A/N: A bit of a time jump in this chapter.
Chapter Thirteen
Oliver Queen looked around the defunct warehouse with a critical eye, picturing what needed to be done here to turn it into the shelter he envisioned it becoming and trying not to let his worry for Kara and what she was undoubtedly going through while in the hands of Cadmus distract him from his other duties. "This place will suit our purposes just fine," he finally said, meeting the realtor's gaze. "Get the paperwork ready and I'll sign it in the morning. I have somewhere else I have to be; but thank you for showing me around to these locations."
"It was my pleasure, Mr. Queen," the realtor said. "National City will be very proud to host a shelter like the one Star City boasts of, and this warehouse is close enough to downtown that those who struggle will be able to get here without any problems."
"I agree," Oliver said as he and the realtor exited the warehouse and headed for their vehicles (him his treasured Earth-1 Ducati and her a shiny Lexus). "Especially if I can get the person that I hope to onboard to handle the day-to-day." If she isn't tortured to death, Oliver thought rather morbidly regarding the person he wanted to run the National City shelter, Kara Danvers. He even knew how he would sell it to her, given the chance. He just hoped he got that chance.
Oliver hopped on the motorcycle after a final farewell to the realtor and drove off into the city. It had been a week since he had reunited with Barry, Caitlin, Ray, and Laurel, a week since they had begun searching for the main Cadmus base. They had found several satellite bases, mostly at former L-Corp facilities to Lena's chagrin, but nothing like what they expected. Oliver had begun to think they were looking in the wrong direction altogether; Cadmus had started out as a government division, and with Amanda Waller involved, there were likely Cadmus-specific facilities that had never been made known to the government itself, facilities that could serve as prisons for various aliens, including everyone's favorite Caped Cheerleader. He hadn't shared his suspicions with the group as of yet because, with the arrival of his past, so had the insecurities that had developed during his third year as a vigilante fighting the good fight in Starling, especially after he had returned from his duel with Ra's.
The truth was he hadn't been able to do much; Lena had had more to do with the investigative team's progress. Oliver had spent most of the week touring places like the warehouse he had just decided to purchase; the rest of the time, save for the small amounts that he had spent at the facility where the other heroes were investigating the location of the main Cadmus base, was spent meeting with the well-to-do of National City and working to galvanize them into working with him to create a new shelter here like the one he had created in National City. A big selling point for each and every mover and shaker, including the recently returned Cat Grant, had been the charitable status it imbued upon them and gave them quite the tax break. Oliver hated that it took image politics to get people to do the right thing. In some ways, he felt he did more for the poor and destitute as Green Arrow than as Oliver Queen.
It would take a while to get things sorted out and get the warehouse restructured to suit as a homeless shelter of the same type that he ran in Star City. During that time, he couldn't stay in National City, as much as he wanted to. He had duties back home, as Oliver Queen and Green Arrow. He'd been away too long and he doubted that the criminals back home weren't taking advantage of Green Arrow's mysterious absence. He would check in with the others, which was where he was headed now, and then head back home until they found Kara. With any luck, he wouldn't have any pressing matters in Star City to attend to when the time came but if it ended up being so, well… such was the price of having it all. Sometimes, you could do nothing without compromising the life you had built for yourself.
*DC*
Oliver slipped into the facility where the other heroes were going over the latest satellite data, walking with his typical silent grace to stand right behind them. Another building was being projected over the main table, a building that looked like another former LuthorCorp building that Cadmus had renovated. "Still no luck?" he asked quietly, and the four heroes from Earth-1 jerked in surprise. Lena chuckled at her boyfriend's tendency to appear and disappear. "Sorry, old habits," Oliver apologized.
"Yeah, no luck," Barry said. "We're gonna have to raid one of these satellite facilities and see if they have a system that's connected to some kind of Cadmus mainframe. That's the only way I can think of for us to get info on the main base. I don't think any of the facilities they repurposed from LuthorCorp are up to holding Kara or any other aliens long-term."
"Cadmus started out as a government program," Oliver said, deciding to voice his thoughts from earlier. "Like A.R.G.U.S. This world's Amanda Waller is even involved. You can bet that there's Cadmus-specific facilities that were never reported to the government depending on just how involved Waller was. They only started using former holdings of LuthorCorp after they broke away and one of the facilities Kara was taken to was completely off the grid."
"Then we definitely need to hit one of these satellite facilities," Ray said from where he was going over the data. "If the government doesn't know about the facilities, the only place to find intel like that will be a central Cadmus database."
"Sounds like you have a plan, then," Oliver said. "Look, I'm sorry to have to do this, but I've drawn out my business in National City as much as I can. I'll try to get away if I can when its time to hit the main base and rescue Kara and all the others, but its time I went back to Star City. As it is I'm going to have to pretend I was squeezing a few more days with my lovely girlfriend."
