Chapter 17:
A loud thump outside of the door caused Emiko to jump up. She just returned home, and something, someone put her on edge. Emiko drew in a deep breath. Her mother was not home, and something about this entire situation just struck her as being slightly off.
"Mom?"
No answer, and Emiko reflexively dodged, as the coffee table exploded. It sent bits of broken wood all over the place. Emiko pressed herself up against the wall with another heavy breath.
From the closet, it burst open, and a henchman ran out. Emiko dodged the blade before it skewed her. She dodged two more attacks and picked things up with a series of kicks which rocked him down. Another henchman rushed towards Emiko. Emiko blocked the attack, and punched away at the henchmen.
Another one moved from behind the curtain. Only to find an arrow being shot at the curtain and it pinned her against the wall.
Two more dropped on the outside of the hallway. Emiko looked up and half expected to see her brother. However, it was not him, but rather Artemis Crock. Artemis stomped the final henchmen in the room, and dropped them down to the ground.
The two women exchanged a nervous glance.
"What are they doing?" Emiko asked. "What is going on here?"
"We need to leave," Artemis said. "The people you're with, you're a liability for them now."
Emiko's eyebrow raised. Artemis took her by the hand and led down into the elevator. It sprung open and two more of them fell down to the ground. Jade stepped out, and ripped the blade out of the neck of the person she just struck down.
"Elevator is a no go," Jade said. "And going down just puts us in the crossfire for those people. We're going to have to go up and around, and hope none of them go after."
"I don't understand anything that's going on."
"Cain's made the call to kill you," Jade said. "Or rather, the person working with Cain has made the call to kill you. Now move it!"
Emiko, Jade, and Artemis rushed around. They came face to face with a small group of ninjas. They dressed in monkey masks. Emiko reached into her bag and pulled out a concealed weapon before she stabbed one of them down. Artemis whipped back her arm and fired an arrow at another one of them. Jade snapped the man down to the ground with a huge crunching attack and busted his face down into the ground.
"Monkey ninjas," Artemis breathed. "Great."
Emiko really would love to know what was going on, and why all of these people wanted to kill her. Jade and Artemis shielded her from the attack. They were skilled in their actions, but if there was one thing Emiko hated was being weak and vulnerable to anyone. She would never be that way again.
She picked up the quiver and bow of one of the downed ninjas. Not her usual, but it would do. Emiko drew back her bow and plunged the arrow into the ribs of a monkey ninja.
"Make us a door, Artemis!"
Somehow, the really big bang which echoed throughout the room sounded very sweet. Even if it did make Emiko's ears ring ever so slightly from the impact.
They had to get out of here. Now.
Kazumi returned home, for the long walk through the glades, arms full of groceries. Suddenly, a hand grabbed her from the alleyway and grabbed her arm. Kazumi dropped the produce from her hand and whirled around to fight the attacker. Only the attacker had been pulled off of her.
Two more dropped down and grabbed Kazumi. Ninjas, if one could believe that. Kazumi struggled against their grip and cracked one of them back. The other put a nerve hold on her and slammed to the ground. Two thugs came out and one of them brandished a knife.
A whip of bright light flashed in front of Kazumi's face. The ninjas dropped down to the ground one at a time. The loud crack of their bones were sickening as some force dropped them down to the ground.
Lady Shiva dropped down to the ground and picked up a rather shaken Kazumi from the ground. She made sure no one else was coming for the woman.
"What is going on?" Kazumi demanded.
"That's what I'm trying to ascertain," Shiva said. "Talk. Talk now!"
One could see Shiva meant business. The knife pressed at the man's throat caused him to twitch down onto the ground. The carving against his vein made him lose his temper.
"Dante wanted it done, Diaz agreed, and Cain was going to go after the daughter, to hedge our bets, and Monkey's in on this as well."
Lady Shiva realized that this could only mean one thing. Monkey, as in her disgraced former student, the Silver Monkey had been on on this. She clasped her hand against the goon's throne and strangled him until he left this world.
"Your daughter has been taken to a safe location," Shiva said. "And it's time for you to come with me."
"They targeted Emiko, why?"
"She's fallen into some very bad company," Lady Shiva said. "It's unfortunate, when you want to do what's best for your daughter, but some bad people have gotten a hold of them. Those fences have been mended."
A small group of women appeared. Kazumi tensed up. They looked dangerous. However, her savior did not look worried. On the contrary, a smile broke out over her face.
"Don't worry, you're among friends," Shiva said. "They will get you there."
Kazumi realized asking more questions would get her nowhere. She stepped over the groceries, mangled and forgotten in the entire attack.
Lady Shiva put Kazumi into the safe hands of Talia and her elite guard. She could think of no one she would find Kazumi more secure with. She needed her facilities in tact if she was going to go after and take down her former sperm doner, David Cain and his allies.
"The mother's been secure, the daughter's safe," Shiva said.
"I'll meet you halfway," Oliver said. "We're getting this done, tonight."
Oliver had been in the process of taking a few goons done. They all worked for the man known as Dante, and they were pretty skilled. However, Oliver had trained with the very best. He deflected the knife jabs from one of the goons and whipped his hand back. Oliver delivered a crushing uppercut which sent the man flying down onto the ground from a huge impact.
Shiva dropped down and swept the leg out from underneath the goon. Not she had much work to do. Oliver did plenty and Shiva could not be too happy of her student, and former master.
A rough looking man appeared at the door. Oliver and Shiva turned around to show him.
