Part 16
"Tear them apart!" Vordigan voice exclaimed over the intercom "But leave Oliver Queen to me. We have unfinished business."
Within seconds every cell door opened releasing every prisoner in Strykers Island, including Black Manta, Icicle aka Cameron Mahkent son of Joar Mahken and Roulette aka Victoria Sinclair.
Both Black Manta whose identity is still unknown, but is believed to be a man called David and Victoria Sinclair are known members of the Legion of Doom, a band of villains believed to have been organized by Winslow Schotts, but there was never enough evidence to prove it and neither Manta or Roulette were willing to tell anyone the mastermind behind their little group.
Black Manta had been arrested three years ago after he wrecked havoc through a parade in dedication to both Aquaman and Mera. Several people had been injured, thankfully no one had died thanks to Aquaman and the rest of the Justice League. It was a mystery as to why Black Manta had attacked the parade, as neither AC or Mera had any idea who this young man was and held such a grudge against them. Black Manta never said what his vendetta was with AC, only swore that the day would come when AC would have to pay for his sins and he will then know what true sorrow is.
It was a mystery as to why Roulette aka Victoria Sinclair had joined the Legion of Doom, when she had once been hired by Chloe to get Oliver back into the game. Though the big give away that she may not be all the way in could have been when she went off track of Chloes plan to get Oliver back into the hero business when she kidnapped Lois and used her as bait for Oliver. Chloe had known from the beginning Victoria wasn't someone she could exactly trust, but she was desperate and would do almost anything to bring Oliver back from the darkness he had fallen into. When asked why should had decide to go after the League, she answered with a smile and said 'It paid more.'
Then there was Cameron Mahken, the second Icicle, whose father had been defeated by the original Justice League members. Had sought out revenge killing those responsible and he continues to thirst for that revenge even against those who proceeded the team responsible for defeating his father. They would all pay dearly.
Together the three and other inmates fought against Green Arrow, Speedy, Bart and Cyborg, while the others had gone after Grundy who had taken Black Canary down below. Oliver could feel his heart pounding rapidly against his chest, fearful of what Grundy could do to Dinah. Though he felt no romantic feeling towards her, he still cared a great deal about her and would never forgive himself if something happened to her. The last thing they needed was to lose another member of their team Lois and Jayna had been enough, no one else needed to die.
"Take that you freak!" Mia shouted as she dropped kicked two of the prison inmates, but soon found herself surrounded by dozen of men and woman in orange jump suites
"Let's do this!" Oliver annouched to Victor.
"Ready when you are," exclaimed Victor though he had issues right now with Oliver, none of those issues had anything to do with Mia. Mia was a member of the team and she was seriously out numbered and needed help. Together the two rampaged through the crowd knocking the prisoners to the ground.
"You okay?" Oliver answered her with concern as he helped her to her feet.
"Yeah, I'm fine," answered Mia. "Thanks."
"Now that wasn't fair," announced Victoria, as all eyes fell onto her. "I think it's time to level the playing field." Victoria was standing very close to one of the prison walls as a devious smile appeared on her face.
"Oh shit!" exclaimed Oliver as his heart began racing seeing the bomb that Victoria had managed to build with whatever she could find in the prison. "She's going to blow the wall!" Oliver grabbed his bow fulling intending to put an arrow right through Victor, but because of his hairline fracture he had withstand from punching Clark that hadn't healed all the way he wasn't able to get a shot off. "Dammit!"
"Stay close!" Victor annouched to both Oliver and Mia as he surrounded the three of them in a force field that would protect them from the blast.
"I got this guys," exclaimed Bart who had just super-sped in after having dropped off one of the prisoner to a secure location. "Hang tight!"
"BART NO!" the three screamed, but it was too late, seconds after Bart sped towards Victoria with full intentions of stopping the bomb the bomb went off. The force of the explosion forced Bart back crashing him through several of the prisons walls.
"You're going to pay for that!" exclaimed Victor, who as soon as he lowed the force field started rushing towards Victoria, but only to find himself be stopped by Black Manta who managed to find his armor suite and suited up.
"Didn't you're mother ever tell you, it's not nice to hit a lady?" exclaimed Black Manta as he shot off a power blast at Victor knocking the half-man-half-machine to the ground.
"Trust me, she's no lady," exclaimed Oliver.
"It's been fun," smirked Victoria with a devious smile. "But it is time for us to go." Victoria started backing away towards the opening in the prison where several prisoners had already escaped. "You coming?" she called out to Black Manta.
"Right behind you," Black Manta answered as he
"You're not going anywhere!" exclaimed Oliver.
"Oh, but that is where you are wrong!" exclaimed Black Manta as he locked his eyes on Mia, raising his hand getting ready to shoot.
