It's been rather hectic here, sorry for the late update I'll try to post every two weeks or so but I'm very busy with uni. Anyway its the end of an arc! I hope you're enjoying the story so far.
The Church of Blood, Starling City, 00:37 AM PST
Diggle clocked his gun, "mmhm man in a skull mask leading a religious cult of homeless people, with a superhuman soldier as a prophet threatening to make more soldiers to destroy the city? That's right up our alley."
Oliver didn't miss Digg's sarcasm much but at least it alleviated the mood. He tried Felicity again but she wasn't picking up her comm, he was tempted to go back to the Foundry just to make sure she had it in her ear.
"This way" he found the manhole he and Roy had escaped out of the first time they confronted the Church of Blood. Once he reached the bottom he tried the IT tech again.
"Felicity?" Static. He glanced at John his brow knitting in worry. "She's not answering."
"That isn't like her" said Digg. Since they were already in the church cellars and there was no one attacking them he assumed Hogue's cronies were either all gone or occupied elsewhere. His ears picked up faint cheering and he followed it. "You're still not together are you?" The soldier commented with a hint of annoyance that came when he was fed up with Queen, "even though you love her? I hope you haven't messed it up Oliver."
He was definitely not in the mood to have a man-to-man talk right then and there, especially since Felicity wasn't responding to his calls making him worried sick, not to mention they were about to come face to face with the super soldier again. He counted the explosive arrows on in his quiver, five. "Not the time Digg" he grumbled.
As they ran through the halls the cheering abruptly stopped and became footsteps, a mass of them congregating. Diggle and the Arrow melded into the shadows as followers of Blood marched through the cellar directly past them, possibly disbanding after a sermon from their leader. "He's certainly convinced a lot of people he isn't nuts" John remarked staring after the homeless teens and disgruntled citizens of the Glades.
They went down the corridor the followers had come out of. Oliver readied an arrow and ran into a cavernous hall. There were at least a dozen people in the room who stared at them. Clinton Hogue, a well-dressed man in a suit beside him, and men at the bottom of the podium wearing the daunting half-black half-orange masks of ASIS.
"It's over Hogue!" Oliver commanded, we're too late, he's already made a dozen of them, he peeked at the awnings to discern where to aim his explosion arrows, and whether it'd even be enough to stop the super soldiers whose numbers had doubled.
"Arrow, welcome to our humble ceremony, these are our initiates" the man in the skull mask swept his hand over the masked men below him. If Hogue was stunned to see him they'd never know what was going on beneath the mask since they had thwarted his plan of using Digg and Felicity to draw him out. "Have you returned to face your judgement?"
"Only to give you yours" he shot at Hogue who dashed aside. The masked men who were thankfully not yet on mirakuru closed in on them, yelling and condemning him a blasphemer. One lunged at him and he shoved him off with his bow.
"No Arrow, in that you are gravely mistaken". The followers that had marched filled back in as Brother Blood spread his arms wide towards the sky, bursting into the room like open flood gates. Hogue and his partner used the diversion to escape.
"Don't shoot any of them" the Arrow ordered, as they shunted aside anyone in their way to get to Hogue who was leaving through a back exit. "It's getting a little hard not too!" Shouted John as he whacked a man in across the cheek with his gun, "ah sorry" he muttered.
"Blasphemer!"
"Brother Blood lives on!"
"Judgement is due!"
A man who used innocents to fight his battles while he ran was no man at all. Oliver shot at an angle at an overhead beam and offered his hand to John. He had learned from his previous visit not to waste time beating up the followers and he had Diggle now as back up. "Only way out is up", the soldier's weight strained on his arm as they were propelled upwards, he used the momentum to swing Diggle onto an awning, he landed on it like a wet cat cradling a branch. Oliver had to stifle a laugh.
John gave him a withering look and rubbed his forehead with his gun hand. "Down there I see him!" He pointed to a fenced off area and they got to the ground chasing after Hogue.
Brother Blood was still wearing his mask, his partner turned and shot at them. John got in a clear shot and the partner fell to the ground. The cellars were dark and Hogue knew them better, he disappeared into the blackness. Since Felicity was not answering he was going have to find the Blood imposter, blind.
"Careful, Cyrus Gold might be anywhere" he warned John who was handcuffing the wounded man in a business suit before he ran off.
