Chapter Thirty-Six: Burning Secrets.
Cassandra stretched out in a pair of skin-tight black pants and a sports bra. Her back had been covered with a few scars, received both in battle and also through her unconventional upbringing. She pushed herself down onto her calves and looked forward towards her sparring partner.
"Ready when you are."
The seventeen-year-old girl waited for her partner to join her. The wait only lasted a few seconds.
Artemis stepped into the center of the room, dressed in a green version of the attire. She wasn't really making a statement about how she was worthy to wear the hood, she just really liked the color green. Artemis craned her neck when looking towards her sparring partner.
Cass stood firm without blinking. Artemis walked towards her and the two of them looked towards each other while inclining their head with a respectful bow. Artemis tried to nail Cass with an uppercut punch to the side of the face on the first attack. Cass blocked the arm and twisted it around, flipping Artemis to her feet.
The young blonde fighter adjusted the stance and moved in for another attack towards her adversary. Cassandra took one single step to the side and Artemis overshot her target. Cassandra grabbed Artemis around the arm and pulled up at it with a vicious gripping move. Artemis closed her eyes and struggled out of the attack with gritted teeth. She both broke free of the hold and staggered back a few inches.
Artemis tried to nail Cassandra with a blinding uppercut punch. Cassandra took advantage of her opponent's momentum to catch the arm and turn her around. The dark-haired assassin pushed Artemis back down onto the ground and she stuck the landing. Both of them met each other at the center with a punch at the same time. Both connected with the punch and no one moved.
Cassandra swept Artemis's ankles out from underneath her. Both girls were of the same age and had intense training in their own ways, although Cassandra's training was better. Artemis had not learned to be tranquil just yet, and it really showed. She tried to grab onto Cassandra. The dark haired girl countered to hook Artemis around the arms before pushing her down to a kneeling position, before hammering her with multiple, but very light, rapid fire punches to the head.
The punches stung both the side of Artemis's neck and also her ego. She clenched her fists together and jumped towards Cassandra. Cassandra caught the leg and Artemis turned around before nailing Cassandra off to the side of the face. Artemis jumped into the air before Cassandra caught her one more time and slammed her down to the ground with a high-impact attack.
Sara continued to observe the battle, waiting to see if things would get more heated. She was working up a couple of gadgets and also scrawling together a design which she wanted to run by Karen, to see how feasible it was. She could sense the hot-blooded feeling coming from Artemis.
"You're failing because you let your own emotions get the better of you."
Artemis responded with some gritted teeth. "I'm fine."
She sprung up to grab Cassandra around the head. Cassandra turned around and caught her enemy with jabs, flowing through. Another jab caught her in the stomach, and Artemis had been doubled over. The air knocked out of her made it harder.
"Breath deeply," Sara said. "And stop letting your frustration get the better of you."
"I'm not frustrated," Artemis said.
Okay, she was very frustrated, given the fact a girl younger than her continued to take Artemis to school in fighting. Then again, Cassandra trained her entire life, pretty much. And while Artemis had her own problems with her own father, at least Lawrence Crock was father of the year material compared to David Cain.
Sara remembered the early days of her training. She wasn't about to have a flashback to them, but from what she recalled she had enough anger in her it took a while to calm down enough to be competent. Emotions ran high out there in battle. Sara thought there were times where she struggled because the tension of fighting a never ending battle in Starling City increased.
The battle continued to go on. Artemis fell flat on her face and Cassandra got on top of Artemis, putting her in a back mount and shoving her down onto the ground.
The doors slid open and Barbara Gordon stepped in. She looked at the two grappling on the floor and a mischievous smile tugged at her lips. She then turned to Sara.
"The orgy hasn't started yet, has it?"
Sara laughed at her statement and walked over to engulf Barbara in a hug. The two girls exchanged a rather nice greeting with the hug quickly fading away into a kiss. Barbara slid her way, not due to lacking wanting, but she wanted to get down to business.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm happy you're here, but what are you doing in Starling City?"