"Mia!" Oliver cried as he ran towards her and tackled her to the ground just as Black Manta power blast flew above them. Oliver could do nothing but watch as Black Manta made his escape, Victor manage to fire off a few shots but every one missed.
"Dammit, Cyborg!" exclaimed Oliver angrily as he got to his feet. "You couldn't even get one hit on him!"
"Well maybe if someone hadn't uploaded a virus into me we wouldn't be having this problem!" shouted Victor into Olivers face. "So don't you dare pin this on me. You self-righteous arrogant bastard!"
"Guy! That's enough, save it for later," exclaimed Mia. "We have more important things to deal with right now."
"...So are you guys going to help or what," asked Bart who had just finished blocking up the hole in the wall so the remaining prisoners couldn't escape. He seemed unfazed by going through about half a dozen walls. "I shouldn't have all the fun."
Oliver and Victor look at each other hard in the eyes. They both were angry, but they both knew that for now that would have to set their anger aside and do what needs to be done. "This isn't over," exclaimed Victor.
"I wasn't planning on it being," answered Oliver as he went one way and Victor went another each taking on a group of inmates.
"Well that's a start," sighed Mia as she dashed towards the large hole in the floor and jumped down. She wanted to help Clark and the others rescue Dinah and make sure she was okay. She would never be able to forgive herself if something happened to her. Next to Chloe, Dinah was the closest thing she had to a sister. There was nothing she would not do for her.
Lower Level of
Strykers Island
In the basement of Strykers Island that had served as Grundy's prison, Clark, Kara and Andrea had gone after the zombie beast who had taken Dinah captive. Grundy had his hands grasped tightly around Dinah neck, as Dinah struggled to free herself, but was unable to unleash her sonic scream.
"Let her go, you freak!" exclaimed Andrea as she threw several punches into Grundy's chest, but they had no effect on a dead man who couldn't die.
"Greee..." Grundy growled as he punched Andrea sending her crashing through several walls.
"I got her her!" exclaimed Kara as she flew off towards Andrea.
Clark, who was soon joined by Mia eyed the beast who had yet to release Dinah, their team member their friend. "We have to stop him," he told her. "I don't know how much longer she'll be able to hold out."
Mia glanced at Clark with a worrisome look on her face afraid that she may come to regret these words given everything that has happened, but they were running out of options. And with two high profile criminal on the lose and dozens of others, time wasn't exactly something they had. "Grundy's dead already? No matter what you do to him he'll regenerate," she said, knowing that it may not be the best thing to a guy who is already on the edge of losing it, but right now they needed some of that edge to stop Grundy, before the beast ripped Dinah's head off. "You don't have to hold back!" She knew what she was saying. But it isn't really killing if they can't die, right?
"I wasn't planning on it!" exclaimed Clark locking his glowing eyes onto Grundy wrist. "Be ready to grab her."
"Ready when you are!" exclaimed Mia, knowing exactly what Clark was going to do. It was a good thing she didn't get grossed out easily.
"No more playing nice!" exclaimed Clark as he used his heat vision and shot off Grundy hand that was grasping Dinah neck, while Mia ran faster than she ever had before and tackled Dinah as far away from Grundy as she could so they wouldn't be in Clarks way as he dealt with Grundy.
"Wh-" Grundy was dumbfounded that Superman had shot off his hand and had no idea what to make of it or why the hero in blue was flying towards him like a torpedo. Before Grundy knew it Superman burst right through him splattering blood everywhere.
Mia pulled away Grundy fingers from the hand that had been shot off and freed Dinah. "Dinah?" she asked concerned. "You okay?"
"I'm fine! I had it under control," Dinah exclaimed. "I didn't need you to come to my rescue."
"Right," answered Mia knowing full well that Dinah had been scared out of her mind, but was just too stubborn to admit it. "You were just lulling the giant undead, super-strong creature into a false sense of security by putting your head in his fist." Mia crossed her arms against her chest. "Come on Dinah it's me."
"Dinah!" exclaimed Oliver as he jumped through the large hole in the ceiling. His eyes falling right away onto her revealed to see that she was no longer in Grundy's grasp. "Are you all right?" he asked. He didn't know what he would do if he'd lost her. They didn't need to be losing anymore of their family, their team. Too many had been lost already.
"I'm fine Oliver!" exclaimed Dinah. "I don't need you worrying about me. I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself."
"...Well right now I need you two to get back up there and take care of the prisoner getting them back into their cells," annouched Oliver.
Dinah had had about enough of Oliver barking orders at her. She got right into his face. "They're not going back in their cells, we're taking them..."
"I don't have time for this Dinah!" exclaimed Oliver trying to stress the fact that there were bigger things going on right now than what's going on between them. "Get them back in their cells. That's an order!"
