Jacob woke up in a cold sweat, gasping for breath. Forcing himself to stand, he got up and stretched. Cracks and pops filled the air as he moved through a series of stretches. Shaking the cold sweat from his limbs, he looked around the room, finding Sin no where in sight.
That's odd, he thought to himself as he walked over to the computer station. Right on the screen sat a small yellow sticky note; went for food, was scrawled across it in haste hand, signed with her name. He chuckled, moving the note off the screen and turning it on. Clicking through the usual programs, he loaded up both the SCPD database and the police band, turning the volume down. He dove headlong into the files, looking for his next target.
Almost an hour later, he was still at it, several windows open on the screen, full of information. The elevator opened and Sin walked out with a paper bag in hand, stained with grease.
"You're awake," she noticed, walking in with a raised eyebrow.
He grunted, eyes still flicking over the screen.
"You hungry?" she asked, holding up the food. "Or do you not eat?"
"Depends," he sighed, spinning around in the chair. "What did you get?"
"Patty shack," she grinned, holding up the paper bag and opening it. "Best burgers in Star City."
"Always was more partial to Big Belly Burger," he laughed, turning around in his chair.
"Just eat it," she groaned, walking over and dropping a folded paper wrapped package onto his lap.
"Not the first time I've heard that," he mumbled under his breath.
"You and me both," she shot back, grinning before taking an over exaggerated bite of her burger.
He snorted so hard he started to choke on his mouthful of food, reaching under the table to grab a bottle of water. Taking a big gulp of it and sputtering for a few seconds, he turned and glared at her.
"You deserved that," she warned, pointing her burger at him.
He rolled his eyes, turning back towards the screen while eating his own burger.
"Who are you going after now?" she asked, walking around and eating.
"Still Los Harcones," he replied, opening more files. "But I want to hit them from a different angle."
"You've been hitting them pretty hard," she admitted, walking over to the paper bag and balling up her wrapper before pulling out a second one. "Aren't you worried about attracting attention?"
"I'm not worried about it," he shrugged. "The SCPD is barely competent enough to handle the little things."
"Nah man," she waved, wiping some ketchup from her chin. "I'm talking about The Green Arrow and the other Masks running around the city."
"Oliver and his people don't bother me," he grunted, ignoring the fact her eyes widened to epic proportions.
"Oliver Queen is The Green Arrow?" she exclaimed, staring at him.
"Yep," he replied flatly, flicking a news update across the screen so she could see it. "His picture is all over the local news."
"Huh," she muttered, looking at the picture and reading through the repeating articles. "You think it'll stick?"
"Probably not," he shrugged, turning back to his notes. "Felicity will probably debunk it as a fake or they'll come up with some sort of coverup."
"Must be nice having that sort of techno power," Sin muttered, crumpling up her last wrapper and tossing it into the paper bag.
"Where do you think half of this came from?" he asked, spinning to face her with raised arms.
"Dude, did you steal this shit?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No," he laughed, spinning back to the screen. "Well, not all of it."
She laughed, shaking her head.
"So what's our next move?" she asked, looking over his shoulder.
"I'm thinking we lean on Abernathy a little," he admitted, pulling up a lot of his filed police reports. "Every report he's filed has been suspiciously vague."
"How have the higher ups not noticed this shit?" she asked, reading through several reports. "He's obviously looking the other way."
"Exactly," he confirmed, nodding. "So he's connected. My thinking is, he's covering for them, so that may open up more targets."
"So where do we hit him?" she asked, reaching around him to pull up his personal file. "At home?"
"No," he shook his head. "He's a detective, probably security, not to mention Los Harcones probably have someone watching him."
"The Precinct is obviously out," she groaned, straightening up. "Any ideas?"
"We'll have to keep an eye on him for now," he admitted scratching his chin. "Find a pattern in his movements, get an opportunity while he's alone."
"Sounds good," she nodded, stretching and cracking her neck."
"When do we do that?"
"Later," he said, standing up and moving to put on his league Jacket. "We need to go see Henry about your ribs."
