August 10th - 2014

Terror, that was what I felt as the plane's engines caught fire upon approaching near Starling City. I'd spent the last several months training under sensei Yoru, learning to refine my abilities as well as multiple combat doctrines. To say it was enlightening would be an understatement. Still, I really did not feel like dying before I actually made it home and immediately began focusing despite the people panicking on the plane.

I could tap into it regularly now, this deep well of electromagnetic energy which seemed bottomless and yet finite when used. First a soft glow began enveloping my body, then I felt it as it reached into the framework of the plane, the bits of metal reacting to my will as I strained to match it with the field on the ground repelling the plane and slowing its fall as I did so. Gently, the plane came to a landing in a nearby field, the pilot able to guide the now heavily slowed aircraft safely down.

I had no idea what had just happened, but I suspected it wasn't an accident or a bird strike like the pilot claimed over the intercom. Primarily because the wing was damaged by some form of projectile and not the normal damage you'd see from a failing engine. Having saved the plane, I was incredibly exhausted now and texted Oliver to let him know I would be delayed getting back. Apparently things hadn't gone well, and the city had nearly erupted into civil war due to Slade's machinations, save for Oliver and Sarah stopping his plan with help from Roy Harper, his new protégé.

To be honest, I was glad that Roy got picked up by Oliver anyway. Apparently he'd proven himself as a competent if unrefined fighter, and Oliver had decided it would be better to mentor him than let him continue getting into trouble fighting against the various drug and crime lords in the glades. Fate works in funny ways, I guess.

Having made sure the passengers were okay, I decided it was a nice night for a run and sprinted back the dozen or so miles to Starling city, my practiced running speed having increased to around forty miles per hour due to the Mirakuru mixing with dark matter. From there I began generating an electromagnetic field around my body and changed to skating across it, repelling myself self against the ground as I pushed off against the field giving me further momentum and pushing me up towards eighty. I'm no speedster, but I'm not slow either, my reaction time allowing me to easily dodge or leap over cars and other obstacles as I raced down the highway.

It didn't take more than ten or so minutes before I arrived back at the factory, the place heavily damaged from various break-ins and covered in graffiti. Guess I needed to reclaim my territory, though I was certain the underground portion was safe and thus protecting Durendal from hoodlums and crooks. Though it probably needed some maintenance after sitting for so long. Putting it off for now, I made my way towards Verdant, this time just running alongside traffic and quickly making my way there.

What surprised me was that the place was embroiled in some kind of battle, Thea had apparently been attacked by several League of Assassins members and Roy was protecting her before Oliver, Sarah, and Diggle showed up to even the odds. Felicity was obviously in the basement of course, but that would explain why I didn't get a response earlier, they were simply busy. Moving quickly, I charged in and clothes lined several, knocking them off their feet before landing several quick strikes to knock them unconscious.

"You really shouldn't have guys, I'm not very fun at parties and wanted to keep things casual." I've been working on my snark since it works great at distracting and riling up my enemies, keeps them off balance.

"You're late"

"My plane had technical difficulties, nobody died, I suspect after the fifth attempt on my life in the past month they're getting desperate." Yeah, they really tried to kill me despite the truce. Two were caught by Yoru himself, another by his students, and the other two, well you know about the first one, the second came prepared but wasn't prepared for my increased speed and wasn't really an issue since he was quickly blitzed.

"You didn't mention the last one."

"I didn't have time, it was on the way to the airport, and I'd decided to get a good workout in. No honor among criminals, am I right?"

Another got thrown into a post as I grabbed him by his arm, the throw a technique Sensei Yoru insisted I learn since it worked as a great counter, I love counters, and it meshes well with my focus on defense. There really were a lot of bad guys here, nearly two dozen in fact, though half that now were unconscious. An arrow flew by my face as narrowly dodged it, Nyssa taking pot shots from the second floor causing me to sigh in frustration before doing a running leap up there catching her off guard and snapping the bow with my hands.

"It's not polite to interrupt someone's dance, you know, it's a great way to piss a guy off." She immediately sliced at me with her knife, the movement feeling sluggish as I easily intercepted it and took it away from her.

"You shouldn't play with such dangerous toys either, might get hurt." I smirked before deflecting a series of rapid strikes then quickly knocking her out as well, her anger working against her quite heavily. I quickly threw her over my shoulder and whistled with my fingers to get everybody's attention.

"Hey wannabe assassins, if you want her back you've got to catch me, because if you can't, she's going away for a long time." I took off at a running sprint as a large number of them immediately gave chase, the few remaining to keep everyone else busy but likely being easily dispatched by team arrow. Quickly reaching my top speed, I slowed down to a reasonable twenty mile per hour jog to let them begin catching up. Picking up the pace again I heard the sound of motorcycles as they decided running after me was fruitless, so I decided to lead them away further, checking back and noting that they were paired up on four motorcycles trying to catch up to me.

Thinking quickly, I transitioned into a wall run and made it to the rooftops as I raced to get to the police station, hoping that some extra muscle might deter them. It went on for several blocks as several shots were taken at a distance, a few trying to now run along the rooftops with reinforcements having come in to aid them, suddenly I was blindsided by Slade throwing me on my back and tearing up the back of my jacket.

"Watch the threads, man, I just got this thing and don't feel like traveling back to Harajuku to get another one." I dusted my self off as I began walking to pick up the unconscious and now bruised Nyssa al Ghul when Slade threw something at my feet, causing me to step back before it detonated.

"You should forget the girl and focus on me, not that I'll let you walk away this time." I immediately got into a combat stance, this was going to be one heck of a battle, and I wasn't sure if I was ready.