Splash!
This sudden chill of freezing cold water splashing him square in the face and bare chest snapping him wide awake. The feeling of his arms feeling as though they are on fire as they are extended upward attached to a pair of chains causing him to be lifted off the ground a few feet.. A rude awakening. Droplets of cold water that he can still feel trickling down his bare chest making his body shiver. Just how did he get here? Wherever here is? This almost pitch black room with nothing but a dim light hanging above him giving off any light into this room. This cold chamber if what he is feeling coming off the floor is any indication. This cold concrete that he swears is steaming whenever a drop of water hits down below his feet. A chamber that though terrifying was the least of his problems. Just how did he get here in the first place? From the way his head throbs painful it was painfully obvious to him that he had been drugged and transported here. What kind of drug was used on him was anyone's best guess. From the way the throbbing sensation in his arms making it nearly impossible for him to feel his fingers he guessed he was out for at least a couple of days. Maybe even longer. He couldn't be too sure. The only thing he could be sure of was the facts as to how it has gotten to this point. All starting with her reappearance.
Black Siren. That is the name she likes to be referred to as anyways. The doppelganger version of Laurel Lance from another world. A woman that is so much different then the one he knew. Then the one he fought side by side with. Then the one that truly stood for the name of justice in every sense of the word. But this one? This Laurel Lance? She doesn't stand for justice. No this woman is evil. There was no other way to explain it. A woman that couldn't be redeemed. Especially in his eyes. She has had her chance. Multiple if he really wanted to get the facts right. Chances that one after another she has blown in favor of trying to destroy Team Arrow and Oliver Queen. A true mystery itself. Why would she try to destroy the very doppelganger of the man she loves? Why try to have him killed? A mystery that franks though intrigues him greatly he doesn't care too much about. Whatever her reasons are they are pointless. Nothing could justify her actions. Could justify everything she has done. A woman he can picture now just smirking at his unconscious form. Just looking at his defeated form with this sense of satisfaction. A woman that if he gets the chance to will end on this night strangling her with the very chains he is held by.
Chains he looks up briefly to determine how strong they are finding them attached firmly to the wall above. Ripping the chains off from the wall wasn't an option. Perhaps he could climb up to give himself better leverage? A thought that vanishes into the back of his mind when a steel door opening through the darkness echoes through the chamber. An echo he follows like a hawk before the sound of heels clanging off the walls makes him narrow his eyes towards the darkness. This darkness he swears is smirking at him and he would be right when mere moments later traces of dirty blonde hair make their way out of the darkness making Diggle growl in anger. A growl that seems to just make Laurel's smirk widen even further as she slowly approaches him until she comes to stand in front of him.
" Spartan?"
Receiving nothing but silence frowning slightly at his lack of reaction backing up a few feet a grin forms across Laurel's face.
" Like the outfit?"
Giving him a small show by the way she twirls around allowing him to take in the business suit she is wearing turning her sights back forward Laurel gives Diggle a winning smile as she places her hands on her hips.
" I thought it was rather fitting for the occasion. It's not everyday you attend a trial."
" Release me…."
Smack!
A vicious slap that snaps Diggle's head to the side with a bruise starting to form across his cheek. With a trace of red trickling out from his lips making him spit out a mouthful of blood down onto the pavement below before a hand grasping his chin forces his head to be turned back forward to meet Laurel's eyes finding this look in her eyes that makes a shiver run up and down his spine. This almost sinister look in her eyes showing she isn't playing games. That she isn't taking any prisoners. One wrong move on his part could mean his life.
" You are in no position to make any sort of demands. Do so again and I promise you'll regret it."
A warning she sees is being understood even through his furious looking eyes. This understanding that makes her smirk before she lets go of his chin and walks past him and out of his line of view with her hands coming behind her back.
" Now that i've got your attention, I have a proposition for you."
Turning her head slightly, seeing his head craning back to look over his shoulder taking pity on the man closing the distance between them leaning forward Laurel whispers into Diggle's ear.
" Confess to your crimes and I'll grant you a quick death."
Words that don't sit well with him on so many levels. Words that barely are registered before he growls and pulls furiously on his chains trying to break free while he kicks his legs blindly. An amusing scene for Laurel to look at as she just smirks and slowly makes her way towards a nearby wall where an object can be seen hanging through the shadows. It was no mistake why she had used those words. The very words that she could remember Chase telling her about during his one time of triumph against Oliver Queen. How these words had first been spoken to the emerald archer before he had rewarded his silence with days for endless torture. She could only hope the bastard had the same words spoken to him before Oliver drove an arrow through his chest. She would just have to ask him later about it. Right now though there is still business that needs to be taken care of.
