Chapter 4
AN1: THANK YOU SO MUCH TO Mocking_point who has helped me more than I can put into words.
AN2: As I can't wait for you to read the next chapter (which is a completely new chapter) I wanted to update this today, and I'll update the new chapter tomorrow. Hope you enjoy.
Three years and two months have passed since Laurel was granted permanent guardianship of Thea, who is turned Seventeen two months earlier. Since Laurel became Thea's guardian they have been living mostly in harmony. Understandably there has been some difficult times, but both Laurel and Thea have embraced their new rose and are an incredibly happy family. Even though Thea doesn't call Laurel Mom, and probably never will, she, without a doubt, considers Laurel to be a parent to her.
Just like he said he would all those years ago Tommy is a constant presence in Thea and Laurel's life, he is always there to offer help with needed, just like Lance who isn't drinking quiet as much as he was; but is still drinking a lot.
Unsurprisingly Lance and Tommy aren't the only people who are important in Laurel and Thea's life. Bruce and Mary, even though they live in Gotham, are only a phone call away. Thea and Mary text frequently while Laurel and Bruce talk a lot, and all four of them catch up when they can.
Along with their old friends, due to the fact that they go his gym most days, and he has been teaching Laurel a lot of other skills too, Ted has become a good friend. In fact, he is probably Laurel's best friend. For Thea she no longer feels that Mary is her only best friend as that is now a position she shares with Roy and Sin, who spend more nights at Laurel and Thea's than anywhere else. As they spend so much time at the apartment Laurel has put a bed in her office for Roy so that he doesn't have to always sleep on cough while Sin usually just shares Thea's bed. As it is the easiest way for them to get into the apartment Laurel always leaves a window open so that they can climb in through the window.
Its Monday morning and just like most mornings things are extremely hectic at the Lance/Queen apartment as Laurel, Thea and Sin are hurrying around, doing various thing.
"Roy! Wake up!" Laurel exclaims as she shakes him awake. "You're going to be late for work," Laurel says as Roy works a couple of days a week at a garage in The Glades.
"I'm up, I'm up," Roy says annoyed as he sits up, and Laurel heads back into the kitchen.
"Laurel, you're going to be late tonight, right?" Thea asks curious as she puts the toast she has made in stacks, not worrying about plates, to that they all can just grab what they want.
"Probably about seven thirty, eight," Laurel says as she packs her bag.
"Coffee," Sin says as she hands Laurel her travel mug.
"Bless you," Laurel tells Sin, who laughs. "I was thinking about getting pizza on my way home," Laurel explains. "Sin, will you be here for dinner?" Sin asks curious.
"Pizza, definitely," Sin answers.
"Roy?" Laurel asks curious.
"Yep," Roy answers from where he is putting on his boots.
"Okay, pizza for four it is," Laurel says as she starts to search for something.
"Lost something?" Sin asks curious.
"Yeah, my plan and exhibits for court today," Laurel explains, knowing that she cannot have lost that; it's too important.
"I still say I should be able to come watch you in court for credit," Thea says, making an argument that she makes at least once a week.
"I know Speedy, but your school said no," Laurel says, without even looking up from what she is doing.
"Stupid school," Thea says with a pout.
"If you're looking for your black binder it's on your desk," Roy says as he walks into the kitchen.
"Thank you," Laurel says, before running into the other room, and then back into the kitchen. "Okay, we've got to get going otherwise you three are going to be late," Laurel says.
"We wouldn't if we took your bike," Sin argues as for about a year Laurel has spent a lot of her spare time building what she calls 'the perfect motorbike,'.
"My bike doesn't fit four," Laurel says as she picks up everything she needs. "Move," Laurel says, and the three teens grabs their bags, stacks of toast, and heads to the front door.
Reaching the front door first Thea opens it to reveal Tommy standing on the other side about to knock.
"Tommy," Thea, Sin and Roy say together, as they stop walking, all three of them sounding happy, as they get along pretty well with the billionaire.
"You can talk to Tommy later, school, work, go," Laurel tells the trio in a stern voice.
"Bye Tommy," Thea says.
"See you later," Sin says.
