Chapter 10
Homecoming
AN:Hey Guys, again I am so sorry for not updating soon. but it's been a hectic schedule the past month.
The first to strike will gain the upper hand- Unknown.
"Rrraahh!" Conners threw a computer monitor in rage, he just learned that Jericho had somehow escaped from their clutches again and he didn't take it too well. Three years of hard work will not go down in vein, it took several attempts to complete the first phase of Project Wolverine. When he discovered the formula, he went to refine it but it wasn't without failures. Time and again, he tried different ways of somehow removing the side effects permanently but they turned up even worst 10 times fold. On the verge of giving up, he went to look closely on the formula and he found the problem. It was missing the final piece. So he went to search the globe to find a similar serum, it took several months to find it and it was called Mirakuru.A Japanese super soldier serum that gone missing during WWII in Northern China Sea. He looked for any surviving subjects and he found Slade Wilson, a former agent of the Australian intelligence agency. He took a sample of his blood and mixed with the Wolverine serum. But he needed a subject and that's when Slade a few weeks later mentioned a name, Jericho Al Ghul, the Son of the Demon and the rest is history.
But now, all hard work is at risk now. So he needs to calm down and revalue the situation. Stick to the plan. And find him.
"Bruce! Talia!" Jericho called for his brother in law and sister in the Wayne manor. Before dropping Lyla off, Lyla told him some disturbing information regarding Deathstroke, Reynolds and Conner which he had to alert Oliver and others
but first he had to talk with her sister.
"Welcome home, Brother." Talia announced, stepping out of the office as Jericho turned around and saw her in her formal clothing . Absent the cane.
"Talia." Jericho said, "Where's the cane?"
"My leg will be fit within the week. Come we have much to discuss." She beckoned him to come to the office so that they could talk without anyone eavesdropping.
"So. Where do we start?"
"The events occurred during your absence. A Prisoner transport that were transferring new inmates to Blackgate penitentiary was ambushed, this is footage from the security camera." She went to grab IPad and gave it to him where he saw the footage of the ambush. it was blurry and it didn't give him any opportunity to see who pulled off the stunt and he didn't get a good look at the face. but when he saw the perpetrator killing the guards off, he studied his fighting technique, it was obvious that he was very high skilled in martial arts. The skill of a member from the League of Assassins, he recognized the move set from the attacker. Once the recording was over, he placed it back on the desk.
"Do you know who did this?" Jericho questioned
"No. but the Gotham Police discovered fingerprints on the camera. The batcomputer performed analysis on the prints. It belonged to one Paul Reynolds." She replied,
"Damn." He muttered, what else has he done during his time here? What
"That's not all. Security cameras at the royal hotel spotted him leaving before the attack. Care to explain why he appeared in Gotham after 6 years." Jericho sighed knowing that he won't lie out of this, no B.S, no excuses. Just the truth.
"You might wanna sit down. It's gonna be a long story."
"Oliver, this is the wolverine serum. Think of it as a younger version of the Mirakuru. Stronger, faster and deadlier. But it has some noticeable differences. It brings out your animal instincts and sharpens your senses. And it has a healing factor twice as strong than the mirakuru." The Team excluding Jericho were back at the Arrow cave in Starling City and the first thing they did was to listen to a sample analysis from Sara regarding the Wolverine serum and from what she gathered, it was not good.
"So supposedly he could sell this on black market for the highest bidder. Let's say a mob boss and he gives it to his men whom starts a war with the police. They live, the police dies."
"That's right. Contact with a one enhanced criminal is fatal. Anesthetics are useless." Sara added to the information,
"How did you get this?"
"I have my ways." Sara shrugged,
"Take this." Jericho took out a vial of blood and tossed it to Sara who caught it with ease, she inspected it curiously as of why he would give her a blood sample. "Get it analyzed and start looking in the criminal database. Anyone with this blood in them will be declared dead within 3 year time period."
"Who's blood is it?" Sara inquired, Jericho gave her a knowing look and she figured it out in her head of whose blood it belongs to. It was his. "Right. I'll perform a blood analysis, but you need some help."
"I can handle it. you're needed here." Jericho stated, "Things could get worse, much worse?"
"You think?" Sara responded as she walked over to him,"If Conners really knows who you are, what happens if he tells everyone? How will you…"
Jericho held his hand up to slience her, "I'll find a way. Trust me."
