning of a hunt was always the best part, the anticipation of the fight, the adrenaline, it felt good and it felt wrong. Sometimes he wondered if he wasn't more than half demon already.
Chapter 3
Oliver stayed slumped against the tree trying to process what he had just seen and he found the more he replayed it in his mind the less it made sense. He did know one thing though, he was too preoccupied to do any more good here. He had gotten the license plate of the car in front of the house, out of habit he memorized plates, he'd have Felicity run it through the traffic cameras and see if they could figure out where the car went.
He headed back to where he had parked the bike and by some small miracle it was still there. Maybe all the thieves were too spooked to steal tonight. He hopped back on the bike and headed back to the club hoping the drive back would help him focus and clear his head. Traffic was light this time of night in The Glades and his mind drifted, as it often did, back to Shado and the island.
He remembered one day, they were training together, she was helping him with his archery and she started telling him a story about a Chinese god, Houyi, the god of archery. The story went that there were 10 Sun birds and each day a bird would be pulled on a carriage and travel around the world bringing light to the people and the crops. One day the birds tired of this and decided to fly all at the same time, this caused great devastation as the crops burned and withered and the people were scared and dying because the days lasted so long. The God of the Eastern Heaven called to Houyi to come and scare the birds into behaving again by threatening them with his bow and arrow. When Houyi saw what had become of earth and the animals and people he grew angry and instead of scaring the birds, he started shooting them out of the sky. The Emperor saw what was happening and beseeched Houyi to stop before he killed the last one. Houyi came to his senses and that last bird never again diverted from his appointed rounds. The God of the Eastern Heaven was devastated at the loss of the birds as they were his children and so stripped Houyi of his immortality saying that if he cared that much about humans that he was willing to kill all the Sun Birds he could live among them.
At the time Oliver didn't understand the meaning of the story, he thought the God of the Eastern Heaven was overreacting, since returning home though the story seemed to hold more meaning for him. After all, he was attacking people that were acting irresponsibly and destroying his city and it seemed that although in doing so he was saving many lives, it was costing him dearly. His father's list and dying wish that Oliver punish those who in the end he had been working with to destroy the city was very similar to the God requesting Houyi's aid. Oliver remembered how much anger he had felt toward those people on the list when he first arrived and had seen how bad things had gotten in Starling City. Shado had carved Oliver a little figure of an archer on horse, she said it symbolized Houyi and it may help guide him in his aim and maybe even protect him she had even carved a little prayer onto the figure. Eventually Oliver figured out how to make a necklace out of it and during his time on the island had worn it often. Shado had then told him about demons and dark things in Chinese lore as a way to pass the time, once again Oliver had dismissed the stories back then, now however he wasn't so sure. What he had seen that night wasn't normal and he had no reference point where to start to figure out what was going on, other than Shado's stories.
He arrived at the back entrance to the club, pulled the bike next to the back door, typed in the keycode and entered into the club. It was still early for a Saturday night and the club was pretty packed. He could see on the monitors that Thea was serving drinks and mingling with guests, he felt a flash of pride at his sister and how she had grown in the last few months. He walked further into his base of operations and almost tripped over Felicity. She was laying on the ground, flat on her back in obvious pain.
"Felicity! What happened? Are you ok? " He immediately started looking for blood or some other injury.
"Don't touch me! Ow...umm. I'm ok really. Just don't move me." An embarrassed look crossed her face for a brief moment, then the pain returned to her features. He was relieved she was talking and not bleeding but he was concerned as to why she was telling him not to move her.
" Ok, what happened?"
"Well, I was waiting for you, and I got bored and I had already had 4 cups of coffee so I was a little amped up. I had planned on reconfiguring some systems but that took a lot less time than I thought so I figured I would try to occupy my time doing other things. I thought I should clean up the place, what with us practically living here now it was getting a little cluttered and, well, you should know you make lifting those weights over there look a lot easier than it really is. Queen Consolidated insurance covers chiropractors right?. I mean, I took one of those high deductible plans to save some money and, I just thought I should ask " Her train of thought finally ended and he had to choke back on the laughter that was threatening to ruin the moment. He didn't want to embarrass her further.
" Yes I am pretty sure it does, if not, Vigilante Ventures will. Here let me see what I can do." he said
'What they teach you how to align spines along with breaking necks on the island? " She said, then cringed. " Sorry Oliver…" He smiled at her.
"It's ok. Let's just say that learning all those fighting skills, we had to do a lot of rehab too. " He gently helped her roll over which elicited a lot of gasps of pain from her and ran his hands down her spine. "I don't think anything is too out of place. Let me get you some ice and some pain meds. You probably just pulled a muscle. " He found the ice packs and aspirin and brought it to her with some water, he helped her roll back over. He arranged some clothes and bags he had to make a padded area for her, picked her up and they figured out the best way for her to lay that didn't hurt too bad. She placed the ice pack on her back and gasped at the cold, she had taken off her sweater and was wearing just a thin t-shirt so there wasn't a lot between the ice and her skin.
" Thanks. Sorry about all this. " she said.
" Well, it's definitely a change of pace, me having to tend to your injuries." He replied.
She relaxed a bit as the ice started numbing her back. "So what did you find out? "
He paused for a minute as he wasn't sure how to talk about what he had seen. Felicity and Diggle had gotten used to him withholding things from them, they didn't like it but in some measure they understood it, especially when it concerned his past. After the Undertaking though, and all the further secrets about his family had come out he had resolved in his own mind to let them in more. The problem was that this wasn't about the island and he really didn't know what to say.
" I….I'm not really sure." He saw Felicity get that look of frustration laced with sadness when he had in the past refused to talk. " No, it's not about the island. It's just I really don't know. " She cocked her head a bit to the side and said " Well share it, maybe we can figure it out. It's not like I am going to be moving anytime soon. "
"Ok, but I am not sure you're going to believe what I say." he said.
She looked directly at him " Oliver, I work for a man that is worth ridiculous amounts of money, who in all rights should be running a major corporation, but instead he spends his nights in the basement of a night club with his IT genius friend and a bodyguard , leading a double life that includes tracking down bad guys from a list his dead father gave him, then he points arrows of all things at these people and convinces them to give money back to the people they stole it from. Oh and did I mention he was presumed dead for 5 years? Give it your best shot."
" Well when you put it that way. " he smiled at her and they started to laugh, until a shot of pain in her back cut through the ice. " Alright then. " He then proceeded to tell her the whole story, leaving no detail out. At the end of it she looked at him and started trying to get up.
" Woah woah!. You don't want to make it worse. What do you need? " He gently pushed her back down onto the ground.
"Well you need license plate info. I didn't find any missing kids reports but it takes awhile for me to get all the info from the traffic cams. I can't do any of that from here. " She got a determined look on her face.
" Well can you access any of that from your laptop? " he asked.
": I can but since I am here I left that at home so either you go to my house and get the laptop or help me get to the computers. " She looked at him with a fierce challenge in her eyes.
" How about you just walk me through what to do? It can't be that hard right? " As soon as he said it he knew that was the worst thing to have said to her. One of her eyebrows shot up and her eyes got a cold glint in them. "Oliver, let me explain this in a way you'll understand. Would you let me shoot your bow without any training whatsoever? I mean it's so easy right, you just point it at something and let go of that string. No need to account for wind, for angles, for trajectories, no need to lead your target or any of the other millions of calculations your brain makes when you are aiming at a moving target. " She snapped out in a harsh voice.
" No of course not, but I mean it's…" he stopped himself.
" It's what ? Do go on. " Somehow she growled that out. He met her fierce gaze and in his mind her face molded with Shado's when he first made fun of archery.
"It's your area of expertise Felicity. I should not have implied that it was either easy or something I could do with no prior knowledge or training. Perhaps in the future you could start showing me some of what you do so I have a greater understanding of what's involved. If you are ok here I can go get your laptop from home if you would like. " He said, in a respectful and humble tone of voice, she was right. He had been taking what she did for granted. Felicity's face became a study in how many emotions a person can show in a short amount of time, shock flew across her face, then came a bit of suspicion as if she thought he was making fun of her, following that pride took over then came the gratitude and surprise. Gratitude that someone she respected was acknowledging her skills and surprise that Oliver had expressed that acknowledgement in such a respectful way, that he had been humble enough to admit she was as accomplished if not more10 in some way than he was.
"Thank you Oliver, that...that means a lot. " She gave him a full powered smile and then looked at the computer array. "Look, I really only need the center computer monitor and it's tower. If you can help me move closer to the desk we can move them to the floor and I should be ok to type. We can turn the other monitors around on the desk in case I need to move things to the other screens. "
He walked to the desk in a few quick steps, arranged things as she instructed and sat down to wait for her to work her magic. Her fingers flew across the keyboard and she asked " What was that plate number again and what was the address you were at when you saw the car? Which direction did they drive off? " He gave her all the information and was again amazed at the speed and fluidity that Felicity navigated her way through countless screens, passwords and systems. She had been right, it would have been foolish of him to have her try to walk him through this. Felicity was working off some sort of technological instinct, it was like when he walked into a dangerous situation. She wasn't so much as thinking as she was responding, reacting and interacting immediately to whatever appeared on her screen. Hacking into systems, building computers, navigating the immense universe that was the internet was as much a part of her as his fighting skills and bow and arrow had become of him. Within a matter of 15-20 minutes she had a map of the city up showing him the route of the vehicle she had pieced together using traffic cam footage and some sort of software that compared images of plates to find the one she needed.
