"What do you mean they became metas?!" Felicity asked in an angered and confused tone.
"The assassin that we were up against just drank something in a small orange vial necklace and suddenly he was able to create and control fire! He could have easily burnt us alive but he didn't!" Curtis said. He was trying to hold back his excitement but couldn't do it with Felicity staring him down.
"And it can't go unmentioned that Nyssa got some boost too" Dig said.
The team looked over to him for more detail so he did his best to explain. "Nyssa showed up to the warehouse and when she saw us, a confident smirk crept up her face and she drank the contents in a small red vial. She was then able to create air currents that shot our bullets back at us. Eventually, the blue assassin jumped in and gave an electric charge to the currents, turning them into tornados! I'm honestly surprised that we got out of there alive".
"Alright, we got Nyssa and that other assassin down. Now what's your story Oliver, you don't get knocked down that often" Dinah asked their leader.
Oliver was in a trance when his name was mentioned. He was thinking about Nyssa and how he could possibly see her again. After he and Felicity decided that a relationship would never work between them, he had started to drift back to Nyssa.
"Oliver… Oliver!" Diggle said multiple times before he finally snapped out of it.
"Oh, Sorry. I honestly don't know what happened. She came in through the same window and made eye contact with me, smiled, and then drank something in a blue vial. She was then able to control lightning like Dig said. However, when she was fighting, it was like she was defending Trent because there was much more passion in the attacks" Oliver responded.
Felicity started banging her head on the back of the chair she was sitting in before speaking. "So we couldn't exactly beat those three to begin with, and now they have access to meta abilities! How are we supposed to compete with that!".
"Well" Rene started "When the assassin drank the booster or whatever, his eyes started glowing orange and then there were highlights in his hair".
"Hey, same thing happened with Nyssa. Her eyes glowed a golden color then her hair was highlighted. Oliver mentioned that the blue assassin's eyes glowed purple and then her hair was half purple" Dig added in.
"So what, there's a pattern?" Dinah asked while looking at Curtis and Felicity. The two hackers looked at each other and their eyes widened.
"Yes! That's it!" Felicity said. "We just need to create some type of chart telling us what color or signs to look for that correspond to certain boosts. Then, we can start finding weaknesses from there and the battles can become more even!".
"Alright, you guys should get started on that, I need to get back home to William before he thinks I died while out tonight" Oliver said as he got onto the elevator.
As soon as the doors closed, Felicity and Curtis started making a chart with sport for all possible abilities. Each of them had a section on weaknesses, signs of use, types of attacks, and other info like who used that ability the most.
-(=+=)-
"Make your wrists strong Jacob! You're not Ra's so you can't let your guard down either" Nyssa shouted as she knocked the teen down.
"Alright, I get it! You're better than me, but seriously, lighten up" Jacob responded as he stood up and took his stance with his sword. "Can we use the boosters with practice now?" He asked, hoping to get an advantage over Nyssa.
"What happens when you are alone in a battle with just your sword and no booster? That's right! You need to rely on your sword and skills" Nyssa said as she raised her own sword into the air and came down on Jacob's blade.
He did his best to dodge and counter her attacks, but he was just falling into her trap. She let him believe he had the upper hand as he started advancing on her, but he was severely mistaken. As soon as Nyssa was against the wall, she turned her back towards Jacob and ran up the wall. She then proceeded to do a backflip off and landed behind Jacob. Within a matter of seconds, Jacob was pressed against the wall with Nyssa's blade to his neck.
"Where did that back flip come from?! That's not allowed!" He said when Nyssa lowered her blade.
"There aren't any rules in a real fight, just do what you can to survive!" The red assassin responded as she sheathed her sword.
Lenora strolled into the sparring room and saw the others. "Good afternoon Nyssa, Jacob! How was the sparring?" She asked.
"Nyssa is incorporating backflips into a sword fight!" Jacob said as he took a drink of water.
"And she only just now used it against you?! Wow, you're really behind" Lenora responded.
"So where have you been all morning?" Jacob asked her.
