Chapter 13
Enter Noah
Disclaimer: Pipe issues once again (thankfully fixed for now) and issues with Poison Ivy make for some real fun times! Though I honestly don't recommend those kinds of fun! Oh, and I own nothing but what you see here! Now, let's roll on!
May 5th, 2016, Star City
While Damien Darhk was busying himself with plans of retribution and the like after the most recent failure in Vermon with the 'Rubicon' program, the Star City crew were currently dealing with an issue that had cropped up on the second. One involving the father of the dearly missed Felicity Smoak known as Noah Kuttler aka 'The Calculator'. He'd recently shown back up in town and had been raising some Hell on HIVE for their involvement in the actions that led to Felicity's death. Though the man like the team was of the opinion the organization also had something to do with her death but had yet to find any proof. Efforts to track down Kuttler so far had turned up nothing much to the annoyance of one Donna Smoak. Though a part of her was slightly happy her ex husband was doing all he could to be an annoyance for the group that took her baby from her. In addition to the search for him, there was also the growing closeness between Oliver and Shado that was going on that had been happening after she was fully freed from the effects of the control pill back in April. Though she had been a bit on the distraught side of things as she still very clearly remembered getting shot in the head.
Oliver being there for her had been a Godsend for the Japanese girl and it in turn had allowed for the two to re-connect with one another the more time they spent together. Shado would even join the team despite a few reservations on it and use her father's hood thanks to Quentin covertly acquiring it when out on the field. Even calling herself 'Artemis' for a codename and was probably just as ruthless on the Ghosts as Oliver or the Bratva was due to her utter rage over what had been done to her. Roy was also currently down in Central City lending a hand to Barry due to the increasing threat of Zoom and Thea wasn't exactly too enthused about it since it kept them apart. But she was glad their speedy friend had a little bit of help on his side even if he wasn't exactly speedy himself. Like the others, Thea was a bit surprised to see her brother and Shado getting so close and had even said something to Oliver about it. To which he merely remarked that she needed someone and he was the best option for it and while he would always love Felicity, there was still a part of him who felt something deep for Shado.
And felt that perhaps this second chance would allow for something to happen for them some time in the future once he felt he could move on and wouldn't feel like he was committing a crime against Felicity for it. Donna wasn't exactly happy about that either but so far had kept quiet on the subject since neither of the two had actually done anything that she knew of. Currently Thea, her brother, and Shado were at a set of apartments in an area of the city known as 'Little Vibe'. A section of the city known for its fun loving events with fantastic music that always brought all sorts of people together. The reason for their being there was due to getting a lead on Noah's whereabouts in the area and had narrowed it down to a set of apartments thanks to the fine work of Curtis' tech skills. Laurel would have been there but was currently dealing with some legal matters as per her job. Legal matters also involving John Constantine and a small local band who'd gotten themselves into a spot of trouble with a demonic lord and their manager was trying to sue the magic man for his involvement in stopping the demonic lord as the manager had been looking to make quite a bit of money off their would be deaths.
Though the band was trying to help Laurel and Constantine out by fighting back against the creep who didn't seem to really care if he was fired or not from his position. One of the band mates known as Evelyn Sharp had even become more of a fan of the Black Canary then what she had been previously and was even more determined to be just like her hero one day after getting to meet her after that whole fiasco with the demonic lord. Though Laurel in her double identity had tried to tell the girl that her lifestyle wasn't the best one out there considering the very real live chance of possibly dying but it didn' seem to deter her and Laurel could only hope the girl would end up with something else to focus on such as her band rather then being a vigilante like her. A part of what Noah had been doing with the Hell raising was making it rather hard for the Drone Soldiers due to them somehow still being part mechanical to be effective and it was one of the reasons the team was looking to find and bring him in.
As having what he knew would be a huge boon to them and if Curtis could somehow improve on it so that they could completely rid themselves of the Drone Soldiers and the source of them would be a damn good thing as it would be one less issue to deal with in the war against Darhk and HIVE. Diggle was situated at another building with a sniper rifle with a sedative as ammunition to be used on Kuttler in case he made an attempt to come out that way even though Donna would have preferred something a little more lethal. "Spartan, anything on your end?" Asked Oliver over the comms.
"That'd be a negative. Man's probably screwing with HIVE to even notice us coming."
"One can only hope Spartan, one can only hope." Replied Shado as the trio moved through the building to the upper floors.
As they arrived on the top floor, a voice could be heard in the hallway. "Well, I must commend you three for being able to track me down. I would have thought it'd have been Damien and his little friends who tried to find me first but I have to give Kudos to whoever helped you do it first. Though I imagine if my daughter was alive she would have found me much sooner then this. Then again, I probably wouldn't be here if she was still alive. Or I would be, who knows!"
Oliver frowned to himself as the man seemed to be way too jovial sounding for his liking. "Noah Kuttler, shut off any defenses or offenses you may have and allow us to take you in!"
"And just why would I do that? Hmm?"
"Your enemy is our enemy and we know one of the reasons you are going after HIVE and Darhk is because of what happened to Felicity Smoak. And trust me I get that as she was one of us and that's just one of the reasons I want to see that bastard and HIVE brought down for good." Responded Oliver darkly.
Silence went on for several seconds, making for Thea and Shado to look at one another in slight worry behind Oliver as he stared down the hallway. A buzzer then sounded for a brief time. "You make a compelling argument Mr. Arrow." A door then opened and a silver haired skinny man stepped out of it and faced them.
