Team Arrow is back.
Leave a review after reading, please.
I'd like to thank Chevalier Lecteur, CptAwesome, CallMeMiles, NeoTyson, hi, Reven of Darkness, and CAUTION Hot for reviewing the previous chapter.
To Jason Hunter: Sorry, but Reign won't be in this story, even if I wanted her to be. Yes, Non and Astra are lame villains while Reign looks awesome, but I don't want to add more characters. I will tell you that I loved the Supergirl vs. Reign battle. Really intense and destructive and very painful (for Kara).
The Canary is currently on top of a building overlooking the SCPD precinct. Quentin Lance had just exited and was about to board a police car with his partner, Joe West. The Canary was about to follow the car when a high-pitched sonic scream caused her to cover her ears and drop to the ground. When the screaming stopped, she sees the Black Canary walking towards her.
"So, you're the pretender I've been hearing about?" started Black Canary. "Nice suit. Seductive with the low, but impressive."
"Well, it distracts the boys," joked Canary.
"You're vigilante days are over," said Black Canary.
"I'm just doing what you do. Saving this city,," said Canary.
"By murder?" questioned Black Canary.
"You're not exactly a saint yourself," said Canary. "You've left plenty criminals in critical condition since The Arrow died."
"At least I make sure my foot stays away from the line that should never be crossed," said Black Canary.
"Is this gonna be a problem?" asked Canary. "I mean, I've always wanted to me you. There's a reason I call myself The Canary."
"Flattering, but there's only one Canary in this city," said Black Canary. "I'm taking you in."
"For trying to protect the innocent?" questioned The Canary.
"For murder," said Black Canary.
Black Canary unleashes another sonic scream. The Canary rolls out of the way of the sonic beam. Black Canary readies her upgraded batons, while Canary takes out her bo-staff.
The two black-clad vigilantes started swinging their weapons at each other. The Canary was easily gaining the upper hand early, as she dodges and blocks Black Canary's swings with grace and quick timing and hit her a few times with her staff, throwing a few kicks as well. She then grabs Black Canary's wrist and hits her in the face with her own baton. Black Canary fails time and time again to hit The Canary, until she found an opening and hit her on the stomach. Black Canary hits Canary twice in the face before tripping her with a sweeping low-kick.
Black Canary punches Canary in the face half a dozen times to keep her from getting back up. Canary stopped struggling and laid on the ground with a bloody nose.
"Now, let's see who who you really are," said Black Canary.
Black Canary removes The Canary's mask and wig, only to gasp in shock once she saw the face beneath. It was Sara, her sister, who was supposed to be dead. Black Canary stepped back upon realizing that she hurt her own sister, looking at her own hands in disgust. Sara was slowly started to get up as she took out one of her sonic devices.
"This is impossible. You died," said Black Canary with shock and disbelief.
"I'll give you time to let it sink in," said Sara.
Sara detonates the device, releasing a flare that causes Black Canary to look away. When the light vanished, Black Canary looked to see that Sara has vanished as well. All she can do now is think about why Sara was alive and why she is parading around as a Black Canary wannabe.
The following morning, at Silverstone High, Laurel was staring at a picture of her and Sara in her locker, thinking about their encounter last night. How is this possible, is all she can think about.
"Hey."
She flinched when she heard Tommy's voice.
"Hey," she greeted him.
"So, uh, you skipped out on me last night... again," said Tommy.
"Sorry," said Laurel. "I had a night shift at CNRI."
"Really? Because I called them and they said you weren't there," said Tommy.
Laurel realizes that she's in the hot seat now. Tommy knows she lied about her excuse to ditch him last night. What is she gonna do now?
"Laurel, you know you can tell me anything," said Tommy.
Laurel's open mouth only released stutters as she failed to think of her next words to him. Despite feeling better because of Oliver's return, things between her and Tommy are still shaky. She ditches him on every date night and doesn't even answer his calls.
"Hey, Laurel."
Oliver showed up, only to sense the tension between Laurel and Tommy.
"Is this a bad time?" asked Oliver.
"No, I was just leaving," said Tommy, clearly upset. "I'm sure whatever you and Laurel are doing, it's more important than me."
"Tommy..." Laurel cried.
Tommy walked away without even looking at Laurel, still upset.
"Ditched him again?" guessed Oliver.
