Disclaimer: I do not own Daredevil, Arrow or anything else you may recognize
Thank you to everyone who has favorited, followed or reviewed this fic so far.
I finally saw Avengers: Endgame and OH MY GOD! IT WAS SO AMAZING! It had me laughing and then crying and then dropping my jaw and then widening my eyes and then clapping happily and everything.
Some readers have still not seen it so I won't spoil it here but it is definitely worth the wait. I have seen only two superhero movies so far that have been able to deliver 100% on what was hyped. The first was Infinity War. The second was Endgame.
Endgame was a love letter to true fans of the MCU and had great sensible fanservice moments for all of us. A perfect ending to the Infinity Saga.
Chapter 4- The Mayor
Several gangbangers fired up at the roof where Daredevil and Arrow stood. Arrow fired, getting one of them before the two ran off to take cover.
He then fired a bola arrow and it tied up a thug's legs, hanging him upside down. Daredevil elongated his clubs and it tied up a thug's legs, tripping him and knocking him out as he hit his head hard.
He then threw his club at the last one, knocking him out as well.
"Where are you getting the guns?" Arrow demanded of the one hanging upside down.
"Are you going to kill me? Get it over with." The boy replied.
Arrow knocked him out with a single punch, then activated his com-link. "Dig. Took down some more gangbangers. They were armed with fully automatic M4A1 assault rifles."
"M4A1s are military grade weapons." Dig replied over the comms. "Stolen, most likely."
"Stolen from where?" Matt asked.
"Well, we can look into that after your party."
Oliver paused, looking confused. "What party?"
"You don't remember?" Matt asked incredulously.
Later
Matt and Oliver arrived at Queen Mansion wearing their tuxes as Felicity walked up to them.
"He's here." She announced to Isabel, "Along with his lawyer."
Oliver smiled at Isabel. "Sorry I'm late."
"This party is to attract investors for your failing company." Isabel said sternly, "Being fashionably late might do well for the club circuit, but it does not inspire confidence in Wall Street."
She looked at his face closely. "Is that blood on your face?"
"Hmm?" Oliver felt at the edge of his chin where he had been nicked by a stray round and hadn't even noticed.
"Don't worry, it's not his blood." Felicity said in a rush, moving to wipe the blood off, "I mean, of course it's his blood. Why would he have somebody else's blood on his face?"
She turned back to Oliver and made up the perfect excuse, "Who taught you to shave? Mister."
"Thanks for almost blowing his cover and then covering it up perfectly." Matt whispered to her sarcastically.
Oliver smiled at Isabel, then took Felicity by the arm and led her into the party with Matt.
"What kept you both?" She asked softly after Isabel left. "Was it our masked blonde that carries that giant staff to beat the sauce out of attackers? Or the clawed guy who showed Matt he is not the combat God of town?"
Matt sighed at the joke.
"This time it was guns." Oliver replied.
"Guns?"
They turned to see Sebastian Blood approach them with Laurel in tow. "We were just talking about guns."
"Hey." Oliver said in greeting.
"Hello." Matt greeted too.
"Oliver." Laurel said with a small smile, "Matt."
"Hi." Oliver replied with more warmth.
"Hello Laurel." Matt said with a smile, though there a small amount of awkwardness between the two.
"What's your interest in guns, Mr. Queen?" Blood asked.
"Never touched them myself." Oliver replied.
"I hate guns." Matt said simply.
"The gun epidemic in the Glades has gotten increasingly out of control." Blood noted.
"Which is why the DEA's office has committed to ending gun violence." Laurel added.
"Well, I'm sure the police are doing whatever they can to catch whoever's bringing the weapons into the city." Oliver said confidently, then frowned as Blood and Laurel laughed lowly. "Did I say something funny?"
"They know who's been arming the gangs, Oliver." Laurel told him. "The Mayor."
"Wasn't the Mayor killed?" Matt asked with a frown.
"Well, not the actual Mayor." Blood said in a patronizing tone, "A local ganglord calls himself the Mayor. Thinks he is the man to save our city."
"So a delusional lunatic then." Matt said.
"But the position of Mayor has already been filled, hasn't it?" Laurel noted wryly.
Blood chuckled, "Now this Mayor has only one goal- to create chaos so he can rule the Glades with the barrel of a gun."
"Like I said, delusional lunatic." Matt said.