"Hello there."
Thea stepped up next to her brother with a frown on her face. "I don't like this, its just too easy."
A chuckle escaped the older man as he walked up to them. "Oh relax, if I wanted it, you three would all be dead already. And besides, your green friend here really did make a compelling argument as more working against Damien Darhk and his friends is something I can actually get behind."
Shado said nothing but was tense regardless as she just felt she couldn't trust this man as he seemed to be as silvery tongued as Edward Fyers and Anthony Ivo were in their day. Oliver walked up to Felicity's father and grabbed him by the shoulder none too gently. "Alright, let's move out. Spartan, package acquired."
"Roger that Green Arrow."
"Ooh, very professional. I really like it. Was that my daughter's influence or someone else's?"
Thea couldn't help but chuckle over that. "She probably would have found the whole thing to be way too serious for her liking and a lot of rambling no doubt would be happening as she tried to lighten the mood." Remarked the girl sadly as they moved onwards.
A task that was thankfully uninterrupted as they made their way to their transport van and were soon on their way back to the Bunker with Kuttler blindfolded. Though the man honestly didn't even think it was needed but alas no one was listening to him! The man wondered just how exactly his little girl wound up with these people since he knew she'd been looking to stay off the grid ever since her ex got caught back in college. But he figured he would get an opportunity to ask as he had the feeling he'd be stuck with the little group for awhile! Though it certainly wasn't hard to figure out just who was under the green hood but he would keep quiet for the time being unless he needed a little amusement. And once they had him wherever they were taking him and had the blindfold taken off, he barely had time to register the sight of Donna Smoak right as she slapped the ever loving crap out of him! "Remind me to never EVER get on her badside." Came the stunned voice of a male in the room.
Noah winced as he rubbed his aching face as he looked right at his ex wife. "Donna, a pleasure as always."
Donna crossed her arms and glared at him. "You've got some nerve showing up here!"
"As far as I'm concerned, I have EVERY right to be here. Our little girl is dead because of Darhk and his HIVE friends! The very same little girl who's life I was unfortunately never able to be a big part of!" Responded Noah in a deadly serious voice as he wasn't about to be ran over by his ex on this matter.
"Maybe if you hadn't been a criminal you could have been in her life!"
As the two argued, the team members kept their distance and tried to make themselves look busy to avoid feeling the uncomfortable atmosphere in the room. "Hard to believe Felicity is who she is with parents like them..." Muttered Curtis from where he sat at a computer that was monitoring a sitaution with some Bratva and Triad members.
His comment was heard, causing the two parents to look his way. "Excuse me!?" Shrieked Donna, making him startle and gulp when he realized he was heard!
"Uhh… I didn't mean anything bad by it! I'm just surprised is all!"
"Well she gets my smarts and she gets her mother's caring attitude. Which is clear as day in my view." Remarked Noah with a shrug as he looked around at the room he was in.
"My daughter do all this?"
"She had some help from a friend at STAR Labs but she has been pretty instrumental in getting us to where we are now." Informed Oliver with his hood still up with a hint of sadness in his words.
Noah nodded and couldn't help but feel proud of his little girl. Even if he'd have preferred her to be doing something that wouldn't be in the likelyhood of life threatening! Donna however wasn't about to be deterred and got things back on track. "I think you need to leave town right now." Her ex looked right at her with a look that sent a slight shiver down her back.
"When Damien Darhk and HIVE are finished, then and only then will I leave. My uhh 'morals' may not be as similar to these heroes' but I am more than willing to aide them in what they want to do! So your desire to see me gone will be ignored and I don't care if you hate it or not! I may not be father of the year but I will damn well do what I can to honor our little girl's memory!" Finished the man heatedly.
Things were silent with Donna looking on in shock before finally letting out a sigh. "Fine, but so help me God if you betray us I will hurt you badly!" Warned the woman before walking off.
"Death was much quieter then this." Spoke Shado and making Thea grin in amusement while Oliver just snorted in agreement despite the fact he was never actually dead.
"Well it took awhile but we managed to get Brian Otis behind bars and oh… I didn't, I didn't know we were expecting company." Came Laurel in a worried voice after coming inside the Bunker with Constantine following close behind.
As she had figured the mission would either see the man in a cell or having managed to get away somehow! The older man turned to look at her before saying anything. "You are quite the vision I must say and I assure you that I won't spill any secrets unless I'm being tortured."
"Right, I'll umm… I'll keep that in mind." Replied Laurel as she stepped up next to Oliver and gave a subtle nod to go find somewhere a little more private to talk about having the man in their base of operations.
While that was going on, Noah took one look at Curtis and went over to him with a clap of the hands. "So, you probably want some insight as to how I've been stopping the Drones like I have been hmm?"
"Oh yeah! And anything else you might have that can help us out against HIVE would be a big help too." Said Curtis enthusiastically while wondering if he should shake the man's hand or keep a little bit of distance just to be safe.
He's certainly enthusiastic I'll give him that much.
"No time like the present then hmm?" And with that, the two got to work on the best ways to try and cripple HIVE in a digital fashion and maybe even take away any private funds Darhk had now that they had more brain power to use while Shado and Thea observed the whole thing and completely feeling lost in the process.
Author's Notes: Hopefully you guys enjoyed this chapter, and if not, my apologies. Seriously hoping my Ivy issues will be gone real soon. Up Next: The team gets called in to Central City to help Barry with a big problem! R and R!