" I see that you recognize those words. This will make this much easier."
Unable to see exactly where she is pulling furiously on his chains hoping against hope they will break off from the ceiling hearing the sound of what sounds to be papers being flipped stopping his efforts to put all his effort to look her way the moment his eyes lay upon her instantly a surprised look comes across Diggle's face for what she holds in her hands. What appears to be some kind of folder. Some kind of restricted military record but what makes a sense of dread fill him is what is laying across her shoulder. This black whip. A whip he knew exactly what she planned to do to him. Knew exactly what his punishment would be for giving her the wrong answers but he won't break. No matter what she does he will not break. He will not confess to these bogus claims of her. No matter how much pain he will experience.
" First question. Have you or have you not performed any kind of vigilant activities the past three months?"
A question he instantly knew why she was asking this. It was all making sense now. Samanda Watson. The leading FBI agent assigned with the task of issuing the new laws voted on and passed by congress. Laws forbidding such vigilantism from ever taking place. A woman that has been hellbent on trying to arrest every single member of Team Arrow even going so far as to having members of the team tailed by agents on a daily basis making things extremely hard for them and now it was making sense. She wasn't doing this because of the job. No she is under the payroll of whoever brought him here. A powerful man if he has the police in his pocket.
Crack!
A sound coming from the whip now in Laurel's hand before a scream of pain comes across Diggle's face as a nasty line cuts across his back from his right shoulder all the way down to his mid back. An open cuts that causes blood to trickle down his exposed back to the ground below before the sound of another crack echoes through the room as Laurel snaps the whip down smacking it against the pavement.
" I asked you a question soldier! Obedience to your superiors will not be tolerated!"
This can't be happening.
It was like the team's worst nightmare coming to life. The Lair somehow broken into once again even after the security systems had been updated to cause such a thing to never happen again. Felicity being forcefully taken if the evidence back in the command center was any indication. The rest of the team going radio silent on her even when she tries to contact them on their personal cells. All of this was just leaving her with a sinking feeling in her stomach that something more sinister is at play. Something more vile but the question is what? A question she has a real good feeling about just who could be found at the root of it all.
The returning Black Siren. A Laurel Lance from another different dimension. A woman with the very same metahuman abilities she too possesses. A woman that is clear proof of what she could have been if she walked down another path. Walked down the path of darkness. Such a darkness that has consumed this canary from another dimension. A woman she thought was dead and buried beneath the rubble that was once Lian Yu but she was wrong. So wrong. This woman is alive. Her greatest rival to date is still alive and from their last encounter she is more dangerous than ever. The way she had slain those police officers showing no remorse for her actions. From the way she had destroyed that street corner lighting up the lone restaurant in that part of the neighborhood that brought any sort of joy to the citizens like a Christmas tree. A woman whose warning to her still remains loud and clear as day in her mind.
" But not yet. You will be the last to fall."
A warning that was slowly becoming true. Was it possible that somehow this woman along with whoever is working with her has already gotten to the rest of the team? Was it possible that she is all that remains now? It could be possible but highly unlikely. At least she didn't think so. Not with how well trained their team is. Not with how smart Felicity is or how resourceful John is. There simply had to be an explanation behind all of this. Perhaps they have gone into hiding and are waiting for the right moment to contact her? Something Dinah ponders quietly as she nears the police station. A station the closer it gets brings her nothing but confusion as she sees a large crowd forming outside of the station. As she sees a parked ambulance in front of the station where most of the crowd has gathered. A crowd she can only look at with confusion as she brings her car to and halt and slowly gets out to investigate. Slowly moves through the crowd looking for any familiar faces she can get answers from before she turns her sights to the first one whispering silently to another.
" Lieutenant? What's going on?"
A question that immediately earns her a few looks from a couple of officers around her that scream out are you crazy? A sentiment that is shared by even more all around as they turn to look in her direction before one of the officers break out of their daze and looks at her with nothing but surprise.
" You haven't heard!?"
Giving him a pointed look that just silently commands him to spill receiving nothing but a shake of his head rolling her eyes in annoyance not caring who she pisses off Dinah pushes her way through the crowd to get in the front. Officers that give her angry looks as she forces her way to the front heading directly towards the parked ambulance. An ambulance that moment she gets to the front of she finds gurney covered with a sheet being loaded into the ambulance. A sight that makes her pause and her confusion deepen even further. Just who is under that sheet? Was it a fellow officer? An undercover officer found out?