"Not exactly a lie, we just haven't had much by way of romantic rendezvous," Lena said with a smirk.
"I'll make it up to you next time, promise," Oliver said with a grin at her. Lena smiled back.
"I understand, Oliver," Barry said as Oliver turned back to him. "You've got a city to protect and you've been away a week already. Much as I'd like to think so, I doubt we'll hit the jackpot with the first go. We'll have Lena call you when we find the main base. With any luck, you'll have the chance to come with us. It'd be nice to fight with you again."
"I'm sure you and the others will do fine if I don't have the chance to come," Oliver replied. "You've come far in the past two years." Oliver held out a hand for Barry to shake and the younger man took it, shaking it solemnly. He understood what Oliver was saying, or rather what he wasn't. He was saying they didn't need him on the mission to rescue Kara. "See you around, Barry." Oliver tilted his head to the side while looking at Lena, and she walked off with him. The two of them spoke quietly, in low tones the others couldn't hear, and kissed before Oliver left the facility.
*DC*
Superman soared through the skies over Metropolis, on the lookout for any crime, when he heard the signal beep of one of the devices he had given friends so they could signal him. This particular device belonged to Bruce Wayne, or Batman, who had been unavailable for a chat when Superman had flown to Gotham the previous week to discuss his rather disturbing conversation with Oliver Queen, or Green Arrow. Superman diverted course and descended on Wayne Manor, landing in one of the center courtyards. One of the French doors opened to reveal Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce's ever-patient butler. "Master Wayne is downstairs, Master Kent," Alfred informed the Kryptonian without batting an eyelid, having gotten used to Superman's visits. "He is most interested to know why you've been wishing to seek his counsel all this week."
"I'm sure you're just as curious, Alfred," Superman said with a smile for the older man.
"Ah, but it is not my counsel you seek, sir, and therefore I must hold my curiosity," Alfred replied.
Superman chuckled as he passed by the butler and headed for the library, where he took the main clock passageway down to the Batcave. He knew about Bruce's other entrances to the Batcave, of course, but he thought it would've been rude to just fly into the Batcave through the exit tunnel for the Batwing.
"Clark," Bruce acknowledged. "Joker was more of a menace than usual this week. What is it that had you in such a state last week?"
"I had an interesting chat with Green Arrow," Superman replied, and proceeded to explain the confrontation. "I'm just trying to understand if what he was telling me was true," Superman said after he had finished explaining the conversation and the threats that Oliver Queen had levied against him.
"I think he was being truthful in all of it," Bruce said after a while. "Now, I'm the first to say a healthy dose of caution is your best friend, but even I have to say that Lena Luthor has done a good job separating herself from her less-pleasant relations. Not that I think you should trust her; it would be the perfect way to get an invitation to your little Arctic hideaway if she keeps her close counsel with your cousin, do the one thing her brother never achieved and find the Fortress. But if you openly treat her with suspicion, she will feel victimized and turn on you, on Kara, and you will have only yourself to blame." Bruce paused. "It's too late for me, Clark. Don't become me. You need to be better than I am. For the sake of this entire world. If she didn't have the last name Luthor, what would you be doing?"
"Is it really that simple?" Superman asked.
"Yes, it is," Bruce said. "Leave the preparations for the worst-case scenario to me."
"And Oliver Queen?"
"I'll handle Oliver Queen for you," Bruce said.
On his way out, Superman couldn't help but marvel at how alike Oliver Queen and Bruce Wayne were when they shed their masks. They would either end up the very best of friends or the bitterest of rivals.
*DC*
Kara Danvers hung limply from the chains that suspended her in midair, her feet hanging just as limply whereas before today they had sometimes twitched as if she were preparing to fight or was reacting to what was coming. Today, her outright dread and despair was overwhelming everything because today, her attention was caught by the whip with the shiny metallic tip. It was gold in color but she felt something when she looked at it, the same way she felt something when she looked at Kryptonite. She knew that Lillian would come in and tell her what that was; she had every time she wanted Kara to understand what it was Deathstroke would be doing.
Days Two and Three, Deathstroke had removed her fingernails and toenails. Days Four and Five, he had worked her over with brass knuckles, leaving her bruised and battered. Day Six she had been waterboarded. Day Seven, it appeared, was to be whipping.
Lillian entered the room with Deathstroke in tow. "Good morning, Miss Danvers," Lillian greeted as pleasantly as she always did. "I'm sure you've noticed the newest tool in Mr. Wilson's arsenal for today. The tip is rather special. It is a form of Kryptonite; the Daxamite ships that crashed during the lead seeding had information on multiple forms of Kryptonite, including the Silver that your cousin was dosed with. Like with the Silver, the Daxamites figured out what Gold Kryptonite would do. Depending on how its refined, it will either strip a Kryptonian of their powers permanently or leave permanent markings on the body that not even the yellow sun will heal."
