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"Slade's men are taking the city tonight." Diggle reminded them as they got ready.
"He can try." Oliver replied.
"He has more men than we thought, all on the Mirakuru. It could be a massacre."
While Oliver and Cat had been talking with Sebastian, Diggle and Felicity had taken the man that had come in with him for some interrogating and had learned that Slade's army was going to try that night, unless they stopped them.
"Not if we get to them first and we have a Cat." Oliver said.
"Meow." Cat muttered, grabbing various weapons to hide on herself.
"We stick to the plan, no matter what."
"Right, 'cause blowing up their hideout with you possibly in it, is a great idea." Cat sighed.
"Just get all the bombs around the place as fast as possible." Oliver told her. "No one can move around as fast as you do. I'll be out before it's detonated.
"How can you if you don't move as fast as me?" An exasperated red head asked.
"Can someone please explain why so much depends on Cat?" Laurel asked, glancing at all of them. "I mean, sure, Ive seen her do things that should be impossible, but still, she's so young and- and so small."
"I'm a werewolf." Cat told her.
"Cat." Oliver cried, rolling his eyes.
"What?" She cried back. "She'll probably find out eventually and besides, I just saved us all some time, you're welcome."
"A werewolf." Laurel asked with a smile as she looked between them all, only for her smile to falter as she realized they all looked deadly serious. "Wait, are you being serious? Werewolves don't exist."
"Surprise, I do. Can we go?"
"Slade's using the sewer system." Felicity interrupted them. "You can drop in at Rock Avenue and head Southeast. The lines converge at Water Street. If Slade's army is underground, that's probably where he'll be."
"Good, let's go. Diggle, Cat, you ready?" Oliver asked.
Both of them nodded as Cat grabbed two of her guns before grabbing her bow.
"I'm coming too." Laurel announced.
Oliver sighed and turned around, walking back to her. "No, you're not."
"Felicity can give me a radio, I'll just be your eyes and your ears. I'll stay out of your way, I promise. Nothing will happen to me."
"What if it did?" Oliver countered. "Slade's men one on one are nearly impossible to stop. I need you to trust me and I need you to be safe."
"But not them?" Laurel called after his retreating back, referring to the other three with him.
"This started with the three of us, four when Cat joined, and I think it's time we got back to that."
They left the Foundry and Cat sighed. "She's going to show up."
"No, she won't." Oliver argued. "She'll listen to me."
She raised an eyebrow at him. "I'll just add that on to the big fat "I Told you so' then?"
She was met with a glare as they got into the back of the van, Diggle driving and Felicity in the passenger seat. Cat pulled off her glove, taking Oliver's hand to leech away his pain.
"I don't know what I'd do without you." He muttered, squeezing her hand tight.
"Be in a lot of pain, I'm sure." Cat replied with a frown as she looked at him. "I feel I should be the one on the inside, not you."
He shook his head. "No, I have to finish this. I'll make sure they're down there, you get the bombs set up."
"But-"
"Cat, please, don't argue with me. At least if something happens to me, the city will have a chance to be saved. You can still save it. Call your friends if you have to."
She made a face. "They're heading to Mexico. They got a lead on Derek with some hunting family, so they're out for the time being. Possibly for good because it's a family of ruthless hunters that will probably kill them all."
"You sound angry." He noted.
"I just wish I had a nifty super power that included multiplying myself. Then I can send half of the me's to Mexico and use the other half to take out Slade's army." She sighed, looking into Oliver's eyes. "Look, if something happens to you, I don't know if I can do it by myself, going forward."
"You can and you will. You're the strongest person I know, Cat."
"Then why am I so terrified?" She asked in a small voice.
"Because despite what you may think, you're only human, it's a natural feeling."
She sighed. "Just get out in time, okay?"
"I will." He promised as they reached the location and dropped him off, before continuing on.
When they parked, Diggle got into the back with Cat, grabbing what looked like high tech black pucks out of the bag. Cat recognized them as the bombs they used to blow up the Applied Sciences building. He put a couple in his pocket, holding onto one as he handed her the bag, showing her again how to detonate them. Cat took the bag and nodded, getting out of the van to begin.
She moved quickly above ground, placing the bombs as she went. Her ear piece beeped and Cat turned it on.
"City?" She said by way of greeting.
"We just wanted to see how everything was going. Oliver has a lock on Blood and the army."
