A/N: Highlander346, that is a great idea and I'm going to use it! Man, you guys keep coming up with better ideas than I have! Thank you!
P.S. totally forgot to mention I'm co-writing with BarnCat23 and my friend Rachel, who is not on FanFiction. The new cover was created by BarnCat23!
Enjoy!
Episode 9: Love is Dangerous
Anna parked her car behind a crate and turned off the engine. She took a deep breath and got out of the car, shutting the door as soon as she was out of the way. She slid her hands in her pockets and walked around the crates to the open area near the harbor. She sighed as she stopped near the water and glanced down around. "Looks like I'm early" She said.
"Is that code for you wanna back out?" Diggle asked, through the ear piece in her ear.
"No. There is no way in hell I'm-"
"You're what?" she heard from behind, cutting off her sentence. Anna turned around and tried not to look like she was angry about having to meet someone from the League of Assassins. "Nyssa…Long time no see" Anna said.
"Why would you risk contacting us? I thought you were done with the League" Nyssa said.
"I am. And you know why I would risk it" Anna said, anger slipping into her words.
"Right…I forgot you were dating Oliver Queen" Nyssa mused.
"Where is he?" Anna demanded.
"You know there's only one way to get him back, Anastasia. The League will not release him until you surrender…and I'm guessing that isn't an option for you, is it?" Nyssa asked.
"Where. Is. He?" Anna asked again.
"I told you, the League will not release him until you agree to come back" Nyssa said. Anna sighed and shook her head. There was no room for negotiation, it seemed. "Anna, I know what you're thinking," Diggle said. "Don't do it." Anna waited for Nyssa to look away momentarily so she could pull out her ear piece. She stuffed it into her pocket and tried to look like nothing happened. "Nyssa, can't you give me some leeway here? Family discount? Anything?" Anna asked.
"You have a time limit," Nyssa said. She handed a small, square, silver device to Anna. "If you don't surrender by midnight in three days' time, we will kill him. And he will be just the first." Nyssa turned and started walking away. "You know how to contact me when you change your mind" Nyssa said, over her shoulder. Anna scowled as soon as Nyssa couldn't see her face. She put her ear piece back in. "Diggle, you there?" Anna asked.
"Yeah, I'm here" he said.
"New plot twist," Anna said, sliding into her car. "I have a time limit of three days. I either give in or they kill Oliver."
"How are we going to find him in three days?" he asked.
"I think I have an idea" she said, looking over the silver device Nyssa had given her. She started the car and left the harbor.
Anna walked down the stairs into the 'Arrow Cave' as Felicity called it, and went to Diggle and Felicity and the computers. She handed Felicity the device and said, "Open it." Anna crossed her arms and slowly walked in the opposite directions so she wouldn't see Felicity open it. The device was a compact video player, which wirelessly uploaded videos instead of using DVD's.
Anna had already watched the video uploaded and she didn't want to watch it again. She heard Felicity's reactions to the content of the video and turned to walk back to them. Felicity closed the video player as Anna just stopped at her chair. "That's a wireless video player, which means it uploads from a computer, and computers can be traced" Anna said.
"I don't know how much I can get from this, but I'll try" Felicity said. Anna nodded and Diggle turned to her. "Maybe you should go home, get some rest. We'll call you when we find something" he said. Anna just stared at him a minute before sighing and nodding. She stood there a second, reluctant to move, then finally started for the exit.
Anna typed in the security code and walked inside her house. She didn't bother turning on the lights. She walked up the stairs to her bedroom and went to her bed, kneeling beside it. She reached underneath and pulled out a black shoe box. She opened it and pulled out the black 9mm that it housed.
She pushed in the clip and stood, walking into her closet and grabbing a wooden chair. She set up the chair at the end of her bed to face the door and sat down. She cocked the gun and adjusted her position for better aim at the door. At that's where she sat the whole night.
Anna's phone rang as the sun came through the window. She sighed and answered the phone as awake as she could. "What?" she asked.
"We traced the last upload to a three block radius in the Glades" Diggle said.
"I'll be there in a minute" she said, standing and walking to the closet. She shoved her phone into her pocket and parted her clothes that hung on the bar. She felt the wall until her fingers hitched on a rut in the paint. She pulled out a panel of the wall revealing a small, square space. Inside the space was a folded black pair of pants and a long sleeved shirt—both made of a nylon/leather fabric.
