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Chapter 14- Time of death
Kord Industries
A man walked in the glass revolving door, then paused as a voice came over his Bluetooth headset.
"In six seconds, lobby security will undergo a shift change." The voice said.
From another location, the owner of the voice- William Tockman watched security camera footage on his computer monitors.
"When that happens, make for the elevator bay."
The man looked over as another man walked through the doors.
"Copy." He said, following the second man to the elevators as the security teams switched out. The two got into an elevator.
"Now, remember what I told you- timing is everything."
When they exited the elevator, both men were dressed as janitors. They quickly disposed of their suit jackets and briefcases into a cleaning cart.
"Maintain a pace of 1.3 meters per second." Tockman told them as he watched on the monitors, "Six seconds to target. 5…4…"
He watched as they approached a corner. Around the bend, a three man team was carrying a secured briefcase.
"Now is the time, gentlemen."
The two men rounded the corner and easily dispatched the team with silence tranquilizers. The first man grabbed the case and looked at it.
"It's a fingerprint reader. I can't crack it." He said.
"I can."
Tockman remotely hacked into the lock and deactivated it. The man opened the case to reveal a white cylinder. He grabbed it and slipped it into his overalls.
"You have 5.3 seconds to get down the east stairwell." Tockman told them. They started running down the stairs when he suddenly called again.
"Stop. Stop!"
The two men paused there, out in the open.
"What the hell are we doing?" The first man asked tensely, "We got what we came for."
"He said to wait." The second man said.
"Out in the open?" The first man said, "Forget this."
He took off down the stairs and out into the hallway, his partner reluctantly following. They skidded to a stop when a security guard rounded the corner up ahead. The three stared at each other for a moment, frozen.
"Don't do it." The first man warned as the guard went for his gun, "Don't do it!"
The guard's hand dropped to his gun, so the first man pulled his own gun out and shot him.
"Ahh!" Tockman screamed in frustration as he watched it go down over the security monitors.
"Security clocked us!" The second man said over the wireless.
In the lobby, the guard on the desk saw the shooting on his monitor and called the police.
"SCPD? You've got to send some officers here." He looked over to the leader of the security squad.
"Up there, third floor. Third floor!" He told them. Soon the guards were storming the third floor.
Tockman let out a breath, set the timer on one of his watches, and checked his monitors.
"They've alerted the SCPD. Exit the east lobby in 22 seconds." He ordered.
Outside the SCPD arrived. Lance climbed out of his patrol car just as the two men burst out of the building, firing their Uzis at the cops. Lance drew his weapon.
"SCPD! Put your weapons down!" He ordered, then ducked behind his car to avoid being hit. As the man ran past, Lance recognized him. "Walczak!"
He reached up to his shoulder mic.
"Delta Charlie 52 to Central, shots fired. I need back-up, downtown!" He yelled into the radio as he took off after the two shooters.
The two men had a large lead, and as they rounded a corner they ran into a street protest. Quickly they stripped off their overalls and grabbed a pair of hapless protesters, they knocked them out, took their hoodies, jackets, and their sign. By the time Lance and the cops rounded the corner, the two disguised men walked right past the cops.
The Lair
Oliver, Sara and Diggle were sparring with staffs while Matt and Steve were sparring with their fists.
Matt blocked two punches from Steve before trying to flip kick him which he leaned backwards to avoid and then he tried to kick Matt in a rotatory motion which he flipped back to avoid.
Sara blocked attacks from both Oliver and Dig and whirled her staff. She sidestepped to avoid a charging Dig and with a smile, continued sparring with Oliver.
As Dig attacked again, she struck him on the calf, sending him down. She blocked two attacks from Oliver again but as soon as she spun around, Dig tagged her hard on the temple.
"Dig!" Felicity, who had been watching from the corner the entire time, yelped in horror.
The fighting immediately stopped.
"Sara, I'm so sorry." Dig said apologetically.
Sara groaned as she stepped off the practice area. She put her staff down on a table.
"It's ok, I'm fine." She assured the bodyguard.
Oliver walked over.
"Let me see." She flinched when he raised his hand to her head.
"Let me see." He repeated. Reluctantly she held still as he examined the wound.
"She's bleeding, but it's not deep." He told her.
"Good, I can't take any more scars." Sara said flippantly.
"Speaking of…" She looked down at Dig's ankle, "Mortar round?"
