Chapter 11

The Wolverine Unleashed.

AN: Here's the latest chapter in over a month. I feel relieved to get this posted. It's been very busy but now... Summer's here and I can finally use the time to wrap up the story.

The difference between animals and monsters is that animal kill to survive. Monsters kill for Sport-Unknown author.

Flashback, My Alibi Club. Before Jericho started dating Barbara Gordon.

"Lemme get this straight. You're telling me, on that special night, the night that you uttered the words I love you. She said let's get something to eat?" Jericho asked Shawn in disbelief as they sat in front of each other at My Alibi club. He'd just explained to him about what happened at his night out with his girlfriend.

"Yep." He confirmed grimly,

"Wow. Didn't expect that." Jericho commented,

"Well, it's over. I slipped up." Shawn stated,

"You don't know that." Jericho argued,

"Do you have any idea how fast these relationship dissolve when the other half didn't reciprocate your love?" he snapped, taking Jericho off guard. "You can't be in a relationship where one person says I love you and the other says I'm hungry. Let's get something to eat."

"Unless you're married." Jericho muttered,

"And now she thinks that I'm one of these guys that love her. Nobody wants to be with somebody that loves them." Shawn said,

"No, they hate that." Jericho pointed,

"You want to be with somebody that doesn't like you."

"Ideally." He added,

"I am never saying I love you again unless they say it first."

"Couldn't agree more. I'll gonna buy a beer for ya." He left their table and headed for the bar to order more beers. But then he saw a woman in his ages waiting for her drink which was going to happen anytime soon.

"Two beers and a strawberry margarita for the girl in red dress." he ordered,

"Coming right up." the bartender went to get two beers from the freeze for Jericho and she made a strawberry margarita for the girl in the strapless red dress. She was redhead. She was fit in an athletic way. Those ocean blue eyes, they were beautiful. He just want to take her to the back and…

Whoa now, shaking his head off any dirty thoughts of the redhead, he went back to his seat after he paid for the drinks.

"Here you go."

"Thanks I could surely use one." Shawn muttered as he took a big clunk of beer down his throat. And suddenly someone passed their table. Jericho looked down and saw a note.

There was an address along with a message.

"Thanks for the drink. Come by my apartment." Was she... Nah, She didn't. but she did.

"Shawn, can you take care of yourself for a while?" Jericho asked,

"Yeah. Go ahead. I'll be fine." He waved him off assuring that he'll be fine.

Jericho stepped out of the Impala in Gotham Heights, where the mystery girl was residing. He entered the apartment building and walked up the stairs to her doorstep. He took a deep breath before knocking on the door. the door opened to reveal the mystery in nothing but red bra and panties. He gulped taking her in, well, she wasn't modest that's for sure and she had legs that would make any guy drool at the sight.

"Hello there, handsome." She purred, grabbed him by the shirt and dragged him to her apartment as she closed the door for late night activities.

"Wow. That was umm…. Unexpected." Jericho said the very next morning, the rays of the morning sun was shining through the curtains. The mystery girl was snuggled on to him with her eyes closed her legs tangled with half of his body.

"Well not for me handsome." She said snuggling further onto his muscular chest "Do you regret it?"

"To be honest with you, no." he admitted,

"Me either. What's your name handsome?" she asked,

"Jericho." He replied, "You?"

"Serena."

Jericho was hitting the punching bag, taking some of the frustrations out back in the Arrow Cave; it's been three days since the events that played out in Forrest City Arkansas. Sara has recovered from a head concussion she suffered. It wasn't as severe as he originally thought. John suffered some bruises, nothing serious. He thought back to the fight with Deathstroke in Arkansas and in Gotham at Christmas. Comparing them, Deathstroke was more aware of what he was going to do next. How to methodically pick apart of Jericho. It didn't settle well with him. he was shirtless and

With one last hit, he punched through the bag with some power. The sand leaked out of the bag literary.

"Nice right hook." Oliver observed,

"Don't worry Oliver. I'll cover for it with a paycheck." Jericho assured as he walked over to drink water from the desk and saw the picture of Helena Bertinelli, the daughter of former Crime boss Frank Bertinelli who was on the run over a year before he was caught by Oliver last night during a raid. Sara's father was closing in on a small time drug dealer, things got heated up and it ended up in officer Lance being shot. Luckliy, he wore a vest when that happened. "So this is Crime boss's daughter? She's cute."

"And she's also Oliver's psychotic ex-girlfriend." Jericho raised a eyebrow while glancing at Oliver who frowned at Felicity along with Sara. Ex-girlfriend? Well, this has peaked his interest.

