The Glades

Roy dropped down from the building ledge, Sara a disconcerting five feet behind him. It was hard not to be peeved by her presence, it was only necessary because Oliver 'said so'.

"You didn't have to come with me you know" he said, grudging.

In the faint street light he saw her smile wryly. "Oliver wanted me to keep an eye on you." And that was what she had been doing; she had not left his side for every patrol since Oliver left for Lian Yu to inquire the identity of Commander Kane from Slade Wilson. He had been on the streets of Starling City longer than Sara did, he didn't need her to show him the ropes.

"I don't need to be babysat" he said, not bothering to conceal his continued frustration with his mentor.

He flattened himself on a wall and so did the Canary, he checked the coast and saw four Vertigo dealers in the carpark below the over pass; their hits for tonight.

"You sound a lot like Artemis when you say it like that."

He stared back at her abhorred by the very suggestion. "I'm nothing like her!" He said in a shouted whisper.

She gave a guarded shrug, in Oliver and Roy's passive aggressive argument she was a neutral party, "I never said you were Roy. But she's a good kid; I think you two could get along."

They scaled the building, "You're kidding right?" He said flatly when they reached the top.

"Oliver told me about Jason" she said instead of answering.

He had enough from his teammate's guilt-tripping him, giving him the cold shoulder, it was infuriating. There were instances he wanted to scream in their faces, and then when he felt so ashamed with himself that he wanted to smash his bow in two, and then once more angered by their unfair treatment. "If you're going to tell me I was—"

"I'm not judging you, Roy" Sara said, cutting a clear distinction between her opinion and the collective one of Team Arrow. Frankly, he wasn't expecting it, they zip-lined to the overpass and hid in an alcove directly above the drug peddling dirt bags.

"He won't let me help Jason" Roy confided, "He's a hypocrite."

Sara extended the rungs on her bo-staff readying to jump down on their targets. "I agree with Oliver though, the Red Hood's a menace…" she put a finger to her mouth to pause the conversation as they prepared to attack.

Together they sailed downwards. Roy's foot solidly connected with the nose of a peddler with a crunch. Swoosh Sara's staff came down to crack the skull of another. They were getting smarter now, and so the one he assaulted waved around a gun. The Canary smacked it out of his wrist a bright red mark left behind before he could fire. Jabbing with her bo-staff in rapid motions that his eyes could not keep up with— she beat up the other two.

The fourth had recovered, and was well on his way to evading them. They let him go. But not before Roy shot a tracker arrow at him so he might unintentionally lead them to where Count Vertigo was nesting and making his drug these days.

All went according to plan.

"You were saying?" He asked her after they had Felicity contact the SCPD.

"I've always believed you have to choose your own destiny." He looked at her hesitantly; destiny was not a concept to be tossed around lightly in his mind, and that was possibly why he never savored discussing it. When Jason was arrested, he believed for years that society was full of assholes wronging him. Roy thus resorted to becoming the criminal that parents told their kids to watch out for on the streets at night. But after joining Team Arrow he was finally able to make a difference, to become the man he'd long since forgotten he wanted to be.

But these days, he was conflicted.

Sara smiled and not unkindly, "I'm not saying you should join a club just 'cause your best friends in it. I knew I didn't belong in Team Arrow, and maybe you feel like don't belong either". He never considered his situations and hers to be similar until now. "But don't let your anger at him choose for you. Ollie means well, even if he sounds like a jerk at times it's just because he doesn't want to lose you."

"Hmph, he sure has a weird way of showing it."

The Glades

The next day…

With his arm in a sling no thanks to the Canary bitch and red archer he was hobbling towards the meeting with the Count, knowing he would be pushed off the distribution roster. He had no idea why the vigilantes let him go, he didn't care, anything was better than the solitary four walls at Iron Heights, no way was he going back there.

He would probably get demoted to guard duty at HQ, and have to bore himself to death with uninterrupted hours watching geeks in goggles, wearing nothing but aprons and latex gloves pouring sharp-smelling chemicals, chopping up mushrooms, and waiting for beakers to boil.

