Finding the man in the skull mask.. The one that reported to Deathstroke.. That was our mission. He may not have been the leader.. But he was fronting the effort to create the Mirakuru army that would siege the city sometime in the next 10 months. That needed to be stopped.. And once we captured the man in the skull mask, we could interogate him for Deathstroke's location and capture him as well. Was I certain I could stop the Siege? No. Was I going to sit back and let it happen? Hell no. For all I knew the only reason the team stopped it the first time was because I put in the effort to stop it before hand.
We tracked down one of the biggest drug dealers whom had been near the Skull Mask's base of operations in a construction site. Oliver and I split up to cover more ground. After a while of searching Oliver said "Target located. Blue Lightning, Rendezvouz on my position." I said "Acknowledged, circling back." I was making my way towards the Arrow as I heard a car crash. I picked up my running speed when I saw the man escape the car and start running on foot. "Target is on foot. I'll take the ground level, Arrow take high ground." Oliver replied "Agreed." I began to run after the guy, ducking behind cover when he took pot shots over his shoulder at us. Oliver was able to get ahead and shoot a rapel arrow at the guy. He then hung the guy by his feet over the ground. I caught up with Oliver and notched an arrow, pointing it at the mans hand "Who is the man in the skull mask!" I demanded. The guy said panicked "I-I don't know!" Oliver then said "You are the biggest street dealer in crescent circle, you know everything that goes on over there. WHO IS HE?" The guy yelled "I ain't ever seen the guy before. A skull mask, are you freaking kidding me, come on man I'm still on parole!" Oliver replied "Not anymore." and knocked him out. I then said into coms "Dig, contact the Detective, let him know we have a drug dealer dangling for him to arrest, he violated his parole." We then left the man to dangle until the police got there.
When we got back to the foundry Oliver asked Diggle "Felicity not back from Central City yet?" Diggle replied "She said she wanted to spend a few more days with Barry." Oliver sighed and asked "Any improvement on his condition?" I then said softly "It may seem bad.. But Barry survives this. He is how I meet you guys after all. However judging from reports it may be like 8 or 9 months before he wakes up." Oliver looked at me weird "Reports?" I shook my head "Spoilers. Don't worry..it is a good thing. It's just what happens is way too compicated to explain and for you to understand" Dig smirked at me "Says the man who claimed to have time traveled." I rolled my eyes. Diggle asked " Anyways, how did it go tonight?" Oliver replied "The same as every other pointed conversation David and I have with these lowlifes in crescent circle. Nobody has seen a man in a skull mask, but he's still out there." Diggle then said "Oliver, for the past 5 weeks, You two have pushed yourselves pretty hard looking for this guy." I snapped at him "He has the Mirakuru Dig! He will use it to create an army to lay siege to Starling City! Thousands of lives are effected by it! If we can stop it.. Or sabotage it enough.. We will be able to save some of those lives." Oliver nodded "You saw what it took to kill one guy that had been injected. We practically had to drop a building on him, so imagine ten or a hundred, imagine a thousand." Diggle stood up and said "You said Roy was injected.." Oliver nodded, Dig continued "I've just never see you spooked like this before." Oliver replied "That should tell you something." He then walked away. I went in a different direction, as upset as Oliver.
Later the next evening Oliver had a political rally to attend at Verdant so I stayed downstairs, resting up a little more before heading back out into the field. That didn't last long as the news covered an explosion at one of Starling City's banks. Could not have been accidental. I looked at the computers in front of me and sighed, it had been so long since my SHIELD training that I did not remember the ins and outs of hacking.. Nor was I taught anything that would help from this setup.. I would need to be on site to get any info. However that was not a viable option as the place was probably crawling with police by now. I had to come up with a plan.
As I was contemplating how best to infiltrate the bank undetected Oliver and Diggle came down the steps. Oliver was asking Diggle "Anyone in the building?" Diggle replied "Cleaning crew and a group of bankers working out a late night deal." He then asked Diggle "Can you patch me to police and fire." Diggle said "On it." I then stood up and allowed him the seat. He began clicking away at the keyboard. "Diggle" Oliver urged. Dig responded "Hey man, this is not my thing" I said "This is why we need Felicity.. Because I couldn't do it either." Oliver nodded. Dig finally got us patched in. A man said "It's too hot. We're falling back." another replied "We still got people on the 19th floor" The first man replied back "It's too hot, we can't get up there. Everything is blocked. We're falling back." Oliver went over to his bow and picked it up. I said "Ollie. We aren't fire proof. The firemen are falling back and they have gear to protect them." Oliver shook his head "We don't have a choice David. Dig, have the med station prepped to heal burns. David, suit up." I sighed and nodded, going to my own station to suit up.