"Did you have to tell them that?" he asked her with a look of disapproval to Felicity who shrugged.

"He had a right to know."

"Well, you certainly have a good taste in women." Jericho glanced quickly at Sara as if he was wondering that his words had unintentionally insulted her. "No Offense." She merely shrugged not offended by the slightest.

"So what reason does she have for hating her father so badly?" He thought it out loud

"He had her fiancé murdered. She wants payback." Oliver said grimly.

"Puts the many fights I've had with my father in perspective." Sara remarked

"The loss of a loved one. It is not unheard of or uncommon unfortunately." Jericho pointed it out, taking a closer look at the picture. "How much time do we have left?"

"Not much. The last sighting of her was in Palermo a month ago. Also I've found a car through GPS that was rented in her late husband's name here in Starling City" Jericho's phone buzzed. He picked it up from his pocket to see a text message from Talia on the display.

"Watch Channel 52. Sara would want to watch this."

"Felicity, can you turn on channel 52?" Jericho requested,

"Uh, Why?" she questioned with a frown.

"Just do it." he demanded, Felicity who was still confused went to channel 52 and saw the news.

"The Assistant D.A. Adam Donner Announced the return of Laurel Lance to the D.A's Office after a brief sabbatical. She will lead the prosecution against Mr. Bertinelli. Jury Selection starts today."

"Oh you have got to trippin'." Jericho stated, things didn't look good right now.

Jericho was on the rooftop of an apartment building observing a car parking in front of a club in Claudron. One big guy in a suit came out of the drivers seat and opened the back door for passenger.

"Here we are, boss." Jericho took a look at the passenger. He was an average sized guy with sleazy hair cut. Not to mention he was bit on the chubby side. That was no other than Rick the Nuke Keane. He was working as a middle man for Maroni Crime Family. He earned the nickname from an incident he had with one of his former henchmen. He failed to fulfill an assignment, which led to a heated conversation with Rick and he was so angry with him of making excuses for his screw up, he pulled the lid off a hand grenade he had in his hand and tossed it to him whom caught it. The henchmen did not expect it and it resulted of his demise. Or so the legend goes.

"Alright, we only get this one shot at closing the deal with the Russians. Make sure that there's no interference from the bat, or the cops . Understood?"

"No problem, boss."
He went inside the club except four of his henchmen so Jericho as the silent assassin he is, he took the backdoor by entering one of the windows up top. Then he snuck past the guards whom were drunk or screwing There he saw the exchange between The Nuke and the Russians including their boss Andrey Romanov. Ex KGB agent who moved to the States in exile and began rise up the ranks to boss status. Ruthless, cunning and sadistic. that's the three words that would describe him just fine.

"So we got the money. Do you have the product?"

"Of course, mr. Keane. We would look incompetent if we wouldn't keep our word. Nikolai." Nikolai opened a white suitcase which revealed to have 10 pounds of pure cocaine from Colombia, worth a lot on the black market.

"Spike." The Nuke ordered Spike to check out if the product was the real deal. He pulled out a Swiss knife to cut a piece of the coke and sniffed it.

"It's genuine, boss." Spike said

"Well, that went smooth for once." The Nuke remarked

"I hope that it stays way, mr Keane." But suddenly the suit that contained the cocaine started to beep. That's when Jericho knew what it was, it was a bomb inside the suitcase and it was going to detonate soon.

"Boss!" The Nuke's henchmen tried to save his boss once he heard the beep but it was too late. The bomb exploded as Jericho took cover. Once the smoke was clear, he looked up to see The Nuke lying motionless. He was caught in the blast and thus ended the life of Richard The nuke Keane. No signs of the Russians, they must've escaped before the blast. He then spotted a woman in a black leather jacket, leather pants and an eye mask to boot. She had a smirk as if she was proud of her work.

"Hey!" she turned around and saw him, her eyes widened in shock. She wasn't expecting him to be there or him chasing her for that matter. She was quick and carried less weight than him, so she had a slight edge at that. However she thought that she lost him after a 3 kilometer run when he stepped out of the shadows.

"Who are you? Why were you at the club?" Jericho asked as they circled each other.

"Girls night out. Was hanging out with some friends when I heard the commotion." She was lying. even she knew that.

"Really? Didn't look it from where I was standing." He said,

"Believe what you want. Well, As much as I would stay here and chat handsome, I'm in a hurry, so if you would be so kind to step aside and let a girl go."