He pushed the door to the main atrium open and heard the Count's rage filled shouts and commands. Oh good. He's pissed. He walked in, with the aim to blend in at the rear of the crowd and go unnoticed.

"Our concern is the one who ordered the theft; he goes by the name of Red Hood" reported Luka, Zyrtle's accountant. He was thin as a reed and dressed seamlessly in a suit with ridiculously nerdy thick rimmed glasses that kept slipping down his nose. The effect of classy hipster smartass financier had been ruined when he looked like he was going to shit his pants when the Count howled at him.

"I don't care what he's calling himself! This Circus act, this Red Hood, he's dead. Take care of it."

Luka glanced uncertainly at his note pad then back at is boss, "So we should call—?"

"You know who!" Werner roared startling the little man in the suit like a deer upon hearing gunfire. He nodded insistently and hurried off to make the important calls. Zyrtle whirled around and asked his head of security, "give me the specs of tonight's shipment".

"Ten cases assortment SMG's and PDW's, two cases of RPG's, and one case of right-handed grenades. It's all bought and paid for, strictly a delivery and not a buy." They're preparing for war. The Red Hood was becoming a problem for everyone who wasn't under his umbrella of protection. "In view of recent events, I've taken the liberty of doubling security detail and switching the drop spot".

Werner nodded with a grunt and went off to the labs. He's more at peace in there than he is planning a battle. Vertigo was losing and the idea of joining the Red Hood was getting more and more appealing each day.

2009

Hong Kong

When Kenzo walked home these days he would re-trace his steps twice even three times to throw off his enemies, but it was useless. He knew they were watching him; they had to be, to know where his sister was and to take her from the safe confines of her home. The danger she was in engaged every ounce of brain power he had, it haunted him in his sleep, in his waking moments, not a moment left to respite fully aware that her life was in hands.

And so he obeyed.

He rested on a bench beside the bay, regarding not the black waters lapping the shoreline but at the dizzying skyscrapers at his back, chewing into the darkening sky and low-hanging fog. Kenzo contemplated what his sister's captors had requested of him, and like many other times in his career, he was reminded that he was a man who valued the life of others more than his own… but especially the welfare of those closest to him. He went to stand, and before he could grasp it, an arm wrapped around chest and a cold blade pressed into his neck in the crook below his Adam's apple.

"Say one word and I'll open your throat from ear to ear" the man with the knife warned. The agent would've arched his back and thrown his attacker over his head, but knew who it was; it was the voice of his protégé. His mind worked through his tactics and plans and it struck him that he had made a grave error.

"Maseo—"

"I think he told you not to talk", a blonde haired man appeared in front of him and started to bind his wrists. Amanda's unchained captive, the American, what was his name? Oliver Queen. He tightened the binds and slapped a white rag to his mouth; the sickly sweet scent of chloroform overwhelmed him.

…

"Maseo—" He tried to say when the stave of the bow came down and struck his forehead, the leather cut the skin, blood washed down Kenzo's face adding to the other bruises, welts and dried blood already dotted on his cheeks and chin and eyes; a gory tapestry courtesy of Oliver Queen. They had him strapped to the chair in the center of the room to question him.

"Don't feign your ignorance with me, Kenzo!" Maseo yelled, "My family is missing and the only person who knew the address of my home was you."

"This is madness, Maseo! I swear I know nothing!" He growled through bloodied teeth.

"You're lying" Oliver growled low and menacingly and slowly dragged his knife down the agent's sternum. A line of red grew; the vein in his neck looked ready to burst as it throbbed, his jaw clenched as he stopped a scream from escaping his mouth.

"Don't lie to me, Kenzo" said Maseo with icy remoteness as Oliver stepped aside.

"And what about him?" He rasped directing a cold stare at Oliver once the pain had subsided to endurable levels, "You question me and not the American?" He spat venomously.

He was offended by the implication that he had something to do with the kidnap, he took out an arrow and rose his arm, "You little—"

Maseo stopped him, "I trust him" he asserted to Kenzo, he grimaced. Oliver himself was a little stunned that he did. "You're going to tell me where they are, and I can make him stop".

