Previously on Arrow…
"Is this a bad time?" the red-hoodied man asked.
"Yes," Cade responded with venom.
"Well too bad," Roy snapped, pushing past him into the room. "Oliver's missing."
Startled, Caden blinked hard. "What?"
"What do you mean missing?" Felicity added, alarm in her voice.
"Okay," Roy said, "let me clarify. Oliver's been kidnapped."
Caden and Felicity exchanged a long look, and though he couldn't actually read her mind, he was pretty sure they had the same thought.
Oh shit.
…
20 minutes later
Abandoned factory, Metropolis
3 months after the Siege
"How did this happen?"
"Oliver was on his way to meet with Lex Luthor when his taxi was attacked by a random nondescript black van. The trace program Felicity put into the computer system here picked up his signal when a red light got run two blocks away from his position. Traffic cams went on, I got sent a message that contained the feed."
Felicity's brows furrowed as she pulled out her own phone, paling and gulping hard as she saw the same message. "Oh."
Caden saw the guilt written all over her face and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Does he still have his tracker on him?"
She leaned over the computer and typed rapidly for several seconds. "If he does, it's not transmitting." Her jaw tightened briefly. "The van they took him in may have a back that doubles as a Faraday cage."
"Crap. Any other ideas?"
She tapped several more keys. "Maybe. Traffic cams picked up the same van just now."
"Where?" Drake asked, already reaching for his equipment.
"10th and Jerome. Go."
…
1 minute later
Oliver groaned gently as he regained consciousness, slowly opening his eyes to perceive little but thick darkness. As his eyes adjusted to the low-light conditions, he glimpsed the shadowy forms of four men, all masked, all packing automatic weapons. When he tried to get to a sitting position, one of them shoved him back down.
"Relax, pretty boy," he said gruffly. "Nothing bad's gonna happen to you. Yet."
Though confused about their reasons for taking him, Oliver strove to put on a proper "scared rich kid" façade, and if the low chuckles from the man were any indication, it was working. So they don't know my secret. "W-Who are you people?" he asked, putting a quiver in his voice. "What do you want? Gotta warn you, if you're looking for money, I'm not worth quite as much as I used to be."
The man huffed. "True enough, but to our employer, you're priceless."
Oliver's blue eyes narrowed. So there's something they need me for specifically. "Where are you taking me?"
"Just relax and shut up. Everything's gonna be just fine." The man put a finger to his covered ear, tension filling his frame as he exchanged looks with the rest of the kidnappers.
They all loaded and cocked their weapons a moment before gunfire slammed into the back of the van. Oliver tucked himself as far into the corner as possible, putting a line of kidnappers between him and the source, several small holes being torn through the rear doors. One high-velocity bullet streaked toward the van and punched through the doors' locking mechanism, causing them to swing open and reveal two motorcycles in pursuit, each manned by familiar masked figures. Roy drew back his bow somewhat awkwardly, not used to shooting while mounted, while Caden raised his pistol and fired a half-dozen rounds, four of which found their targets.
When the van started to pitch over, though, Oliver realized that all six rounds had hit their marks. The vehicle tilted on its side, skidding several hundred feet before coming to a stop. Groaning, Oliver struggled to his feet, bound hands limiting his movement somewhat. The man from before shoved him down again, one beefy arm wrapping around his neck and hauling him to his feet as he put Oliver between him and the van's exit.
"Move it, punk!"
Oliver dutifully obeyed, looking for an opening but waiting for backup. After all, no one could know his secret, and if he revealed his skills, he may as well be sending up an arrow-shaped flare.
"Let him go!" Roy shouted, one arrow leveled at the pair.
"Back off!" the kidnapper returned.
Oliver's eyes narrowed. Where's Caden?
"You don't want to do this."
"Maybe not, but it doesn't change the fact that I need to. I don't have a choice."
"Everyone has a choice."
The new baritone voice made the man jump a little as he moved to face its source. His momentary hesitation allowed Roy's backup to plug him in the shoulder and gun arm. Screaming in pain, he released Oliver and fell to the ground, desperately using both hands to try and steady his gun arm. The appendage fell limp when Oliver kicked him in the face.
"And he made his." Caden leapt down from his perch atop the crashed van, wiping blood off his new knife and returning it to its sheath. "Most of them survived the crash, but only one is coherent enough to talk. The driver. And a good thing, too. He knew where you were being taken, Mr. Queen."
Oliver played along and nodded rapidly, raising his hands. "Uh, can you get these off…whoever you are?"
He could see the smile in Caden's eyes as his head shook and he drew his knife again, slicing through the zip-ties and ushering him over to the van.
"Woah-woah-woah, wait a minute. You want me to get closer to the men who tried to kidnap me?"
"If you want it to stop, then yes," Cade replied with some irritation.
Oliver did his best to look ruffled, but followed with a grudging nod.
…
"Oi, jackass," Drake greeted as he pulled the man up by his mask, yanking it off and pulling his hair to tip his head back. "My friend here wants to talk to you, find out where you were taking him."