"Ok, I can get you within a 3 block radius of where they finally ended up. Sorry, that's the best I can do. The cameras around this part of The Glades are pretty sparse these days. " she said.
"Felicity, that's perfect! It's a lot more than I would have even hoped for. I can cover 3 blocks pretty fast, especially if Dig comes with me. " he replied.
" Well don't get too excited. Look where it is. " He looked at the screen as the map zoomed into the area she was referring to. It was the area hardest hit by the quake, dozens of damaged buildings, inaccessible roads, lots of warehouses with multiple entrances and exits and who knew how many basements. A perfect place to hide large amounts of people, no one went there anymore, and those who did minded their own business or ended up dead. He felt a sinking feeling in his stomach, someone was either setting up an ambush for someone or planning something incredibly horrific, either way it involved children and some…..some being or thing that was a threat to his city; and that was not acceptable.
" Hey, can you scroll back over the last two weeks and see if you can spot any other cars with children in them coming here, if so how many. Also is there a way to set up some sort of alert or something on the traffic cams around those to let us know when people drive up to that spot? " he asked, his brain was working quickly, he needed more information before he could strike and he knew time was running out.
" Well, I can narrow it down to some of the least traveled routes or else it will be too much information to go through. Can you narrow it down any more for me? " he reached into his pocket and grabbed the list of addresses Roy had given him.
" Yeah I think so, these are all the addresses of the children Roy knows for sure have gone missing. Maybe narrow it down to routes most likely to be traveled from these areas to that spot. It's a long shot but it's something. " She shifted a bit, winced in pain and took the list.
11"I'll get right on it boss. " She settled down and got started. He looked at her for a few minutes, trying to phrase things carefully.
"Felicity, how about we get you home? There's no need for you to be laying here on the floor working when you could do this from somewhere more comfortable. I know you're as anxious as I am to help these kids but let's make sure you don't get hurt worse in the process. " he hoped she wouldn't take what he was saying as some sort of dismissal of her. She stopped typing and looked at him.
"You're probably right." She tried to get up, hissed with the pain and looked awkwardly at him. He saw her trying to phrase her next statement in some sort of way that wouldn't embarrass her. He smiled.
"Look give me the keys to your car, I'll pull it up to the back, carry you out and drive you home. Let me call Dig and see if he can meet me at your place and bring me back. We'll get you home and set up with a few things and call it a night ok? " she gave him a grateful smile.
Fortunately Diggle was free to pick Oliver up so they got her all situated in the car and headed to her house. Oliver had never been to Felicity's place, she lived on the second floor of a fairly nice condo complex. She refused to have Oliver carry her past building security to her place and made him drive around the back to the tenant elevator. "That's all I need is people thinking that I got drunk on a date with you and you had to carry me home and to bed. " were her exact words. Oliver had to agree with her on that one. It was bad enough people thought her promotion at work was due to some illicit affair, he felt bad that she had to deal with the whispers and gossip but she had never seemed to be bothered by it. He wondered if in her chosen field people thought she had excelled because of her looks, not her skills. He was surprised at how that thought angered him.
The elevator ride was quick, as it slowed to a halt Felicity motioned Oliver to put her down. "What now?" he asked.
'Let me look out and see if anyone is in the hall." Perhaps she was being too paranoid he thought.
" OK all clear, I think I can walk to my door from here. Just brace me a bit please. " Oliver had pulled muscles in his back before and he was astonished that she managed to make it 4 doors down to her unit while keeping a relatively straight face. Fortunately no one came into the hallway, she unlocked her door and took two steps into the room and collapsed against the wall in pain. He caught her just before she hit the floor. " I got you, relax. Where'd you learn to keep that straight of a face while in that much pain? " he asked.
"Look at who I work with, I figured if you could walk around with bullet wounds, stab wounds and who knows how many broken ribs I could go a few steps with a messed up muscle in my back. " She said breathlessly, shaking a bit from the pain. He took a quick look at her. She needed some stronger pain killers or a sedative. Fortunately he had tucked some herbs from the island in his jacket pocket when they left. Once again she had surprised him, some day he hoped to deserve the amount of respect she gave him. He laid her carefully down on the couch and took a quick look around, her house was neat but not obsessively clean, she had several books on computers and programs on a bookshelf, minimal but well appointed furniture in the living room. The kitchen looked well stocked and had copper bottom pots and pans dangling from hooks in the ceiling, some photos and artwork were scattered about, it looked homey. The Queen mansion never felt homey. He found that after he had returned from the island where he, Shado and Slade had spent much of their time in plane wreckage and caves, much closer quarters than he had g12rown up in, he could never fully relax in the huge spaces, open floor plans and vaulted ceilings that abounded in his family home. Maybe some day he could somehow justify getting his own place, after all not that many people stayed at the mansion anymore, whenever he thought about it though it seemed like moving out would break that last tenuous link he had with his family.
" OK so what do you need ? " he asked.
"A massage and a margarita" she muttered under her breath not thinking Oliver could hear her. "My laptop which is in my bedroom and…." she trailed off.
" Felicity?"
" Well, it's just I haven't done laundry, and my room is kind of cluttered and…" she looked away from him.
" I will close my eyes, walk directly to your laptop, pick it up and walk right back out. Promise. " He told her hoping to make her laugh. She smiled a bit anxiously and shrugged, realizing that she couldn't really do much to stop Oliver from going into her room.
He turned and walked down the hallway and found the door to her room, with her nervousness he was expecting to see women's clothes strewn everywhere and maybe some other embarrassing things but he should have known better. He opened the door to her room and stopped, every single wall was covered with technological equipment, most of which he didn't really know what it was. She had a desk to one side that had 4 no wait, 5 monitors on it seemingly processing all on their own, picture, numbers, newspaper articles etc were all flying by at an insane rate. There were racks to either side that held what he could only guess were servers of some sort. Her queen sized bed was tucked into a corner, the covers looked like they had never been touched. There were no clothes laying about, he saw them all stacked in a pile neatly folded. Puzzled she had things one normally hung in closets on the floor he opened the closet door, which revealed more servers, hard drives and monitors. He finally spotted the laptop, looking for all the world like a child's toy in the midst of all this technological grandness, picked it up and walked back out to the living room.
Felicity looked at him, there was some obscure sort of pain in her eyes, like she was waiting for him to berate or make fun of her room or somehow admonish her that she should be doing better things with her time. That's when it hit him, his prior idle stray thought of men in her field dismissing her interests and skills was indeed a reality. She was the exception to the rule, just like Shado had once said her father had wanted a son, he realized that in Felicity's life her peers or maybe even her family had tried to turn her away from her passions and turn her into something she wasn't. He knew the next thing he said would be probably one of the most important things he would ever say in his life, the nature of his and Felicity's relationship was hanging in the balance.
"Why do you need all that equipment? It's very impressive. How do you keep track of everything? " he asked. It was almost painful how vulnerable she looked at that moment. She had been so afraid that he would be dismissive of her, even if he hadn't been genuinely curious as to what she was doing with all that gear he would have said the same thing. He of all people, should be the last one to demean someone's life choices and interests. At least she had put her college education to good use.
She took the laptop from him and powered it on. "Well, to be honest there didn't used to be so much but since I j13oined up with you I've expanded things a bit. Remember when I told you I could log in remotely from here into the systems there? " He nodded at her as he gathered a pot up and poured some water into it, preparing to make some tea. "Well that's not exactly accurate. Actually, I am logging in remotely to the system when we're at the club. The system I built for you, it's here Oliver, not there. "
"I don't understand. " He told her.
"Well, that first night I was there, when you were shot and bleeding all over my car. Hey does that herbal stuff clean upholstery? I have yet to get those stains out. Anyway, I realized that you needed a better set -up than what you had and I started planning out what you would need. Do you really think I hack into the FBI database using the two hard drives I have there not to mention over a non secure internet connection? I'm good, but not that good. So when I finally made it home I started designing what I would need. Without getting too technical on you I use the club as a remote site so I can bounce my IP address all over the place but I have an encrypted, secure line here. So while my IP address is bouncing all over the place I am accessing a secure line here and getting you information. After that it was just a matter of borrowing a few things from Queen Consolidated, they were just sitting in storage . Oliver I swear. I checked, they had been part of an extra shipment we got that no one did anything with. It's not like I am stealing from the company. I also figured that if anyone ever tracked down the club and destroyed it...for some reason, everything would be safe here. I mean, most people wouldn't think someone was running a system that does what I do out of a condo right? At least until they looked at my power bill. " She turned her head and started typing on her laptop. He was stunned, he turned the burner to high, set the pot with water on top and walked over to the couch.
" So you're telling me that months ago, before you even fully agreed to come on board you thought this all out? "
" Well, I don't do anything halfway. Remember, I came on to find Walter, I had a rough idea of the resources I would need to do that. The rest was just a logical thought process, really. " She said as she focused on the screen and pushed her glasses back up on her nose. She was fully engulfed in her world of computers and commands at this point, he shook his head and once again realized how he kept underestimating her, he was going to have to stop doing that. The water had started boiling, he found a tea ball and put some of the herbs in it, found a mug, put the water and the tea ball in the mug and set it to steep.
"Is that the stuff that you drink every time you get poisoned or drugged? I don't think I need anything that serious. " She asked idly, the scent of the herbs was drifting through the house.