We arrived on the scene, both of us ziplining through the same window that was the safest to do so. Oliver when first, I followed behind him. Once inside we made our way through the burning complex. Oliver said to me "Fire requires oxygen to burn, can't you vent it all out of here?" I looked at him "I have never tried that, and even if It did work, The people in need of rescue could suffocate. Not to mention it would give away my powers." Oliver nodded "Then we must move quickly." we searched the floor until we ran into someone "Gary is still back there." She said. Oliver said with his voice changer on "We'll take care of him. Get to safety." He then went to help. I said with my voice changer on "Down the hall, take a left. You will find a clear window to breath from until the firemen can assist you." She nodded "Thank you Blue Lightning." She ran off. I went to help Oliver. When I saw him he called "Blue Lightning, help me lift this." I nodded and jogged over, getting a good grip on the piece of concrete and lifted. This allowed Oliver to pull the man out from underneath. We both helped him to a safer area and when his back was turned we made out exit, having saved everyone who had been trapped on this floor.
The next day I was in my office as Queen Consolidated, going over paperwork that my job demanded I did, until I noticed Felicity had entered the building so I made my way to Oliver's office to greet her. She was leaving to go to her desk when I caught her "Welcome back Fel." Felicity smiled slightly at me before saying "Not sure if I am happy to be back.. Oliver seems to care more about me helping him than Barry's life." I shook my head "That's not the case Felicity. It's true we need you here.. We can't do this properly without you.. I seemed to have forgotten most of my SHIELD hacking training and the team will not have access to JARVIS for another year. Oliver has always been a guy focused on the mission. He knows the stakes, he's the only one here to have truly seen it first hand. It's not that he doesn't care about Barry.. He knows there is nothing we can do for him and he chooses to focus on what he can do something about.. As do I." If Felicity agreed or not she did not say, only choosing to say "If you excuse me, I have to call Detective Lance." I took my leave, noticing Oliver and Diggle watching me. I gave a slide shake of my head to show I tried to help and it probably did not work.
That night Oliver and I met Detective Lance on the roof of a building in Starling City. He did not see us at first. So I said with my voice changer on "Hello Detective." Lance turned around and said "You know, most cops they meet their informants in the backseat of a cruiser, or a coffee shop or something, but... What's with the mask" He asked Oliver. Oliver said "Gift from a friend" Lance looked confused "You've got friends?" I allowed myself a smirk and said "It's surprising, I know." Oliver gave me a look before turning to Lance and asked "Did you bring me what I asked for?" He handed Oliver a baggy with debris from the explosion, possibly the source. He said "That's a sample of everything the CSU collected from the blast. There's melted glass, and multiple explosion fragments and trace residue, and what looks like nitroglycerine. Which means that we are dealing with more than just a basement nutjob." I nodded "Someone with training. That gives us a point of reference. We will have Felicity look at this at once." Oliver finished my sentence and said "Thank you, Detective." We made to leave, and Lance called out to us "I need a favor too. The son of a bitch that killed my men, my partner." Oliver replied "He's dead." Lance continued "And whoever tipped him off, told him we were coming? He's still just fine." I asked "What do you need?" Lance replied "Cell phone records, for every cop in my precinct." Oliver asked "You think there is a leak in the department?" Lance nodded saying "I think those phone records will be enough to know for sure, and your blonde friend, well she is pretty good with computers." Oliver nodded "I'll ask her."
That was when an explosion sounded from a building not too far away from where we were. Oliver and I turned to it. Lance said into his radio "DC-52 to Central, 10-80 downtown!" Oliver said into coms "He's hit again." Diggle replied "Starling city municipal building." I said "Give us a location." Felicity replied "Checking the surrounding cell towers. There was a GSM spike of 3,800 megahertz two seconds before the blast. That frequency is way outside the approved frequency for U.S Carriers. Signals moving, he's mobile." Oliver and I began running "Give us an intersection" Oliver demanded. We got on our bikes and rolled out, weaving in and out of traffic at top speed.