"The only thing I step aside for you is when you being handcuffed by the cops and brought into justice." he stated,

"That's not very nice." She pouted in an attempt to persuade him to let him go. She batted her eyes for added effect. But her effort were down the drain as he approached, a blank look on his face suggested that he wasn't going to let her go off the hook that easy. As she again tried to escape, Jericho pulled out her grapple gun and fired a hook towards her leg. It grappled her ankle and with a swift tug, she fell face first to the ground.

"Not so fast, sweetheart." Jericho said as he walked over to her.

"Fancy." The mystery girl smirked, Jericho didn't like that, she was up to something as he went to handcuff her, then she went to kick between legs but Jericho caught the leg before it hit its target."Nice try, sweetheart."

"Well, it seems that I found my match." He picked her up and was about to handcuff when she turned around grabbing the back of his hand and kneed him in the groin, he yelped completely taken off guard, "And you have found yours. Sorry handsome. By the way, you can call me Alala."

Taking advantage of the situation, she left him clutching his private parts as he berated himself for not expecting.

"Son of a bitch." he muttered,

"Why the hell would the D.A's office rehire Laurel?" they'd just left the Verdant just a few moments ago with Sara wondering why her sister was put on the case just months after her resignation.

"I don't know. something doesn't add up." Jericho wondered but his mind was somewhere else and Sara picked it up from his tone.

"You ok?" She asked out of her concern for her friend

"Yeah, I'm doing great actually." He was being sarcastic and Sara knew it to, he was complete opposite of ok.

"That would be a No, I take it." Sara remarked, knowing.

"Yep." Jericho confirmed, seeing no point of lying to her.

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

"Nope." In fact he doesn't want to. It's been a rough month for him. "I just wanna go through this day without any complications. Although from my experience, it never happens."

"They don't." she said,

"Listen. About what happened in Arkansas. When Deathstroke had you by the throat. The way he said hello to you, it sounded as if he knew you before." Sara exhaled sharply through her nose, she was hoping that he didn't hear it. But to her dismay he did. "Did ya?" now was very hard to shallow the lump that formed in her throat. How was she going to respond? Was it going to be yes or no? She'd came up with honest answer in her view.

"Yes. But that was a long time ago." she replied,

"Was that it?" he pursed.

"Yes." it was a half-truth at least. as she was about to climb on her motorcycle, Jericho realized something.

"Oh crap. I don't have a vehicle. My car is back home." the Impala was being transported back to Gotham during his first visit here.

"I got it covered." She assured, "Remember back few years ago when you wished for motorcycle but you didn't have time to buy one?"

"Yeah." He was clueless of what she was implying to and that was something considering that he has a high IQ.

"Well you got one." She announced,

"You're kidding." he said,

"Nope. Let's go."

Jericho was waiting for laurel to exit the building where she was working at this time, Sara told him keep an eye on her considering the fact Helena was already on the way He was sitting on Harley Sportster 1200 custom that Sara bought for him. Boy was he ecstatic about his newly acclaimed ride. when he laid his eyes on it, the eyes lilted like a child Christmas tree it was a sunny afternoon in starling city. he looked back to see a group of artists trying to rap to a hip hop beat they were playing on a cellphone.

"yo yo we on a conquest
a mercenary strike force
another life lost murdered on the ice cross
vengance, black ninjas with monkey wrenches
multiple gunshot wounds from nine inches
two thousand ten cyborgs with heat sensors
"astro" my ghost dogs they climb fences"

"Ay yo check this
licence plate state texas,
white lexus, my diamond necklace
got me livin reckless
got me wiping cats out on my shitlist
I move with the three six o my queen flow
six point triple zero, black mafia mind deniro
in my hood im a hero." The crowd applauded for the artists once the rap was finished.

"Not bad." Jericho thought to himself, he heard the doors open and he saw Laurel coming out of the building.

"What are you doing here?" She asked a bit surprised of why was he here? Today of all days

"I'm your ride to the courthouse, Sara asked me to keep a eye on you I said no, she could take of herself. But she insisted. So I agreed to it eventually."

"But what about…"

"Don't worry, Sara will take care of your car." Seeing that she's no choice and she have little time, she sat behind him as she put her case in her bag. She was given a helmet so she can protect her head. her bag the contained the case, she strapped her bag on left shoulder "By the way, thanks for saving me."

"You're welcome." She wrapped her arms around him as they took off in a roar.

Paranoid by Black Sabbath

Jericho was giving Laurel Lance a ride as they were on their way to the courthouse. He was driving at full speed because she was on a tight schedule, the court is about to begin in 10 minutes.