"Roy called me last night, told me that he found The Canary. I had to stop her," said Laurel. "She got away."
"And stopping some wannabe is important than Tommy?" asked Oliver. "I could've handled it."
"I just thought I'd crush her dreams about meeting her hero," joked Laurel.
"Laurel, I don't think Tommy's gonna tolerate any more of your stand-ups and ditching," said Oliver. "You... you have to tell him."
"You want Tommy to know that I'm the Black Canary?" asked Laurel.
"I want you to tell Tommy the truth," said Oliver. "He doesn't deserve all these lies, Laurel."
"And what about you? You haven't told him that you're The Arrow," said Laurel, trying to make a comeback.
"You're the one who is dating him," said Oliver. "Only you can save your relationship."
Laurel hangs her head for a while, thinking about it.
"So, what did you need to talk to me about?" She asked, changing the subject.
Oliver was gonna lecture her, but decided not to. Instead, he says, "Roy's friend, Sin, just told him that Tobias Church is about to make a deal with a drug dealer tonight. She gave him the location of the meeting. It's time for us to put him of business."
"Good thing Cisco's finished the suits for you, Roy, and Thea," said Laurel.
"Barry hasn't told him who I am, has he?" asked Oliver.
"No," said Laurel.
At nighttime, in a junkyard near the edge of Silverstone City, Tobias Church and his men was meeting up with a client.
"So, you got the goods?" asked the client.
"You got the money?" asked Tobias.
His client opened a suitcase filled with cash.
"Then we got the goods, alright," said Tobias, signalling one of his own to bring forward the drugs.
"You are becoming a richer man, Church," said the client.
"I just like to think I'm good at this game," said Church.
"I have sources that say Amertek supplied you with weapons," said the client.
"Either way, I will always be on top of this game," said Tobias confidently. "Soon enough, my business is gonna be the biggest drug enterprise not just in Silverstone City but the whole country."
"Not if you're locked up behind bars!"
Church and everyone else turned their heads to the direction of the modulated voice. Standing on top of a shipping container is Black Canary with three hooded archers standing by her side. One wears a hooded green Kevlar suit, outfitted with Kevlar sleeves, and a green mask. The other wears a red protective suit with a hood and a red mask. The other is female and wears a yellow protective suit with a hood and a yellow mask.
"Tobias Church, you have failed this city!" said the green-hooded archer, who is Oliver.
"Robin Hood, the Merry Men, and their pet birdie," taunted Tobias. "You do realize you're outnumbered, right?"
"We're shutting you down, Church," said Black Canary.
"No more of your filthy drugs on the streets," said the yellow-hooded archer, who is Thea.
"Stand down or get beaten down," threatened the red-hooded archer, who is Roy.
"Not a chance," said Tobias, "Open fire!"
Church's men and the other drug dealer's men starting shooting their guns. Black Canary and the other archers jumped off the shipping container and ran, trying to avoid getting shot. Thea and Roy stop when Tobias Church's masked assassin, Scimitar, comes out of nowhere and points his gun at them.
"We're pinned," said Thea through her comm-link. "Church's assassin has us at gunpoint."
"Remember your training," said Oliver. "Canary, disarm the men. Use your scream if you have to."
"What about Church?" asked Black Canary.
"He's mine," said Oliver.
Scimitar fires his gun, but Roy and Thea jump in opposite directions to avoid the bullets. Thea fires an arrow that barely penetrated Scimitar's armor. He pulls it out and fires again. Thea runs while Roy sneaks up behind the assassin. Roy punches him behind the head, but before he can land another punch, Scimitar blocks it and punches him in the stomach. The assassin takes out a sword, but it was knocked off his hands by an arrow from Thea.
Roy punches Scimitar twice with his bow before kicking him in the stomach. As Scimitar stumbled backwards, Thea kicks him in the back, followed by a whack to the face by Roy, knocking him down. Roy jams an electric arrow on his back to shock him unconscious.
"This is so cool," said Thea, feeling pumped from all the adrenaline.
"We're gonna have to work on your definition of cool," said Roy, concerned by Thea's enthusiasm.
...
