Chapter Fifty-One: Roman Empire Part Two


Black Mask now had power in the palm of his hands, and he could control the entire city. He could bring them all down with a push of the button. His men surrounded the area and made sure no one could go in. The underfunded Starling City Police Department could not even have any hope of getting past of them.

The mobster and crazed man in the mask looked on at the panicked people. They were showing their true colors as everything happened around him.

The people in the city, bold when there was no one around to put them under pressure, suddenly and obviously cracked underneath said pressure. Black Mask stared them down from the other side of his mask. He looked bold when daring them to do anything against him. Very few of them would even dare to step up to the challenge.

"You see, this entire city, is in need of reform, and I am going to be the one to bring a new order back to Starling City," Black Mask said. "And this is just the beginning of a revolution. You don't want to throw yourself behind the same old people. Oh, sure their sound bites might seem nice on the news, but they are just people who are willing to throw you away. Blood says he's different from the elite politicians who have been running this city. He says he will fix corruption, but he's as corrupt as anyone. And Moira Queen, she's more of the same!"

Everyone hung upon the words of Black Mask. The chaos occurred within the city.

"You're completely mad!"

Black Mask turned and looked upon Sebastian Blood. Blood managed to hold his head up as proudly as possible upon giving this declaration of madness. Black Mask stepped off of the stage and moved ever so closer towards Blood. Two of his men held the Mayor candidate in tight, while another one buried a gun into the back of the man's shoulderblades.

"Mad?" Black Mask asked. "After all you've done, you dare call me mad? You dare look me in the eye, and call me mad? You dare call me insane?"

Black Mask leaned closer towards Blood, and the two of them went face to face with each other. Blood looked up, perhaps boldly, perhaps a little bit crazily. He may have stared in the face of someone who could kill him.

"You dare question me. Do you dare put me up next to one of those Arkham crazies? I'm far better than them!"

"I call you mad because it's what you are….."

"You can shut your mouth!" Sionis yelled.

Blood half expected to get shot, and it had been an honest surprise when Black Mask decided not to take a shot at him. His limbs quivered in an attempt to keep standing up straight.

Black Mask turned to the crowd. Some of them buzzed, and a couple of them looked at him with contempt. Others, did so, looking at him through curiosity. They wondered what he would say if it would be worth any of their times. Black Mask had the audience in the palm of his hand.

"Masks, hide our true nature to the world, but masks can also shield a suffering soul from some harsh realities," Black Mask said. "My parents, they had an air of respectability to the outside world. It was the mask they projected to the people around them. Deep down, those who truly knew my parents, they were nothing other than monsters!"

The other members of Black Mask's story grew restless. It had been an unspoken truth Roman Sionis killed his parents in the most painful way possible. Then, he wore the mask on his face, forged from a part of his mother's coffin. It was a reminder of where he came from.

"They wore bright smiles, they gave to charity, and the world mourned their loss, thinking they lost some good people," Sionis said, gaining stride when looking at the people. They drank up most of his words like a baby from a bottle. "It gave me great pleasure to kill them!"

The boldness of Sionis's words threw the majority of the people off guard.

"It gave me greater pleasure than any woman ever did, to burn their house to the ground, with them inside!" Black Mask yelled. "And the masks they wore are used as a symbol for my organization. But, despite wearing masks on our faces, we do not hide behind the same emotional masks. We intend to take control of Starling City and save it from itself. Save it from those who are willing to use their power to bully those who cannot rise up and fight back."

Black Mask turned his attention to the individuals on the stage. Blood already had guns trained on him. Another person, however, wasn't speaking. She just looked at the confrontation, with a stoic look in her eyes.

"Which brings us to Moira Queen," Black Mask said. "Just mere months ago, you were calling for her to be strung up by the neck in the middle of the very town square I stand. You wanted her hung because she reminded you of the suffering caused to you! Because you thought she destroyed your precious city."

Blood stepped forward to say something. Black Mask turned to Blood and shot him in the chest at point blank range. Blood dropped down off of the stage, as the people gasped. Black Mask turned his attention to Moira. The woman didn't back down but didn't say a word.

"I wear this mask to protect my face from the people like my parents, and the people who are standing on the stage, trying to become the Mayor of Starling City as we speak!" Sionis yelled at the top of his lungs. Everyone started to buzz at Blood's words. "Moira Queen was a person who could have killed countless people, and yet you bought her act, how she did the things she did because she feared for her daughter's life! She is weak!"

Black Mask gained a fair amount of momentum and wasn't going to slow down for any reason, not if he could help it, at least.