"I don't take orders from you anymore!" exclaimed Dinah as she jumped back on top leaving both Oliver and Mia behind, while Clark continued to fight Grundy.
"What are you going to do?" Mia asked concern now falling onto Oliver who has barely had a good nights sleep since all of this started. In truth neither had she. None of them have and she was afraid that sometime soon something would drive them all apart and that things would never be the same again.
"I'll help Clark take care of Grundy before he brings this whole place down,"
"Um... I don't think there's anything left of our undead man," answered Mia with a grin as she pointed to Grundy who had a large hole in his gut.
"That's never stopped him before." Oliver couldn't count the number of times both Clark and him had thought they had stopped Grundy for good or how many times Emil had thought he found an antidote that would stop bringing Grundy back to the land of the living. "I'll see you back on top, it a bit!"
"Be careful," Mia told him before she used a grappled and shot back up on top.
"Hey ugly!" exclaimed Oliver watching as Grundy turned his head towards him. "Eat this!" Oliver using all the strength he could mustered from his injured hand shot an arrow into Grundy's face upon impact the arrow exploded ripping the undead beat into two. Both Oliver and Clark worked quickly to retrain Grundy before he could fully regenerate.
"Nice work!" exclaimed Clark with a hit of a smile, a smile he hadn't smiled in weeks. It seemed in that moment they were their old selves again fighting on the same side instead of at each other.
"You weren't so bad yourself," answered Oliver with a smile. "I always wondered what a Grundy donut would look like." In that moment Oliver saw a little spark of the Clark Kent he has always known. The happy go lucky guy who just wanted to protect people and be there for those he loved. It gave Oliver hope that he hadn't lost Clark completely that his friend was still there. He hoped and prayed that maybe now things could get back on track and they could all begin to heal.
Upper Level
Strykers Island
Dinah was fiercely perusing one of the prison convects throwing punches in his face non-stop spattering blood everywhere. "I am so sick of all of you," she exclaimed angrily. She had had enough of these monsters getting help, getting help they didn't deserve when there are over thousand, no millions of people all over the world that are just forgotten and left for dead. "You think you deserve help?"
What made these criminals so special that there would people out there who wanted to help them. Wanted to give them another chance. When time and time again they have shown that none of them want to change their ways. They like who they are and are going to keep on hurting people over and over just for the thrill of it. No! Not again. Not this time. This time will be different. She would make sure of it.
"Please, stop..." the man begged for his life.
"After everyone you've hurt!" exclaimed Dinah to the man who years prior had been convected of killing seven woman and dismembering their bodies all throughout Metropolis and Star City. "You think society owes you freaks anything!" she exclaimed. It made her sick to her stomach to think about the woman he killed and what he had done to them. How many lives he had destroyed?
"Please, I'm begging you," he cried. "I know I was wrong. I was sick... I couldn't help it!"
"You think I should show you mercy?" Dinah exclaimed loudly. She couldn't believe he would ask her such a thing of her. "Fine!" she picked up a pipe that was lying on the ground and raised it over the mans head. "You want me to show you mercy, I'll show you mercy!" she hissed. "The same mercey you showed all those woman you butchered!"
"CANARY STOP IT!" shouted Mia, as she knocked out one of the criminal that was trying to escape.
Dinah turned her head towards Mia her eyes glaring angrily at the young woman who just didn't get it. "You're just as bad as Oliver," she hissed. "...But then you used to work amongst theses monsters, selling your body to the highest bidder."
It was never a secret as to where Mia had come from and the life she had lived before Oliver took her under his wing. Mia had never hid the fact of who she had been. She wasn't proud of that life, but she wasn't going to hide it either. She had changed and changed for the better. "That's enough," annouched Mia knowing that Dinah didn't really mean what she was saying. "This isn't the Justice League way. This isn't who we are!" Mia had to get through to her, she needed Dinah to see that she was making a huge mistake. She needed to remind her what the Justice League stand for.
"You're not part of the Justice League anymore!" exclaimed Dinah. "You made that perfectly clear when you sided with him." In her anger Dinah bashed the head of the murderer who was barely moving in front of her already in the pool of blood.
"Dinah stop before you-"
"STOP TELL ME WHAT TO DO YOU WHORE!" exclaimed Dinah as she flung the bloodied pipe into Mias direction and inferentially in her rage used her sonic scream that increased the forcing of the pipe flying towards Mia that proved to be too fast for Green Arrows beloved sidekick. Dinah watched in horror as the pipe connected with Mia's head and watched in what felt like slow motion as Mia's eyes rolled back and her body hit the ground with a loud thud.
'What have I done'
"Speedy?" she said softly, but there was no answer as she her way over to Mia's prone form, while Cyborg and Bart finished rounding up the prisoners who hadn't escaped. She knelt down next to her brushing a hair of of Mia's face. "Mia? Can you hear me?" She cried, but there was no answer. Mia remained still and unmoving.