"By the way, did you know who gave the file to you back then?" He asked,

"A scientist named Dr. Andrea Frost who dropped by my desk and presented the file. It was right before I got fired." She answered,

"Really? Did you do a background check on her?"

"I have. it's in my apartment. I can get it for you tomorrow."

"Do that."

"Finished with my woman 'cause she couldn't help me with my mind

People think I'm insane because I am frowning all the time."

Arriving at the destination, Jericho turned off the engine and parked his motorcycle at the sidewalk.

"Thanks for the ride." she stepped out of the motorcycle and headed to the courthouse, ignoring the looks she got from the people.

"Don't mention it." he said, he went to follow her to the courthouse.

"What's going on in your mind?" Jericho kissed the side of her neck that caused her to sigh in content. They were looking out to the city on the rooftop of his apartment building. He had his arms wrapped around her waist. something was troubling her.

"Nothing. I'm just… amazed how the crimes can stain this beautiful city."

"Me too." he replied, "What do you want to do now? Shall we shag now or shall we shag later?" he was trying to imitate Austin powers with a surprising british accent.

She chuckled, "Wish I could. But I can't. gotta work tonight."

"What is it you do for a living?" He inquired,

"that's for me to tell and you to know." She replied,

"That doesn't make sense." he said confused by the answer.

"Wasn't supposed to." She turned around and pecked on the lips. "But since it's still afternoon, how about we make the time worth while?"

"Oh I'll make it worth it." he growled picking her up as she wrapped her legs around his waist. they'd started to make out and things got heated up.

"Jericho! Jericho!" Oliver called out, Jericho snapped out once with a shake of his head. They were at the front door of the courthouse. Oliver had just arrived just minutes ago to see what was going to take place.

"Sorry." Jericho muttered, then lowered his voice to make sure no one was listening. "How did it go with the rented car?"

"Decoy. Helena paid the driver just to take the car for a ride. He had no clue of what was going on."

"Well, that put us back at the drawing board." Jericho muttered, "Where's Sara?"

"I told her to stay behind. I couldn't risk her being here because she might end up killing Helena." Jericho went to protest but he saw the logic in it which made him withdraw his protest. With Sara's training from the League of assassins whose motto was Kill or killed and leave no survivors behind. Or at least that's what he understood it.

"Can I ask you something personal?" he asked, Oliver nodded, "Do you still care for her? I mean, Felicity kinda filled in the blanks..."

"Yes. I do."

"Well, from one guy who's been in your position. I understand." He said, totally understanding where he's coming from. Oliver perplexed by the answer, was going to ask him why when Laurel dropped by and was genuinely surprised by Oliver's appearance, she thought that he was just here to express his worries but Oliver assured her that he was going to see the trial. But Jericho knew what his real motives were. Just then he heard footsteps and saw what made him suspicious as of what was taking place.

"Isn't that Frank Bertinelli?" Jericho asked as Laurel and Oliver turned around to see the former crime being lead by a police escort in hand cuffs through the front entrance.

"That's odd. Why are they bringing him in through the front entrance?" she asked in confusion, a good question stated by the rehired assistant that was about to answered in a series of events that would take place. It started with a smoke pellet rolling into the courthouse. Jericho was the first one to notice it.

"Everybody, get down!" Jericho shouted as he grabbed Oliver and Laurel, they went down as the smoke pellet exploded, causing a panic in the courthouse. The police escort kneeled with their guns trained when two arrows struck them. it killed them instantly, causing more fear. during the chaos that followed, outstepped a woman in a leather costume with a mask that only covered her eyes. She was holding a cobra 80lb Self Cocking crossbow. Small but effective.

"Hi, dad." she greeted, that's when Jericho knew that he saw Helena Bertinelli for the first time in person. "Sorry I'm late, but you're a hard man to track down. But it's fitting that you came back to Starling. Where it all began. Where you killed Michael." Unknowingly Oliver rose back up to his feet carefully in an attempt to convince her that killing her father won't give her peace, only sorrow.

"You know, I almost feel sorry you." Frank Bertinelli stated,

"Helena." At the sound of Oliver's voice, she took her second crossbow and aimed at him who raised his hands in surrender calmly. "Stop this."

"Oliver, you know I can't." she wouldn't budge in her quest of revenge, not now not ever. She's this close of completing her goal.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" he urged her to kill him if that's the reason she came back, might as well accept it. But suddenly out of the blue a swat team dropped in from all corners and surrounded them. it seemed that she was beaten. Of course, the trial was a set up. Frank must've made a deal. Frank was the bait and the SWAT team were the hook.