Maseo could have done the torture and interrogation on his own, Oliver didn't need to be there to incite agony on the elder agent, he could have stood to the side and listened, not stab and cut and beat Kenzo without mercy.

The thing is…he wanted too.

Because finally, finally, he was fighting for something he believed in. He was taking all the shit thrown at him, the lies, the frustration, the loss, and his imprisonment here in Hong Kong out on someone whom he knew deserved it.

"But only when you tell me the truth" Maseo flared and throttled Kenzo, seeing the beast come out of the calm, cool agent he was accustomed too, momentarily shocked Oliver at first. "I trusted you, and now the Triad have my boy, little Akio. You know him! You met him!" He said in anguish, "He calls you uncle and you let them steal him from his home! And my wife! She treats you like family and this is how you repay our kindness?"

Oliver went behind their captive, took a fistful of his hair and pulled back his head to expose his neck. He held the knife to his throat. Oliver was half losing his mind, unless he already had. When you stare into the darkness too long, it swallows you whole. Amanda Waller, she made me into this. I only see red now, and somehow I don't entirely mind it.

He nicked him slightly, any further and he would have drenched the floor with his blood. Kenzo whimpered, his throat carefully rolling as he tried to draw it inward those precious centimeters away from the blade to reply.

And at last, they broke him, not from Oliver's torture methods but from crushing guilt.

"I—I didn't have a choice."

"Why? Why didn't you have a choice?" Oliver tightened his hold on the man's hair.

He winced, "They have. They have her…you, you, have to help me."

"Your sister. Who has her? The Triad?"

"H-HIVE. They have, they have them both. Triad and HIVE, they're working together." His partner signaled for Oliver to stop. Kenzo heaved a relieved but shaking breath. He was in pain, but Oliver stayed a close distance to him to remind him to keep talking until they had the full story if he wanted to survive this.

"Why did they take your sister and my family?"

"To force me to betray ARGUS, your family…gone, that was a distraction, for—for Chien Na Wei to take the bioweapon".

He took a second to process it. "You…you gave them the access codes to the lab?"

"I, I had too. They, they sent me, her…ear, when I tried to cross them." Kenzo hung his head in shame and despair, "They'll send more of her if I don't follow their orders."

"And what of my son? My wife?" Maseo asked bitterly, "What message will they send to me to force my hand?"

"We have to work together, Maseo, please. Tell me, there is nothing you wouldn't do to protect your family". Oliver and Maseo shared a look. "Believe me I never wanted to involve yours. We have to save all of them, we have too".

They went a few paces from their captive to discuss their next move. "What are we going to do?" He asked.

His friend considered it, he knew where his heart was, but also where his duty lied. "We have to stop HIVE from getting their hands on the bioweapon."

"No!" Kenzo burst out suddenly, hearing them. "No they'll kill her! Tatsu and Akio, they'll kill them all!" Oliver was ready to agree with the agent.

He said, cold and calculatingly, "They won't, I have a plan. We switch out the alpha for a hoax" his mentor opened his mouth to protest when he jabbed a hand to stop him, "We have limited options, Kenzo. Even you can see this is what we must do."

"But they'll still have Tatsu and Akio and his sister hostage" Oliver gathered, "How can we save them?"

"I never said it was a full plan" he replied grimly. "I'll call Amanda, get our weapons ready Oliver. We must act fast before the Triad gets there first."

"And what about me?" Kenzo dared to ask, earning himself twin sharp, vicious looks from them. Immediately his shoulders hunched inwards, making him appear smaller. Even if his mentor had been coerced, Maseo loved his family more, and so he could relish at the fact that ARGUS would give him the punishment he deserved. It was cruel and heartless, but as Kenzo said, there is nothing you wouldn't do to protect your family.

"You are still a traitor. We give you to Amanda Waller; she'll know what to do with you".

