Chapter 35
Watchtower…
The trio of Clark, Carter and Oliver are hard at work trying to pin down the location of not only Rose Wilson but her father as well. Both need to be found and stopped before this gets any further out of hand.
Oliver finally makes a break through in accessing the VRA database. "Well, I'll tell you what. If you're gonna make your move, Clark, you might want to make it quick, because Slade already has," he informs his teammates.
Both Clark and Carter walk over to stand behind the blond man.
"Operation Icarus?" Carter queries at the name of a file.
"The Icarus myth is about fallen heroes who reached too far. It's the only file here flagged for encryption," Oliver replies as he cracks the file open allowing the trio to read it.
Carter quickly deduces what it is. "It's a blacklist... of known suspected vigilantes and vigilante supporters to be brought in for questioning."
"Tess, Lois, and Emil... are Slade's top draft choices for this season of interrogation. They're uploading video files every two hours and Clark, you're not gonna like the latest ones."
"It's The Daily Planet," Clark can see from the video files. "They're using our own security systems against us," he realises with dawning dread.
"Really?" Oliver asks with a sarcastic flare.
"I miss my typewriter," Carter remarks, hating all this technology and the dangers it can impose.
"You miss the telegraph," Oliver jests in the friendly verbal jousting he and Carter have developed
"Okay, if Slade got clearance to access The Daily Planet cameras, he's probably using other cameras across the city," Carter figures.
"Look at this. Try all the cameras across the city. Big Brother Slade's hitting a little too close to home for me. That's my office," Oliver complains, trying to sound jokey but failing at how serious this all is because Slade is in his office! Touching his stuff! "I'm so going to have to pay the cleaning staff extra to get rid of that stink."
"That's Slade. Where's Rose?" Clark asks, not seeing her.
"She doesn't look to be in the building from what I see," Oliver has to unfortunately say.
Luckily Clark has an idea. "Well, now we know how they're acting we can use their methods against them," the alien hero proposes. "Track their movement across the city back to whatever base they are operating from and hopefully find Rose."
"Now you see, I like the way you're thinking," Carter says, eager to take the fight to his enemies instead of hiding away.
Unknown Location…
"I'm just a waitress from California," Andrea repeats what has become her answer to every question asked. Only by now she is bent over, drenched in sweat, hunched in pain and trying not to show it.
Rose sits herself down in Andrea's lap, grabs her hair and pulls it to raise the Latino woman's head so they can be face to face. "You think by repeating that I'm going to lose my temper, snap and kill you but you don't know me. Don't know what my father put me through to become the person I am today. He trained me to fight since I could walk and every time I failed a lesson…well where do you think my fondness of punishments come from?"
"I'm just a waitress from California," Andrea repeats.
"Cute," Rose says she gets back to her feet and delivers a powerful backhand to Andrea's face.
There is a knock on the door and entering is an older woman.
"Ah, Lt Trotter, come to join the fun?" Rose queries.
"New orders from your father. He thinks Ms Rojas is a perfect subject for trying out the serum."
"Ooh, the serum," Rose mocks, having fun as a trolley is rolled in with medical equipment, particular an IV with a bag filled with a sickly green liquid.
Trotter ignores Rose's childishness as two men get to work sticking sensors to Andrea's chest to pick up her vitals and the IV into Andrea's arm. "This is your last chance to cooperate willingly Ms Rojas," the woman warns. "This is a truth serum derived with the meteor rocks. Certain unofficial branches of the government developed it to overcome the limitations of existing serums. Its side effects can be…unpleasant."
"I'm just a waitress from California," Andrea repeats in defiance.
"Your choice," Trotter says as she nods at her subordinate to begin. He opens the valve and the green liquid starts running down the tube directly into Andrea's veins.
Watchtower…
"There," Clark points at the screen showing a warehouse down in the docks. "This is the place where most of the VAR activity is centred."
"This might be where they took Lois, Tess and Emil," Oliver supposes.
"Then there's a good chance it is where Rose is," Clark hopes.
"We have a problem," Carter suddenly raises from where he is monitoring the reports flowing in and out of the VRA database.
"Only one?" Oliver questions.
"Latest updated report. They're sending a strike team to apprehend a suspect. Anyone know this address?"
Clark leans in and his heart leaps into his mouth. "That's Dinah."
"Shit," Oliver swears.
"Mia's there."
Both other men look at Clark confused.
"Present day, Mia. 4 year old Mia. I left her and Andi with Dinah."
"Sensible. Dinah's a smart kid. Almost as tough as her mother," Carter pays her a compliment, having known Dinah's mother personally in the JSA.
"How much time do we have?" Clark asks.
"A few minutes," Carter reports. "Look, you go save your daughter and Dinah. You're the only one who can get there in time. The Men in Tights wannabe and I will get Slade and take down their base."
