A/N: Apologies for the delay, but the Season finalies of Arrow and Supergirl have obviously thrown a spanner into the mix of my story outline
Previously on Arrow: NOOOOOOO! I know that Arrow fans have mixed feelings about Laurel – you either love or hate her, so I was shocked that she was killed off, especially given Black Canary's role in the wider DC Universe as well as the lore of Green Arrow itself. So in this fic, I am going to play on the notion of Arrow characters not always staying dead, BWAHAHA!
Previously on Supergirl: Can I say how much I love Dave Harewood as J'onn J'onzz? He looks perfect in the makeup, but he also fleshes out both J'onn's heartache and compassion.
And poor Alex wearing the kryptonite Armor under Non's control. For some reason I don't think "Martha" will stop the fight (sorry, couldn't resist!)
Arrow, Supergirl, Justice League and Young justice are properties of Warner Bros and CW. I claim credit for nothing.
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CHAPTER 8: Broken Wings
IRON HEIGHTS PRISON, ONE WEEK AGO
"Hey Dahrk, got a visitor."
Damien was escorted not to the vistor's lounge, but to an interrogation room.
Once he was seated, he grimaced upon seeing the visitor.
"Have you found the piece of the idol yet?" he asked.
"I'm afraid your time here is going to have to wait," Malcolm answered. 'But that's not why I'm here."
"You're here to recruit me into your own little band, aren't you? What do you call yourselves? 'The Light'? Pretty ironic given who we are, isn't it? Let me guess, it was ol' Lex's idea, wasn't it? Or that little twerp Lord."
"You should be thankful that he's the one who was generous enough to nominate you for a seat on the board," Malcolm replied. "But sadly, the decision hinges upon my vote, and I'm honestly not convinced."
"I thought that securing you and Thea a place in Genesis would suffice."
Malcolm shook his head. "To truly fulfil the title of 'Ra's Al Ghul' a man must transcend the divide between life and death."
"Ah," Damien grinned. "That's it. You want to live forever, very noble. The only thing that's missing is the Lazarus pit, which you no longer have unless you've… oh please don't tell me you're trying to actually replicate the process."
"My success has been… limited."
"Let me guess, you tried pouring the waters onto dead flesh, but without the root stream from which a Lazarus pit originates from at the exact location, all you've got is a resurrected body that's going to go Walking Dead in a month unless you find a solution that you desperately hope I have, right?"
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were a mind reader."
"I'm not at that level yet," Damien admitted. "But unfortunately that information is something I wouldn't know where to begin with. Hell, even the previous Ra's couldn't figure out how the thing worked even though he's took a dip every twenty years."
"So I'm wasting my time," Malcolm started to make his way to the door.
"Wait," Damian started. "Have you tried contacting the Court?"
"They're a myth, a cheap story to send little boys to sleep at night."
"Tell that to your understudy from Gotham."
Malcolm paused. "Keep talking."
"He and his little crew had a little run in with the court recently," Damian explained. "Bruce barely survived his encounter with these… 'Talons'. Young Richard on the other hand, well it was surprising family reunion between him and his great-grandfather," Damian let out a chuckle and started to sing:
Beware the court of owls,
that watches all the time,
ruling from a shadow perch,
behind granite and lime.
They watch you at your hearth,
they watch you in your bed,
speak not a whispered word of them
or they'll send the talon for your head.
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STAR CITY, TODAY, 6:10PM
The Talon lashed out a spin kick that sent Oliver through the window and spiraling down to the ground below.
Oliver could feel the tug of gravity upon his body. Within seconds he's be spread across the sidewalk-
And he found himself suspended three feet above the ground. He glanced over his shoulder to see that his feet were shackled by a glowing green bungee cord being held by a figure levitating thirty feet above him.
"Clark changing into his suit mid-air is understandable. No doubt Bruce has probably tried it, but I honestly don't see you doing it, Ollie," Hal Jordan said.
"Base jumping has never been part of my strategy," Oliver replied as Hal gently lowered him to the ground. "Did you see him?"
"The ninja who kicked you out?" Hal asked. "League member?"
"Doubt it. I actually broke his neck and he just kept coming at me."
Hal let out a long whistle. "You're lucky I was in town. Was going to drop off some intel. You sure that wasn't a League member?"
"What have you got, Hal?"