"Dude, I feel fine," she groaned in irritance. "Not like I'll be jumping rooftops or anything."
"Not yet," he warned. "When I'm done training you, you'll be capable of doing everything I do and then some. Plus, my training won't be easy, you're going to be breaking even more."
"Fine, fine," she sighed, relenting. "But on one condition; you find something else to wear."
"I'm not ready for Henry to see my face just yet," he shot back, shaking his head and holding up his hood.
"You really need to find something better," she urged, shuddering at the sight of it.
"I'm working on it," he replied, looking over at the leather motorcycle jacket he stole.
Sin walked into the clinic, the beads on the curtain making a clattering sound as she passed through the back doorway.
"Doc, you here?" she called, looking around the counters and pausing.
"Back here my dear," she heard him call from inside his den; she heard the clatter of porcelain on a saucer as he got up. "Where's out masked friend?"
"I'm here, Henry," Jacob called, stepping out of the shadow of the doorway.
"Ah, of course," he smiled, turning towards him. "What can i do for you two this evening?"
"You asked me to look for her," Jacob said bluntly. "I found her."
"Yes, I can see that," he laughed.
"She needs a checkup," Jacob went on, nodding at her. "Make sure those ribs are healed."
"Of course, of course," he nodded, holding his hand out towards the main clinic.
Sin turned, walking out towards the X-Ray machine as Henry followed behind. Pressing a few buttons on the side, he fired the machine up and it started humming, a screen on the side flicking on.
"Alright then, dear," he started, rolling up his sleeves and adjusting his glasses. "I'm going to need you to take off your blouse and any jewelry you might have on you."
He paused, looking back over his shoulder to where Jacob was.
"Be a lad and give the lady some privacy, would you?" Henry shot at him, slightly furrowing his brow.
"Its fine, doc," she laughed, whipping her jacket off and revealing another sleeveless shirt. After setting the jacket on the table, she pulled her shirt up over her head, revealing a set of nipple piercing's. "He's not my type anyway."
"My word, what are those?" Henry asked, frowning and straightening his glasses. Through each of her nipples was a shinning silver bar with a ball on each end, contrasting against her pale white skin.
"What's a matter doc?" she asked laughing. Haven't you seen body mods on a lady before?"
"I have seen many piercing's, young lady," he chided her, his British scowl intensifying. "But never one so...vulgar…"
"You think that's bad?" she asked, hands working to undo her pants buttons. "That's nothing, I've got this one…"
"Now, now," he stopped her before she could show anything more. "That wont be necessary."
Sin laughed even harder, re-buttoning her pants and holding her hands back up.
"Lets get this over with then," she insisted, laying back on her back. "Give me a good scan so J will stop treating me like I'm fragile."
"Bloody Americans," Henry muttered, maneuvering the head of the machine down towards her chest. "Feeling the need to put metal in the strangest places."
Jacob chuckled quietly to himself, watching as the doctor worked.
"So," Henry started, looking out of the corner of his eye at Jacob. "What does J stand for?"
"Ah, hell…" Sin sighed under the scanner head. "That's my fault."
"What's that dear?" Henry asked, frowning and looking from Jacob to Sin.
"He didn't want you to know his name quiet yet," she sighed, handing coming up to her face before Henry chided her for moving.
"Its not safe," Jacob insisted.
"Posh on that," Henry laughed, moving the head to the left and pressing a button on it a few times.
"If you don't tell me, I'll have to guess," he went on, smiling.
Jacob stayed silent, shaking his head as Sin smiled.
"Very well then," Henry continued. "Is it, Joshua?"
Sin smirked while making a sorting sound.
"Not even close, Doc," she chuckled.
"The patient, Henry," Jacob urged, sighing.
"Oh, alright," he sighed, moving the head of the machine back to its holding position. "You can go ahead and get dressed darling."
Sin nodded and reached over for her shirt while Henry and Jacob walked over to the screen on the side.
"How's she look?" he asked impatiently.