"Is it operational?" Diggle questioned,
"Unknown, but because he produced the serum, he could already manufacturing at an industrial scale." Sara informed,
"If he is, we need to know the Where and the How." Oliver declared,
"Well, the problem is Conner Labs has dozen of sites capable of mass production." Felicity explained showing digital maps of how many locations Conner Labs has and it's several which is not good for them. "By the time we put the pieces together…."
"Jericho has the location." Sara suggested out of the blue, the others turned to her with curious looks.
"Are you sure?" they were hesitant to bring him up as a option
"He's the reason why we uncovered the connection between him and Isabel. Not to mention the illegal funding coming from QC and Steelmoor. What other choice do we have?" they glanced at each other knowing full well that Jericho was their only shot at this.
"Make the call."
Jericho was doing pushups in his apartment when his cellphone buzzed on the kitchen table. Once he finished his sets he went to check the caller id. He answered it in full understanding of who called.
"Sara."
Jericho's head popped up from the water along with Sara in the deep woods of Forrest City, Arkansas as a patrol passed them by. they'd just arrived about 5 minutes ago courtesy of a group of South Korean smugglers that Jericho befriended in the past. They could go in and out of the country without being detected
"Oracle, Sara and I are outside of the target zone. Have you spotted John on your radar?"
"Picking up his tracker, Dig is 200 meters south of your position. Good luck."
"Alright. The secret lab isn't far from here. keep it silent. Let's go. " They came out of the water cautiously and headed to Dig's location.
"Jericho? Try not to get captured this time." Sara teased,
"Eh, you worry about yourself, blondie." Jericho teased back, going through the thick trees of the City Forrest, it was a cold spring afternoon and they both wore their alter ego attires. Sara was in her Canary attire and Jericho in his Son of the Demon outfit.
After 3 minutes of walking, they met up with Diggle who had bit of trouble with his landing.
"Glad you guys made it. I was beginning to worry."
"It was nothing we couldn't handle." Jericho shrugged, "Come on. we're losing time." they followed Jericho's lead since that he knew the location. They went further into the woods for a good five minutes before they saw a mountain wall right in front of them.
"Is this the place?" She quizzed, skepticism in her voice.
"Pretty much." Jericho started to climb up using the claws to climb up the top because his instincts was telling him that he was heading in the right direction as Dig and Sara followed pursuit. They climbed all the way up to the edge of the mountain. They saw a door on the left side. They headed to the door that was unprotected with their guard up. For all they knew they could be a trap but against their logical reason, they stacked up and prepared for what's inside. Dig with the military background went to bang the door a few times to know what kind of metal the door is made of. A frown soon showed on his face as he felt the steel of the door. he glanced at Sara and Jericho.
"Reinforced."
"Lemme help you with that." Jericho said as he drew out his claws and cut through the reinforced door making . he kicked the x out of the door creating an opening for them. "Ladies first." Jericho stepped aside for her to go through the opening.
"Thanks." Sara cautiously went inside the facility while Dig and Jericho took her lead. There they hide at a corner from an incoming patrol that was talking amongst them.
"Man, is Dr. Conners more pissed than ever?"
"Got that right. He's currently working on his next project. He's probably taking out his frustrations on it."
"Good thing I'm not her. did you wonder who she is?"
"How should I know?" they left the hallway entering the elevator as it took the squad to the next floor. Their conversation was very interesting. Who was the girl they were talking about? Was she an replacement? Or was she just a subject for Conners to take out his frustrations on? Either way they had to keep moving.
"Let's go." Jericho urged them to follow him.
"What about Her?" Sara asked about the latest project the searching squad was talking about.
"We'll find her." Jericho assured as they left the hallway.
"Welcome, Dr. Frost. Access granted." The door to the lab where the Wolverine was created opened for them. they entered the lab getting uneasy feeling of the devil's laboratory. Jericho glanced around the place and to say that it was creeping him out was an understatement. The code to the labatory was written in the file that Dr. Frost handed to Laurel.
"Are you okay?" Sara expressed her concern for her fellow comrade. She wondered what kind of psychological scars he received during his trip to hell. Being used as the doctor's personal guiena pigs. It must be a traumatic experience to go through. Other than what he told about the events, he hasn't talked about how much it affected him. everytime he
"You seemed a bit adamant."