"Yeah, IED, the Paktika province in Afghanistan." He said, "Good eye."
"I know my wounds." She said. She showed one on her ankle, "Grenade. Algiers."
"I've never been hit by a grenade." Oliver remarked as Felicity watched on.
"All those scars, you've never been hit by a grenade?" Diggle said, astonished.
Oliver started pointing to random scars on his chest, "Arrow, knife, knife. A lot of bullets, no grenades."
Sara looked at Matt's chest, "You seem to have quite a few of them."
"The Russians love their knives." He said as he pointed at his chest, "And these are from Nobu Yoshioka himself."
"His skill with the Kyoketsu-shoge was nearly unmatched." Sara noted, "You're lucky you survived and beat him."
"How come you have got no scars, Captain?" Dig asked Steve.
"The serum." Steve said simply, "I get hurt a lot. But because of the serum, the wounds eventually heal without leaving any mark."
"Wouldn't want anything to ruin your sexy abs, would you?" Sara said to Steve with a naughty smirk, making him and Oliver sigh.
"I've got myself a new bullet." Dig said, showing the scar on his arm, "Nine millimeter, right there."
Sara showed off on her side, ".38. I'm mostly swords, and a spear."
"We should get going." Oliver said as he moved to keep his staff away, "You don't want to be late for your own welcome home party."
"You didn't have to throw me a party, Ollie." Sara protested again.
"Sara, when you come back from the dead, you get a party." Oliver said with a grin, "It's a Queen family tradition."
Sara sighed, "I survived Lian Yu and Nanda Parbat, I guess I can handle a cocktail party."
"Don't be so sure." Oliver said, giving her a quick kiss. He moved off to get showered and changed.
Unknown location
Tockman was examining the device his two men had stolen.
"You left us sitting in front of the security camera." The first man was saying, "Guards could have killed us."
Tockman said nothing, still looking at the device in his hands. "
Are you listening?"
"If you had simply waited for five more seconds, like you were told, no one would have died." Tockman said, turning to face he men.
"Sorry." The first man said sarcastically, "I wasn't going to bet ten to twenty up in Iron Heights on your skills with a stopwatch."
""The strongest of all warriors are these two- time and patience."" He quoted.
The first man looked at him in confusion, "What?"
Tockman coughed.
"It's from 'War and Peace'." He said, "1440 pages. It takes a while, but it's worth a read. Tolstoy knew that patience was the epitome of strength. It takes fortitude to stand still."
"Just as it is a sign of weakness or cowardice to move when you should not!" He added in an angry shout.
"Look." The man said, brushing aside the edge of his coat and placing his hand on the butt of his pistol, "We did the job. You owe me."
Tockman sneered at the man. He reached down onto his worktable and casually spun a gear like a top.
"The dead are owed nothing." He said. Suddenly he spun around, the long metal arm of a clock in his hand. He stabbed the man with it three times and then let the man drop to the floor, dead.
As the second man looked on in horror, Tockman casually took of his glasses and cleaned off the blood that had splattered on them, coughing slightly as he did so.
Queen Manor
The 'Welcome Home' party had begun. The doorbell rang, and Oliver and Thea answered it to see Sara, Laurel, Quentin and Dinah standing there.
"Ah, come in. Come in, come in." Oliver said awkwardly, allowing the Lances into the house.
"Welcome home, Sara." He stammered, giving her a hug. He then hugged Laurel as well.
"I'm so happy you're here." Thea said, hugging Sara as well, "Come on."
They walked deeper into the house, Roy and Sin came out of the lounge. Seeing her friend, Sin ran without thinking and gave her a big hug, to Thea's surprise.
"Oh, Sara, this is Sin." She said, confused.
"Wait, do you two know each other?" Roy asked.
"Uh, no. We don't." Sara said quickly, giving Sin a small wink.
"Right." Sin said, playing along, "Uh… I love when people come back from the dead. You know. Juices my zombie fetish."
All three looked at her oddly.
"Um, Roy." Roy said, shaking her hand.
"Sara." She said in reply.
"Come on." Thea said, leading her into the lounge. Sin fell into step next to Sara and whispered 'Sorry' as they entered.
"Hey." Oliver turned to see Lance walking briskly towards him, "I needed to tell you something."
"What?" Oliver asked.
Lance sighed, "When you got back, I… well, I was pretty harsh on you."
"Hey, Mr. Lance, you-you don't have to—"
"Oh, I do." He assured the younger man.
