Undisclosed Location…
"I thought I wasn't to be disturbed!" Pamela Ivy whirled from her operating table on the person who had just entered the room. However her eyes quickly went from fiery to normal as she saw who it was. She quickly took a knee.
"Master, my apologies." Ivy said as Ra's al Ghul casually approached her. He only smiled, motioning for her to rise.
"My child, all is well. Your work here has been astounding." Ra's informed her. Ivy noticed a figure behind Ra's, in the shadows.
"I have merely come to make sure that you continue uninterrupted and provide whatever assistance I can." Ra's told her, and he motioned for the figure in the shadows to move forward. She easily recognized Lionel Luthor, one of her counterparts in this endeavor. She narrowed her eyes - she had not particularly liked Luthor, to be honest.
"You are truly a champion of The Cause." Ivy said, voice measured carefully as she looked back at the Demon Head. He only offered a large smile.
"Nothing shall stop us, my children. Now get to work, our time of glory approaches." Ra's said as he turned to leave the room. Lionel didn't move for a moment, but then slowly moved over to Ivy. She watched the Demon Head leave.
"What will you do, Master?" She asked. He paused at the door, turning and smiling a wicked grin.
"Provide a distraction for you."
Arrowcave.
"Ugh, it never ends!" Oliver said as he looked up from where he and Kate had been going over the facts of the case.
"Well, you might want to hear about this one." Barbara said as she spun her chair around and pointed to one of the bigger screens as a map came up of a building.
"The Slab's been breached!?" Oliver stated the obvious as he went for his outfit. Kate looked over at Harley and the two began suiting up as well.
"Where's Helena? Is the new gear ready?" Oliver asked a flurry of questions as he quickly put on his vigilante attire. Lex walked into the room on cue with a small bag in his hands.
"New gear is ready!" Lex said dutifully as Oliver snatched the bag. Meanwhile Barbara was staring at the screen.
"It says here that Helena is already at the Slab."
The Slab.
"Never thought I'd see us on the same side, Bertinelli." Blockbuster said as he finished punching his way through a brick wall. Behind him Huntress finished off the last bodyguard with a roundhouse kick to the face. She scowled over at the man who used to be Santo Cassamento.
"The irony isn't lost on me. Now get to work." Huntress verbally cracked the whip. Blockbuster responded, moving forward into the next hallway where multiple cells were lined up. He was quickly pelted with bullets, but the grotesque blue skinned creature simply raised an arm and deflected them off of his rocky skin like pesky little specks of rain. Huntress paused for a moment, indecisive.
"Don't forget about Sal, now." Huntress thought aloud with a grimace. She dove through the opening, using Blockbuster as cover as she shot arrows from her crossbow around him, impaling the various guards at weak spots in their armor. By the time she and Blockbuster got to the right cell, she had taken down most of the guards.
"Huh… that's new." Leonard Snart said as he looked up from the book he was reading. Blockbuster quickly went to work opening the bars of the cell, waking up the snoring Jack Napier who was sleeping on the cot across from Snart.
"Come on boys, we're breaking you out!" Huntress said as she stood there with her arms crossed.
"Whathehell!?" Napier said, still barely half asleep. His eyes widened upon seeing the grotesque form of Blockbuster. He held up his hands, waving.
"Oh no no no. I did the job for ya's, but now you're risking my job by breaking me outta here. How's my plausible deniability gonna look if I go runnin' off with you losers?" Napier said as he sat up on his bed and folded his arms. Snart looked at the unmoving Napier and then hopped up, grabbing a knife stashed under his pillow.
"Well hell, I'm not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth." Snart hopped through the hole that Blockbuster had made for him and the group looked at Napier for a moment. Huntress tapped the communicator on her ear.
"Napier's not coming. What should I do?" She asked. There was a moment of silence, before a voice crackled into being.
"Find someone else to lead this little prison riot." The Demon Head's voice came over the comm.
"Who!?" She returned.
"Figure it out! Or maybe you wouldn't like to see your bodyguard again." Ra's voice came back with a threat.
"Hey, uh, lady? We've got a problem." Leonard said as he and Blockbuster turned to see a large group of guards entering the hallway. Huntress reached onto her back, grabbing a gun that had been taken from STAR Labs. Looked like something out of a science fiction movie. She handed it to Snart.
"Since Napier's going to wimp out I guess you can have this." She said. Snart simply smiled, snatching the weapon from her hand. The guards quickly opened fire, forcing the duo to hide behind Blockbuster as they jointly retreated. Blockbuster raised his hands to block the bullets, grimacing as the sheer volume of them became a little more than bothersome.