Present Day

The Foundry

Kane was likely to come after them if she knew the Arrow's identity, to set the record straight for ruining her investments in Slade's revenge scheme. As long as HIVE did not know the truth, they were safe, but that was a poor bet to rely on, given how many people knew Oliver was the Arrow. They needed to double the security on the ARGUS prison and fortify the Foundry ASAP.

As soon as Digg finished briefing Amanda at the ARGUS headquarters, he visited the foundry to check in. The minute his friend came through the entrance, he could tell he was troubled; John placed his hands on his hips, agitated.

"Waller wants us to find Joe; she thinks we can put Adeline Kane to heel if we have her son."

A classic Amanda Waller move to make. He had seen it a mile away. He shook head in dismay, "No I won't put that kid's life at risk. I promised Slade." He made a promise to me, and I've returned it in kind.

Felicity conferred, "Oliver's right, his son didn't ask to be a part of this and we shouldn't make him".

"None of us want a target on our backs. But it's a way to draw her out" Roy said. Oliver could at the very least agree that the idea was tempting, a fast, straightforward route to bringing down Adeline Kane, their troubles gone without so much as lifting a finger. I just can't believe I'm doing Slade a favor.

"At what cost?" He countered, "We find him, then what? What does Amanda want us to do with Joe to convince Adeline we mean business? Hold him hostage and torture him?"

John was taken aback, "Oliver. It won't come to that."

He shook his head again, "We have to draw the line somewhere. If anybody deserves a normal life out of all of this, it's Joe." Slade, despite his mirakuru induced insanity, had a thread of wisdom to chase his son away from his power-hungry mother and inadvertently himself. Wherever Joe was, whomever he chose to be, Oliver hoped for his sake he would never be drawn back into this world where super soldiers, HIVE, and powerful men who planned mass murder existed. He even hoped Joe loved Slade for the father he remembered in his childhood and not the killer he had become.

When Felicity motioned them to listen to a transmission on the monitor she studied Oliver closely. Listening to him advocate Joe's unique case so strongly, a boy he didn't even know, who was also the son of their enemies— well her heart melted like warm butter to see the compassionate side of him emerge.

"Ten cases assortment SMG's and PDW's, two cases of RPG's, and one case of right-handed grenades…"

Felicity, Oliver and Roy listened to transmission from the mic Roy planted on the Vertigo peddler. Felicity was giving him an odd look all the while but she averted her gaze when he shifted his to hers.

"Are we on the same page?" He asked Diggle before he left them to the mission.

"I'll tell Amanda we're doing this our way" and it made Oliver smile to know his friend had his back.

He spun on his heel to his remaining team members. "Suit up" Oliver caught his bow that Roy tossed to him, they were back to the rhythm his heart belonged too now. "The Count's arming himself. We can't let those weapons get to him."

Infinity Tower, Starling City

The black helicopter hovered on the helipad, a whirlwind caused by the spinning blades. The pilot and co-pilot had been taxied for four minutes, they weren't expected to unload the crates of product themselves, yet the Count's pick-up guys were just loitering on the roof, not making any move to come and get the delivery.

Finally one of them came on deck; he had to shout at him over the sound of the propellers. "Protocol says I'm only supposed to be staying on the ground for six minutes!" When he looked over his seat, the barrel of a gun was pointed at his head.

The man discarded the disguise and there was a red mask beneath.

"It's okay I won't be staying that long."

The pilot and co-pilot were tossed out of the cockpit and into the Count's pick up guys. They crashed and dragged over each other like bowling pins. Vertigo's men were tied at ankle and wrist, with rags stuffed in their mouths to give the illusion of a team waiting for the delivery.

Jason got to the controls of the helicopter, and waved goodbye to Werner Zyrtle's band of idiots gaping at him like fish, taking off with their weapons.

And then there were two loud pangs of steel and the helicopter wavered in the air like a drunken bee. The Red Hood craned his head out the window and saw two arrows stuck to the chopper's body, their source; the Arrow and his red sidekick, his old buddy.

"And I almost thought you wouldn't show" he mused to himself.