"No, this is something that will kill the pain and help you relax. It's a bit bitter though, do you have any honey? It helps. "
" Yeah, cabinet to the right of the stove, 2nd shelf, 3rd bottle to the right. " He reached up and got it, mixed in some honey and put the mug next to her arm on the coffee table.. He texted Diggle that he could come pick him up, Diggle replied "Been outside for 10 mins. Took you long enough. " Oliver smiled as he realized that somehow these two people seemed to know him better than he knew himself.
"Ok, here's the tea. Diggle is here, I will give you a choice. You really shouldn't be alone as it will be pretty hard to move, I can stay here or if you know someone that can come over and help I'll wait 14until they get here. " He knew she would probably be a bit uneasy having him sleep over.
"Um, I have a friend in the building. Let me call her, you don't have to stay. If she says she will be over she will be. " Oliver nodded and stepped away to let her call her friend. Felicity hung up the phone and said her friend would be over in a few minutes.
He chose to wait anyway for one, he was sure she would forget about the tea steeping and if overdone those herbs tasted like dirt mixed with tar and for another he wanted to spend a few more minutes in her homey place. He settled on the recliner and closed his eyes, trying to collect his thoughts. He heard a soft knock at the door, Felicity instinctively went to get up and immediately sank back on the couch. He motioned her to relax, grabbed the herbs out of the mug as they had been steeping long enough and opened the door. A young women stood on the other side and she had a bag with some ice packs sticking out of it in one hand and some Tiger Balm in the other.
" Oh hello. I'm Tonya. " She awkwardly tried to shake his hand.
"It's ok, I'm just leaving. I'm …"
" You're Oliver Queen I know, I know. " Tonya gave him a piercing look as if trying to get him to confess some hideous misdoing. He put on his most charming smile.
" Yes, I am. I was going over reports for the company. I had tried to send her home earlier but she seems to think I can't do anything in the office on my own. She was printing out something for me, the printer ran out of paper. She went to pick up a whole case of paper and seems to have put her back out. There was no one else in the office and I was certainly not going to make her drive home herself in that condition. So here I am, leaving, now that a caring friend has shown up to help. " Tonya tried to keep the disapproving look on her face but it cracked under the weight of his smile, the story and the compliment. Ironically, it was the one skill he didn't learn on the island that in some ways was the most important skill in his life now. How to lie convincingly, especially to women. That one he had down by the time he was 13. " Thank you for coming on such short notice and so late Tonya. It looks like Felicity will be in good hands. " he stepped aside so Tonya could walk in. He looked back into the living room, "Remember to drink that tea and don't worry about that other project. We can do it tomorrow. Get some rest. I'll make an appointment for you at a chiropractor on Monday if you are still in pain. I do know how to do that Ms. Smoak. Thank you for all your assistance tonight. " He smiled at Felicity who smiled back and closed her laptop, he knew that as soon as her friend left or fell asleep she would be on it all night. What she didn't know was that tea would knock an elephant out, she needed rest right now not spending all night trying to hunt down some new danger in Starling City. He waved goodbye and walked towards the elevator, rode it down to the parking lot and met Diggle. He shook his head at Diggle who had shot him a questioning look. "She's fine. Look let me think for a bit, then I'll fill you in ok? " Diggle nodded, opened the door to the car for him, closed it, got in the drivers seat and then they headed back to the mansion. Oliver closed his eyes, leaned back and wondered just exactly what this new danger was.
CHAPTER 4
It was the second night of the 4 day drive and it was Sam's turn to drive. They had only stopped once to sleep for a few hours at a cheap motel. The fact that there could be kids involved was weighing on both their minds. Dean was asleep so Sam, thankfully got a rest from 80s music. He had earphones in hooked up to his Mp3 player and currently that amazing scream by Jared Leto in " Night of the Hunter" was keeping him company.
"Skinned her alive, ripped her apart
Scattered her ashes, buried her heart
Rise up above it, high up above it and see
Pray to your God, open your heart
Whatever you do, don't be afraid of the dark
Cover your eyes, the devil's inside
One night of the hunter
One day I will get revenge
One night to remember
One day it'll all just end,"
This song and they way in which Jared sung it, just wrenched his emotions every time. He was hoping he could rise above it and see but lately all he saw was emptiness and pain. He shook his head as his eyes started to blur with tears. Getting all choked up wouldn't help those kids and it wouldn't help him. Sam was hoping the next stop had internet access as he wanted to check his site out and see if Tara had sent any other messages. He figured if they struck out at the rest stop he would call Ellen and have her log in as him and see if there was anything waiting for him. They had called Ellen from the road and asked if anyone had noticed anything in the WA area, demonic omens or the like and she said she hadn't heard but she would keep her eyes and ears open, Bobby had said the same thing right after saying that they were being damn fool idiots for going after this with no backup or actual knowledge. Sam had to agree but he couldn't ignore his intuition which was screaming at him that he needed to stop whatever was going on. He was starting to get a cramp in his leg from driving and he needed to move a bit. A sign flashed by stating there was a truck stop in another 10 miles, he pressed down the gas pedal trying to get there just a little bit faster.
He pulled into the truck stop, it looked pretty busy. It was late and a lot of truckers had pulled off to get a few hours of sleep in their cabs or maybe catch a shower, this stop was out in the middle of nowhere but it was pretty large, with truck washes, room rentals, showers and a 24 hour restaurant. Sam pulled up to a pump and parked, he looked at Dean debating if he should wake him. He figured if Dean didn't wake up because the Impala had stopped moving he was probably pretty tired. Sam got out of the car and walked inside to get some gas, coffee, use the bathroom and stretch his legs a bit, he smiled at the cashier as he paid for his gas and coffee and headed to the restroom. He turned the corner to go inside and heard a voice behind him.
"Sam, what do you think you're doing?"
15" Hi Ruby. I was wondering when you were going to show up. Right now I am going to go use the restroom, then I am going to gas up the car, get my coffee and start driving again. Is that alright with you? " He said without even turning around. He pushed open the door to the restroom and went in, thankfully Ruby chose not to follow him although he knew she was waiting just outside. He finished up and opened the door.
" Leave being a smart ass to Dean, he's better at it. " She looked as she always did, dressed in a brown leather jacket, jeans, a knife showing on her belt and her blonde hair pulled slightly out of her face. Sam never knew what to think of her, plus he wondered about that body she was in. Demons don't have their own body, she was possessing someone, in the normal scheme of things he would tie Ruby to a chair in the middle of a King Soloman's seal and send her back to hell freeing whoever she was borrowing but unfortunately things had changed. Ruby was a demon, but a demon who wanted to help him. He still wasn't sure he could trust her but so far she hadn't been wrong in anything she said.
" Ok Ruby, out with it. What horrible mess are we getting ourselves this time? " he decided to just resign himself to the situation. Whatever he thought of demons, Ruby had stuck her neck out for them a couple of times, although he couldn't quite bring himself to be gracious to her at least he could try to be polite.
" Well, at least you're starting to come around and listen. " she said. She looked harried, frustrated and out of sorts even for her. Sam couldn't even begin to imagine the things she was having to do to stay off the radar so other demons didn't kill her for betraying them, unless of course she was part of the plan to get Sam to trust a demon that would betray him in the end. Sam stopped that line of thought before his paranoia became even further developed.
'"Look Dean is sleeping in the car and we have a long way to go. What's up?"
" Why are you both in so much of a hurry to get yourselves killed? OK, can we sit down at least? If Dean wakes up he'll just come in, it'll save you having to repeat all this anyway. " she looked tired, and Sam was exhausted. He motioned to a booth in the restaurant portion of the truck stop. The one waitress on shift looked hopefully at him, poor woman probably got no tips this time of night. Sam motioned her over and Ruby ordered a coffee, he figured what the hell and ordered a sandwich. He could always eat it later or give it to Dean. Then he looked pointedly at Ruby, she took the hint.
"Ok Sam. You already know that they are trying to set you up so I won't repeat the obvious but it's not just getting you she wants. "
"She, as in Lillith" he said.
"Yeah, her. " Ruby shivered a bit when she replied. He knew nothing about this Lillith yet but if she scared Ruby he was pretty damn sure he wouldn't like what he found out. Ruby took a breath to calm herself and continued.
"Remember the spell I offered to do last time to get rid of all the demons around the cop station. This time you may really have no choice and so the offer still stands whether or not you have issues sacrificing a virgin. Lillith wants more demons at her beck and call. Apparently the ones you guys set free at the Hell Gate aren't enough for her. She has always been fond of mass destruction and such, not that she can't be subtle and strategic. She's the oldest one of us Sam, I want you to think16 about that as you listen to me. That earthquake in Starling City created a huge amount of anger, sadness, pain, rage, all those things demons love and it's much worse than in natural disasters. This was an act of destruction that astonished even people like me, the scary part is it was thwarted, there was another earthquake device that someone stopped. If they hadn't it would have caused 2-3 times the amount of damage and death. This was perpetrated on an innocent population who had no prior knowledge, it was done by people so selfish and twisted that they thought killing all those people was the only way to save the city, it was done out of revenge. By most demonic standards it was a work of art actually, of course none of us actually had a hand in it. Humans do more damage than most demons ever could, that whole free will option.