They backed up to the hole that they had come through when a second contingent of guards showed up, these in battle armor which made Huntress's crossbow pretty useless. She cast a jealous glance at Snart, suddenly annoyed that she had given him the better weapon. Still, she wouldn't need it. The group continued to back away, even farther down the hallway as the guards converged on them.
"Just a bit farther down is the maximum security vault. No exits." The Demon Head informed her over the comm.
"And that's a good thing?" Huntress asked sarcastically. There was no answer, but she didn't need one. It's not like there was any choice at this point except retreat into the depths below. Hopefully it would be an area that would work better for Blockbuster to clean up these guards. They burst through the maximum security door, retreating down a flight of stairs.
Indeed, the close quarters of the staircase made it much easier to pick off the guards from various angles and throw them around, but there was still an overwhelming amount of firepower headed in their direction.
Up above them, Officers Ted Grant and Laurel Lance watched.
"Keep 'em moving!" Officer Ted Grant said as he stared through his protective faceplate at the villains descending the staircase towards Maximum Security. Next to him Laurel and a litany of other guards continued firing their high powered rifles, which clearly weren't going to kill the small group of intruders, but would certainly keep them moving.
"What the hell do we do now? They're holed up." Laurel said with frustration as the group got to and locked themselves in maximum security. Ted just smiled at her.
"Are you kidding? They just locked themselves up!"
Maximum Security, The Slab.
It had been dark for a long time. No light, no smell, no feeling of anything at all. Just enough nutrition to keep the body alive. And yet, over the course of what seemed like hours, small tiny vibrations began to "appear" as it were, lighting up the only sense left. These vibrations got louder and louder, becoming gunshots, screams, rushing of the feet.
Something not heard in a long time. Then light, figures in the shadows, darkness. Scent, for the first time in a long time. Fear, sweat, anger. Delicious sensations for one so deprived. A wicked grin seemed to light up the darkness in Maximum Security.
"Who enters my domain? Master Grayson, is that you?" Carol Ferris said from her spot chained in the darkness. Huntress felt a shiver go up her spine at the noise. She and Snart turned around while Blockbuster held the door shut. The two villains produced flashlights, pointing them in the direction of the noise.
"Ew! Gross!" Huntress said with a dramatic gagging sound as her light illuminated a scaly green creature, reminiscent of an alligator or a crocodile. Twin yellow eyes gazed back at her, simultaneously savage and intelligent, a scary combination to say the least.
"Not Grayson, just passing through." Snart said awkwardly as he pointed his flashlight around the darkened maximum security room, trying to find any sign of a new weapon or exit. He frowned in frustration - this escape had already gone poorly. Maybe he could claim he was kidnapped?
"You search for a way out?" Carol hissed. Helena nodded in response. Carol smiled, but with her crocodile-like form it looked more threatening than anything.
"I can help you with that, if you just release me."
The Slab
"Well… that doesn't look good." Green Arrow said as he, Athene, and Eris stood atop the main guard tower of the Slab looking inwards towards the courtyard. Where a small contingent of guards should've been was instead a full scale riot as various criminals filed through holes made in the wall. He tapped his ear.
"Oracle, any clues on Huntress?" He asked, trying to mask his concern.
"Her tracker is on, but her comms are off. Might be using a different channel. But if she left her tracker on I'm guessing she must've wanted us to follow her here." Oracle responded quickly. Green Arrow nodded, looking at the crowd below. Athene pointed across the yard.
"There's a few guards trapped in that guard house over there. Let's get these guys back inside at least, then see what we can do from there." Athene said. Green Arrow nodded, deciding to take her lead on this one. Athene hopped down into the yard, her heavy armor causing a slight commotion as she landed in the dirt. The prisoners stopped and turned to look at the silver clad woman just as Arrow and Eris landed gracefully behind her.
"We're not going back in those cells!" They chanted as the groups rushed at the vigilantes. Athene worked quickly, cutting a swath of destruction through the group of rioters even while Arrow and Eris worked the edges, trying to bottle the rioters back towards the prison where they had broken out of.
"Can I use it yet?" Eris asked excitedly, referring to the glowing weapon on her back - she was currently using a set of long knives and her fists.
"I wouldn't recommend that; at least not this close to the guardhouse." Lex's voice came over the comms now.
"No collateral, got it boss." Eris said as she threw two rioters heads together as she flipped over them and roundhouse kicked a third rioter.
"There's no way these clowns opened those walls by themselves." Eris continued to talk as she swept two more rioters off of their feet and finally made it into eyesight of the guardhouse.