"Helena Bertinelli, put down your weapons and place your hands above your head." the Swat Leader

"So this was a big trap with you as the bait. What did they offer you?"

"Ah, they didn't have to offer me anything." For a moment, the arrogant persona of his appeared thinking that she got

"Give up, Miss Bertinelli, the building's surrounded." She still had that cruel smirk on her lips and Jericho knew she had something up her sleeve.

"What was it you always taught me, Daddy? Be prepared for anything." And on cue, 6 people who acted like civilians brought out high powered rifles and they wore vest. All hell broke loose. Her henchmen had somehow infiltrated the courthouse imposing as regular people. Most of the Swat team were killed within in minutes.

"Fall back, fall back!" what's left tried to retreat but they weren't quick enough to get out of the dodge of the crossfire. Some of them did.

Oliver took the chaos as an opportunity to get Frank out of harm's way who tried to get out of there. He led Frank to the backdoor and exited the courthouse. The gunfight went silent and Helena looked around to seeing Oliver missing but someone else was missing

"Take the hostages and fall back." Helena ordered noticing the absence of her father as the hired gun took the captives and followed the vengeful woman up stairs to upper level. Unknowingly there were two people that managed to evaded her claws. Laurel Lance and Jericho Brown.

Some time later in the evening, Jericho was in his hero suit as Shawn called it, driving through Gotham when he got a phone call from his long time friend.

"Hey man. What's up?" he asked,

"Well, I got information about our little vixen. Turns out she had making appearances of killing criminals for the past few weeks. Apparently her alias Alala was an greek ancient name of the helper to Aries."

"The god of war?"

"Exactly. And regarding the greek vigilante, she was mentioned in several bomb attacks against mob bosses. I've been noticing a pattern and she's been targeting all Russian mobsters. From small time boss to middle."

"She's working up the ladder." Jericho concluded.

"Exactly."

"All available units. There's a 10-79 in Diamond district. Proceed with caution."
Diamond District? That's where the Russian were operating. He turned up a notch and drove straight to the Diamond District, full speed ahead.

Jericho and Laurel was walking down the corridor as they were seeking a hold up for the time being when a henchmen that was checking the perimeter appeared and tried to attack but Jericho was one a step ahead as he picked up his scent. He shove Laurel out of the way and blocked a coming punch from the henchmen, he dislocated the kneecap with one powerful kick to it. He punched him in the face, two before pressing his fingers to push him down to the ground with ease. he turned around

"You ok?" Jericho asked, Laurel nodded getting back on her feet, "Alright. Better call your dad now. Do you have your cellphone?"

"I left it in my purse, it's at the entrance."

"I got mine. What's your dad's phone number?" Laurel was handed his cellphone and dialed in her father's number.

"Can you talk to dad for me? I just need a minute to recuperate." Jericho nodded as he called it in. he heard 2 beeps before a worried and gruff voice answered it.

"Yeah?"

"It's, Jericho. I'm inside the courthouse. Laurel's with me."

"Laurel? Is she alright?"

"She's fine. A little shaken up but fine." Jericho assured, "What is it going on outside?"

"Well, as of now, Police set up shop. Donner's mad at Captain Steiner for not holding his end of the deal and not to mention the D.A. is pissed because the fact that he hired Laurel without her authorization. Or at least that's what she sounded like when they were on phone. But for now they're on a tight schedule."

"Why?"

"Helena made a demand. If they don't give her Frank Bertinelli within the hour, she's gonna excute a hostage."

"Well, this is good news." Jericho muttered, "Look, I'm going radio-silent. Don't want alert more henchmen of where we are. I'll figure something out."

"Be careful." The call ended and as soon as he put the cellphone back in his pocket, he saw laurel about to take a clunk from a vodka bottle. He went over and snatched it from her before it reached her throat.

"Hey!" Laurel exclaimed,

"IF anything I should be the one drinking. You can't break your sobriety." He pointed to the chip that was on her keychain.

"How did you…"

"A chip on the keychain." He drank a bit from the bottle, feeling liquor burning in his throat. "Son of a Bitch!"

"Well, at least you didn't learn that you were a decoration. Expendable decoration." She muttered, oh boy. She was depressed and hurt of the fact she was being used. He doesn't blame her, not one bit.

"Eh, don't be too hard on yourself." He comforted, "You had no way knowing what was going on. Nobody did." That was part true but he didn't want to make her situation any worse.

"Sara was right. She was right. She said that I wasn't ready to come back, and I just thought she was being overprotective."

"Sisters can be like that. trust me. I have two of them." He stated, relating to her. "She's uh been through a lot lately."