Barbara sat down next to Sara and they observed the sparring session. Artemis was getting more frustrated. Barbara shook her head, to be young, well younger, and full of the desire to prove something. Hell, Barbara still had something to prove deep down.
"Glad you asked," Barbara said. "I meant to swing by before now, but you know, my work in Gotham City makes coming by free time extremely difficult."
Sara nodded in understanding; Barbara didn't need to even explain, she knew the circumstances.
"Plus, I've been investigating this entire Court of Owls mess, and….also one of Arkham's inmates have been broken out, and they might be on their way to Starling City."
Sara held her breath in and looked towards Barbara. There was a lot of worry going through the redhead's face, and Sara knew Barbara long enough to know whether or not she's completely worried about something.
"Harvey-Dent, or Two-Face, one of the biggest tragedy's ever to hit Gotham City. He had the entire world in the palm of his hand. Great lawyer, beloved District Attorney, many of the people, an honest man who always made sure justice had been served. He might have become Mayor of Gotham City someday….if it wasn't for the tragic accident."
Barbara sighed at the thought of what might have been even though she didn't like thinking of what might have been. She switched tactics to something which was slightly as depressing, but she wanted to know.
"What do you think about Moira's chances of getting off?"
Sara sighed and answered in the most honest way possible. "….Not good."
Barbara was afraid of that, but she just had to ask. She put a hand on Sara's shoulder and smiled.
Lady Shiva's patience paid off in the best way, or so it seemed right now. She walked into the middle of the wilderness with Malcolm Merlyn. This wasn't the harshest conditions she ever walked through.
"After you," Shiva said. "You've said you've been here before, haven't you?"
Malcolm responded with a nod and worked to not betray his own emotions. The moment he betrayed those emotions, Shiva would know, she would pounce on it in a moment. The two of them walked across a muddy field towards the gates.
The house wasn't exactly upper class, but it was pretty modest and not what you expected out in the middle of nowhere. The window's looked shattered and the screens were cut out. Other than that, there weren't many problems with this location.
Malcolm Merlyn made his way inside and opened the door. A cloud of dust kicked up when stepping inside.
"I would think you would have chosen to lain with a man who would know to clean up," Malcolm said.
He turned around to face the business end of Lady Shiva's blade. Malcolm knew he pressed his luck and by pressing his luck, he would press buttons.
Lady Shiva stepped forward and a roaring fire crackled in the sitting room. She held a blade in hand and walked inside. The sore and pathetic sight of David Cain sitting by the fire sipped a cup of brandy. She stepped forward and moved around walking up behind Cain.
The skilled assassin turned around and stabbed through a portrait on the wall. The light flickered on to reveal the form of David Cain was a three-dimensional solid hologram. She pulled the blade back and turned towards Malcolm who raised his hands up into the air in response while backing you.
"You dare betray me."
Malcolm didn't say a single word. The floor beneath Shiva collapsed and she found herself knocked off balance. She fell down to a secret chamber underneath. The assassin landed gracefully when landing onto the ground, knee tweaking down from underneath her.
Lady Shiva spent a moment staring up at this treacherous snake from above. She expected it to happen , although it was expected sooner. Malcolm lured her into a false sense of security.
"You better run, because once I escape, your life will not be long."
Malcolm looked down at Lady Shiva from his position off to the side. "I think you have far more pressing issues to worry about."
A trio of mercenaries came through a side entrance. Lady Shiva turned towards the attackers without missing a beat. One of them charged her and Shiva blocked the blade before turning back around. She caught him with a rapid-fire string of punches and flipped him down onto the ground.
The second of the three mercenaries charged Lady Shiva and moved in to stab her. The deadliest woman in the world blocked the hand of the mercenary and grabbed him by the side, pulling a dagger out of the sheath, and stabbing it into the side of the attacker.
