Sub-Floor Fourteen
"Attention all Lifeline Members. Mission briefing. I repeat, mission briefing. If you want to be late, feel free, I don't care, the Devil is here, I repeat the Devil is here. Run for yeh lives, arrrgh!"
The voice of Felicity Smoak-Queen echoed around sub-floor fourteen, aka Project Lifeline. The occupants of the secret floor all reacted differently to the announcement. The kids all looked up from their schoolwork, and at Tatsu, their teacher, who's expression remained unreadable. Roy Harper groaned, and hid his head under his pillow. Rose Wilson, practicing a set of complex kata's, growled, and both her blades flashed, cutting a nearby punching bag in half.
"You're cleaning that up right?" Joe, her younger brother asked. Rose gave him a glare, and slid both blades together, sheathing them as one on her back. Joe was sharpening one of his own blades, the whetstone sending sparks through the air. "Because I know I'm not."
The nineteen-year-old girl didn't say anything, stomping over to the bag and taking it down. She started to drag it to a nearby trash slot, and dumped it in, then gathered up the stuffing, and tossed it down the chute as well. "Get off your ass."
Joe shrugged, and twirled his blade, sheathing it. He followed his sister out of the activity room, and into the main hallway. The white lights glared, a stark contrast to the people who lived on subfloor fourteen. Out of the Yamashiro apartment, Tatsu stepped out, a gaggle of children around her. Grant Wilson, Athena Smoak-Queen, and the Michael twins surrounded her legs, along with her own son, Akio. They were whispering to each other in Japanese, the Yamishiro's native tongue. Athena giggled, and swatted at Akio playfully.
"Any idea what's happening?" Rose asked dryly, and Tatsu shook her head, her katana resting on her back. It would have looked strange with her civilian clothes, if they hadn't been Lifeline members. It fit right in down on their floor.
"I have no knowledge of the situation."
The youngest Wilson, twelve-year-old Grant, skipped over to his siblings, and tugged at Rose's sleeve. "I learned about poisons!"
"Did you?" she said, humouring her brother. "What kind?"
Grant started to chatter about how Tatsu had been explaining how to coat weapons in paralyzing substances, while not poisoning yourself. Like with the sword, the conversation topic would have been a cause for concern anywhere else. Here, it was regular stuff.
The two groups were joined by Felicity herself, who came out of her apartment in a ARGUS tech uniform, hair tied back in a simple ponytail, along with her husband. Athena darted over to them, and Oliver laughed, picking her up.
"How's your day been?"
As Athena joined the conversation about poisons, she scrambled around her father, until she was clinging to his back like a monkey, legs dangling. Felicity gave her daughter a small kiss, and then they entered the briefing room.
It was a room that nobody really liked. Mostly because it meant they had to encounter the devil herself, Amanda Waller. Otherwise, Amanda wasn't really allowed on subfloor fourteen. It wasn't an official thing, but the occupants had made it quite clear, through a mixture of glares, comments, and the kids 'accidentally' nearly shooting her with Athena's archery gear.
The Diggles were already there, seated and in full uniform, minus John's helmet, and their two four-year-old twins ran over, climbing onto their parents. Like their classmates, they immediately began chattering about what Tatsu had been teaching them, fully ignoring Amanda.
The other Lifeline members sat, joining Roy and Cindy, who were also seated, although in casual clothing. Roy made a face at Athena, who had climbed onto the table by Slade Wilson, and was now braiding his hair. The man was the one who caught the look, and glared in return. He then pushed Athena towards her mother as Mei Gulong joined them, seating gingerly at the head of the table.
Amanda cleared her throat, and everyone looked to her, except for Athena, who was starting to braid Felicity's hair instead.
"What's this about?" Oliver asked, leaning back in his chair. Amanda nodded to the one man who knew about Lifeline, but was not a part of it, other then herself, and he walked around the room, handing out files to everyone in the room over fifteen. Grant started to read over Tatsu's shoulder anyways.
Felicity finished first, and looked up. "Our family's in danger."
Amanda's eyes burned into the hacker's own, neither woman backing down. "Yes, Mrs. Smoak-Queen. They are indeed in danger."
"From the League of Shadows?" Roy spoke up, having skimmed the folder. "Tell me that's not a branch of the League of Assassins."
"They are." Amanda said crisply, dismissing the man with a curt nod. He vanished out the door. "Talia Al Ghul, the eldest daughter of Ra's, was the founder. A mirror of her father's League, except for their ideals and the lack of a Lazarus Pit."
Oliver remained silent, as did everyone but the kids, who were stealthily sneaking under the table one by one. Of course, everyone noticed, but they all pretended not to. The kids were being pretty quiet in any case, so they let it happen.
"Why's the Queen family being targeted?" Sin asked, crossing her arms on the table.
"The Undertaking."
"Because of course." Joe muttered under his breath, finger sliding across the page, keeping his place.
"Thalia may be estranged from her father, but according to Miss Al Ghul, her sister is fiercely loyal to him. And would avenge him in any way possible, even if he is still alive. There has already been one assassination attemp on Moira Queen in broad daylight, thwarted only by a rather lucky shot from a police officer. Thomas Merlyn has also been targeted, although not by the League."
"The deal is that when our families are threatened, you'll protect them." John said, voice stiff and unyielding. Below the table, the quiet chanting of Stella Ella Ola came, along with the sound of hands hitting other hands.