The man spat in his face, landing his shot on the black balaclava.
Caden smiled nastily behind his mask, then brought his elbow down into the man's nose and bent him over to knee him in the mouth. Several clinks were heard from the pavement a moment later before he raised him again, face filled with blood. "Please do that again," he hissed. "I'd love to knock out more."
The man was shaking. "It's no use. The location's only good for another five minutes, and it'll take at least ten to get there."
Caden and Oliver exchanged glances, and the latter nodded slightly.
The spy turned back to their captive. "I'll be the judge of that. Address."
…
"Felicity, I need a turn-by-turn!"
"Got it. Make a left at the next light."
Caden hit the brakes on his bike hard, turning rapidly and accelerating at dangerously high levels, pushing his engine to the limit as the clock counted down. The kidnappers, as he'd suspected, had turned out to be TYGER mercenaries, and were currently in the process of being carted off by the MPD. It was decided without words that Caden would be the one to chase down the location alone, since Oliver couldn't follow without risking his identity and Roy had to stay and "guard" him until the police arrived.
Caden was okay with that.
"A right in 200 meters."
"Copy."
Drake revved his bike again, accelerating well beyond safe urban speeds into the hundred-range, his lightning-fast reflexes the only things keeping him from a bloody death plastered on any one of dozens of obstacles. He weaved around a slow-moving semi, narrowly dodging a telephone pole that he heard scrape his side mirror as he kept accelerating. His eyes snapped to his watch for barely an instant. Three minutes. Sirens were heard from behind him even as he went faster, Caden's head shaking at the officer's valiant but impossible attempt.
"Incoming vehicles at the next intersection," Felicity warned. "Red light, heavy traffic."
"Give me a feed of the traffic cam."
"What?"
"Do it now, Felicity!"
His helmet's built-in HUD lit up with a side window, the special glass technology projecting the desired camera feed. He tracked the pattern of cars and trucks, memorizing their orientation and performing a dozen calculations within the six seconds before he reached the intersection. His eyes narrowed as he saw a gap and pattern just the right size, lips smirking. Gotcha. He revved his bike once more, turning to orient his bike at just the right point perpendicular to the incoming traffic.
The moment he entered the intersection, he heard Felicity scream his name at the top of her lungs, adrenaline slowing his perception to a crawl as he tapped the brakes and swerved left, the car on his left missing him by mere inches as he crossed the dividing line and turned right again, avoiding another incoming vehicle by only a slightly larger margin. And then he was speeding off at his previous insane pace, the silence over comms. audible and, to his adrenaline-addled mind, hilarious. So much so that he actually started chuckling. When the silence dragged to nearly twenty seconds, concern filled him.
"Felicity?"
"What?" she asked a few seconds later, sounding dazed.
"Are you okay?"
"Uh…uh huh. Just…trying to recover from my heart attack."
He chuckled again. "Sorry."
"Uh…sure. Pretty much a straight shot from where you are, just follow this street."
"Thanks, Liss."
"Anytime…"
The link closed with an audible click, and he felt a momentary twinge of guilt before refocusing on his mission. One minute. The site was in sight in seconds, several black vans already starting to pull out. Caden kept going at max velocity, around 200 mph, and only braked when he was within 800 feet of the warehouse, skidding through the narrow exit and decelerating to around 30 mph. He leapt from the bike at this point, legs pumping as he kept up his speed, zipping through the entrance with Daggertail in hand.
An initial automatic burst took out the left-side wheels of the van at the head of the column, tipping it and creating a two-ton roadblock that allowed Caden to close the distance before they could even start backing up. Two rounds pierced the gun arms of the lead passengers of one van, followed by heavy suppressing fire on another. The contents of the closest van emptied into the street, all of them packing heavy weapons. Drake's eyes went wide as he sprinted for the tipped van, leaping as hard as he could and vaulting his way over the front as a salvo of automatic rounds pinged off the hard metal underside of the vehicle.
In less than ten seconds, half the TYGER personnel had already moved to a secondary exit, the rest pinning Caden down behind his poor cover, several holes already starting to appear in it. You'd think a private mercenary corporation would buy better vehicle armor, he grumbled internally, pulling a magnetic explosive off his belt and priming it for a two-second delay. Another bullet-hole appeared not two inches from his face, and he snarled in fury as he threw the charge high, the powerful electromagnet inside attracted to the furthest metal object—the van his attackers were using for cover.
A brilliant explosion blossomed over the vehicle, consuming most of it and lighting half of Caden's attackers on fire. The rest fell to a hailstorm of 5.56 gunfire as Caden sprinted past the van, chasing down one that was making its escape. The rest of his mag was emptied into the back of the van, which, surprisingly, reflected the shots. That must be where the captain is. The back doors opened just as he was turning to sprint for his bike, and two mercs opened fire as he dove for cover, left arm swinging hard. Most of the shots missed wide, but three hit him dead-on, throwing off his arc.