"I've been better." Jericho admitted, Dig examined an infusion chamber that contained a liquid metal. But what was it? What was Dr. Conners doing with it?
"You know, the hardest part about Adamantium" they turned around to see who said that, speak of the devil, Dr. Emil Conners just appeared walking down the stairs, Diggle held his gun at gunpoint. "is that if you somehow find a way to process it's liquid form, you got to keep it that way because once the metal cools off, it's indestructible."
"Conners, I presume?"
"And You must be John Diggle." Conners countered back, "And the lady is Sara Lance. How's your sister by the way? I heard that she got laid off the D.A office and checked herself into a Rehab Center. Goes to show what happens when you ally with vigliantes. They do not trust nobody, not even family." Sara went to move but Jericho grabbed her arm to stop her. Conners was trying to provoke her and he knew how protective she is of her family. Jericho shook his head no, silently ordering her to stand down. It was bad enough that Queen family had to go through an attempted kidnap ordered by Deathstroke and Reynolds. He doesn't want anymore of his friends or get inv. She reluctantly stood down when she saw the look in his eyes.
"Why?" Jericho sneered,
"Why?" He chuckled as if they didn't understand the apparent reason. "Isn't that obvious. Our society is a modern day jungle with one simple rule. The survival of the fittest. On the battleground, that rule applies very extreme to see who is the dominant force. When I revived the project, I was determined to create a perfect animal. You, Jericho are a living proof of it. A perfect specimen."
"I've seen that movie, doc. It always ends badly." Jericho remarked, using some mind games of his own in an attempt to get under his skin. But it didn't seem to have the same effect on him. he brushed it off with a cruel smirk as he cleaned his glasses up before putting it back on. Jericho would love to plant his fist about six inches in middle of his face. But he can't.
"You still have your sense of humor, I see." Conner said, "But I'm not the one you should worry about. It's the gentleman behind you." And right on cue, a sword was drawn out and within seconds, Jericho's claw came out , he turned around and blocked the sword. He stared at the attacker eyes or attacker's eye to be exact. He recognized that eye, Christmas day, Final Offer. Dixion Docks. Deathstroke.
"Slade." Jericho snarled,
"Jericho." Slade returned the favor before kicking him in the chest sending him few feet away. He got back up and threw some punches with the claws sheathed back but Deathstroke dodged them, he grabbed Jericho's arm dragging him before elbowing him in the cheek, a left body punch to the stomach which earned a groan from Jericho but Jericho blocked the second punch and chopped on the side of Deathstroke's neck. Deathstroke staggered a bit, he did not expect that. but he did expect a spinkick by blocking with his left hand and strike his thigh before punching him right between the pectoral muscles sending him to wall.
"You may beaten me once, but you're not gonna beat me twice." Deathstroke reminded, Jericho charged at him with fists flying, but Slade ducked them all, he kicked him in the chest and the face.
But then he did hear a cry as he turned around and caught Sara in mid air by the throat. She was trying to take advantage of the fight between but her efforts were in vain.
"Hello, Sara." He greeted his former friend. Sara made choking sounds before she was thrown onto the wall, her head bouncing off it. she was out cold by the time she hit the floor.
Diggle took the initiative by shooting Deathstroke but all of his bullets bounced off his armor.
"You're wasting your bullets." Slade gloated, Diggle realized that and went to punch him three times, but it didn't have any effect on him. Slade blocked the fourth attempt and then tossed him five ft across the lab. Dig hit the door back first. Jericho took the opportunity to throw a smoke bomb and went to get Sara first. he carried her while running to Diggle.
"Come on John. We gotta go now." Jericho said, as much his animal instincts wanted him to continue the fight and he almost gave into it, he had to think about the others. there will be another time but for now he busted the door open and they ran off.
"Doctor, complete Project Artemis." Slade commanded,
"But Jericho…" Conners protested, but Slade wasn't listening.
"Don't worry. You soon have him. But not today., there are other things that are far important at this time."
"Fine. I'll have to put the finishing touches." he reluctantly stood down.
"Good. then intitate self destruct sequence. This facility can not exposed to the public."
"Yes, Mr. Wilson."
"Oracle. We've been compromised. Send an immeint exfil. I'm sending you the coordinates for the LZ." Jericho demanded, they were on the run in the hallway. They cut left then they turned right but they quickly turned back to where they came from as they ran to an roadblock. It was the end of the hallway they had to find another way out of this hellhole.