"I'm well aware, Mr. Diggle." Amanda said, just as unyielding. "And they will be protected. Thea Queen and Moira Queen have both been placed in protective custody already, along with Thomas Merlyn and his girlfriend, Laurel Lance.
"Canary and Demon are also already at the location, as added security." she continued. "Therefore, you have nothing to worry about. And in any case, they will be extracted within the next forty-eight hours."
"By who?" Maseo asked.
"Lifeline."
The Canary waited on a rooftop, hidden in the shadows of Starling City's night. Dressed in all black, she could have fit in on the streets, if not for the veil over her mouth and nose, and hood over her blonde hair. The collapsed bo at the back of her hips also gave her away as not quite normal.
She wasn't pacing. She stood stiffly at one corner, staring across the street, into a window lit up with golden-yellow lights. She couldn't quite see who was inside with her naked eyes, but she knew. Thomas Merlyn, and Laurel Lance.
Sara had kept tabs on her family, just like Oliver had, and just Lyla, John, and Felicity had. Tatsu only had a cousin left alive, and Maseo's family believed him to be dead. Sin had no family; at least none that she cared for, and the same went for Roy. Mei's sister, and parents were all dead, and the Wilson's all lived at Lifeline.
She knew that the two had gotten together shortly before the Undertaking, despite Malcolm Merlyn's protests. She knew that Tommy was hopelessly in love with Laurel, and had completely done a 360 to get her to date him. She wasn't approving of the match at first. But she'd decided it was better for Laurel to date someone that Sara was certain wasn't about to A) cheat on her, or B) do something unforgivable to her.
Sara lifted one hand to the communication device in her right ear. It was a lot like a hearing aid, wrapping around the outside of her ear, and molded to the inside of it as well, jet black. The only identifying thing on it was a tiny, very tiny white bird on the bottom of the part that wrapped around her ear. Just so they didn't put each other comms in.
"This is Canary." she said, turning away from the street, and quickly walking across the gravel rooftop, boots making faint crunching noises under her feet. "Leaving for a perimeter check."
"This is Demon." Nyssa Al Ghul replied, as if she was right beside Sara, voice clear as the sidewalk below. "No activity. Message received."
Sara parkoured her way to a taller rooftop, two stories above the one she'd been on. It was easier than the obstacle course Roy had set up on subfloor fifteen, and she rolled over the lip of the roof within a minute, breaking into a jog.
She leapt from the building, and widened her perimeter, circling the Starling City Police Department Station Nyssa was inside. She checked the likely sniper spots, the lookout points, and made sure nothing had changed since her last round. And nothing had, at least not yet.
Sara arrived back where she started, and relayed the information back to Nyssa, who informed her that nothing else had changed on her end either.
Nyssa was impersonating an FBI officer. There were no other FBI officers at the station, and her credentials, courtesy of ARGUS, had checked out, so they allowed her to stand outside of the room with the witnesses inside. She was the only Lifeline member with an FBI identity, since they were obnoxiously difficult to procure. She'd gotten it because she was the only one without family members in the 'real world' and therefore essentially unidentifiable. Along with the fact that she didn't have a birth certificate or anything like it.
"This is Overwatch. Status report."
Sara didn't flinch at Felicity's sudden intrusion. She'd long ago gotten used to the blond's perky personality, and sudden tech based appearances.
"This is Canary." she replied quietly. "Nothing of interest. Any updates on your end?"
"Yeah, that's why I'm calling." Felicity said, and Sara picked up the faint noise of Let It Go in the background. The kids were probably watching a DVD again. "We're extracting both Queen females, Laurel Lance, and Thomas Merlyn. Tonight."
Nyssa remained silent, probably a sign that someone was nearby her, but she was listening. Sara knew her better then she knew herself. So Sara was the one who asked the questions. "Who's coming?"
"Katana." Felicity said. "And Dragon. ETA; one hour. Our cover is transport of witnesses to a more secure location. Ravager will meet you at Phase Two."
Nyssa's cool accent came in then. "Acknowledged Overwatch. What about Officer Lance? I'm fairly certain he won't want to leave his daughter; not to mention, he's a possible target as well."
"Ah… Give me ten, I'll call back soon."
Sure enough, ten minutes later, Felicity spoke once more. "Officer Quintin Lance has now been placed into the program as well. Do not leak identities, and no names. Standard internal extraction."
"Copy that." Sara muttered. "We'll be waiting."
Laurel Lance was not prepared to have a rather attractive woman step into the holding cell. They'd been given just a pack of cards, all cell phones and personal belongings removed and taken to a secure location. And for the past six hours, the four of them had been alternating between Go Fish, Uno, Solitaire, and learning how to throw cards.
It had been a pretty boring six hours.
The woman had darker skin, like she'd been born perfectly tan, sharp, dark colored iris', and nearly black curls of hair reaching down past her shoulders. She was exactly the kind of person who was all-business, and it showed when she spoke.
"You're being transferred. Come with me."
She let Thea keep the cards.
They were taken to a black van. It was pitch-black out, and the two people transporting them took them out via an emergency exit. To Laurel's surprise, her father was dragged along with them, and he didn't complain.
The second woman who'd appeared moments after the first was Asian, with the same kind of attitude as the first woman, who'd informed them her name was Mrs. Head, and that was how they were to address her as, and nothing else. The second woman was Miss Jun, and hadn't spoken once.
The van didn't have any windows. Just a bench on each side of the walls, with no seatbelts. Another person was visible in the driver's seat, although they didn't turn around at all. And the passenger's seat was already filled.
