Hey, everybody. Today is my 21st birthday, so I decided to celebrate by posting another chapter.
This is gonna end the little arc of Warner's uprising, and set up some future developments for the final battle.
Also, I have slightly revised my chapter plan. I'm gonna be including more from the rest of the show than I originally planned.
Enough of that for now. Let's get to the chapter.
Chapter 14- An Uprising Ends
Bucky sits in his favorite armchair in his apartment, thinking back over the events of the last few hours, and particularly the revelation that HYDRA also exists on this Earth. This totally changes the game, but also makes him a little glad he came here in the first place. If there's anyone who's gonna be able to put an end to HYDRA, no matter what Earth, it's gonna be either him or Steve. Nobody knows them better.
There's a knock on his door. Bucky stands up and walks over. Looking through the peephole, he sees that it's Laurel.
Bucky opens the door and looks at her for a moment. "What are you doing here?" he asks.
"I figured you needed a friend to talk to right now," Laurel says. She waits for a moment, then asks, "Can I come in?"
Bucky steps aside and motions for her to come in. She slowly walks in and looks around. "Nice. You're a decent decorator," she says.
"Yeah, considering I haven't spent much time trying to decorate this place," Bucky says nonchalantly before sitting down.
Laurel takes a seat in the chair next to his and just looks at him for a few moments. "So, what's on your mind?" she asks.
Bucky is quiet for a few moments, then says, "When I came to this Earth, I thought I would never have to deal with HYDRA again. Even if it wasn't the same HYDRA that took me and made me their mindless assassin. Now, with what White said, and knowing that there's a HYDRA here on this Earth too…I just don't know if I'll ever be able to fully put that part of my past away for good."
Laurel nods. "I felt that same way when Allen first let me out back during that incident with Grodd. But, the key is to just take it bit by bit. And once Prometheus is down for good, then we can work on handling HYDRA," she says.
Bucky nods. "Yeah. I just hope that one day I'll have a life completely free of HYDRA's influence," he says.
Laurel nods. Right then, Bucky's phone rings. He picks it up, sees it Felicity, and answers with, "Hey, Felicity. What is it?"
"Warner and the others just hit the Bertinellis. And they took one of the guys. Enzo Russo. I'm guessing that he knows where Church hid his money," she responds.
Bucky says, "Okay, gotcha. Me and Laurel are on our way back to the lair. We'll see you soon," he says.
Bucky hangs up and looks at Laurel. Laurel nods to show she knows the situation. The two of them stand up and walk out of the apartment.
(Oak Hill Memorial)
"Thanks for letting me be here," Quentin says to Bucky as the two enter the Oak Hill Memorial cemetery.
"Of course," Bucky says to Quentin. He then activates his comms and says, "Alpha Team in position."
"Beta Team in position," Curtis says as he and Rene get into position.
"I'm on site," Diggle calls over comms.
"Ready," Laurel responds.
Inside a center memorial, Cutter, White, and Warner walk past several tombs. Warner comes to a stop by the last one, and she smacks it a bit. "It's this one," she declares.
"How do you know?" White asks.
"Because it has the least amount of dust on it. Help me move it," Warner says. Together, the three women manage to slid the top off the tomb, revealing multiple duffel bags. Cutter leans down and unzips one of them, revealing it to be stuffed full of cash.
White and Warner laugh as Carrie lifts up at bundle of cash and says, "We have got the money, honey."
"Grab whatever you can carry. We'll come back for the rest later," Warner says.
The three women grab several duffel bags and start walking out of the memorial. That is, until a powerful shockwave knocks them down as a loud scream splits the air. Behind them, atop the memorial, Laurel grins, her new batons in her hands.
Warner, White, and Cutter all stand up, and look around to see all of Team Arrow gathered around them, all ready to fight. Cutter turns to try and escape, but a bullet from Diggle across her path stops her short.
"You did all this for money? So what, you could go to the Caymans?" Quentin demands.
"You think this is about taking a vacation? We're taking over. We're taking back this city!" Warner declares.
"Yeah, you and what army?" demands Diggle.
"This one!" Warner replies as multiple SUVs drive up and mercenaries pour out of them.
"Amazing the loyalty that money can buy!" Warner declares before looking at the men and shouting, "Kill them all!"
The mercenaries open fire, and the team takes cover. Laurel jumps down and moves to engage Warner while Curtis engages Cutter. Quentin, Diggle, and Rene try and fight back against the mercenaries, while Bucky rushes to engage White, gunning down some of the mercenaries as he goes.
Bucky ducks under White's first blow. The two begin throwing punches and kicks in a flurry, while also trying to slash at each other with their knives.
As Bucky and White are fighting, Laurel manages to knock Warner back. Glancing around, she sees Cutter knock Curtis to the ground. She unleashes a brief scream, knocking Cutter back, and giving Curtis the chance to get back to his feet. He nods once before turning to re-engage Cutter. Laurel smiles, then blocks a blow from Warner and returns to fighting the former cop.
As she does, Bucky jumps up, scissors White, and throws her to the ground. She leaps back up and slashes at Bucky. He blocks it with cybernetic arm and punches her in the chest, knocking her flying back.