"The plane is on it's way. ETA: 5 minutes." Oracle responded, the news settled well with Diggle and Jericho as they ran over to exit down at the direction they were headed. They stopped at the door, Diggle busted the door open and they got into a tunnel. They looked around for an unmanned vehicle so that they could get the hell out of there and they spotted one by the larm lamp 10 feet from them. So Diggle jumped over the railing while Jericho leaped over it and landed very close to the car.
Diggle watched the leap and was dumbstruck by the height of that second. Just s a second before getting his gameface back on. he caught up with them, he aided Jericho and Sara who began to gain consciousness by breaking his fist through the car window although the and locked up the door. they went in the car, Diggle was taking the driver's seat, Jericho placed Sara in the backseat as Diggle hijacked the military vehicle.
"how's she?" he asked,
"She's gaining conscious. She hit her head pretty hard. But she should be fine" Jericho replied as they drove off to the LZ in high speed on the highway to LZ.
"I see our ride."
"Ahh, what happened?" she grunted, barley opening her eyes. she tried to move but Jericho stopped her
"Hey, be still and try not to go to sleep. You have a opening wound on the back of your head." Jericho advised
"Ehh, that explains why I'm seeing stars." she joked weakly
"We're here." Diggle announced as he parked, thet stepped out of the vehicle and met up with the south Korean smugglers and they were relieved to see them.
"시간 에 대해 세 가지 바보 가 나타났다 . 우리는 이륙 했다 . 무슨 일이 왜 이렇게 오래 걸렸다 ?" (About time you three idiots showed up. we were about to take off. what took you so long?) the pilot asked, they glanced at each other
"Just get us out of here." Jericho wasn't in the mood to explain himself or, he just wanted to get out of this shithole.
"Look, Huntress or whatever you call yourself. Don't shoot the messenger." Huntress or Helena Bertnelli was on request of finding her father Frank since he escaped from her hand once again. She's been killing, torturing and interrogating to get solid information which turned out to be off. but she'll do anything it takes. She just have to be patient. Right now she was more or less questioning a small time crime boss who used to work for the Bertnelli crime family.
"Tell me where is my father?"
"I don't know." that wasn't the answer she expected. She kicked right in the testicles with ferocity. His voice raised some few octanes.
"Ohh. Not my family jewels." He squeaked, clutching his private parts. "OK, all I know is since he went underground, Trials are on a manhunt after he threatened them but everytime they seemed to know of his location, he vanishes. but I think I know where he is."
"Where?"
"He's currently staying in a safehouse at Orchid Bay. It's by the Star bridge. "
"Good." she then shot him in the head, having no use of him anymore. She got the information and she knew where to start. But then she heard clapping. She quickly turned around and raised to see a man with a short cut hair, the hair color was black and he wore a high quality suit. He was clapping for her? now was not the time for applause. what was he and more importantly who is he?
"Very nice."
"Leave." she demanded,
"Hey babe. No need to get hostile." He held his hand in defense, "I'm just a friend. I can help you in finding your father."
"I work better alone. Now if you excuse me." she turned to leave, but the good samaritan had other ideas.
"That information you got from the squealer is old news. You old man has been found and caught by Starling City Police." she stopped in her tracks once he said that.
"What?"
"It was reported as of yesterday. But lucky for you I know what's gonna happen in tomorrow. he's going to court and he's gonna be put on trial. I'm guessing that you already know where." Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. there had to be an angle to this.
"How do I know you're not lying?" she questioned
"Simple, I haven't looked away from you since we began our conversation. So do we have a deal?" he outstretched his hand, Helena was hesitant for the deal and who can blame her? this guy showed up out of nowhere and told her about where her father is gonna be but at the same time she was given a opportunity of a lifetime. to Kill the man who was behind her fiance's death. Something doesn't fit so she made a decision. she agreed to it but only because to find his motives.
Deal." she shook his hands.
Oh my, this is quite turn of events.
Stay tuned. Peace.
A preview from the next chapter
One of the men that were supposed to guard the entrance was running for his life from Jericho who was greatly pissed. When he caught up him, Jericho used him as a battery ramp to break the door open. The henchmen was sent flying to the next room surprising Helena and the hired guns a lot including the hostages as Jericho entered, ready for a fight.
"Stop him!" Helena commanded.