"Then tell him to get the hell out of there and let's blow them all up."
"It doesn't bug you?" Felicity asked. "We're going to kill them all."
Cat was silence, pausing for a moment, knowing with Oliver still down there, she had a bit of time. "Obviously, you asked Oliver this."
Felicity sighed. "He says they're not men anymore. Then he told me to detonate the bombs the moment you're ready, then he went into battle."
"Can you patch me through?"
"But if he's fighting-"
"I'll stay quiet, I just want to make sure he's okay."
"One sec." Felicity told her.
Cat went back to work as the sounds of fighting came through the ear piece. Then she heard Oliver's gasp of pain followed by choking sounds. She set up another bomb, contemplating going in to help, his instructions be damned, when she heard the sound of metal hitting flesh and a female grunt. Oliver gasped as he was able to breathe again and Cat sighed, guessing who the female was.
"Called it." Cat said, knowing Oliver could hear her. "Tell Laurel I said hi and get the hell out of there."
"Stick to the plan." He gasped.
Cat rolled her eyes, kneeling down to put the last bomb in place. "They're all ready." She told Felicity. "Ollie, get the hell out of there."
She sniffed the air, an odd scent hitting her and she rolled out of the way, just as a sword came down right where she had been moments before. She glanced at the sword before her eyes drifted up past it to where a woman stood, hair in a ponytail, a slightly altered version of the Deathstroke mask on her face but Cat immediately knew who it was.
"Ugh, Isabel." She groaned.
"What?" City cried. "Where?"
"You killed me? Let me return the favour." Isabel hissed.
Cat rolled her eyes. "To be fair, I gave you fair warning. I told you what I would do if you kept messing with Oliver. Pointing a gun at him was kind of the final straw."
Isabel swung down with her other sword but Cat got her bow up just in time, blocking her before she pushed back, sending Isabel stumbling back. Cat flipped to her feet as Isabel rushed her again, swinging both her swords in an attempt to get her but Cat blocked each attack, finally letting go of the bow with her right hand and punching Isabel in the face. The woman stumble back again with a small smirk.
"You can't kill me."
"I've done it before, I can do it again." Cat sneered. "You're not invincible."
"Close enough." Isabel rushed her again and Cat ran at her, leaping into the air and kicking one of the swords out of her hands. Cat landed and as she turned to face Isabel, the other woman was looking at her in surprise.
Cat raised an eyebrow, letting her eyes glow blue as she pulled off one of her gloves, her claws extending.
"You need to stop underestimating me, you bitch."
"What are you?" Isabel whispered.
"Let me let you in on a little secret." Cat moved quickly so she was standing in front of her, her hand grasping the hand that held the sword. She began to bend it backwards as she leaned closer.
"Werewolves." She whispered. "Are real. And let me show you how I really can rip out your throat with only my teeth."
She actually saw fear in Isabel's eyes and knew that the woman was struggling as hard as she could but with Cat transformed and all her anger focused on the woman in front of her, she was just too strong. Cat opened her mouth, wanting nothing more than to rip her throat out when her eyes caught something behind Isabel. She kept the taller woman there as the van came closer and when she knew Isabel wouldn't have time to get out of the way, she pulled back.
"Something tells me you'll taste too bitter for me." She pushed Isabel back into the path of the oncoming van, watching with a grin as Felicity hit her and she went flying. She turned to look through the windshield only to see her blonde friends eyes widen in horror as one hand came to cover her mouth. Cat realized she was transformed and concentrated on pushing the transformation back as she bounded over to the van.
"I'm okay." She promised her friend, getting into the back.
"but- but you were transformed, you're usually all with the grr and attacking and hallucinations."
Cat shrugged. "I focused my anger, I was too worried about Isabel. I'm okay, I promise. Any word on Oliver?"
"Uh, guys." Felicity squeaked, looking ahead. "Do I hit her again?"
In front of them on the ground, Isabel was starting to stand.
"I left my guns in here, where are they?" Cat asked, turning to look.
"Go." Diggle cried. "Go, go, go."
Felicity put the van in reverse and spun out of there, getting onto the street before Isabel could catch up with them.
"A bullet to the head will kill her, right?" Cat asked, finally finding her guns that had been thrown. She picked them up and reloaded them, hiding them on herself.
"I have some news." Felicity blurted out.
"Diggle, Cat? Is someone there?" Oliver's voice came through their ear pieces and they let out a collective sigh.
