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Forty-Four

Half an hour later whilst Felicity was working on tracking Roy, cursing every so often, I decided to take Midnight outside for a pee break. The dog took her time but as she took care of business, Tessa appeared practically out of nowhere and she was covered in blood.

"Tessa!" I gasped. I ran over to her, the blood was fresh, her eyes were red from crying but she looked too pissed off to care. "What happened? Where did you go?"

"You need to suit up," she sniffed. "No more waiting."

"Whose blood is it?" I asked her.

"It's Austin's," she sniffed. "He rang and I answered but it was that horrible witch. By the time I got back there was a sword sticking out of his gut and a message telling me that time was up."

"Shit!" I swore. "Come inside, clean up."

"No!" she snapped. "You owe me!"

"RIVER!" Laurel shouted. "YOU NEED TO COME DOWN HERE!"

Tessa and I rushed back inside where over a radio on the computer, police were talking about an attack on SCPD. "What the fuck?" I hissed.

"What happened?" Felicity gasped, seeing the blood all over Tessa.

"Isabel killed Austin," I whispered. I looked around, Charlie was fixing some arrows with the cure and Diggle was loading dart guns. "Explosives?"

"Ready to go," Diggle nodded.

"I will look for Slade," Oliver told everyone. "Felicity stuck her hand up to find Roy and bring him back here to try the cure. She's the best cause of her shield. Suki-you're with Diggle and the explosives. River-"

"Will help me kill Isabel," Tessa cut in.

I wanted to help in the search for my husband but the little peanut inside me was telling me that this was a bad idea. So Tessa and Isabel it was.

"Charlie-"

"Police station with Laurel," the girl answered. "If it was my mum I'd be there so quick it wasn't funny.

Laurel nodded. "Thank you Charlie."

"Suit up!" Oliver shouted. "Tessa-there's some clean clothes in the cupboard on the wall there. You look to be the same size as River."

Tessa nodded and walked away in a daze.

Those of us with suits hurried to put our outfits on, the sounds of panic reaching us down here in the lair. The sound of a phone ringing cut through the odd silence and Laurel answered. She was quiet for a little bit before hanging up. "Sara's outside," she told everyone once we gathered.

"Charlie!" Diggle shouted suddenly.

The girl was pulling her shirt off with a laugh. "Diggle-clothes don't do me any good in this situation. I don't need them." She pressed the surface of the watch she was wearing and suddenly a silvery grey substance started spreading across her skin like spilt water. It slowly covered her whole body until she was covered in a skin tight cat-suit. A section of the skin broke off and in a creepy fashion formed the domino mask to hide her identity. "Wayne Tech nanites," she answered. "It's an experimental material for soldiers on the battlefield. Bruce said I could use it." There was a symbol on the middle where a belt would have been-the Japanese kanji for the word Pisces. Two sides of the one person. That was Charlie.

"Pisces?" I asked her.

Charlie grinned and nodded, looking sideways at Felicity who smiled. "Pisces."

I shrugged. "I've heard worse. Heard better. Did you see Barry whilst you were in STAR Labs?" I asked her. She completely ignored me.

"Alright everyone the station is eighty-eight!" Felicity called out. "Eighty-eight as in the Crazy Eighty-Eight cause I was watching Kill Bill a few days ago.

I laughed and pulled my mask on as the rest of us did before we headed outside. Each of us half expected Sara to be alone, however she was not. The girl was dressed as the Black Canary and surrounded by several members of the League of Assassins as well as Nyssa ah Ghul.

"SCPD has over a hundred reports of masked men attacking the city," Felicity called out, monitoring the feeds. "They're coming from different locations all across the city. Blowing up the sewers won't do any good."

"Slade Wilson anticipates your approach," Nyssa frowned. "A simple cave in will not stop him. These men will not refrain from killing anyone that gets in their way. If you want to survive, Oliver, you have to start killing again."

"Oliver, I'm coming with you," Suki told her cousin. "Diggle can go with Laurel and Charlie. He'll be more help coordinating a civilian assistance than I will. You need my help."

"No," Oliver shot back. "Felicity take Suki with you."

"Oliver!" the girl argued.

"You shouldn't even be here," Oliver argued back. "I told you before you left that you were leaving."

"And I told you I was staying!" Suki snapped. "Send me away afterwards but right I will not look over my shoulder for the rest of my life in fear of Slade Wilson."

Nyssa laughed. "And your soldiers could use some work." Tessa pushed passed Oliver and stopped in front of Nyssa. She sized the girl up for a few minutes before walking around the assassin.

"Good luck," I told the team. Each of us were worried, you could see it-but we had our game faces on and ready to go. I whistled to Midnight and the dog and I chased after Tessa. "How do you propose we find Isabel?" I inquired.

"Austin said she was going to Queen Manor to find Thea," Tessa answered.

"Austin's dead," I frowned, "you said it yourself."

Tessa raised her arm suddenly and smashed the window in of an abandoned car. "Yes. I know. Magic is a handy little thing," she snarked at me as she hotwired the car. "It can do all sorts of things like find a lost millionaire or find your dog or summon ghosts. His ghost told me. Isabel think's you've got Thea held up at the manor under guard. She's going to kill her for what you all did to her. She doesn't know Thea left with Merlyn." When the car started, she got up and climbed in giving me no choice but to follow her example. Midnight sat in the backseat just waiting.

Tessa wouldn't stop or take anytime to help anyone that tried flagging us down on the way through the city. She took back allies and side streets before finally hitting the open road on the way to Queen Manor. Overhead we both took note of helicopters hovering above the city like they were monitoring the situation.

"ARGUS," I muttered. "Man I hate that Amanda Waller."

Tessa was quiet. I guess she was gearing up mentally for the fight ahead. I was as well. Isabel was dangerous and I was unsure if the two of us would successfully take her on infected with the Mirakuru. I had a fair few injections of the cure on me so I guess it really came down to who wanted it more and right now-my bets were on the seething magician beside me.