The two women who'd dragged them out took seats at the end of the benches, close to the doors. The van started up, and they all lurched as it started to pull out.
There was silence for a few minutes. Then, Thea spoke up.
"Where are we going?"
"Secured location." Miss Jun said flatly, the first words she'd said, lifting a hand to something in her ear that looked a lot like a hearing aid. Her voice was nice, with a soft accent that Thea couldn't pace. "Target's secured. Phase one complete."
There was a tension filled pause, and then Mrs. Head spoke. "Overwatch, repeat."
Both women seemed to be even more on edge after that.
The drive was actually uneventful, for the most part. Nobody stopped them, and the tension levels stayed the same the entire trip, along with the noise level. No one spoke after 'Overwatch' told the women something, although it seemed the two of them had gotten more messages.
Finally, they stopped moving. The doors opened, revealing a woman in all black, a hood and veil over her nose and mouth. She said nothing, pointing towards a helicopter behind her. The other occupants of the car piled out, and started to drag the Queen's, Merlyn, and Lances towards the flying vehicle.
One of the people that the witnesses hadn't seen yet, a young white woman, took the pilot's seat. Thankfully, the helicopter actually did have seatbelts, and headsets.
They took off in the dead of night, helicopter blades chopping through the air. The headsets barely blocked the noise, although someone was talking over it.
"Adjust heading." they ordered. "Head west."
Thea stayed silent, tapping the pack of cards against her knee in anxiety, eyes flitting around the room. The voice gave more instructions, mostly related to weather and what sounded like flight paths. A long time later, they landed in the middle of a forest. There was a small clearing, with just a single story brick building
"Out."
The building had a secret elevator. The moment it was revealed, Thea knew something was up. Things like this didn't happen in situations like hers. They weren't in that much danger, were they?
"Alert them." the unnamed, unmasked woman told the masked one, who silently stepped into the elevator first. The doors shut behind her, and Quintin finally spoke, for the first time in hours.
"What the hell is this?"
"Security." Mrs. Head said bluntly. Quintin snorted, but nobody gave them any more answers. Thea glanced down at her hands, almost expecting to be handcuffed. There was nothing there. It was a minor relief. The doors opened again, and they entered the elevator.
"Demon." Mrs. Head said. "Subfloor fourteen."
"Error. Nyssa Al Ghul: Clear. Rose Wilson: Clear. Mei Gulong: Clear. Other lifeforms unidentified. Access denied."
The mechanical voice caused Thea to flinch, and Tommy's hand flew up to clutch at his heart, eyes wide in surprise. Not one of them women reacted to the voice, or their guests reactions.
"Override."
"Authority needed."
"On the authority of Nyssa Al Ghul."
"Passphrase required."
"Should the world tell you to move, stand your ground, and inform them to move."
"Passphrase confirmed. Welcome. Demon. Ravager. Dragon. Guests."
They moved down. Nobody spoke. Moira moves closer to her daughter, brushing her. The younger Queen stayed still, unwavering, even as thousands of horror scenarios ran through her mind.
Then, the doors opened. And someone screamed.
In retrospect, the scream was more of a war cry. But in return, Tommy let out a yell, along with Thea. Quintin clutched at his heart in shock, and Moira froze, eyes wide. An arrow flew between Quintin and Laurel's heads, and clanged off the back wall. The source of said arrow turned out to be a short blond girl in a white t-shirt and camouflage pants, wearing a neon green bandana, which seemed to be counterproductive to the camouflage.
Instantly, she burst out laughing, doubling over. "Your faces! Oh my god!"
"Athena!" someone shouted as they recovered from the fright. A young woman with the same blond hair as the girl appeared, with a pair of rectangular glasses on, hair tied back in a ponytail. "These are guests!"
The girl managed to compose herself, although she still wore a smirk on her face. The woman, likely her mother, took in a deep breath, and managed to calm herself as well. "Get the arrow. Apologize to our guests and go find your father."
"Yes mom." Athena mumbled. She offered up a rather feeble apology, found the arrow, and scurried off.
"You think she was trying to hit me?" their pilot asked, getting out of the elevator first. "Cause damn, girl nearly did."
"You're fine Rose." Miss Jun said, looking at Athena's mother. "Is Waller still here?"
"Thank god no." the woman sighed, turning to Moira. "Sorry about my daughter. I'm Felicity."
She offered her hand, and Moira shook it gingerly, quickly letting go. "Moira Queen."
"I know. I mean, I'd think I should know, considering I'm—"
Rose cut her off as Miss Jun vanished down one of the hallways. "Felicity."
"Right! Sorry, I talk a lot."
"What is this?" Thea asked, before Felicity to get going again. "Cause it ain't WitSec like—wait, where'd Mrs. Head go?"
"Nyssa?" Felicity guessed. "Probably to change. That's what Sara and Mei are doing. And Rose, your brothers are trying to kill each other again."
"Cool." Rose nodded. "Can you handle the tour?"
"Roy's going to help." Felicity said, turning around to look down one of the halls, the one to the left. "Roy!"
"Coming blondie!"
"See?" Felicity said, turning back to the group. "It'll be fine! Go watch your brothers."
Rose nodded, and promptly vanished, just as a teenager in a red hoodie and jeans came up from the same hallway she went down. Thea cleared her throat, wanting a definitive answer. "What is this place?"
