The Black Arrow

Chapter 13 - Theft

26th October 2012

He approached the building stealthily, he was barely a flicker of movement in the corner of the eye as he moved in the shadows, avoiding guards or cutting them down swiftly and quietly. The large office block and warehouse before him was about four stories tall with labs and computer rooms to one end while to the right were the main offices. Thankfully at this hour, almost midnight, it was abandoned, aside from the occasional unlucky guard. In a matter of minutes he was inside and approaching the room he knew held his prize. Fools, with so few guards around they are almost begging for it to be taken he thought disparagingly as he stalked down the corridor to his target. He slipped inside the large cream and white coloured modern lab which had computers and desks scattered about along with heavy tools and other items. Sitting at the centre of it all was the object of his desire: the Markov Device. He heard a noise and turned swiftly to see Doctor Markov himself, approaching him slowly. "Doctor Markov" he greeted the man cordially, his voice modulator on.

"Hello, I've done as your employer asked and I also arranged for security to be lighter for a couple of hours tonight. It was quite difficult and I had to personally, and under supervision, delete a ton of data regarding my project to let them stand down the guards. If I hadn't there would have been three times the number for the next few nights" Markov explained. So that was why there were so few guards, not bad and it did make life easier for him. Pity about the data though.

"How much was lost?"

"All of it or near enough that it makes no difference. I can not build another without it. That said, you have the prototype plus the finished item behind me so perhaps that will suffice? Our agreement stands yes?" the good doctor asked nervously.

"True, I do have the prototype you made so this one here and that will work for my plans. So yes Doctor, the money will be transferred as my employer agreed. Will they work though?" he asked through the voice distorter.

"It should do, assuming Evans or Adachi have not tampered with either device. They have been almost paranoid about both devices since buying Unidac Industries, almost as if they think they will be stolen" he finished with a chuckle. Merlyn grimaced slightly though behind his mask. So it seems they had been paranoid about them. Did they know he wanted the device or just feared what the device could do? Malcolm was almost impressed with the level of paranoia, after all it wasn't paranoia if they were out to get you, or get the device in this case. It would though be a problem; they would know he stole it and given what the device can do they would also have a clearer idea of his plans even without knowing his final target. Perhaps Tempest could arrange some trouble for the fools so as to distract them while he made his preparations? Yes that could work, he was after all The Magician, a master of distractions.

"Very good, my employer thanks you for your service Doctor." With that he quickly raised his bow and fired an arrow into the scientist's chest. He followed it up with two more closely grouped around the first, leaving the man to collapse with a surprised gasp to the ground as blood began staining his white shirt and brown jumper before then pooling under his back on the ground.

With nary a look back he walked over to the device and checked it over. Excellent, the doctor had even prepared it for transport by putting the frame on a set of wheels, how kind. He walked over to a pair of large doors which led outside, doors only operational from inside, and let himself and the device out. The grey/white van assigned to the doctor was already there waiting for him so he loaded the device into the back and simply left in the large van. Any guard who spotted the van simply assumed the doctor had finally left for the evening. It would be over an hour later, when the returning guards found the dead doctor, a missing device and a handful of dead guards dotted around the building, that the alarm would be raised.

While this occurred, perched far away and out of sight, a blonde haired woman in black watched on as she took pictures with a feeling of helplessness while cursing her masters orders to observe until proof was at hand. Proof she hoped she now had.

Evans Manor

Eating breakfast quietly in the dinning room, James sat with Kal on the chair nearest him with Jack bringing out some cereals to choose from along with salads and some bacon slices. "Stop moving your food about and eat it Kal" James chided gently.

"Sorry dad, just missing Kara is all" the small boy replied softly, still moving the carrots and salad around.

"Your cousin is doing fine. She's off enjoying college and making lots of friends, plus she visits often, she was here only a day or two ago. Focus on school, that'll distract you some till her next flying visit. Now eat the food, you're a growing boy and you need a good mix of stuff."

"It's hard to focus at school when I start seeing things" he complained.

"Such as?" James asked curiously, wondering if this was the same as what Kara had gone through.

"I see through walls, which is kinda cool but I see other classes and through this house and through well, everything. It was kinda weird being able to see skeletons. It's odd how it all moves" Kal gave a small shudder. "But also when it happens it kinda hurts my head real bad." James frowned worriedly at the last part of the statement.

"You never mentioned this pain before?"

"It only started this week I think?" he answered innocently. The pain and the x-ray vision that is."

"Kal don't keep things like that from me okay? I can't help you if I don't know about it, you understand?"

"Uh huh, I'll tell you if I hurt again or something dad."

