Chapter Nine:
"Defeat the master and you'll free the slaves."
Jesse, Barry, and Alex stand around a table where they strap Kara down onto the table. Her body moves up and down with this oversized Starfish drone wrapping around her chest.
Barry leans down and whispers in her ear.
"Listen to me, Kara. I know you can fight this. You just have to summon enough inner strength to push that thing off of you. You're stronger than this."
"Yeah, she is, but...it's weakened her resolve and taken control of her nervous system."
Alex closes her eyes and tries to keep her emotions free. A hand on her shoulder snaps her out of the thoughts.
"We'll get her."
"I know you will. Why do I have a feeling that this is not going to be as easy as a process as it was to get the Starfish off of Kara as it was getting it off of me?"
Barry and Jesse look over Kara and unfortunately, Jesse's assessment is clearly on the money.
"Because it's not going to be."
A strand of hair blows away from Jesse's face.
"Okay, Kara, if you're still in there and you still can hear me, I want you to know that this is going to be hurt...actually it's just going to hurt you a lot, but hey, you'll be free from control. Barry, I need your help to rip the thing off her and we'll be good to go."
The words "I hope" do not leave Jesse's mouth even though they dominate her thoughts. Jesse flashes her attention over to Alex ever so briefly.
"It might be a good idea to step back."
"Right."
Alex steps back to let the two scientist speedsters do their work. They put their hands on the Starfish drone and discharge a heavy amount of energy in it.
The struggle to get the Starfish off of Kara takes several minutes and she puts up a hell of a fight. Barry and Jesse increase their resolve trying to shock the Starfish into releasing her.
The Starfish rips off of Kara, leaving a raw red outlight from where it latches onto her body. She starts to spasm all over the table.
Alex reaches over and switches the lamps to yellow solar radiation once Barry and Jesse free Kara from the Starfish. Kara continues to thrash around on the table with the wires connecting her to the heart monitor sending a discharge towards them.
Her heartbeat goes erratic and Alex almost lets out a screen when it flat lines.
"Stand back!"
Barry hopes this works, but really they don't have any other choices. He puts his hands on Kara's chest and discharges electricity into her body. Kara starts to spasm up and down with the intensity of the electricity overwhelming her. She almost collapses down onto the table.
"Again!"
The second time hits it at Jesse's signal. Kara's vial signs flicker in and out with Barry hitting pretty much all of the right marks. He holds back and then one more time slams his hands onto Kara's chest. Kara starts to shake all over the operating table.
"ONE MORE TIME!"
And so Barry sends the jolt of electricity down into Kara's heart. Kara screams out loud one more time and her body starts to shiver and shake.
Then, her mouth opens and several eggs fly out of it. The purple eggs splatter all over the table. Despite the repulsion he feels, Barry locks onto Kara's head and steadies her.
"Get it all out...get it all out."
Jesse takes a metal tin and Barry balances Kara's head over it. The eggs splatter out of her mouth. The little starfish drones which are not fully developed just yet lay in the tin, shivering and then melting in the light.
Finally, Kara's body stops revolting long enough to settle down. She sees Barry standing next to her and gives him a smile.
"Thank you."
Kara tries to squeeze his hand, but ends up missing him and squeezing the side of his leg. It's the thought that counts. Kara fades off to a fitful state of rest.
"What...just...happened?"
Jesse closes her eyes before turning around to address Alex's question.
"The Queen was using your sister to breed more of these Starfish drones."
Somehow, Alex does not throw up at this news. Barely.
X
Wells paces back and forth to the lab. Sapphire watches him while clicking a pen and Caitlin flips through the information she has, studying something. She takes a breath.
"Could you sit down for five minutes, please?"
"They should have been back by now."
Sapphire throws her head back. It's really tempting to flick the rubber band on her desk at the back of his head. She decides to settle for telling him the facts of the matter, yet again.
"The watches say their vitals are fine. They're just taking a bit longer because something came up."
"They better be focusing on the mission. I read Snow's reports and I'm concerned that Jesse might be afflicted by it as well."
"What?"
Caitlin adopts an innocent smile. Wells cups a hand to his forehead.
"Oh, don't make me say it? Don't make me say it, especially with my own daughter being involved?"
"You mean the Sex Force."
Wells slaps the hand to his forehead.
"It doesn't sound any better when you said it. I should have never let her go off on her own."
"She is old enough."
"She's still my daughter."