Anna quickly changed into both and put on her black leather jacket and black boots. She shoved the gun into her belt at her lower back and pulled the jacket and shirt over it to hide it. She put the panel back into place and fixed her clothes then put her hair up into a pony tail in the bathroom. She pulled open a drawer in the vanity and pulled out a thin black nylon mask. She took a deep breath and put the mask in her pocket. She then turned and left the house.
Anna walked down the stairs into the 'Arrow Cave' and went straight to Diggle. "Where is it?" she asked.
"It isn't one hundred percent, but we traced the wireless upload back to a substation on the west side of the Glades. It's a building that used to be a toy factory that had to be closed down after the earthquake" Diggle explained.
"Okay, but where specifically is it?" Anna asked.
"Four-twenty-two Riverside Street" Felicity said. Anna nodded and went to the glass rack that held Oliver's bow and arrows and quiver. Anna took the quiver, sliding it on while she grabbed the bow. Then she slid the arrows back into the quiver over her shoulder. "What are you doing?" Diggle asked. Anna turned and went back toward the stairs. "What does it look like?" Anna asked, walking backwards toward the stairs.
"It looks like your bringing a bow to a firefight" Diggle said.
"And that's what I'm gonna do if that's what it takes to get Oliver back," she said, turning to the stairs. She stopped and glanced over her shoulder with a sly smile. "And don't try and stop me…just don't say I didn't warn you."
When Anna left the club she started on a backstreet, sticking close to buildings to refrain from being seen. She slipped into an ally and started West using a GPS system on her iPhone. "You lost?" she stopped dead in her tracks at the sound of a male voice in close distance. She discretely slipped on the black mask and slid her phone into her pocket.
She notched an arrow in the bow string and drew the bow in record time as she turned around. She found herself aiming at a young man not older than herself in a red hoodie and jeans. His age didn't make her put the bow down just yet. "And you are?" she asked.
"Roy Harper" he said, eyeing the bow suspiciously.
"Well, Roy, I suggest you turn around and start walking unless you want an arrow in your chest" Anna said.
"Are you in with the 'hood'? is he in trouble? You can tell me, I'm with Team Arrow" he said.
"Team Arrow?" Anna asked.
"Yeah, Felicity came up with it" he said. Anna let out a sharp breath and reluctantly put down the bow. She slid the arrow back into the quiver and slung the bow over her shoulder. "Like I said, turn around and walk the other way" Anna said. She pulled out her phone, turned, and started walking again. she heard foots steps again and sighed exhaustively. When the steps got close enough, she whipped around and delivered a solid kick to Roy's abdomen and when he doubled over she elbowed his back so he collapsed to the ground. "Go. Home." she said, sternly.
She turned and started walking again and this time she didn't hear any footsteps. As night fell she finally came up Riverside Street. She hid side-longed an abandoned building across from the old toy factory. She slid an ear piece into her ear and pressed on. "Diggle, Felicity—you there?" she asked, in a raised whisper upon seeing a guard at the door.
"We're here. Are you at the factory?" Diggle asked, through her ear.
"Yeah, four-twenty-two Riverside Street" Anna confirmed, quietly.
"I've pulled up a schematic of the building," Felicity said. "It looks like there's the single ground level and then there are two sub-levels. The sub-levels are accessible by a single stairwell in the far east corner."
"Got it, thanks" Anna whispered. She took out the ear piece and shoved it into her pocket. She went to move for the building but stopped upon hearing footsteps. She sighed and rolled her eyes. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Roy walking up to her. she turned to face him and sighed. "What, you didn't get enough earlier?" she asked. He stopped a foot in front of her. "I can help" he said.
"Yeah, help me get caught. Go home, Roy. This is bigger than the both of us and there is no way in hell that I am dragging you down with me. Go" she said, firmly. He stood up straight and looked at her unwilling to move. "He's in there, isn't he? That's why you're going in? to rescue him? I may not look like much but I can help get you in the door" he said.
"How?" she asked.
"I'll distract the guard and you slip in" he said.
"You realize you could die?" she asked.
"I can take him, trust me," he said, walking past her. she tried to grab him but she was too late, as he'd already slipped too far out of reach. "Hey!" Roy called, waving his arms. The guard saw him instantly and started for him. Roy turned and ran right, cutting through an ally with the guard hot on his heels. Anna waited for him to disappear and then bolted for the door. She pried open the door with quick fingers and slid inside. Once she was in she pulled the bow off her back and notched in an arrow.