Ava returned to the Umbrella base battered and disappointed. She just can't understand why Oliver was mad at her. What did she do wrong? Those man tried to kidnap Oliver, which makes them enemies, and what's wrong with torturing enemies? Sure, it's unmoral, but it's also what must be done to survive. Ava thought Oliver learned the lesson on the island, apparently she's wrong.
Ava walked up to her office, and was surprised to find Karen there. The purple haired girl was flipping a dagger up and down, and stood up immediately when she saw Ava.
"I'm just waiting here to get a comment on the spear. Is there any changes that you want to...Are you OK?" She paused after noticing the blonde's expression was strange.
"Yes, I just...had a rough time with Oliver." Ava replied hesitantly, "I don't understand him and he doesn't understand me. I...I don't know what to do with him."
Karen looked down on her laptop before lifting it up to Ava. "It seems like your boyfriend have already decided your relationship. Listen to this." She opened a website, which brought up the video and sound of the living room of Queens mansion. Ava noticed multiple people sitting on the couch, including Oliver, his mother, his stepfather, and two police officers.
"So that's your story? A girl in a red hood came in and stabbed three armed man to death with a spear? I mean, who is she, why would she do that?" This is the voice of a police detective. Ava noticed him holding her steel token.
"Quentin Lance." Karen stated, but Ava didn't even lift her eyes. She wants to hear what Oliver has to say.
"I don't know." Oliver said with a smile, as if he's joking, but Ava knew these words were meant to be real. "But whoever she is, she's dangerous."
"Yes." The detective agreed, "One of the attackers was severely tortured before being executed in cold blood. The hood girl had no sympathy."
"Tortured?" An old woman, Oliver's mother asked. Ava found her tone strange. "So are you saying this ...hood girl...knows who hired the shooters?"
"That is likely the case." The detective replied and Ava silently pushed the laptop away.
"So now what?" Karen asked."What are you planning to do with Oliver Queen?"
Ava grinned and waved her spear. "When we were on the island and we had conflicts." She said, rotating the spear around her arms before stopping it in front of herself. "There is only one way to solve it. By force."
A while later...
Fifth floor
Ava was sparring with an Alpha-1 strike team member. The man wore a typical Umbrella uniform and used a dagger. The fight have lasted for a few minutes and came to a sudden halt when Ava managed to knock the dagger aside for a few seconds and took the opportunity to place her spear on her opponent's neck.
"Nice." Karen clapped as she approached. "You are stronger than I expected."
Ava smiled and removed her spear, and her opponent left the stage. "Do you want to practice with me?" She asked with a inviting hand gesture.
"Maybe another day." Karen declined. "There's something I think you should know. A wealthy criminal, Adam Hunt, was attacked by a man wearing a green head and armed with bow and arrow. I figured it's your friend." Ava nodded in acknowledgement. "The hood guy threatened to be back tonight. Hunt came to me and asked to hire a security team for protection."
"Are you planning to give him protection?" Ava asked.
"Well, Hunt offered a large sum of money." Karen explained. "Even so, he only has the authorization to hire a level C team, which is basically the level of paid gunners. They will be no match for Oliver Queen. If no further action is done, Hunt will be in trouble."
"Authorization?"
"Yes." Karen explained. It's not like this concept is a secret. "There are multiple levels of authorization, ranging from SSS to D. These levels are assigned based on the level of importance the individuals or groups are to Umbrella. Adam Hunt is just a wealthy but normal person, so he only has a level C authorization."
"Which level of authorization am I?" Ava asked suddenly with a smug smile.
"Level A." Karen said, "Which means you can call up an Alpha team as backup if you need help. There are other benefits that you will eventually find out about."
"Wait, Oliver is going for Hunt tonight?" Ava suddenly thought of something. "Isn't he going to have a party tonight?"
"Yes, and check this, the party takes place just beside Hunt's building."Karen clicked something on her laptop.
"Did I tell you I like to go to parties?" Ava joked. "Get me a dress, a red one. I am going to make a not so friendly chat with Ollie. Which is the polite saying of making a declaration of war."