"Good boy. Now Kara had similar trouble not long after you both arrived here, it's why she wears those glasses. It blocks your see-through vision so you don't see through things. Odd that it took you until now to develop it while she got it almost instantly, more developed body maybe?" he pondered aloud.

"She did? Well I was a baby, maybe I couldn't take it or something? So do you think I can have those, please! Pweety pwease" the boy begged. "It will really help everything."

"Of course you can, you didn't need to ask, or beg in this case, for it" James confirmed with a small chuckle, his mind already thinking about making a similar pair to Kara's. Kal sagged in relief, the pain had been getting steadily worse all week and he just couldn't control it as it began letting him look further and further away, seeing even more things. It really had been starting to overwhelm him.

They were interrupted from further discussion by the ringing of James' mobile. "I better take this, sorry. Why don't you go get ready for school?"

"Okay" Kal mumbled before hopping down from his chair and running off to his room. Smiling at the boys antics, James answered the call.

"Hello?"

"James, it's Emiko, there's been an incident at the Unidac Industries. The Markov device is gone and Doctor Markov is dead." A cold shiver went down his spine with the news.

"How is that possible? We had it secured and locked down with many guards" he began, still reeling from the news.

"Most got sent away by Markov for a few hours apparently" she explained, annoyance clear in her voice. "The remaining ones were nearly all killed. The police are keeping the other details quiet though I got told that a number had arrows in them along with Markov who was killed by three arrows. James what are we gonna do?" she asked worriedly.

"When did this happen?"

"Last night, around midnight, the detectives have insisted that no one hear about it just yet while they investigate. Not even you since they argued that you weren't involved in the department so had no need to be told yet. I argued otherwise though it took them time to get in touch with me too."

"Bloody cops, something like this I should be told about ASAP not hours later, have you issued a statement to the press?"

"I've got one ready and I'm sending notifications to the families of the security guards killed along with preparing some compensation from Evans Tech."

"I'll speak with with Carol back at Evans Industries about the compensation, leave that to me. For now we keep the news on what was taken quiet though I'll contact the FBI to let them know due to the danger involved. Meanwhile I'll also speak with our friends to see if they know something."

"Understood, look I gotta go speak with my department heads and see if anything else was taken or anything."

"Alright, catch up later, Ems."

"Bye." He put his mobile back in his pocket and fumed silently. Today was not his day it seemed.

Evans Industries HQ

"The device, what can it do?"

"Well in theory it could create earthquakes but it was designed for use as a seismic generator to help with mining and drilling" James explained to the two people sitting opposite him in his office at Evans Industries.

"And you let that get created?" Agent Miles Handez of the FBI asked incredulously.

"Hardly Agent Handez, it was already created and mostly finished by the time my company bought Unidac. I halted all work on it after I had been briefed on it and I had in fact ordered its destruction and that of the data on how to build one. It was suppose to happen later today actually. I can only guess someone leaked that which is why last night someone broke in and nicked it."

"Alright so to get this straight; a bow wielding thief broke into your sub-company Unidac, killed a number of guards while stealing a potential WMD and you have no clue who took it or where they've gone?"

"Well when you put it like that it sounds pretty bad. The local cops are investigating it but given their budget cuts and how useless they've been in catching the Hood and the Black Arrow, I don't have much hope, hence me calling you."

"Do you have any suspects? Anyone who could pull it off?" Agent Alex Danvers asked.

"Not really though it looks like Doctor Markov might have been involved, he sent most of the guards away for a couple of hours. On another note I can tell you that the device, when powered up, gives off a unique energy signature. Now being powered up doesn't mean it's in use and making earthquakes or something. They have to power it up in order to test it and run through its programming so unless they go deep underground or store it in a shielded location, or both, I (and possibly you) should be able to detect it. I already have my satellites and some ground based detectors watching for said signal so hopefully its only a matter of time" James explained to the two agents.

"And do you have that signature now for us?" Alex asked hopefully.

"I'll have Miss Adachi forward it to your field office." She nodded appreciatively.

"Very well, thank you for letting us know of this development. The SCPD had not informed us such a device was missing" Handez said with a small frown, concluding their meeting.

"Who would tell you from the police?" James asked curiously.

"That would normally be either the police commissioner or the police captain of the precinct responsible for the investigation."

"I see" James murmured softly, his mind reeling that even the FBI were being kept in the dark. "And how goes your look into Merlyn?"

"You know we can't possibly comment on an active investigation Mr Evans. All I'll say is we are getting near the end of the line. Good day and keep us in the loop if you find the device or detect it.