A sudden blinding pain hit his head a moment before he blacked out.
…
10 minutes later
"Caden? Caden!" Oliver kept shouting and shaking his unconscious friend hard, his mask lying discarded some two feet away as the now suited-up Arrow cradled his injured head with one hand. When he felt something seep through the gloved appendage, he pulled it off briefly and felt his stomach turn when it came away sticky, Roy's tension palpable at his side. He put his free hand on his chest, the other bracing Caden's head. "Felicity, I need an ambulance here, now! Caden's been injured."
"Belay that," came a weak groan from below. Two dark brown eyes opened with some difficulty, blinking several times before sharpening and focusing on Oliver's masked face. His injured head craned down and arched an eyebrow as he frowned. "Damn. They just had to ruin a perfectly good leather jacket."
Oliver's brows furrowed before he turned his attention to where Caden was looking and felt his gut wrench again as he saw the bullet-holes for the first time. His hand rapidly skated over the black fabric before one of Caden's stopped him, the spy wincing and letting out a hiss of pain.
"It's called Kevlar, Oliver. I'm fine."
The Arrow scowled. "Getting shot three times and hitting your head on the pavement is not my definition of fine."
"He did what?!" came Felicity's voice over comms.
To Oliver's continuing surprise, Caden actually grinned. "Nice to hear your voice, Liss."
"Get him back here, right now!"
Both archers could tell he was suppressing laughter at the way he bit down hard on both lips. As they hauled him to his feet as gently as possible, Drake brushed himself off, along with three flattened metal slugs that clinked on the asphalt, one hand taking his PDA-phone from his pocket and tabbing through several menus. As they kept walking, Oliver glanced at the screen, which showed a GPS projection of the area.
"What's that?" Arrow asked with a nod toward the device.
"For later," Cade answered, a smirk coming to his face. "Once mama hen is done yelling."
Oliver and Roy just exchanged glances as they each mounted their respective bikes, speeding off toward the warehouse.
…
15 minutes later
Abandoned warehouse
Caden successfully managed to suppress a smile when he saw Felicity's stern expression as her chair turned to face him.
"You really need to stop trying to give me heart attacks."
At that, he couldn't hold back his grin. "What can I say?" He shrugged. "I like to test my limits."
With an exasperated smile, she rose and approached him. "I'd rather you not test the limits on your ability to cheat death, thank you very much. I have enough scares with Oliver on a daily basis."
Caden nodded seriously. "Right. Sorry." He gave a drawn-out hiss as he unzipped and pulled off his jacket and shirt, looking in a nearby mirror and grimacing at the purple bruises beginning to form over his heart and lower ribs. "Well, I gotta give 'em credit. For a pack of money-grubbing a-holes, they sure as hell know how to get lucky." Drake pulled his phone out, a glance in the mirror showing how pale Felicity had just gotten. "Least one good thing came out of it."
He stood with another stab of pain in his ribs, making his way over to Felicity's station and noting in his peripheral vision how suddenly her color was beginning to return. Cade restrained his smirk and linked his phone to the primary screen, pulling up a projection of Metropolis with two dots on it, one blue, the other red.
"What am I looking at?" Felicity asked, though he could tell she had an idea.
Caden nodded at the screen. "Tracking data for the van that got away. I managed to toss one onto its hull as I was being shot at." His eyes narrowed as the red dot exited the city limits. "Looks like they're still on the move."
"Any idea where they're headed?" asked Oliver as he strode over, mask and hood pulled down.
Felicity typed rapidly, bringing up a full map of the surrounding area. She shook her head slowly before narrowing her eyes at a landmark and pulling up a quick search. "Wait. There's a small storage site some five miles outside the city limits."
Caden's eyes narrowed. "Storage? Exactly how small?"
"Small. Relatively speaking, of course, considering the size of the shipping business in Metropolis. Only about five acres total."
"Doesn't leave a lot of places to hide," Oliver remarked, "but it would be big enough to hold some large cargo."
A thought dawned on Caden. "Like, say, a twenty-by-six-by-six crate?"
Oliver turned to him. "You think they're holding the LC there?"
"It doesn't make much sense," Cade admitted with a shrug. "I mean, the crate was shipped months ago, so if LexCorp—oh."
"What?"
"LC. LexCorp."
"Still doesn't make any sense," Felicity said. "Why would they keep a large crate of LexCorp property off-site?"
"My guess? Its contents are illegal—or it was never Rochev's to give." His eyes narrowed as he strode over and seated himself at his laptop, grabbing his undershirt and putting it back on. "Hang on. Felicity, pull up QC's servers please."
She complied and, after a brief hack, found her way inside. "What are we looking for?"
"I want to know what kind of security systems were put on storage crates deemed 'restricted.'"
"Okay…oh."
"What?" Oliver asked.
"Hulls were made of titanium-reinforced steel, with a double biometric lock."
One blonde eyebrow arched. "Double biometrics?"
"Uh huh. Two people, specifically…" Felicity's features shifted and paled a little. "Both CEOs."
