Church of Blood, Starling City, 19:20 PM PST
Consciousness came in fragments. The smell of brick dust. The fluorescent lights hanging intermittently down the ceiling. The ground rushing beneath his feet. Hands hauling him forward. Pain shooting through his shoulder. Then it came back all at once.
Roy glanced up at his captors, the homeless teenager and one of his companions similarly dressed.
"He's heavy" grunted the one who had spoken to him first, trying to keep him upright as they dragged him across the floor.
"He's awake!"
"I told you, you should've used a bat!" Roy circled his hands around both of their arms, planted his feet, and pulled them towards each other, knocking their heads like two pool balls, his shoulder protesting with each of his movements.
…
As Blood tried to unmask him, Oliver threw his head back and squashed the nose of a follower who yowled in pain. Gathering his strength he wretched the arm of another, and pulled his left arm away to punch him in the jowls. He hauled them off of him one by one, kicking, scratching whatever was necessary, he needed to get out. He saw a gap forming in-between the followers he had incapacitated and sprinted through it swatting their grabbing hands away.
"Do not let him escape his judgement! Bring him to me!" The imposter Blood commanded and they did as they were told, chasing him down screaming cries of his irreverence.
He keyed into his comm, "Roy, I need back up!"
"Oliver! Thank God! What happened?" Felicity wanted to know, overriding his channel to Roy.
"Later, where's Roy?"
"In the cellars; he isn't answering me".
He cursed and skidded left, the indomitable pounding of the Church of Blood's cronies growing dimmer. The cellar was a maze and he had already lost track of where the entrance to the church was. It went deeper and deeper into the ground, and Blood's followers were relentless.
By a stroke of luck he spotted Roy disabling two kids who had probably tried to capture him. They were unresponsive on the ground by the time he got to the red archer.
"What happened to 'stay outside'?" Roy looked over his shoulder a decent comeback locked and loaded. "Your girlfriend asked me to find you".
"Let's get the hell out of here" Oliver waved him over to follow him as the Blood devotees drew nearer.
There was a loud bang through the cool cellar like a fire cracker as a smoke bomb burst onto the ground, courtesy of his partner. He and Roy found a manhole and used the smoke for coverage. Oliver pulled himself onto the street and helped Roy through afterwards.
"We're on our way back" he notified Felicity.
Church of Blood, the Glades, Starling City, 20:40 PM PST
"Brother Blood, should we leave the church? The Arrow knows we are occupying it" asked Gerard worriedly. Brother Blood sat in a chair in front of a television in a modest drawing room, watching the news, wearing the skull mask that commanded and revered lost souls into submission.
"Tell them to disperse for the time being until we can move forward with our plan. Do you have a subject to test the serum on?"
"Yes, several."
"Have you seen the news?" He gestured to the screen; Gerard looked down, ashamed by his failure. "The message Fred Sariano tried to send to demonstrate his devotion?"
"He was apprehended by the police" Gerard muttered. Sariano was a wild card that he had not expected, taking the woman hostage, he had thought the man displayed passion for their cause but clearly he was misguided.
"And what did I warn you about remaining discreet? You should choose our recruits more carefully!" The skull mask shook its head irately, furious words coming from its mouth made it that much more petrifying to behold and it humbled him. "He had a history of mental instability. You're lucky the SCPD will take his ramblings as a symptom and not a hint at what we're planning."
"I am sorry Brother Blood. Please, have mercy."
Blood sighed in exasperation and placed the tips of his fingers on the mask's temples. "Gerard, there is no need for that formality when we are alone." Brother Blood took off the mask, and he was a man again, not a prophet.
"My given name is Clinton Hogue."
The Foundry, Starling City 20:03 PM PST
"I got knocked out by two kids!" Roy threw his arms up, displeased by his temporary defeat. "They shouldn't even be there. We need to get SCPD to raid the place" he suggested ardently, he had every reason to detest the cult, given his unwanted association with it last year.
"They would have fled by now". Oliver leaned on a table still dressed in his hood and suit. "They must be launching something on the city."
"That kid who knocked me out mentioned 'two prophets'" added Roy.
"Brother Blood mentioned another masked man".
Felicity's gaze flew between them both and she gasped as it came together for her, "you don't think—?"
"We're dealing with another mirakuru soldier?" He finished for her. "That's the last thing we need. But the Church of Blood was built on the basis of Sebastian Blood's ideology they'll attempt to follow in his footsteps".
