Chapter V
A/N: Here we go with episode 9. I have been waiting to get here since I started the story!
Given how close the late and unlamented Adam Hunt was staying to the Nexus Square area, it was not long before the news of his demise spread through the area. And it was the Grey Ghost's turn to patrol the area.
It was known to her and the others in her group that Hunt had mentioned two assailants the night of his arrest. Yet she was off the hook for his murder, since he was killed with three arrows to the chest. The Grey Ghost preferred to use firearms, since no matter what her instructor could do, archery was not her forte. She was more a danger to herself than others with the bow and arrow.
Her brother was not off the hook for this. The police were primarily focused on the vigilante in green and his weapon of choice was well known. She liked to think that she still knew her brother. Then again, why would he go after Hunt again after bringing him to his knees? She wondered if he would show up, though he would have to make his excuses to get out of the dinner party. Which she'd only just managed to dodge.
She heard more noises coming, but not from the street. Erika sniffed the air and smiled. Her brother was coming to investigate. He'd been keeping busy. He hadn't ventured into her territory just yet.
Avoiding him was easy enough, and she could still hear the police talking from further away.
Just what this city needs, another vigilante. Though this one sounds more dangerous than the rest of us. Except for Darius. At least Ollie is off the hook. This archer is using black arrows.
Her brother was prowling away. A copycat was never an easy thing to deal with, especially when their modus operandi runs like yours, only considerably more fatal.
The Grey Ghost still had a patrol to finish. Then she would clue Darius into the recent events.
After talking with Thea and their mother, Oliver was out to talk to Erika about the family properly celebrating Christmas for the first time since the accident.
Erika had always enjoyed the holiday almost as much as their father did. Her favorite decorations were the lights. However her least favorite decoration was mistletoe. It was a poisonous and parasitic plant, according to Erika and she thought that the tradition should head the way of the dodo. Though she had used for more colorful words at the time.
Before he could even knock on her door, Erika called out, "I'm inside!" When he walked in Oliver saw that his middle sister was on the hardwood floor of her living room, working on untangling a strand of lights.
"Thea called you already?" he inquired.
"Yep. And she promised that she would stick mistletoe on anything that would stand still. She is the third person in as many weeks that has suggested I get laid," she answered whilst rolling her eyes.
"Erika, there's things you do not mention to an older brother. And him hearing about your sex life or lack thereof is one of them," he replied.
"Come and help me here. I haven't untangled these in years," Erika handed him one end of the cord of lights. Once he sat down, he noticed that the lights were blue.
"Any shade of blue has always been your favorite color. Guess some things don't change," he said while Erika went to work on untangling the lights.
"At the moment it is turquoise," his sister answered, muttering things he'd never heard come out of her mouth in Arabic as the cord knotted again. Oliver looked up and saw a sizeable pile of Christmas lights in a pile, tangled.
"Just how many Christmas lights do you have?"
"You have no idea."
Thea knew that she had to get one over on her sister. Erika was here to help with the decorating. Most of the decorations were acceptable to her big sister. Mistletoe was not one of those.
She knew that she was not the only one who noticed that Erika had been more than a little bit grouchy lately. And the bickering with Tommy (much to Laurel's irritation, not that Erika would give a shit) had reached a fever pitch.
Thea had come to one conclusion: Erika needed to get laid or have that stick surgically removed from her ass.
Mistletoe had to be everywhere. It was such a shame that unlike in certain Harry Potter fanfiction stories, that people could leave without kissing. Thea would love to see Tommy and Erika work their way out of that kind of mistletoe!
Erika had spent most of the day hunting down the mistletoe and throwing it in the garbage. She had been climbing all over the place trying to take it down. In her most amusing attempts yet, Erika had started to use a boomerang to knock the hanging plants down. She was lucky that there had not yet been any damage done.
Her sister's luck soon ran out, when Walter walked into a room and only just ducked out of the way the weapon. He looked at the two piles of the plant, one Erika's and the other hers. Her sister's pile was a good size, but Thea's was still bigger.
Before he could say anything, Erika apologized, "Sorry about that. Thea is putting up way too much mistletoe."
"And you thought a boomerang was a good idea to take them down?" her mother asked as she came down the stairs.
"I had to get creative. Was getting bored just tearing them down," Erika replied with a grin.
He could tell that Laurel was several different kinds of pissed with him at the moment as he went off to get something to drink. Tommy was surprised though. Erika and he had been bickering for almost as long as they had known each other. Laurel should have long since become used to it, having been around it for almost as long.
It was not like he was doing it on purpose. Erika was wearing a turquoise dress that was pretty much asking to be looked at. Oliver's middle sister had never favored strapless dresses, despite having the rack for it.
Even the kid that had come to see Thea was taking furtive looks at the older Queen sister. Not that he could blame him. Tommy had to admit that Erika looked good in just about anything she wore, despite their long-standing contentious relationship.