"Bye," Roy says as al three of them start to walk into the hall.
"So, this is what a morning is like in Laurel Lances' house for wayward teens," Tommy comments as Laurel walks out of her apartment and closes the door.
"What do you want Tommy?" Laurel asks as she is pretty sure that a conversation with Tommy won't help her get to work any quicker.
"I'm actually here to help," Tommy reveals as he and Laurel start walk down the corridor, the two of them not that far behind Thea, Sin and Roy.
"Really?" Laurel asks, surprise in her voice as even though Tommy does help a lot it's not often that that help is given first thing in the morning.
"Yeah, I thought I'd give Thea, Roy, and Sin a lift so you can get straight to court," Tommy explains.
"Which car do you have?" Roy asks curious.
"Does it matter?" Tommy asks amused.
"Nope," Sin says.
"That would be great Tommy, thank you," Laurel says gratefully.
"It's not a problem," Tommy says, completely meaning that.
"I better run, I'll see you three later," Laurel says as she passes Thea, Roy, and Sin. "And thanks again," Laurel tells Tommy, as she hurries down the stairs.
"It's okay, don't crash your bike," Tommy calls after Laurel.
"Please, I don't drive it to court," Laurel says as she continues to hurry down the stairs.
"How much coffee has she had this morning?" Tommy asks curious.
"About two sips," Sin answers to Tommy's complete shock.
"Come on, Laurel will kill me if you're late," Tommy says as he picks up his pace, all four of them knowing he is telling the complete and utter truth.
Hours later, having spent all day at school and work, Roy, Sin and Thea are walking together through the streets of the Glades, sharing a pretzel as they walk.
"So, half an hour and neither of you mentioned school, was it that bad?" Roy asks curious as Thea and Sin now go to the same school thanks to the fact that Sin's father made sure her schooling was paid for before he disappeared; like Oliver and Sara he is presumed dead.
"No worse than usual," Sin answers.
"I'm just going to be happy when I'm done with it," Thea admits.
"Same," Sin says, completely agreeing and together the three of them continue to walk and share their food.
"We're not fair from Ted's," Roy says. "Want to head there for a bit?" Roy asks curious.
"Sure," Thea says and Sin nods in agreement.
For the next few minutes Thea, Sin and Roy continue to walk towards Ted's gym until Roy suddenly falls forward.
"Roy?" Thea and Sin asks concerned as they hear;
"Hand over your bags, phones, and wallets," Turning towards the voices Thea, Sin and Roy see three men with guns, each pointing one at each of the three teenagers.
After exchanging looks Thea and Sin reach out and knock the guns out of two of the men's hands while Roy swings out his leg and knocks the third guy out.
Not letting the fact that they have lost their guns stop them the men quickly react and hit both Thea and Sin; Thea in in the cheek and eye while Sin is hit in the nose. Even though both Thea and Sin are both in pain they remember their lessons and fight back; Thea kicking one man in the back while Sin hits the other.
"Let's go!" Roy says once he is on his feet, having knocked down the guy who knocked him down as he got to his feet, as he grabs both Thea and Sin's hands. As the trio run they all hear gunshots.
"Just keep running, Ted's isn't fair," Ray says as he pushes Thea and Sin harder, as all he wants is for all three of them to get to safety.
After a couple of minutes of solid running Thea, Roy, and Sin make it into Grant's gym. As soon as they are inside Roy closes the door behind them, and all three of them lean against the wall, catching their breaths.
"Roy? Sin? Thea?" A voice asks, and the trio look to see Ted walking towards them. "What happened?" Ted asks concerned as he sees Sin's bloody nose, the bruise starting to form on Thea's eye, and Roy's hands which have cuts and gravel burn on them.
"Three guys tried to mug us," Roy explains.
"Okay, stay here, I'm calling D," Ted tells them as ever since he learnt that Laurel's real first name is Dinah, he calls her D most of the time, though unlike Bruce he never calls her Dinah he just either calls her D or Laurel.
"No, don't," Thea quickly says.
"Thea, she needs to know," Ted informs her.
"I know, and I will tell her, but she's working an important case and I don't want her to be distracted because she's worried about me, us," Thea explains.