Realization dawned on Caden. "Of course. That's where your kidnappers were headed," he said to Oliver.
"So," Roy started, "TYGER wanted Oliver 'cause he's the only person who can open that crate?"
"Exactly," Felicity confirmed.
"One thing doesn't make sense, though," Oliver said. "Luthor had all this time to figure out a way to break into the crate, so why hasn't he?"
Caden glanced up from his computer for a brief moment before returning his eyes to its screen, frowning slightly. "Because he wants to legitimize it."
The rest of the team turned to him. "What?" Oliver asked.
Cade nodded at his laptop. "Take a look at this. Correspondence between Rochev and Luthor regarding the crate."
Oliver's brow arched as he looked over the younger man's shoulder. "Do I even want to know how you got this?"
Cade arched an eyebrow and gave him a deadpanned look. "Says here… 'I gave you the crate and my fingerprints. What more do you want?' He replied, 'The sequence is incomplete. This has to look genuine.' 'Get over yourself, Lex. Price of doing business—don't expect me to hold your hand.' The usual threats: 'You have any idea how much hell I can rain down on you?' Blah, blah, blah, yada yada, usual intimidation… Ooh, here we are. 'If you're so smart and powerful, figure it out. The weapons are your responsibility now.'"
Oliver tensed at his side and leaned on the desk. "Weapons?"
"Yeah. Doesn't get any more specific than that, though."
"Is it enough to tie Luthor to the theft?"
"Technically, it wasn't theft, since the crate was a gift from Rochev, but…"
"What?"
Cade took a breath and turned to face him. "If we can prove that the contents of that crate themselves are illegal, we can get him on weapons trafficking."
"And if we can prove that he ordered Oliver's kidnapping, even better," Roy said.
Drake pointed at him. "Exactly. How exactly we're gonna do that, I don't know yet."
The room was silent for a while until Oliver looked over at their resident IT girl. "Felicity, do you think you can risk a hack into LexCorp?"
She cringed. "Theoretically, yes, but…I'd get traced pretty fast, and if they have other TYGER teams operating in Metropolis…"
Oliver frowned. "Too risky. I was thinking you could go through Luthor's personal correspondence, see if there are any more e-mails we can use against him."
"There may be a way," Caden commented. "What if we pack your equipment into a van and give you a mobile station?"
"That's right," Felicity said, giving him an excited point. "Oliver, remember when we took down the Savior two years ago? I kept trying to trace his signal and we kept getting different results—"
"Because he was on a moving train," Oliver finished.
"Exactly. It could work."
"Of course," Caden commented, "that means you'll need a driver." A sly grin made its way onto his face. "I volunteer."
"Woah, no," Felicity protested. "No-no-no, I have enough heart attacks watching you drive without being in the vehicle with you."
He gave her a hurt look and purposely increased his voice pitch. "Liss, you've been riding with me for weeks without an issue. What gives?"
Felicity gave Oliver a pleading look.
He shrugged. "He does have bruised ribs. It'll make him a liability in combat."
Caden snorted. "I highly doubt it'd make me a liability, but you do have a point about it slowing me down." He smirked and held up a hand, putting his index and thumb close together. "Just a pinch."
Felicity cast one last desperate look at the Arrow, but Oliver made himself clear without a word. She groaned. "Fine. I'll get it all set up. In the meantime, you two might want to get to that storage place."
"Right," Oliver responded, sending a pointed look at Caden.
The spy's jaw tightened as he nodded grimly, a silent promise.
Oliver nodded back and grabbed his bow off its rack as Roy followed behind him.
Caden turned to her and felt a sudden jump in his heart. A stray lock of blonde hair that had fallen out of her ponytail was waving in front of her eyes as she started packing the equipment. Drake closed his laptop and rose from his seat to help her, immersing himself in the rote task to distract himself from the uncomfortably rapid beating of his heart. The memories of the night's various and opposing events flitted through his mind, one coming back in vivid detail again and again despite his attempts to keep it out.
Stop it, he told himself, not realizing he'd mumbled it aloud.
"Stop what?" Felicity asked confusedly.
"Nothing," he said rapidly, the expression on her face sending another jolt through him. Cade turned away to pack a mobile router, biting down on his tongue almost hard enough to draw blood, the pain grounding him.
"It's not nothing if you're trying to distract yourself," she pointed out.
Caden sighed. Damn you, woman.
"Talk to me," she said softly, a small hand laying on his forearm.
Tingles ran up and down the appendage, heart stuttering a bit as his lungs took a staggered breath. He looked at her, immediately finding those ice blue eyes. Caden let out a ragged breath. "Now's…not the time."
It must have been the look in his eyes, or the strange breathing patterns he was exhibiting, because Felicity blushed and let him go. "Oh." She turned away and busied herself with packing.
"Yeah," Cade exhaled, feeling an awkward silence fall between them. He let out a long breath. It's gonna be a long night.