"It'll be just a minute," Henry explained, pressing a few buttons on the screen. "Digital it may be, but the best, it is not."
"What's your thoughts?" Jacob pressed.
Before Henry could answer, the screen flickered a few times, finally displaying multiple shots of Sins skeletal structure, specifically her ribs.
"Ah, here we go" Henry finally started, enlarging two sections. "The breaks i felt were here, here and here. As you can tell, they've fused back together quite nicely, no overlap or weak spots. Id say in a week shell be back to normal."
"Good," Jacob nodded, looking over at her. "The sooner i can train her, the better."
"You mean you intend to teach her to be like you?" He asked, frowning at him.
"She came to me, Henry," Jacob shot back. "I don't wish my life on anyone, but id rather show her how to protect herself and help her live."
Henry nodded solemnly, looking over at hr. Jacob followed his look and saw why.
"What happened up here," he asked her, indicating a spiderweb of scars running from her lower neck all the way to the top of her breasts.
"Ah, man," she groaned, hurrying with her shirt to cover them. "Its nothing. I was in Seattle a few months ago, was kind of a rough town. Lots of weird shit going on out there."
Jacob stared at her, not fully buying her explanation.
"Don't look at me like that," she argued, pointing a finger at him. "Doc, do you know he's covered in scars all over his body?"
"I am well aware," Henry nodded, taking a cloth from his pocket and wiping the lenses of his glasses. "Though he wont tell me about how he managed to acquire them."
"Me either," she laughed, settling her shirt down. "So you've got some explaining to do first mister."
"Maybe sometime," he shrugged, turning away. "Sin, don't you have something to tell Henry?"
"Ah hell," she sighed, shrugging on her jacket. "Look doc, about running off…"
"That's alright dear," he smiled, waving her away. "As long as you're in good health and safe, all is forgiven."
"Well and for patching me up….thank you," she mumbled.
"It was a pleasure," he replied nodding. "Anytime either of you need direct medical attention, you are welcome here."
Jacob nodded, turning to leave.
"Before you go," Henry went on, holding up a hand. "I have a favor I might ask of you."
"What is it, doc?" Sin asked, standing up.
"Go ahead, Henry," Jacob confirmed.
"Yes, well," he coughed, pulling out a handkerchief from his pocket. "I have had a patient in and out rather frequently lately, mother of two. She consistently comes in with bruised, broken bones, normal for the area I suppose. Now I've sat and chatted with her and I'm fairly sure it is a textbook case of spousal abuse. The woman is sweet, a kind person and just doesn't deserve to be treated that way. I was hoping maybe you could handle the husband in your way."
"Marital problems aren't exactly in my wheelhouse," Jacob muttered, turning away.
"But criminals are," Henry persisted. "The man has a criminal record, I had a friend in Interpol do some leg work. Multiple arrests, felonies relating to drug usage and distribution."
Jacob stopped, looking over his shoulder.
"I may wear glasses," henry went on. "But I am not completely blind. I've seen the aftermath of your antics involving that bloody gang. I understand the desire to righten a neighborhood, that i am all for. But the explosions, the killings? You have to understand there is a degree of collateral damage behind that."
Jacob froze, hair standing up on the back of his neck.
"Give me a name," he responded quietly. "And I will look into it."
Henry nodded, pushing his glasses up from the bridge of his nose and took a pen out of his pocket. With a quick scrawl, he jotted a series of names down on a pad of paper, tearing it off. Handing it to Sin, he clicked the pen closed and sat it down.
"Nice handwriting, Doc," Sin commented, looking down at the paper.
"Mother insisted on Calligraphy," he stated simply.
"One of these days you'll have to tell us why you left 'dear ol'' England'," she laughed, pocketing the folded up piece of paper.
"Over a proper cuppa tea, perhaps," He hoked, indicating the open door to his den.
"Yuck, I prefer coffee," she snorted, turning up her nose.
"Americans…" he sighed, pinching the bride of his nose and sighing.
Jacob chuckled as he pushed aside the curtain and Sin followed.