"Of course, good hunting agents." In all the meeting gave him nothing but the news that the SCPD was keeping the loss of the device quiet to other law enforcement was troubling. Why was the question. Did Merlyn own the commissioner or the police captain maybe? He would have to investigate both to see if there was a connection. If there was, then perhaps this plan of Merlyn's was bigger than he'd thought.

Queen Manor

Oliver stood on the veranda looking out onto the grounds on the cool autumn afternoon. His mother had been quiet today, nervous almost, about what he knew not though that made him nervous too as his mother was never nervous, or at least never enough to show it. She stood tall and proud and presented such to anyone she met. He thought only his father and perhaps Walter saw the other side. Sometimes he did too though that might be due to his age and experience in observing people rather than her letting him in that way. Thea certainly didn't see it hence her current rebellious streak though perhaps she had seen it briefly when the Gambit went down.

Still something had happened. His mother had had a call this morning and ever since she'd had a tense look in her eyes. He wouldn't normally have seen it but knowing Malcolm was behind whatever was going on and just catching his mother right after the call for a chat about Thea had made him notice. Looking to the news revealed nothing major aside from a convicted criminal called Peter Declan being due for execution and Evans Industries, or rather their science and technology arm which had bought Unidac Industries, had been broken into with a number of guards and a scientist being killed. That caught his eye given how Queen Consolidated and a number of others had been trying to buy Unidac and now that company had had a break shortly after purchase? Perhaps he'd need a word with James about what was going on?

Taking a deep breath of the fresh country air away from the city he turned to head back inside only to see Sara standing not far away and almost out of sight. She nodded to him and beckoned him to follow. Nodding back he quickly moved that way and followed her out onto the grounds and away from everyone where they wouldn't be heard. "Sara? What's up?" he asked, not expecting her arrival.

"Hello Ollie, sorry to interrupt your busy party schedule but Merlyn has made his move" she replied with both a small grin and a serious look.

"I don't have a party schedule Sara, that's more Tommy's thing than mine now" he replied with a fond smile, remembering the times he and his best mate had had. Turning serious he asked "what's Malcolm done?"

"You heard about the break in at Unidac?" He nodded. "That was him. From what James and Emiko have told us he stole a seismic device. Something incredibly dangerous which could create earthquakes, even one here in Starling."

"My god, do we know what he has planned? With something like that he could level a city, hell even our city."

"Nyssa and Talia believe he might be planning an attack on Starling, probably focused on the Glades. The Glades is where the bulk of the city's crime is and he can wipe out the white collar crime himself or leverage the cops to do the rest. He was trained by the League, he was one of Ra's Horsemen so he would know from the League's history about destroying a town or city in order to rebuild free from corruption."

"Wait, what?" he asked, stunned by that sudden bombshell.

"They sacked Rome, or at least arranged it. They loaded trade ships with plague rats to start the Plague of Alexandria. They burned London to the ground with it's great fire. Every time a civilization reaches the pinnacle of its decadence they have returned to restore the balance, all the while trimming the branches of crime and corruption by killing those of great evil like crime lords, slavers and tyrants that go too far" Sara explained to Oliver's horror. This was the group Sara was pledged to?

"But that's, that's… Even I wouldn't go so far as to level an entire city. There would still be innocents there and you'd kill them too with that kind of purge." Oliver couldn't understand that thinking. Sure some people only dealt with extremes and it was foolish to think anything less would deal with them properly but to wipe out a whole city, or a good chunk of it, that was way past extreme.

"But that's the League Ollie. They would say that to regain balance, for the greater good and to get justice the slate must be wiped clean if the corruption and decadence is too great for a simple vigilante or some such to clear out. It's one reason why I can't go on with them. Anyway history lesson aside, that's what we think he's likely to do. It was gaining a device like that which gave us a more solid idea on what he was up to."

"So we stop him then, perhaps we can track the device somehow? Or at least search for possible locations that an earthquake device might be placed for best effect" Oliver said, plans and ideas coming to the forefront as he tried to think of counters to Merlyn. Sara smiled fondly at him.

"James and Emiko are already searching for the device by trying to track its power signature or something" she confirmed. "They also told the FBI about it so we might get extra boots on the ground if they pick it up. I think Nyssa and Talia plan to try and work on a possible location or locations for us to monitor for when he comes to deploy it. I just hope he can only make and use the one. I'd dread to think what could happen if he has more."

"Can he? Make more I mean. Merlyn has countless resources thanks to his company so I could see him trying to make another."

"Lets hope not, James and Emiko deleted the data on how to make one earlier yesterday morning before it was stolen but Merlyn has a working copy so…" She shrugged indicating she knew not on if it was possible.