If there was a solider that they had not put down during the siege then chances were this imposter intended to make more if he had one. Two crucial questions needed to be asked; do we have any more of the cure? And, could I beat one a second time, without it?
"I feel sorry for all those people he's convinced to join him" said Felicity.
Roy sat on the table beside him, forehead lined, thinking hard. "But...don't you think the fact that they were convinced means that whatever Blood's plan was for the Glades might have actually worked?"
Oliver's stoic, reserved face rippled with skepticism. "What? Do you know what you're saying?" Blood had good intentions but he would've destroyed the city no matter what the outcome.
His partner was intent on explaining himself. "When I canvasing, everyone I met said the church was offering food and clothing, even a home for some." He breathed and rested his hand on his chest, "I know I'm the last person you'd expect to hear this from; but they're devoted to Brother Blood because he saved them in a way we can't. Sin told me that we can protect the city but we can't make it a better place to live in. She didn't believe me when I said I would try to make it better, I want to prove her wrong." Roy's vow was full of vigor and hardened determination, it made him more proud than he could even describe.
He recognized where his partner was coming from and with Harper's personal attachment to the Glades it was touching that he wanted to aid the downtrodden in other ways that didn't involve a bow and quiver. Sin spoke truly, they had jailed crime bosses by the dozen, and many others who had failed in the city in order to line their own pockets, but life was tough. Digg said they were still fighting a war, and in war those who have the least suffer the most.
Oliver leaned to him, "I'm glad that you haven't forgotten who and what you're fighting for. Sometimes you can forget, or you get confused, that's why you need people to remind you" he peeked beneath his lashes at Felicity but she was looking at the monitor.
Then she flattened her hands on the table with loud urgency, she spun to him.
"I see that you're having a bro moment but you need to get to the docks now!"
Star Bridge Docks, Starling City, 20:32 PM PST
She came upon Simon Lacroix's safehouse. It was a pit stop in her mission to track down this 'abomination' she was tasked to find. Sensei had given her the details afterwards and she found the whole thing sounded like a bunch of science fiction nonsense and a waste of her damn time. Gotham had led her right back to Starling, she usually enjoyed civilization but Starling seemed to be the root of all her problems lately. But it wouldn't be long now. They would be no need to suck up or listen to the proud, righteous, pompous blathering of Ra's Al Ghul by summer's end. Talia Al Ghul had a plan for power, and for the first time in years, Artemis had a cause to believe in.
When she had confronted Simon mere days ago she had betted he would not take out the memory card of the GPS device during their encounter. He did as she predicted and it was possibly left in the safe house. That GPS would contain his movements dating back who knows how far. Not to mention coordinates of the Arrow's base which would come in handy in the future. You never know with her job, when you might need a bargaining tool before it was too late.
The wind from the bay blew with hints of sea salt as she scaled the façade of the warehouse to its highest window. She took a minute to glance out and admire the city on the opposite bank. Their sounds were muted but she knew that it was always awake. The skyline winked with white lights from the skyscrapers, an orange haze rising from them as they brightened the stark black sky, a scalloped mirror image of the city was distorted on the bay waters. There were people in those buildings. Who were they? What were they doing this late? Where did they come from? She wondered vaguely. Do they have any idea of the change that's coming to them?
She let go of her cord and pushed herself over the rusted window pane. The place was musty smelling, a shaft of moonlight slanting from the rafters like before. It was hilarious cornering him in his home like a mouse, she thought remembering. Looking around she spotted the table he'd smashed the device on, such a temper the old fool had, such an idiot not to take out the memory drive. She smirked and strode towards it…
Click.
Artemis whipped her head around. And saw it. A bomb with five seconds left on the timer.
Shit.
And she was running, bolting for the window. Her hand barely brushing the rope. For instants she was weightless in the air, the inky nightscape below her….the force of the impact propelled her forward as if a giant fist had punched her. Her grip loosened and she was falling. She braced herself as the ground rushed up to meet her. Smack.
The fall rattled her teeth and she must have bit her tongue because she tasted blood. She covered her torso and face with her arms as glass shards, soot, plaster, and fragments of rubble rained down on her. The blazing fires from the top floor washed her with heat as hot as a furnace. Her left side was numb, then suddenly felt as if it itself were on fire. He got me, he really fucking did. Damn it. Old fool's not half as dumb as I thought he was. And he really has a flair for leaving surprises. My own fault I didn't see it. But I'm alive, he hasn't won.