At an abandoned strip club in the Glades, that wasn't as abandoned as it appeared, the man known as the Mayor was trying out one of the M4's on a display mannequin set up on the stage.
He laughed at the carnage, but his smile faded as the last gangbanger from the docks walked in, his head down. "You are noticeably unarmed, son."
"Sorry, Mr. Mayor." One of the thugs said. "Um, we ran into the Arrow and Daredevil, and, um, they ganked our weapons."
"Do you know who I was before the quake?" The Mayor asked rhetorically, "I was no one. I had no name. None that mattered, anyway. I was just another weak man waiting to get fired or evicted or killed."
He stepped off of the bar and walked up to the boy, "But then the ground shook, and now I matter, because I know the guy with the biggest gun wins, and that's why I will rule the Glades."
He lifted the M4 at the thug, "But there's no room at my table for weak ass punks like you."
"Mr. Mayor." Another man said from behind the terrified gangbanger.
The other man stepped forward, "I want to ask for leniency. The kid's my cousin. I brought him in."
"Oh, you did?" The Mayor adjusted his aim and let loose with a burst of automatic fire at the other man, killing him instantly.
The Mayor then looked back at the gangbanger and thrust the now-empty M4 into his hands, "Now let's hope you do your family prouder than he did."
He then turned and walked out with his protection.
Back at the party, Laurel was enjoying a glass of wine as Matt walked up to her.
Laurel started saying, "Please do not ask me if I'm-"
"Are you okay?" Matt asked and she sighed.
"I don't know." She said simply, "Are you?"
"I am going to be, hopefully." Matt said.
"Ahem." They looked over to see Felicity standing there, "Excuse me, Matt, may I talk to you for a second? It's urgent."
"Yeah." Matt agreed before turning to Laurel, "Excuse us."
"I just realized something. What if our masked friend that keeps showing up everywhere you or Oliver go-you know, her?"
"What about her?" Matt asked impatiently as Oliver walked up to them, having also been called by Felicity.
"What if we've been going about this the wrong way?" Felicity continued. "We thought she was obsessed with you both. I mean, she showed up when you and Frank were fighting White and her friend."
A knife hit White and she died as Matt and Frank turned their heads up. A blonde woman in a black suit and mask was looking down on them before she ran off.
"And in the chemical plant where the Doll Maker was holed up."
The blonde leapt down from her aerial silk.
"But the second time, she also said that the Dollmaker got what he deserved when Frank opened him up. Now why would that be?" Felicity asked.
Oliver looked up to see Laurel mingling with the guests as Felicity asked. "What if our masked friend has a connection to her?"
He understood. "She's following Laurel."
Later that night, Laurel walked back into her apartment. She tossed her purse onto the end table, then walked to her nightstand and tiredly started to take her earrings out.
From across the window, The Canary watched over Laurel. Suddenly, though, she sensed a presence. She turned around and took off running- just as an arrow embedded itself in the wall besides her.
She took off over the rooftops, running on the edge of one before jumping down onto another. As she started across the room, she crossed the path of two pre-positioned crossbows, both loaded with bola arrows.
The crossbows went off, ensnaring the Canary in their lines and holding her in place. She struggled briefly, and then looked up as the Arrow approached.
Scared, she managed to pull out her canary cry device and activated it, then threw it down onto the ground in front of her. It went off with an ear-piercing sound, but the Arrow just kept calmly walking towards her.
"Can it get any louder?" He asked, tapping the side of his ear.
"I think not." Matt said from the other side, feeling mildly annoyed by the sound through the earpiece, though he knew how badly it would affect him face to face.
She huffed in annoyance, but remotely turned the device off, "Why are you following Laurel Lance?"
"I could ask the same thing of you." She shot back, "I guess some things never change. You and her, always and forever."
Oliver stepped back, stunned. "Who are you?"
"Once you know, your life will never be the same."
"I could take it."
"Not this time." She said, and then added, "Ollie."
His eyes widened as he realized she knew who he was, and then her voice registered in his memory. Haltingly, he reached up towards her mask, pushing it off her face.
Along with the mask came the platinum blonde hair, leaving her dirty blonde hair exposed. Oliver stepped back, stunned, and threw back his own hood as he took in the sight of a very alive Sara Lance.