Sapphire takes a deep breath and decides to break into the conversation between Wells and Caitlin.
"Okay, you need to give her some space and learn to trust her. You're just going to end up pushing her further away, if you act like an overprotective mother hen. I know how single fathers get, how they get overprotective and they end up shadowing their daughters well to the point where it becomes almost creepy. It's only out of concern, I know, but...if you weren't her father..."
"And yet, I am."
"Give her some space before you push her away."
This conversation does not go any further when Laurel and Iris step into Star Labs. Caitlin looks up from her work and decides to ask them a question.
"Any luck?"
Both ladies shake their head in negative. One can tell how much Iris looks flustered.
"Nothing. We ran into Amanda Waller."
Caitlin grimaces at the thought of that. That's more than enough to ruin anyone's day, no matter what.
"Lovely."
"Not particularly."
A blip comes out over the system. Wells jumps up, thinking it might be Barry and Jesse coming back. He relaxes, and at the same time leans forward in interest when he sees something.
"What is it?"
"It's an incoming transmission and coming from Starling City."
This piece of information takes everyone back. Caitlin frowns and there's just another strand to this entire tangled web.
"And yes, of course I can track an approximate location."
X
Jesse shifts from one side to the other as Alex and Barry study the Queen Starfish. There's something about it which makes Jesse think the damn thing is staring into her very soul and that doesn't put her in a good state of mind.
"I don't understand. We took her down and yet the DEO is still infected with her drones."
Alex and Barry do not have the answers any more than Jesse does. A very deep round of laughter follows with a purple eye opening from the Queen Starfish. The creature only becomes even more ominous.
"I'm just a humble messenger to spread the great one's cause. And you only delay what is inevitable. He will rise once again and when he does, Starro will reign supreme. You cannot hope to stop what is to come."
"We won't let it happen."
"Foolish human, you have already lost. You should just bow down and beg for mercy."
Alex just gives the creepy thing which possessed her sister one of the most hateful stares possible.
"Yeah, but no."
A pinch to the bridge of the nose signals that Alex just goes deep into thought. She turns around to face both Jesse and Barry.
"So, are you sure that transmitter is going to work?"
"Well, yeah, but then again, I've only got five doctorates by the time most people graduate high school."
"Overachiever."
Jesse just smiles.
"Just because you're an underachiever…."
Barry clears his throat and causes Jesse to smile. She gets to the point.
"Okay, we freed two of the strongest people in the world from the drones. And these doors should keep anyone out that's going to cause trouble...at least I hope that they will."
Alex put her hand on the other woman's shoulder.
"They will."
The three of them put together some moving parts. The working design Jesse sketched up in a matter of minutes hangs from a tackboard right next to them.
"Hopefully nothing else bad happens."
Both Barry and Alex, who have a fair bit of experience of bad things happening at the worst times, in tandem, give Jesse one of the sharpest glares possible. Why did she have to say that?
The sign indicating that Metropolis is the home of Superman is one of the prominent landmarks in the city, along with the Daily Planet Globe. The protector of the city speeds up over the Metropolis sky as fast as he can fly, faster than a speeding bullet as the saying went.
He hears a frantic heartbeat at the edge of the city. A woman standing on the balcony and about to take a step ahead.
"Everyone is too cruel to me! I'm going to jump!"
Superman speeds in front of her on the balcony. The woman stands back.
"Hold on. Let's talk about this. You seem like you've had a bad day. If you would like, I could talk with you or take you to the doctor."
"Oh, everything's fine now that you're here, Superman."
The perfume she wears causes Superman to almost slump against the balcony. Trace amounts of Kryptonite in the perfume make Superman realize this is a set up just seconds before it's too late. And just seconds before she rushes over and slaps an object on the back of his neck.
His eyes glaze over.
"Do you understand your purpose?"
"Yes"
The robotic nature of Superman's tone shows he's now under the power. The hive mind may have lost one Kryptonian slave, but they will gain another. Superman drops down to the ground where a small group of Metropolis citizens stand before him.
"Everyone get ready. Our brave new world is about ready to come. Soon will all be one. And soon, I will lead you to our brand new lord and master. Starro will live!"
"Starro Lives! Starro Lives! Starro Lives."
The chants of Starro lives keeps chanting all over as more people will now be under control all thanks to Superman.
A dazed Kara Danvers stumbles into the room. She moves over to see Barry, Alex, and a girl she has not been properly introduced to, working over a transmitter. She puts a hand to the top of her head and almost staggers into the room.