…
45 minutes later
"I've re-tasked a S.T.A.R. Labs satellite to your area. So far I'm only picking up heat signatures from one area of the storage complex."
"Copy that. Send me the location."
Roy was frowning in concentration at the pitch-dark complex beyond the borders of its fence when Oliver found him, the younger man glancing back to give him a nod. "So far no movement."
The Arrow nodded and waved him on. "Let's go."
The master vigilante and his protégé vaulted over the chain-link fence with no problems, landing on the other side with a roll and barely a sound. Oliver nocked an arrow, keeping it on his bowstring as they kept moving, splitting up somewhat so as to not bunch up in case of an attack. They'd proceeded a minute into the complex before Roy spoke up.
"So, you know what's goin' on between our currently mobile hackers?"
Oliver winced and turned to him briefly before refocusing on the darkened road in front of him. "Not sure what you mean."
Roy snorted. "I call bull. You'd have to be blind not to see…or selectively so."
The Arrow grimaced. This was not a conversation he wanted to have right now. "Who Felicity spends her time with is her business, not mine." He could feel the youth's eyes boring a hole in the back of his head.
Another snort. "Right." There was clear sarcasm and disdain in his voice.
Another twenty meters and Oliver couldn't take it anymore. Ducking behind cover, he wheeled around and faced his partner. "If you have something to say, then say it."
Roy shrugged. "Not my business," he parroted. "But if it were, I'd say man up and take care of it before you can't."
Before she leaves you, was the implication, and Oliver got it loud and clear. An ever-so-slight slump came to his shoulders as he answered in a near-whisper. "I already can't."
Roy was about to open his mouth to protest when the rumble of a car engine reached their ears. Both leaned over the dumpster Oliver was hiding behind, peering over the edge to see the same black van from before getting loaded up with what looked like food crates. The Arrow nodded to Roy, and they approached the convoy silently, sticking to the deepest shadows and getting within fifty feet of the van before a bullet whizzed past Roy's head. The red-clad archer reacted instantly, falling into a roll that gave him power to draw at the same time. By the time he reached a crouch, he had an arrow nocked and ready, releasing it a moment later into his shooter.
Mere seconds later, the complex descended into chaos. Whatever limited light existed was eliminated when the archers worked in tandem and destroyed every bulb, headlight, and streetlamp in sight, plunging the loading area into total darkness. The kind of darkness the Arrow thrived in. The occasional muzzle flashes of panicked mercs illuminated their locations, giving the sharp-reflexed Oliver clear shots every time they opened fire. The cloud of soldiers grew thicker the closer they got to that van.
When the Arrow rounded the corner of the warehouse they'd been loading from, a large TYGER merc tackled him to the ground and attempted to bludgeon him with something he couldn't see. Wrapping both green-clad legs around the swinging arm, he pivoted and shifted his weight, throwing the strike off-balance and his enemy to the ground. His jaw hit the pavement hard, and Oliver was quick to roll to his feet, pulling a flechette off his arm and throwing it at the downed soldier's backup. The projectile imbedded itself in his gun arm's elbow, and he shrieked in pain before a hard bow strike from Oliver decked him.
A twang sounded from his left, and a red arrow imbedded itself in another merc the Arrow hadn't seen. Quickly nodding his thanks, Oliver stormed toward the van, whose engine was roaring to life, and drew another arrow, firing it at the trunk and landing dead-center, its explosive head shattering the locking mechanism and the majority of the double-doors that swung open limply. Even in the low light projected from the inside of the van, the Arrow could easily tell who the leader was, based on the bright red beret and Kevlar jacket he wore.
Without a moment's hesitation, he drew back another arrow, turning at the last second to fire it into an incoming soldier. Roy flipped down from a storage container on his left, his descending momentum adding power to a drop-kick on another merc before he rolled sideways and swept out the legs of another. Oliver engaged three TYGER mercs at once, smacking his bow into the head of one before blocking two jabs from the others. A clockwise crouching spin brought him into a bow strike to the knee of the left-most merc, the middle recoiling from a kick to his gut before Oliver spun the other way and delivered another strike to the side of the right man's head.
A series of alternating punches from his bow and bare fist put the middle man on the defensive even as the one on his left tried to tackle him. The Arrow deftly slipped out of his grip, dumping him headfirst on the pavement before leaping toward the last one standing, a hard heel kick shooting him back several feet, landing on his back with a drawn-out groan.
"They're running!" Roy shouted, pointing quickly at the retreating van, which was going slower than expected due to its lack of headlights.
Oliver branched off another way while Roy kept up his chase, climbing onto a rooftop and running it down. The Arrow made his way to the complex's only exit, crouching in the shadows closest to the gate. He heard the sounds of Roy's arrows piercing rubber tires, spotting the van coming in at a dangerous speed given its new lack of control. The moment it screeched past, Oliver drew back the arrow he'd been saving and let fly, the head of the cable arrow splitting into a half-dozen ends as they wrapped around the captain, the reel in the shaft combined with his own pull sent the TYGER merc crashing from the van.