He found Hogue clambering through a hallway almost pitch black save for a dirty basement window letting in meagre hints of moonlight. The imposter Blood was holding his torso where John had incidentally shot him during the chase. The Arrow let him have a few brief moments of peace as he leaned on cell, it's door open ajar. He restrained him with a cord trick arrow and Hogue fell to his knees. Oliver yanked the skull mask off and cast it aside. Clinton sniffed and glared up at him. He peeked into the cell Hogue had reached, the door was iron and on the inside of the cell were chains on the walls. He kept Cyrus here like an animal. He didn't know whether to feel pity or ire at that fact. But it dawned on him that the mirakuru solider wasn't here at all. And that was a problem.
"Where is he?" He grabbed his collar and throttled him. Hogue moved his tongue in a swirl in his mouth and spat in Oliver's face. He right hooked him until his gums were bloody.
"Where is Cyrus?! Where did you send him?!"
Clinton Hogue stared him insolently in the eyes, unfeeling. "The point of a second prophet was to replace me if I fall, he will complete Sebastian's vision. They will follow" he intoned.
Oliver hauled him to his feet and dragged him into the cell bodily.
"I'll make sure that never happens" he raised his fist and knocked Hogue out. He backed out and swung the iron door shut with a resounding tremor that echoed through the cellars.
He traced his steps back to Diggle. "He's not here."
"I've called the cops on this place, we should leave" replied the soldier. He agreed with that more than ever, wanting to end this whole business once and for all.
As they climbed onto street level, Felicity's comm back online. He was relieved. "Felicity, I've been trying to get you—"
"Oliver" she breathed, her voice cracking.
His heart leapt into his throat. "What's wrong? What happened?"
"She escaped."
"Did she hurt you?"
"Not entirely" she sighed shakily, "But I can't say the same for Roy and the Foundry's a total mess."
"Forget about the Foundry" he almost shouted, enraged with himself, his blood hot, Digg took note of it and raised a questioning brow; he spun away from the soldier to get a second of privacy. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I should never have left you."
She audibly gulped and sniffed. "We need to act fast."
When I find her I'll make her pay. He breathed out his anger enough to act rationally, but it didn't fully leave him. "Do you know where she went?"
"That's the thing; she was in Starling looking for Cyrus Gold, not to kill you. She used our computers to track him. They're at the docks. I think Hogue had a mirakuru-soldier machine set up there in case the church was ousted. A bunch of men in ASIS masks are headed there currently".
"I'll be back soon" he promised and signed off and turned back to Diggle. The mission had gotten marginally easier with both enemies in one place. "Let's go."
Star Bridge Docks, Starling City 00:51 AM PST
When she reached the warehouse, there were masked men outside the main door. Artemis recognized the Australian Intelligence bi-coloured balaclavas of a disbanded unit. She recalled that the League of Assassins had had a hand in exterminating at least half of its members in the early 2000s, only handful of the most elite agents had evaded them.
She knew full and well that these were men that 'Brother Blood' had hand-picked off the street to make into 'super soldiers', she had been listening carefully to the Arrow and his team's discussions, watching their movements as Talia had taught her too. She only had a precious few arrows in the quiver she stole from Oliver Queen, four to be exact. It would have to do.
She leaped off the ledge and landed in the centre of the group. The first that tried to attack her she shot in the gut, she sprung to him and pulled the arrow out, stabbing the next one in the collarbone and then again on the inner thigh. She dove to the ground and kicked the chin of the next; he fell onto her shoulder and she threw him head over heels into his comrade. There was an arm swinging a fist at her from behind she caught it and broke the arm, then elbowed the attacker in the nose, as she turned to face him she cut his throat, blood splattered on her cheek.
She stood amongst the bodies; the ones who were too afraid to try their luck ran away like cowards or else they'd have shared the fate of their fallen brothers.
She went inside the warehouse, it was expansive, the largest on the dock most likely. From the darkness a towering figure loomed at her, seemingly slow at first and then all of sudden very fast. The abomination, Cyrus Gold. She roundhoused him, but that was not a good idea at all.
The impact ricochets through her leg as if she'd kicked a concrete wall. He leapt at her with an agility that did not suit his height, and she had to get away before she was crushed. With their unequal size, speed was her second weapon next to her bow and arrow. One-handed, she unslung her bow and whacked him across the face with the stave, pivoted with her rear leg and kicked him with enough force to break his jaw.
Only it didn't.
"What are you?" She muttered, aghast.
The jaw snapped back into place with a sickening crunch, finally the smell of his rotting flesh hit her nose an unholy permutation of maggots and dead fish.