She manages to get back to her feet as Bucky begins to hear sirens over the sounds of combat. White looks at him as she holds her knife at the ready. "I may not be able to stop two heads from growing back as you say. But at least as I can cut off your head," she says venomously. She then starts to rush at him, right before a gunshot rings out and she drops to the ground.
Bucky feels a little surprised. The identity of the shooter is apparent when Captain Pike runs up behind White. He glances at Bucky for a moment before shouting, "Move on the targets!"
Officers of the SCPD and ACU race on the scene. The remaining mercenaries, as well as Cutter and Warner, quickly surrender, recognizing they're well outnumbered.
The team quickly starts to disperse. Before he leaves, Bucky walks up to Captain Pike. Pike looks a little hesitant, but doesn't make any moves towards him.
"Good to meet you at last, Winter Soldier. I had a feeling we'd meet before long," Pike says.
"Thank you for assistance, Captain. I'm glad to know I can count on the SCPD," Bucky responds.
Pike nods, then asks, "Have you found any new leads on Prometheus?"
"Me and my team are working on it. I do know he has some new allies. Especially keep an eye out for a woman in green. Calls herself Viper. You see her, you shoot to kill," Bucky says before he turns and leaves.
Pike nods slowly as Bucky walks away. He then turns around and faces one of his men. "We need to add a new player to our Prometheus case," he says.
(The lair)
Bucky smiles as he sets his weapons down. "We did it," he says triumphantly.
Laurel walks up beside him, grinning. "Told you we could. Now with them out of the way, we can focus on Prometheus," she says.
Bucky nods, then asks, "How do you think Quentin is doing? What with us taking down Warner?"
Laurel looks a little concerned. "He was a little shaken by her at first, but I think he's gotten over it. He told me he had a talk with her. And he doesn't care how justified she is after what he did. He said he knows he's a changed man, and that's what matters to him," she says.
Bucky nods, then smiles. "Well, to celebrate, why don't we go grab some Big Belly Burger?" he asks.
Laurel grins. "Sounds like a plan," she says, and the two head to go grab some Big Belly Burger.
(Highway on the edge of Star City)
Warner fumes as she, Cutter, and White are sitting on the bus driving them to Iron Heights, feeling furious that Quentin Lance busted her plans again.
"This isn't over. Quentin Lance thinks he got me. He ain't seen the last of me," she says under her breath.
White doesn't really pay attention, while Cutter looks at her as if to show she's a little hesitant to think about escaping again.
Suddenly, there's the sound of an automatic weapon firing outside. Bullets pierce the windscreen, and the driver loses control, causing the bus to crash and tip over.
Inside, the remaining guard, Warner, White, and Cutter are a little dazed. Warner busts out an emergency exit on the top of the bus, and scrambles out. White and Cutter follow her.
Warner tries to shake herself out of her daze. Suddenly, she hears, "Liza Warner!"
She looks up. The last thing she sees is an orange visor before there's a gunshot, and Warner collapses with a bullet through her heart.
White and Cutter look up in alarm. And see Vigilante standing in front of them, holding up his gun.
"You may have gotten away with mercy from the Winter Soldier. But don't expect that mercy from me," Vigilante says.
"Drop your gun!" the remaining guard shouts as he gets out of the bus. Vigilante shifts his gun and fires, killing the guard. He then turns his attention back to White and Cutter, aiming his pistol right at Cutter.
"Star City is gonna thank me for getting rid of the three of you," Vigilante says fiercely. Then, before he can pull the trigger, there's a whistling sound, and something slices across Vigilnate's hand, forcing him to drop his gun.
Vigilante, Cutter, and White turn in the direction the object came from, and see Digger Harkness rushing towards them, grabbing his boomerang out of the air as it comes back to him. Vigilante is able to draw his knife before Harkness reaches him.
With a slight growl, Harkness attacks Vigilante. Vigilante fights back, but the two are about evenly matched.
Cutter and White both watch the fight going on before them with interest. Suddenly, they hear a woman say, "Hello, ladies."
Cutter and White both turn to the sound of the voice, and see Viper standing there. She smiles and says, "How'd you like to get out of here and be free? On one condition of course."
"What?" White asks suspiciously.
"Help us take down the Winter Soldier," she says with a smirk. White and Cutter look at each other and nod. Viper steps forward and unlocks their chains.
"Let's go Harkness! Drake is waiting for us!" Viper says. Viper, Cutter, and White start running, while Harkness throws down a boomerang, which explodes and throws Vigilante back.
By the time Vigilante gets back to his feet, Harkness, Viper, Cutter, and White are gone. He stands there, staring out over the scene. They may have escaped, but they won't stay out of his reach forever.
And, that's it.
I hope you don't mind I killed Warner. I intended to have Vigilante show up, as I honestly think Warner and her crew would be important enough to draw his attention, and I wanted him to have a casualty to draw both the team's attention, and later, Prometheus'. Plus, Warner hasn't shown up since this episode in the show, so I figured she was the best candidate.
So, Cutter and White have joined Prometheus. We will see them for the final battle. And, this will not be the last time we see Vigilante in this story. Most likely, it will be him being involved in the team finding out Prometheus' identity.
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Also, I will say this again. Please tell me how you'd like to see Bucky and the team discover Prometheus' identity.
Until next time, review, and stay tuned!