"Do what you want to me, but you'd want to see this."
The man held up a phone which transmitted live video. The face of Ricardo Diaz appeared on the camera.
"Ra's al Ghul. The feared Head of the Demon. You know, you've been causing a lot of problems with my operations. And you made a lot of enemies. And left a few too many of them left in the wind. But, that's going to change. Your little League is going to fall and I'm going to rise. I made a deal with the devil himself, and we're going to make sure this city falls before your very eyes."
Diaz smiled and the camera panned back to reveal a very familiar face.
"And this reporter has been snooping around, trying to make herself famous," Diaz said. "Well, they often remember the first casualties of the war."
Chloe Sullivan had been tied to a chair and struggled to get loose. A knife had been pressed to her mouth by Diaz. His eyes locked onto the two figures, and smiled.
"Shiva, you thought that I was not worthy of your attention anymore," Diaz said. "You cast me to the side, as an afterthought. Well, your time is done. I'm not afraid of you anymore. You come after me."
"A man without fear is a foolish man, Diaz," Shiva said.
A scream from Chloe echoed. Diaz cut the knife into her cheek and stopped short from slicing into her neck.
"Blondie's alive, but not for long if you don't find me," Diaz said. "Find me, and take me and my partner down. Unless, the great Ra's al Ghul is nothing but deception and theaterics."
"Oracle, are you getting all that?"
"Yes, warehouse at the pier, that's where he's held up," Barbara said. "Black Canary and White Canary are already on their way there."
"And I'll join them."
Diaz just made it to the top of his list. Chloe had a knack of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but she had been in serious danger. She was not a soldier in this war, just an innocent doing what was right.
Oliver, Laurel, and Sara appeared outside of the room. None of them spoke. They felt a crisp and cool sensation through the air.
"Bravo, Mr. Queen, you're here."
A gentleman appeared in the room. He clapped his hands in front of them. Two more pushed Chloe out into the room. The wounds were still fresh on her face and she wore a collar strapped to her neck.
"Dante, I presume," Oliver said.
"Yes, Mr. Queen," Dante said. "You've been too smart for your own good. I intended to use your sister as a means to destabilize your operations. I've been grooming her for some time to take over my operation, but she's grown fond of you, despite the hatred which burns through her, at being abandoned to a lackluster life."
"And then, you tried to kill her," Oliver said. "And now, I'm going to kill you."
"Kill me, and this collar goes off, destroying the entire building, starting with this pretty little blonde reporter," Dante said. "The last story in your life will be your obituary. And Ms. Sullivan, it was you looking into things that didn't concern you that got us to this point. And got you to this point…."
"NOW!"
Laurel and Sara released a Canary Cry each and sent the goons flying. Oliver jumped up and nailed Dante in mid-sentence. While he could not kill Dante as long as man had been hooked to Chloe's collar, there were ways to make sure Dante wished he was dead.
"Okay, you're going to need to remove the wires in that order," Barbara told Sara.
Another figure came down from the ceiling. Silver Monkey, the disgraced student of Lady Shiva. Silver Monkey grabbed Oliver and pulled him off of Dante.
The two fighters went hand to hand briefly. Silver Monkey released smoke bombs onto the ground and scrambled to the ceiling like his name sake. He dropped down and threw a dagger at Oliver. Oliver deflected the attack and blocked another attack.
Black Canary sent a Canary Cry at Silver Monkey and dropped him through a window.
"And twist the third pin on the right," Barbara said.
The collar popped off. The second it was clear, and disabled, Dante's eyes widened a fraction of a step. Dante reached into his pocket and pulled out a vial of something. Only for Oliver to block the attack and slam him down into the ground. The vial rolled onto the ground and Laurel picked it up.
"The 9th Circle will cause the League to burn," Dante said.
One death blow to the side of the neck put Dante to sleep for good. There would be others, but with Emiko's help, the League would take any important assets.
"I would like to thank you for securing my sister's loyalty."
"He might have known something about where Diaz and Cain ran off to," Laurel said.
"No, he wouldn't have talked."
Oliver opened up Dante's mouth to reveal the cyanide fillings. He was going to off himself, if the going got rough.
"Diaz mentioned something about an underground tunnel," Chloe said. "Thanks for the help."
Chloe threw her arms around Oliver and kissed him on the lips, for a second. She pulled away and looked a bit flushed.
"I know, now's not the time," Chloe said. "So, what do you think is in the vial?"
"Nothing good," Oliver said. "Shiva, Cain and Diaz might have gone underground."
"Fitting, for vermin."
"Dante, was taking out. Silver Monkey was taken out."
"Monkey was just a pawn."
David Cain's clipped statement gave Diaz pause. The two gentlemen walked underneath the ground. Cain would take ahold of the Ninth Circle and deliver a plague to Star City. Diaz and his resources were convenient, for now, but much like Silver Monkey, just a pawn.
"The Demon will fall tonight."
"He took out Dante, like he did with Damien Darhk," Diaz said. "And The White Ghost was taken down just a few weeks ago. We should go on the attack and take down his forces."
"You think like a thug, you'll always be nothing more than a thug," Cain said.
Cain and Diaz walked into the tunnel, where a device had been set up. Several tanks full of a glowing red chemical had been wheeled in by scientists in Hazmat suits.
"We will bring this city to its knees first, and the Ra's al Ghul will fall," Cain said.
Cain had been working for others for too long. It was time for him to be the Head of the League.
The Plot Continues In the Next Chapter.