"Yeah, we are, go ahead."
"We're coming up now." He told them.
"Are you both okay?" Cat asked.
"Yes. Why didn't you detonate, his men are gone."
"Isabel. We'll talk when you get up here."
Cat grabbed her tablet and brought up Oliver's tracker, telling Felicity where to drive. They came up behind Oliver and Laurel walking down the street. They got out of the van and Oliver looked them over.
"You okay?" Diggle asked Laurel.
She nodded.
"You guys?" Oliver asked.
"Isabel attacked Cat, so I hit her with the van."
Cat let out a small snort and nodded. "That's kind of why the detonations didn't happen."
"Well now, Slade has at least 50 men out there, all like him."
"They're everywhere." Diggle told him.
"We need to stop them."
"I might have a way." Felicity piped up. "STAR labs called, they have a cure. There's a courier on route."
Everyone turned to look at her.
"Where is it?" Oliver asked.
"I'll find out." She pulled out her phone and dialed the courier. She put it on speaker phone.
"Hello." A voice gasped.
"It's Felicity Smoak. Where are you?"
"On Fourth Street I think. I don't know what happened. A guy in a hockey mask came out of nowhere and attacked my car. Please help me."
"Stay where you are." Oliver told him.
"I couldn't move if I wanted to, I think my leg is broken."
"You should go." Laurel spoke up.
"I'm not leaving you out here in the middle of all this." Oliver protested.
"The precinct is in the other direction, I'll be fine." She went to leave but Oliver stopped her.
"I don't need you right now." She told him. "Everyone else does. So go, save the city."
She left and they all hopped into the van, Cat and Oliver getting into the back as Diggle took over driving.
"Are you okay? Did Isabel hurt you?" Oliver quietly asked.
"No. I got angry, I transformed, I was able to hold her off and even terrified her and I didn't deal with hallucinations but I think-" She stopped with a sigh. "I'm worried that she knows now. I should've just killed her."
He began shaking his head. "No, you shouldn't have. It'll be okay. Besides, we might have a cure now."
She nodded, still not looking convinced.
Diggle drove along the road, swerving to avoid cars and debris littering the road.
"In the last 5 minutes, SCPD has had over 200 calls of masked men attacking the city."
"I should've gone with Laurel and made sure she got back to the precinct." Oliver muttered.
"Ollie, she'll be okay." Cat told him. "She's going in the opposite direction of all this."
He nodded with a small frown.
"Any word from Thea?" Diggle asked, "Is she safe?"
"She decided to leave Starling before the attacks started."
"Just over two miles to the bridge and the courier." Felicity announced as Oliver's phone started ringing. Cat looked around for it before picking it up and handing it to him with a lift of her eyebrow.
"Arrow." She told him.
He took the phone and answered it. "What is it Detective?"
"How can we help?" Cat heard Detective Lance ask.
"We?" Oliver questioned.
"Starling City Police Force is standing with you on this one."
"We need help containing the soldiers. We're working on something that may stop them but we need more time."
"We can do that. Whatever you're doing, good luck. For all our sakes."
He hung up as Felicity directed Diggle where to turn.
He slammed on to the brakes, giving the wheel a sharp right turn.
"Look to the left." Cat yelled, seeing one of the Mirakuru soldiers running for them.
"Floor it." Oliver yelled as more men joined him and ran after the van.
Ahead of them, one of them men pushed a car in front of their path leaving them with no room to maneuver.
"Hold on." Diggle yelled.
Oliver immediately reached for Cat, ready to shield her but she batted his hands away, pushing him back against the wall of the van as she jumped on top of him. The van hit the car and flipped and Cat kept Oliver against the van, cradling his head with her arms to protect him as various debris from the van kept hitting her. Something hit the back of her head and she could feel the blood seeping down as she felt a sharp pain in her leg and gasped, the van finally coming to a stop.
"Cat?" Oliver whispered.
"Are you okay?" She hissed, knowing right now that he had to be kept as safe as possible.
"Yeah. Digg?" There was no response from him and he looked their way, seeing Felicity leaning against Diggle, neither moving.
"Diggle." Oliver yelled again.
"Yeah." The other man finally replied.
"Is she breathing?"
She is." Cat confirmed, hearing her heartbeat and quiet breathing.
"Are you okay?" Oliver asked her again.
"Yeah." She grunted, trying to push herself off of him. She looked out the back window, seeing the men in masks moving towards the van. "We need out, now."