Another larger projectile implanted into the plane and it tipped over in the air, spilling the contents out twenty feet to the roof and even farther down to the thick traffic on the road forty stories below. The counterweight they attached kicked in; pulling the chopper back to the helipad, but the Red Hood kept pushing it forward. It was a game of tug of war. To both their misfortune, the screeching of the engine told them that it was going to give out at any moment.

…

"Is that gonna hold?" Roy shouted at Oliver over the roaring of the chopper's engine.

"No." Without further explanation, The Arrow propelled himself upwards towards the deck, leaving his apprentice staring after wide-mouthed, blank-faced and confounded because he had no idea how the hell he was going to weigh down a whole goddamn helicopter all on his lonesome.

"Oh. I see" he mumbled to himself thoroughly pissed. "Okay Oliver thanks for the head's up. I'll just take care of this".

"You wanna dance? Let's dance!" Jason swerved the chopper picking up the Starling Hero with it like waving around a yo-yo.

Oliver held on for dear life, getting higher, and then he grabbed the edge of the deck and finally pulled himself onto it. Jason did the worst, most malicious thing next and that was tip the helicopter over. The boxes of weapons tumbled out in the other direction, knocking on each other, the cases cracking open like eggs shells, weapons spilling out.

At one moment the ground was level, and he saw the face of the adjacent building…and then it lurched to become vertical; he slipped, the busy road and empty space was all he saw. The Arrow stumbled forward, one foot leaping over the other, out of balance despite how desperately he tried to ground his feet. Heart pounding in his ears; he gripped onto a chair, his leg swinging out into nothing. He pulled for all he was worth, eyes squeezed shut.

Jason laughed from the pilot seat and said in a crisp, professional voice, "We are currently experiencing some minor turbulence; all passengers are kindly requested to put their seatbelt on."

…

Below there were screams and car doors slamming as people hurried to escape the falling helicopter. Roy worked to staple the cable to the roof but each one he secured popped out, unable to withstand the weight. Thankfully it was enough to upright the chopper once the engine gave out in an explosion. There was the smell of smoke and motor oil.

…

He was thanking God that Roy managed to stabilize the helicopter. As Oliver hauled himself back inside Jason turned and shot at him. He dived onto his back and countered with an arrow, he missed and it struck the controls, electricity sparked, giving no chance of maneuvering the plane off the street. The helicopter started to nose dive and he found himself having to hold on for dear life again.

"Ha! Nice job Robin Hood, you're a freaking genius aren't ya?" Jason mocked and jumped out of the helicopter. Oliver cursed because the Red Hood was getting away a second time. But there was still a helicopter that needed to be stopped from crashing. Free-falling rapidly with gravity losing the battle as his legs flailed up, Oliver got out of there fast.

As he leaped out into the emptiness of Starling's skyline, Roy was swinging over between two buildings to take his hand and they landed on a ledge together.

The helicopter had multiple counterweights and cable arrows attached into its roof courtesy of Roy, it looked like a giant fly caught in a spider web. There were still people on the street running away from the falling danger not yet realizing it was already safe. "I saw him jump to safety there" Harper directed his attention upwards and they simultaneously nocked and loosed.

They pursued the Red Hood, hopping and leaping between ledges and roofs. They caught up with him on a building under construction, moss green netting blanketing the entire façade. They sprinted down steel and wooden platform shelves. One gave way below their feet, Roy swung down to the lower shelves and Oliver slid down the angled platform closest behind Jason. They were reaching the end of the building's width; arrows flew at the Red Hood but missed their mark. Jason grabbed onto portable gas tank, he threw it up, and then jumped out into empty air as if he had wings. He spun mid-air with his gun and shot at the tank.

"Move!" Oliver and Roy barely had a moment to breathe before finding cover as the tank exploded and they were tossed like toys off a blanket.

The heat washed over them. Oliver was thrown behind a pillar. He didn't know how long he lied there. There was the screech and clanging of falling metal. When he opened his eyes, the ceiling was dark, blurry, his eyes tearing from the smoke. When he checked his surroundings, Roy was lying on the floor ten feet away. Tendrils of fire still clung to the netting, his apprentice moved and then gasped in pain, clutching his leg to his chest.