She ducked beneath his arms and smashed her bow into his nose; Gold flung his head back and stumbled as blood gushed out. It gave her enough time to shoot at his chest.
It pierced his sternum, but perhaps not as deep as she'd desired. The shaft quivered as if it'd hit a tree trunk, Gold took a second or two to realize he'd been hit. She loosed another on him, it punched his abdomen. Out of arrows now.
He stared at them as if they were lady-bugs that had come to land on him. And then pulled them out like needles and threw them, clattering to the ground. The carbon arrow tips were bent into wobbly shapes.
That was when terror struck her.
…
They arrived at the site to find four men lying on the ground in black pools of blood. John looked them over. One was gravely injured and on the edge of death, the other three couldn't be saved.
"Someone beat us here. Something you need to tell me Oliver?"
The Arrow nocked his bow, whilst listening to Felicity's instructions in his ear. "Now it really would be a long story. Only know that when we get inside, it'll be us against a League assassin and mirakuru soldier, think you can handle that?"
John sniggered, "is that all?" He muttered and shouldered past him.
…
He roared, swinging a fist at her. She did a backwards handspring, putting much needed distance between her and Cyrus. He was not going to be an easy defeat and she doubted she could take him down alone, he was no petty criminal. First things first, she needed to complete her mission for Ra's but how was she to do that without getting crushed by this monstrosity?
She unstrapped a vial of Tibetan pit viper venom from her belt, after being locked up in the Arrow's foundry for hours, it wasn't as potent as she'd like but it would allow her to get close enough to Cyrus without him striking her. The dart hit his jugular and she sprinted to him kicking his legs from under him. She swung over onto the super soldier's back and stabbed him with two syringes. He recovered too soon from the venom as the mirakuru disintegrated it in his system.
She couldn't get away quick enough, he turned and shook her off of him. Gold laid one hand on her slender shoulder, then drew back the other in a fist and smashed it matter-of-factly into her belly. Artemis gagged, made a horrible retching noise, and folded slowly to her knees, a hand pressed to her mouth.
Bile dribbled between her fingers. Before he could close in for another blow, her hand moved almost too fast to be seen, a throwing knife flew from her wrist. He deflected it with a giant hand, she found a discarded arrow and caught him below the breast. Cyrus grunted and considered it, then calmly yanked it out.
Artemis was crouched on the ground unable to regain her breath; he reached down to grab her forearm. Cyrus linked his free arm around her chest and gathered her closer, as if to hug her. Artemis' could not hold back a scream of pain that turned into a gurgling, cackling squeal as she fought in vain to breathe. She knew she was going to die.
..
Gold was slowly and deliberately going to snap her spine, he watched her suffer, two years ago he would've let him kill her, or at the very least paralyze her for the rest of her days. But revenge had never tasted sweet to him, and if she was going to suffer it would be by his hand. Oliver's arrows took Cyrus in the back, not that he thought those would kill him but distracted him effectively to loosen his death grip on the League archer. She barely managed to break her fall and scurry away as Oliver and Digg swung over the railing shooting arrows and bullets at Cyrus.
It took a moment for her to lift her head; he could tell she was trying her damn hardest to remain attentive and strong with a battle ongoing around her, he'd done similarly in the past. Her lips were blue from lack of air. Using the wall to help her stand, to Oliver's befuddlement, she lifted her hand and began waving at them.
"I have a plan!" She yelled, but the effort took a colossal amount of her regained breathe that she slid down the wall.
"Distract him!" He told John.
"Oh finally!" She berated him and spat a little blood on the ground, even when she's spitting blood she'll keep that arrogant façade going. She looked at him expectantly; instead of coming to speak to her he slammed her against the wall, crushing her trachea with his elbow.
"I should kill you for what you did to my friends".
"Do you want to stop Gold or not?" She gasped struggling to push his arm off, but to no end.
"And you're going to help us? I don't believe that" he hissed leaning into the arm that choked her.
"Well… you should" she rasped louder and with effort to formulate the words. "The… city will …suffer if Gold succeeds."
"Why do you care what happens to my city? You brought Vertigo back, you tried to kill me and my partners!" Her breath was shrill.