Anyway the fallout from all this is that the people there, their hate and anger are running out of control. They hate the people that did this to them, they want to take revenge, they want "justice" for their loved ones that died. They have turned on each other, whole segments of the population are at war with each other. This makes them incredibly easy to be possessed by demons and powerful demons at that and that is what Lillith needs and wants. " Ruby stopped and looked directly at him, the force of her gaze mesmerized him because it was so serious and full of fear.
" Lillith wants to create a gate to hell there. That's why she's taking children, when she opens that gate all the demons that escape will have a ready made, easily accessible population to possess and they will all owe allegiance to Lillith for freeing them. She's going to sacrifice the children and open a gate to hell that cannot be closed by anyone but her. You have to stop her. " Sam slowly lowered his cup of coffee to the table, he didn't trust his shaking hand to not spill the hot liquid all over him.
"How? I mean she's the oldest of you. Will the Colt work?" he asked in a stunned voice.
"Well here's where you get a little lucky, she's not there yet. The ritual can't take place for another 6 days, things have to align, you know how that works. So if you can get there, stop it in the next 6 days and get the hell out of there you may survive. If not, your chances are pretty damn slim. Unless we do that spell, it may work on her I am not sure but it's the only other option you would have.. The Colt is 50/50 at best, she would probably just stop the bullet like that other demon did. " Ruby slugged down the rest of her coffee and got ready to stand up, just then Dean showed up.
" Well looks like my timing was a bit off but I knew you were going to show up. Hi Ruby, get the hell away from Sam."
" Dean, wait. " Sam started, Dean had an even stronger distrust of Ruby and probably wouldn't able to even be civil to her anytime soon. "Look she was telling me about the job. You have to listen to her. Please. " Dean looked at him then back at Ruby.
"I am certainly not going to repeat all that. Sam can fill you in on the details but let me dumb it down for you Dean. Lillith, sacrifice kids, open gate to hell, apocalypse, 6 days. Did that go by too fast for you? " Sam tried to hide his smile, one thing to be said for Ruby, she could certainly put his brother in his place faster than anyone else ever had.
" No, I think I got it thanks. " Even though the remark was meant to sound harsh it lost much of it's bite because Dean's face had paled and he sat down slowly beside Sam.
Sam saw Dean open his mouth as if to say something, but he closed it again and just put his face in his hands and sat there. Ruby looked at the two of them, shook her head and said
" Look, you guys need time to process all of this. There is someone there that may be able to help you. "
" Another hunter?" Dean asked raising his face out of his hands and looking hopeful.
"No, he's, well he's the guy that tried to stop the earthquake. I don't know much about him, he's protected somehow. All I know is that he's new on the scene and is not who he seems to be. I'll try to find out more. I'll catch up with you in a few days maybe I can help you once you're there. " She got up and walked out.
" Huh, who do you think she's talking about?" Dean asked. Sam looked at his brother.
" Remember who I told you about that was weird in that city?"
"That Hood guy that shoots arrows? Really? Against demons? C'mon she can't be serious!"
" Well Dean, we use shotgun shells filled with rock salt, holy water and blessed bullets that shoot out of a gun that was fixed by a demon. Explain to me how arrows are somehow useless weapons." Sam said. Dean started to speak, closed his mouth, shook his head and just threw up his hands.
"Well, I guess we can dip the arrows in holy water or something. Who knows maybe he knows some secret demon killing herb he found on a deserted island that no one knows about. Come on, let's go. " The two of them stood up, Dean left a generous tip for the lone waitress. They walked outside, filled up the tank of the Impala and drove off, both of them thinking that maybe, just maybe this time they wouldn't be coming back.
CHAPTER 5
Oliver walked into the Queen mansion, he debated going back and training a bit under the club but figured he should try to sleep. It was getting easier and easier to sleep, the nightmares were lessening and he had finally adjusted to soft beds and pillows again. For the first few months of his return he ended up sleeping on the floor of his room because he couldn't get used to sleeping in a bed, plus it made him feel vulnerable since it slowed his movements.
He decided to wait to do any recon until Felicity was back up and running and could hopefully narrow things down a bit more, covering all that area without someone watching his back remotely wasn't something he wanted to tackle, especially after what he had seen. He still hadn't told Diggle, mainly because he wasn't sure what it was that he actually saw. He undressed and got into bed, still restless , maybe he should make some of that tea he gave Felicity for himself. Of course the last time he had that tea he had slept for 14 hours straight and he couldn't afford to lose that much time. He started working on some calming rituals he had devised since he had returned from the island, part of it was to work on controlling his anger and part of it was so he could sleep.
He had calmed himself enough to be just at the edge of sleep when his phone went off, he restrained himself from throwing it into the wall and looked at the text. It was Felicity "Nice try with the tea, too busy to sleep, narrowed it down to two blocks, click the link for a map. Going to bed now. " He started to put the phone down without clicking the link, he could go tomorrow, during the day, less chance of any nasty surprises, it was safer. He closed his eyes and sighed, who the hell was he kidding and damn Felicity for sending that, he clicked the link and looked at the map.
She had narrowed it down and some of the nastier areas were not included, he hoped that she was right because this he and Dig could handle a bit better. If he left now he could suit up and be there within 45 mins, he looked at the clock it said 130 am, Felicity was out of commission and if he called Dig again he was sure there would be a lecture or at least several disapproving looks. If he stuck to the rooftops that would lessen the chance of him being seen by anyone, his heart rate picked up in anticipation. He may as well admit to himself that he wasn't going to get any sleep anyway and do something useful, he doubted those kids were sleeping.
He got up out of bed, got dressed, snagged a car from the garage and headed to the club. When he got there he loaded up the computers and saw that Felicity had stored a file with indications of where the most vehicle traffic had been in and out of the area. He certainly wasn't going to try to cover the whole area tonight, even though it was only two blocks there were a lot of buildings and most of those had interior rooms with no windows so would take awhile to canvas through. He suited up, double checked his quiver of arrows and headed out into the night. He picked two or three of the most obvious buildings in a fit of optimism that maybe these bad guys were lazy or overly bold and felt like making his life easy.
He parked the car about a block away from one of the buildings in a parking garage that seemed semi secure. He had made sure to grab one of the lower end cars from the Queen garage and ended up with a Mazda which would hopefully attract less attention than the BMW or Mercedes. He had the hood, bow, greasepaint for his face stashed in a duffle bag and he threw on some sweats over the hood outfit. He walked out of the parking garage and checked the area. No one was around so he found a roof access point, climbed up to the roof of the nearest building, finished suiting up and starting jumping gaps between the buildings to get to his objective. As he cleared the second gap he peered over the edge into the alley below, he had heard some voices and wanted to scope things out a bit.
"This is getting tedious. Having to keep all these kids alive and quiet. This a big risk she is running. " the male below him said to his companion.
" Watch your tongue or you may not have it when she gets here. Since when are kids too much for you to handle hmm? We have 3 more days of this and then we get to take part in all that delicious chaos and destruction. It's worth a little tediousness. Besides, all this lead up time makes killing them that much more enjoyable. "
Oliver clenched his fist, the two below him started walking back down the alley he decided to follow them along the roofs and see if he could hear more details. The taller one stopped.
"Do you feel that? Someone is watching us. " He said as he started looking back down the alley one, then he looked up. Oliver ducked down as fast as he could and hoped it had been fast enough.
"Bah, probably another homeless bum or mugger. You're overly paranoid. The Winchesters aren't in town yet. no other hunter is on to us. What are you worried about? " The shorter one retorted. "Let's just get this patrol done so we can get back inside. It's someone else's turn to play watchman." Oliver waited until he heard the footsteps disappear and then waited another two minutes in case one was waiting to see if someone did show up. He slowly peered over the edge and saw that they were indeed gone. Great, he thought to himself, not only are these guys somehow capable of knocking someone out by just touching their forehead they also have incredibly sharp senses and he had a deadline. This just kept getting better and better. He also wondered who these Winchesters were that they seemed afraid of. Oliver was getting the sinking feeling that his city and those kids were being used as a trap, he didn't like that idea at all. He knew which way the footsteps had faded off into and decided to push a bit further into the maze, but he was definitely staying on rooftops.
As he worked his way closer to where he thought the other two had gone, three more people came out of a door. Well, at least he knew where they were holed up now. The three split into separate paths around the perimeter of the building and one of them looked up to the roof, flexed his legs and hopped right onto the top of the roof. Fortunately, Oliver was on the opposite side of the alley and he decided he had better stay right there if he was going to get a chance to help those kids. These guys were definitely not normal, he started wondering if they were some sort of super soldier or a group like the League of Assassins, but even the best people in the League couldn't jump like that. Deciding that discretion would probably be the wiser path tonight and since he found the building where they were working out of Oliver slowly worked his way back to where he had stashed his duffle, pulled the sweats back on and made it back to his car. He definitely would need back up and Felicity on the computers helping him to pull this off. It tore at him to leave those kids but going in there blind would only get him killed. As he processed that thought, the next thought that hit him was how was he going to explain all this to Diggle and Felicity tomorrow. They already thought he was somewhat crazy as it was. He shook his head, well hopefully they would at least entertain the notion of what he was saying enough to help him.
He headed back to the mansion, set his alarm for 6 am and started to settle back into sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a very long day.
The obnoxious clanging of the alarm woke him from a nightmare about the freighter. Unlike most people Oliver actually appreciated his alarm clock, sleep was very often of little rest or comfort to him. He rolled out of bed, did a short workout, got dressed and headed downstairs.