"You think we lost him?" Roy said, stifling a moan. He gently helped Roy to his feet, arms around each other's shoulders, the Red Hood was nowhere in sight. "Yeah we did."

Starling City

"Thank you, thank you" he said with feigned modesty waving to the crowd that gave him a thunderous applause after he concluded his speech at the Palmer Tech-LexCorp gala. Ray Palmer was clapping beside him. Luthor saw these people as trivial annoyances, beneath him. He descended into a crowd of them. No one would directly question his motivations to swoop in on Starling City and save the day, since they were too busy being grateful for the sizeable donations he gave to key Starling charities.

His security ushered him into his car. "Another charade finally over" he said, loosening his tie. Though he would have to look upon the simpletons once more in the dozen other galas he planned for the next few months. It was necessary of course. Perhaps the only consolation he got out of this was tricking Ray Palmer- the trusting billionaire half-wit- into signing the agreement, watching him smile warmly and preach to his fellow Starling citizens promising them a brighter, happier future…when none was coming for them.

"Hello?" Luthor answered the phone call. His assistant told him about a takeover by the Red Hood over Vertigo distribution, a growing criminal element in the Glades. The mercenary wrenched the carpet from beneath Werner Zyrtle, taking his distributors-several crime bosses and mafias of the city-and leaving him floundering like a landed fish with men, drug cooks, and suppliers he couldn't pay wages too. As usual, the Arrow was still a pain in the back, but it was enough to have a green-hooded arrow-shooting vigilante to deal with, now there was another hooded annoyance?

This was a giant setback.

"The Count requests a meeting as soon as possible".

He muffled a frustrated groan, "let's get this over with. Set it for midnight. Where is our enforcer?"

"In Gotham."

"Never mind, contact the Hand of Four."

"And our ally in Nanda Parbat?"

"No need to trouble the Al Ghul with this, she did her part" he decided, "get the King of Corto Maltese for a video conference tomorrow; he must be informed of this impediment to the war plans."

The Glades

Midnight…

The last time Luthor set eyes on Werner Zyrtle he had some composure, a respectful man in such a dark gritty criminal underworld, he never presumed himself to be Lex's equal, but his uncharacteristic rise to power had made the chemist demanding.

"He hijacked a shipment of supplies, the third one this week!" The meet was conducted within a discreet LexCorp research facility in East Starling, near where Vertigo was being manufactured currently. "And then before that—"

"Yes, after your tenth repetition, you've made it quite clear he is an issue to be dealt with" Lex bluntly interrupted Zyrtle's panicked blabbering, boredom and irritation prevalent over his hard features. "The only detail that disturbs me is that fact is that this Red Hood persona, a young man as you say, managed to be on your side in the beginning and then subsequently decided to take arms against you. Can't you get your allies in line yourself?"

Zyrtle frowned, "he was a mere mercenary when I found him, a nobody, I didn't realize he would—"

"Yes. You didn't realize" Lex leaned forward, his hands steepled on the desk, "but the question is; what are you going to do about it?"

Werner's looked at him wide-eyed, "But that's why I contacted you directly sir, I need experts on this. He has the support of every crime lord in the city."

Too soon to hope you actually had a plan of your own. Why does is it always that I am the only person in the room with their brain switched on?

He cleared his throat and the Fearsome Hand of Four dropped down from the struts on the ceiling, three men and one woman, all assassins decked in green and blue uniforms. He motioned two fingers and the largest man had Zyrtle pinned to the ground with one swift maneuver, the woman held down his head with her boot, a gun was jammed into his mouth to shut him up. The few men he had brought immediately surrendered, seeing they were no match.

Of course his methods were extreme, but Luthor wouldn't stoop so low as to kill another innocent human being outright—he had other people to do that for him.