"I wonder if this is what a hangover feels like."
Kara shivers and takes another step into the room. She comes across the monster in the cage. That eye is on her.
"Enjoy your freedom child. You will be Starro's soon enough."
"Ugh...I'm half tempted to get Kal's crystal and send this stupid thing into the Phantom Zone. Then it can grow legs and kneel before Zod for all I care."
Barry, Alex, and the third girl look up. Alex pulls out a seat for Kara to sit down. She sinks down, both physically and emotionally drained from what just happened with her.
"How are you feeling?"
"Like...well I feel like I look and I don't look too well."
"No, but normally you look too good."
Kara decides it would be rude not to properly say hi to Barry.
"Hey, Barry...sorry you had to see me like this...I don't really remember what happened, but I'm pretty sure it's pretty bad...and I have this awful taste in my mouth. It's like...I don't even know, I've never tasted anything this bad in my life. Do I even want to know what it is?"
The third party working on this satellite flashes a rather repulsed look over her eyes.
"No you don't...I'm Jesse by the way...it's nice to meet you now that you're not trying to take my head off."
A sheepish grin appears over Kara's face. She cannot honestly recall a second of what happens. It's just a sudden and constant blur no matter how hard she tries to remember it and she does try and remember it.
"Sorry about that..."
"No need to apologize."
"So, I was being halfway serious about sending this damn thing into the Phantom Zone!"
A squeeze from her sister's hand makes Kara think, unfortunately, that this is not as easy as it sounds.
"This one is a strong one, but not the master. The master is to come, his name is Starro and..."
"He's the King of the Star Conquerors, who has enslaved countless worlds and when he's depleted it of their resources, he's left each world a broken down husk and the people on it to die, other than a select few he's kept."
Alex blinks for a second.
"Astra told me...a long time ago. One of the reasons why Krypton was so isolated against other planets. Of course, it didn't help us from getting ripped apart from the inside."
Barry gently reaches over and puts his arm around Kara. Kara smiles at the touch from him it oddly comforts her even when her mind reflects to the doomed world, all of the friends and family she's lost.
"If he arrives, we can free as many slaves as we want. He'll crush us flat."
"No, he won't. Trust me."
Jesse finishes rigging together the final component. She's pretty sure the transmitter will work, at least she hopes that it will work.
"The two of you can get to the point of that tower we saw coming in...you know the one next that park?"
Barry nods, he knows what he talks about. Supergirl and Flash leave to get the relay point setup. They hope to get this done and as soon as possible.
X
A zip brings Supergirl and Flash to the top of the tower. The two of them work to get the relay point ready to go. It's a bit of delicate work, and obviously there is always so much which can go wrong with something like this. Supergirl pushes her hair back out of her face.
"So?"
Supergirl pauses for a second as if trying to figure out the best thing to say. She thinks it's a good thing that one of Barry's powers is that he cannot read minds. His full attention is on her and Kara tries not to lose all sense of self control over herself.
"I'm...very grateful for you being here and helping me and everything like that...but is there any reason why you came all the way over here? If you're here to see me, great, but...still..."
"It's actually something we've run into on our Earth. Some alien writing which I want you to take a look at, if you don't mind."
A small amount of disappointment comes over Kara's face. She hopes, perhaps a bit foolishly, he just came over to see her.
"Right...so what's been going on with you? You and...Iris wasn't it? Have things worked out there?"
"Great...it's working out great between us...our relationship took a turn which I didn't expect. But then again, given the evolution of what's going on with my powers, it's only practical."
A statement like that is only bound to hook someone's curiosity. Kara's no exception to this very obvious fact.
"Really, what?"
"So, is the transmitter in place?"
Flash switches to all business mode as Jesse Quick comes over. He pushes the ear piece in.
"Yeah...and how are things going on your end?"
"Ready, let's cross our fingers. They're going to come for the Queen and I think that it's best if we use her as bait."
"We've got the case with the Creepy Starfish Queen Drone thing."
Supergirl really thinks trapping the creepy thing in the Phantom Zone would be the best course of action. Conceding they need it as bait, she pulls it out of the box in a clear glass bubble it's contained in. The Queen's eye flashes over and unsettling laughter follows.
"What in Rao's name are you laughing about?"
"Look up in the sky."
A sonic blur hits the side of the tower and rattles it where Supergirl and Flash stand.
"Kal?"
