Birds of a feather
Oliver is in for the shock of his life when a fishnet stocking wearing, highly trained vigilante arrives in Starling City.
Ch 4
The men formed a loose circle around them, trapping them in the middle. With his back towards the Black Canary, the Hood waited for the attack.
The first guy came at him; he lashed out with a kick that sent him flying backwards into the wall. The next guy lunched and he swung his bow into his solar plexus, when he doubled over Oliver swung his bow up from underneath making the guys head snap back before he fell to the ground. The first guy recovered and charged a swift roundhouse kick connected with his head with an audible crack.
Oliver took a quick glance at the Black Canary and saw her attacker come at her with swinging punch; she easily dodged it and firmly grasped his hand, pulled and used the guy's momentum to flip him over her head. The guy's body thumped to the ground hard.
Oliver didn't have that much time to admire her work when another guy lunched at him. Oliver moved to the side, grabbed the back of the man's neck and slammed his head into his knee and threw him backwards.
The rest of their fight was a frenzied whirlwind of kicks and punches. Not since Yao Fei and Slade had he fought with someone with such precision. Another came at her and with pinpoint accuracy the heel of her foot struck his forehead and he dropped to the ground.
Oliver whirled around just as the guy lunched at him, his bow swung up catching the guy under his neck and snap kick send the guy into the wall cracking his head against it he slid down the wall and was still. Men were lying unconscious all around them and the few left standing were running the other direction down the alley, their footsteps fading into silence.
Oliver took a breath and turned to face her. He looked around the alley, she was gone again. I guess that's what it felt like when he did that to people. It was annoying because he actually wanted to talk to her.
Laurel looked at the time on her phone and sighed. "It's only 8:15" Tommy said trying to sound hopeful. He was used to being stood up by his father, so a few minutes late didn't bother him.
Laurel shook her head. "I remember sometimes she'd come home in the middle of night, thinking we didn't notice, then when we'd ask about it. She'd lie" Laurel looked at her phone again, it read 8:30, she placed the phone on the table by the door.
"My dad would sleep at the office sometimes" Tommy told her with a smile. And that's not counting the two years he was being raised by nannies.
Laurel turned to look at him. "My mom owned a flower shop. I doubt late nights were necessary." She and Sarah would spend hours talking about what she could be doing. Sarah suggested she was a spy and then they'd make up missions she would have. As they got older, they started thinking she was having an affair. Their dad never seemed to ask or even notice her late night excursions, since he was the one that usually worked all night. So she wasn't even sure he knew anything about it.
"Well from what I remember her flower shop always looked nice. So maybe taking care of your plants at night helps" he suggested, not really believing in his suggestion but he was just trying to make her feel better. "And you had that hot babysitter, what was her name? Barbara or something" Tommy said recalling seeing her when he was younger.
They heard a knock on the door. Laurel took a deep breath and opened it.
"I'm so sorry I'm late" Dinah Lance said standing on the other side of the door. Her time management skills had suffered since becoming Black Canary full time again. She used to be a little better at it. And this wasn't how she wanted to make it up to her daughter. "I brought this" she said holding out the bottle of wine.
Tommy took it from her since Laurel was still just staring at her. "Wow" he whistled looking at the bottle of wine. He knew for a fact that this bottle started at two hundred and fifty dollars. So now he wondered where she had gotten it, Laurel's family was never part of the wealthy elite.
She saw Tommy staring at the bottle, Bruce had given it her as a gift, and she knew it wasn't that right to re-gift it but she didn't want to show up empty handed and she didn't have time to buy something else. Now she regretted it, because Laurel might not have noticed, but she forgot Tommy Merlyn would be here. And he had noticed that it was an expensive bottle.
"What?" Laurel asked looking at her boyfriend.
Tommy looked at Mrs. Lance and saw her pleading with him and he didn't want to start anything with Laurel and her mother. He'd give her the chance to explain herself first. "Nothing, this is just really great wine. Thank you Mrs. Lance" he said with a smile.
Dinah smiled relieved at Tommy. Maybe she had misjudged the boy, maybe he wasn't like his father. "Something smells good" she told them still standing outside the apartment.
"It should it's from Sorrento's" Tommy told her.
"They're still around? I love Sorrento's" Dinah replied.
"I remembered that's why I ordered from them" Laurel finally spoke to her mother.