"Subfloor fourteen." the boy replied. "Also known as Project Lifeline."
"These are our official rooms." Felicity said, when they reached the corner. She gestured down the hallway. "Medical, meeting room, supplies, computers, generator, all that stuff is down here.
"Lifeline was founded by us. We wanted to do good, without risking getting arrested. And we wanted to protect our families. Part of the deal included that."
Thea frowned, twisting her card pack in her hand. "What do you guys do here?"
"Run missions." Roy said dryly. "Some of them are short, like preventing assassinations or hostage rescues. But a few are long term."
"We were the Starling City Vigilantes." Felicity said offhandedly, heading back the way they'd come from. Thea had to jog to catch up, having been caught up in her own thoughts. "I'm Overwatch, I run the tech. Roy's Arsenal. My husband is Arrow, Sara was Canary, Nyssa wasn't able to participate for a couple reasons, her dad sucks. And Sin helped out too."
"You're the guy who stole my purse." Thea realized, turning to glare at Roy, who shrugged.
"Guilty."
"We also have the Yamishiros, the Wilsons, and Mei." Felicity added. "The Yamishiros are Tatsu, Maseo, and their son, Akio. The Wilsons are Slade. His daughter Rose, you already met. Grant and Joe are her siblings. Mei's our primary doctor. She was 'Miss Jun'."
"The hell." Tommy muttered, clutching Laurel's hand tighter, hearing something like metal clanging on metal in the distance. "The hell?"
"And the Diggles. John, Lyla, and their twins, Sarah and John Jr."
"Why are we here?" Laurel asked, repeating the question for the fourth or fifth time. Felicity replied by not replying at all. She turned at the corner, and kept on walking.
"These are our apartments. Each family or couple has one. We don't really have locks, but knocking is considered necessary. And polite."
"She's good at avoiding answers." Roy told Laurel, holding back a smile. "But you'll find out soon."
Felicity chatted about how they'd taken the old base, and repurposed it. The first thirteen floors were a deterrent for any intruders, and the two floors below Lifeline were actually part of it, used for training and simulations. She was just finishing telling them how they ordered their food online every month when they passed an open door.
Inside, a girl in a black jacket and ripped jeans sat on a blue couch, a styrofoam container of Raman noodles in her lap. She was eating them with a purple plastic spork, listening to a small African-American girl tell a story, acting out the parts by her lonesome.
It was sparsely furnished. A couch, a low coffee table, a bookshelf. One counter with a sink and stove. Two doors, one presumably for the washroom, other for the bedroom. Artwork hung here and there, black and white sketches, depictions of skulls and horsemen and grim reapers, all with the same signature.
"Yo, Sin!" Roy called, causing both girls to look up at him. "Guests are here."
"Cool." Sin said, uncrossing her legs and slurping up some noodles. Her jet black hair was shaved close to her head, but she looked friendly enough. "C'mon Sare-Bear. Time to see Grant and Joe murder each other."
The girl, presumably the Sara Diggle mentioned earlier, scrambled towards Roy, and latched onto his leg, hugging it. "Roy!"
"Hey 'Bear." he laughed, bending down to pull her off. "Where's your brother?"
"Dunno." Sara said, wiggling happily. Then, she took off down the hallway, as Sin left her apartment, noodles in hand.
"Damn." she whistled. "Girl can run. Who'd she learn that from, Abercrombie?"
Roy scoffed, and took off after the four-year-old. Sin took one look at Thea, rolled her eyes, and took the lead, just in front of Felicity. She said nothing else as they went down the halls. A few other rooms were open. All of them had the same general idea. Dark grey walls, usually with some sparsely allotted furniture, a connected kitchen, and a couple doors. Each room had art or décor, specific to the occupant. One had a pair of cutlass-like swords hung beside each other, above the mantel. Another had a rock climbing wall on part of the ceiling. And a third had oriental-style art all over it, the furnishings similar.
As they moved down the hall, the sounds of clanging metal became clearer, along with a few voices. And then they stepped out into a massive gym.
It took up part of the floor above them, apparently, considering the climbing wall going up, and the layers of netting across one section above. In said layers, two kids were climbing around. Athena, and a boy who had to be Akio, since it had been pointed out that Grant and Joe were fighting, and John Jr. was a twin, and not twelve.
In the middle of the floor, two boys were fighting, each duel wielding a pair of straight, single-edged blades. The elder must have been nearly old enough to drink, the younger maybe Athena's age, perhaps a touch older.
"Watch your footing Grant!" a grizzled man with an eyepatch ordered. He had a pair of swords crossed on his back, but otherwise was dressed like a normal person. "Joe, you're slowing down!"
Actually, most of the people in the room had weapons. An oriental couple seated together both had swords, the woman with a sheath looped on her back, the man's at his hip. Athena still had her weaponry, and the boy she was playing with had a long knife at his back. Another man, watching the fight had a bow and arrow as well, while Rose had a single sword on her back. Mrs. Head, Nyssa, was apparently unarmed, as was the blond beside her. And Mei didn't have any weapons either.
"Our guests are here." Sin called, sitting down beside a couple who must have been John and Sara's parents. The woman, while slender, was built with clear, defined muscle, and the man had broad shoulders, skin dark.
The younger Wilson let out a cry, and spun his blades around, slashing at his brothers feet with one. He missed, but continued his spin, and brought the second around, knocking his brothers blade aside. His first blade hovered near the elders neck, although he was partially ducked.