"When you and Sara went off on your dad's boat, you were just a kid, both of you were. And whether she came back, or…" He looked around, gathering his thoughts.
"I was out of line." He admitted, "You're not a killer, Oliver."
He held out his hand. After a brief moment, Oliver shook it. They stood there for several moments in awkward silence before Oliver finally gestured to the lounge.
"Yeah, come on, yeah." Lance said, and the two men went to rejoin the party.
In the lounge, Sara was being 'introduced' to Matt Murdock.
"Matt Murdock." He said as he held out his hand and Sara shook it with a smile.
Dinah and Moira stood off to the side, watching.
"I'm so happy for you, Dinah." Moira told the other mother, "Those five years that Oliver was gone, was like a piece of me was missing."
"I know just what you mean." Dinah said as Oliver walked over, "Oh, excuse me."
"Of course." Moira said pleasantly, taking a sip of her drink.
After the other woman was gone, Oliver let the smile drop from his face.
"I didn't think you'd be here." He said coldly.
"This is my house." Moira reminded him, "And if you don't want to pretend to be mother and son, then don't throw parties in my home."
She moved off.
Thea looked over and saw her abrupt departure.
"Mom?" She said, rushing over to her, "Is everything okay with you and Ollie?"
"Yes, of course." Moira lied, smiling as she walked off. Thea looked over to Oliver, who smiled reassuringly.
Quentin and Dinah were watching Sara when the former's phone rang.
"Excuse me." He said, answering the call, "Lance."
He listened, then exhaled deeply in aggravation.
"I'll be right there." He hung up, then looked at Dinah sorrowfully, "It's work. There's a homicide in the Glades, and I- I better go."
"Mm-hmm." She said sadly with a nod as she watched him walk out.
Oliver and Matt noted him leave as well, so when the former's phone rang, they weren't surprised.
"I'm on my way." Oliver said immediately upon answering.
"How did you know I was calling?" Felicity asked.
"Because Detective Lance just got the same call." He said.
"What an odd coincidence." Matt said.
Oliver looked up at Sara, and she looked back, knowing something was up.
Later, Glades
The Arrow, The Canary, Daredevil and Captain America stood by the two bikes as Lance moved to join them.
"What, you guys just show up to every crime scene now?" He joked.
"No, Detective. Just the ones you show up to." Daredevil said sarcastically.
Sara smiled as she moved towards him.
"I saw you leave." She said.
Lance smiled tiredly, and then pulled out a plastic evidence bag.
"CSU just pulled this out of a skel I know named Eddie Walczak." He said, handing it to her.
Sara frowned.
"I've never seen a knife life this." She said.
"It's not a knife, it's a minute hand." Lance explained. He pulled out his phone and showed her a picture of Walczak's body, with the minute hand still in it, "Like from a clock. I popped Walczak for b&e a few years back. This morning, he and an accomplice were involved in a robbery homicide."
"What'd they steal?" Captain America asked.
"Some high-tech gizmo. Kord rep called it a, um, skeleton key." He said.
The Arrow sighed in aggravation; Lance noticed.
"What? You know what it is?" He asked.
"It was intended as a military tool to aid in code breaking on foreign intelligence targets." The Arrow explained, "Felicity Smoak works at Queen Consolidated and she said they were working on something similar… but Oliver Queen shut it down once he realized what it could be used for."
"What?" Daredevil, Captain America and The Canary asked simultaneously.
"It could be modified to open a bank vault." Arrow replied, "Any bank vault."
Everyone was horrified on hearing that.
"What if it's not just limited to bank vaults?" Captain America asked in shock, "People may be able to open weapon vaults with it."
"Oh, my God!" Daredevil said in horror.
"Ok, listen- Walczak's small-time on a good day." Lance said, "I mean, I doubt he'd even know how to use this thing, let alone break into a place like Kord and steal it on his own."
"Walczak was just the muscle." Arrow stated, "We need to find the brain."
Later, Lair
Oliver, Matt and Steve came in to find Sara and Felicity inside.
"Where are we with the skeleton key?" Oliver asked as they jogged down the stairs.
"I'm cross referencing Walczak's known associates with decryption experts on the NSA watch list, but it's taking some time." Felicity noted.
"Which we don't have." Oliver said in frustration, "Ok, the key is not just a code breaker. In the wrong hands, it's a weapon."