Groaning, Artemis crawled away a few paces, holding onto her injured side, and raised one knee to stand. She looked up, a multitude of swear words flew through her mind then.
The Arrow stood in front of her.
Church of Blood, Starling City, 21:50 PM PST
Clinton Hogue strode the length of the hallway with purpose, his heart thrilled to see his weapon once more. Four doors down on his left he stopped at a bolted iron door. Gerard followed closely behind him in awe and dread. "Where are we with our prophet?" He asked looking through the little window on the door, even that part of it was caged. To stop what's inside from getting out…until the time is right of course.
"He mutters the phrase, 'Solomon Grundy' often. I am uncertain what to make of it."
"I believe it was a nursery rhyme." The man inside the room was built like a mountain, muscle from neck to toe, ungainly on his feet but strong, merely looking at him you instantly knew he had power coursing through his veins. They had him chained to the wall for now, but not against his will however. "It was God send that I found him in Gotham, he's a big gentle fellow this one, completely devoted to me when I put the mask on. I reckon he thinks I am Sebastian Blood beneath it."
"What was his given name again Mr. Hogue?"
"Cyrus, Cyrus Gold."
The Foundry, Starling City, 21:59 PM PST
"No" she said intending to end the conversation, and stalked off without another word. Oliver jogged after her, and held out a reasoning hand, "Felicity—"
"No. No. We are not putting her here. Absolutely not. Mini-Sara is not staying in the foundry!" She stabbed a finger at Artemis tied up with cords in a chair not ten feet away from where they were arguing. Roy was standing far away from her too as if she had an infectious disease, or would explode at any second, with a look of utter fascination and utter fear. After all she had nearly killed him a week ago.
"She already knows who I am and I can keep an eye on her here. I was banging my head on a wall with CADMUS, the League of Assassins and Vertigo. But she's connected to all three of them, we have to question her!"
"We have other priorities now!"
"What did you expect me to do when I found her? Let her go?"
"There wasn't some random warehouse you could store her in?"
"Roy's injuries aren't healing, I can't leave him alone with her if anything happens, and I'm needed here in case Blood goes back on the radar."
"Well, I can't work with Little Miss Assassin dozing ten feet away!" Felicity whispered the shout as if to ensure she did not disturb the assassin's peaceful sleep, when she was actually drugged on tranquilizer. "She's a danger to society! Plus how is she going to eat? Are we going to share our take-out with her? And you can't expect me to make small talk either, because that's never gonna happen" she said, abhorred by at the very idea and waving her hands in intense opposition.
"She's tied up Felicity. I've doubled the knots, used carbon cords, and I've restrained her to the chair. You can add duct tape you like" he said holding a roll of it to her.
"Oh no, I'm not going anywhere near her. Keep her in your corner" she stomped away from him gesturing at 'his corner' where his quiver and bow were kept and fortunately for Felicity, also where Artemis was restrained at. It was of paramount importance that they questioned her to finally get some clarity on multiple cases, and he needed them to understand that. This was quite literally a gift, as if someone had wished for it on a star that Artemis would fall into his hands as easily as she did. When in fact it was Felicity's genius; she had traced Lacroix's safehouse weeks ago, and monitored the street cam in front of it ever since in case someone decided to return. And someone did.
He wanted to tell her the extra security measure he had taken when he realized that Artemis was conscious. The tranquilizer had worn off faster than he'd anticipated. She had her eyes closed pretending to be unconscious, but he was a master at that trick himself. Oliver crept to her, his tone changing to what he used to strike the fear of God on people he detested.
"I know you're awake, so stop pretending".
The jig was up; she pried one eye open, then both. They hadn't taken her mask or hood off yet. Oliver reached to her face and pulled off both, discarding them to the ground. Knowing a few verses of the League's code he knew that the unmasking of an assassin was a great dishonour, a sign of defeat. But judging from the girl beneath the mask she didn't look at all ready to give in. Blonde hair tumbled out; watchful eyes peeked around with relaxed disinterest at their surroundings as if Oliver had brought her to a restaurant she didn't like.
"Where am I?" She demanded.
He dragged a chair in front of her. "Doesn't matter. Were you looking for this?" He held up Lacroix's GPS device, the one she had returned to Starling for, probably hoping to find the Foundry's coordinates on it to kill him in his home. She frowned at it as if it had personally wronged her.
