China White, Al Sah Her, and Adler waited for Brick to leave his town car. As he walked out, he adjusted his overcoat. His second was a few paces behind him.

"I apologize for my repeated absences." Brick said to his cabal.

Adler looked around. "Where is Sergei Mishnev?"

"The Solntsevskaya Bratva is no longer a part of our joint operations." Brick answered carefully.

The ninja spoke Arabic as all of the cabal members looked towards Mr. Blank for translation.

"Al Sah Her wishes to know why that is the case."

"He pissed me off, so, I made one of his brother's a head shorter, with my car door." Brick answered simply. If they wanted to push for transparency, he would accommodate. He preferred speaking, blunt rather than double talk or flowery words.

China White, Al Sah Her, and Adler looked ropable as they glared at Brickwell.

"Does Sergei know?" Adler asked.

Mr. Blank gave a small smirk. "As far as Mr. Mishnev knows, The Woman in Black killed him."

As the members left, Al Sar Her remained. "Don't forget your promise to me and Tempest." His voice was distorted by a voice modulator. "The consequences of failing our contract would court the ire of powerful individuals."


Laurel was in the police department to ask her father about the man who wanted to illegally evict her client and her neighbors from their residence.

That was until she heads one of her father's colleagues mention how it was her turn to silence a suspect before he speaks. She then heard a couple of gunshots a few minutes later.

Later that night, she waited outside the alley and ambushed Lieutenant Kimberly Hill. She deftly grabbed Hill's wrist and forearm and twisted it, forcing the Lieutenant to drop her sidearm. "Don't test me. Now, why did you kill the Russian in interrogation?"

Hill chuckled. "Officially? He tried to escape."

Canary sent her leg around the dirty cop and kicked her. She had hit roughly where Hill's liver is. Just as she was taught. It wasn't a fatal hit, but it would hurt like hell for a long while. "You killed him because he mentioned Danny Brickwell didn't, he? He would have blown the entire syndicate?"

"Why do you care? Huh? You decapitated a Bratva brother!" She replied while gritting her teeth.

Canary swallowed, she didn't have to prove her innocence to someone who had been perverting justice. "I want his Brother. The leader of his organization in Starling. So why did he have Mr Prohaszka? What is the connection?"

"You don't know?" She asked with a chuckle. "You are a stupid dumb bitch!" Canary knocked her unconscious. "I really don't like that word!"

She then heard a phone ring and picked it up.


Alexi patted Sergei on the shoulder. "Our brothers have discovered that The Canary has a rapport with Brick."

"We were played?" Snarled Sergei. "Brick courts war with Bratva. Have all our brother's equipped! And send out word to the streets that we will pay one million dollars to any man who can direct us to Brick tonight. He wants war? Our brothers will give him what he desires."

"Should we contact, Pakhan?"

"No. They have enough to deal with back home. We are on our own."

Alexi nodded and left to issue orders.


Laurel made her way back to Troika Restaurant, she watched as a blind Asian man entered the building.

She ran up to the sentries and knocked them out. As she did, the building blew up, the door saving her from the blast. She was sprawled across the cement, dazed, until she saw a man flee. She haphazardly chased him and threw her baton at the back of his head, causing him to fall to the cement.

She stood above him as she heard sirens. She heard one of her father's colleagues yell at her, thinking she is a common thug. A terrorist even. "Get on the ground, and hands on your head!" He barked.

Her hands went up. "I'm not your enemy, officer."

She heard his gun being cocked. "I don't give a damn, who you are. Hands in the air lady."

She nodded. She then swiftly ducked and rolled, as she did so, she dropped one her last pellets. While the officers were distracted, she carried the man to a warehouse.


Brick and Blank were watching a news feed on the explosions around the Glades. The newscaster dubbing it; Starling's Battle Grounds.

"Well?" Brick asked.

"Officer Daly was about to kill Mishnev when The Woman in Black was interrogating him. She and the Russian disappeared after she used some sort of device. A high-pitched speaker of some kind."

"So, she is more than a girl just jumping in the deep end?" Brick mumbled to himself.

"That seems to be the case, sir. Between her skills and her arsenal…"


Hill walked through the fiery ruins of the restaurant. She found a Bratva thug impaled on a piece of rebar begging for help.

She shot him in the head. And looked up at her officers. "If you find anyone alive, shoot them in the head."


Sergei attempted to roll over.

The Woman in Black gently placed her foot on his chest. "Don't move. You've been shot."

The man began to angrily speak to her in Russian.

"That sounds pretty bad. Unfortunately for you, I don't speak asshole."

Sergei spat out some blood. "I will kill you for taking on my brother's head. An eye for an eye, A tooth for a tooth!"

"Lex Talionis, huh." She cocked her head at the wounded man. "Wrong person. I don't kill people. Take your brother who pretended to be a cop. I put him in a coma, not in the morgue. I don't kill people, even when people wouldn't fault me for killing bastards like you and your ilk."

"Lying bitch! I saw your message. Your balaclava!"

"So what? Suddenly I'm the only person in the world who owns a ski mask?" She asked sarcastically. "You're being played by Brickwell. I didn't blow your shit up."

"Brick is the man you work for!" Spat the injured Russian.

"Look, I don't know the intricacies of the webs of deceit, Brick and his lot have weaved. But there comes a time where you must draw a line in the sand. He wants to kill you. I don't. Choose."

"I choose my Brothers! The Bratva."

"Not an option. They are either in hiding or too small to make a difference. The rest has been killed in your gang war."

Sergei spat some blood from his mouth. He knew that his options were very limited and narrowing considerably as they spoke: "Then what is it you want, Malen'kaya Ptitsa?"

"Daniel Brickwell on trial and put behind bars."

The Russian laughed and spat out blood. "Beautiful, but no brains."