"Been following a tip off from my friends in Air Traffic Control. Looks like our buddy Malcolm Merlyn has been jetsetting."
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NATIONAL CITY, 4:45AM, TWO DAYS LATER
M'gann hovered between the skyscapers, her iPhone in one hand going through her social media.
"Come on Garfield, where are you?" she said aloud.
Finally there was a single ring tone:
BEASTBOY2002 is typing
Megan r u there?
"Garfield!" she gasped.
xxHELLOMEGANxx
Gar where r u? we r worried
BEASTBOY2002
you saw the news
xxHELLOMEGANxx
Gar im so sorry. But where r u?
BEASTBOY2002
Im a freak. I don't want 2 c any1
xxHELLOMEGANxx
ur not a freak Gar. I want to help u
BEASTBOY2002
How?
xxHELLOMEGANxx
What if I told you Supergirl is my best friend?
BEASTBOY2002
Every girl in elementary says that
xxHELLOMEGANxx
Im not joking
M'gann sighed. "This is how Kara must feel everyday. All these powers, never being able to say-"
BEASTBOY2002
Just u and me?
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NATIONAL CITY BOTANICAL GARDEN, 5:45AM
M'gann landed in the park and morphed into Megan Morse.
"Garfield! Garfield?"
"Over here," came the reply.
M'gann looked over her shoulder to see Garfield standing behind her. The boy's hair was uncomed, his eyes baggy and his skin, M'gann noted, was slightly green.
"Gar!" She ran over and embraced him tightly.
"Good to see you too, Meg," the boy awkwardly.
"Sorry," M'gann took a step back. "Garfield, listen… I know all about what happened with your parents, the experiments."
Garfield lowered his eyes. "I was twelve when it started. One day I just started to get sick. The doctors said that whatever was causing it was incurable. That's when my parents met Dr Langstrom."
"Did he-?"
Garfield nodded. "He started me with gene therapy. After that were the vaccinations. All of a sudden I started to get urges."
"Urges?"
"Like, the desire to eat worms, or walk on all fours. And when my parents were killed, that's when I felt it take over."
"Oh Gar," she embraced him again, placing a light kiss on his forehead.
"…You're not afraid?"
M'gann sighed. "This is going to be weird, by my name isn't 'Megan'."
Before she could continue an unmarked SUV rolled into view, and out of it stepped a black man and the woman Garfield remembered from the attack-
"You lied to me!" he screamed.
"Garfield!" M'gann cried.
He began to run, but before he could get anywhere he was stopped as a blue and red blur blocked his path.
"We don't want to hurt you," Supergirl said. "We just want to help."
Garfield was stunned. He looked over at M'gann.
"You're really-"
M'gann morphed into Miss Martian. "I was just about to say it."
Alex and Hank came over.
"Son, I believe we can help you with what you're going through," Hank said as he changed into J'onn. "Trust me, I've been there."
Garfield's jaw dropped.
The scene was interrupted as Kara 's suit comm chirped.
"Batgirl… I'm in the middle of… Oh God, no. No!"
Kara's knees started to collapse as she lifted her tear-filled eyes towards Alex.
"Something's happened to Laurel."
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STAR CITY CEMETARY, 1:30PM NEXT DAY
"
We have entrusted our sister Laurel to God's mercy,
and we now commit her body to the ground:
earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust."
Kara watched as Oliver, Detective Lance, Barry, Bruce, Dick and Clark carried Laurel's coffin to the grave site.
Barbara stepped forward and placed a batarang on the coffin.
"It was short, but fun, Black Canary," she said.
Thea, Felicity and Kara each placed a rose before the coffin was lowered.
Kara gazed up at Detective Lance. As hard as it was to believe, it appeared that he had aged years in a matter of days.
Once the coffin was lowered, Lance stormed off. As soon as he reached his car, he beat his fist against the hood.
"I'll find you, you sons of bitches!"
Oliver was about go after him, but was stopped by Bruce. "Let him go."
Oliver sighed. "First Sara, now Laurel. Two children he's lost because of us."
"You can't blame yourself Oliver. She knew the risks as did you."
Oliver turned to him, "Did Gordon send you the case files for the Gotham Talons?"
Bruce nodded. "We need to brief the team."
"And the 'kids'?"
"Time to bring them on board."
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THE FOUNDRY, 5:30PM
Supergirl stepped out of the elevator only to find that the "Arrow Cave" was empty except for Curtis Holt, who was sitting at the computer.