"Okay, I wont call Laurel, but I'm going to drive you three to the apartment," Ted informs the trio.
"Okay," Sin says. "But can we borrow some ice first?" Sin asks curious.
"Sure, come out back and I'll clean you three up," Ted informs them.
"Thanks Ted," Roy says gratefully as the trip follow Ted out to the back.
A few hours later, after Ted cleaned them up and drove them home, Thea, Roy, and Sin sitting on the couch in Thea's and Laurel's apartment watching a movie. As the trio are watching the movie the apartment door opens and Laurel walks in holding two pizzas as well as her bag.
"I have food," Laurel says, with a smile, as she walks in and once, she closes the door behind her she sees Thea, Roy, and Sin. "What happened?" Laurel asks worried, as she hurries over, putting the food on the coffee table as she sits down in front of them.
"Some guy tried to mug us," Roy explains.
"We're okay, Laurel," Thea assures her.
"You don't look it," Laurel says as she looks between the three, and feeling incredibly worried she just pulls the trio in for a hug.
"You're squashing us," Sin informs Laurel.
"Right sorry," Laurel says as she lets them go. "Did you call the police?" Laurel asks.
"Why would we do that?" Roy asks, feeling that the answer should be obvious. "It's the Glades, you know what that means…" Roy starts to say.
"No one cares," Laurel finishes, knowing that, and hating it.
"Exactly," Sin confirms. "If it wasn't for the work, you're doing with CNRI and what Ted's doing to make sure we can protect ourselves then the people in the Glades would be completely alone,"
"It's not fair, it's not right," Thea says annoyed as the last three years has caused her to see just how privileged she was growing up.
"No, it's not," Laurel comments. "Someone should do something," Laurel says, but her voice is too quiet for one of the trio to hear.
"What?" Roy asks curious.
"Nothing," Laurel says, as if she is going to do what she is thinking then she doesn't want her kids involved. "We should eat the Pizza before it gets cold," Laurel says.
"That we should," Thea says. "Not that cold pizza isn't awesome," Thea says, causing the others to laugh.
"What are we watching?" Laurel asks as she moves so that she is sitting between Sin and Thea, while Roy opens the pizza boxes.
"Nineties tv, I'm educating," Roy reveals.
"Good," Laurel says, sounding glad, as the four of them make themselves comfortable on the couch while they eat pizza and watch the TV.
A few hours later Laurel is finishing the notes she needs for the following days hearing, doing so in the living area as Roy is sleeping in her office. Once she writes the last world Laurel packs up her stuff and goes and checks on Roy, to make sure he is sleeping, and then she heads to Thea's room where she checks on Thea and Sin before heading to her own room.
Once she is in her room Laurel closes her door but instead of heading to bed Laurel heads over to her wardrobe. Once at her wardrobe Laurel searches through the upper shelf until she finally finds what she is looking for, a single box.
Taking the box down Laurel takes it over to her bed and once there she puts it down and opens it. Opening the box Laurel finds something that her father gave her for a gift not long after she was given permanent guardianship of Thea; two tactical tonfa's which are also known as side-handle baton's, in holsters.
"Someone has to do something," Laurel says, knowing she has to take a leaf out of the vigilante who has been operating out of Gotham for years, as she takes the batons out of the box. After placing the batons on her bed Laurel walks over to her draws and pulls out black leather pants, and a tank top that has lace around the neckline.
Once she has the items, she wants she throws them onto her bed and once more heads over to her wardrobe. After getting the top and pants Laurel heads back over to her wardrobe and pulls out a leather jacket, a jacket Thea gave her after she won her first amateur boxing match.
After she has collected everything she needs Laurel starts to get ready, knowing four things. That she has to get something to cover her face, that she can't just sit back and watch as the people in her city suffer in ways that she cannot use the court to get justice for, and that she has to do something, and that doing what she is about to do feels like the right thing to do.
Once she is changed Laurel tries to figure out a way to hide her face, and suddenly an answer comes to her. So, being as quiet as possible, Laurel heads out to the hall closet and grabs another small box. Searching through the box Laurel finally finds exactly what she is looking for, items from an old Halloween costume, a black mask and blond wig.