"Hey Oli!" Thea greeted him.
"Hello Thea. Good Morning!" He was surprised to see her, she had been staying most nights at Roy's. Oliver would feel better if she brought him here where it was safer but maybe Thea, like him, found smaller quarters more relaxing. It's not like there were a lot of happy memories in the Queen Mansion over the last few years. "What are up to today? "
"I took the day off from the club. Roy and I are going to go on a day trip, get the hell out of this city. Go see some trees and relax. " She replied. "How about you?"
" Well, Verdant has been doing so well, thanks to you of course, I thought I would scout some places for another club in The Glades. At least the clubs bring money and jobs to that part of town." That would cover him if someone saw him lurking around that area today. Plus he had been thinking a second base of operations wouldn't be a bad idea anyway.
" Really!? Can I manage that one too? " Thea had been really enjoying working, it seemed to get her mind off the recent events and she seemed much more stable. Oliver smiled at her.
"Well I was thinking maybe we could promote someone to that position. You can be a manager over them but it's hard managing two places at the same time. Know anyone that would be interested?" " He expected her to say Roy but she surprised him.
"There's Angela, she pretty much taught me everything about running Verdant. Tommy had hired her as an assistant, then after….well after what happened and I took over she helped me. I would have destroyed the club if it hadn't been for her. I'll talk to her about it. Thanks Oli! That would be so exciting! " Thea reached up and hugged him and headed out the door. Oliver shook his head and followed behind her.
He had been debating toning down what he told Diggle and Felicity about the events with the kids but he knew those two would sniff that out within a matter of seconds. At least he had a name, Winchesters, and those things seemed scared of them whoever they were. He wasn't sure how that information would come in handy but it was a start. Pulling up to the club he saw Diggle arrive and figured he should probably call and check on Felicity before Diggle asked him how she was, he dialed her number and hoped it wasn't too early. He really didn't want to wake her.
" Hello Oliver. " She said as she picked up on the second ring.
"Hello Felicity. How's the back? "
" It hurts , but I can move a bit better. I did drink some of that tea after I texted you, it helped a lot. Thank you. Do you need me to come down? " He knew if he said yes she'd drag herself in even if she couldn't move her legs.
" No, since I now know you can work at home doing this just as easily as being here I want you to stay there but log in. I may need you to search some information. Let me call you back after Diggle and I get inside ok? "
" Are you sure? I mean I can move now…"
" Felicity, there is no reason right now for you to be sitting in a chair when you can be more comfortable on your couch or bed doing what I need. Look, I appreciate that you want to be here but really, we are ok right now. I'd feel horrible if you hurt yourself worse because you came here. Please, for me Felicity, just stay there and I'll set up the webchat. It will be just like you are here. " Why he got such devotion from her he had no idea.
" Ok Oli, I'll have everything up and running in about 15 mins. " She replied and hung up. Sighing with relief at handling that minor crisis he turned and faced Diggle. Diggle had on his most impassive, poker face, which Oliver had learned meant he was getting impatient with not knowing what was going on.
" Let's walk and talk. First off, Felicity is staying home, her back is still sore and she can log in from there and research things if needed. I promised her I would set up the webchat or she probably would be driving here right now. One of us will have to take her to a chiropractor on Monday most likely. "
"I'll do it. " Diggle volunteered. "You taking her would raise some eyebrows for sure. " Diggle fell into step beside Oliver as they headed into their home away from home. "So, do I get to know what's going on now? I heard something from some contacts in The Glades that weird things are happening with kids. What's going on?" Well there went any chance of toning things down, Diggle's sources had probably already mentioned some of things that Roy had.
"Dig, ok just hear me out. This is going to sound a bit strange and I don't know what to make of this. I promise I am not holding anything back either, I get the feeling that we may be a bit out of our depth here so I want to have both you and Felicity completely on board with this one. Let me just get this web chat up and I'll fill both of you in. " Dig nodded at Oliver, temporarily satisfied. Oliver took a deep breath, somehow, even though they had only known each other for a short amount of time it was like Dig always knew exactly what Oliver was thinking and he found that pretty disturbing sometimes.
He made it to the computers, set up the web chat, got Felicity online and then repeated the events of the past night.
"Wait...they're going to kill all those kids three days from now?" Felicity blurted in a sickened tone.
"That's what they said, I have no idea why but it sounds like it's an opening act for something evil. " Oliver replied. He glanced at Diggle who had slowly sat down on the floor while Oliver had told his story. Dig's eyes had gone wide with shock, then narrowed into a dangerous glare. That was a look Oliver had only seen when he talked about his brother's killer.
"Dig?"
" Ok, you said these guys seemed like high level pros but how they talk, it sounds like they are going to be participating in it, so they are probably not hired guns but converts to whoever this "she " is. " He stopped and Oliver could see he was dredging up something from a time Diggle would have preferred to forget. " You said it looked like the one guy chanted something and the kid went limp and then the eyes went all black? "
" Yes but that could have just been the lighting…." Diggle looked at him.
"Oliver, I have seen you shoot men who were running in and out of street lights at night while you were dodging bullets. You don't get fooled by lighting tricks. " He stared Oliver in the eyes, wanting the truth.
" Ok, yes the eyes went all black, no whites, then back to normal. Then one jumped all the way to a roof with no climbing involved. I don't think they are normal people. " Speaking it Oliver realized he had been trying to deny it but Diggle wouldn't give him that comfort. Diggle's gaze shifted and he shivered.
" Dig? "
"When I was overseas, the locals talked about spirits that possessed people. We all chalked it up to poor people folklore but they said that one way you could tell was when their eyes turned completely black. My unit and I were investigating an incident, there were some pretty grisly killings happening, even for wartime, and the local cops were all long gone. We were supposed to be "peacekeepers" right so we got tagged to investigate the killings We tracked him down to an isolated house at the edge of the town. We surrounded the house and I went through the door first. There he was, covered in blood and laughing about it. There were all these symbols written in blood on the walls and he was chanting in some language I had never heard.
We opened fire on him and he just stood there, laughing. The bullets hit him but there was no blood and he didn't even move, there were 5 of us firing full auto and nothing mattered. We stopped firing and he looked at us and said "Is it my turn now? " He blinked and his eyes turned all black. Then he lifted his hands and we all went hurtling into the walls and the bullet holes closed up, he held us there by some sort of force. One of the guys started bleeding from a cut in his throat that just appeared. Let me tell you at that point I think all of us just started praying to make it out of there. All of a sudden these two women came bursting in, they had swords Oliver, swords of all things. As soon as he saw them he dropped his hands and we all slid to the floor gasping for air. These two women, they moved so fast, it was unbelievable, they chopped off his arms and he started screaming and smoke rose from the wounds but the swords weren't glowing hot. After his arms got chopped off one of the women started chanting it what sounded like Latin and this black smoke started coming out of his mouth and I swear there were orange cracks like flames showing through his skin. The woman not chanting moved in and cut his head off. All the guys in my unit just stared at the women. One of them went to the guy who was bleeding and bandaged the wound fast, like she was a medic, they motioned to us to leave and we picked up our wounded man and walked out. We all got so incredibly drunk after that and swore to never mention it again. " Diggle closed his eyes and shuddered. Oliver looked at the computer screen and saw Felicity looking as stunned as he felt. If these things were like what Diggle described there was no way he could save these kids.
" Look I don't know if that's what we're dealing with here Oliver but I just wanted to let you know that what you saw, you're not imagining things. " Diggle said.
" Not sure if that makes things any better. I think I preferred thinking I was nuts. So spirits possessing people? Like a demon or something? " Oliver asked. Diggle just shrugged.
"I don't know but whatever it was and they are, they are not human, even if they look it. " Oliver heard keys clicking ferociously and knew Felicity was already researching.
"Hey Oliver, these Winchesters they mentioned. Did they say anything else about them? " Felicity asked.
"Other than they weren't in town yet no. It seems like there's a possibility of an ambush or a trap for these Winchester people but I can't really give you anything else to go on. Sorry."
'Well, there's of course a ton of information on demons but who knows what is right or not and I am trying to cross reference demons with people named Winchester but I don't know if I am going to find anything. " she said.
"Well it's a start but I need to get more information on these things and the only way to do that right now is to go out there. " Oliver looked a question at Diggle, he wasn't sure if Dig wanted to face something like that again. Diggle looked him full in the face, "Yeah I'll come with you." he said with a small nod. Oliver reached down and helped him up off the floor.
"Let's go as civilians, we probably will draw less attention from these things if they think we are just random people. " Oliver said.
"Well that and your other outfit is hardly as inconspicuous during the day . " Dig said with a little smirk.
"There is that. " Oliver agreed. " Ok Felicity, tell us if you find anything out. You know what buildings we're going to and we shouldn't run into any trouble. Should be back in a few hours. " Felicity's face mirrored her concern but she just nodded and the screen went black. Oliver took in a deep breath, grabbed a few weapons just in case, he saw Diggle did the same and they headed out to The Glades.
"I hope these Winchester people are on our side and know what's happening, I think we are going to need all the help we can get with this one. " Diggle said as they got into the car. Oliver had to agree.