"Call it." Roy suggested, from where he was hanging upside-down from the first layer of netting by his knees, hood fallen around his head.
"End match." the eyepatch man ordered, and both boys relaxed, stepping apart, and sheathing their blades.
"So." Felicity said, sounding cheerful and not at all bothered at the violent fight that had just ended, "That's Slade, Grant, and Joe Wilson. Tatsu and Maseo are those two, their son Akio, is up there. Lyla Michaels, John Diggle, and their son, John Jr. I think you know the rest."
"We don't." Laurel said icily, sick of nothing being explained, of the ignorance of kidnapping, of their situation. "Who's that?"
She pointed at the man with the bow, who looked remarkably calm. Felicity, on the other hand, didn't. "And who's she?"
The woman standing by Nyssa tensed, but stayed perfectly still otherwise, arms crossed. Quintin backed up his daughter. "I'm an officer of the law. You kidnapped us."
"I am afraid that is not true." Tatsu said, rising to her feet, and moving forwards, her husband following. "We were given permission to bring you here. You will be safe here."
Her voice was calm, soothing, but the group wasn't convinced.
"Well, sorry if I don't trust the people who find it normal to fight with swords!" Thea spat. It hit a nerve. Joe moved closer to his brother, a hand on Grant's shoulder. Akio and Athena, who'd just dropped down a level, stared right at them. Lyla's lips pressed together. Roy untangled his legs, dropping to the floor several meters below.
"You were brought here for your protection." Nyssa said sternly. "This is not something given lightly, Miss Queen."
"You said the deal was protection for your families." Tommy butted in, looking to Felicity, who gave him a single, quick nod. "But for that, we'd need to be related."
"We are." Felicity said nervously. "Well, I'm not related to you, but I am related to—"
"Bullshit." Quintin called. "I don't know any of you!"
"You do."
The blond by Nyssa spoke, and moved forwards. All the Lifeline members tensed as she moved forwards, towards Quintin. "I knew you for a long time."
"What are you—"
"You thought Sara died." Sin said bluntly. "She didn't."
"Wha—"
"Hi Daddy."
"Sara?"
She nodded once, and he scoffed, disbelieving. "Yeah right. You think you can just what, trick me—"
"When I was ten, you bought me a canary." Sara whispered, voice echoing in the silence. "It refused to stop singing."
"Sara?"
"That doesn't explain us." Thea said, after the Lances had reunited with their daughter. Sara, apparently overwhelmed or perhaps not comfortable with the attention, had pulled back, standing by Nyssa again, although closer. "That could explain Tommy, because he and Laurel are together—" nobody but the Lifeline members noticed how Oliver tensed in surprise at hearing it from his sister, "—but me and Mom?"
"You survived the Gambit." Moira said quietly, staring at Sara. "Did Oliver..."
"Yeah." Oliver found himself saying. "I made it."
"Okay." Sin said, fifteen minutes later, after the guests had—mostly—gotten over the shock of Oliver and Sara. By that time, Grant was halfway up the climbing section beside the netting, the twins a little ways behind. Athena was bouncing around on one of the taught layers, the ones that was more fabric then knotted ropes, like a sort of trampoline, trying to do a backflip. Akio was below her, laying on his back. "Now that that's done. What exactly are we going to do about the Shadows? I mean, She-Devil said nada about what we're supposed to do, it was just an extraction. But we can't keep them here forever, they have lives. Pretty exposed lives, at that."
"I don't know." Oliver admitted, running a hand over his head, and looking to John. "Any ideas?"
"My sister has several safe houses across the country." Nyssa volunteered, stepping forwards. "Hundreds of them."
"I could write an algorithm." Felicity volunteered, raising her hand slightly. "Cross checking where we know she's been at different times, her identities, and any other information we have with the locations. Narrow it down a bit."
"That sounds like an excellent idea." Lyla agreed, eyes tracking her twins, who were halfway up the wall now. Grant was still climbing, ignoring the netting in favour of going higher. "How long would that take?"
"A day. Maybe two, if nothing else comes up."
"We also need to look into HIVE." Joe said, sitting down on one of the benches, and cracking his neck. "Doesn't Darhk have connections to Ra's Al Ghul?"
Everyone who knew who Ra's Al Ghul was turned to Nyssa and Sara, who were sitting together on one of the other benches. Sara shook her head. "I never heard the name while I was with the League. Nyssa?"
The assassin nodded. "Damian was an associate of my father, before he became Ra's Al Ghul. They were both contenders for the name, and Damian vanished around that point in time. I'm afraid I know nothing other than that."
"Who's Ra's Al Ghul?" Laurel asked, and everyone stared at her for a minute. "What?"
Athena called down. "The immortal jerkface!"
There were a few chuckles, and a few sighs of exasperation. But nobody elaborated on the girl's explanation. Instead, Mei made a suggestion. "Perhaps we should eat, and talk there. This room is not made for long explanations."
The others seemed to agree, and started to head down the hallway. Except for Felicity and Oliver, who looked up at where the kids were wrestling. Grant was at the top of the wall, clinging to it with one hand and foot, the other side hanging in empty air.
"Head's up!" he shouted, and jumped.
Athena yelped as his weight caused both her and Akio to go flying up in the air. Her arms and legs scrambled in the air to balance herself and she landed on the net below. They were staggered, the highest one the smallest, the rest slowly moving further from the wall, like stairs. Akio landed after her, and she bounced again, hitting the middle net.