"Okay, thanks Sara. I'll head to my base of operations and fill John in on things plus prep for tonight since I plan to take a run at another person from the List."

"Who's the target now?"

"The Royal Flush Gang. They've conducted a number of bank heists and they're in Starling now. John thinks I need to focus on more than just the List and hit more crime, just like James. Plus I think this could help mend some bridges with Laurel by doing this since it'll show I'm more than just a killer, I bring a sense of justice too."

"You sure? You did say she gave you a good slap when you first came back" she commented with a chuckle.

"Yeah I know, but I gotta try somehow and doing something like this seems a good way to try and fix things."
"True, but you do know she won't know its you under the hood right?" At Oliver's sigh she grinned at him. "Just be careful Ollie, don't hurt her again, or I'll come give you a piece of my mind" she added jokingly making Oliver grin.

"As if you could beat me Sara, I've gotten much better since we last sparred on the island" he replied with faux arrogance.

"Ha, I think Nyssa would say something like 'twice the pride, double the fall'" Sara answered with a chuckle.

"Talia would too. Don't worry, I'll be careful with Laurel, hopefully it shouldn't be too dangerous."

"You know Laurel though."

"Yeah, had to save her from the Triad already."

"Damn she really went off the deep end with them" Sara commented with a worried frown.

"I know" Oliver agreed, that had made for one hectic night. "I met up again with China White, nearly had her too except your dad turned up gunning for me."

"I know of her, Triad enforcer and very tough. Nyssa engaged her when me and her were dealing with a Triad sex trafficking ring in Taiwan."

"Huh, small world. It was good seeing you Sara, do drop by more, even when it's not mission related."

"Sure thing Ollie" Sara replied happily. "I best be going anyway, Nyssa and Talia wanted to check out a couple of abandoned warehouses that might not be as abandoned as we thought in the Glades. Something called Vertigo is gaining ground out there and it's not pretty."

Let me know if you need an extra bow."

"Stick to your own criminals hoodie" she said with a grin. "We've got our own to deal with."

"It's not a competition" Oliver said with a hint of exasperation.

"It's not?" Sara relied with an innocent expression on her face. He sighed.

"Go on, off with you. Go get that dealer then." She laughed at him.

"See ya Ollie" she called over her shoulder as she melted away into the woods surrounding the grounds of the mansion. He did enjoy speaking with her again, it made them both a bit lighter he felt.

Somewhere in Starling

Malcolm watched as his men manoeuvred the device into the shielded metal and concrete test chamber. Shortly after he had retrieved said device, and had had his scientists switch it on for them to begin testing and checking it, they had picked up a signal from the device that any who were looking for it could potentially detect. That had caused more delays while a chamber to block the signal was erected in the warehouse. It was worth it however since once it was moved they could run tests undetected by Evans or anyone else who may look for it. It was fortunate that he had this off the books warehouse, Tempest ensured the city council and police overlooked while his enforcer and the police to a degree kept the criminal scum away. He watched them now as they scurried about checking computers and handheld tablets and implements. Eventually one man wearing a lab coat came over to him looking nervous.

"What do you have for me doctor?"

"This device is incredible" he began excitedly. "We believe can use it to create seismic energy for use in drilling and mining, I don't know how you got it it but we can definitely make it work. Perhaps we could even create a possible deniable weapon for the government to use."

"And the earthquakes?" Malcolm asked, trying to get to his actual concern.

"We can adapt it to make them yes however it seems to only be halfway there, or rather it was already set to make them but someone took parts from it or changed wires and programming about in order to restrict it's ability to do so. It will take time sir" the scientist replied nervously.

"How much time?" Malcolm bit out.

"Weeks at least for us to fix it up and go over all the coding, maybe months."

"By the new year?"

"Maybe, it depends on how quickly we can get through everything. Give us a couple of days to fully examine it and the prototype and we can give a better estimate."

"Do it quickly doctor, if you need more resources let me know and I will find a way but do not fail me or you will regret it" he said darkly.

"Yes sir" the man replied before hurrying back to the group to work on the device. So Evans had taken steps to limit its use. 'Clever but not enough to stop me boy. Starling will be purged of its criminal scum soon enough and Rebecca will finally get her true justice.'

AN: Sorry for the delay, I've been distracted by job hunting and enjoying other people's works and you know life etc. I don't have a schedule like some, it's more a if I feel like writing sorta thing but thank you my dear readers for sticking with this story and the others. If anyone is interested I will be updating my published chapters of my Mass Effect/Stargate crossover story in the next few days as it is one of my older stories and my writing has improved somewhat. I also want to take into account some of the comments made in the reviews to improve the story before I go back to it properly at some point.