Dinah was so distraught that she didn't see that Clark, Andrea, Kara and Oliver had come back up from having taken care of Grundy. Clark, Andrea, and Kara glared at everyone in the room putting the fear of God into the remaining prisoners eyes.
"Grundy is down! Everyone back in your cells!" Clark exclaimed. He didn't have to say that twice as the prisons all returned back to their cells fearing that if they didn't that Superman would kill them all right where they stood. There was no use in fighting now, not with three of the most powerful people on the planet standing in the same room. Then Clark's eyes fell onto Dinah who was knelling down next to a prone form, a form he didn't need to see the face to know who it was. "...Oh no." he cried with a heavy sigh, not needing to sync into his super-hearing to know he would not find a heart beat coming from one of their own.
It was then Oliver saw Mia lifeless body lying on the ground and Dinah crying over her body. "I...I'm sorry," he heard Dinah say as she turned to him. "It was an accident."
"What the hell did you do!" cried Oliver loudly as he ran towards them and shoved Dinah out of the way. "What did you do!"
"Ollie, I didn't mean too," Dinah tried to explain. She didn't mean for this to happen. She wished to God she could that it all back. She couldn't even remember why she had gotten so angry with her. "It just happened..." Tears fell from down her face as she reached out to Oliver, he needed to know she didn't mean for this to happen. "Oliver, please..."
"Don't touch me!" Oliver exclaimed angrily slapping her hand away. He didn't want her comfort. He didn't want to know how sorry she was or she didn't mean for this to happen. It had happened and there was nothing she could do to take it back. "Stay away from us," he yelled as tears streamed down his face. "Stay the hell away from me, you bitch!"
Dinah slumped back towards the others who all stood back with their heads down, tears in their eyes. They couldn't believe that Mia was gone. Dinah looked up at Clark as she wrapped her arms around herself feeling that at any moment she would break. She had just killed her best friend, someone who she called her sister and would have done anything for. Why had she said the things she said? She didn't mean them. She was just angry. "I didn't...Clark I-I didn't..."
"I know," Clark answered with a heavy sigh. He could see that Dinah was at a loss for what she had done and knew she would give anything to take it back. Just as he would do anything to get Lois back. He understood what she was going through and promised himself in that moment he would be there for her. His eyes fell onto Oliver it pained him to see him like this and he wished he could do something to help ease his pain, but he wasn't God. He couldn't bring their loved ones back from the dead. No matter how much he wished he could.
There's a scream that can't be silenced. It's rising, growing louder and louder with each and every second that passes. It's the scream of a child who was abandoned long ago. That wounded soul could still recall the moment when everything changed. When their world came undone and now once again it finds him. It's staring right at him in the shadows, laughing at him, slamming it's cruelness as it bounces off against regret and past mistake. It's a numbing pain that will never go away.
She was gone, lying there in a pool of her own blood. He had lost so much already and now he had lost her. The one good thing that was still in his life. How could this have happened? How could he have allowed this to happen? Where had he gone wrong?
….He had to wonder would it had been better to have just left her alone? He tried to save her, tried to change her fate, but in the end he never saved her at all.
With his heart broken into a thousand pieces, pieces that would never be able to be put back together Oliver picked Mia up and carried her out of that dreadful place into the night rain leaving the others to deal with the mess and no longer caring what they did. All that mattered to him now was the young girl he had promised to always look out for, promised to give her a better life, a second chance, but all he had done for her was trade one doomed life for another.
"Mia...I'm sorry, ...I'm so sorry." Oliver pulled her into his lap cradling her closely. "This is all my fault!" He had trained her, enhanced her skills, he practically adopted her, ...so he should have known that once she learned he was Green Arrow that it wouldn't be long before she would want to be out there fighting crime with him. Why hadn't he said no? Why hadn't he protected her? It was dangerous. Unlike the others they didn't have powers to protect them, but he still allowed her even with knowing that he had more than once felt the brush of death. He allowed her to follow in his footsteps. He might as well have left her to to dogs he was trying to save her from. He would never hear her voice again. He would never see that smile of hers that he loved so much. There would be no more joking around and she would never know how much she truly meant to him. What would he tell Chloe and his son about what happened to her? How could he ever face them now? They loved her just as much as he did. ...Zan, what would he tell the young man who had won Mia's heart. How could he tell him that the woman he fell for was dead and had been killed by one of their own?
Why did he keep losing people? Why does everyone leave him? First his parents, then his friends from boarding school, Lois, while Chloe and his son hadn't exactly left him they couldn't be with him right now, then he lost Clark, the team and now Mia the one person who still had his back was gone and she wasn't coming back.
"How much more do I have to give" he 't he given enough?
TO BE CONTINUED