"Right. that League of Assassins, right?"

"Yep." Among other things.

"I just I wanted to show her, show myself That I was still strong, too." Jericho reached out the bottle to her.

"Show me then. If you say no to this. it shows how far you've come." She was contemplating the idea of giving it in after the day she had, but remembering that she wasn't going to go down that road she couldn't verbalize her answer, She shook her head and that's all it took.

"Good girl." He praised.

Meanwhile in a room filled with hostage, an hour had passed and Helena knew what that meant. They didn't follow through with their deal by delivering so that meant one simple thing. she grabbed a hostage by force. She made him go down on knees and pulled out her cellphone from her jack pocket to make the call.

"It's been an hour. I'm a woman of my word." She aimed her crossbow at the hostages's head. "Just ask my father."

"No, please!"

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 with 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!" Huntress commanded, he took on her henchmen by blocked a punch from henchman 1 and went for arm takedown before breaking the arm in two. He didn't want to have a fist fight as he caught a leg from another and used his fist to fracture his kneecap and then headbutted him. he'd superkicked third henchman breaking his jaw. Then Jericho spin-kicked him in the stomach driving him to the wall.

He was hit by arrow to the chest taking him off his feet and landed back first. Helena shook her head, her bow raised. "That's what you get for playing a hero."

The cliché quote "Spoke too soon" never to be more appropriate as a grunt from the supposed dead hero caught her ears. Her eyes widened in shock as She saw him rising right back up and pulled out the arrow from his chest, it's impossible. He's supposed to be dead.

"That hurt." he sneered breaking the tip of the arrow with his thumb and tossed it aside. He wasn't going to kill her. not by a long shot because he knew that would the last thing he would. "Look, Give up now or this could end very badly."

"Like you care, like you know how it's like to find your fiancé lying on the floor covered in blood all because of your father thought that he went to the feds."

"Well, you make a valid point." He remarked, "but I know what's like to have a father that you hate, trust me. But it doesn't get you anywhere if you kill him, you'll become what you despise. You'll be no better than he is. Please."

"You're right. But it's too late." She pulled out her second bow and fired an arrow only this time the tip was laced. It hit him in the stomach and a wave of dizziness affected him immediately.

"Not again." He thought groaning in pain, the poison from the Royal Hotel and Verdant had entered his bloodstream again. His legs buckled and he was down on his knees holding the arrow. She walked up to him pointing the bow at his head but suddenly she was attacked from behind buying some time for Jericho to roll out of the way and pulled out . It was Sara who'd shown up in the nick of time with the baton. he watch a fairly even match between these two. But somewhere along the line she lost her baton and suddenly it was swaying in helena's favour. and abruptly she was thrown out of the courthouse through the window. But what she didn't realize was that Laurel got the most of hostage out of the room taking she'd just escorted the last of them when Helena shot her in the leg. She yelped falling down on her stomach. Jericho tried to get up but he soon regretted that as he fell face first. he grunted once again trying to get up on his feet this time he was successful but by then it was too late. Helena had taken Laurel as a hostage and already left the courthouse. The police had breached the courthouse and not wanting to stay here, he jumped out of the window and landed gracefully. He saw Sara lying immobile clutching his stomach as the wolverine serum in him surprisingly started to seek and destroy the poison.

"You look peaceful." Her eyes opened at the sound of his voice, the grim look on her face said it all. She'd landed painful on the concrete even thought it wasn't life threatening.

"Where'd she go?" she asked lifting herself up on her elbows.

"Well, after she kicked your ass and threw you out of the courthouse through the window…"he began.

"That explains the ribs." She interjected, putting her hand on the rib area, it was bruised but not broken.

"She took Laurel, and they took off." he finished as if he wasn't interrupted and then he helped her back on her feet. "Come on, get up."

"I'm gonna kick that bitch's ass." She declared,

"I know. You'll get your wish but right now we gotta find them first."

"Jesus Christ." Jericho muttered as he investigated the place where the bomb attack had just taken place. It was a mess. It looked like a nuclear bomb went off, no pun intended. He recognized the bodies as members of the Russian mob or what remains of them anyway. He examined the office before contacting Shawn.

"Hey it's me. You should see the office. It's a goddamn mess. Can you check out the owner is?"

"Gimme a sec." Jericho waited for a good two minutes before Shawn came back online. "Here it is. It was bought by shell company BGK industries. A small investment company in China. Oh this is interesting. The company owns by a Oleg Rusev. I'm sending you a photo." he looked at the photo that was sent from Shawn and he was shocked when he saw face. it belonged to one Andrey Romanov. Oleg Rusev was an alias.