He stared in shock for a while, remembering the time she had been swept from the Queen's Gambit, "Sara?"
"I'll give you some time to let it sink in." Sara said, and then activated the self-destruct on the canary cry device.
It sounded once loudly, then exploded, sending Oliver crashing down to the roof. When he looked up again, she was gone.
The Lair
Oliver filled Matt and his team in over what had happened.
"Sara Lance?" Felicity started rambling, "Laurel's sister? The detective's other daughter, the one that you took on 'The Gambit' with you even though you were dating Laurel at the time, which we never talked about—"
"And why would he talk about that?" An annoyed Matt asked and she shut up.
"Felicity, please." He said quietly.
"I'm sorry, it's just… isn't she-isn't she dead?" Felicity asked, "You told everyone that she died when 'The Gambit' went down, that she drowned."
Oliver raised his head, but he didn't look at them, He was looking past them, flashing back to the Island.
"You lied." Diggle realized.
"When 'The Gambit' capsized, uh Sara was pulled under." Oliver said shakily, "It was so dark and cold. And I thought she drowned."
He sighed, "About a year later, I saw her."
"On the island?" Matt asked in a sympathetic voice.
"Not exactly." Oliver said evasively.
"Why didn't you tell the Lances that she didn't die in that boat?" Felicity asked, "Laurel and Mr. Lance, they blame you."
"Yeah, well, it was my fault." Oliver said simply, "What happened was my fault."
"No it wasn't." Matt said and Oliver looked at him incredulously, "Not all of it. You may have asked her to come with you on the Gambit, but you didn't put a gun on her head and force her too."
As Oliver considered Matt's words, Diggle demanded, "Well, where has she been all these years, Oliver?"
"I don't know!" Oliver shot back, "Diggle, I swear to God. I was sure she was dead."
"Do you have any happy stories?" Felicity wondered sadly.
"Try to be a little more sensitive before you crack another joke." Matt told her sternly and she had the decency to look ashamed.
"All right, so just to make sure I understand this correctly, after not drowning when 'The Gambit' went down, Sara didn't exactly make it to the island with you, where you would see her die yet again. Feel free to fill in the blanks." Dig said sarcastically.
"Not right now." Oliver said, rubbing his face tiredly.
"You mean not ever, don't you, Oliver?" Dig said hotly.
"Don't you think her family had a right to know that she made it to the island, too?" Felicity asked.
"These were five years!" Oliver shouted, furious, "Five years… where nothing good happened. And they were better off not knowing."
Sighing, Matt whispered to them, "Don't push it."
"Do they deserve to know now?" Dig asked after a moment.
Oliver staggered to his feet.
"I need to take care of some business at the office." He said, evading the issue, "Where are we with the Mayor?"
Dig sighed, "I'm in contact with some of my military sources. Trying to get a line on how he's getting his illegal army weaponry. I'll keep you updated."
Oliver walked past him, "You know, Oliver, somebody once told me that secrets have weight."
The younger man stopped at his words, "The more you keep, the harder it is to keep moving."
"He is right about that." Matt said as he remembered how his secrets had almost destroyed his friendship with Foggy and Karen.
Oliver looked back at them, the pain in his eyes evident, "You see how hard I work out."
Next day, Queen Consolidated
Sebastian Blood was waiting in the QC boardroom with Isabel Rochev as Oliver and Foggy walked in.
"Mr. Blood." He said with a smile, "I see you've met Miss Rochev. She's my—"
"Superior." She said instantly.
"Partner." Oliver corrected.
"On paper." She shot back coolly.
"Well, you know, Miss Rochev, papers are very important in professions like ours." Foggy said with a smile and she glared at him.
"Is that why you asked me to come down here, Mr. Queen, to mediate your job title with your lawyer?" Blood asked sarcastically.
Oliver chuckled, "You and I have gotten off on the wrong foot but I am trying to make it right."
"Seems to be your super power." Blood quipped.
"I was inspired by what you said the other night about gun violence in the Glades." Oliver continued, "And I had an idea that might help."
"Really? Another party at your stately manor?" Blood asked dryly.
Oliver shook his head, "No. I wanted to sponsor a cash-for-guns event."
Foggy and Isabel looked at him, startled, "I give you the money and you get your constituents to lay down their arms. Everybody wins."
"Especially you." Blood pointed out, "Trying to repair your family's tainted name by ridding the Glades of guns."