"You…you saved my life". In that moment, that was all the explanation she needed, and I would've taken it away again. Despite everything she had done to them, to him, the disaster she had brought upon his home, he actually believed her. For a moment she looked young, younger than her years, and her eyes weren't cold and dead, but grateful. Was he imagining it? No matter how he felt, this was no time for vengeance. He released his hold, she heaved over coughing, clutching her stomach, more blood on her lips. She looked at him with hard determination. "No more chat; I need you to get schematics of the building…"
…
"Roger that", Diggle said as Oliver repeated the plan to him over the comm. It was simple enough, though keeping Gold as far away from him as possible was proving harder than he anticipated. It had been a while since they fought anything like him. John upended a load of boxes onto Cyrus; he crashed through them like paper and came at him with force. He experienced the League assassin's pain as a punch took the air out of his lungs.
…
"The warehouse is too big to confine him in one space, he would just escape before we could do anything, we need to get him to the centre and make him stay there" said Oliver after listening to Felicity explain the building plan.
"I'll get him away from your partner, on my call turn on the fire hose and aim at Gold" she instructed, bending down to the ground to retrieve an arrow.
"And how is a bit of water going to stop a mirakuru super soldier like Cyrus Gold?" He asked, skeptical. This better not be a trap.
"You'll see" she smiled darkly.
The fletching on the broad heads she collected off of the ground was familiar to him. "Are those my arrows?" He demanded possessively, following her onto the balcony to get the fire hose.
"Do you mind? I borrowed a few" she said rolling her eyes. She stood tall, drew back her bow and shot Gold in-between the shoulder blades; it snapped his attention away from Diggle, who was thankful for it, leading Cyrus into the central chamber of the warehouse where they were.
"Now!"
Oliver blasted Cyrus with a geyser of water, it was strong enough that he could feel the spray even where he stood. Gold roared in protest. He saw Artemis take out the sensors that he had used to restrain her in the Foundry; she had managed to reconfigure them. The irony, I tortured her with them and now she's using them to defeat one of my enemies. She tossed them into the water at Gold's feet.
Brilliant bright blue sparks burst on the ground, conducting through the water and then surging through Cyrus Gold as the electricity enveloped him, climbing up him, coursing through him mercilessly, keeping him where he was, he flung his head skyward. The warehouse was awash in blue. His cry of agony was animalistic.
The Arrow and Al-Sayad went to work from their vantage point, aiming explosion arrows at selected pillars and beams in the roof and foundations of the warehouse that would cause the most tantamount damage. Diggle was already out as according to the plan and now they needed to get out as well before they were squashed by falling rubble.
The first arrows went off almost immediately, ringing in his ears, he covered his face, a support beam snapped off like a twig on a tree and yawned like a leviathan, others did the same. The buzzing of the electric current was still alight through Cyrus. When he turned to warn the League assassin that they needed to go she was no longer at his side.
Oliver jumped down to the ground, cautiously avoiding the water as explosions followed him in his wake, and the warehouse crumbled, gaped open and fell all around him, taking Cyrus down with it.
The next second he was outside. Diggle was beside him. The warehouse was a ruin. One enemy lost, but another less.
The Foundry, Starling City, 1:49 AM PST
The Foundry looked as though it had collided with a tornado. Glass dusted the floors, tables upended, the pot of the charming fern Felicity had gifted him was in jagged pieces, soil scattered; the computer screen had a crack emanating from a bullet hole in the centre. There was a smear of blood on the ground which Felicity was bent over wiping away with a cloth when he stormed in.
"Are you okay?" He pulled her to her feet. He expected her to fall into his arms, to embrace him, to thank him for keeping his promise to return, but instead she was as cold as an iceberg.
"Yeah, just a little shaken up." She stepped out of his hold and looked over her shoulder at Roy sweeping broken glass with a broom. "Both of us."
He would have to deal with whatever was going on with her afterwards. Diggle knew everything that had transpired, while he went to reconcile with the IT tech, Oliver went to the red archer. Roy nearly held his arm up in surrender given the stony glare his mentor was pointing at him. "What happened? You were supposed to be watching her."
"I was!" Roy argued and held his head in his hands in frustration, "but she tricked me."
"What about the sensors? Didn't they go off?"
"She deliberately made them go off so that I would help her."
"I cannot believe you kept an assassin here!" John shouted, coming towards them after checking on Felicity. "I don't know whether you're stupid or insane but it's definitely one of those!"
Oliver hung his head low in remorse. "It's my fault. I'm sorry. I thought I searched her thoroughly."
Roy stepped forward; he wasn't going to let Oliver accept the entirety of the blame. "I'm sorry too. You told me to protect the Foundry, but I couldn't. I couldn't fight her. I should've protected Felicity, but she over-powered me."
He clapped his protégé on the shoulder, "we all make mistakes. Don't lose sleep over it." If only I can take my own advice.
