Chapter 148: Next Steps

"Argo? Are you certain?"

"We had Jor-El scan the signal several times, just to make sure," Barry answered to the cavalcade of faces on the Fortress of Solitude's main computer monitor. "According to him, whatever just entered the quadrant matches Argo's signature."

After confirming the information about Argo with Jor-El, Barry had immediately asked for an emergency JL conference, using the Fortress's pre-existing connection to the A.R.G.U.S. Network to join the conference with Cisco and Kal. The faces of every single (awake) member of the JL, plus Amanda Waller, were staring back at him in shock or surprise.

"This cannot be a coincidence. First Purity, Pestilence, and Reign, and not the reappearance of Argo City? All within these past several months?" Oliver shook his head. "We need to investigate this. Something's up."

"I'll go," Hal volunteered. "I'm capable of intergalactic travel thanks to my ring, I can visit the city and see if it's legit. And quickly, too."

"No, Green Lantern," Amanda quickly shot the offer down. "We cannot afford to have you off-planet with Reign still out there. Especially if something were to happen to you while you were gone. You are one of the only two remaining members that stand a chance against her; you're one of the few effective deterrents we have left."

"Who do we send, then? We can't ignore it for long, we need to know what's going on before Reign strikes again."

There was a brief argument as everyone threw out their own suggestions, before Oliver took charge, clearing his throat. "Barry, Kara is going to wake up from her coma soon, right?"

Barry frowned. "Yeah. We're going to bring her out of it within the next couple of days. It'll take anywhere from twenty-four to forty-eighty hours after that for her to be fully conscious again, though."

"Good enough. We'll send Kara once she's fully-recovered, then."

Another burst of noise came from everyone as they protested, but Oliver quickly silenced them. "If this is Argo, truly Argo, then only Kara or Astra will be able to tell. And since we don't know when Astra will wake up, it needs to be Kara. She'll want to see it and confirm it for herself anyway."

"And if it's not Argo?" Mari asked from another monitor.

"Then whoever is responsible for faking the signal is going to regret it, I'm sure."

Nobody was happy with this suggestion, including Oliver himself, but they had to admit the logic was sound. Argo was Kara's hometown. She grew up there for the first twelve years of her life. If anyone was going to know if the 'Argo' that had appeared now was the real deal, it was her.

Another person cleared their throat. It took Barry a moment to realize it was Kal. "I want to go too," the teenager announced.

"What? No!" Barry quickly protested, whirling upon his younger brother in surprise.

"Barry's right, Kal. It might be dangerous—"

"I don't care!" was the outburst. "Krypton was my homeworld too, and this might be my only chance to see it, even if it's just a piece of it." Kal looked down. "Plus… I don't want to be apart from Kara again. Not when she's been asleep for so long."

The speedster felt himself falter upon hearing those words, and one look at Oliver told him that his older brother was feeling the same way. They exchanged a look, and then Oliver sighed.

"Fine. But only Kara agrees when she wakes up." When it came to Kal, she had always been the foremost authority on his upbringing and wellbeing. Even Oliver didn't dare to try supersede her when it came to their youngest brother.

Kal didn't seem satisfied, but he didn't look belligerent, so Barry counted that as a win. The discussion pivoted away from who was going to how they were going to get there, whereupon Hal once again offered himself, this time as transportation, only for Amanda to once again shut him down. Eventually, J'onn offered his personal cruiser; it had been collected upon the release from his imprisonment by Division X and had been in repair for the past several years using pieces of Dominator technology and Kryptonian technology, including what was found on Fort Rozz. With some programming help from the Fortress, it would be perfectly fit to transport Kara (and potentially Kal) to Argo.

All the details hashed out, the conference ended. It was time to head back to the base.

The morning after Astra's brutal defeat at the hands of the mysterious new supervillain that had appeared in Star City saw Iris working the morning shift at the precinct. Even though the world was shaken at once again having to witness one of the all-powerful Justice League brutally crushed, it waited for no one, and Iris was no different. Life, ultimately, had to go on.

She was in the process of finishing some paperwork for one of the cases Patty and her were working on when a shadow suddenly graced her desk. Iris looked up to see it her father, looking somewhat solemn and grim. "Dad?"

"Iris. I just got word from thirty-third. The guys in charge of Ralph's case found his murderer."

The young detective dropped her pen, eyes wide. "What? Really?"

Joe nodded. "He's dead," he added, and Iris closed her eyes at that. That made her feel… conflicted. While she would want to confront the man and know why he did it, let him rot in prison, she also couldn't be sad that he was dead. At least he couldn't hurt anyone else again.

"Who was it?"

"Some guy named Joe Chill. A serial mugger. He had the knife that killed Ralph with Ralph's blood on it, and a meta-dampener. They're still trying to parse out how he got it, but it would explain how he was able to stab and kill Ralph at all." A sigh came from the older man. "They're thinking it was just a mugging gone wrong."