Jacob stood shirtless in the corner on his hands, doing upside down pushups against the wall as Sin spun around in the workstation chair.
"Shouldn't you be practicing?" he asked her, breaking the silence.
"It just doesn't feel right," she sighed, picking up the hand crossbow and fidgeting with it. "Plus it takes so long to reload."
He flipped down to his feet, standing up tall and stretching out his shoulders and arms. Walking over to the workstation, he tapped a few keys ad a design program started to load. A few more clicks brought up a schematic on screen.
"Maybe I can come up with something," he mumbled, motioning for her to stand up and taking the chair, clicking on a few items as well. The schematic animated, showing exactly how it fired. With another click, he stopped the animation and started moving parts around, adding in new ones while he went.
"What is this?" she asked, looking over his shoulder.
"3d designer," he muttered, clicking animate and watching as the schematic failed. "I know someone who can build almost anything i come up with on this."
"Dude, that's awesome," she laughed, walking over to the other table and noticing a set of circular looking devices.
"What're these?" she asked, holding one of the devices up and looking at it.
"Woah, easy," Jacob called, jumping up and carefully taking it from her, laying it on the table. "That's one of the last ones I have left."
"Dude what is it?" She asked again, raising an eyebrow.
"Its one of Sara's old sonic devices, from when she was The Canary."
"And why do you have it?" she asked.
"I have some of her old gear," he shrugged, staring at it. "She doesn't use any of it, so i figured why not. Her old suit is here too. I've been trying to copy the design and make one of my own."
"The suit or the device?" she asked, raising an eyebrow and looking at him with a grin.
"Does it work?" She asked when he didn't say anything, reaching out for it but getting her hand smacked.
"Not yet," he groaned. "Ill get there though."
He picked Sara's back up, looking over it with longing, Sin noticing his reaction.
"Dude, you alright?" she asked, looking from the device to his face.
"I should get to work on Abernathy," he muttered, shaking his head and setting Sara's device down. "Need to start trailing him tonight."
"No," she groaned, shaking her head. "What you need is to get a life. Take a night off."
"I had a life, I was married," he grumbled, turning for his league jacket and ignoring her advice.
"I know," she sighed, beating him to it and holding the jacket down. "Why don't you go see your Queen?"
"Because last time I was seen and almost found out," he grunted at her, glaring as well.
"So blend in?" she smirked, walking over and picking up both his Rockets hat and the motorcycle jacket.
"That's not exactly going to blend in," he sighed, shaking his head.
"Just wear it," she insisted, throwing them both at him. "You need some time outside that mask. Plus it stinks. I'm gonna wash it….somehow."
"Not like you can take it to a laundry mat," he groaned, taking both the hat and the moto jacket.
"Dude ill figure it out," she sighed, picking it up and staring at it.
With a defeated groan, he picked up one of his black shirts, slipped it on quickly and pulled the jacket on.
"Is that better?" he asked, pulling the hat low over his eyes and straightening it.
"Yes, actually," she laughed, looking him over. "You look normal."
He rolled his eyes, walked towards the window and slipped outside. Taking off across the rooftops, he made his way towards the hospital.
Jacob stood around the corner of the hall, a few doors down from Theas room. Eyeing the door while watching the clock on the wall, he waiting. As the door opened, out stepped a nurse, turning and heading down the opposite hallway. Silently sliding around the corner, he snagged the door before it closed, slipping inside and letting it click shut behind him. He turned inwards to the room, finding Thea still laying in a coma. The bruises and cuts on her face looked much better, no more purple showing but still the slight healing yellow hue. The tubes and IV lines were still attached, running to all parts of her body.
"Hey beautiful," he whispered, walking over to her and smiling. "Sorry I haven't been back in a while, things have gotten...hectic."
He paused, touching her hand, listening to the heart monitor and the breathing machine noise; he ached for a proper response.
"There's so much I want to tell you," he went on, fingers playing on her skin before holding her hand. "I miss you so damn much."