The Man of Steel strikes the side of the tower one more time and causes it to rock. Flash holds onto the ledge and also onto Kara when the two of them almost take a tumble off the side of the tower.
"You do realize that if he brings this tower down, he screws up this entire plan?"
"Yeah, I know! I KNOW!"
Flash runs off of the edge of the tower and throws lightning at Superman. The damage done by this attack is minimal although it does a pretty good job of knocking him away from the tower.
The Queen breaks free of the containment and dives at Supergirl. Supergirl catches the Queen just moments before it latches onto her face. Pinpricks of light fire from her eyes and knocks the Queen Drone off of the edge of the tower to her hopeful untimely demise.
"Flash?" Supergirl? Anyone there?"
"Yeah, we've got a slight problem. Good news is, the relay point is still in place."
"And the bad news."
"Superman's been infected."
Two blurs zip from city to city with Superman gaining speed and accelerating. He smashes through a couple of buildings. Flash doubles back to make sure the flying glass does not strike any civilians.
Kryptonians without any inhibitions scare the hell out of Flash. That's the lesson of the day really. The Speedster pumps his legs on the ground and picks up a steady amount of momentum when he moves across to a certain point.
"You will join us or you will fall."
"I pick none of the above!"
Flash runs up the side of the building, runs across the building, and runs down. Superman drops down next to him and causes the ground to shake. Pieces of rumble fly up with Flash running up them. He punches the rubble at Super Speed at Superman. None of the hits register with Superman hitting them with dust.
He gets behind Superman in the cloud of dust and treats Superman like a super powered punching back. Superman spins around and Flash dodges his large hand.
A small flicker in Superman's eye shows that he's fighting at instances. Barry hits him with three upper cut punches which offer minimum effect.
"Kal, Superman...snap out of it!"
Superman goes right after Flash and he runs as fast as possible. The energy rips around him. Thankfully, a bit faster than a speeding bullet. Superman's super breath follows him and starts to ice over everything around him, including the ground.
'Well, this could suck.'
A blur comes from the other end and Supergirl nails Superman in the face with a roundhouse punch.
"Sorry."
Supergirl dives down and restrains her cousin. Flash moves in to send an electrical jolt through his fingers. He's getting a lot of practice with these precise surgeries. The star fish rips off of him and Superman flies back into the wall.
Superman shakes his head and looks up to see both his cousin and some man dressed in a red suit with a lightning bolt insignia on his chest.
"Kara?"
Supergirl nods in confirmation and offers her cousin a hand to get to his feet. Superman takes it and moves in with a shaky stance.
"How did I get here?"
"Did Jor-El ever tell you the story of the Star Conqueror?"
Kal recalls it through his training. He turns to the man who he hazily recalls removing the starfish drone from his neck. Kara smiles.
"Flash, this is Superman. Superman, this is Flash. There will be more time to get properly introduced earlier...now we got to save the world."
"So, you're Kara's cousin?"
Superman extends his hand and the two heroes shake hands.
"You don't happen to be the guy who Kara talks about her sleep, are you?"
"KAL!"
Flash respectfully declines to comment how Superman's only the second person to bring up this fact. Kara's mortification of her cousin embarrassing her is almost adorable, if it was not for the fact there's a problem.
The portal breaks open over the Earth and several of the drones move in.
"Problem!"
Jesse shouting in Barry's ear causes him to jump up.
"No kidding."
A Starfish as large as anything else casts a shadow over all of the buildings. The infected citizens and DEO agents all move over and bow before it.
"I mean seriously, the transmitter's not working...it's almost like there's something more powerful blocking it."
Barry runs complex calculations in his head. He knows that there's only a few seconds before everything turns around in the worst possible way.
"And we're seriously being breached!"
"Okay. Okay. I've got it...if we had more power...we can boost the transmitter...and maybe even stun Starro, at least in theory."
"I've got an idea."
Superman's statement brings Flash out of his thoughts. He turns to the Man of Steel and shows that he's all ears.
"We just need a diversion to get it set up."
A very bad feeling enters the pit of Flash's stomach at this thought. He nods and readies himself for what comes next.
Finally, after a long break, Starro returns to conquer a brand new world full of promise. The legions of follows line up down the way. The Queen, in a new vessel, stands a bit further. Starro peers down at his legions.
"Soon, my children. This entire world will be ours for the taking. We will rise up and we will free the people from their restraints. They will become one. There will be no sorrow, no pain, no war. There will be only Starro."