Once she has the items Laurel heads back into her room, and walks over to the mirror which she uses to help her put the mask and wig on.
"Now I'm ready," Laurel says, looking at herself in the mirror. Being sure that this is what she needs to do Laurel walks over to her bed, picks up the batons and attaches the holsters to her legs. Once they are in place Laurel heads over the window and climbs out feeling a mixture of both terror and peace.
After leaving the apartment Laurel heads straight to Glades as she has decided that she is going to start with the muggers who hurt her kids. Thanks to the information that the trio gave her earlier Laurel finds them pretty quickly and follows them until they get to the perfect place for her to make her move.
Jumping off the rail Laurel lands in the middle of the three. As soon as she has her footing Laurel kicks out the back of the leaders' knees before she spins around and smacks the back of the second man's head.
After a few seconds of shock upon seeing a woman in a mask the third man throws a punch at Laurel, one she easily blocks with one of her batons before kicking him in the crouch. As the man withers in pain Laurel grabs his hair and uses his own weight to swing him into the second man.
As Laurel handles the second two men the first man, who has managed to get back on his feet, pulls out a knife and slashes Laurel in the hip: causing a cut that's about six inches. As she feels the pain Laurel can't help but cry out as she kicks him. Due to the force of Laurel's kick the man stumbles a bit before the chargers at her once more.
Seeing the man coming towards her Laurel twists the baton so that it's long side parallel with her forearm and once the man is close enough, she drives the shot, stubby, end into the man's face. As she does that Laurel can't help but wince as she hears and feels some of the bones in his face shattering.
Clearly having not gotten the message the second man starts to get up and Laurel just kicks him as hard as she can with the leg that's not on the side where her hip is cut. Looking around Laurel sees that all three men are down and so she limps away, her hip hurting more than it was now that she is no longer fighting.
Knowing that she cannot go to the hospital with her injury Laurel heads to the one place that she knows she can go to: Ted's Gym. As Ted gave her a key over two years ago Laurel lets herself in and heads towards the officer where she is very glad to see that a light is still on.
"Who's there? Who is it?" Ted's voice asks as Laurel approaches the office.
"It's me," Laurel says as she pulls the wig, and mask, off as she continues to make her way towards the office.
"Laurel," Ted says, surprised as he wasn't expecting her. "What's with the outfit?" Ted asks curious.
"I'm sick of people around her getting hurt, and no one caring," Laurel reveals. "So, I'm doing something about it," Laurel explains.
"Laurel 'Justice' Lance, I guess that has more than one meaning now," Ted comments as ever since Laurel started to compete in amateur boxing that has been her name. "Do you know how dangerous that is?" Ted asks, disapproval in his voice as he knows exactly what this path can lead to.
"Of course, but danger isn't going to stop me, and neither's this," Laurel says as she lifts her shirt and jacket, as well as pushing down the waist of her pants a little to show Ted the cut. "I can't go to the hospital, so I was hoping you'd be able to help me out," Laurel admits.
"Yeah, I can," Ted assures her as just because he doesn't approve doesn't mean he's going to leave Laurel hurt. "Sit down," Ted says, walking out of the room to collect what he needs, and Laurel sits down on the desk.
"Thanks Ted," Laurel says.
"I'm guessing that what happened to Thea, Sin and Roy was the motivation behind this," Ted comments as he walks back into the room, carrying what he needs.
"Partly," Laurel admits. "For three years I've been spending more time in the Glades than anywhere else and I've seen people in pain, people suffering, and no one caring," Laurel explains. "I thought CNRI could help, because I though the law was sacred, and what we do does help; but it's not enough," Laurel admits. "I need to do more, I need to do this," Laurel says, winching as Ted gets to work patching her up.
"I would like to try to talk you out of this, but I know your stubbornness and I know there is no point," Ted admits. "But Laurel, you need to understand that this is risky, you could be seriously hurt and I want you to know that if you ever feel like you're getting in over your head, or if you ever need anything then come to me, I will always be here to help you, D," Ted assures Laurel as even after what happened last time he took on an apprentice he wants to do what he can to help her to make sure she doesn't get seriously hurt or killed. He also wants to make sure that she doesn't seriously hurt anyone else, but knowing Laurel how he does he doesn't think that she will.