"How do you know she won't try to kill you again?" John asked still not satisfied with the way the aftermath of the battle was being handled.
"I saved her life. She owes me a blood debt."
"Those sound like they're hard to come by" said Felicity.
"Wait, you saved her?" Asked Roy incredulously, "even after everything she's done? And she got away too."
"If you saw the way she was going to die, you would understand" he said firmly. "A blood debt is definitely worth it, if we're going to go up against the League of Assassins."
Diggle cleared his throat loudly, and held up his index finger. "Hold up, am I hearing this right? I leave for less than a month and you're going to head to toe with the League of Assassins? Did you all lose your minds too?"
"We're not fighting them exactly, but I can't deny that we haven't given them reason to be hostile with us."
He palmed his face, "oh my God."
We're probably doing wonders to his blood pressure. "Go home John, Lyla and Rose are waiting for you."
He shook his head, "I'm tempted to stay, after hearing this" he said and he meant it.
In truth he thought it would be a perfect if Diggle re-joined the team, but they'd already had this conversation in the foundry and again when the couple had Rose, both ended with John leaving, which was best course for his family. "We might look like we're in shambles but we'll manage. Thanks for helping out tonight." He reached for a handshake which the soldier reciprocated.
"Thank you for getting there on time."
Oliver turned to Roy and circled his finger around in the air; "we need to deal with this" they went to work picking up flechettes off of the floor.
"There's something I can't wrap my head around" remarked Roy.
"What is it?"
"Why did Artemis go after Cyrus Gold?"
"I have a theory". That's when he saw the bullet casings; he felt ill at ease as he got one between his forefinger and thumb. He glanced back at Felicity chatting with John. She fought for her safety and Roy's, to keep the foundry safe, and to keep him safe by preventing the assassin's escape if she was still out to kill him. Felicity could've died. I need to be there for her and help her get through this.
"We miss you Digg" she gave him a one handed hug.
"I miss you too, Felicity. You went through a lot tonight; I can imagine it was difficult to keep it together for the rest of the mission. If you ever need someone to talk too, just give me a call." He smiled, and then looked at Oliver and Roy cleaning up and became stern once more. "I really am considering staying on."
She sighed melancholically, "I know. But you don't have too." I have to agree with Oliver on some things, and Diggle staying out of Arrow business to live on life with his family is one of them.
"I don't need to tell you this, but, please look out for him. Help him make the right decision. Don't let this business with the League of Assassins get any farther then it's gone" he warned.
She smiled sideways and shrugged the feeling of the assassin's rough hand brushing her cheek made her shiver. "I know, but you know Oliver. He's pretty stubborn."
Felicity glanced at him, she knew the trauma of the League assassin's assault would eventually fade and while it was unpleasant she had learned a great deal from it. It made her sad to realize that all things would have to come to an end.
...
Roy went home after Diggle. Oliver hung his Arrow hood in its place; he looked at the IT tech who sitting down and absentmindedly untangling a lump of computer cords putting an unnecessary amount of focus on the task.
"Felicity" he said softly. She pointedly ignored him, pulling a cord through a loop. "Felicity" he tried a little louder.
She looked up at him and slammed the cords onto her desk. "What?" She demanded impatiently, he was taken aback. "I'm sorry." She rubbed her temple, breathing deeply.
He went to her. "You have every reason to be mad at me. You had to defend yourself against a danger I put you in."
Felicity stood abruptly as he approached, carefully avoiding being within a foot of him. "Thing is, I agreed with you to keep her here in the first place, why did I do that?" She asked rhetorically holding her arms out. She went to her purse on the counter beside him. He leaned back to try and make eye contact but she wouldn't return it.
"Not initially. But I promise it won't happen again."
She flattened her hands on the counter staring at the centrifuge thoughtfully, with cynical passiveness that was completely out of character she said; "you know something Oliver? You keep making these grand statements and these promises that you can't keep."
He frowned and moved to force her to meet his gaze. "That's not fair and neither is it true."
She swallowed and pursed her lips and nodded. "No...no it isn't fair. It's just, the way we handled everything after the date—"
He couldn't allow her to take the blame for that; you once said blaming myself was one of my superpowers. "It was my fault. From start to end. But all I want now is to protect you."
She bit her lip, shaking her head, unconvinced. "You don't know what you want. You don't know if you can be Oliver Queen, or the Arrow. And I can't live with that kind of uncertainty."
He was wary of what she would say next. "What are you saying?"