"Ah, I got caught up reading a book on the roof and lost track of the time. Hey Nyssa, want to do some target practice?" Lenora asked as she picked up her bow and quiver.
Nyssa looked up at her sister in arms and shook her head. "Nah, I need to go out and get some more knives from a good shop I found about a year ago. You guys destroy these knives when you practice throwing!" Nyssa responded as she held up a blade that was partially bent. "Go ahead and practice with Jacob, and please school him!".
With that, Nyssa left the room, leaving the other two assassins to practice.
Nyssa went into her own room and changed into more normal attire for wandering the city. She then grabbed a couple of her own knives and hid them in her boot and belt. She was about to leave when she remembered the red vial on her desk. When she was picking the boosters they would use for the 'Chien Na Wei' fight, she made another vial for herself containing the water manipulation boost. After everything was together, she took the back exit out of the safe house and left for the city.
-(=+=)-
After a good three hours of tracking down training knives, Nyssa had finally found the man that had sold to her before. He only had five knives in stock so she got what she could and left.
The sky was starting to gain an orange glow, which meant that night would be upon the city in less than an hour. Despite Nyssa being a bad ass assassin who feared nothing, she had a soft spot for watching sun sets. Whenever she could escape her father's training sessions in Nanda Parbat, Nyssa would climb to the top of a hill and watch the sun set over the mountain tops.
Not wanting to miss the opportunity, Nyssa broke into a run towards one of the highest skyscrapers in Star City; Queen Consolidated, now known as Palmer Tech.
She finally reached the top of the building and the sun was just starting to set so she sat down at the edge of the building and let her feet dangle off the edge.
….(Time Skip)….
A little over a half hour had past and the sun was only half visible. Stars were starting to appear in the sky in the dark blue while the sun illuminated the west with bright oranges and pinks. Nyssa was still sitting on the edge of the skyscraper when there were footsteps approaching from behind.
"Nyssa? What are you doing up here?" A masculine voice asked.
Nyssa turned her head and was greeted by a green archer. "Oliver? Isn't it a bit early for you to be doing your night patrol?" The assassin asked.
Oliver removed his hood and masked and sat down next to his 'wife'. "So what exactly are you doing up here?" He asked her.
"When I was a child, I would take every opportunity I could to escape my father and watch the sun set over the mountain peaks in Nanda Parbat. After leaving my home, that need never disappeared" She explained while watching the warm colors dance across the sky "What's your excuse for being here?".
Oliver let out a heavy sign, causing Nyssa to direct her attention to her 'husband'.
"I honestly don't know. I just like watching sun sets. There's something enchanting about them".
"Indeed..." Nyssa said.
While Oliver continued to watch the sky, Nyssa's attention was on the surroundings. She could sense somebody watching them, but wasn't quite sure who or what.
"Oliver, do you feel that?" She finally asked the green archer.
He looked around, trying to understand what Nyssa was talking about. "Nyssa, what are you talking about?".
"I think someone is watching us" She replied while looking around the roof.
When she said this, five men dressed in black sprung out of the shadows and sides of the building and started to circle around the two archers. Oliver and Nyssa both jumped up quickly, each getting their weapons ready.
Nyssa found her vial with the water booster and drank it. Her eyes glowed a soft blue and blue highlights formed in her hair. She moved her arms back and forth, causing water to form between her and Oliver, protecting them from the enemies. Oliver nocked an arrow and started shooting rapidly at the men who just appeared.
About three of them were shooting bullets at the two archers, but Nyssa was slowing the bombardment but freezing the water, making an ice shield. The other two had some worn down katanas that they were swinging at the archers. In Nyssa's opinion, they lacked coordination and a plan while Oliver thought they could actually pose a threat.
"Oliver, get behind me!" Nyssa shouted over to him in Russian, over the sound of gunfire. Oliver did as instructed and jumped behind Nyssa. She swirled her hands around and the water that was creating a shield shot out in all directions and turned to ice.