"Thanks Ted, that means a lot," Laurel admits.
"And I'm also going to teach you how to patch up minor wounds so that you don't show up at my door at insane hours again," Ted tells Laurel.
"Okay," Laurel says with a laugh.
Two weeks have passed since Laurel first went out as what people have started to call, 'The Women in Black,' and since that first night Laurel has gone out most nights to get justice outside the courtroom. Since becoming the Woman in Black Laurel feels, for the first time, ever, truly alive and she has realised that she is managing to make a difference. Since starting her mission Laurel has left more than a few criminals for the SCPD and put a couple in hospital who were then later taken into custody.
It is about three am and Laurel is climbing back into the window that she always leaves over for Roy and Sin, still in the clothes that she has been wearing when she goes out.
"I knew it was you," A voice says as Laurel climbs in and once the light is on she sees Thea sitting on her bed, clearly waiting for her.
"Speedy? What are you doing up?" Laurel asks, having no idea how to explain what she is wearing or why she is coming in via the fire escape.
"Waiting for you," Thea explains, as Laurel takes off her wig. "You're the Woman in Black, I thought it was you," Thea comments, feeling rather proud that she managed to figure it out.
"How'd you know?" Laurel asks, as she puts her mask, wig and baton in the hiding place.
"I've been watching you fight for years, I recognize your style," Thea says as Laurel takes off her boots and pants which she also puts in her hiding spot. "And I want to help," Thea reveals.
"No," Laurel says as she takes off her jacket and hides that too.
"Laure, come on!" The exclaims. "I've been learning to fight just as long as you, and I know other things that can help; like archery and fencing," Thea explains. "And I want to help too," Thea explains.
"That's noble Speedy, but that doesn't change my answer," Laurel tells her as she walks over and sits next to Thea.
"That's so not fair!" Thea objects as she really wants to go out nights with Laurel and help her get justice outside the courtroom, but more importantly she doesn't want Laurel to continue having no one watching her back.
"Maybe not, but you're only seventeen, and my kid, it's my job to protect you," Laurel says, moving the blanket that was just covering Thea so that It is covering them both. "I'm doing this to protect the kids and young people in the Glades because no one else will, because someone has to, and part of the reason I can do that is because I know you're safe," Laurel explains to Thea. "Doing what I've been doing is important to me, and I love every second, but it's not more important than you; nothing is," Laurel explains. "So, I'm saying no, and I really need you to respect that, Thea," Laurel admits.
"I will," Thea says, even though she doesn't want to. "But we're talking about this again when I'm eighteen," Thea reveals.
"That's fair," Laurel admits.
"Good, I have something for you," Thea reveals, before she reaches down and pulls a bag from under the bed which she hands to Laurel.
"What's this?" Laurel ask curious.
"Open it and you'll see," Thea informs her and feeling curious Laurel opens the bag. Inside Laurel finds a pair of pants that while leather have patches of fishnets on them. "I thought they would be better than just leather," Thea explains. "And that way you'll have something from me when you're out there, it'll be like I'm there with you in some way," Thea explains.
"You're always with me, Speedy,' Laurel says as she puts her arm around Thea.
"Just be careful out there, Laurel," Thea requests. "The Woman in Black might be becoming Star City's hero, but Dinah Laurel Lance is mine, and I need you," Thea admits.
"Don't worry, Thea. I'm not going anywhere," Laurel assures her.
"Good," Thea says, as she snuggles into Laurel's side, deciding to ask something hat she has been curious about. "How exactly are you functioning on so little sleep?" Thea asks curious.
"Coffee Speedy, it's the invention of gods," Laurel says, causing Thea to laugh as Laurel turns off the light.
Once the light is off Laurel doesn't attempt to fall asleep rather, she watches Thea. As she watches Thea through the darkness Laurel promises herself that no matter what happens out on the street she will always come home to Thea and that when she gets hurt she will never let Thea see.