"You saw what she did!" Black Mask yelled. "You saw the things she did, and yet, despite everything she did, you absolved her of all of her crimes. Why, was it because she was a mother? Do you think she was not above cruelty just because she had children?"

Black Mask stood up straighter on the stage. The people around him grew restless. Sionis looked around, surprised by the lack of vigilantes, but if they showed up, he would not hesitate to take this entire city down in a heap.

"She's no less of a monster than my own mother was!" Black Mask yelled. "And my mother was the harpy from Hell! Why do you even think that Moira Queen could not be the same way?"


Sara took half of a step into the distance and arched her neck back. She took a good look at her surroundings and came across snipers at all ends. And no, doubt if the snipers didn't shoot, Sionis would destroy the city at the first sign of trouble.

'That bastard. He's really tormenting everyone.'

Nyssa followed a half of a step behind Sara, blending into the shadows. Lyla and Helena moved in for the other members, and they would have to find an entry point. All of them exchanged glances with each other, before Sara made her way behind the sniper closest to them, and also furthest away from Black Maks.

If he raised the alarm, it would be over. Sara had to take him out, so she did, with swift precision. Her fist nailed the man in the side of the neck and brought him down to his knees. Another series of punches rocked the sniper before Sara launched him over the side. She stopped him from hitting the ground.

Sara pulled back a half of a step and waited. She turned towards Nyssa who motioned to a couple of the guards who had been taken down. The side gates were wide open, and they have an entry point, getting inside of the stage.

"And now, I bring you a bold new future!" Sionis yelled. "A brand new Starling City, where there will be no more masks. There will be no more lies!"

A sudden stirring from the woman in front of her caused Sara to hold out a hand in warning.

"Helena, stay with me," Sara said.

The Huntress nodded. She saw the man on the stage who had caused her so much grief in the past, maybe not as much as her father, but there was still a lot of grief there. It would be the first test of her new focus. Temptation hit Helena when looking towards the front of the stage.

"We see Sebastian Blood lying on the ground, he was foolish enough to think just because of who his friends are, he could stop me," Sionis said. "And yes, Blood isn't the virtuous hero he makes himself out to be. No, he's far from it! He's a monster just like the rest of them. He's part of a secret organization which intends to bring this city crashing to its knees!"

Sara took half of a step into the edge. She knew if Sionis turned at the right time. She spotted it, the detonator clasped in Sionis's hand. All she had to do was find the perfect shot.

She saw Cass who had been with Artemis and Thea. Sara's heart sank, despite Cass's best efforts, she didn't have a chance to get them out of here. Cass looked up just in time to see Sara. Suddenly, the two girls exchanged a nod.

Lyla, Helena, and Nyssa all took their points. Sara could count on Cass, while she was on the inside, to make some kind of diversion, which would make it a lot easier. She still had one good shot at the detonator and would have to send an arrow through a crowd of disturbed people, without hitting anyone, other than Sionis, to knock the detonator out of his hand.

Sara had to make the shot, there were no do-overs from it. Cass stepped over and picked up a cable before she moved it over to the back of the sound speakers. She waited for the moment.

"And now, it's time for Moira Queen to….."

Cass plugged the cable into the speaker before she jumped off the stage. The speakers on the stage exploded and sent one of the loudest, most obnoxious sounds in the entire world into the stage. Smoke and shooting sparks followed the most obnoxious sound in the world.

Sionis staggered a half of a step back, coughing at the surprise explosion. The fire on the stage threw off his speech. His men recoiled from almost slumping over from the stage. Moira slipped away from them, and the crowd started to scream. Uncontrolled chaos filled the area.

Sara saw Cass's meddling as a good news, bad news situation. The good news was Cass managed to get Artemis and Thea out of harm's way. The bad news was, and Sara could have groaned due to this was the chaotic stream of people made it very hard to take a shot.

All or nothing, now or never, Sara caught sight of the detonator in Sionis's hand and shot it out of his hand! The arrow connected with Sionis and no one else.

Lyla moved into position to pick up the detonator, and Sara jumped to the top of the stage.

"You!" Black Mask yelled. "You, you, and you! Don't just stand there. Get her!"

Black Mask shoved through of his men into the position towards the hooded vigilante. Sara blocked one of them and hurled him off of the stage where he landed on the ground. Sara dodged the attack and nailed him with an uppercut punch to the head.

One of them charged towards Sara with a knife. The hooded archer blocked the hand and knocked the adversary back a few feet.

A rocket launcher from one of Black Mask's men on the tower forced her to throw herself off of the stage. From her back, Sara loaded up an arrow and shot it towards the man on the tower. She knocked him out of commission with one swift shot.