"How did you get that? Simon left a bomb in there. You couldn't have gone in without tripping the wire—"
Oliver tossed the device into the trash can. "One of the biggest differences between you and I?" He lowered himself into the chair. "Experience".
Artemis stared at him as if it could somehow make him combust. "I was hoping you weren't one of those".
"One of what?"
"Those interrogators who brag like a little bitch before getting to the real questions".
He wasn't offended by her insults, but Roy was, he suddenly wasn't staying away but moved quickly, ready to fight. "Listen to me you—"
"Roy" Oliver stopped him with a hand to his chest and pacified his partner, he backed off begrudgingly, "she tried to kill me too you know" he whispered and sat back down.
"Who trained you to fight? Sara?"
"Girl scouts" she answered flippantly and smiled enigmatically at him. He had asked the question aiming to comprehend Sara's connection to her. Well I should have expected that, I had it coming.
"I am asking you a serious question."
She quirked an eyebrow and with a straight-face said "scout's honour."
He raised his voice. "Cut the crap".
Artemis smiled with sickening sweetness and then said through gritted teeth, "Cut me loose and maybe I'll consider not killing all of you in your sleep." She growled her sarcasm switched to hostility in a matter of moments.
"Why are you in Starling City? Are trying to kill me again?" The techniques he had learned and honed in Hong Kong flooded back to him easily, like riding a bike for the second time.
"Don't flatter yourself, Arrow" she said it like it was revolting. "The League has moved on". He stood, feeling himself dissolve into the role of interrogator. He didn't know what Roy or Felicity was witnessing then as he was entirely focused on the League Assassin. But he imagined they would see him, Oliver Queen, inside the Foundry, their home, no hood or mask on—like he was in Hong Kong, the merciless murderer Amanda Waller had turned him into. He knew it didn't bother either of them anymore, but even then, deep down, in a part of him that enclosed his deepest fears, he was acutely afraid that he would scare them, once they saw the darkness take over him. But he would never let it come to that. He vowed not to hurt her, at least try not to draw any blood.
This time though, he had real incentive, to protect the ones I love.
"All I have is your word. And that means nothing to me. What I want to know is why." He fisted her shirt with both hands and throttled her. "Why was the League after me?!" His face was an inch away from hers; she was silent, unmoved, but there was a rebellious gleam in her eye. "Suddenly quiet now, are we? No smart little jokes? No more empty threats to make? Tell me".
"Or what?" She narrowed her gaze at him, staring him down the pupils of her eyes two grey chips of granite. "Are you going to cut me up in front of your friends? Beat me to a pulp? Because I don't think you want them to see what you're capable of". That made him pause; it's as if she read my mind. He got up and took an arrow from his quiver. There were several silver circles across her stomach that she had not noticed. He sighed slowly, steadily, taking his time, holding her gaze, and whacked the cords that tied her down.
An electric current pulsed through her; she flung her head up and screamed, and froze as her body experienced the shock. He heard Felicity gasp and Roy rear back. He knew the tortures of electrocution. The searing pain, the burning, numbing, tingling, sensation coursing through your whole body, your heart racing uncontrollably.
Oliver pressed a remote in his pocket to stop the pulse, the buzzing subsided. She unfroze and bowed her head, groaning, breathing in in short gasps between clenched teeth, spit flying out.
He didn't bother to wait for her to calm her mind. "I know you're trained to escape my restraints, so I decided to add a little twist of my own. Make any drastic movements and you get a hundred volts." He felt sick to his core. A piece of myself gone, bit by bit, etched away. He didn't know if he himself could last the rest of the interrogation. But he swallowed the nausea and charged on.
"Why did the League want to kill me?"
She audibly gulped, she hadn't recovered yet, but enough to say; "Go to hell."
"Do you need to be reminded how this works?"
"Oliver I need to show you something" Felicity said from afar, distracting him. He had forgotten they were in the room. He stood, and in menacing tones told her exactly how this arrangement was going to work, "I'm going to keep you here until you tell me exactly what I need to know. All of it. Stay silent if you want, but if I get bored of your lack of conversation, I'll remove the sensors and electrocute you myself".
With one last death glare at Artemis, he bent down to her face, she flinched away from him, he leaned over to whisper into her ear.
"Consider your options".
A/N: Hello twist! I really can't wait to get to the end of this arc to write the juicier stuff. Up next: some more chats between Oliver and Little Miss Assassin; will he get all the answers he's looking for? And Diggle's back! Oh I've missed him.