The five men that were attacking them were frozen in place, unable to attack. Oliver walked up to one and pulled off his mask. The man looked Chinese and had a dragon tattoo on the side of his neck.
"Triad, they came to kill you for getting them arrested" Nyssa said.
"Great, that means Chien Na Wei is out of prison and back to her usual crimes" Oliver groaned.
Nyssa raised an eyebrow at this statement. "Wait, you didn't know that China was released? She got some hacker to change her release date and now she's out on the streets again, probably trying to recover the rest of the money that was in that cemetery".
Oliver turned on his coms and asked Felicity to call the police to arrest the five triad members that attacked them. After he made the request, he turned back to the red assassin.
"You've been trying to track China down, haven't you?" Oliver asked.
"Yeah, thanks for giving me and my team false intel, by the way. That really helped us and it put you guys back as well" Nyssa said with a snarky tone.
Oliver thought about what she said for a moment, then tried to reason with his 'wife'. "Would you and your team be willing to work with mine to stop China faster?".
Nyssa was silent for a moment before responding. "I'll need to consult my team about that. In the meantime, you know where to find me" She responded.
Nyssa was about to jump off the roof when Oliver shouted back to her. "Actually, I have no idea where you are now a days".
Nyssa chuckled a little "The two story safe house. The one on the edge of the glades, with the big sparring room and bedrooms. You know the one!".
"Right, sorry!" Oliver said as the red assassin left.
-(=+=)-
"Hey Nyssa! Where have you been?" Lenora asked her sister when she walked inside the safe house.
"Ran into Queen, then some triad members attacked. From that, Oliver wants to know if we want to team up with his group to end the triad faster. I don't care at this point, so it's up to you guys" Nyssa said while motioning to Lenora and Jacob.
Actually, Nyssa wanted to work with Oliver much more than some would expect. After Sara joined the legends and Laurel died, Nyssa had been looking for a true friend. She had found something like it in Lenora, but it wasn't what she was looking for. When she was on the roof with Oliver, she felt the void of loneliness being filled with something that felt like compassion.
"If it can get the job done, then let's do it!" Lenora answered.
Nyssa perked up a bit when she said this and dismissed herself from the room. She went into her room and called Oliver straight away.
"Nyssa, were you able to get an answer?" He said when he picked up.
"My team agrees, we can be at the bunker in ten minutes" She responded. Oliver agreed and she went off to tell the team.
"We're leaving in ten minutes for the bunker" Nyssa shouted to the other two assassins.
"Neat, we get to see the arrow cave! I'm going to be the first in there!" Jacob taunted as he got his armor on.
"Keep dreaming husband!" Lenora responded.
-(=+=)-
The elevator doors opened up and three assassins stepped out; one it red, one in blue, and one in black. Nyssa led the way into the bunker where they met Oliver and the rest of the team.
"Glad to see you made it here without trouble, Nyssa" Oliver said as he went over and hugged the assassin.
"Never thought I would see you hug me willingly" Nyssa laughed.
Oliver smirked back at her and proceeded over to the other two assassins. "So it is you, Sterling Jackson is the Blue assassin" Oliver said as he extended his hand to her.
"Lenora Bariq actually, Sterling Jackson is just a cover name" Lenora responded as he took his hand.
Oliver turned towards the black assassin and shook his hand. "Jacob Patterson, nice to meet you" He said as he took Oliver's hand.
"And what's your cover name?".
"Zalam".
"Isn't that Arabic for shadow" Diggle pipped up.
"Yeah, it was given to me for stealth abilities" Jacob explained.
"Great! Introductions are over with, let's get to work!" Felicity shouted.
"Oh, right. So we got some information on China before you got here. There is, supposedly, an arms deal taking place between the triad and a local gang for some pretty heavy machinery. It's only like eight o'clock at night so we have a couple hours to pass before heading out" Oliver said before turning to Nyssa
"In the meantime, want to spar? I've been working on something and I think I can finally beat you!". Nyssa lifted her eyebrow and smirked at her 'husband'.
"I'd like to see you try! Let's do this".