"On it." Diggle said, kicking out the windshield. He crawled out, dragging an unconscious Felicity behind him and Oliver urged Cat after them. She crawled out on her arms, Diggle grabbing her and dragging her out, letting out a low whistle when he caught sight of her leg. She still ignored it, not wanting to look just yet, wanting to make sure that Oliver was climbing out behind her. He was but he grabbed his bow and an arrow, shooting at the back doors of the van. The men opened it as the arrow exploded, sending them to the ground, unconscious.
Oliver turned to them, looking over Diggle and Felicity before his eyes landed on Cat and the arrow sticking out of her leg.
"You told me you were okay." He said, moving forward to pick her up.
"I am. Mostly. I'll heal soon." She held out a hand to ward him off, grabbing the arrow and yanking it out of her leg with a cry of pain. He reached down and grabbed her hand, helping her to her feet. She stumbled taking her first step, from the pain in her leg and the wound to her head and he quickly lifted her up, ignoring her protests.
"City?"
"She's fine." Diggle promised. "We need to go now."
Cat yanked her wig off, feeling for the cut on the back of her head that was bleeding a lot. She hissed, noting how big it was, even though it would be healing soon.
"What is it?" Oliver asked.
"Just a cut, almost healed." She lied. "You sure you okay?"
"Considering you took all the damage, yeah. Why would you do that?"
"The city needs you whole, Ollie, not broken. Besides, I'll heal. How's your knee holding up."
"It's fine right now, don't even worry about it."
"You're lying." She told him. "Tell me when it's too unbearable."
He nodded and they continued walking, Felicity coming to and having a slight moment of panic until she realized they were all there and safe.
"I can walk now." Cat murmured to Oliver.
"You're one of a kind, Cat." He muttered, gently placing her on her feet.
She ignored the comment as behind them, Felicity told Diggle to put her down and she pulled out her phone, bringing up the courier's GPS so they could find him.
"His cellphone GPS says he should be within a 500 foot radius, I'll call him."
He picked up almost immediately. "Hey, where are you?'
"We're here, where are you? Honk your horn?"
A horn sounded before the guy replied. "I can see your feet."
"That's not us." Felicity said, horrified, realizing they were still far enough away from the honking car.
Cat took off at a run, ahead of everyone to where the sound of the horn had come. She watched a couple men jump over the side of the bridge as she came up alongside the car, checking on the courier, only to find him dead, the cure nowhere to be found.
"It's gone." Cat yelled to the others who were running towards her. She ran for the side of the bridge, looking over to see where the men were. They weren't far, seemingly taking their time now and Cat glanced back at the others even as she backed up to give herself a running start.
"Cat." Oliver yelled a warning but she ignored him, taking off at a run as she catapulted herself over the side of the bridge, ignoring the screams of Felicity.
The men looked up, in their deathstroke masks and caught her no problem, the one holding her letting out a low, disturbing chuckle in her ear. Cat had a moment to think that perhaps this was a big mistake before she was flying in the air again, right into the concrete pole below the bridge. She hit it, hearing the crack in her arm as it took the full brunt before the back of her head hit the concrete slab as well. She let out a small scream of pain before falling the several feet, landing in a heap on the ground.
She heard the men laughing as above, Oliver, Felicity and Diggle screamed her name. With her good hand, she reached for her gun and pulled it out, lifting it and aiming at the men. She hit one in the head and he went down, not moving. The other two began to rush towards her, ignoring being shot in the shoulder and leg. Above them, Diggle began shooting his gun as Oliver let the arrows fly. The men looked at each other before taking off in the other direction, the suitcase in hand.
Exhausted, Cat let herself fall back to the ground, angry she had let the cure get away. She laid there with her eyes closed, waiting, perhaps only minutes for the others to arrive. She opened her eyes as Felicity dropped down beside her, her eyes filled with tears.
"Lina, please, stop trying to get yourself killed, you're not invincible."
"Close enough." She muttered, ignoring the fact that she had a version of that conversation with Isabel what seemed like forever ago.
"Can you walk?" Oliver asked as he glanced around, making sure no one else would be attacking them.
"Yes." Cat replied, using her good arm to pull herself to a sitting position before getting to her feet. She was dizzy and she felt the back of her head, noting that with the second hit, the wound wasn't getting any smaller just yet. She pushed Felicity away, turning to the side as she vomited from the pain and dizziness.