Black Mask took a step off of the side of the stage and turned around to move. Number One and a couple of his other men moved him.

"We better leave."

"You're not going anywhere. I swear to God!"

Huntress nailed all of Black Mask's men with bolts to the chest which knocked them for a loop. The dark haired vigilante stood tall, staring down Black Mask and his men. Black Mask growled and charged Huntress to try and take her out.

"It's your time now!" Black Mask yelled. "I wanted to settle the score with you after you screwed up my last operations here!"

Huntress blocked Black Mask and knocked the wind out of him with one swift kick. She swept Black Mask's legs out from underneath him.

She finally had him. Roman Sionis was dead to rights. Helena could finish him so he did not cause any more murder.

A few feet away, Moira Queen was on the ground, with one of Black Mask's mercenaries pointing a gun to the back of her head, about ready to fire. Helena turned her crossbow away from Black Mask and shot the man in the shoulder, taking him down.

Helena flew back, clutching her shoulder. She realized she had been shot in it, and Black Mask stood in front of her.

"Wrong move, bitch!"

Black Mask prepared to put one more bullet in the head of the Huntress, only to come face to face with the Arrow. The archer drew back the bow and fired one shot at Black Mask. Black Mask turned around and another arrow went towards him. He dodged the attack and the arrow stuck into a curtain behind him.

He pulled out a second gun to try and take out the Arrow. The Arrow fired a taser arrow to the chest and shocked him. Black Mask fell down to his knees, stunned, and the Arrow put him out with a running kick to the face. She nailed him so hard it cracked his mask and put him down for the count.

Sara didn't have a moment to breath. Reinforcements had been called, and it was time for her to disappear into the night. Her heart started to beat.

Ambulances and Starling City Police Department made their way into the area. Sara extended a hand to a downed Helena. Huntress took the hand. Her shoulder ached.

"Are you okay?"

"Fine," Huntress said. "I'm sore, but I'm fine."


"Can you believe it, the Arrow saved us? Maybe she's not a criminal, after all, maybe she's a hero."

Those words only just brought a smile to Sara's face, just barely. Tonight, there was so much which could go wrong, but yet, everything turned out for the better. She would not be as premature to say anything went right. Only that things went better than expected.

The two of them made their way to a waiting van, with Helena favoring her arm.

"You took a shot for Moira Queen," Sara said.

"Yeah, I know, I must be slipping in my old age," Helena said.

"No, you're just maturing," Sara said.

Helena smiled; they could debate what she was doing all day and all night long. She had been put in the back of the van. A first aid kit was ready. Given all of the times, Lyla had to use this van to make a speedy getaway. Medical supplies were always needed to patch Sara up.

"Take off your top."

She took off her top, wearing nothing, but a lacy black bra, and also having bruises on her body. The armor somehow caused the bullet to not penetrate all the way. Sara reached in and handed Helena something.

"Bite down on this," Sara told her. "Oh, and this could hurt."

Helena didn't have any doubt in her mind this could hurt. She bit down on the item Sara handed her when the bullet had bene pulled from her shoulder. Her eyes glazed over for a minute.

"There you go, it's the best I can do right now," Sara said. "Now, I'm not a doctor…..but…..I don't think you should be going after murderous mobsters for a long time now."

A sound of an explosion from the distance caused Helena to jump halfway up.

"Relax, that's the Earthquake machine being blown up," Sara said. "So, hopefully, that's over."

Lyla entered the front of the van, and turned around, placing her hands on to look at both of them.

"Blood disappeared in the carnage," Lyla said. "Nyssa is trying to track him down, but there's nobody."

"So, it's a good thing to assume he's still out there," Sara said.

"I don't like having to assume things," Helena said. "But, thinking he's dead is a bad…bad idea."

Helena closed her eyes, hoping she wouldn't have to take any more bullets for Mayorial candidates, because she had to say, it hurt like hell. She watched out of the back window. Sionis had been hauled off. This time, Helena hoped it would stick.

"Hopefully, he can stay there for a while," Helena said. "Although, someone like that, he's likely going to have a lot of toys stashed over Starling. And a few of the lower-tier gangs could really move up in the world if they got their hands on some of Sionis's goodies."

Sara assumed just as much, no matter how much she hated to admit it.

"Thanks for your help," Sara said. "And thanks for keeping your head in the game."

"No problem," Helena said. "But no offense, it kind of looked like your mind was elsewhere, out there. Do you mind telling me what's going on?"