The third mercenary stepped back and wondered if he should try his luck. Lady Shiva looked towards him with a look of rage flashing through her eyes. He moved in and she blocked an attack. He barely avoided a stunning jab to the throat which would put him down.
Malcolm watched the battle and heard more footsteps coming. He turned off to the side and David Cain stepped more into relevance when walking down the stairs.
"I'm surprised she actually fell for our ruse," Malcolm said. "Guess she hated you more than me."
"Don't underestimate the ability of a woman to not let things go," Cain said.
Malcolm chuckled at his nonchalant words. He wouldn't dare underestimate a woman's inability to let things go, but he doubted very much this woman would be the kind to have her judgment be clouded. The sound of the fighting coming below told Merlyn Cain's henchmen were dropping.
"When she pulls herself out of that hole, we may be more than we've bargained for," Malcolm said.
"Then we will be gone," Cain said.
"Do you have it?"
Cain answered with a nod while also rustling a set of papers in his hand. Malcolm's eyes followed the folder dangling from Cain's fingers.
"It's what you've been looking for."
Malcolm would be the judge of that. He took the papers out of David Cain's hands and flipped through them, more so to confirm what he already suspected, than to learn anything new. He just had to be certain before he moved forward. Moira was clever, but not clever enough because there was always a trail to follow back to the truth.
"You've exceeded all my expectations as usual."
Cain checked up on the battle. One of the mercenaries made a pretty good go at it, now that four more had joined the original three. He knew it would be a matter of time before his one-time lover slipped out of there.
"The doctor shattered mentally underneath hours of intense interrogation," Cain said. "Why don't I give you a ride on my private jet before Sandra gets free and kills us both?"
Malcolm needed to return to Starling City, it was where he belonged. The city was still in desperate need of saving, and it must have been a lot worse after Moira got cold feet and wrecked the well-placed plan to bring the city he loved so much back in order.
'I can still save it, I will still save it.'
"Sorry, I couldn't meet back with you, but I'm up to my neck in work with this trial."
Laurel had to take several deep breaths while cycling through the papers. This was the most crucial thing in her life, and she felt on the wrong side. On the other hand, it may end up bringing some wicked people into the light, even if it meant throwing Moira underneath the bus.
Moira told her to do what had to be done to get the facts of the case, which was done.
"Hey, no problem, I understand," Barbara said. "I'm just hanging out with Sara, catching up with some lost time….well before she got called into Earth. Artemis is here to keep me company. She's a bit….well like we were when we were teenagers."
"We weren't that bad," Laurel said.
"Well, you might have been, but I was," Barbara said. "You had your moments, and don't give me that romanticized view of life. That being said, we did manage to steal an entire box of donuts out from underneath Harvey Bullock's nose, so that's something."
Laurel laughed at the fond memories. She moved towards the papers on the desk and flipped them over. Every second she flipped over the information, it brought new facts to the case on life.
"So, this is going to happen whether or not I like it."
"I can't believe you've agreed to do this."
"Well, I didn't necessary agree to do this, I was pretty much strong-armed into doing it."
Barbara scoffed over the phone. She sounded like Laurel's own internal voice at times, actually, it made a lot of sense her internal voice sounded a lot about Barbara.
"Come on, you really want me to believe that," Barbara said. "We both know you won't do anything unless you really want to. No one told you what to do...I refuse to believe you've changed that much."
"Believe what you want to believe."
Laurel sighed and decided Barbara must have a point. A witness statement was on her desk, and it was pretty incriminating towards Moira. Some of her former employers didn't paint her in the best right, although it was up to Laurel to decide who had real complaints which would help the case and who just had an ax to grind.
"Boy, aren't we snippy tonight?" Barbara asked. "Maybe I should come over there, drag you out of the office, and drag you somewhere so you get all of those aggressions worked out."
Laurel flickered into a half of a smile.
"That's very tempting, you know."