"Starro Lives! Starro Lives! Starro Lives!"
"We're not ready to give up this world just yet."
The speedster appears right underneath Starro. The Queen's eyes shift in anger.
"You. He stopped me from taking control of the one known as Kara Zor-El."
"That's right! I'm the one that got away. The big one that you couldn't reel in. And I'm about ready to screw up your plans yet again. How do you like that?"
The eyes of Starro shift against The Scarlet Speedster on the ground. The Queen and several Starro drones close in on him. Barry zips over to one side to avoid them. He jumps from person to person taking out as many weapons as possible. They all try and jump him at once.
Barry's vibrating hands hit the ground as fast as humanly possible and send the controlled drones flying. The STARRO Queen withdraws a blade. Seconds before she may hit, Barry avoids her attack.
"Too slow!"
STARRO shoots glops of purple goop down onto the ground. The eggs break open on the ground and almost submerge Flash onto the ground. Friction rises and falls with the Flash attempting to break out of the goo on the ground. One leg slams down onto the ground with Barry's struggles only increasing by each moment. He blurs through the sludge although it is a very laborious process.
"Now we have you..."
The drones swarm on Flash who breaks free. His arms move like a windmill and slams them back down onto the ground. The Speedster eases back a couple of inches before almost collapsing down onto the ground. One of the drones closes in on him with a starfish drone coming ever so closer to him.
A mental wave hits the drones all at the same time. The Queen turns herself around and eyes narrow in anger.
"Manhunter!"
J'onn staggers out. He's a bit shaky and at the same time tome ready to avenge being trapped by the Starro Drone earlier.
"You looked like you could use a hand."
"Thanks for that!"
A super speed punch allows the goop on the ground to pop. Barry makes sure to take as many drones as possible on the path to the King. He looks up into the sky.
"Now would be a really good time guys?"
STARRO's arms come down. Those slimy tentacles brush down onto the ground.
"I will have you! I will have all of you."
A beam of purple energy fires from the North. The impact connects to the back of STARRO's head and results in a hideous scream coming out of this creature. Barry observes the screams only escalating when it connects to the creature.
Supergirl and Superman both drop to the ground. The Queen's new vessel charges in. Supergirl dodges the blade and catches her arm. She flips the vessel down on the ground.
Jesse rushes into the battle as well. The drones freeze as if held into place. The transmitter in her hand unleashes a huge flux of energy to hold them into place.
"Guys! I think it's working!"
Supergirl's nervousness becomes very evident. The Queen rolls over onto the ground. Supergirl pushes her back down with a foot on the back of her head.
"Not with the big guy up there!"
The two Kryptonian cousins and the two speedsters lock eyes. Supergirl zips into the eye of the storm, with Superman following close behind. Jesse rushes off to the North and Flash takes the left turn. The four of them run at Starro from opposite directions and cause a cyclone.
"You only delay the inevitable!"
Time and space breaks with an energy vortex sending STARRO up. His children rip off of their human hosts along with his Queen. Supergirl punches the Queen hard through the energy portal to escalate her trip into oblivion.
Flash blinks at the rage dancing in her eyes.
"One might think you took possession a bit too personal."
"Maybe."
The big guy tears apart from Superman and Supergirl lifting him off of the ground. A cyclone rips the downed Starfish up and sends them packing.
"Okay, we got to close this now!"
Jesse and Barry vibrate their hands and cause the reversal of energy to seal the portal behind them. The two of them blast back and land onto the ground.
X-X-X
The cleanup effort is always one of the most frustrating parts of any mission. Alex turns her head back. Thankfully the throbbing headache which comes with possession ends.
Superman's already back to Metropolis because he has responsibilities there. Although he's always one call away. Alex leans over the wall and looks at Barry and Kara with a small smile on her face. Good for Kara if something happens there, not that Alex will do anything nefarious to help things along.
"I don't talk in my sleep all the time. It's just a couple of times. It only happens when people are around. I swear!"
Barry just gives her a little smile in response. Kara bites down on her lip.
"It's true!"
"I believe you Kara. It just happens to happen when people are around."
The most adorable pout appears over Kara's face. Barry wants to reach over and pat her on the head, Kara blows a strand of her hair away from her face.
A small look over her face shows Kara giving Barry a nice long looking over.
"Really liking the new suit. It really suits you."
"I just changed the colors."
"Well you wear it very nicely."
Kara's about as subtle as a freight train in the middle of the city when she brushes a hand over Barry's shoulder. The thought counts. She's staring at him very deeply.