"Is she always this talkative?" Green Arrow asked as he shot an arrow past Eris's head into a rioter that had been rushing Eris with a stone slab. She waved at Green Arrow with a smile before jumping back into the crowd.
"You have no idea." Athene chimed in as she lifted four men and physically threw them into the crowd as the rioters began to retreat back into the prison.
"Don't worry boys, we'll just do your job for you!" Eris yelled at the closed guardhouse. A guard motioned at Eris, pointing towards one of the farthest openings. Eris turned just in time for a small arrow to impale her in the chest.
"That was your one warning." Huntress said as Eris slowly sat up, a pulsing pain in her chest but certainly not deadly. Eris let out a mad cackle, causing an eyebrow raise from Huntress.
"Oh, you've done it now!" She said simply as Athene seemed to appear out of nowhere, clocking Huntress in the side and sending her flying fifteen feet away. She gave Eris a quick look that asked a lot. Eris nodded in response, she was okay. Athene turned around just in time for a giant blue fist to smash down towards her.
She raised her shield, but didn't react quite quick enough. It took all of Athene's strength for her legs to not buckle under her. She relieved the pressure by crumpling and rolling to the side, allowing Blockbuster's fists to slam directly into the concrete, send chunks flying into the air.
"Helena!" Green Arrow was crossing the yard now to where Huntress had been thrown by Athene. Speaking of Athene, just as she rolled up, sword facing Blockbuster, she was tackled from the side by a giant green skinned lizard.
"There's a dragon here, can I use the gun now?" Eris asked even as she was un-slinging the advanced weapon from her back, taking aim at the big blue guy.
"That might be a good idea." Barbara deadpanned over the comm. Eris didn't need much more inspiration as she pulled the trigger, releasing a high powered plasma blast directly at Blockbuster's chest. The creature was moved backwards, but not nearly as much as Eris would've hoped. Blockbuster looked up at Eris with angry eyes.
Across the yard, Green Arrow caught up to Huntress who was slowly pulling herself off of the ground. She groaned as she already felt a large nasty bruise forming on her side.
"Helena! Are you o-" Oliver began to ask, but moments later he was met with the all too familiar feeling of a knife on his throat. Helena looked back at him with fire in her eyes, something he had seen many times before.
"What the hell are you doing here!?" Oliver asked, trying to ignore the slight digging of the knife into his throat as Helena regained her footing. She spit some blood out of her mouth.
"I'm a killer, Oliver! This is what I do!" She replied, staring at him. Oliver shook his head.
"But you're not! I saw you spare Cassamento the other day to help me with Luthor. You are a good person, Helena." Oliver said. Helena just laughed darkly.
"I don't need any of that 'believe in yourself' shit, Oliver." She said, and the conversation wasn't allowed to progress anymore as Huntress threw a punch towards Green Arrow. He reacted without thinking, rolling backwards away from the punch. He came up with his bow slung, just in time to loose an arrow which deflected one that Huntress had fired - right at his face.
"That would've been a kill shot, Ollie." Barbara informed him over the comm.
Back to Eris, she jumped up as Blockbuster charged at her, landing elegantly on top of the creature. She thrust downward with an especially long Amazonian knife, impaling Blockbuster between some shoulder blades. The creature roared in pain, reaching up and trying to grab him by the leg.
"Dragons, great." Athene said as she came up and grappled once more with the giant crocodile like creature that was assaulting her. In the brief time she had fought Blockbuster, Athene had realized that she was much more agile than the blue monster. But this crocodile lady? She was quick, maybe even quicker than Athene if she didn't keep her cool.
"Oh how I've missed the joy of slaughter!" The distorted but feminine voice of the creature cackling as giant scaled hands came down on Athene's shield. The hands then opened up, fingers reaching around the edges of the shield and pulling away from Athene. While she held on dutifully, Croc was still able to lower the shield enough to throw a lightning fast punch to Athene's nose, annoyingly drawing blood.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Harley struggling with the giant blue guy and behind her that mercenary from the tower was approaching with a large gun. Beyond her, Oliver was struggling with that bitch that had shot Harley. For the first time in a while, Athene wished that she had more back up.
"No!" Athene said with a push as she threw Croc back, swiping a few times with her sword. Croc reacted quickly, moving backwards, but that was okay. Athene was striking to injure, but to gain some much needed space. She turned towards Eris, throwing her shield as hard as she could. Eris turned around, seeing Snart sneaking up on her even as Blockbuster held her in place with his giant hands.
"This ain't good." She said, but she heard a familiar whistle. With a grin Eris pulled the knife out of Blockbuster's back and stabbed in into his hands, wincing as she felt pain from the arrow still stuck in her chest.