"Mmm, I'm sure it is. The point is, you have been working a bit too hard about this case. It's almost like you're obsessed with it. I know you've worked hard but…"
Laurel sighed in time with Barbara's sigh over the telephone. Her old friend told the truth, to be perfectly honest, and that was Laurel was very obsessed with this case, more so than she would ever like to admit. She pushed a strand of hair away from her face, frowning when doing so.
"I know, but anyone else who has this case would really pull no punches at all," she said. "Hell, there's a lot about this case which makes me wonder if…"
She trailed off when she heard footsteps. The phone had been placed down on the desk when she heard someone approaching her office. A weedy little man made his way into the office. Laurel frowned when looking at her.
"Who are you, and how did you get into my office?"
"That's not relevant."
Laurel's eyes narrowed at this man when he turned up. She would argue his presence was more than relevant if she would be honest. This particular gentleman marched up closer towards her at the desk with some documents dangling from his hand. She looked at them with a frustrated grimace and knew, from first glance, this was not going to be something she would do.
"This is the evidence you've been looking for if you want to finish off Moira Queen."
Laurel had been very suspicious the moment this gentleman entered her office. This suspicion became deep-rooted into full blown paranoia.
"It's….."
The gentleman dropped the documentation onto Laurel's desk. She took it, with a steady hand. At first, it seemed like nothing she didn't know, but then, then the information hit her. Laurel's mouth hung open when looking for every single shred of information.
"It illustrates how deep their relationship went."
Laurel was no expert, but this had to be forged, faked, it couldn't be, could it? A written confession looked pretty damning if she had to say so herself.
The moment Laurel regained enough of her composure to ask questions, the weedy little man vanished out of her office as quickly as he appeared.
She looked over the documents one more time to make sure everything she read was on the level. It was there, in black a white.
"Oh, my God," Laurel muttered.
She picked the phone back up, remembering Barbara was left hanging on the other line.
"You left me…"
"Sorry, it wasn't my intention," Laurel responded. She took a deep breath before continuing. "Someone has come up, sorry, Barbara, but I really have to let you go."
"Oh, okay," Barbara said. "There really isn't anything wrong, is there?"
"I just got to go sit down and figure out what the hell I'm supposed to do."
To accurately answer Barbara's question, as far as Laurel could see there was a lot wrong here. In fact, she could say there was plenty wrong with this information, and she was pretty sure it was expected to be used when Moira came to trial.
"I keep fighting excuses to return to you."
Nyssa stepped into the middle of the room dressed in a casual tank top and a pair of tight pants when approaching Sara who dressed in a white tank top and a pair of pants. The two of them stepped into the center of the same sparring area which Cassandra and Artemis met one day prior.
"Whatever the reasoning, I'm glad you're here," Sara said.
The two of them met in the middle with a kiss from each other, before pulling away.
"Yes, it has to down with that treasonous snake, Malcolm Merlyn," Nyssa said. "One of my contacts sighted him a few weeks ago, he's with Lady Shiva."
Sara and Nyssa stepped into the middle of the room and the sparring sessions began. Sara tried to do a quick sweep for Nyssa. Nyssa blocked Sara's hand and turned it around, pinning her shoulder behind Sara's back. Sara struggled against the grip of Nyssa when being pushed down onto the ground.
The hold had been broken and the two of them circled each other another moment later. Nyssa and Sara went for kicks and strikes against each other. They had been repelled with both women evenly matched.
Nyssa smiled, she might have been a slight bit out of practice, although no less dangerous, but the fact was Sara improved by leaps and bounds since she first found the girl. Boy, did she come a long way from being that lost little child.
Sara blocked Nyssa and taught her a valuable lesson about going on a trip down memory lane. The two of them went hand to hand another moment.
"What did the contact said?"
"Well, she lost sight of Merlyn," Nyssa said.
"Malcolm and Shiva together?" Sara asked. "That raises a lot more questions than it does answers, doesn't it?"