Black Canary uses the piles of junk to shield her from the rain of bullets. She jumps on top of a truck and unleashes her Canary Cry, causing everyone to cover their ears and drop their weapons. Black Canary sees a thug trying to sneak up Roy and Thea, who were occupied by a few goons. He was about to open fire, so, with no time to warn the kids, Black Canary picks up one of the dropped guns and shoots the thug in the back, killing him.
Black Canary stops for a few seconds to process this. This was her first kill. Now, she's beginning to understand why Oliver does it. Only when it's necessary.
The other thugs were getting up, so Black Canary started unleashing her martial arts fury on them. She whacks them with her batons, kicks them in many places, and even used her Canary Cry to knock down some thugs who managed to recapture their guns. She breaks one thug's arm and kicks him towards another. She runs to avoid gunshots by a thug, and uses another goon as a shield. When the shooter ran out of bullets, Black Canary takes him out with a few hits to the face.
...
Tobias Church runs into the warehouse to get in his getaway truck, only to encounter the green-hooded archer.
"So, you're the new Arrow now, huh?" asked Tobias.
"Someone who will pick up where he left off, taking down scum like you," said Oliver, pretending he's a different archer since The Arrow is believed to be dead.
"Fine. If you wanna be The Arrow so bad, then you can die just like he did," said Tobias, putting on his brass knuckles. "You ready to die?"
"Always," growled Oliver.
Tobias charges at Oliver, ready to punch him. Oliver steps to the side and trips Tobias with his bow. He then fires an arrow into his shoulder. It hurt Tobias, but he ripped it off as he tried to ignore the pain.
"Get up!" Oliver shouted.
Tobias gets up, still holding the arrow in his hand. He tried to stab Oliver with it, but the archer blocks hit swing. Oliver punches him in the face and then hits him in the stomach with his bow, knocking him back. Tobias tried to use the arrow again, but Oliver ducks and hits Tobias in the knee with his bow, followed by a punch across the face. After blocking another swing from Tobias, Oliver removes the arrow from his hand, hits him with his bow again, and kicks him to the ground.
Tobias gets up and fight with more fury. He and Oliver are now evenly matched as they threw fists at each other as fast as they can. Tobias hits Oliver in the face and knocks him down. Oliver picks up his arrow from the floor and gets up. He kicks Church in the back of his knee, causing him to drop on one knee. Tobias was about to stand up, but Oliver knees him in the face. The archer then uses his arrow to remove one of Tobias' brass knuckles. After hitting Tobias in the stomach with a spin strike, Oliver knocks him down with a strong punch to the face.
"You're done, Chruch," said Oliver.
"You'll have to kill me," said Tobias. "You want to be The Arrow, right? Then you're gonna have to do what he does."
"No," said Oliver. "I'm better than that."
Oliver knocks out Church by throwing his hardest punch at his face.
Back at the bunker at Queen Consolidated's old mill...
"That was so awesome!" cheered Thea, still energetic from the adrenaline. "I mean, how can you not be as hyped as I am right now?"
"Because this is not fun and games, Thea," said Oliver. "You fail, you die, end of story."
"Let's not extinguish your sister's spirit," suggested Roy.
After wiping the sweat off her forehead, Thea asks her brother, "So, don't we get codenames or something? I want one."
"Well, a friend of The Flash loves to name heroes and criminals," said Laurel.
"We'll think about it another time," said Oliver. "Laurel, are you okay?"
"I'll be fine," said Laurel, trying to be, at least. "I guess, in this job, I was bound to cross the line one day."
"You did it to save people you care about. That's not cold-blooded murder," smiled Oliver.
"So, I have a date with Tommy tonight," said Laurel. "Unless, of course, you need me for something else."
"There is one more thing we need to do," said Oliver.
Quentin and Joe just returned to the precinct after arresting Tobias Church, only to be told that the city's network has been hijacked. All TVs in the city are playing the same channel. Oliver, wearing his mask and his new hooded suit, stood in front of the camera and spoke to the people of Silverstone City.
"Two months ago, The Arrow died, but what he stood for didn't. It lived on in the heroes who took up his mantle. People who believe that this city should never descend into hopelessness. Who believe that the darkness around us can be cast away with light. And tonight, I am declaring my intention to stand with them. To fight for this city. To be the symbol of hope that The Arrow strived to be. I am... The Green Arrow."
From The Hood to The Arrow to The Green Arrow, Oliver Queen is on his way to becoming a real hero.
What do you think?