"Son of a bitch." he cursed.

"What is it?"

"Can you give me the Adress? I have a feeling something is gonna go down.." And soon enough when he arrived at the big penthouse and entered through the window and saw Alala about to pull the trigger. he tried to prevent but it was too late, he wasn't fast enough as she killed Andrey Romanov. As she turned around whipping the gun but he caught the wrist and blocked an attempted punch before putting her in arm bar.

"Why?"

"Simple. He was responsible for my father's death."

"Your father?" He took a good look at her and noticed that she had red hair and ocean blue eyes. There was something familiar about them. Wait a minute, is that... No, couldn't be her. His mind must be playing tricks. While processing his he thought back to her background. only child to the mother whose father died during an attempted burglary. Taking a big chance, he'd say her name in attempt to prove that she's not the

"Serena?" he let go of her arm not believing that the girl he's been seeing is Alala.

"How do you know my name?" She asked stunned of how he knew her real name. Without thinking logically, he took off his glasses and revealed himself to her. "Oh my god."

"So you were behind all this?" He questioned,

"Yes. But it was for a good reason. I had to get rid of the disease that's been pestering the city for too long. The collateral damage. Graveyards the bad guys filled. How many kids are Orphans because of thieves and murders."

"This isn't the way." He stated,

"It is. In the long run, it'll do more good than harm." She defended her actions to her lover, Jericho snorted knowing that this wasn't the first time that someone said that to him or it won't be the last.

"Really? By stooping to their level? You're no better than they are."

"That's rich." she scoffed folding her arms.

"It's the truth. I've been there. I know what's like to hate somebody so much that you'll willing to kill the person caused you so much pain but if you do that. If you do that, if you allow yourself to go down into that place. You'll never come back."

"This is a bad idea." He warned,

"I know but what other choices do we have?" Oliver inquired,

"Alright, but don't say I didn't warn ya." Jericho stated as he and Oliver moved Frank Bertinelli to a machine shop at Gail Street and Simone outside of the city with Sara behind them. After meeting up with Oliver right after the Police raided the courthouse, Helena made a call to his cellphone demanding a trade, Laurel for her father. she gave them a location for the trade to take place. Now, with Frank Bertinelli in their hands thanks to Officer Lance they met up with Helena who had Laurel. And things went downhill from there. it came down very quickly and suddenly Frank was on knees begging for mercy. he'd even go as far as bring up some old memories from her childhood which Helena coldly dismissed. Oliver tried to reason with her but she didn't listen and said her goodbyes to her father ready to kill him. But then a Swat Captain rudely crashed the trade with guns blazing with his team. Almost everyone took cover except Frank Bertinelli.

"Damn vigilantes! You went above the law!"

"Great, Captain Steiner is here." Jericho thought From what Jericho heard about him, he was Anti-vigliante and pro putting them in prison. Not good.

"No captain. They didn't." Captain Steiner went to face a barrel of a handgun and the next thing he knew, he was shot, bullet went through the cranium. He fell to the ground back first with a bullet hole on the forehead. Smoke emitted from the gun that just been fired. Then the man who killed Steiner went on a killing spree. Within minutes, he wiped out the entire Swat team.

Once the smoke was clear, Sara, Jericho and the others rose up to see a man with a haunting smirk, bodies surrounding him. For Sara, she recognized the smug posture, the grin and the arrogant look in his eyes. He glanced at her lowering his handgun.

"Hello Sara. Long time no see." He greeted,

"Paul." She mumbled, frozen in spot. she blinked a few times to see if he was still there and he was.

"I like your suit. Kinda gives the whole domantrix feel. Love the hair too."

"Sara. Go after Helena and Laurel." Jericho commanded,

"But." She hesitated whether or not go after her sister considering that Paul is here.

"Just go!" his tone was clipped and that left her no choice but to follow Helena that had taken Laurel somewhere else in the shop.

"Why? Why sign up with Helena?" Jericho questioned, Paul gave him a duh look as if the reason behind the alliance was obvious.

"Kindred spirit. The guttural hatred of a father who showed his true colors. Revenge. Any Sound familiar to you?" Jericho growled as he charged at Paul only to throw smoke bomb and disappear in the mist, he laughed at the failed attempt in a very provocative way.

"Not yet. It'll be too soon. But trust me, we'll have our face off. right now though, you have to worry about these guys." A foreign object hit him on the back and he tumbled on the ground while he was being beaten up with 5 other guys. One of them was kicking Jericho in the stomach. Don't they realize that they're writing their death sentences now? They didn't seemed to care.