"End of the line-" Snart began to quip moments before a giant metal shield hit him in the side and knocked him across the yard.
"I think we found your signature move, babe!" Eris said as she wrenched her way out of Blockbuster's hands and flipped back to the ground, hands up and ready to fight. Then she, too, was surprised as Athene swooped by her at a speed only she could achieve, grabbing Harley by the waist and running towards where Oliver and Helena were still fiercely fighting.
"Going up!" Athene said as she threw Eris, sending the talkative blonde flying through the air. It wasn't Harley's favorite move, but she knew what to do and reached out her hands, grabbing onto the edge of the prison wall and pulling herself up. She was joined moments later by Oliver who landed much less graciously and much more confused. After him quickly followed Athene.
"This isn't going well!" Green Arrow stated the obvious as the three heroes turned to see the four villains sprinting across the yard towards them.
"Yeah, no shit!" Eris said as she began sighting her new gun. She grunted in frustration as Green Arrow and Athene leaped over the wall - the opposite way of the villains. She followed with a scowl.
Back on the inside, Huntress got up from the ground where Green Arrow had knocked her down, glaring up at the heroes. She turned as her three underlings approached quickly and held up a hand to stop them.
"If the cowards want to run, let them be! We've got better things to do." She said. Snart skidded to a halt, scowling at the wall where the heroes had retreated.
"What did you have in mind?" He asked.
The Arrowcave
"That was horrible." Lex said as the three heroes tumbled in unceremoniously. He dropped his wry smile after a dirty look from Barbara that said 'Not now, smart-ass'.
"Can you help me get this out?" Kate said as he took off her helmet and turned to look at Oliver, who had his typical brooding look. Barbara sighed, pouring a glass and crossing the room.
"I'll grab the first aid. Finish this." She said, handing it to Harley as she kicked happily on the metal table at the center of the Arrowcave. Harley dutifully knocked it back and made a disgusted face.
"Didn't know you were a Bourbon gal." She said.
"I take after my dad." Barbara said loudly so that her voice carried from where she was digging a first aid kit out of a box on the wall. Kate set her helmet down next to Harley. Harley gave Kate a worried look as there was some dried blood on her face. She tried to reach out.
"Don't worry about me right now." Kate said stubbornly as she dodged Harley's hand. Oliver stood next to them, pulling his gloves off and opening the first aid kit.
"Alright, this is going to hurt. A lot." Oliver said as he reached for the arrow stuck in Harley's chest.
"Do you know from experience?" Harley said through grit teeth as Oliver pulled the arrow out of her chest. He quickly placed a cloth on it. The dull pain was replaced with a sharp one as hydrogen peroxide cleansed any potential germs that had gotten near the open wound. Oliver grabbed Kate's hand and put it on the cloth.
"Let it clot, then one of us'll sow it up." Oliver said as he placed a wet rag in Kate's other hand and motioned towards her face. They gave each other a quick nod, and Oliver crossed the cave to where Barbara was at the computer.
"What the hell was up with Helena?" Lex asked from his spot next to the duo.
"Not now Lex!" Oliver and Barbara said in unison as they turned to look at the scrawny redhead. Lex made a face, almost like a rage only barely contained, and then a look of hurt.
"Any sign of them?" Oliver asked even as Barbara typed away.
"Nope. They disappeared from the prison and the guards were able to put down the riot. A handful of injuries, one cop in the ER, but no deaths as of yet." Barbara said, "And Helena's tracker hasn't moved from the prison." Barbara added. Oliver sighed.
"She drew us there on purpose." He said as he tossed his hood on the counter and walked away to stew somewhere else. There was an awkward silence as Lex and Barbara watched him walk away.
"That must've been embarrassing." Lex said as he crossed the table to where he had been working on a second rifle like the one he had given to Harley. Barbara sighed, putting her head in her hands.
"Well, yeah, we didn't really expect Helena to go full villain on us like that. Oliver and her had been getting close before this happened." Barbara explained.
"Must've thrown him off his game." Lex said somewhat sympathetically. Barbara nodded in agreement and stood up to go follow Oliver. There was an awkward silence as Lex glanced over at the couple who were talking in hushed tones.
"This is the second time in as many weeks you've gotten injured." Kate said with a look of worry on her face.
"So?" Harley replied, scratching her head. She winced as Kate brought the needle through another time.
"You can't ask me to sit this one out." Harley said, reading Kate's mind. Kate sighed.
"I can't ask you to quit. I know you'd just follow me out there anyways. But these guys were strong. I'm just thinking maybe you could take a rest on this one?" Kate explained, giving Harley the rare puppy dog eyes. It made it clear what Kate wanted, but the decision was ultimately Harley's. She sighed.