Ava walked into the bar where the homecoming party of Oliver Queen is hosted. Colorful lights were shining everywhere. People, men and women, were moving their body in excitement. Most of the people probably don't even care about Oliver. They are just using the chance to have some fun. Loud music echoed in the bar. Ava scowled but continued to push through the crowd.
Eventually, the girl was just in time to see the friend of Oliver, the one she met previously, Tommy Merlyn, introducing Oliver to the crowd. The playboy have managed to forget about the attack earlier and have already returned to his true nature of entertainment. Oliver held a polite smile, but Ava could see the unwillingness deep down. The man doesn't belong here.
After the introduction, Tommy started to lead Oliver into the dancing crowd. They were pointing at three girls on a stage when Oliver suddenly spotted who might be the last girl he want to see. Ever. The worst part is, there's nothing he can do.
The future arrow used a few sentences to dismiss Tommy, who gladly left with two blonde girls, before engaging Ava. The girl could feel the man's muscle tensing up, as if he was getting ready for a fight, which, thankfully, didn't come.
"I thought I made myself very clear." Oliver said. His smile was still on his face, and he was talking as if he was just flirting with a random girl. The contents of the conversation, though, were quit different. "I don't want to see you again."
"I do understand that we have a conflict of idea." Ava said. "Which is why I am going to challenge you to a duel. You will use your ways towards one goal, and I will use my ways to counter it. If you accomplish the goal, then you win, and I will go with your method. But if you fail to accomplish that goal, then you will follow my way."
Oliver, however, wasn't in the mood of playing games. "I am not going to use the city as a wager. And I don't need to prove anything to you."
Ava grinned wickedly, and knew he's in trouble. "This is why I am not giving you a choice." She watched in amusement as the man started to grow angry and knew she made the right move. "Since you will not willingly fight me, I will force you to do exactly that. Don't forget I know exactly why you are back in Starling Oliver. You are here to take down the people on that list your father gave you. In that case, I will protect everyone on that list. The only way you are going to kill them will be to defeat me."
"You are making a dangerous move." Oliver threatened in a deep voice.
Ava smiled and tilted her head in a cute way that make others think she's an innocent girl. "Obviously you are planning to take down Adam Hunt tonight, so let him be the first challenge." She gave one last smile and left Oliver. The man struggled to stop the urge of attacking the girl right now, which would not only expose his identity but will likely fail to kill her. After the girl left, he took a deep breathe. It seems like tonight is going to be way tougher than he anticipated.
Ava quickly left the party and went outside the bar. On the other side of the road, multiple police vehicles and a large number of fully armed SWAT teams were assembled down Hunt's office. When the hood appears, they will be moving up the floors in a few minutes.
The girl ignored the police and walked to her own car. She opened the trunk and took out a bag, which contained her red cloak and spear. After making sure no one's watching, she took the bag and returned to the bar.
"You six aim at the elevator." Captain of Strike team UASC-C-8, Edward, ordered. He wore a black jacket., which had an Umbrella symbol on its shoulder parts. To him, this mission is no different from the half a dozen protection missions he commanded before. The targets were in good health before, and this one will also survive. "It's the only way up. All other personals have been evacuated, so if the elevator is working, then whoever is in it must be our enemy."
He walked back through a door, jumping over a red line. "Is the trap set?"
"Yes sir." A man who was kneeling on the ground reported, "The door is rigged with explosives that will go up once that red line there is touched. It's packed with enough power to level whoever triggered the trap but no one else."
"Good." Edward nodded and walked up to Adam Hunt, who was staring out the window, worried about his fate. "This place is a death trap. No one can get in here in one piece."
Suddenly, the entire building went dark. "Switch to night vision." Edward said into his earpiece in a calm fashion. It takes more than a few tricks to throw his team off.
In the hallway outside the room, the elevator suddenly rang and the door opened. Without thinking, the six gunmen started to ravage the machine. They aimlessly fired at the elevator with their automatic rifles.
"Hold your fire." One of the gunmen said after a few seconds. If the hood is really in the elevator, he'd be very dead."You, check it out. Everyone else stay alert!" A man closest to the elevator moved forward, his gun ready to fire at any movement.
The man managed to get to the elevator safe and sound. Even confused himself, he walked into the elevator and found it to be empty. That was when he heard movement from above. Oh crap! was his last thoughts.