"I was told you were coming," he said. "Right this way."
He ushered Kara to a room behind the main armoury. Kara couldn't believe her eyes.
"You have a Zeta tube? Even Krypton hadn't even got this far advanced!"
"We just installed it," Curtis answered. "But the others are waiting on the other side."
Kara stepped onto the pad. "Anything I should know about?"
"First of all, do not move a muscle. Secondly, when you reach the other side, you will have an instinctive gag reflex that will force you to inhale. Lastly, just remember that there was a funeral today."
"Understood."
Kara exhaled as she was wrapped in a blinding white light – and found herself in a corridor looking at a steel bulkhead. Stepping around a corner, she found herself on a platform staring at outer space. Right below her was Earth.
"I wouldn't stare too long, you might get vertigo," a voice said.
Kara turned to see a handsome man wearing an Air Force bomber jacket.
"I'm Hal Jordan," he said. "Welcome to the Watchtower. I'm a-"
"Green Lantern," Kara finished. "You were the one who sighted the martian ship, right?"
Hal smiled. "I take it Miss Martian is adjusting to Earth well, then?"
"She has her ups and downs. I visited Oa with my family once. Are there any other human Lanterns?"
"Three: Guy Gardner, John Stewart and Kyle Rayner. I'm surprised that there's never been a kryptonian GL before."
"You'd have to ask the Guardians about that one."
The Zeta tube switched on and the computer announced the new arrivals:
"RECOGNISED: B01- Nightwing, B16 – Batgirl, B06 – Speedy."
"Kara!" Thea called as the two girls embraced.
"We wanted to talk to you during the funeral," Barbara explained. "But Bruce had things to plan."
"I take it he does that."
"He's never liked funerals," Dick said. "Especially since Jason died."
"Jason?" Kara asked.
"The second Robin," Barbara answered. "Bruce took him on when Dick turned twenty-one and adopted the 'Nightwing' identity."
"What happened?"
"Joker," Hal replied, crossing his arms. "After that Bruce became… distant, pragmatic."
"That was the past," Dick said. "But how awesome is this place?!"
"Wait, you didn't know-?" Thea asked.
Barbara shook her head. "We had no idea that that Wayne-Tech and Queen Consolidated were building a Space Station. How much does all of this cost?"
"All of the essential parts were assembled on Earth," Hal answered. "The Lanterns put it in orbit, hence saving the costs on rockets and shuttles."
"Clever," Kara said.
"All personel, please report to the control centre," the voice came from Superman.
The control centre was just as spectacular as the view of space outside: A table surrounded by computers, TV screens and holo projectors displaying news media, weather patterns, police reports. Seated already were Batman, Superman, Oliver, Felicity, Hank and Flash.
"Welcome," Superman said. "Please be seated. Given the current circumstances we would have all liked a moment to grieve, but the present situation requires that all of us be brought up to speed. Oliver?"
"As most of you know, Laurel was killed by Damien Darkh. He has managed to regain control of his powers and no doubt seeks to increase it. He was working with Malcolm Merlyn and League of Assassins loyalists. Bruce?"
"Over the past year, there have been attacks on business and organisations dedicated to developing-"
"RECOGNISED: B05 – Miss Martian," the Watchtower computer announced.
"What the heck?" Flash said.
"Hank, did you give her-" Felicity asked.
"No," Hank answered.
"Hey everyone!" M'gann called. "I was meaning to go to the funeral but I had to look after Garfield-"
"How exactly did you get access to the National City Zeta tube?" Batman demanded.
"It's right next to Uncle J'onn's oreo cache in the DEO headquarters," M'gann replied innocently. "You know, you should really think about calibrating your voice modulator, it makes you sound like Oscar the Grouch passing a stone-"
"Sit. Down. Now."
"Yes, sir."
"As I was saying," Batman continued. "The first attack was Wayne-Tech's R&D server being hacked and the patent archive being downloaded – that's six terabytes of designs for devices we're using in the field. Recently Slade Wilson tried to steal the Palmer Tech power cell while armed with a kryptonite gun. Firefly tried to burn down the gene therapy unit with napalm and a molten-metal cannon. And now Oliver was attacked by a Talon."
"Each of these attacks were done with anticipation that one of us would be there," Flash commented.