Kara swallowed as she noticed the gleam in Deathstroke's eyes. The man was looking forward to this with all of the sick anticipation he had been building up to throughout the entire week. This was what he wanted to do more than anything; leave her permanently marked, so she would always carry a sign of his dominance over her. Kara had held strong, and a part of her wanted Lillian to be lying; but the D.E.O. had examined the Daxamite computers and Alex had told her about Gold Kryptonite. She had spent the months since hoping and praying that no Gold Kryptonite had fallen to Earth. Perhaps Lillian was trying to force her to do what she wanted, force her to admit Lillian had defeated her and that humanity was supreme, and whatever else Lillian wanted. But there was something in Lillian's eyes that said this was no fakeout. That this was true and that if Kara did not do as Lillian wanted, she would forever be marked by Deathstroke.
But Kara had lived through the destruction of her homeworld. She had lived in fear all her life that someone, an enemy of her cousin, would find her and experiment on her the way Lillian and Deathstroke had been in an effort to find what worked against Kryptonians. She had been living her worst nightmare for a week and she still had hope that those she cared for, the D.E.O., Oliver, even Barry and her friends from Earth-1, would find her and rescue her. "Do your worst, Lillian," Kara spat out.
Lillian's lips twisted into an excited smile. "I so hoped you would remain defiant for this one, Miss Danvers," Lillian told her, reaching out and stroking one finger along Kara's bruised jaw. Kara flinched back in spite of herself. Lillian turned to Deathstroke. "I want her alive at the end of this."
"Understood," Deathstroke said, and Kara watched as Lillian walked out. "You should have declared her the winner of this contest, Kara Zor-El," Deathstroke said. "But I am pleased you did not. I will at last see a Kryptonian bleed and not heal. Let us see how much you can withstand." Deathstroke picked up the whip and walked around behind her. Kara's heart rate and breathing quickened, and she closed her eyes, a tear trailing down her cheek in anticipation of the pain, anguish, and shame to come. Then she heard the crack of the whip and felt something tear through her prison jumpsuit. For a brief moment, there was no pain, and then it hit, a searing pain that rippled across her right shoulder blade. Another loud crack and this time the feeling of the bite of the whip was instantaneous, eliciting a cry of pain from Kara. Again, this time eliciting a scream. Another crack, another scream of agony.
Kara didn't know how many times she was whipped; she lost consciousness after the sixth lashing.
*DC*
It took an extra day for Oliver to arrange everything for the beginnings of the National City shelter, namely the renovation of the warehouse. Oliver had selected the crew responsible for it with Lena's input and she would handle the day-to-day, reaching out to him for anything that needed the input of the brain behind it all. Oliver spent some of that time with Barry and Laurel; Barry he talked to about his experiences with Amanda Waller and how she operated, hoping it would give his friend some insight into this world's Amanda Waller and how she might have hid the main base of operations for Cadmus (or whichever base ended up their prison for aliens). Laurel, he sparred with in friendly bouts, the two of them finding they were evenly matched thanks to both of them having taken an interest in other martial arts beyond those they had been initially taught.
As Oliver entered the private hangar where one of the Queen family's jets was waiting, he was feeling a sense of peace and contentment, but that very sense was washed away as he recognized the man standing beside the plane, waiting for him. "The real Hank Henshaw, I presume," Oliver said quietly, noting the blue glow of the man's cybernetic eye. He knew that it fired something akin to heat vision and didn't want to know how many of Kara's people had died in twisted experiments for Cadmus for them to be able to recreate one of the Kryptonians' signature abilities.
"Miss Luthor has requested your presence, Mr. Queen," Henshaw replied flatly. "The safety of your little alien friend depends on your cooperation."
"Then by all means, let's get on with it," Oliver replied. Henshaw gestured for Oliver to board the jet, which meant Cadmus had already seized control of it. Oliver had flown here himself rather than have someone else fly him, so at least he didn't have the deaths of an innocent flight crew on his conscience. "Where are we going?" Oliver asked.
"You will be unconscious for the duration of the flight, Mr. Queen," Henshaw replied in a matter-of-fact tone. "We will get to where we're going, have no worries about that." Henshaw pointed to the syringe on the table beside the chair. "You will be given a sedative. Do not attempt to fight it."
"So long as you're telling me the truth, I won't," Oliver replied. He took a seat and allowed Henshaw to inject him with the sedative. He leaned back and closed his eyes, fighting his instinctual desire to fight the foreign agent at work in his body and instead accepting it and letting it run its course. It took ten minutes to take full effect, and in that time, the jet lifted off from the airfield, banking eastward.
A/N: I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter.
For those wondering about Kara's whole 'shame' thing, that ties into what's going to happen next chapter (or at least what I'm planning). This story is going to kind of take a different turn than I was thinking it would.