She would probably look good in a potato sack!
Tommy also took in the decorations, which were spectacular. There was an uncommon amount of mistletoe on the ceiling, which most of the guests were taking in good humor.
He was well aware of Erika's intense dislike of the plant. It stemmed from a prank that he and Oliver had played on her at the Christmas party when the two of them were 18 and Erika 16, forcing her to kiss her current boyfriend at the time in front of everybody. Later in the evening she had retaliated by putting a powdered laxative in their drinks. There had been no pranks for the rest of the break. It then descended into a prank war after the had swiped Erika's gym clothes.
Tommy did not like to think about what happened after their parents were called in as things had gotten way out of hand. The three of them had gotten the fear of God and another person that day. After that, pranks were kept mostly harmless.
"I thought you came here with Laurel?" It was Erika in her stunning dress.
"Your brother borrowed her. You actually don't look completely hideous tonight," he said.
Her eyes lit up at his remark. She was ready to engage in their verbal sparring. "You don't look too revolting yourself. Get that out of the dirty clothes hamper?"
Jackpot, Thea thought when she noticed Erika again. Tommy and Erika were giving each other their usual brand of crap, giving no notice to their surroundings. In particular, what was hanging right above them.
Getting her phone out, she typed out a text, and hit send. Thea wanted to see the fireworks go off.
He had lost track of how long they had been snarking at each other when Erika's phone buzzed.
"Hold on. I have to check this," Erika muttered. Tommy got to watch her expression change from annoyance, to anger, then to horror.
"Thea is dead meat," she growled, sounding wolfy. Erika then went to the side to get a folding chair.
"What are you doing," Tommy wondered. Erika could be strange at times.
"Getting a plant off the ceiling," she replied as she worked on removing her shoes.
It was only then that Tommy noticed what Erika was likely going to try and get down from the ceiling. In the time it took her to wriggle out of her sandals, he had already grabbed the offending plant from above.
"Is this what you're looking for?" he asked, though knowing the answer.
"Give that to me so I can put it where it belongs. In the trash!" She replied making a grab for it. Tommy, making use of the fact that he was much taller than Erika, simply held it out of her reach.
He started backing away from her, then asked, "Would kissing me really be that bad? I've been told I'm a good kisser!"
Sure enough she gave chase saying, "Not for all the jewels in Christendom!"
"There they go again," Walter said again. Moira looked up and saw Erika chasing Tommy out of the ballroom. He likely had the mistletoe she wanted to dispose of in the trash.
She heard Thea trying not to laugh.
After chasing Tommy around the mansion and outside on the grounds, Erika finally saw her chance to deal with both things that were currently antagonizing her: Tommy Merlyn and the mistletoe he was preventing her from throwing in the garbage.
No. Now I will throw it in the fireplace!
Using her senses, she began to sneak up on him. After all, Tommy was only human and untrained in the arts of stealth.
"Gotcha!" she shouted as she tackled him to the ground grabbing the troublesome plant and throwing it out of reach.
"You know if you wanted me on my back, all you had to do was ask," her quarry drawled. It was only then that Erika noticed how things would look.
She was sitting on Tommy's chest, her legs on either side of him, faces inches apart. They were also out in the open where anyone could see them.
Erika scrambled off of him, her face on fire. "This" she said pointing all around "never happened." Why won't my face go back to normal!?
"Why? Did you like it?" Tommy was getting in her space. When had he gotten so close?
Her phone started ringing, breaking the moment. It wasn't her regular phone. It was the phone for the Grey Ghost. Not too many people had that number.
Pain seared across his senses and his back where the three arrows that other archer put in him. Oliver had just called Diggle. He could only hope that the other man got there before the other archer came to finish him off. He also hoped that the wound he managed to inflict would keep his opponent occupied.
He heard a car drive up. Diggle sure got here fast, Oliver thought before he saw a figure in grey come up to him.
"You need a hand?" It was the Grey Ghost. He nodded. At that the other vigilante helped him to his feet. It was only then that he realized how much smaller they were than he was. As he was helped to the truck, he asked, "How did you know where to find me?"
"I believe you butt dialed me during your fight," the Grey Ghost replied. He could hear the smile through the voice distorter. He was starting to lose consciousness.
"I'll get those arrows out of you as soon as I can," was the last thing he heard.
Malcolm watched from a distance as the other vigilante loaded the Hood into the truck they had been driving. There was nothing that could easily be seen about the other one, except that they were a lot smaller. And wisely used a voice distorter.
Leaning against the truck, they muttered, "He's lucky we have the same father!"
That tidbit of information would have to be figured out to use to full effect.
A/N 2: And I have finished this chapter. I had a blast writing it. Some scenes more than others. Looking forward to seeing what you all think! SSD