"You just get the money, Mr. Blood. I don't want my family's name involved." Oliver said, surprising the alderman.
Isabel went from startled to alarmed, "Mr. Queen, may I have a word with you?"
"Let me think it over." Blood said, walking out.
As soon as he was gone, Isabel turned and glowered at Oliver, "We are not sponsoring that event."
"Yes, I know. I am." Oliver replied.
"With what money?" she asked, "Your investment party cost QC 50 grand, and no one invested a dime. I will not continue to authorize corporate funds just so you can keep pretending that you are the CEO."
Oliver glared at the woman, "Fine. I'll pay for it myself."
"Maybe you haven't noticed, but your personal trust isn't exactly what it used to be, and this company isn't, either." She pointed out coldly, "As much as I would love to make this city safer, my first obligation is to Queen Consolidated. And yours is, too."
She turned and stalked out of the boardroom, leaving Oliver alone with his thoughts.
"As much as I hate to admit it, Mr. Queen, Miss Rochev makes a good point." Foggy pointed out to Oliver with a sympathetic look.
Later, Verdant
"I need some good news." Oliver said as he came down the stairs.
"The bad news first." Dig replied, "Somehow the Mayor did get his hands on a crate of military-grade weapons from Camp Kirby."
"The good news?"
"If he kept the crate, might be able to find where he's hiding." Felicity said, rising from her chair and moving over to her workstation.
On her desk, hooked into her computer, was a white plastic device with a black box inset into the middle of it, encased in a clear plastic cover.
The edges of the black box glowed green, "This is the same make and model of a tracking system the army installs on all of its weapons crates. If they lose a crate, they send out a remote signal that activates the beacon."
She tapped in a code, and the green light turned red.
"The Mayor's clever." Diggle continued, "He deactivated his beacon. Send a signal, nothing comes back."
"You both need to work on your definition of good news." Oliver ground out.
"Ok." Felicity grinned, "How's this- guess which company designed the tracking system the army uses? I'll give you a hint- your CEO? Always late."
"How's that for a definition of good news?" Matt asked with a smile.
Oliver smiled back at them, "Nice."
"I pulled up the original plans from the QC mainframe." She told him, showing him the schematics, "Turns out there's a design flaw. The beacon is still susceptible to a sub form wave even if it's been deactivated."
"The Mayor turned it off, Oliver." Dig said, "We can turn it back on."
"I think that is even better news." Matt smirked.
Felicity typed in the code, and suddenly the location popped up on the map. "I believe you ordered the crate of stolen military weapons, Mr. Queen."
Oliver nodded, then headed over to the case and grabbed his bow while Matt took out his helmet.
At the club, the Mayor noticed the red blinking light in the crate. Hurriedly he jumped off the stage and ran over to the crate.
"I thought you deactivated the tracker!" he demanded of one of his thugs before smashing the tracking device with the butt of his rifle.
Suddenly he heard the whistle of an arrow flying, and saw one of his men topple over with an arrow in the shoulder.
They all looked up to see The Arrow standing on the second level, firing another arrow to take down another man before they returned fire.
He moved rapidly, dodging their firing even as he returned the favor, dropping a new man with another arrow.
The men all bolted for the exit as The Arrow dropped down to the floor. As the Mayor ran, Daredevil suddenly jumped in his way and punched him down.
Another man tried to hit him but Daredevil hit him with his club, knocking him out before Arrow shot another person down.
The two stood victoriously over the downed Mayor.
"You're out of office." Daredevil smirked before kicking him out.
The two vigilantes nodded at each other as Arrow tapped his earpiece, "We got him. He is no longer a threat."
The next morning, Oliver pulled up to Verdant on his bike. He left his helmet on the seat and was walking up to the doors when he sensed a presence behind him. He turned around to see Sara standing there in civilian clothes.
Wordlessly he turned back and opened the door, holding it open for her to walk through first.
She walked inside and looked around, taking in the club but not really seeing it. Finally, she turned back to Oliver, "Did you tell my family that I'm alive?"
"No." Oliver replied at once. She turned away from him, "Sara."
He walked around her so that he was facing her once more, "I saw you die."
"Not the first time that's happened, right?" She said ironically, "And I thought you were dead, too. What happened to Slade?"
"Where have you been?" he countered, ignoring her question.