"Well, the non-existent brain of mine, tells me that you are bleeding out. This brain that you claim is absent brain also knows first aid."

Sergei chuckled and spat out some of the coppery liquid. "If I believe you… What do I get?"

"Justice, Vengeance. Life." Behind bars. She silently added.

He chuckled again and continued to cough up blood. "I have a counter-proposal, suck my dick… Bitc..." His eyes then glassed over. Laurel swore as she searched for his pulse and sighed when she found it. He had only passed out from the bullet wound and the blood loss.

Laurel slapped his faces gently which garnered no response. She then looked around to find something to cauterize his wound.


Thea and Joanna were watching the explosions from their offices and the Tv, Thea had hooked up earlier. While they were watching, Thea was called by an unknown number.

"Hello?"

"Thea, Thea Queen?" Asked a familiar voice. A voice she had not expected to call her, considering her brother's less than amicable relationship with the detective.

"Yes, Detective Lance."

"Have you seen or heard from Laurel? With all war zone happening in the city, I was hoping she was safe." His voice was on the verge of cracking. She wished that her mother was as proactive in worrying about her only child like he was, minus the overprotectiveness part of course.

Thea bit her lip. "No, I haven't seen her. But I'm sure she is all right. Knowing her, she is probably training at one of her gyms and has her earphones in and training to the music."

One night, Laurel had informed her that she used an old gym to exercise and to escape or retreat from stress or upsetting thoughts, or memories.

A trait she picked up from a friend when she was studying in Central City. Thea supposed that it was a better way to escape the stress than drugs or alcohol.

She heard the man sigh. "Alright. If you see her tell her that I called… And Thea?"

"Yeah?"

"You keep safe too. Laurel sees you as something like a baby sister. Losing you like she lost your brother or Sara, would kill her."

"I will. You stay safe as well, Detective. Goodbye." She then hung up and looked out the window, seeing a fire in the distance. She bit her lip, hoping that Laurel was safe. Now was not the safest time for anyone to outside and alone in Starling.


Sergei's screams had alerted the cop she had pinned. He looked young and rather wet behind the ears, as her father would say.

"Who do you work for?" She asked.

"Starling City." He replied too quickly. He then quickly amended. "The SCPD."

She jabbed him in the stomach. "I don't like liars. The truth this time, please."

The young cop answered the same. She then gave him the benefit of the doubt and handed him his hand-held radio. "Inform your team leader that it was a false alarm. That you got jumpy and realized the sound was just a cat. A rookie mistake, they won't hold it against you. Apart from some light-hearted teasing."

The frightened cop nodded. "Ok… Ok." He then quickly took the radio and informed the police that she was in the warehouse. She knocked him out and sighed in annoyance.

When she returned to the now conscious Sergei he spoke. "You may think that there is no difference between you, me and Brick. But you will soon realize you have entered a slippery slope. A slope even the noblest of people fall down."

"Tell me what I need to know, Sergei."

"His lackey approached us. His employer, Brickwell had taken an interest in our operations and offered a pact to expand influence and power. Our Pakhan, Gregor. He wanted this. Brick had us work distribution for the Triad's heroin."

Laurel then recalled how the triad had tried to extort Thea. She clenched her fists. Brick's network had attempted to hurt her baby sister!

"The Chinese are involved?" She asked through gritted teeth.

Sergei clutched his rib as he chuckled. "Like I said. Beauty with no brains. Have you heard of Leslie Shumway?"

Laurel nodded. "Worked for Al Capone. He was his money man."

The Bratva leader shook his head. "Perhaps you do have a brain beneath that beauty. His name is Vincent Adler. He will give you the names you think you want. Like it matters."


After a brief fight, Sergei and Laurel fell through the floors to a basement level. After checking the Russian was alive, she heard the hand-held radio speak.

A British accent could be heard. "Is the Woman in Black there?"

She held the radio. "Daniel Brickwell?"

"I thought it was time you and I spoke. Especially after the lengths, you went to get my attention. You and I are very similar, Ms..."

Laurel ignored the latter part of his statement. "You and I a polar opposite. You are like a parasite leeching off Starling City."

"No, you and I did both want to help this city. Only I do it on a larger scale. A more important one. I will make you a deal, Canary."

He waited for a few moments, as she unconsciously felt her hand feeling the pendant under her jacket. And blinked away the thoughts of how she acquired it.

Her voice broke her from her thoughts. "Yes, I have heard what the Bratva have called you. You are surrounded. Death is inevitable. Kill or give up Mr. Mishnev and we call your actions, a push. A stalemate. I will allow you the prospect to stop me."

She kicked a piece of debris. "No. I don't negotiate with you and your ilk!"

"As you wish." A gunshot was then heard. Her stomach dropped, that couldn't have been a coincidence. "That man's blood is on your hands. Your pride and your mulish rigidity killed that man."


Thea was watching the television after reassuring both Detective Lance and Walter that she was safe at CNRI. The reporter was discussing a woman dressed in black, who they believe is involved in the war with the Russian gang war.

"Sources within the gang war have stated that the Russian Mob has dubbed the masked vigilante as 'The Canary'. As to why the terrorist vigilante has been named after the small bird is up for debate…"

She nudged Joanna. "That is the woman who saved me. The Canary"

"You're lucky that she saved you."

"She didn't seem the person to do the bombings and kill those cops." Her voice seemed to show that she was starting to believe that she was saved by circumstance and not by a hero.

They then heard that a police officer was shot and is a critical condition. The reporter then speculated that the Woman in Black was involved in the shooting of the police officer.


Laurel left Sergei to hold off the oncoming army of Brick's men. He had asked her to give him and his brother's justice and warned her that she was getting into bed with ferocious animals and may have to retaliate in a similar matter in order to survive.