In that moment, he swore he felt her fingers tighten around his. Eyes jumping to the heart monitor, he scanned the screen, looking for any sign of an elevated heart rate. Seeing no change, he looked back down at her face.
"I wish i knew more about this stuff," he muttered, sighing and looking at all the screens. "Henry would know. Maybe if you woke up soon, Ill take you to meet him. But then again, that probably wouldn't work."
He paused, looking around before shaking his head.
"I don't even know if you can hear me…"
Oliver Queen sat at the desk of the Mayor, an extremely bored look plastered on his face as a set of folders lay open in front of him. Various affairs of city hall adorned each page with a series of 'Sign Here' stickers glaring up at him. Beside him sat his cellphone, suddenly buzzing to life and dancing across the flat surface. With an exasperated sigh, he picked it up and unlocked the screen, finding a flashing notification. ALERT flashed across the screen, Oliver tapping it to dismiss. A camera began to load up on the screen, showing Theas darkened hospital room. Inside and barely visible, was the Star City Rockets symbol next to Theas bed. He tapped the speaker symbol on the lower left corner of the screen, expecting to hear whatever was being said inside. Instead, he was given a burst of static. Clicking the camera closed, he stood up and bolted from the room.
"So I met someone," Jacob said, back in the hospital room, talking to Thea. "Saved her from some drunk thugs. She's pretty wild, has one hell of a right hook. Apparently she's met you before, even knew Sara. I think you'll like her…"
He paused, looking up at the clock and sighing in frustration.
"I have to go," he groaned, gently letting go of her hand and standing up. "The nurse will be back around soon. Not sure when ill be around to see you again."
He carefully maneuvered around the hoses to kiss her forehead, gently brushing her hair back.
"Wake up soon," he whispered, looking at her one last time before leaving.
He opened the door, pulling the hat down before heading for the elevators. By the time he pressed the call button a nurse was opening the door to Theas room and heading inside.
That was close, he thought to himself as he waited for the elevator. A few seconds later, the hair on the back of his neck began to stand on end, giving him the feeling he was being watched. Deciding to skip the elevator, he turned and shoved open the stairwell door, heading for the roof instead of the lobby. Taking the stairs two at a time, he ran up towards the roof, kicking the door open as he got there.
Running out onto the roof and heading towards the side Theas room was on, he bolted to the side. Out of nowhere, he heard an arrow whistle towards him, spinning in the direction to try and catch it. Unfortunately, the arrow sprang apart, wrapping him in a coil of cable and rooting him to the spot.
Fuck, he mentally screamed, hoping his hat was low enough and twisting in the cables grip.
"Who are you?" he heard the distorted voice of The Green Arrow call from up ahead of him. "And why are you bothering Thea Queen?!"
Jacob twisted more in the cable, fingers getting free and finding their way to his pocket. Wiggling around, he managed to grasp something inside and moved it to his palm.
"You wouldn't understand, Oliver," Jacob called, grinning when Oliver flinched at the sound of his name.
"Who are you!" Oliver called again, knocking a second arrow and aiming at Jacob.
In response, Jacob mashed his thumb down on the center of the device in his hand, flipping it out in front of him and between himself and Oliver. His arrow didn't move, even when the device let out a massive concussive shriek. Oliver closed his eyes, momentarily disorientated before taking a step forward. As soon as his foot touched back down, the device turned red and exploded, sending up a shower of sparks and a cloud of smoke. Oliver reflexively released the arrow as he was blown off his feet. The arrow flew by Jacob, slicing one cable and allowing him to wriggle free. He shed the cables and ran, jumping off the roof and barely managing to grab the fire escape ladder as he fell. Down he slid, air rushing past him and causing the flaps on his jacket to ripple. He hit the ground hard, knees groaning in pain as he bolted off into the night.
As the smoke cleared, Oliver stood up, face contorted half in rage, half in surprise to see the pile of cables but no body.
"Where have you been," Felicity asked Oliver as he entered the bunker, still dressed in his Green Arrow suit.
"Running down a lead," he grunted, walking up to the main computer desk and tapping a few keys in front of her.