Finally Felicity said "Right in front of you, 400 meters." We looked and Oliver said "I see him." It was a old van. Once he saw us he took off, running a red, almost causing several accidents. Oliver and I weaved in between these cars, narrowing missing a couple before continuing the chase. "Turn left on 67th." Felicity orders. We made that turn. The bomber began weaving in between traffic as well, being a real danger on the road. That danger increased as he began to throw grenades out the window, Oliver and I having to hop off our bikes and slide on the ground using the bike as cover before hopping back on to the continue the chase. He then popped a smoke bomb. He drove through it but lost sight "Felicity, we have no visual" Felicity muttered "What..? Me too. Hold on... Got him, Bank left on Gerrard street. " We did as orders. "Your almost on top of him." She continued. We made the bank but almost ran into a truck and bus. Oliver said "Felicity it is not him. You picked up the wrong signal!" Felicity replied very confused "What.. I thought– He must have scrambled the signal." Oliver replied "It doesn't matter, he's gone." Oliver looked at me and shook his head, obviously peeved at what happened. Felicity was about to get an earful when we returned to the foundry.
Oliver's pace was quick walking into the foundry and to Felicity, myself trailing a little bit behind. "What happened?!" He demanded. Felicity replied "He's using cellular technology to detonate his bombs. Clearly, his expertise extends to obscuring that signal." Oliver barked "Felicity, your expertise was supposed to trump his." Felicity turned around to face him "Excuse me, if you have something to say to me Oliver, then say it." Oliver put away his bow and turned around and barked "People are dying, so I would like you to pull your head out of central city and get back in the game." My eyes widdened and I cautioned "Oliver.." He ignored me and Felicity spat back "Sure, right after you get yours out of your ass." Oliver replied "Excuse me?" Diggle looked at me before saying "Alright, maybe we should just take a breather here." Felicity said "No wait, I want to know, what exactly was that crack about Central city supposed to imply." Oliver replied "When the first bomb went off, you weren't here, and when the second bomb went off, you sent David and I the wrong way." She argued "After you didn't catch him in the first place."Don't blame me because you didn't have it tonight." She was silent for a second before she said "I need some air." and walked out.
Diggle then said "At the risk of me getting my head knocked off. Playing the blame game's not going to help us catch this son of a bitch." Oliver replied "Neither is doing things halfway." Diggle replied "Is that what you think is going on here Oliver? Did you think she was distracted? She wasn't giving it her all?" Oliver replied "She almost ran me into a bus, Diggle." I cut in "To be fair, had we been using our eyes instead of relying on her, that would not have happened. There is more to this anger... nay resentment.. Than all of us losing the bomber." Diggle nodded and continued "I think you didn't have a problem with Felicity's performance until she met Barry Allen." Diggle then took his leave. I looked at Oliver and said "You need to patch things up with Felicity Oliver. We all made mistakes tonight, but working together we can catch this guy. I'm not saying this as a time traveler from the future. I am saying this as a member of this team, who has been present as teamwork helped stop multiple adversary's. So we lost this one for now. It is a learning experience. We now know that we have to use our own eyes as much as Felicity. The failure was all of ours. Think on that Oliver." I then took my leave myself to get out of my suit.
The next day we were all in the foundry, trying to find leads to the bomber. Sabastian Blood was holding a unity rally as City plaza, which we knew to be a perfect target for the bomber. Oliver paced saying "I tried to get him to stand down." Diggle replied "He seems as stubborn as you when it comes to fighting back." Felicity chimed in "Or everything." I said "Hey, is this how it is going to be with you two from now on. Dig and I might have to split off and do our own thing if that's the case." Dig smirked at me "You finally going to train me how to use those gauntlets of yours?" I chuckled "No.. I need a desk guy." He rolled his eyes and chuckled. Oliver said "Focus.. Please. Maybe we should just go to the rally." Felicity chimed in "Maybe we won't have to. I analyzed the bomb remnants we got from Lance. The design's identical to the bomb used by an anti government militia group called the movement. Lucky for us, they have a very active and hackable message board. One of their most prolific fans has an IP address right here in Starling." Oliver said "Tell me." Felicity replied "The Computer's in a local souvenir shop. The Whackadoo in question goes by the username Shrapnel." Oliver then turned to me "Lets suit up." I nodded and turned to Dig "Can you cover the Rally? This way we have all our bases covered." He nodded but Oliver said "No. He is only a hacker I can handle him. David I need you to cover the Rally. Dig you take the crowd and David will have the high ground. Both of you keep an eye out for anything that could give this Shrapnel away." I nodded and took off to suit up.