"Yes," Nyssa said.
She took Sara down with one fell sweeping motion and buried her foot into the back of Sara's leg. Sara squirmed underneath Nyssa's grip as she rode up on the arm and there were tingles, but also a bit of pain when Nyssa hit the right pressure point to put Sara down.
"Maybe that will teach you a valuable lesson and not leave someone for dead."
"You've heard my reasons," Sara said.
"You should know something about Malcolm Merlyn," Nyssa said. "Yes, I know your reason, but he didn't get the name the Magician because he used to perform at children's birthday parties."
"Malcolm Merlyn performing at children's birthday parties? Now that's a scary thought."
Nyssa almost broke her composure at the quip from Sara, and Sara reversed course. Both of them battled each other with punches and kicks being thrown in every direction.
"The Court of Owls are also giving the League difficulties," Nyssa said. "At least in Gotham City, with my sister and her faction over there."
"Do you….."
"We haven't talked in five years since our falling out," Nyssa said. "Thankfully, she hasn't tried to kill me over what happened."
Nyssa looked regretful, and Sara, showing her true warrior spirit, took advantage of Nyssa's momentary distraction by sweeping her off of her feet. Nyssa landed on the ground with a solid thud. She bounced back up and Nyssa tried to grapple Sara. They were evenly matched in the grapple game, and Sara took Nyssa down with a body scissors, before trying to squeeze the air out of her. Nyssa found her way out of the hold and she went for a punch, but Sara blocked and flipped Nyssa down onto the ground.
There were about three ways Sara could break bones at this point, but given this was a friendly sparring session she decided not to go down that route. She gave Nyssa room to breathe.
The doors sprung open, and a rather stressed Laurel stepped in.
"Five-minute break," Nyssa said.
Sara nodded and walked over towards Laurel who sank down on the seats. She was in a zombified state. Sara reached down and placed a hand on her sister's shoulder.
"I really don't know what to do. They're putting pressure on me on all sides and….the state is putting a lot of pressure on my boss to get results as well, and there's someone higher up putting pressure on the state."
"Court of Owls," Sara said grimly.
"Maybe," Laurel said. "But, all that pressure just comes back on me, because I'm the one who is on the front lines, dealing with this."
"Hey, relax."
Sara leaned in to plant a light kiss on Laurel's lips and pull away from her. The woman looked like she calmed down, a little bit.
"There's also something important I have to….well this could be pretty damaging."
Laurel leaned in and whispered something in Sara's ear. Nyssa had the ability to listen but she chose not to pay attention. She did notice the disturbed look coming over her beloved face and wondered what could have freaked both sisters out.
"We have to tell her," Sara concluded.
"We can't….we shouldn't…..it will destroy the stability she had….."
"No, it will come out one way or another, and it's better she hears it from someone she trusts than from some sleazy tabloid."
Nyssa could see the debate coming on. She moved over to pick up her jacket. Sara turned around and frowned.
"Where are you going?"
"This is a family matter."
"You are family," Sara said. "And the two of you haven't been properly introduced have you. Laurel, this is Nyssa, my….well….."
"I'm Sara's wife," Nyssa said. "Well one of them anyway."
Laurel raised her eyebrow.
"Long story, but the vows we have to allow for an open relationship with other women," Nyssa said. "And given Sara's circumstances, I would be heartless not to allow her to do so."
Her sister still had secrets that she had not been ready to tell them. Perhaps for some really good reasons.
"Right, I see," Laurel said. "I'm just mad I didn't have a chance to give you the shovel speech or see the wedding."
Sara was glad Laurel didn't make too much of an issue out of this, mostly because there were other things. Sara knew Thea deserved the truth, broken to her gently. Nothing good ever came from keeping secrets to loved ones.
To Be Continued on April 11th, 2017.
Well, some interesting revelations in this chapter, and more to come.
Until Tuesday.