"I thought I was going to die. Here of all places." She laughed humourlessly holding her palms upwards. She traced the ground with her hand. "Here lies Felicity Smoak, IT consultant by day, vigilante by night, but no one will ever know the last part, will they?" He watched her as she heatedly stormed to her chair in front of her desk and stabbed a finger at it. "An assassin tied me to this chair and I asked her if she was going to kill me. I closed my eyes waiting for death. You want to know what I felt as I waited for her answer? Regret. Regret that I didn't live my life to its fullest."
Felicity bent her head and swept her palm over her face remembering the night's events. Oliver felt even more unbearably shattered by the second. There were tears swimming in her eyes when she finally braced herself to look at him again, standing there at a loss for words, so close but not close enough, unable to do anything but listen, just like that, she'd unarmed him.
"I have to thank her for one thing. Now I realize, that I can't let my life end here in this Foundry, I won't let that happen. I'm sorry but I want so much more than this." She walked off.
He caught her hand and pulled her back into his arms, he had waited too long to do this. Closer still, he could feel her warm breath on his cheek.
"Please Felicity, I can't do this without you." Gently, he cupped her face in his hands and entwined his fingers in her hair, their foreheads touched.
"I love you" he kissed her on the lips.
They were soft, warm, there was nothing, no one, but her filling every crevice within his mind. It was pure, aching bliss. He opened his eyes: breathless, trembling and so was she. They looked back at one another; he was searching, searching for an answer in her countenance, her gaze drifted to his lips and then back at his eyes and he desired nothing more than to close the distance again.
She reached up, placing her palm over his hand, stroking it, and then pulled his hand off; she backed away slowly, the coldest air replacing the area where she once stood in his arms.
"But it's over."
Felicity Smoak turned around and walked away from him. She glanced back, just once, as if to check that he was still watching. His chest constricted, almost painfully, just to see her look at him, and then she rounded a corner and was gone. He stood there for a moment, his eyes wide open, just breathing. He heard the hiss of the Foundry's steam, the hum of the computers, saw his arrows held in their case razor sharp beside his bow. The world pressed back in upon him. Starling City, the League of Assassins, and his obligations. One kiss, that was all and then he'd lost her forever.
September 25th 2014
Nanda Parbat, 18:19 PM CT
Ra's Al Ghul outstretched his palm to her as if he was bestowing a great honour by the mere gesture itself. She glanced up from her kneeling position on the ground. Artemis placed the vial of Cyrus Gold's blood in his hand.
"Did you encounter any difficulties?"
"None at all, Master. Is there anything else?" She asked, he shook his head and gave her leave. The Head of the Demon was holding a powerful serum in his palm which could lead to untold horrors and more unbridled power for Ra's than ever before.
And she had given it to him.
…
Artemis was deep in thought as she waited for her lady to meet with her in an alcove outside the temple. The dry mountain air nipped at her cloak sending her hood flying off her head. Blonde hair stirred across her brow. I told him, I told the Arrow nearly everything. I was pathetic. I am unfit to be under her tutelage. I just had to get myself nearly killed by Cyrus Gold. If she finds out I owe Oliver Queen a blood debt then I am done for. If we meet again, I'll have to protect him and save his life to pay it off.
"Do you have my sample?"
She almost fell out of the alcove, it was a two-hundred foot fall and she would've ended up a squashed bloody mess. Artemis bowed her head and handed the second vial to Talia Al Ghul. She hardly moved an inch before the Al Ghul noticed something was amiss.
"You favour your right side, why is that?"
Self-consciously she touched her bandages; Cyrus Cold had broken four ribs with one literally bone-crushing hug. The bone had punctured her lung and she would've died if she had not obtained immediate medical help from a doctor under the League's payroll. She did not trust the Arrow to help her in that respect given how she had treated his allies.
"I was injured in my fight with the abomination" explained Artemis, hoping the Al Ghul would leave it there.
"I trust you terminated it?"
"I did".
"My sister told me the indisputable strength these super soldiers possessed when she fought them. You received no help yet you were able to defeat one all own your own? And without a cure." She raised a suspicious brow.
"Yes" she responded. The lie was easy, but is she convinced?
Talia prolonged the look of suspicion, dragging it out. She could feel sweat on the back of her neck despite the cool air. And then she nodded in approval. "How impressive, you must tell me the entire story one day" she held her hand out to usher her back inside. "Come, we have much to discuss".
Up next: we check back in on Malcolm and Thea. The Arrow gets a new set of enemies.