"Is that…" she started, squinting at the darkened video that pulled up on screen.
"Theas hospital room," Oliver finished, nodding. "I had a hunch so I planted a camera."
"You do realize that's illegal on about a dozen different levels, right?" she asked, raising her eyebrows at him.
"Felicity," he paused, looking at her. "I'm a Vigilante, you've hacked into how many different government databases?"
"Fair point," she grunted, scratching the back of her neck and looking away for a second. "What are we looking at?"
"Hold on," he muttered, watching as the video fast forwarded. Nurses came and went until the room went dark. After about a minute of darkness, the door opened and in stepped the figure wearing the hat.
"Right there," he pointed, stopping the video right as the Rockets logo turned and faced the camera. "Is there anyway you can brighten this shot up, give me a clear shot of the persons face?"
"I can see what i can do," she muttered, tapping away at the keys. "How come you didn't tell me about this? I could have set up a better camera and even given sound capabilities."
"It was a hunch," he shrugged, walking away to change. "See what you can do?"
"Sure, sure," she grumbled, watching him walking away till he was out of sight. As soon as she was sure, she dove into her purse and ripped out her phone, texting Jacobs number rapidly.
Jacob rolled through the window of the clocktower, hitting the floor and standing up before tossing his hat and jacket onto the table.
"How do you feel?" Sin called from the chair in front of the computer, eyes barely leaving the screen. "Any better?"
"Not really," he groaned, stretching his shoulder. "Had a minor confrontation with The Green Arrow."
"How'd you get away?" she asked, frowning and looking up at him.
"Give me some credit," he grinned and paused, looking over to her eyes before shrugging. "I used one of Sara's devices."
She stood up and looked over at the table; sure enough, there was one missing.
"Guess i should work on one of those," she groaned, shutting whatever window she had open on the screen and loading up the design program.
"How far did you get with Abernathy?" he asked, walking up behind the chair and leaning on it.
"Well aside from what we have in his police file," she said, taking the file and moving it to the second screen. "All ive got is that he enjoys shitty cigarettes, low grade beer and the same Chinese restaurant."
"Does he take the same route each time?" he asked, scratching his chin.
"Id have to tail him more often to know for sure," she shrugged. "Looking at the rest of his activities, id say yes."
"We'll have to wait to move on him then," Jacob concluded, drumming his fingers on the chair. "What did you find out about Henrys target?"
She tapped a couple of keys, frowning when an error message showed up. After redoing the key sequence, she managed to load up a file from the SCPD database, complete with mugshot.
"Henry's intel was good," she said waving at the file. "The guys a total scumbag. Seventeen arrests; domestic assault, domestic assault, child abuse, child neglect, oh look possession with intent."
"Zero convictions though," Jacob noted, reading on down the file.
"Maybe its a fault of the system?" She asked scrolling down farther. "Could be lack luster cops; they arrest him but get paid to let him go."
"Either way, he needs to be dealt with," Jacob replied firmly, walking over towards his quiver and selecting arrows to fill it.
"How do you pan on doing that?" she asked, spinning towards him in the chair.
"Were going to have a pointed conversation," he grunted, picking up a particularly sharp arrow and loading it into the quiver.
"So you're going to kill him?"
"He's beating his wife," he growled, pointing at the screen. "You expect me to let him live?"
"It just seems like a bit of a far step," she retorted, raising her hands.
"No half measures," he grunted back, turning to face her. "Have you ever heard of someone called Prometheus?"
"The Greek myth?" she asked frowning. "Or that nut job killing people with throwing stars?"
"The second, mostly," he groaned. "But on my Earth he was a mass murderer who preferred using a sword. There was a small family, just a mother, a father and a little boy. The father was a defense attorney, just a man trying to make a living. The father helped put Prometheus away, unfortunately, those prisons' couldn't hold him. So Prometheus escaped, murdering the father and mother, almost succeeding in killing the boy too. Putting criminals in jail is only a half measure."
"Was that little boy you?" she asked.
"No more half measures," was his only response.