"Which can get people more weapons." Steve noted.
"Whoever killed Walczak, in addition to finding creepy uses for clock parts, is very good at covering his tracks." Felicity said.
"Lucky for us. Uncovering tracks is what you're very good at." Oliver said, giving her a small smile.
"Right." She sighed.
Later, Widmeer Bank
Tockman's new crew were at the vault, the skeleton key placed next to the lock.
"Device is hot." The second man said. From his hideout, Tockman activated the key and in seconds, the vault door was open.
He smiled happily.
"Extract as much money as you can in 90 seconds." He ordered, watching the heist on the security cams.
"Stop! Get out of there!" He ordered suddenly.
"We've still got 20 seconds." The man said in confusion.
On his screens, Tockman saw The Arrow stalking down the hall, "No, you don't."
"Come on!" The second man ordered his partner.
Seconds after they had left, Arrow, Daredevil, Captain America and Canary entered the vault.
"They're already gone!" Arrow said over the comms.
"I think I have an idea where." Felicity said, tracking the key from her computer in the Lair, "The skeleton key operates on an OFDM wireless signal. I'm picking up a transmission signal in the alley next to the bank."
"But you won't be heading there."
The Arrow paused.
"What was that?" He demanded.
"He's hacked our transmission." Felicity said, astonished.
"My associates may be headed to the alley, but the 9:40 bus from Crescent Circle is about to collide with the Starlight Freight Express." Tockman said, rerouting traffic.
Felicity double checked on her screen.
"Oh, my God, he's right, the 9:40's headed for the track at Amherst." She said, horrified.
"By my calculations, you can't be in two places at once." Tockman said happily.
The Arrow and Daredevil turned to Captain America the Canary.
"He doesn't know there's four of us." Daredevil realized.
In the alley behind the bank, Tockman opened the door to his mobile command center.
"Come on! Come on!" He yelled at his two hired thugs. When he saw Captain America and The Canary round the corner, he pulled out a pistol and started shooting. Steve threw his shield and it hit Tockman hard on the head, making him fall down from the truck and faint.
One of the men turned around and opened fire but Steve put his shield in the way as Sara separated her bo-staff into two and threw the pieces at the men like spears, knocking them both out.
In the Lair, Felicity was trying to re-route the bus or drop the train barricade, but she was unable to get past Tockman's hacks.
"He's in the transit department network! He's-he's hacked the signaling system. I-I can't get the crossing barriers down!" She said frantically.
"Those buses have radios." Oliver said, "Can you break in, wave them off?"
"No!" Felicity said in disbelief.
At the bus, Oliver managed to pull ahead of it with Matt running at his side and skidded to a stop right in front of its path. The bus skidded to a stop as Matt put his hands on it to stop it, grunting due to the strength he needed to do it.
Oliver braced himself against the front of the bus as the train sped past, much to the relived bus driver's eyes.
"We got him." Steve said over the comms, causing Matt and Oliver to sigh in relief. It was over.
Later, Verdant
Sara, Matt and Oliver watched news coverage on one of the flat screens near the bar.
The banner on the news story read 'Clock King Arrested.' Sara scoffed.
"I guess it's not real until the media comes up with a nickname." She noted sourly.
"Yeah." Matt said in agreement, "Some media named Fisk the Kingpin of Crime."
"How can I run a bar without any bartenders?" They turned as Thea walked behind the bar, stocking it as she talked to one of her now ex-employees' on the phone.
"For that matter, how can you quit without giving me notice? No, one hour before opening is not notice, Mandy." She said angrily.
She hung up the phone, sighing in frustration. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at her brother.
"Can I talk to you for a second?" She asked, deceptively calm.
"I'm going to go use the little blonde's room." Sara said, moving off.
"I'm going off too. Got some work." Matt said, moving away.
"Everything ok?" Oliver asked.
"You tell me." Thea replied, "Other than the party, I haven't seen you at home all week."
"I've been busy." Oliver hedged, "Being a CEO doesn't leave me a lot of free time."
Thea gave him a look.
"Yeah, looks to me a whole lot like you're avoiding mom." Thea said.
"I'm not avoiding mom." Oliver lied.
Another look.
"You're lucky your life does not revolve around lying." Thea stated.
"Thea." He looked at her with the most honest face he could muster, "Everything's fine."
Thea sighed in annoyance as she rounded the bar.