He kept rolling after he hit the ground, coming to a stop some seconds later as Roy joined the Arrow, both of them approaching the captain and the vehicle that started to come about. The pair drew arrows in tandem, both of their payloads slamming into the front of the van and exploding brilliantly, the engine ruined and both front passengers slumping unconscious in their seats. The captain was visibly shaking by the time they reached him, Oliver drawing an arrow back and deepening his voice.
"The crate you have from Queen Consolidated, where is it?" he asked in the Arrow's trademark growl.
"I-I can't," he whimpered, trying to free himself of the cables.
"Not what I wanted to hear," Arrow threatened, pulling the arrow back more.
"Look, even if I wanted to help you, I can't. He'd kill me."
"I'd be more concerned about what I'll do!"
The wide eyes and shaking were enough of a tip he was scared. "You don't understand. You can't win. Not with this. Not with…him."
"Who?"
"Who do you think, Arrow? Luthor."
"Then he's the one who hired you, ordered you to kidnap Oliver Queen."
"Yes, and if you know all that, then you know what he's capable of."
"And if you know who I am, then you know what I'm capable of, too."
Reluctantly, the man nodded.
"I'll do my best to keep you safe, but in return, you have to testify against Luthor. Without you, the case may not stick, and he needs to be brought to justice."
Another shaky nod.
Oliver smirked. "Glad we have an understanding."
…
8 hours later
LexCorp headquarters, Metropolis
Dawn in the city of the future was something out of a dream for Caden, who had never seen the golden light of the sun reflect off buildings quite like these, many of them already gold and shined to perfection. The result was, in a word, spectacular. At least, Cade thought so. It was either the sunrise or the feeling of almost giddy anticipation as he rode a high-speed elevator to the top floor of LexCorp's Metropolis division, where he would find the office of Lex Luthor, CEO and president of the company.
As it turned out, Felicity's mobile hack had worked—sort of. A single file in Luthor's company e-mail account was retrieved before he'd decided it was too dangerous to keep digging. It was enough, though. They had the captain, the correspondence between Luthor and Rochev, a recording of the captain's confession, and the QC cargo crate, which, as they'd suspected, was filled with illegal chemical and technological weapons. And all that was without the last juicy bit of intel they'd retrieved.
As of this moment, the TYGER captain was being moved by the MPD to a more secure location, the crate to an MPD evidence locker, and Oliver to a press conference. Apparently someone in the press got wind of his kidnapping and was trying to put him in the spotlight. Unfortunately, they succeeded, but Cade didn't mind. He didn't the Arrow for this, and besides, it was the middle of the day. At long last, the elevator doors opened with a ding, and Drake turned to scan his new surroundings as he stepped out into the epitome of opulence.
Ostentatious much? he thought. Damn. As he kept walking, past a pair of trees flanking the door and a fountain in the center of what looked like a lounge, he reached a set of marble stairs that looked just as shiny and expensive as the rest of the gilded office space. It was practically the size of his penthouse suite back in Starling. At the end of the stairs was a large, open office, glass panes from wall to wall, a single cherry wood desk at the far end of the room. In it sat the man of the hour, and from the moment he looked up and flashed a smooth, impeccably white smile, Caden had to agree with Lois.
This man made his skin crawl. What happened next only affirmed that notion.
"Mister Drake," he said smoothly, rising to his feet and smoothing down his suit, "please come in. I was wondering when you'd stop by." He strode around the edge of the desk, his black business suit a striking contrast with his completely bald head. "Can I offer you tea?"
Caden's eyes narrowed to slits as he did his best to keep his hands from clenching into fists. "Cut the crap, Luthor. We both know why I'm here."
Lex smiled coyly. "Why, my kind sir, I don't know what you mean." He strode back over to the desk, taking a teacup off its saucer and sipping it gently. "If you mean the promethium deal I have with the military, then yes, I know exactly why you're here."
Drake smiled nastily. "The promethium was only a thread. A single cord tying you to Victor Zsasz and getting me on your trail."
"Don't you mean 'us'?" Lex arched an eyebrow, that smug smirk still on his face. "I'm no fool, Mr. Drake, and I'm very well-informed. I know you came here with the Starling City vigilante, or as he's come to be called, the Arrow. I also know that you broke into one of my empty facilities late yesterday afternoon." He chuckled. "What exactly you were looking for is beyond me."
Caden's nostrils flared as he reined in his temper. I've met some irritating corporate executives, but this guy turned violently provocative irritation into a science. "You're done, Luthor," he said with finality. "Whatever plans you had to acquire that crate, forget 'em. We have it, we have your TYGER cronies, and we have a whole lot of data tying you to Isabel Rochev and Stellmoor International. It's over."
Lex gave that annoying chuckle again. "My dear boy, last I heard, hiring private security wasn't illegal, and neither was dealing with a rival corporation. I made a few deals with Ms. Rochev, yes, but of course, that was before I, along with the rest of the world, discovered she was a terrorist."