"I'm choosing to ignore that insult," Oliver points out.
"You're sure?" Clark asks, hesitating. No matter how much he wants to just rush off and save his precious daughter he can't be that selfish and abandon his teammates.
"Yes. This is why we're a team. To do things one of us alone could never do. Go," Carter orders him.
And with that Clark is gone.
Meanwhile Dinah had been faced with the situation that Andrea had not returned as scheduled from her appointment and she could not get a hold of her…or Emil…or frankly anyone on the team. This was clearly bad and by now it was getting dark once again.
She would have loved to go and help but she had a responsibility to take care of Clark's daughter and she took that responsibility seriously.
So when the door to her home is kicked in a sorta pseudo-parental instinct kicks in along with her trained fighting ones.
The first agent who charges in gets his weapon kicked out of his hand before she spins into an elbow to the gut and a punch to the groin before sweeping his feet out from under him and kicking him in the head.
What follows is almost a ballet of violence as Dinah takes down the next two agents who try to apprehend her. More come pouring in. "Mia! Cover your ears!" she shouts at the child before she opens her mouth and screams, directing the power of her Canary Cry towards the agents entering the door…sending them all flying backwards, blood dripping from their burst eardrums.
Having no time to waste Dinah grabs Mia and heads for the exit.
"Freeze!"
Dinah stops as one of the agents she hit first is on the floor, pointing a gun at her.
"Freak," the man sneers and Dinah can see the decision to fire in his eyes. She inhales deeply just as he depresses the trigger.
Dinah knows she doesn't have time to unleash her supersonic cry before the bullet hits but she doesn't need to. She blinks and the bullet is caught inches from her face between a thumb and index finger which proceed to squash it flat.
More shots are fired which bounce harmlessly off the invulnerable frame of the Blur who reaches down and picks the agent up by the throat, his eyes burning red. "Be very, very thankful I am a nice person," he says in deeply threatening tones as he throws the man with such carelessness you can hear bones break.
Clark exhales before turning to his daughter who is crying. "Mia. Sweetie. Come here," he says as he reaches for her and takes her in his arms and tries to calm her down.
"I had to use my Canary Cry. She might be a bit hard of hearing for awhile," Dinah says apologetically.
Clark nods. "Thank you for looking after her," he says more gratefully than he can put into words.
"Thank you for saving my life," she says back, also grateful and the two share a small smile.
"Where's Andi?" the dark-haired man asks, looking around for her.
"I don't know," the blond haired woman is forced to admit. "She never came back from her appointment. I haven't been able to reach her, Emil or frankly anyone. Plus I've had to stay here and look after her," she nods at the little dark haired girl cuddled into her father's shoulder, to explain why she hasn't been able to do much.
Clark frowns as his anxiousness levels rise. "Emil," he murmurs.
"Huh?"
"The VRA detained Emil this morning."
"You think they snatched Andrea too?" Dinah surmises. "Why?"
"She used to be a metahuman."
"Used to be?" Dinah queries, understandably puzzled because she didn't know there was a cure for that.
"It's a long story. We need to get out of here before more agents come," he determines that this is not the time nor place to explain when they are all in severe danger.
"Yeah," Dinah agrees. "Just let me grab my emergency bag," she says as she rushes off to get it. In their line of work, always have an emergency bag just in case. That done Clark wraps an arm around her waist and lives up to his name and vanishes in a blur carrying the other two.
Metropolis Docks…
"I'm…just…a…waitress…from…California," Andrea struggles to get the words out. It has been her only defence to the ever increasing impulse to just say whatever they want her to say to concentrate on only those six words.
"You know they're not worth this amount of effort," Rose says to the restrained woman. "Queen and his ilk. Why are you suffering all of this for them?"
"Not for them," Andrea whispers in a strained voice.
Rose leans forward, her curiosity peaked. "Then who?"
"My…d-gkkk!" Andrea chokes herself before she can give the answer.
"Who?!" Rose insists on an answer.
"My…my…"
"Who?!" Rose almost screams.
"Hnn…gah…ter…I'm just a waitress from California!" Andrea manages to yell out as she resists but it is taking every ounce of willpower she possesses.
Rose gets up and yanks hard on Andrea's long hair. "My patience is wearing thin. You're at what is deemed the safe limit of the serum. Tell me what I want to know or I swear I'll shove every drop we have into your veins. At that point I honestly don't know what it will do to you."
Andrea glares at the one-eyed woman. "I…I have something to tell you."
"Go on. I'm listening."
Andrea then smirks. "Fuck you!"
Rose snaps and slaps her hard. That's when the alarms start going off. "Oh what now?!" the silver-haired woman complains incredulously, throwing her hands into the air. If her night hadn't been frustrating enough already what with getting nowhere with this mutant freak bitch. She heads to the door and activates an intercom next to it. "This is Ravager. What is happening?" she asks, using the name she will become infamous as.