"You wanted to eat dinner from there every day when you were little" Dinah replied remembering happier times with her children.
"We should probably eat before it gets cold" Laurel replied not wanting to talk about the past. It was the present she was more interested in.
They were eating their food and drinking the wine. Laurel wanted to get right into where mother went, but Tommy kept bringing up other subjects, the weather, politics, and the economy. "I don't know if you've heard but Starling City has our very own vigilante"
"Right, he's called the Hood or something" Dinah replied sipping her wine. "Dumb name but I have heard about him" she said with a small smile.
"Dad, really has a grudge against him. He thinks that he's just as much a criminal as the ones he takes down"
Dinah smiled to herself, that's exactly what her husband used to say about the Black Canary. "I don't know about that, he's catching the criminals that have gotten away with crimes or are still getting away with them" Dinah replied.
"You think he's doing… good?" Laurel asked surprised to see her mother on the Hood's side. She would've thought she felt the same way as her dad. Laurel didn't entirely agree with her father, but she'd been with the Hood enough times for him to scare her. Sometimes it appeared he didn't know when to stop and he has killed people.
"I think he's bringing justice to this city" Dinah replied.
"Really?" Tommy piped up. "Justice? He's killing people, he's dangerous"
"I won't argue that his methods need work, however he is cleaning up the streets" Dinah replied.
"What?" Laurel asked in shock. She would never in a million years think her mother would side with vigilante justice. "That's not justice; justice is facing a trial by law"
Dinah leaned back in her chair and looked at her daughter. "You really believe that?" she asked. Then she softened her voice. "You help people that no one else will and you don't do it for the money and that makes me prouder than you can ever imagine. But our justice system is flawed and this city is corrupt, all it takes is a simple technicality or some money exchanging hands and the criminal is back on the streets. Sometimes you have to do what is necessary to get them off the streets for good" she told them.
"I guess I just never pegged you as one that supports vigilante justice" Laurel told her mother. She'd never seen this side of her mother before and that coupled with the fact that she took off after Sarah's death made her even more curious and worried as to what she's been up to.
They took their wine to living room to enjoy the Tiramisu near the fireplace. Laurel sat down next to Tommy and he was right the wine tasted amazing. She took a drink and sat her glass down on the table. "Where did you go?" she blurted out not meaning to make it sound so rushed.
She had been waiting for Laurel to ask that question all night. She supposed she needed more alcohol to give her the courage. "I went to Gotham"
"Gotham? Why?" Laurel asked. That was her birthplace but she didn't remember anything about it.
Dinah breathed out slowly. "I needed to get away…from this city and everything about it…and I couldn't take you or your father with me"
Laurel stared at her mother trying to understand what she saying. "You needed to get away?" she asked. "We needed you…I need you"
Dinah lowered her head. "I know" she said quietly.
"What aren't you telling me?" Laurel asked she knew her mother was hiding something. "I thought I had lost you too, but when I think about, I think that a part of you was always somewhere else." She saw her mother avert her eyes and she knew she was right. "Whatever it is I can handle the truth" she said then added. "I deserve the truth."
Dinah sighed. She knew it would come down to this someday. But it was her secret that was keeping them safe. "You do and so does your father, but… I can't"
"That's it, you can't?" Laurel asked with an incredulous laugh.
Dinah Lance nodded and looked at the disappointment in her daughters eyes. It was times like these that made her wonder if this was really worth it. Lying to everyone, putting the cause first you risked alienating everyone you love.
Laurel pursed her lips and took her eyes off her mother's. She couldn't believe this. She didn't expect her mother to tell her everything right away, but to just tell her she wasn't going to be honest with her wasn't what she was expecting. Laurel was surprised to hear another knock on her door.
"Are you expecting someone else?" Tommy asked Laurel.
"No" she replied and stood up to answer the door and to get away from her mother before she said something she'd regret later.
Tommy stared awkwardly at the floor then stood up and took the plates to the kitchen.
Dinah sighed and went to the mantle. She browsed the pictures on it until she came to one of them. She picked it up to get a better a look. It was Laurel and Oliver at some Queen event. She looked past them to young girl in the background, her eyes widened as she recognized her. That was the girl she saved in the alley tonight. Someone was trying to abduct Thea Queen.
Laurel opened the door to find her Dad standing there. "Dad?" she asked.