"Bull," he growled. "She told you she gave you the weapons that were in that crate."
"And at the time, I had no idea they were illegal."
"And yet you kept the crate—for months."
"Well, yes. See, Rochev sent me that little package as something of a peace offering—a gift. One that I would have to unwrap on my own. I had no way of knowing what was inside, of course, because she cheated me out of the unlock sequence."
"And you didn't find a way to bust it open because…?"
Lex frowned. "What would it make me look like if I had my men blow a hole in a crate not bearing my company's logo? Why, I'd look like a common crook. The press would have a field day."
"Especially when they found out it was filled with weapons that are illegal in at least twenty different countries."
"My point exactly. Hence, you see my need for caution. If I had done what Rochev wanted, gotten inside that crate by force, my reputation would have been ruined, my company lost."
Caden's anger was rising, the wheels in his head turning even as a pit settled in his gut. "It doesn't matter, because your 'private security' ratted you out. The captain of that TYGER team you hired? He named you as his direct superior, and the man who gave the order to have Oliver Queen kidnapped. I even found an audio recording of the conversation in your company account."
"You mean Mr. Reginald?" Lex asked curiously. "He's been out of my employ for some time. In fact, I fired him not long after the original job he was hired for."
"Which was?"
"Company business," Lex said dismissively. "And not at all related to the topic at hand."
"If he was fired, then why was he in possession of that QC container?"
"My guess? The same reason he named me as a criminal co-conspirator. To ruin me. He was probably planning on stealing that crate and securing its contents for himself. As for the quote 'recording,' one of my techs found it late last night. Something about the code was off and when he brought it to my attention, I had him break it down and found this."
Lex angled the monitor of his computer into Caden's eyesight, showing an audio recording program with several tracks combined. When he hit the play button, Lex's voice joined Reginald's in an exchange of orders, specifically with regard to Oliver Queen, but the CEO's entries were assembled from a smattering of several different recordings, all spliced together to create a complete conversation.
Caden slowly paled as his entire body went cold.
"So you know," Lex said, "I would have pressed charges had it not been for..." His voice trailed off as he looked away, a sorrowful look on his face.
Caden's eyes narrowed. "Had it not been for what?" he growled.
The CEO's eyebrows rose. "You didn't hear?"
"Hear what?"
"The police vehicle transporting Mr. Reginald was attacked a short time ago by a disgruntled former employee of his. He was killed in the firefight."
Drake's stomach dropped.
"Considering what he's done in the last forty-eight hours alone, I'd say he got what was coming to him." He looked away sorrowfully. "Can't say the same for the two policemen that were killed, though."
Rage swept through Caden as he started shaking, both fists clenched as he glared daggers at Lex. "I will go to the press, and I'll tell them everything you've done. Law or no law, evidence or no evidence."
Luthor chuckled again and turned to him with an arched eyebrow and a condescending expression. "And who do you think they'll believe? A young, angry man who doesn't even exist or Metropolis' favorite humanitarian?"
"Humanitarian my ass," Cade spat. "You hired a serial killer and mercenaries to do your dirty work."
"There is no evidence of the former, and the latter is completely legitimate. As for the 'confession' of Captain Reginald, well…I think his record speaks for itself, as does the fabricated recording I showed you earlier. So you see…there really is no way to pin this on me."
Left with nothing, no leverage, no evidence, and no witnesses, Caden had only his anger left. "You're one sick son of a bitch," he snarled.
Lex Luthor chuckled and put a hand to his chest. "Why my dear Mr. Drake. You put things too crudely." He smiled charmingly, the sudden and visceral fury in his piercing green eyes juxtaposed to the mirthful expression as he lowered his voice dangerously. "I'm simply one hell of a businessman."
Caden's upper lip twitched several times before he snapped and yelled, grabbing Luthor by the collar and shoving him against his desk, breaths coming out in heavy, snarling huffs.
Lex just narrowed his eyes and smirked, the image of complete calm. "Go ahead then. Make your move. My security will be on you in seconds, if they aren't already. There are over a hundred floors between you and escape, and each of them is filled with over two dozen highly trained ex-military personnel. If by some miracle you manage to sneak past them…" His eyes narrowed. "I own this town, or…most of it, anyway. You won't escape, and if you kill me, you'll be signing your own death warrant."
"It'd almost be worth it," Caden snarled, eyes narrowed to slits in rage. His fingers relaxed. "Almost." With effort, he released Lex and stepped back twice, still snarling slightly as the man fixed and smoothed down his rumpled suit and sat behind his desk.
"Now, unless you have anything further to add to your little 'prosecution,' Mr. Drake, my associate Mercy will show you the door." He waved at the door, where a long-legged brunette stood waiting, hands clasped in front of her. As Caden stormed off, he added, "Try not to die of embarrassment on your way out."
Drake stopped short in the doorway, noting Mercy's sudden tension and the way her right arm flexed under her suit jacket. He turned to face Luthor, glaring silently. "One day, Luthor…one day."