Sara sighed. She really could not say one hundred percent.

"It's personal," Sara said.

"Well, as long as you don't get obsessed with it," Helena said. "Trust me, when you get fixated on one person and making them pay for what they've done, your life becomes all consuming. You can't live like that."

Sara knew Helena spoke from experience, even though she didn't have to like it. A moment passed when there was a knock on the back of the van. Sara peered out of the back window of the van.

'Artemis,' Sara thought.

She opened up the back door. Instantly, she saw a very pale, and shaking Artemis on the other side of the door. Sara's heart sunk, she knew something was wrong.

"I can't find Thea anywhere."

The bad feelings Sara had, oh boy, did they ever return in abundance. She was actually supposed to meet Thea tonight to have a talk about the news Sara received some weeks ago. She had a bad feeling.

These bad feelings increased the second she received a text message from Isabel.

'It happens tonight. Will have more information soon…be ready.'


Laurel still didn't feel up to her own standards after returning from Central City, and not just because of the fact, her voice didn't work as well as it should. The doctors found nothing wrong and thought the problem might be either mental or emotional.

She clutched on the pillow. The last image of the news of Black Mask's attack on the debate tonight burned in her head.

'I should have been out there in the thick of things, fighting,' Laurel thought to herself. 'But, the Black Canary's on the bench, because I'd only be a liability out there.'

The word "liability, sent chills down Laurel's spine. She rolled over and clutched a pillow, and started to drift back to sleep.

The sound of broken glass jolted Laurel out of her sleep. She got up, and rolled off of the bed, and saw a trio of armed mercenaries make their way into the apartment. They looked about ready to snatch her in her sleep.

Laurel jumped up off of the bed and caught one of them with a kick. She grabbed one of the mercenaries by the head, turned him around and slammed the man head first into a nearby coffee table which he landed with a loud crash. Laurel picked up a vase and smashed it into the chest of one of the men.

A jagged piece of the vase came into her hand, with Laurel spinning around, and catching him in the chest. She blocked the dagger with the jagged piece of the vase and jumped up onto the table. She picked up a baseball bat in the corner and swung it. The wood of the bat cracked up against the ribs of the intruder and dropped him down to the ground.

A sound of clapping could be heard off to the side. Laurel swung the baseball bat. The man casually blocked it, ripped the bat from Laurel's hands, and launched her back onto the ground. She flipped over and landed on her feet.

Laurel steadied her stance and came face to face with a very familiar mask. One she saw on Lian Yu with a sword shoved through the eye socket.

"Good evening, Miss Lance….we hoped to grab you peacefully why you slept…but plans change."

She raised an eyebrow. Laurel had many questions. It frustrated her how she could not ask them.

"If you live long enough to speak again, call me Deathstroke."

The man known as Deathstroke rushed towards Laurel. She only just barely raised her hand to block the punch. Deathstroke swept her legs out from underneath her, before grabbing Laurel by the back of the head and hurling her over the couch.

A picture frame came off of the table, and Laurel tried to nail Deathstroke with it. Deathstroke blocked the picture frame, and kicked Laurel, before slamming her down to the table. Laurel had the wind completely knocked out of her the second she struck the table. She looked up in time for Deathstroke to grab her and pull her off of the table. She fought out of the position, even though there wasn't much fight left in her.

"It's a pity you can't speak. Because no one will hear you scream."

Deathstroke cupped his hand to the side of Laurel's neck and pressed lightly. The nerve point caused Laurel to drop down to the ground, paralyzed by what he did to her.

Slade Wilson bent down to check there was still a pulse. There was, she lived, which was good. The only way Slade wanted to see the woman die was before Sara Lance's eyes when she was helpless to help out. He moved down to secure her hands and feet.

'You will learn the pain of loss as it happens in front of your eyes, Ms. Lance.'

More mercenaries moved in, and Slade motioned for them to pick her up.

"It won't be too long," Slade said. "The siege begins the moment the sun falls tomorrow night. And Starling City will burn for the crimes of its protector."

The mercenaries carried the unconscious Laurel off. Slade turned around and looked at the picture of Sara and Laurel on the ground. He broke the frame up and tore the picture in half. The mercenary allowed Laurel's half of the picture to drop to the ground. Then, he held Sara and stared in her face.

"Soon, Sara," Slade said. "They'll know the truth and the entire story. Justice for the ones you allowed to die on that island."

The picture crushed in Slade's hand. The crumpled piece of paper dropped down to the ground.


To Be Continued on May 26th, 2017.


Well, shit's hitting the fan as Season Two is winding to a close.

More on Friday.