The other five soldiers saw the first man got taken down by someone who jumped down from the ceiling of the elevator before they could do anything. But when they realized what happened, they started to fire at the man.
The hood used the first man, whose neck he snapped, as a human shield. All the bullets stuck into the man's body and failed to reach the hood. The archer used the man as a shield and started firing at the gunmen.
Three shots added three more bodies on the ground. The last two gunmen managed to get behind stone structures before they were targeted. The hood also dropped the battered human shield and went behind a stone structure.
"Blow this bastard up!" A gunmen said angrily. He just lost four comrades, friends and brothers in arms, to someone with bow and arrow. This is just unacceptable and even humiliating. He took out a hand grenade and tossed it over to the other end of the room.
However, on the other end of the room, the hood, Oliver Queen, managed to hear the clicking sound of a grenade. He immediately turned around the cover and fired an arrow.
The arrow went directly towards the grenade and collided the deadly weapon in a way parallel to the ground, which sent the grenade back the way it came from.
"Oh shit!" The man who threw the grenade swore, but before he could do anything, the grenade flew back and was stopped by the closed door behind the two men. And the grenade was triggered.
A huge "boom", along with the force of an exploding grenade, immediately killed the two men. What's worse is its force knocked the door, which lead to the room Hunt was in, apart. The broken glasses flew backwards and some of them fell on the mine trap.
A lighter explosion blew up the rest of the door and its sound stunned captain Edward and the last of his men for a few seconds. When Edward recovered from the shock, he tragically found his man dead on the ground with an arrow in his chest and a man in green hood aiming at him with an arrow. And that's the last thing he saw.
Adam Hunt watched in horror as the security team he hired are all dead, leaving him vulnerable with the hood. "Don't kill me." He said before realizing its not convincing. "I am a close associate with Umbrella. If you kill me, the Corporation will hunt you and everyone related to you down. Let me go, and I will make a personal request to leave you be."
"Umbrella?" The hood smirked and referred to those he just killed. "As in these men?"
"Umbrella, as in people like me." A female voice came, and Oliver Queen signed and turned around. In a piece of shadow, a red figure appeared. She was holding a silver and black spear. "We are stronger than you know."
Oliver bit his lips, and, without any warning, started firing at Ava. The girl slightly moved her spear, and all of the arrows missed. But those attacks were never meant to kill her. Using the chance, Oliver jumped out of the window and escaped via a rope. When Ava realized she was fooled and moved towards the window, the hood was already gone.
She signed and turned to the SWAT teams, who have broken into the room and were aiming at her. Detective Lance leading the team. "Umbrella agent! I'm here on a protection mission. Here's my ID." She tossed Lance an Umbrella ID, which Alpha gave her when they first met.
The detective seemed unhappy but waved for his men to lower their weapons. "So the hood girl is an Umbrella agent? And it seems like you are against the hood guy. And reason why?"
"I am afraid this is out of your league." Ava grinned under the hood, which Lance obviously noticed. But there's nothing he could do but watch as Ava left. No matter how much he want to take the girl down, he can't as he knows if he does, there will be a warrant of his arrest very soon, and he will be in trouble whereas the hood girl will be unscratched. This is the power of Umbrella.
Oliver quickly changed his hood into his normal clothing. As he did so, his mind was on one thing. Umbrella. He has a million questions, most of them he can't answer. Who are they? What are they trying to do? What are they capable of? How is Ava related to these men? Somehow, he has a feeling that he's not done with the Corporation. A feeling that he will come in touch with the organization very soon.
PS. Oliver Queen was turned into a killer when on the island, but he was still trying to do good even in season 1, when he was killing those in his way. This can be seen in how he targeted not only people on his list but also criminals.
On the other hand, Ava was in this world for strength, not justice. She doesn't care about most people's lives, which makes her even more brutal than Oliver. But to those she do care about, she protects them with her life. This difference in opinion is one of the reasons the two are fighting.
PPS. Can anyone think of a movie that I can write on? I will start writing a new story on August 2017. Any review before that date will be taken into consideration.
PPPS. Don't worry, I am going to stick with this story for a while. I am merely planning to start another, parallel story.