"Kara!"
"What?"
Alex just ducks her head and looks very amused, even though she's trying to play the role of the stern big sister. To be fair, she doesn't necessary blame Kara, even if Barry's not quite her type.
"So how about we head back to my place and we can go over what we need to go over? And you can tell me how your relationship with Iris took a turn like you hadn't expect it. I swear, I think you're in some kind of collective harem deal by the way you were talking."
"Actually...it's a long story."
Kara sighs and puts a hand on Barry's chin.
"Well, we can take the long way around. If you can keep up with me."
Barry just frowns, does she really think that she can go faster than him? Well, maybe if she zips out the door with a bit of a headstart she might lead for a minute. Barry flashes off after her.
Jesse just turns her attention to Alex. A smile flickers on the corner of her lips.
"Five bucks says they might get sidetracked until tomorrow afternoon."
"I'd be a sucker if I said different."
Several systems flash behind Felicity. She moves down the hallway with a purpose. A smile flickers over her face as she pushes back a panel to reveal a secret room. Sticking her head inside allows her to do what she needs to do.
"Tell me whether or not he's made it back."
"You won't..."
"Get away with this. I know! They think that you've ditched them halfway across the world. Now, I'm not going to ask you nicely again. You remember what happened last time I didn't get what I want right away. I'm on a time table. So, step it up. Vibe, come on!"
A flicker of light flashes through the eyes.
"He's still on Earth Thirty-Eight with..."
"Supergirl?"
"How do you...?"
"Good boy. I knew I could count on you."
Felicity leaves the room and walks over. She drops down onto the ground. A small hint of agitation opens the door for a more tranquil thought. Her arms spread out with several lines of code flashing all around her. They flash over the walls as Felicity manipulates them.
"Did you finally catch on?"
Oliver Queen stands at the end of the hallway with a bow and arrow at Felicity's head. Felicity looks over her shoulder with a smile.
"Who are you and what have you done with Felicity?"
"It's amazing how you can stand to look at her after all the grief she's put you through. But, I guess misery loves company. You two truly are a match made in...well I'm sure you'd be a perfect match to some people. Love is illogical, not that emotions aren't normally."
Something causes Oliver's bow to drop down onto the ground. He fires off one arrow. Felicity turns around and catches it between her fingers with a surprising and uncharacteristic amount of of skill and grace.
He collapsed down to the ground, almost as if something paralyzes his body. How and why? Oliver barely peers up into her eyes.
"What did you do to her?"
A very bored looking Felicity flicks the arrow in her hand. She finally concedes to answering the man before her.
"She's here, but not in the driver's seat. I made Ms. Smoak take a nap. Her emoting was very taxing to my core processes."
"What did she ever do to you?"
"Nothing. The odds of her being there and having what I need were minuscule. There's a very powerful piece of technology I can latch on. Mr. Holt's little invention is fascinating and a marvel for your primitive little backwater. It's direct interface into Ms. Smoak's nervous system allowed me to take control of her mind and body."
"You need to let her go."
Felicity just pats Oliver on the top of the head. She gives him a look like a disobedient puppy dog who acts out of turn.
"No. Sorry! I don't. Not the worst body I could have been in, although I preferred a different model. But given Supergirl destroyed it, I'm going to have to hold my ground in this one until I rebuild my previous body. Which is an annoyingly laborious process even with one of Star Lab's most gifted scientists at my disposal."
"Just who are you?"
The arrow head brushes against Oliver's face.
"Barry Allen's already retrieving Kara Zor-El for me. He's played into my hands like a puppet. And she'll realize that I'm behind this. Heroes are so predictable."
Felicity kneels down next to Oliver. Oliver peers into her indigo colored eyes.
"I'm a collector of data. And I've come to the conclusion that humans will end up squandering their potential. They make poor choices that are lead by feelings and not facts."
"We can surprise you."
"Doubtful."
A smile crosses over Felicity's face, calculating, and cold, and not her usual cheerfulness either. One hand strokes Oliver's cheek as he struggles against the force that's weighing him down.
"Being inside of Ms. Smoak has its perks. The baggage the two of you share is not one of them."
With her next movement, Felicity impales Oliver with the arrow she caught. He collapses to the ground like a puppet having his strings cut.
To Be Continued on 7/2/2018:
Thanks for the favorites, follows, views, kudos, and comments and I'll see you for a next chapter.