"We have an intruder. It appears to be Queen," is the reply.
A quaint little smile forms on Rose's face. "Really? Excellent," she says cheerfully. She's been wanting to go a few rounds with Mr Green Leather since even before the debacle in Alaska. He's second on her list after the bitch who took her eye. "I'll stay here with the freak. Make sure Hamilton and Mercer remain secure," she passes on her instructions.
That done the dangerous woman turns back to her prisoner. "So how is it America's Most Wanted is on his way to rescue a mere waitress from California?"
"Never met the man," which is a completely truthful answer. Andrea has never met Oliver Queen in person. Only heard about him from Clark.
Rose walks up to the restrained brunette and bends down to speak right into her face. "You know you really don't appreciate how irrelevant you are. With Queen here I don't need you alive any longer," she whispers gleefully. She grabs a big syringe with a long needle, intended for direct injection into the heart. She fills it up with the green truth serum and her lips twist up in a grotesque evil grin. She then utters the exact same words she did in Mia's timeline when she put an end to the Angel of Vengeance. "When you see the Devil tell him Rose Wilson sent ya!" she says, not with the hateful sneer of that other time but with an almost orgasmic joy before she slams the needle directly into Andrea's heart and injects the entire contents.
Almost instantly Andrea's body begins to convulse and she foams at the mouth. The spasms get more and more intense until they just stop. Andrea's whole form slumps in the chair and the only noise in the room is the single continuous beep of the heart monitor going flatline.
It's the only noise for about 3 seconds.
"NOOOOO!" comes the heart wrenching sound of a daughter who just witnessed the death of her mother for the 2nd time in her life.
A few minutes earlier…
Beaten up or not Ollie isn't about to let these guys win. Besides sneaking into the bad guys base and taking down their army of goons is like heroing 101. If he can't do that and rescue the damsels in distress(and yes he's counting Emil as a damsel) then he might as well hang up his bow and green leather pants.
Anyway getting past the perimeter and inside the facility wasn't too difficult, He had found they had converted a few warehouses as matter of fact into a base. Now all he needs to do is track down where they are holding Tess and Emil, bust them out and escape.
Couldn't be simpler, right?
As always it's never simple as some flunky manages to spot him. He takes that guy down but not before he calls out for the alarm.
More agents flood out the buildings searching for him. Oliver manages to take out a fair few number, bullets impacting all around him before he runs down a dead-end.
Before Oliver can even begin to think about how he escapes the squad now aiming guns at him, they're suddenly taken down with familiar red blasts of energy before swooping out of the air comes Supergirl. "You know your father is looking for you, right?"
"Thank you Supergirl! You saved me! You're my hero!" Mia mocks with what Oliver should have been saying.
"You know your father is looking for you, right?" Oliver repeats.
Mia groans. "Yes. I know."
"Ok then. So, where have you been?"
"Waiting for you guys to lead me to my quarry," she answers in far more serious tones.
Oliver blinks. "You were listening in to us the whole time we were in the Watchtower weren't you," he guesses.
"Papá needs to learn to look up," she says smugly.
Oliver shakes his head as he figures out that she was floating above them the whole time. "Mia. Don't do this," he starts to argue with her. "It won't bring you the peace you think it will," he says from his own personal experience of when he thought he had killed Lex.
"Peace has never been an option," Mia opens a crack into the internal pain she has had to endure every day for the last 2 decades. Without another word she's gone with a gust of wind.
Oliver just looks up to the heavens. This is not going to end well.
Mia may not be as fast as the Flash or probably her father in all honesty but she is fast enough to search through this base without anyone even noticing her beyond the displacement of air she causes.
Finally she opens the door and finds both what she wanted to see in her quarry and what she never wanted to see again. What has has filled her nightmares for twenty years.
In an instant it all comes flooding back. Being tied up, helpless and having to watch her mother die…and now she is seeing it all over again. Inside the young woman something breaks and she lets out a heart wrenching scream. "NOOOOO!"
Andrea blinks as she tries to take in her surroundings. It was the church in Suicide Slums. Through the windows comes a close to blinding white light.
How did she get here?
The Latino woman tries to recall but for some reason her brain feels really foggy and she can't remember.
Instinct pushes her to head for the exit. She reaches for the door and pulls it open only to reel backwards at the intensity of the white light blinding her.
She raises her hand to try and shield her eyes when she starts to make out a silhouette standing at the entrance. "Hello?" she queries the figure.
The figure enters and the door closes by itself behind them to reveal a short Latino woman with dark hair and an aura of badassery around her.
Andrea gasps at the sight and in a barely heard whisper queries, "Mamá?"
Author's Note: Oh dear. It looks like I've gone and killed Andrea. Thanks to everyone who wrote reviews.