"Fine, I'll stay here. Just this once." She said.
"Maybe you can give me some pointers on the gun design." Lex awkwardly chimed in. The two turned to look at him. Any normal person would've left when a couple was having a conversation like that, but Lex was a little weird. Harley didn't let it faze her.
"Sure! You gotta espresso machine?" Harley hopped up and followed Lex. Kate watched them leave, then got up and walked over to the computer table where she saw a few files Barbara had printed out: Huntress, Blockbuster, Snart, and Croc. The four goons from the prison. She grabbed them and walked to a nearby table to read them through.
On a different side of the arrowcave, Barbara tapped Oliver on the shoulder.
"Hey." Oliver said darkly. Barbara stood next to Oliver as they both stared at a feed, where Oliver had pulled up footage from the docks, when he and Helena had first met. Though they had known each other for a short time, Barbara could see that they had grown close.
"I know it's rough, with Helena…" Barbara began, unsure of how to proceed. Oliver nodded, staring at the floor and becoming vulnerable. Barbara patted him on the shoulder.
"You know I've been going out by myself for so long. I've always been scared I would die out there, alone, one day." Oliver said. Barbara didn't respond immediately, staring off into space - she had been here for a long time, but not out there. Why wasn't that good enough?
"Helena was my first partner in crime fighting. She made me believe things would get better one day, even if they weren't now." Oliver explained. Barbara began to open her mouth to respond, when there was a quiet cough behind them.
"Seems like I came at a bad time." John Stewart said as he stood behind them, arms crossed. On his finger was the calm glow of the Green Lantern ring.
"John!" Oliver said, walking away from Barbara to shake John's hand. Barbara stared after Oliver for a second, pushed up her glasses and walked past the two.
"I'll get the dossiers for him." Barbara said. She ended up at the main table, where Kate was going over the aforementioned dossiers. She walked past her to the computer, silently printing off another copy. Kate was about to say something when Harley tapped her on the shoulder.
"Cappuccino?" She asked. Kate smiled, grabbing the warm cup.
"You know how to make a cappuccino?" She asked, sipping the drink and reading some of the files in front of her. Harley nodded.
"College has to be good for somethin', right?" She said.
"Harley, can you take these to Oliver and our new friend?" Barbara said, holding a stack of files over her shoulder. Harley skipped over, grabbing the files and then skipping over in Oliver's direction. She slowed as she approached them.
"You have a thing for girl sidekicks, don't you?" John said with a chuckle.
"They're gay, and they're not my sidekicks, John." Oliver said.
"Damn right! And don't you forget it." Harley said as she walked up to them, her hands suddenly empty.
"If anything he's our sidekick." Harley said, turning to glance at John, "Barbie said to look at the villain files over there." Harley motioned to the table where Kate was sitting. John shrugged, walking in that direction. Oliver smiled at Harley.
"What was that about?" He said. Harley made a face at him.
"I just want to make sure we're all on the same page here, buddy boy." Harley responded. Oliver gave a short chuckle.
"Harley, my mom is a United States Senator. Do you really think I have a problem with powerful women?" He asked. Harley thought on it for a moment.
"No. I just want to make sure she's okay. She's only ever been out with me, and well she wants me to take a water break on this one. Can you look after her?" Harley asked. Oliver stared at her for a moment, thinking.
"I don't think she'll need my help, but sure! This is what we do." Oliver said, confidence beginning to return.
"Let me stop you before you break out into song." Harley said, but she was smiling again. The duo turned to look at the Arrowcave.
"Now if I'm going to be taking a sabbatical here, I wanna see your shooting range." Harley said, and the two began walking the direction of the range.
At the table, John sat down across from Kate. She looked at him and raised an eyebrow.
"This cave isn't so secret." She said to no one in particular.
"Oliver has a lot of friends." Barbara said non-chalantly without turning away from her computer. John looked between the two, and finally stuck out a hand for Kate.
"I'm John Stewart, U.S. Marines." They shook, "Well, ex-marine." He corrected himself. Kate nodded.
"Really? I'm ex-Army, too." Kate said, still staring at the papers without offering much more information. To tell the truth her pride was still smarting from the battle in the prison yard. John didn't seem to notice her discontent.
"Well Semper Fi, Ms. Kane." He gave her a salute, which Kate did not return. He frowned, leaning forward.
"Alright, I get it. Enough banter. How are we going to beat these assholes?" He asked. Kate slowly folded closed one of the documents in her hand. She looked at John, with the glowing ring in his hand.
"Well that depends, Mr. Stewart. What can you do?"