"You weren't answering your phone, I wanted to make sure you were alright" Quentin Lance said with the worry evident in his voice.
Laurel looked for her phone and then saw it on the table. She picked it up and saw the missed calls from him. "Sorry it must be on silent" she told him. "I'm fine" she still wasn't entirely over being used by him to catch the Hood. Both her parents seemed to be disappointing her of late.
"I'm sorry but there's…" Dinah said rushing into the apartment's foyer then stopped when she saw him. "Quentin" she said as her voice caught in her throat.
"Dinah?" he asked his brows furrowing in surprise. His eyes looked his wife over, she was actually standing there. He was speechless; he hadn't seen her in five years. She didn't even come to the divorce proceedings; she left him everything and just signed the papers which her Lawyer gave to him. He tried calling her, but she had changed her number, he used the police systems to find her but it was like she had just vanished. But now here she was.
"When…why?" Quentin asked trying to calm his rapidly beating heart. Thea Queen was almost abducted today; they found a few of the unconscious men that had tried. All of them said it was the Hood and one said the others were afraid to say that a woman had been there too, a woman that moved like a blurred ballerina. That's why he came to check on his daughter. He knew that those men were most likely after a ransom and Laurel wouldn't fit that M.O. But she had been attacked before and he was just wanted to make sure she was okay. He did not expect to see his wife standing in their daughter's living room.
"You have somewhere to be, mother?" Laurel asked her, not entirely sure if she cared anymore. She wanted answers and her mother not only wouldn't answer them she told her she wouldn't. If her mother wanted to keep secrets she wasn't going to stop her, but she could stop asking and caring. She could disappear for five years only calling on her birthday they could continue the same relationship.
"I got in a few day ago and I…wanted to see Laurel" Dinah replied as she rubbed her hand behind her neck as she answered her husband. She did miss him sometimes. But they had very different views and that drove them further apart. And she knew it wasn't fair to him since he didn't know about hers. That's why she figured if she just left and made him hate her it would be easier for him to move on. She knew how selfish that sounded, but there were things she needed to do and she couldn't let anything happen to them. She turned to Laurel to answer hers. "I do, and again I'm sorry and I know I've said that a lot in past two days so it's not helping my case. But I am sorry Laurel…for everything" with that she walked past her husband without looking at him and quickly left the building.
Oliver stormed into his lair with Diggle and Felicity hurrying in behind him. He had just heard that his sister had almost been abducted in that alley he was just fighting in with the Black Canary.
"Oliver, I think we need to calm down and think about this" Diggle said to him.
"They went after my sister" Oliver said spinning around to face him with the rage taking over his features.
"I know, but we don't know who did that" Diggle said, then he noticed that Oliver was staring at his desk. Diggle walked closer and saw that two black feathers were lying on his keyboard.
"Looks like your bird friend is molting" Felicity said cheerfully trying to lighten the mood. When she got no response she took a few steps back.
"The Black Canary was here?" DIggle asked.
"Not was…is" Oliver responded and turned around and scanned the room.
"Oliver Queen, I'll have to say I wasn't expecting that" they all spun around to listen to where the British voice came from. "That island must have really changed you" she said as she dropped from the rafters and landed silently on the floor.
"What are you doing here?" Oliver asked stoically. She had saved his sister so he was grateful for that. But he had to know what her agenda was.
"We have similar interests you and me" She replied and held up a small brown booklet. "I'm here to stop the Undertaking"
Oliver stared at the book in her hand. How many books where there? "You know what the Undertaking is?" He asked her.
"I have a hypothesis, but I don't have all the pieces to provide actual proof." she told him. Whatever was going on here it appeared they were getting desperate enough for them to turn on each other. And that was dangerous for everyone. Stopping them is what will make everything worth it.
"We don't need proof we need to stop it before it happens" Oliver answered gruffly. The Black Canary nodded her head. Oliver looked at her. "You know who I am and if we're to work together it's only fair that I know who I'm dealing with"
They all watched as she reached up and removed the blonde wig from her head, she then pulled the pins holding her real hair up and she shook the brown tresses out as it fell in waves down her shoulders. She reached behind her head and they hear clicking sound and she slowly removed the mask from her face and looked at him.
Oliver sucked in his breath audibly. "Mrs. Lance!" he shouted incredulously with more emotion then he had ever shown before.
"Hello Oliver" she replied in an American accent.
Tbc…