Grant flipped from the top layer, and catapulted Akio down two levels, sending himself down to Athena's. And so they went, all the way down to the bottom layer, where the twins were.
"Time for dinner!" he said brightly, grabbing Sara, who wiggled, trying to free herself. She was laughing, and Grant started to laugh as well, as Junior attacked him from behind. Athena joined in, jumping onto the pile. Akio charged in a moment later, fighting with Grant.
"C'mon guys!" Oliver called, sounding amused as Thea and Moira watched. "Come down!"
After a few minutes, Grant freed himself, and held Junior with one arm, hanging from the nets edge with the other. "Ready?"
"He's not going to drop him, right?" Thea asked Felicity, as Oliver moved forwards, arms outstretched.
"Eh." Felicity shrugged. "Least they're not practicing decapitation techniques this time."
"What?"
Grant dropped Junior, who was caught by Oliver. Oliver set the boy down swiftly and he rolled away, in a neat shoulder roll. Far too tidy four a four-year-old.
Athena lugged Sara over next, holding her under the armpits. The blond counted down, starting to build up momentum with the younger girl. "Three! Two! One!"
Sara went flying, barely caught by Oliver, and she rolled away from him too, running after her brother, almost slamming into Felicity's legs. The girl sidestepped at the last moment, giggling. Felicity turned her head to watch her run out of the gym, past the workout machines, and down the hall. Thea's eyes were glued to Athena, who was hanging from the netting edge with both hands.
"Can I flip?" she called.
"Do you think you can make it?" Oliver asked.
"Yeah."
"Then go ahead."
With a grunt, Athena kicked her legs, as if she was on a swing. Building up speed, she released the netting at the top of her backwards arc, sending herself flying. She managed to execute a single twisting flip, so she was facing the opposite direction she'd started. She rolled with her landing, but lost control at the last second, spilling out. She gripped the thin blue mats of the sparing rectangle, feet skidding out behind her, hip scraping the ground. "Ow."
"You okay?" Grant shouted as she pushed herself to her feet, brushing herself off.
"Fine!" she called back. "Hurry up, I want food!"
Grant faced away from the netting, and swung his legs like Athena had, sending himself flying. Unlike Athena, he didn't go for height, instead releasing halfway through his forwards swing. He went soaring forwards, and hit feet-first, rolling over his shoulder, which seemed to be a common theme. Akio jumped after them, although he just dropped and rolled, before charging at Grant, with his knife.
Grant blocked the first strike, his hand hitting Akio's wrist. He wrapped his fingers around the younger boy's wrist, and spun, throwing Akio over his shoulder. Akio held onto Grant's long sleeved shirt, pulling the elder with him, and rolling onto him, pinning him.
Before he could do anything, Athena charged at them, and knocked Akio off. "Food!"
Oliver suddenly appeared beside them, pushing them apart. All three kids made disappointed noises, and Felicity laughed, before she turned away, heading for the apartments. Moira swiftly followed, and Grant shouted something at the other kids, charging down the hallway. Akio yelled furiously, and charged after him, notably knife-less.
Athena clambered onto Oliver's back, knee's clinging to his sides, leaving her hands free. She somehow navigated around the quiver Oliver still had on, looking comfortable as he walked towards the apartments. Thea stepped up beside him, eyeing the girl.
"Who are you?" Athena asked, looking down at the brunette. "Are you related to me?"
"Thea Queen." Thea found herself saying. The girl nodded.
"My aunt then."
It wasn't hard to piece it together, even if Felicity had shied away from it somewhat. Oliver had married the blond, and Athena was their daughter. It made sense, since there was really no other option in the situation.
It was still a shock, although Thea thought she handled it well, only nodding. "Cool."
Athena somehow flipped over her father's shoulder, lowering her legs in front of him and landing on the ground, sprinting down the halway, and swinging off the side of a doorframe, into one of the rooms.
"She's ADHD." Oliver admitted. "Felicity's father was as well, although she's never gotten the diagnosis."
"Oh." Thea said, although she wasn't sure why she was being told. Maybe because he felt like he needed to justify his daughters actions? That seemed silly. The girl was ADHD sure, but it wasn't like that meant she was insane or something.
Entering the apartment was like stepping into a different world. It didn't seem to be someone's living quarters, more of a communal space. There was an island with a few stools by the kitchen area, and a table beside it. Up a pair of stairs, there was a living room-esque space, with a long grey L shaped couch shoved up in the far left corner, a wooden coffee table, and a smaller couch. A half-dozen bean bags were scattered around the higher level, and Grant was playing keep-away with Akio, who was trying to get his knife back, while Roy was flicking through a DVD album.
Most of the adults were gathered in the main room, where Joe and Tatsu were working in the kitchen, Sin chatting with Rose and Mei, who were on another set of couches near the door. Moira had perched herself on one of the stools beside Quintin, who was in a kind of daze, staring at his daughter.
Sara was flirting with Nyssa, stealing bits of vegetables that the assassin was chopping up, and laughing. Maseo was engaged in a conversation at the table with Slade and Felicity, the latter of whom was typing rapidly on a computer, and not really adding much to the conversation.
There was a rug in each living room space, and weapons decorated the walls. A collection of sleek knives were arranged above the stove, some of them longer then Thea's forearm, the smallest shorter than her pinky. A long ranged sniper rifle-like thing was displayed above one of the couches, and a bookshelf had copies of books, from Percy Jackson, to 101 AWESOME MINECRAFT BUILDS all the way to classic's like the Odyssey. A grenade sat at one end of the shelf, along with a bottle of liquid with a wick in it.