I was atop a building with view of the plaza. I kept watch over the crowd.. Not liking the amount of people who came. All these people had their lives at risk. It was up to Team Arrow to stop it. However we had no leads on where the bomb was.. We had very little to go on. Our only hope was Oliver being able to catch Shrapnel and interrogate him to find out what he did. Finally Oliver came over coms and said "Shrapnel said he rigged the perimeter with RDX." Dig said "I'm on it." I said "I'll keep an eye from the sky. There are too many cops down there for me to be searching on ground level." I then surveyed the site using my eagle vision to see things clearly at a distance.. Looking for anything that could hide a detonator. I noticed a few people I knew there. Lance was there in uniform. He ended up looking right at me and gave a small nod before continuing to search himself. I noticed Moria and Thea Queen and winced at that, knowing they were in danger. I also noticed Roy. Despite being injected with Mirakuru he looked normal, red hoody and everything. I then saw how there was a few speakers around and said "Dig, check the speakers. They are perfect places to hide a detonator." He replied "On it." A little bit later Felicity said "Dig, Lightning, I'm on site." Dig replied "I found the detonator. Oliver said the whole place is rigged with explosives, its in the sound equipment, and this is the trigger." I then said "Felicity, can you disarm it?" Felicity said "Shrapnel detonates his bombs via cellular transmission.." Dig soothed her saying "You don't have to disarm it then.. Just disable it. Can you do that?" She replied "I can do that. I think, I hope" I said "Let me know if you can't because then I have to find a way to clear the site before the bomb goes off.. And I am not sure I can do that without all these cops taking me down." Diggle then said "Felicity, just be careful, Shrapnel probably put in a safeguard to prevent tampering with it." I then said softly "I know your head is in the game Fel.. Time to prove Oliver wrong."
There was a gunshot and I saw the man who had shot Dig. I shot a zipline arrow and rod it down to meet him "Give me the detonator!" I roared with my voice changer on. He took a shot at me, I did not dodge afraid it would hit a pedestrian. However I did move slightly so the bullet would lodge itself in my shoulder. He then threw the detonator, which must have also been a bomb since he threw it. I notched an arrow, twisted and fired, Another Arrow hit it first and it exploded. Oliver must have arrived. I turned to Shrapnel running and began to chase after him. Oliver caught up on his bike and overtook me but I kept running. When I got to the scene I saw The Arrow had his bow trained on Shrapnel, who had a trigger out ready to set off some bombs. I notched my own arow and aimed for the wire, ignoring the pain in my shoulder. Oliver saw me and gave a swift nod. I fired my arrow and Oliver fired his into Shrapnels thigh. Oliver then walked forward and knocked Shrapnel out. Oliver saw my wound and said "You're injured. Get back to the foundry.. I'll help Felicity with Dig." I nodded and went for my bike and took off for the Foundry.
Later that evening after we were patched up, Oliver was replacing some arrows and Felicity was watching the news. She said "With you dropping less bodies Starling City is going to need a bigger jail." Diggle then asked "Another night of skull mask hunting?" Oliver replied "Not exactly. How are your shoulders boys?" I chuckled "A few more hours and the ambrosia is going to have mine all healed.. Dig on the other hand might have a little longer." Diggle nodded "It was a through and through, walk in the park." Oliver then said "Still, Diggle, you should go home and get some rest. David.. Starling City can survive one night without the Blue Lightning. Take a breather yourself." I nodded. "Thanks Ollie. Take it easy out there. If you need help, don't hesitate to have Felicity call me. I'll be right as rain soon enough." I smiled and Diggle and I left. A night off.. Oh boy.. What was I going to do?