"You know, it's secrets that pushed this family apart in the first place, Ollie." She said sourly.
"Speedy, Speedy." Oliver stopped her and gave her a kiss on the top of the head, "Really. Everything's fine."
She rolled her eyes and walked off, and the smile fell off his face. This was one lie he was having a really hard time selling.
Next night
Matt was jumping from rooftop to rooftop when he heard a truck being driven erratically. A drunk driver!
He was about to hit an old woman when Matt swung down with his club and swept her away.
"You all right?" He asked her.
"Yeah." She said as her heart raced. She was old as Maggie.
Grunting, Matt swung away, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, following the drunk driver. Finally, he jumped in front of the truck.
The driver was too dazed to figure out anything and Matt put his hands in the front. As the truck came closer, Matt tried to stop it, though it was taking all of his strength.
Roaring in rage, he put in all of his strength and half a minute later, it finally slowed down before stopping.
"What the hell man?" The drunk driver said, still dazed.
Snarling in anger, Matt punched his window, shattering it before pulling him out and throwing him to the ground. And before he knew it, he was punching the man on the face angrily.
It continued for a minute before he heard people screaming in fear. He dropped the wounded man to the ground and realized people were watching the sight with fear.
He realized there was blood on his hands. His jaw dropped in horror as he realized what he was doing. Sighing in shame, he staggered away from the area, leaving the wounded driver on the ground.
Walking into an alley, he swung to a rooftop and panted, horrified at what he had done to the driver.
Suddenly, a dart hit him on the back of the neck. He gasped and ripped it out as he turned around. In spite of his enhanced physiology, he was feeling a bit dazed.
Grunting, he moved towards the person in front of him but he fired four more into him. That was more than Matt could take and he fell down, slowly losing consciousness.
A man wearing a black suit and mask with white gloves and shoes looked down on him with a smirk as he lowered his gun. A target was drawn on the top of his mask.
"Bullseye."
Queen Manor
"Thea!" Oliver shouted worriedly as he ran into the house.
"Oliver." He stopped and sighed as his mother came into the hall.
"What's wrong? Is everything all right?" She asked worriedly.
"Thea texted me there was an emergency at the house." Oliver said shortly.
"There's no emergency. I'm in the middle of a meeting and Thea's not even here." Moira replied shortly.
"Well, then why would she…" He trailed off, then sighed in realization.
"I can't believe she would do this." He said.
"Do what?" Moira asked.
"She's trying to force us to talk because she's sensing the tension between us." Oliver explained.
"And what did you tell her?" Moira asked.
"Nothing. To protect her. Not you." He clarified.
"Mrs. Queen. Is everything ok?" A voice called out.
"Yes, thank you." Moira said, adopting a friendly tone.
"Uh, my son just dropped by." She stated, leading Oliver back into the lounge.
"Oliver, I'd like you to meet Slade Wilson." She introduced.
Oliver froze as Slade stood from the couch. He was older, he had a little more grey in his hair- and of course, the eye patch he wore courtesy of the arrow Oliver himself had stuck there.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," Slade said, grasping Oliver's hand tightly in a seemingly friendly handshake, "Mr. Queen."
Yes. Bullseye is here! But this is not Benjamin Poindexter. This is Lester aka the Bullseye from the comics. Now I loved Dex in Season 3. He was an amazing, well developed villain and the perfect mix of psycho and sympathetic. Very nice new innovative take on Bullseye.
But we don't have the time for that here. So I'm giving you the psycho Bullseye from comics.
And I shortened this episode because it was my least favorite of the season. It was still a good one but the Felicity plot annoyed me for obvious reasons and let's not forget the Laurel stuff.
The dinner scene with the Lances still happened but let's just say Oliver wasn't invited. Now while Laurel was way over the line and had the hallway lecture coming (though Oliver might have gone slightly overboard there), I think it was stupid of Sara to invite Oliver considering Laurel's condition.
Now of course there is no drug addiction in this but it would still be a bit stupid to invite Oliver.
Maggie was of course killed in an accident. Assume it was a drunk truck driver and that's why Matt reacted like this here.
I won't do 2x16 and 2x17. The former was mainly a Suicide Squad episode and didn't move the plot. The latter didn't either and if you remember, Helena was captured back in the first story so she can't cause any trouble.
Counting out these two, all episodes were about the conflict between Oliver and Slade. So now, it's the real thing we're moving onto. WOOHOO!