"Does anyone know anything about the Spanish Cartell?" Rose demanded. Thea turned her attention to the girl as Oliver took off his gear. "Anything?"
"You don't?" Joe asked. Rose gave him the finger, and he slashed at it with a butter knife, missing when she pulled away. "Felicity has a file on them. It's under funambulism."
"The fucks funambulism?"
"The art of tight-rope walking." Sin said, from where she sat at the end of the island.
"How do you know that?"
"I looked it up."
This resulted in Rose throwing a knife at Sin, who leaned casually out of the way, and the blade sunk into a nearby dartboard, dead center.
"No throwing weapons during dinner!" Tatsu scolded, and Rose stood up to get the blade, but the older woman got there first, shaking the weapon in the taller girl's face. "No weapons!"
"Right." Rose said, leaning her head out of the way, and taking note of the antics in the TV room. "Roy, pick a bloody film already."
"How to Train Your Dragon?"
"Whatever, I don't care."
Thea found herself on the couch by Athena, who'd discarded her quiver and bow on the half-wall that ringed the TV living room, small trinkets hanging along it as well. Roy put the film in, and tossed the remote to Grant.
"Don't break it." he ordered, before going to help the others with dinner.
Grant muttered something, and turned the volume up, as someone in the kitchen started to play some random song on the beat-up radio above the sink. Thea relaxed, feeling safe for the first time since she was taken to the holding cell at SCPD. It felt... kind of like a home.
A crazy home, sure, but a home none the less.
Dinner was a rather odd affair. Tommy had somehow managed to connect with Maseo, who seems to more or less be just humouring him, while Mei was actually speaking to Laurel about their respective jobs. Moira and Slade were talking about god knows what, and Thea found herself on Felicity's left, with Grant beside her, and Akio, Athena, Mini Sara and Junior in a line down the table, and coming around the other side.
The kids were debating something that Thea actually knew about, although she didn't know it all that well. FanFiction.
Apparently, they had enough of an internet connection to be able to frequent the websites associated with such things, and were co-authoring a story about the Avengers. From what Thea could hear, they were debating every single letter of it, which was impressive. Most kids who actually were on those sites just wrote a bunch of crap and looked for praise.
"No, she doesn't." Athena said, sounding irritated. "She lost it when she fell into the Pit, remember? It's mentioned."
"'Thea's right." Akio agreed between bites of mashed potatoes. "I remember that."
"I'm looking that up tonight." Grant muttered under his breath, yielding to their superior knowledge, and Thea made eye contact with Rose, who rolled her eyes before mothing a message that took a minute to decode.
Ignore them.
Thea decided to do just that, tuning into the main conversation instead, which was being held by the Lifeline members, discussing some kind of project they were working on.
"It's possible that the incident was planned." Oliver said, looking to Slade. "Nobody would really look twice, no? Bridges in America aren't exactly up to date things."
"Possibly." Slade agreed, writing something down in some kind of code on a yellow legal pad. "We'll have to consider anyone who might have anything to gain from it."
"That's a long list." Sin commented, swatting Roy's elbow. "Move, you're in my space."
He muttered something at her, and she wrinkled her nose at him. "Idiot."
"Anyone heard from Gotham lately?" Roy asked, between french fries. "Hood's ghosting me again."
"Oracle said they're dealing with some crisis. Again." Felicity offered.
"Yay." Sin deadpanned.
"They need help?"
"Nah, she said they're fine. Just busy. Said we should come for Thanksgiving though!"
"We will go." Tatsu said, and nobody argued. There were nods of agreement, a couple words of excitement, but nothing more. The conversation continued on. Thea remained silent, just listening to them speak.
She also watched how they all interacted. Mini Sara stole a chicken finger from her brothers plate, which made the two of them fight after she shoved it in her mouth whole. Junior let out a wail that nobody placated, and smacked his fists into his sisters arm. She started to punch him as well, and it only stopped after Grant leaned across the table and drove a steak knife into the wood between their plates, as if it was normal.
"Did you know," Athena started, sounding proud. "That butter knives were invented in the Middle Ages to try and lower the chances of assassination attempts during dinner?"
"That's stupid." Grant said. "If you want to kill someone, there's tons of ways, not just stabbing them."
Thea glanced at Quintin, who if possible, looked green as the Hulk at the casual conversation happening a few seats away from him. But the Lifeline members didn't seem to really notice. Tatsu only scolded the kids after Akio, Grant and Athena started to very precisely lay out a plan to assassinate the Queen of England, to which she reminded him of the location of certain guards and that that passageway they'd been planning to use wasn't actually in use anymore, it had collapsed. They just thanked her and rehashed their plan.
"They won't actually try to kill her, right?" Thea said quietly to Felicity. The blond swallowed her rice, and shrugged, not seeming all that bothered by the question.
"It's good for them to run mental simulations." she explained. "Helps with brain power, visualization, all that. And they're just using the name of the Monarch, not the Monarch themself. This would be if say, someone managed to take her hostage and such. An extraction. We correct them if there's something obviously wrong, but they fix almost all of it by themselves."
Akio and Athena started arguing about what nerves to hit, and Thea decided to ignore the kids for the rest of the meal.
Athena Smoak-Queen mostly tried to ignore the guests. They wouldn't be around long anyways, would they?