"Come on, Jericho. Are you gonna let those son of bitches beat up? Or are you too much of a pussy?" Paul taunted from the shadows.

"Shut up." Jericho growled, struggling to keep the wolverine inside him begging him to be released.

"Where's the animal in ya? Unleash it. Or you'll just be like your dead mother. Flat on her back." That was kind of the push that sent him over the edge because then he roared thrusting his claw that drew out of his knuckles into the arm of one of the attackers and ripped it off. the attacker screamed in agony holding the place that was an arm sprouting blood uncontrollable before he was beaten to death by his torn out arm by Jericho. The Wolverine has been unleashed. He tossed it before plunging the claw onto another attacker's throat and decapitated him by using his other claw.

"Here we go." Paul said in a singsong tone taking his cue to leave the scene as the bloodbath had begun.

Jericho was on his knees motionless in the middle of the room with a blank stare, blood covering his clothes and half of his face. Bodies and parts of them were all over the room with the exception of the late Captain Steiner and Frank Bertnelli who was killed when Captain interrupted.

The claws were blood stained. His mind was reeling of what he just did. He couldn't breathe, let alone speak. His throat was sore from all roaring. The breathing was hollow. He did it; he became what he's been dreaded since the day he left the League and the experiments. He became his old self only that is the worse side of him times 10. His eyes were a mix of shock, sorrow and guilt. Sara, Oliver and Laurel with a semi-conscious Helena came out and saw what was right in of them. Laurel slipped out a gasp from her mouth before covering her mouth in horror.

"Jericho?" Sara asked in disbelief, then ran over to him kneeling in front of him. She cradled his head with her hands making him to look at her face to face. " Hey, hey. Look at me. Please, tell me you had to do this."

"I-I didn't mean to." He whispered, even though it was hoarse his voice sounded a lost child not knowing what he's done, so fragile and lost that Sara didn't recognize him for a moment.

"No. tell me it was either them or you." Jericho looked away as if he realized the ramifications of his actions, he didn't deny nor confirm it. Nothing was going to be the same. Ever.

"Hi." Jericho greeted, he was at her apartment just hours after their confrontation. The police got a 911 call about a disturbance at Romanov's mansion and invaded it. By then Jericho and Serena had already left. He was having trouble deciding what to do. Arrest or let her go free? After going back and forth, he went with the option that he thought would be best.

"Hey. Did you call the police about your bomber?" she asked,walking over to him putting her hands on his chest

"I didn't." He replied, "I couldn't stand back watching you taken away like a common criminal."

"So you do care." A pair of handcuffs were put on her wrists, she glanced at handcuffs and hung her head down in defeat.

"More than you'll ever know."

Dr. Conners entered a room somewhere underneath Starling City and sat on a chair right towards a gurney where the subject of Project Artemis was being placed on. He observed her for the longest time.

"I remember this story from the bible when I was a child that my mother told me. It was about a man named Cain, the first born of Adam and Eve. he killed his own brother Abel and he was cursed for spilling Abel's blood. He was given the Mark to warn others if he was killed or wounded, God would inflict pain ten times fold upon them. The mark is a reminder for the horrendous act Cain committed." Conners went to wipe his glasses of any dust that were there before putting them back on. "Wanna know why I tell you this? It's because of the fact you resemble Abel, God's favorite, Talia is Cain, Jericho is Seth and your father is God. You were always jealous of your oldest sister because she was considered to take the throne with the Batman at her side but when she and your brother left, you became his favorite. But you still loved them despite their surprise absence. When you were first brought in, you were a really hard subject to work on. Your family are very strong willed but thanks to Paul's knowledge of you and your family, We slowly and surely bend your mind. It wasn't till Project Artemis that led me believe." He sat up and walked over to a plate that had all of her weapons and her outfit. He grabbed her customized bow, walking over to her and put it on her at the chest level.

"That maybe even strongest has a defect in their armor." He took her hand making it grip the bow.

"Listen to me, Nyssa Al Ghul. What you're feeling right now, it's not death that you wished for. It's life. A new kind of life. See what you see, feel what you feel. Now, let's find your brother."

Nyssa eyes opened to reveal a deep shade of dark brown eyes and Dr. Conners smirked. It's time.

UGH, I know. Another cliffhanger. As if It wasn't bad enough already. Here's a preview from the next chapter that I have started.

"I was so looking forward of you two killing each other." Paul said, displaying disappointment in his voice. "Well you can't have everything."