Iris frowned. "Huh. I'm surprised they found him so quick." And so conveniently. "You'd think he would try harder to get rid of the evidence."

Her dad shrugged. "Well, the guy was a mugger, not a criminal mastermind. Sometimes, it really is that easy."

"Yeah," the young woman said, trying not to sound too unconvinced, "Sometimes."

With Barry out of town thanks to the Astra situation (which she had framed to everyone as a visit to Kara, who was now out of quarantine), her dad working a case downtown, and Patty taking the day off to visit her mom upstate, Iris had opted to have lunch with Eddie. It had been the first time they had really been alone together ever since they had reaffirmed their break up, but it seemed time had done well to heal the wound. There wasn't any awkwardness between them, nor any underlying romantic/sexual tension. Eddie had accepted that Iris no longer wanted to be with him, and had respected her wishes.

They were at one of the local hotspots near the precinct. This place great southern food, including biscuits that were absolutely to die for. After giving their orders to the waitress, Iris mounted her courage and decided to voice her real feelings about the recent closure of Ralph's case.

"Look, I'm just saying, something feels wrong about this Eddie," she told her ex-boyfriend as he sipped his drink. "Even if it was a mugging gone wrong, this guy shouldn't have been able to overpower Ralph. I saw his picture — he was scrawny as hell. And Ralph — you know how good a fighter he was. He could go toe-to-toe with you at times." Eddie was one of the best hand-to-hand fighters she knew. He wasn't on Barry's level, obviously, but compared to the average joe he was pretty strong.

Eddie shrugged. "Maybe he got lucky?"

Iris looked doubtful. "Maybe, but what about the case Ralph was working on when he died? The one that he was so cagey about? I can't believe they disregarded it like that."

"Iris, I think you're just being paranoid. I get it — Ralph's death was hard on you. But the detectives that were working Ralph's case are as experienced as Joe. There's no way they didn't taking everything into account before closing it." He looked at her sympathetically. "Sometimes, it really is that simple."

The junior detective bit her lip but nodded, but still felt her doubts remain. Eddie was right, sometimes it really was that simple, but every single one of her instincts was telling her that this wasn't one of those times. Ralph was murdered, and her gut was telling her that Joe Chill wasn't the man who did it.

But if he didn't do it… who did?

Meanwhile, in Star City…

When Oliver returned home to his apartment with Laurel and Kal, the absolute last people he wanted to see were his parents. He actually had to withhold a groan when he saw them, which is all that really needed to be said about how his relationship with them had soured over the past several months, ever since they had forced him to take up the CEO position at Queen Consolidated. He had been doing his best avoid them ever since their last blow out, but it figures that taking another unexpected day off would ping their radars.

What was surprising was who was with them. The rest of the Lance family had opted to also unexpectedly drop in. While Sara's appearance was not surprising since she was on vacation, both Quentin and Dinah should have had work today. Were they so worried about Laurel that they had opted to skip out on their jobs just to make sure she was okay? They did have a recent successful supervillain attack, after all.

"Oliver," his mother started, and he can already feel the scolding coming.

Oliver sighed. "Mom, Dad. Quentin, Dinah, Sara."

"Hey Ollie, Laurel, Kal," Sara greeted them with a wave, popping a bubble of chewing gum.

"Where were you, son? We told you, you can't take off like that willy nilly!"

Already, Oliver felt his temper beginning to flare. "If you must know, Kara and Kal's Aunt Astra was caught up in the attack last night and severely injured. She's currently in a coma. We just got back from visting her at the hospital."

That at least caused some shame to fall upon his parents. Robert glanced at Kal, who was standing close to Laurel. "I'm sorry, son. Are you alright?"

Kal swallowed. "I'm fine, Uncle Robert, Aunt Moira. I just hope both Kara and Aunt Astra get better soon."

"I'm sure they will, sweetheart," Moira reassured the young boy, adopting her motherly persona. She had always been fond of Kara and Kal, and the recent tiff between herself and her son had nothing to dim her affection of them. She had been absolutely heartbroken when she'd heard of Kara's coma, and probably would have gone to visit the girl herself had it not been for her 'quarantine'.

As the Queens were speaking to Oliver and Kal, Laurel looked towards her own family. "Is this because I didn't reply to your calls this morning? I'm sorry about that. We got the news about Astra rather abruptly and rushed directly to the hospital after dropping off Ruby at Sam's."

Quentin sighed. "It's fine, Laurel. Just remember to call us next time." He looked at her softly. "You know you can always talk to me about anything, right?"

Laurel returned the look with a smile. "Of course I do," she responded genuinely.

Before their conversation could continue, Kal suddenly tugged on Laurel's shirt. Once he got her attention, he pointed to where the Queens were. Laurel glanced at the scene and had to resist her own urge to groan.