The last, and only time they'd gotten guests that wasn't an ARGUS person had been two years ago, when Red Robin and Spoiler had come around to speak with the adults. They knew the Clan from a few missions in Gotham, and they were the only people that Athena knew properly, outside of the base.
Gotham was the only place where they got to do actual things. They'd spent Christmas there last year, with the Clan, and it had been fun. She'd gotten to go on patrol as a Robin, along with Grant and Akio. Apparently, nobody really kept track of the Robins anymore, so that had been the best costume choice.
They emailed with the Bats a lot. It wasn't official stuff, like Uncle Roy had been talking about; it was day-to-day stuff. Sometimes the emails were really long because they didn't have time to write them for a while, and sometimes they were just a few sentences.
She wanted to go to Gotham again. Gotham was way better than another group of people who she didn't know and who thought she was crazy because she could fight without a weapon and bring down a grown-man and could hack into a lot of top-secret stuff.
She wanted them to leave already. They were fine without the new people. The police officer looked like he wanted to arrest Dad, and Grandmother looked like she didn't approve of any of it. Along with the lawyer and her boyfriend. Thea was the only one who Athena actually liked in some way; the girl seemed to be more or less accepting, and while she looked surprised at what they could do, she seemed impressed by it more than anything.
That was good.
"Can we call Gotham?" she asked, leaning over the table so she could see anyone. "I want to talk to Claire."
"Sure." Dad answered, after the adults looked at each other. "Clean up first, 'kay?"
"Ja Papa." she replied, the German easily sliding off her tongue. She was multilingual, like most people, with Japanese, English, and German, the latter her current elective.
She scraped off what little remained of her meal into the small green compost bin under the sink, and put her dishes in the dishwasher. Akio, his mouth full of food, cheeks stuffed like a chipmunk, was quick to follow.
The two of them wandered down to the family apartments, and into their respective rooms. Athena's was pretty basic. A fake window on one wall lit up the wall, mimicking how light would filter through on the surface, a single potted plant on the sill. There was a vent cover under her desk, where her laptop sat. Her bed was pressed against one wall, up in the corner, and she had a simple dresser. A short sword leaned against the wall, her combat gear piled by it, and a few pictures decorated shelves.
She unplugged her laptop, and rummaged around for a pair of headphones, and headed back. They found Grant on the couch with the twins, the third How to Train Your Dragon film playing. He didn't seem to be watching, although the twins were. They kept pausing it, and acting out scenes, trying to stand on each others back, like they were surfing. Someone had moved the table away, into a corner, which was a smart move.
The twins had better balance then most four-year-olds, but they were still four.
It took a few minutes for Athena to log onto a private chat room, and send a message.
Athena/Artemis: Hi
While she waited, she connected her headphones, knowing that Claire would probably talk, while she typed. It was something they did, for no real reason then they could.
It only took a couple minutes for Claire to log on, and send her own message.
Claire/Gotham Girl: Sup
Claire/Gotham Girl wants to use audio message. Accept / Deny
Athena clicked on accept, and Claire's voice flooded through her years. "Hey Athena! What's up?"
She typed out a message explaining the day's events. Claire was silent during the waiting period, and a small window popped up the top corner of the screen. It showed a profile picture of a laughing Claire Clover and Athena, who was dressed in her combat uniform, Claire in her own uniform.
"Damn. They annoying?"
Athena/Artemis: they're not the most accepting
"What do they do againn? Names, jobs, spill it all!"
Athena/Artemis: what are you doing?
"Procrastinating an essay I need to write. It's like, one in the morning here, I just got off patrol."
Holding back a giggle, Arthena typed out a brief description of the guests' jobs.
"Lawyer, cop, and three rich people? Seriously? Wait, are they Queens?"
Athena looked up as Roy sat down, and she sighed, accepting that it would probably be easier just to go back to her room, and video chat.
"Yo, Arty? You there?"
She sent a random letter, already standing up, and heading out. Rose shouted something at her, and she shrugged in return, continuing on.
She put her laptop down, wondering why she'd even gone back to the main room, where Akio was playing some video game on his laptop, and sent a video chat request, shutting her door while she waited for it to load.
"Cool." Claire said, and the entire screen was filled with a live stream video feed from Gotham. "How are you doing with them?"
"Not well." Athena replied, sitting down at her desk, while Claire seemed to search for earbuds or headphones of her own. "Thea seems to be the only one who's in any way accepting; the cop looks like he wants to arrest all of us."
"There are only two cops I know of who are good, and one of them's my brother. The other is my pseudo-sister's dad."
"I'm not related to this cop. But my grandmother and aunt are here, along with Thomas Merlyn. The cop's Quintin Lance and his daughter is Laurel."
"That lawyer that tried to arrest you guys during the Undertaking?"
"The very same."
"Want to come over soon?" Claire asked, sitting down, and apparently plugging a pair of white earbuds into her computer. "I mean, Carrie graduated from Robin to Catgirl a couple weeks ago, the city's still reeling from that."
Athena smiled. Carrie was great. As Catgirl, she'd be unstoppable, especially if she was being trained by Selina.
"Yeah, I'd love to. Doubt I'll be able to though. I think Mom wants me to 'bond' with Dad's family."
Claire snorted. "Our families are so fucked up man, bonding is ripping each others throats out, not drinking tea and telling stories."
"I'll talk to dad about it. Now, tell me about your patrol, I want to know everything."