CHAPTER 6
"Sam DOWN!" Dean shouted as he fired over his brother. They had been on the way to Starling City and were about 40 miles outside the city limits at a rest stop when out of nowhere they had been attacked by 3 demons. Dean fired the Colt and took out one, then got hit with a right hook that came out of nowhere and he went flying across the bathroom and cracked his ribs on a sink, fortunately he held onto the Colt. Sam had dropped out of the way of Dean's shot, then came up and nailed a demon under the chin, as the demon fell Sam rode him all the way down pummeling the demon's head against the cement when they landed on the ground. Dean rolled over and shot demon #3 as he went to jump on top of Sam with a knife. Demon #3 hit the ground, Demon #2 opened his mouth and black smoke came pouring out leaving Sam with nothing but an unconscious person beneath him.
"Where the hell did those guys come from? " Dean said as Sam came over to help him up. He winced with the pain "Damn cracked rib. I hate those. "
" I don't know but apparently Ruby wasn't wrong. They are waiting for us. " Sam said.
"Well that's just peachy now isn't it. What are we going to do with this mess ? " Dean walked over to the the person that until recently had been inhabited by a demon, felt for a pulse, there was none. He looked up to Sam and shook his head.
"Damn it…" Sam breathed out. " Well someone will be along at some point, we can torch the place, we don't have time to bury bodies. "
"That will attract too much attention Sam. We're right off a major freeway here. " Dean countered.
" So, what we leave these bodies here for some person to find? That's not right Dean. Look if we set the fire right we will be long gone before it is noticeable. Go check to see if there are any cameras around outside. " Sam started ripping lights out of the wall to try to set a small electrical fire. Dean walked out and looked around for cameras. it looked like this rest stop was not monitored, most weren't but sometimes ones closer to major cities were. He then walked to the Impala, grabbed the gas can and matches and headed back to the restroom and Sam.
"Here you go, let's do this and get going. " Dean started covering the bodies in gasoline. He always hated this part, especially since his contract was going to be up soon and he was going to be getting up close and personal with Hellfire and Brimstone. Sam started the electrical fire and Dean threw a match on the bodies then they turned and left.
Back on the road Dean took a breath and tried to calm the adrenaline that was still pumping through his system. The fact that they got jumped this far out made this whole situation a lot more serious. Lillith or whoever had demons to spare and that was never good.
"Hey there guys. " Ruby said from the backseat. Dean jumped, the car swerved and he almost hit an oncoming car.
" You sadistic bitch. You just love doing that don't you. " He snapped at her.
" It's one of the few perks of demonhood, teleportation is one of everyone's favorite superpowers. Anyway, I narrowed down where they are in the city and you're going to need help. There's about 40 of them in the building. I tried scoping out some virgins but they're so rare these days, especially in a big city. " She reported.
" We are NOT sacrificing a virgin in a spell to nuke 40 demons. " Sam stated. He may be walking a dangerous road listening to Ruby but he had to draw the line somewhere.
" Ok, so you're plan would be? "
"How about we get eyes on this place and see if we can think of something before we go virgin sacrificing? " Dean retorted.
"Yes your plans always work so well. " Ruby muttered under her breath. Dean glared at her in the rearview mirror. He didn't like her, didn't trust her and knew deep down that she was manipulating Sam into something but as of yet she hadn't tipped her hand enough for him to convince Sam of that. He was getting worried that once he was gone and Sam was left alone, he would rely more and more on Ruby. Sam was never good at being alone especially under stress.
" Ruby, what about this guy you said might be able to help us?" Sam asked.
"He's hard to track but I think he has an inkling that something is going on. I don't know a name yet but I'll work on that. You guys try to not get yourselves killed and I'll catch up with you when you settle in. " She disappeared.
" I hate her, I really, really hate her. " Dean said to Sam. Sam looked at him, shrugged his shoulders and turned to look out the window of the car. They passed a sign stating " Welcome to Starling City." Dean shook his head and kept driving.
They pulled into the city proper as the sun was going down.
"So Sam, where are we staying? " Dean asked.
'Well we should probably get closer to "The Glades" part of town which I am sure will be full of shady cheap motels. Just like we like them. " Sam responded with a sigh. "Let's stop somewhere and eat first. I'm starving. "
"Ok " Dean replied "Since were in a big city what are you in the mood for? Let's be extravagant shall we? "
" Sushi...I need sushi" Sam stated succinctly.
"Oh yumm raw fish. What's wrong with steak man?" Just as he said that Dean spotted a restaurant with a sign " Steak and all you can eat Sushi. Tonight's special!" He turned and smiled at Sam "Now that's what I'm talking about! "
" Dean, do you ever eat anything other than standard American food? I mean branch out a bit will you?" "
"Why mess with perfection Sammy. " Dean answered and pulled into the parking lot. Sam was almost out of the car before it stopped. Sushi, he would actually get to eat something other than diner food, he hadn't been this excited in months. Dean laughed at him
"You're like a kid at Christmas. Holy crap, it's just food. "
"You know how excited you get when we get a job in a strip club? Non diner food for me is more of a turn on right now than a naked woman Dean. "
" You always were a bit strange. " Dean said with a smile on his face as they walked into the restaurant.
Out of habit they started walking to a table then Sam realized they were supposed to wait to be seated. Jesus had it been that long? He stopped, grabbed Dean's arm, pointed at the sign asking them to wait, gave the hostess his name and they headed to the bar. There was about a 30 minute wait so they had some time to kill. They settled onto some stools, got some beers and a news report came on the TV.
" The Vigilante's appearance and periodic sweeps through The Glades has definitely decreased crime in that part of the city. It seems he has branched out from just attacking 1% ers without any known reason. Though one has to wonder after the tragedy which Moira Queen stated in her shocking appearance, had been being planned for years if maybe he was trying to stop it. The city police department has been repeatedly declining to comment on the activities of the Vigilante but we have heard rumors that in some instances they have been working together. Later tonight we will have a more in depth report on his activities. Stay tuned. " The channel went to commercial after that. Sam glanced at Dean and saw his thoughts mirrored in his brother's face. This guy whoever he was, seemed to be on the "good side" of things although attacking gangsters and conspiring billionaires was a far cry from taking on 40 demons. He had survived this long so he had to be skilled in fighting and have resources. Sam knew that if they did somehow manage to run into this guy before the deadline, they would have to talk very fast and very convincingly to get him to understand what was going on. Not to mention if he would trust working with complete strangers since it was obvious he was protecting his identity.
"Sam party of 2, your table is ready. " they heard the hostess. They picked up their beers and were shown to a secluded booth in the back. Sam looked at the menu and almost drooled.
"Civilization, oh how I have missed you. " He said. Dean just laughed.
Dean looked at Sam and realized how happy his brother was at that moment. If he had known that food was that important to Sam he would have made sure they got some more variety in food choices. Dean wondered if this is how Sam had looked when he was at college. He had snooped on his brother a few times while he was away at school but it was only for a few minutes, he would catch a glimpse of him walking to class or at home as he looked through Sam's window. Most of the time Sam had looked totally enthralled with his books, a few times Dean had seen Jessica and Sam together. He remembered how excited and free Sam had looked then, now Sam looked more and more like a hunter. Tired, weary, wary and haunted.
"What? " Sam had looked up and caught Dean looking at him.
"Nothing, so what are you going to have first? Rolls or raw fish. ?" Dean knew Sam didn't buy the answer but as often happened they ignored the tension in the room and tried to occupy themselves with other things.
"Dude, it's all you can eat, look at me. I'm pretty sure I can have one of everything on this menu. " Sam started checking boxes next to the sushi offerings. Dean ended up ordering a prime rib, medium rare, a huge salad, garlic potatoes and he even tried some of the sushi rolls Sam ordered. When the plates, and there were several plates, showed up filled with sushi Dean doubted if even Sam could eat it all. Sam worked his way through the rolls savoring every flavor like it was his last day to ever have sushi. It wasn't the best sushi he had ever had but right now he didn't care, it was sushi, nothing else mattered.
Sam ordered a bottle of Sake to end the evening and the brothers sat at their booth much longer than they usually lingered over a meal. They didn't talk much which was odd for them, they just savored the moment of eating a satisfying meal in a restaurant whose decor did not date from the 70s. Finally Dean pushed his plates back, picked up his glass of Sake and looked directly at Sam.
"Sam, look I know I am not the best at this but, well. " Dean hated being emotional but he knew that right now he had to finally voice what had been stuck in his throat since he had made his deal to bring Sam back to life. "Look, after I'm...well not here...I know you are going to want revenge. I get that, believe me I get that. I just….I don't want you to end up like Dad. I loved Dad but...you could have more. You could go back to school. It's just, I want you to live your life not just live for revenge. Look how fucked up our lives were because Dad was living for revenge. " Dean trailed off, he could feel his eyes filling with frustrated tears.
"Dean, you want me to abandon you to hell? " Sam's face was filled with anger and hurt.