It seemed that despite the legitimate excuse Oliver had given them, Robert and Moira were still unhappy with their son constantly skiving off from his CEO duties. Which was understandable, but also proof that he wasn't ready to be CEO at all, which he was trying to reinforce to them. Of course, his parents were just viewing his actions as deliberate sabotage while Oliver insisted it wasn't, even though he refused to elaborate what else he was doing when he wasn't visiting loved ones in hospitals. And of course, the entire exchange had blown up into a massive row.

Oh, Ollie. Laurel loved him, she really did, but he could be so stubborn at times when he was mad like that. All of this could be resolved if he just told his parents the truth, but he didn't trust them. And while a part of her couldn't blame him for that, it was causing them no shortage of problems.

Laurel gently untangled Kal from her and then headed her to her boyfriend, giving him a gentle tap on the shoulder. Oliver turned to her, and upon seeing her admonishing look and the nod she gave towards the distraught Kal, froze. He at least had the grace to look properly ashamed.

"Mom, Dad," he finally said. "It's obvious we aren't going to agree on this, so I think it's best if you leave now."

"Oliver—"

"And stay away from me."

Robert and Moira stilled, absolutely stricken at hearing those words. "Oliver…" The latter said, now sounding hurt and apologetic. Even though the estrangement was part of Malcolm's plan in order to make sure Oliver trusted him, neither of the Queens had been looking forward to it. They had been right to — hearing Oliver push them away was like a knife to the heart.

"No, Mom. Please. Just go."

It wasn't what either of them wanted to hear. But Oliver wasn't going to budge.

Elsewhere…

When Tommy first began training under Talia, one of the first things imprinted in his head was the paranoia that came with being an assassin, and the importance of redundancy. He always had to be prepared for every possibility, every eventuality. Something, somewhere, could always go wrong, and when it did, he needed to be able to roll with the punches, to retreat and recover and counterattack. Because if he didn't, then he was dead.

That is why, when the League of Shadows fully fell under Malcolm's control and he got access to his own fraction of the resources, Tommy had started his own contingencies in case everything went pear-shaped. Gathering his own contacts, creating his own network, manufacturing some backup false identities, and establishing his own safehouses. One in every major city he could think of, with the highest concentration being those in the west coast, where he was sure to do most of his activities once he returned to Star(ling) City.

His father had been aware of his activities to an extent but never actively pried into them. "If I did, it would just compromise your resources further," Malcolm had told him. But there was no mistaking the pride in his eyes when he said those words. It was something his father would do, had done, even if it hadn't done anything for him in the end when his plans for the Undertaking had fallen apart. Tommy had practically preened at the implicit praise.

Now, he was just grateful. Because his father had opted not to stick his head in Tommy's business, Tommy had been able to hatch his plans and make the necessary moves to bring them to fruition with Malcolm none the wiser. Which included secretly bussing Joe Wilson all the way from Australia to his secret safehouse in Coast City. A bit dangerous, considering the hero in charge of this particular piece of America, but it's not like Green Lantern would be on the lookout specifically for either of them. Tommy had paid good money to the Calculator to make sure of that.

"You know, if you want to usurp your dad as the leader of the League of Shadows, you can do that by just killing him and declaring yourself the new leader," Joe had pointed out after Tommy had explained his goals to him, sharpening the sword Tommy had gifted him. They didn't trust each other, not really, but Tommy had resources and insider knowledge Joe lacked, and had also been the one to break him out. Joe was reasonable enough to hear him out.

Tommy shook his head. "If I do that, I'll be bombarded with challenges the moment my sword slips away from his body," the younger man declared. "I've already got agents among the Shadows, including one of Talia's spies in the League, but a lot of them are older members who are trying to manipulate me into usurping Malcolm for them. I can't trust them."

"The Shadows aren't the Assassins; they don't respect any traditions, just strength. I don't have the credibility to establish myself as a strong leader to them, even if I do manage to kill my dad in a duel. I haven't proven myself." Malcolm, at least, had been a former Horseman of Ra's when he took over the Shadows. He had hundreds of kills under his belt. Tommy had dozens, if that.

The Australian gave him a skeptical look. "If that's the case, then how are you going to prove yourself to them? Your dad's got twenty years on you."

"By doing the one thing my father has been trying to do for the past year and a half: taking down the League of Assassins."

Joe blinked and whistled. "Now that's a tall order."

"It is," Tommy agreed. "But I've got a few good ideas on how to do it and a lot of insider information that my dear old dad lacks."

He then smirked. "In fact, everything going on involving Archangel and that Reign chick back home has caused a serious opportunity to open up for us. One that might help you with your goals too."

"Oh?" An arched eyebrow accompanied Joe's words. "And what would that be?"

Tommy grinned savagely.

A little shorter than usual, but a useful bridge to what's coming next. Buckle up, everyone. Things are about to get wild.

As always, feel free to make comments, flames will be ignored and deleted, and don't forget to update the TV Tropes page!