But he did not intend to kill Werner Zyrtle, despite his failures. The other man should consider it a gift from God that Luthor decided to spare his life. He got out of his leather office chair and stood beside Zyrtle's head, the assassin pressed her foot down harder, flattening his cheek on the floor.

"Do not make me regret this investment Mr. Zyrtle. You were a sniveling, pathetic drug cook when I found you and I could easily find someone else to make Vertigo for me" he crouched beside him. "Thankfully for you, your profits are still mine, the Red Hood stealing your business, is the same as him stealing my business so—" Luthor straightened and waved for the assassins to release the gasping Werner Zyrtle. Lex fixed his tie, looking down as Werner stood, slightly hunched.

"Since I am a generous man, you have use of the Four to put a hit out on Red Hood, take whatever means necessary to eliminate your competitor. Start a gang war if you must-" he held his eye and placed a hand on his shoulder, Werner shuddered, "-but do it quick. Remember they work for me and will not hesitate to end your life, so try not to outlive your usefulness, will you?"

Vertigo Base

Soon after…

Werner's Head of Security approached his boss, who was anxiously walking up and down the length of his office beneath the low light of the single fluorescent lamp hanging from the ceiling, rubbing his bald head that shone like a cue ball and cracking his knuckles. His boss' boss was running out of patience. The meet with Lex definitely tripped up Zyrtle and he was not thinking straight. A man who had forged a reputation as being a decisive, iron-fisted, genius chemist-gang leader, he obviously felt his dignity and pride had just been magnificently shat on after Luthor ruthlessly humiliated him in front of his own men.

"Maybe my last request was too mired in subtlety. I want this man dead!" He yelled thrashing a glass off the table it smashed to pieces on the opposite wall.

"Understood sir, we'll be taking further precautions at every transaction".

"That's not enough!" The Count stopped his movements, his forehead creased in wroth as his rancorous agitation transmuted into vengeful ire. "Get every man we have on the street. No more sitting around waiting to get picked off and trampled by that Red Hood fucker. He's gonna learn this is a contact sport". He grabbed his gun from the desk drawer and cocked it.

"We're going to war."

Central City

From Talia Al Ghul's perch atop the Central City Police Station-one of the iconic buildings within the 'city that never stops' as its inhabitants nicknamed it-she listened to the police scanner. A meticulous planner, and with rumors of a red streak saving people within seconds, she had to prepare herself accordingly.

There was a robbery on 57th and Hammersmith, she did not intend to stop it, it was none of her business what the criminals of any city did to line their pockets and put food in mouths. Tonight she was only an observer.

She arrived at the robbery site, a jewelry shop, how unoriginal. The escape vehicle was making a roundabout towards a tower. She scaled it going higher and higher until the wind could just easily blow her off like a bug. But there were mountains in Tibet a hundred times higher so it was not a problem for her. Gripping onto the edge of a satellite dish she watched as a red streak zipped between roads and alleyways in a perfect line towards the escaping robbers. A police van, woefully slower than the speedster driving half a mile behind, struggled to catch up.

Her eyes were moving as fast as they could. The escape vehicle skidded off the road as it no longer had a driver. In the next moment, she saw the robbers, handcuffed in the exact police vehicle it had tried to flee from. Talia blinked to ensure her eyes were not deceiving her, she had witnessed her father's wounds healed by the waters of the pit, and this was at par with that.

Following the streak once more she got to the ground. There was an electronics shop behind her. Talia smashed the window; the alarm went off to alert the CCPD patrol. She threw a smoke bomb inside that would've felled a one hundred pound man out cold. As she crossed the street to hide she felt a breeze rush past her, whipping her hair. The red costumed hero was lithe and tall, he saw that there was no theft being conducted and neither did the gas knock him out.

Scwhoop and he was a red line down the street going off to stop another criminal.

This was going to be a challenge. Fortunately for her, she welcomed those.

A/N: Hello everyone! It's good to be back! Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Some of the scenes have been adapted from Batman: Under the Red Hood. Upcoming: more HK flashbacks, Malcolm Merlyn, HIVE, and we set the stage for the first crossover arc with the Flash!