"What's wrong with you?" Felicity asked.
"Just a knock on the head, I'll be fine soon."
"Come on." Oliver told them, "we're not far from the clock tower, let's get there and regroup."
The four silently walked there and Cat could tell that Oliver was angry, at her. Probably angrier than she had ever seen him but she didn't say anything, not wanting him to turn his wrath towards her as she focused on trying to walk a straight line and cradled her broken arm to her chest, willing her body to heal herself.
As they reached the clock tower, Diggle followed Felicity up, keeping an eye on her and even though Cat gestured for Oliver to go, he urged her forward and she began the slow, painful, almost impossible walk up the steps. She didn't make it far when she grasped the wall for support trying not to fall backwards. Oliver yelled for the others to go up ahead as he grabbed Cat and turned her to face him. With her a couple steps above him, they were at eye level but Cat still couldn't help but feel even tinier with the look he was giving her.
"You almost got yourself killed, how many times tonight?" He finally spoke, glaring at her.
"I heal quickly." She rolled her eyes and went to turn away, only to be yanked back by him. In her condition, she was seriously off balance and she fell against him, hissing as her still healing broken arm hit him. She briefly wondered how many places she had broken it before she looked at Oliver who looked one part angry, one part sympathetic and one part worried.
"Don't get yourself killed over me, I'm not worth it."
She shook her head, pushing away from him slightly. "You helped me as best you could. You basically saved my life when you refused to let me end it. I was sent here to protect you and I will do that at any costs."
"Even if that means your life?"
"I'm not planning on dying tonight, Ollie." She glared at him. "But I will protect you. You need to end this and if I have to get tossed around a bit, so be it. But I know you have to stop Slade and only you can."
He sighed. "How do you know this?"
"Just a feeling. I knew the car accident wasn't going to do much damage and well as for the bridge, I was the only one with any chance at all of stopping them, you know that. So can you please stop arguing with me now as we try to figure out what the hell we're supposed to do now?"
He finally nodded, easily picking her up and carrying her up the rest of the steps, despite her protestations. He put her down as they reached the top landing and walked towards the other two, Felicity frowning at her phone.
"I just got off the phone with Cisco at STAR labs." She began, sounding dejected.
"The cure they sent us was all they had and they used all the Mirakuru we gave them so they can't make more." Diggle continued
"We can't stop Slade's men without the cure." Oliver mused.
"We'll find another way."
"There is no other way." Oliver yelled over him. "The Foundry has been compromised and we need to get Roy out of there."
"I'm on it." Diggle said before leaving.
Cat sighed as her phone rang and she collapsed against the wall, sliding down it as she pulled out her phone, ignoring Oliver and Felicity talking.
"Hey." She said into the phone trying to sound normal.
"What's going on?" Stiles asked. "News alert said the city is under attack by men in masks. There aren't any Oni there are they?"
"No. not them."? Cat said with a sigh. "Where are you?"
"Driving to Mexico. Well actually, we stopped at a gas station, everyone's inside getting snacks and stuff. Do we need to turn around?"
Cat thought about it but she couldn't tell her friends to come here, to risk being killed with all these men jacked up on Mirakuru. Even with all of them present, they were just too strong and she would never forgive herself if any of them got hurt.
"No, no Stiles. We're handling it. We have a cure now for what's making them like that, we'll be fine."
"You're lying to me." He said, his tone sounding accusatory. "I might not be a werewolf but I know you're lying to me."
"Stiles." She brokenly whispered. She cleared her throat and tried to sound normal, like she wasn't afraid of everyone she cared about in Starling City about to die.
"Stiles." She said again. "We're fine. Go get Derek, be wary of whomever this Kate person is, whatever the hell that is supposed to mean. I still don't get it and I'll meet you back in Beacon Hills, okay?"
He was silent until Cat pressed for an answer.
"Okay." He snapped.
Cat took a deep breath. "I- I miss you, I'll see you soon." She hung up, letting her head fall back against the wall.
She didn't know what else to say, to tell him how much she cared without it sounding like a goodbye.
She wasn't ready to say goodbye yet.
Even if it was the last time they would talk because despite what she had said to Oliver, a part of her worried that she was being too reckless, that she wouldn't make it out this alive.
Because if the cost was giving her life to make sure everyone she cared about was safe. She would do it.
In a heartbeat.
… … …
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