" No, it's …" he wasn't getting this right damn him. " We both know I have been living on borrowed time. It's what the Winchester's do best right? Play soul roulette. I made my choice with my contract knowing full well what was going to happen. I don't want to go to hell, trust me, but hell is nothing compared to what I would feel if you traded your soul away to get me back. Dad shouldn't have done what he did. People die, it happens. I'm worried about you, I don't want you to end up dead, alone in some abandoned house with no one around you, or worse like Bobby or some of the other old hunters. You had a chance to get away, you could have another. "
'Do you really think I could go back to school and live a normal life now? " Sam asked, in a very hushed tone. "When I was at school I still had nightmares, I don't know how many times Jessica woke me up because I was thrashing around and talking about demons and vampires in my sleep. I always put her off, she learned not to push after a while. What we hunted and saw before I went to school, it pales in comparison to what I know now and what I have seen and done; and that's not taking into an account the fact that I would be dealing with the fact that you were suffering in Hell while I was up here. I didn't realize how sheltered you and Dad kept me until this last year or so and there are days I would trade anything to go back to that time. Look, I appreciate what you are saying, I really do Dean, but I am a hunter now. Even if I somehow found another person to fall in love with, how do I explain what I have been doing for the last few years? How do I tell them why I have to keep salt and holy water with me at all times? Besides, do you really think that if I "retired" that Lillith or whoever would quit looking for me? We save lives Dean, I can't turn my back on that fact. Yes, I'll keep hunting in part for revenge and to figure out how to get you back or at least out of hell but also because, well , someone has to and someone has to stop whatever it is that is coming down the road. We both know that. " Sam picked up his glass of Sake and pounded it down. " Besides I retired once already and looked how that ended up. He found me, he killed Jessica, that yellow eyed demon may be dead but his plan is still going somehow. Running away won't save me. "
Dean dropped his eyes from his brother's face, guilt, anger, frustration and ultimately exhaustion threatened to overwhelm him. He loved his brother and he had literally traded his soul for his life but in the end he couldn't save him. "I'm sorry." Dean said so softly Sam barely heard it.
"Don't be, we all made choices that we thought were right at the time. There's no point in regretting them now. Now enough of this crap, we just had an amazing meal and I think it's time to go hunt something. That is, if I can move. Damn I ate a lot! " Dean looked at his brother, Sam gave him that look he used when trying to get people to open up. It was that look of support, honesty and understanding and it always worked. Dean was actually surprised it worked on him.
"Yeah, are you having another growth spurt? If you are I may have to chop you off at the knees. You're supposed to be my little brother. " Dean pounded his Sake and they motioned to the waitress for the check. They had work to do.
CHAPTER 7
Well Oliver's idea of scoping the warehouse out during the day had mixed results. He and Diggle had been able to get close enough to get an idea of entries, exits, and some activity but it was very apparent that they were being watched and tracked. All the windows had been blacked out so there was no way of seeing inside where the kids were being held and although there was no official security types around they spotted about 10 people guarding the place. They had 2 or 3 on the roof every time they passed by and others scattered at different doors. Oliver had tried to walk up to an entrance, looking like he was scoping out the place perhaps to buy it and he was pulled up quite short and told firmly and with some force that the building was not for sale. Oliver hadn't wanted to cause a scene or raise more suspicion so he calmly walked away apologizing for the inconvenience.
" Dig, they have this place locked down tight. Any ideas? "
" Come back at night with infrared goggles? We wouldn't have to be so close and we could see what was going on inside hopefully. " Dig replied.
" I have a feeling they are going to be watching the place even closer at night. I don't much like it but we don't really have any other options here. At least we know for sure this is the place, maybe Felicity can pull up some schematics of the building. That would give us some rough idea where the kids may be. " Oliver had never really tackled something like this. True he had attacked a mafia safe house that had about the same amount of guards but he knew his arrows would take down the guards. Right now he had no idea how effective any of his weapons would be. All he knew was that before he made a move he wanted to make sure the kids were indeed in that building and alive, if they confirmed that fact he would do everything he could to get them out of there.
They headed back to the club to get in touch with Felicity and see what she had found out. He had texted her the address of the building and a request to find some schematics or blueprints of it. Hopefully by the time they got there she would have something for them. As they pulled into the club he got a text from her. " Found them, log in as soon as you can. "
'Well Dig, she did it again. " Oliver said.
" You need to give that girl another raise man. Without her you and I would have been killed 4 or 5 times by now. Seriously. "
" I know, but I don't think she cares about money. I think she just loves doing this. I have to do something for her though. " Oliver wasn't sure what would be a good thing to show his appreciation without sending a mixed message. He hoped that she wasn't getting feelings for him but lately he had noticed a shift in how she was perceiving him, perhaps he was overreacting though. Either way that was not important at the moment. They opened the door into the basement room and Oliver signed into the webchat.
" Ok, here we go. " Felicity launched right into the information, on the screen to the left she made a blueprint appear. " Now this is the most recent one I found, assuming there are unlisted additions or improvements this is what you will see. It's two floors, 20,000 sq feet in total between both floors. It was originally used as an automotive repair shop, then it got turned into a foundry and most recently it was a warehouse for a furniture company. I obviously don't know what equipment or whatever is still inside but this is the last listed layout. I also pulled up Google earth and although I don't know the date these shots were taken here's a shot of the roof that shows the building still had these skylights running along the center of the roof. Those might be good entry points for you guys. "
Oliver was not liking what he was seeing way too many office rooms and hiding spots for people to jump out of. Fortunately there was one huge area on the bottom floor and he could hope that they were holding the kids there but for all he knew they had them scattered around the building.
"We are going to have to recon this with the infrareds. There is no other way we are going to be able to do this with any chance of success. " Diggle said.
" I agree." Oliver looked at the webchat "Thanks for pulling these up for us. It will help a lot. Did you find anything else out? "
" Possibly, I got a couple of hits about the Winchesters, or I think I did. It seems there are two brothers, Sam and Dean, that turn up in backwoods towns whenever there are weird disturbances. There's nothing official about any of it just random web chatter. They do tend to leave bodies behind so not sure exactly what they are doing but the few bits of chatter I found hints that they are helping people with all things spooky and unknown. That's about it. Here's some photos I found of them. "
On the screen to the right two security camera shots showed up, just by looking at them Oliver knew that these men were fighters, something in their eyes and the way they held themselves. One, Sam, seemed taller and more lean and Dean looked like he had seen more than his fair share of back alley brawling.
"I wouldn't want to meet either of those guys in a dark room if they weren't on my side. " Diggle said, he was picking up on the same things Oliver had.
"Well if these are the same Winchesters those things spoke of, I understand why they are concerned. Still though, there's only two of them. I don't know. I guess we keep an eye out. I am going to go suit up, it's almost dark out. Dig, go grab the goggles and meet me back here. We'll head out and see what we can find and come up with a plan to get those kids out by tomorrow night. We have to or we will be out of time. "
Diggle headed out and Oliver opened the glass case that held his suit.
" Oliver. " Felicity said from the monitor behind him, "If what Dig told us about are the same things that are here now, how are you going to fight them? I don't think arrows will do much. "
" I have no idea, let's confirm what they are first before jumping to that conclusion though. " Oliver really didn't want to think that he was facing something that fully automatic weapons had no effect on.
" Well, I did some research. From what you guys described and what I read they may be, I can't believe I am saying this, demons possessing people. Apparently they can't be killed unless you have certain blessed weapons and the only thing that hurts them is holy water or salt. I was thinking of ways to work that into your arrow tips. "
" So how do we confirm it's a demon?" Oliver asked as he peeled out of his clothes and started suiting up.
" Throw holy water on it, or the eyes turn black, or they pin you against things with some sort of force and rip you to shreds. " She said.
"Well that last one sounds lovely. " Oliver replied. " Maybe I should stop by a church, put some holy water in a vial and if I run across one I'll dip an arrow in the vial and shoot it. " He said half jokingly, then he turned around and looked at Felicity, she had been dead serious.
"That might be a good idea. Some of the things I read, if that's what these are. They are not to be underestimated that's for sure. "
"Do you really think these are demons? "
"Well, I don't think it would be wise to go in without something to test a theory as to how they got 20 or 30 kids out of their houses with no one calling the authorities, not to mention jumping right on top of a building. " She replied.
"You may have a point. I'll consider it. Keep eyes on us ok? " He asked
"I always have my eyes on you Oliver." Felicity replied. He swore he saw her blush a bit, he really didn't need to think about how to get her to not have feelings for him right now.
"Thanks. Hey if we're fighting demons we need a guardian angel right? I guess you can be our tech enhanced angel. We'll keep in touch. " She smiled at him.
He was finishing off the grease paint around his eyes when Diggle came back in, dressed all in black with two pairs of infrared goggles. "Ready? "
" Always am. How are we playing this? " Diggle asked.
"The usual, we'll park about a block or two away and go in over the roofs. Let me out on the west side before you park though, there's no easy roof jump from the other building to that one and I think I saw some rubble that may be good cover for me. You cover the east, I'll move south, you go north. Text me where you parked and I'll meet you somewhere close to there. "
"You don't want to take the bike? "
"No" Oliver replied. "I don't like leaving it in The Glades, it's too easy to steal even with the upgrades. I don't want to try to get out of there and end up with no ride. " That had happened once and it had almost cost him his life. This was one of the worst areas of The Glades and he wasn't willing to risk it.
"Alright, you're the boss. Ready to hide in the back of my car ?" Diggle asked. Oliver laughed. "See you soon Felicity " Oliver turned off the web chat and they headed out.
Diggle took a pretty circuitous route to the building, Oliver was laying down in the back seat he felt the car slow down and saw that they were turning into an alley.