" Oh how the mighty have fallen…."
" How can a man fall from grace so badly…."
Comments that go ignored by her fellow officers as she investigates the scene around her. Investigates how a couple of her fellow officers are circled around a chalked marking of where they must have found the body. How some of the officers are talking in smaller groups with some pointing in a couple directions as though creating a story that would fit the crime scene here. Such a scene that makes her confusion deepen even further especially when she eyeballs one officer holding an evidence bag containing a police standard issued handgun.
" The death of his daughter must have been too much for him."
Now this certainly catches her attention before her eyes widen. The standard issued handgun. These split looks across her fellow officer's faces. Some that look truly sad about the whole thing. Others that looked angry for even being out there as though they had been wronged the wrong way. The comments earlier about how the mighty have fallen. It could only be one person. One man that was both well respected and well hated in this station. A revelation that makes Dinah stalk her way forward towards the ambulance and catch the back doors the moment one of the paramedics tries to close the doors. A paramedic that looks at her with shock from this sudden commotion. Shock that only deepens along with the crowd gathered outside when Dinah gets inside of the ambulance and goes over to grasp the sheet covering the body on the gurney.
" Miss!? Just what the hell do you think you're doing!?"
Ignoring the paramedic without any delay Dinah flips back the sheet revealing the victim's face to her. A face that makes her reel back in shock internally at just who she finds herself staring down upon. Quentin Lance. The great Quentin Lance. Former detective Lance. A man known for being a hard ass. An officer known for being able to get the job done. A respected man. A man who deserved a better fate than this. The dried blood on the side of his head where she could already tell the bullet entered in. The way his eyes are closed with this look of peace across his face as though he had accepted his fate. That is more surprising the rest. A surprise that leaves her stunned even after the paramedics push Dinah out of the back of the ambulance and she watches it drive away through a path that crowd makes for them. As the yells of her fellow officers around her go ignored from her actions. A crowd that disbursts with many looking at her with looks of anger as she remains rooted to her spot looking down the street where the ambulance traveled down unaware of a pair of eyes watching her closely with a smirk underneath her hood. A smirk that widens as she sees the impact of another's death taking its toil on another. On this minor nuscience of a woman that dares call herself a canary. Dares call herself a seasoned veteran. Dares use the very same gifts that had been bestowed upon her. But not for much longer. She would make sure of that and with that she turns on her heels and disappears through the crowd as though she was never there.
Old habits die hard she supposes. That was the only conclusion she can think of as to why she finds herself once again doing something that she would only do when she was concerned about something. When she was nervous about something. To silently chew on the ends of her necklace as she sits silently waiting for another to wake up from their deep sleep. A necklace gifted to her so long by her real father. The last link she has to him from her world. A necklace she has never taken off. Even when she occupied a nice cozy cell deep in the dark depths of an ARGUS cell. She didn't know why but she has a good feeling that today will be the day he wakes up. How she has no clue. Something inside of her was telling her this. She just hoped this gut feeling wasn't wrong. To see him like this. To see him look so vulnerable right now is tugging hard on her heart strings. A man that deep down she knew wasn't the man of her memories. Wasn't the man of her world so why should she care? Why should she care whether this man in front of her lives or dies? A side of her that always screams at her whenever she enters inside of this room. A scream that is silenced every single time the memory of what happened that day on Lian Yu comes flooding back into her mind. How this lone man had come back for her when no one else had. When no one else would have given a damn if she lived or died but he did. He cared. In fact the more she thinks about it the more she thinks he had cared all along. The way he pleaded with her the moment she revealed herself to be from a different world. The way he looked at her with so much sadness in his eyes when she was hauled away by Argus. The way he had looked at her with so much relief the moment he emerged out of those flames with those eyes of his. Such eyes she could always get lost in feeling totally content to stare at them all day. Eyes she hopes open up on this day. Eyes she could always read like an open book only reserved for her. Such an open book she hopes to read once again on this day. These eyes that will tell her everything she needs to know. Will tell her the next course of action. She just hoped she was right about everything.