"Everywhere." She said simply.
"That's not an answer." Oliver replied.
"Well, it's the one you're getting." She shot back.
She sighed and started pacing aimlessly, "About a year ago, I started hearing tales of the Starling City vigilante. The man in the green hood. I knew it was you. And you made friends with The Devil of Hell's Kitchen."
"I had never known you as much of a fighter." Oliver stated, "Where did you pick that up?"
"I met some rough people." She said cryptically, "Thought I should get rougher, too."
"Sara." Oliver moved in closer, "Why did you come back?"
"The earthquake." She said simply.
"Because you wanted to make sure your family was safe." Oliver sussed out, "But now you're still here, watching over them. Protecting them."
He looked her in the eyes, "So, did you come here to make sure I didn't tell them? Or because you were hoping I had?"
Sara had no answer to his question.
"What's your plan, Sara?" Oliver asked, "Because right now, you just… well, you're whipping across rooftops and keeping watch over your family like some sort of ghost."
"We're both ghosts." Sara said sadly, "We died on that island."
"But we didn't." Oliver shot back, "We both lived. And I get that you have been in pain so long that it probably just feels normal now. But you can let it go and come home. I mean, I know that the earthquake brought you here, but your family kept you here. You have to tell them, Sara. They need you."
"You told them that I died on 'The Gambit'." Sara pointed out, "If they know the truth—"
"They would never- they would never talk to me again." Oliver said, laughing humorlessly, "Not one of them. But it'd be worth it."
He then held out a hand to her, and she reluctantly took it. He then led her away.
That night, Unknown location
Xavier Reed was strapped to a chair with a bag over his head. Suddenly the bag was removed, and Xavier looked up to see a young patrol officer standing there.
He looked around in confusion, squinting at the harsh light given off by a set of shop lights.
"What the hell is this?" he demanded, "This ain't the police station."
The cop stepped aside, and a new man walked in. He was dressed in slacks, a red shirt, and a blue windbreaker with the collar popped up. But what was really distinctive was the mask. It was brown leather, shaped like a skull, and concealed the man's face entirely except for the eyes, which regarded Xavier coldly, "Why are you wearing that mask?"
"This city is in chains, and I'm going to free it." The man in the skull mask said. He stepped aside so that another man, this one carrying a syringe filled with a green liquid, could approach the bound man, "But to do that, I need an army."
"Whoa, what's in that thing?!" Xavier said in a panic as the third man injected the green serum into his arm, "Get that off me! Get that crap away from me!"
The injection finished, the man pulled the needle free and stepped back. Skull man stepped forward again.
"Are you ready to serve?" He asked.
Xavier tensed as the serum coursed through his veins, and then screamed out in pain. He screamed for several moments before he finally died, his head dropping to his chest, and crimson tears of blood running out of the corners of his eyes.
The man pulled off the mask, revealing the face of Sebastian Blood.
Blood sighed in disappointment. "Bring me another." He ordered the cop.
"Yes, Brother Blood." The cop replied.
Merlyn Residence
Tommy walked towards the table to lift up his wine glass when suddenly someone hit him from behind, throwing him to the ground.
He turned around to see his own father in his Dark Archer suit, raising a sword to kill him.
"Dad?" Tommy questioned incredulously, "How are you still alive? What are you do-?"
He was cut off when the man kicked him on the face, sending him back down. He then raised his sword, ready to kill him-
Only for an arrow to hit him on the chest. Tommy crawled back, startled, as the man fell down and died. He turned around to see another man in his father's suit lowering his bow.
Before Tommy could gather his wits, the man ran to the window and jumped. Regaining his bearings, Tommy walked up to the window and looked down-
To see no one there.
He turned around, feeling his heart pumping against his chest. He took off the corpse's mask-
To reveal a young man in his mid-30's. It wasn't Malcolm.
Tommy could only wonder what was going on. He needed to contact his friend who could figure out what was going on.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter.
I figured with Matt around, the Mayor could be captured earlier. And if Oliver and Sara hadn't been interrupted by Quentin at Verdant, I think the outcome of their conversation would be the same as the outcome of their conversation in the hospital.
Roy and Sin would still end up meeting after all in this episode so no problem there.
And I wonder what's going on with Tommy.
2x6 is where another plot point from Chapter 1 will be continued.