"Time to tuck and roll Oliver. You're one block west of the building. Ready? On three. 1...2...3" As soon as Diggle said three Oliver pushed the car door open, launched himself out of the car, hit the ground and rolled. Diggle was getting pretty good at gauging where Oliver would end up at the end of his roll, sure enough as he popped up into a crouch at the end of the roll Oliver was right in front of a dumpster. Diggle accelerated away into the night and Oliver hopped up on the dumpster to a fire escape. Usually that worked flawlessly but this fire escape had suffered some damage in the quake and it came loose as he landed on it and he found himself clinging one handed to a swinging fire escape, not the best start to a night. He looked around and found a window ledge that looked safe, or he hoped; he started swinging his body to gain some momentum, let go of the fire escape at the apex of the swing and his hands found purchase on the ledge. He pulled himself up, got his feet on the ledge and tried to see his next move. A series of window ledges led to the roof, not for the first time was he happy that he practiced a lot on that salmon ladder. Fortunately they were staggered so he was able to hop from one to the other, do a muscle up, get on top of it and jump to the next one. By the time he got to the roof he was definitely warmed up for the rest of his journey. From the rooftop Oliver spotted the alley that had the debris he had noticed when they had come through here in the daytime. It was in an alley next to the west wall of the warehouse, he had seen where he could drop right off a second floor landing into the debris with hopefully no one the wiser. There was an open spot in the debris where the landing had looked safe enough. He started to make his way to the alley keeping his eyes open for any sign of guards around the building. As he got close to the spot he was aiming for he heard some sounds from the alley below. He crouched down and got close to the edge to listen.
"They're here now. Did you hear that? We still have two days until the ritual and they're here already! This will never work. " A woman's voice said
"Calm down! You act as if they are invincible. They are only human and there are 40 of us. I think we can handle the brothers. " replied a male voice.
" You know how many of us they have killed? Plus that backstabbing, dishonorable little whore Ruby is helping them. " replied the woman her voice rising in panic.
'Shut up you coward. " Oliver heard the sound of a ringing slap.
"BASTARD! I'll gut you for that. " the woman said.
" No, you won't. You aren't strong enough so shut up, do your job and prepare the ritual. If the littlest thing is wrong it won't work and we all know how she deals with inferior spellcrafting. " he heard footsteps as they walked off. He peered over the ledge, the alley looked empty. He hopped down to the landing below him on the building, spotted his landing in the rubble then jumped. He had failed to notice on his drive through the area that there was a sheet of aluminum propped slightly at an angle on some of the rubble, he landed on it and it clanged. There was no way that would go unnoticed.
'What was that?! Go check it out! " he heard the male voice order. Damnit, he had nowhere really to hide in this alley other than the rubble and he would be spotted if he tried to run for it. He crouched down further into the rubble and hoped he would not be spotted, he calmed his breathing as he slowly pulled an arrow out of his quiver . He wouldn't be able to shoot it but there was always the option of stabbing someone with it. He heard the footsteps approaching his hiding place. The woman approached
"Come out, come out and play. . I can smell you. There's nowhere to go. " He watched her feet pass by him. He leaned further into the rubble, he watched the feet turn around and seem to walk by him. "Why there you are.." All of a sudden he felt his body being gripped by an unimaginably strong force. It lifted him up, through the rubble and pinned him against the alley wall. Apparently they were dealing with demons, he thought to himself as he started fighting to breathe.
"What is that you have? " The woman asked, she had red hair, stood about 5'4 high and was dressed like she had been planning to go on a date however that was probably a few days ago before she had been possessed Oliver thought. Her clothes were dirty and wrinkled, like she had been sleeping in them and her makeup had faded away.
"Is that an arrow? An actual bow and arrow?! My, my I haven't been threatened at arrow point in at least a century. How quaint. Not that you are any threat to me, but it's still quaint. " she said.
"What did you find Kara?" The male was walking down the alley to join them. " Is that our local vigilante? How priceless. I guess he's here to try to save the children. " They looked at each other and laughed. If Oliver could breathe he would have been angry at their dismissal of him but he was being slowly crushed by an unseen force.
'What should we do with our little archer here? " Kara asked.
" We could use him for target practice. I mean it would be poetic, the archer pinned to the wall with his own arrows. I am sure the police would love the gift wrapped delivery. " Oliver felt his arrows get pulled out of his quiver by unseen hands and tried to struggle against whatever it was that was holding him.
"Hush little one. " Kara said. " I wonder what he looks like underneath that hood. Cameron try to get one to pull his hood back, it's ok if it takes some of his scalp with it. " Oliver watched in horror as his arrows flew into Cameron's hand who then took one, held it about where Oliver's head height was and let go of it, it hung in midair. Cameron made some show of aiming it at Oliver's head.
"Hmmm, at least it 's not too windy tonight, I shouldn't have to adjust my aim too much. " Cameron said. He smirked and looked Oliver straight in the eyes and blinked. Once again Oliver saw the eyes go completely black then back to normal. Cameron raised his arms, miming holding and aiming a bow and started pretending to pull back the string. Oliver felt completely helpless, he couldn't scream, move and could barely breathe.
"Oh this is simply delicio…." Kara started to say, then Oliver heard a shot and Kara started screaming, her face started to crack and break and orange the color of flame started flashing through her she just dropped to the ground. Oliver dropped like a stone as whatever force held him to the wall abruptly stopped.
'Hey there. Sorry to interrupt your party games but I've never been a big fan of pin the tail on the donkey. There's always that one kid that "accidentally" pins the tail to the donkey's eyes. Wrong man, just wrong " Oliver heard a voice from down the alley. Cameron's head whipped around, Oliver's arrows fell to the ground.
"Hello Dean and Sam. Welcome, we've got such a surprise for you. " he said then Cameron just disappeared into thin air.
"I hate it when they do that. " the taller one of the two men coming down the alley said.
" You should have just shot him. " the other one replied.
"Saving bullets Dean, saving bullets. "
Oliver figured this would be the Winchesters and he wasn't really prepared to meet them, he had too many secrets and hadn't planned and getting any more allies. Unfortunately there was no quick and easy place to disappear to. He pulled his hood up as much as he could, angled his face away and said " Thank you. " He started to stand back up and found that his legs wouldn't support him.
"Easy there. " Oliver looked up and saw it was Dean that was talking to him.
"That demon death hold takes a bit out of you. Seriously though arrows? " Dean looked down at the man they had rescued. He assumed this was the Vigilante. Either that or one seriously confused guy who should probably be medicated. Sam coughed and glared at Dean.
"Here, let me help you. " Sam reached out his hand, the man on the ground clasped it and allowed Sam to pull him up and then he leaned against a wall to catch his breath. An uncomfortable silence filled the alley, all three men had a hunch that they needed to work together but none of them knew how to start the conversation. Finally, Oliver broke the silence.
"You're Sam and Dean Winchester, correct? " He asked.
"What the...is there some infernal internet memo or something going around saying "Hey these are the Winchester boys in case you ever see them" ? " Dean ground out.
Sam tried to hide his laugh at his brother's reply " Yes we are. Why?"
"These things, they mentioned you, they are afraid of you. They're planning some sort of trap for you I think and a ritual or whatever. They're going to kill a lot of kids. They're in my city, I cannot allow this to happen. " Oliver said. Now that he had been face to face with one of these demons and had an inkling as to how powerful truly evil they were, he felt a cold rage building in him. These things shouldn't be allowed to live. "How do we stop them?" Oliver turned to face the Winchesters.
Sam and Dean looked at the man they had just rescued, he had the build of a warrior and his costume or whatever looked well made and expensive. As he turned to face them, even though they couldn't see his eyes with the hood shadowing them they felt the impact of his determination to protect his city and rescue these kids. It was in the set of his jaw, the tightening of his shoulders and how his hand gripped his bow. Archaic weapons aside this man would be an asset to them in this job. Sam looked closer at the bow and realized it was actually a modern made weapon, looked to be a high end, custom compound bow, he glanced over at the arrows scattered on the ground. They also looked custom and expensive. Sam started solidifying in his mind some suspicions he had about the identity of the man in front of them. Sam glanced at Dean who gave him a small nod. Dean had noticed the same things that Sam had.
"The basics? Salt and holy water slows them down, sometimes makes them vacate the body they are in. The only thing that kills them is this gun. " Dean held out the Colt so that their new friend could see it. "So what do we call you? Arrow guy? " Dean asked. Sam just about punched his brother.
"What he meant to say was what's going on here? " Sam tried to cover for his brother. The Vigilante looked up and down the alley.
"It's not safe to talk here. There are about 40 of them, well 39 now and I am sure the other one is telling the others you're here. Follow me. " Sam noticed he was disguising his voice electronically somehow. The Vigilante took off at a run and Sam and Dean bolted to keep up with him.
Now that Oliver was out of earshot of the Winchesters he started talking to Diggle and Felicity via the earpieces they all had. "Ran into the Winchesters. These are demons, do not engage these things Dig. They just about took me out. I think we can trust the Winchesters. I am heading back to where you dropped me off Dig. I will let you know when to pick me up. I am going to fill these guys in on what's going on in that building. " Oliver took a sharp right at the next alley and heard the Winchesters keeping pace with him. At least they were in shape. He stopped in front of a wall that he could use to hop onto a shorter building, at least they wouldn't be in the streets. The wall was about 10 ft high, he hopped up it, pulled himself up, ran along the edge and jumped to the roof of the other building.
"Who the hell is this guy? " Sam asked. "I've only seen moves like that on parkour youtube videos. " The brothers followed the Vigilante, although not as gracefully.