A silent prayer as though if answered makes her see movement out of the corner of her eye making her turn her head to see Oliver stirring on the hospital bed. Movement that makes Laurel's eyes widen and a small smile come across her face as she releases her hold on her necklace and moves closer to him until she comes down to sit on the edge of his hospital bed. This sudden shift in weight that seems to be the key to having him open his eyes before they settle on her. Eyes she can't help but stare into as she silently reaches across to lay her hand down on top of his own. The slightest of touches that makes his eyes go slightly wide in realization before her heart pounds loudly in her chest when she sees an emotion in his eyes she has only seen once before. This sudden happiness in his eyes. This happiness she had seen in his eyes when he first found her inside of The Lair staring at her doopleganger's Black Canary uniform. This happiness she could feel radiating off him the moment he took her in his arms gripping her as though he never wanted to let her go. A moment she will never forget.
" Hey? Welcome back."
Seeing the faintest of smiles underneath his oxygen mask unable to help herself Laurel can't help but return the smile as she gently squeezes his hand. Even from another world he still has this affect on her. How no matter what he always finds a way to make her smile. No matter how angry or upset she may get with him. No matter how much she wanted to scream at him. In the end it always turned into nothing but laughs with them cuddling up on a couch or chair. These flickers of memories that just make her smile widen even further before soon they turn into a glare causing a flash of confusion to be seen in his eyes.
" I hate you."
Receiving nothing but an eyebrow raised in question letting out a growl Laurel shakes her head as she gives Oliver a pointed look. How was it that whenever they get into this position she always feels like the bad guy? Why does it always make her feel guilty inside? Was it just the way she was born? Was it because deep down she always knew she could never stay mad or angry at him for long? It is so...infuriating!
" After what I did to you after everything I did to help him, you still came back for me. Why? Why would you come back for me? Me? The bitch that nearly got you killed numerous times? The bitch that helped that psycho kidnap all of your friends not to mention your illegitimate child? Why risk your neck to save mine? Answer me!?"
Knowing fully well that she won't be receiving an answer thanks to the oxygen mask on his face after a couple of seconds of staring intently into his eyes Laurel receives her answer she was looking for when she feels his hand slowly turning in her own. This feeling that makes her glance down and a flicker of a smile comes across her face when she feels Oliver interlocking their fingers together. A motion that makes her smile as she gently squeezes his hand in return. Deep down she knew the answer already. Knew exactly why he had come back. It was because of her. The Laurel Lance of his world. The Laurel Lance he had grown up with. The Laurel Lance he had lost at the hands of Damien Darhk. Her doppelganger from this world. A doppelganger that has made her think back so much at what could have been when she had done some background checking on her. A woman that too had lost the love of her life early on at sea only this one was lucky enough to have him return to her. A soulmate that for some odd reason had chosen another over who was always there for him. A mistake he could not correct until it was too late. Perhaps that is what this is? A second chance that he always hoped to have with his Laurel. A second chance she wished she could have with her Oliver.
" I don't know what we are. I mean are we really attracted to each other or is it because we're being influenced by our past feelings for the loved ones we lost? I really don't know but i do know this. Whatever this is between us, I want to explore more with you."
Glancing back up towards his face swearing to see a flicker of a smile underneath his mask returning the smile after holding his gaze for a couple of seconds the smile across Laurel's face vanishes when she sees Oliver flick his eyes around to look around the room in question. A question she hoped to avoid a little while longer. A question that would come with many more.
" That's not important right now. I promise in time I'll tell you everything but not now. Not until you have recovered enough to handle what needs to be said. Who knows? Maybe if you're a good boy and get some rest I might just even give you a special treat."
She could only hope he would accept this answer. Could only hope that he trusts her enough to wait patiently until she is ready to tell him what he wants to know. Not just for her own sake but his own. The questions he would ask would come with painful answers. Answers she wasn't sure she wanted to tell him. Answers that would only bring him pain. This pain she wished she could spare him from. Even for a little while longer. A response she can tell although he doesn't full agree with still accepts from the way he blinks his eyes making her do something that surprises not only him but herself as well. Something she hasn't done with anyone for so long. For her to lean over and gently lift up his oxygen mask from his face before she catching him by total surprise by bringing her lips down to meet his own. A kiss that leaves Oliver reeling in shock as he can't help but return the kiss but as quickly as her lips are there she pulls away from causing him to open his eyes to see a knowing smile across her face as her eyes twinkle with nothing but amusement.
" Now rest. I'll be back soon."
Without giving him a chance to question her on this mysterious note turning on her heels slowly Laurel gives him a small show as she makes her way out of the room closing the door behind her leaving him all alone with nothing but the constant beeping coming from the heart monitor and the rise and fall of oxygen machine by his bedside keeping him company.