"The recent Talon attack was a direct assault," Oliver said. "Barry."
"I corroborated the Star City CSI's investigation with the case files Comissioner James Gordon in Gotham," Barry said as he typed in a few commands on his tablet and brought up a holo of an old sepia-tinted photograph depicting a young man.
"William Cobb, born 1901. Dick's Great-grandfather. Spent most of his early life in Gotham where he was raised by his mother. Joined Haley's during his teens where has was trained in knife throwing and acrobatics – as an initiation into the Court of Owls. This photo was taken when he was thirty-" the image shifted to a CCTV still of the Batcave showing Cobb in full Talon armor strapped to a gurney – "this was taken last year."
"He hasn't aged a day!" Kara exclaimed.
"How is that possible?" Thea asked. "A Lazarus pit?"
"Not quite," Batman replied. "Blood tests showed that Cobb's cells are saturated with a chemical similar to the Lazarus waters but not as potent."
"There have been attempts to duplicate the effects of the Lazarus pit, but they always come short," Nightwing explained. "We think that they key is not just chemical, but environmental."
Thea nodded. "Nanda Parbat is in a high-altitude location with a usually unchanging climate."
"All of the confirmed locations of Lazarus Pits are in the immediate vicinity of Ley lines and sites linked to the spiritual realm by the native cultures," Batman continued. "One thing these location definitely have are strong electro-magnetic anomalies."
"So without a strong electro-magnetic charge-" Kara started.
"All we're left with is 'Diet Lazarus'," Hal finished. "The flesh will experience temporary resuscitation but will eventually decay unless it receives a supplement."
"For the Talons it's an alloy known as Electrum that is deposited into the body," Barry added. "The Star City CSI team found deposits of it in Oliver's apartment."
"That explains how the Talon was able to keep attacking Oliver with a broken neck," Hank commented.
"Barry," Oliver asked softly. "The Talon clearly knew I was the Arrow. Was a DNA test run?"
"I was hoping you wouldn't ask, but yes. This was the closest match on police records," Barry grimaced. He brought up a DNA profile:
MATCH FOUND: QUEEN, THEA
"Impossible!" Thea cried out.
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THE RESIDENCE OF DAMIAN DARHK, STAR CITY
"I failed you," The Talon said.
"Not at all," Malcolm said warmly as he reached forward and removed the Talon's mask. "You've trained and persevered, and even though Oliver Queen just happened to have friends who were passing through, you have shown that you are more than competent, and for that, I am proud."
"When will we reveal our plans to the Justice League?" the Talon asked.
"In time," Malcolm said as he picked up a syringe containing the electrum mixture. "You must rest. It's like a game of chess: We've moved our piece, our partners will move theirs. And just when our enemies are about to move, they will find themselves surrounded with nowhere to run."
"Thankyou," The Talon said softly.
"For what?"
"Everything. Giving me my life back, the training, the mission," the Talon placed a gloved hand on Malcolm's shoulder. "I will succeed where my sister failed you… Father."
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Thea's face went white.
"…Tommy?"
"But why-?" Kara asked.
"Simple," Superman answered, "Merlyn and Darhk are building up an army – and on the frontlines will be enemies that we can't kill."
"So what do we do?" Batgirl asked.
"That's where you-" Superman gestured towards Kara, Thea, Dick, Barbara and M'gann "-will come in."
"The Justice League will continue it's mission in responding to global threats," Batman added. "At the same time, there are times when we have to do things behind closed doors away from public eyes to reduce panic and geo-political conflict."
"You want us to do Black-Ops?" Kara asked.
"Your assignments will cover recon, espionage and the engaging of hard-to-reach targets," Batman answered. "Black Canary was supposed be on the team, but without her-"
"Hello, M'gann, why don't we just bring her back like Thea's brother?" M'gann asked.
The room went silent.
"When Sara was brought back, she was crazy," Felicity answered.
"Sara was already in a state of advanced decay," Oliver replied. "It's only been thirty-six hours."
Everyone turned to Barry.
"It's… possible," Barry put on his cowl. "There can be absolutely no room for error."
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Next Chapter
- Talon-Canary!
In the coming chapters I definitely have more fight scenes on the drawing board; no real plans for pairings. Hopefully the end of TV Season break will give me some "space"
Until then, Follow, Fav, Share (if viewing on a mobile device) and REVIEW!