…
30 minutes later
Abandoned warehouse
Caden's morning had been long and strenuous enough…or so he thought. Walking in on Felicity leaning in close to a shirtless and freshly bandaged Oliver, giggling girlishly at something he said, was the last shock he could take. Sighing hard, he made a decision the moment his phone rang.
"Hello?" he asked tiredly.
"Hey handsome."
Cade froze in place. "Kara?"
"The one and only," she laughed. "How you doin'?"
Drake turned and looked over at his shorter blonde friend, who'd shot a startled look in his direction when his phone went off. "Uh…fine. I'm good."
"You don't sound good," Kara responded, voice tight and serious. "What happened?"
"I'm…I've just had a long morning."
"Want to talk about it?"
He looked back over to Felicity, who was conversing with Oliver so easily, so closely that if it weren't for his perfect memory, he never would've believed the way she'd ranted against Oliver last night. They're…perfect. Pain lanced through his chest and tears stung his eyes as she concernedly brushed a hand over one of his bandages. He shook himself off rapidly and put the phone back on his ear.
"Not over the phone."
"Oh," she breathed, falling silent a while. "But hey, this works out. I need to talk to you about something important anyway."
Caden smirked. "Let me guess. You're finally leaving the Keystone?"
"No," she said in an annoyed tone. "I need your help."
Cade's brows furrowed. "With what?"
A pause. "Carmine."
Drake's nostrils flared and eyes narrowed slightly, jaw clenching. "I'll be on the first flight out."
"Okay. And Caden?"
"Yeah?"
"It's…good to hear your voice."
He smiled. "Yeah, you too Kay. I'll see you soon."
"I'll hold you to that."
"You always do." He closed down the phone and took a deep breath, reining in his emotions and striding into the makeshift Arrowcave. "So how'd the press conference go?"
Oliver turned to face him, smile fading. "About as expected. And your meeting?"
Cade looked down and shook his head slowly.
"Damn."
"Yeah." He sighed. "Gotta say, this is something of a first for me. I don't think I've ever been outfoxed so completely. Bastard had everything planned out."
"It's not your fault. Next time we'll just have to try harder."
"Yeah…" Cade glanced at Felicity. "Look, now that this case is closed, I think I uh…" He shook his head. "I need to go. It's a work thing. Someone tipped me off to the movements of a dangerous criminal, and I need to meet with her to track him down."
"Her?" Felicity asked. "You mean—"
"Yeah, she uh…called me a few minutes ago. Apparently Carmine di Carmello is back on the radar again, which is…decidedly not good news. It never is," he added in a mutter.
Oliver glanced between Felicity and Caden, sensing the sudden tension there. "Well good luck." He shook his hand firmly.
"Thanks," he smirked, "but in my experience…"
Oliver grinned. "There's no such thing."
"Exactly." He waited for Oliver to walk away before turning his eyes to Felicity.
"So that's it then?"
Caden took a breath. "No. It's a mission, like any other. Just not one you're a part of. This time."
"Are you coming back?"
He gave her a hurt expression. "Am I coming back? Of course I'm coming back. What kind of question is that?" Cade snorted. "I meant what I said about living in Starling, you know. I'm content to make it my home."
"For now."
"Yes," he admitted. "For now. Because I don't know what the future holds, or where my work will take me. I'm a protector, remember? And that doesn't end at the borders of Starling City."
Felicity gulped slowly and nodded, a sour expression on her face. "Well…have fun."
"Carmine's never fun to deal with."
"You know what I meant," she muttered.
"Hey," he said softly, catching her arm as she turned away. Their eyes met for a second before he leaned down to her ear, turning so she faced Oliver as he whispered. "Make it count."
Felicity blinked rapidly as he pulled away, smiling with a glisten in his eyes. "Cade, I—"
He held up a hand and smiled wider. "It's all right. I understand. I really do." He too gulped down his emotions. "Just make it count."
She stared at him openmouthed, searching his eyes before nodding slowly. "Be safe. Try not to get into too much trouble."
Caden snorted and gave her a hurt look. "Come on, Felicity. You know me." He started walking toward the exit, but stopped in the doorway to throw a grin over his shoulder. "I'm always getting into trouble."
He was most of the way out when he barely heard her whisper, "That's what I'm afraid of."
AN: Long ass chapter, I know. Lots of author notes on this one. First off, I'd like to congratulate those of who who've stuck with it this long. Kudos. Secondly, I want to know you guys' opinions on the way the Calicity romance has been going, especially since we'll be approaching season three soon, with all that Olicity tension goin' on. Thirdly, really want to know your opinion on my portrayal of Lex Luthor, because…I absolutely do not want to get him wrong. Please let me know with a review and look forward to more next Wednesday.
Oya ner vode – CDrake
Next chapter on Assassins and Queens: The hunt for Carmine di Carmello leads Caden to an abandoned nuclear plant in Markovia that turns out to be not so abandoned. What happens when he finds out he's not the only one interested?
