Here's some things you may need to know or, maybe, you just forgot: After Moira Queen decided to sign up for witness protection and share what she knows about the Undertaking, Felicity Smoak and Jamie Fleming tracked down both Earthquake Devices built by Unidac Industries. Quentin Lance set off to dismantle one of them, accompanied by the Hood or rather, as Lance knows, Oliver Queen. Vince Faraday, a/k/a the Cape, went off to dismantle the other, but was interrupted by Malcolm Merlyn, the mastermind behind the Undertaking.
(To any readers who need their fics accompanied by warnings, would you explain to me how you get through an episode of "Arrow"?)
Chapter Eleven: The Battle Is On
All in all, the situation could have been worse. Oliver counted only four ninjas that were underground with him, Detective Lance and the Earthquake Device.* After his time spent battling with the League's forces on Lian Yu, this was practically nothing. He had lost track of the number of League of Assassin ninjas that he had killed, so it would take him no time at all to kill these—he frowned as a recent memory nagged at him.
"Because it's not enough that you've left a trail of bodies in your wake—" Quentin's voice ranted over the phone Oliver had sent him.
"Detective, don't exaggerate. I only kill when the situation calls for it."
"Oh, yeah? Do you know how many people you've killed? Because I do—eleven so far in the less than three months since you came to Starling City. Don't tell me the situation calls for it each time. You know when a situation calls for deadly force? When you're faced with deadly force; when it's the only way…"
Oliver couldn't afford to glance at Quentin now. He needed to focus his attention on the assassins that would happily (or at least stoically) kill them both without hesitation if given the opportunity. This, this was the situation that Lance had been talking about. They were being faced with deadly force. Oliver would be justified in killing them to save their lives; he had no doubt about that.
But, on the other hand, Oliver wanted Quentin to see him as something more than a killer. He could feel the detective's eyes on him and he needed to prove to him and to himself that he could control his lethal impulses, that he could be more than a fearsome vigilante—he could even be a hero.
Before the first ninja could charge at him, instead of taking a kill shot, Oliver aimed at his right foot and fired.
There was a puff of smoke, a cape twirled, and the new vigilante was no longer standing in front of Malcolm Merlyn. Unfazed, the Dark Archer jerked an elbow backwards and, without looking back, hit his opponent in the face.
"Trying to catch me off guard?" Malcolm asked as he turned to face the younger man. "You'll have to do better than that. I spent years training with the League of Assassins. I won't be fooled by your parlor tricks."
The Hood head-butted another of the ninjas, then spun to block an incoming blow from a third, which he followed by delivering a roundhouse punch to his attacker's head, and then flipped out of the way before the fourth could land a kick.
Even though he had been tracking the vigilante's deeds for months now, Quentin would (reluctantly) admit that he was impressed with the way Queen was handling four opponents by himself, but he didn't have the luxury of watching the fight progress blow-by-blow. Time was running out and he had to focus on following the instructions to dismantle the Earthquake Device in front of him.
Still, Lance was distracted by a shape flying through the air in his peripheral vision, before hitting the wall with a thud. He glanced away from his work to see that the four ninjas were now sprawled out, none of them even groaning or twitching.
"They're alive," Oliver rasped,** "though they won't be getting up and bothering us anytime soon." He pulled back his hood. "How's it coming?"
"You're almost finished, Detective," Felicity said. "All you have to do now is cut the wire and you're done."
Quentin squinted at the machinery in front of him.
"Which wire are you referring to?"
"…You mean there's more than one?"
"Of course there's more than one! There's always more than one!" Quentin tried not to give in to hysteria, but it was a little bit difficult as he saw the timer start counting down from forty-five seconds. "Oh god, oh fuck!" he ran a hand through his hair. He looked up and met Oliver's eyes.
"Never thought you'd be the one with me when I died," the detective said. He wondered if his cell phone would get a signal down here. Surely he had enough time left to say goodbye to his daughter. He started to reach into his pocket for the phone, but found he couldn't look away from the billionaire, who was gazing at him intently and coming closer.
"I'm sorry," the younger man murmured, as he drew closer still.
"Oh, there's gotta be worse people to die with," Lance spoke quickly, aware that their time was running out, but having trouble coming to terms with it. Was it just him or was Queen really close right now?
"I meant that it'll be my fault if you die now. I shouldn't have gotten you involved," the vigilante clarified.
"Don't do that," Quentin jerked his head from side to side. "Protecting the people of this city is my job, ok? I knew what I was signing up for, I knew the risks—"
With his right hand, Oliver picked up one of the tools they'd brought with them and clamped it around one of the machine's wires, ready to sever it. His left hand came up and gently curled around the back of Quentin's head.
"What are you doing?" Lance asked.
"Saying goodbye in case we don't make it," he replied quietly before taking a deep breath. "Here goes nothing." As the blond cut the wire he'd chosen, he leaned in and pressed his lips to the other man's. Caught by surprise, Quentin's mouth opened and Oliver's tongue found its way inside.
If asked, Quentin wouldn't be able to say why he responded to the kiss. All he knew was that it felt amazing. For the moment, thoughts of impending doom were held at bay.
When they finally broke apart, they found the timer had stopped at two seconds.
"I guess we're not dying tonight after all, Detective."
"Good, that's good. That means you have time to tell me what the hell just happened," Lance demanded. He resisted the urge to touch his lips, which felt like they were tingling.
"The short answer is that I'm going to have enough regrets when I leave this world and I didn't want one of them to be that I never worked up the guts to kiss you."
"Kissing me was on your bucket list? Are you kidding me?" Quentin started to pace, then realized he'd have to step around the still forms of the unconscious assassins and stopped.
"Maybe I could give you the long answer over dinner?"
"You're insane, although I don't know why this is news to me given that," Lance gestured to the Hood's getup.
"Was that a 'no' to dinner?" There was a pause.
"Coffee," Lance counteroffered at last.
The fight was not going well. So far Vince had been unable to use the cape to tear the Dark Archer's bow away from him and it wasn't doing him much good against the man himself, either. If—no, when—Vince got out of this, he was going to have to go back to Max Malini, his mentor, for more training.
He swore he could hear the timer on the Earthquake Device counting down the seconds until it detonated.
Oh, no, wait. That was Jamie's voice in his ear, reminding him that he was running out of time.
"Goddamn it, Vince, do something!" she yelled. "Fifty seconds left!"
"Why are you doing this?" the Cape asked his opponent. "You have to know you'll die, too."
"My life ended twenty years ago when Rebecca was murdered," Malcolm Merlyn snarled. "If it's the last thing I do, I am going to put an end to the cesspool that claimed my wife's life. Nothing else matters and no one is going to stop me, least of all you." As he finished, he drew back his bow, a black arrow fitted and aimed at the Cape's heart.
Before he could release the arrow, a gunshot went off. Bow and arrow fell to the ground as Malcolm's body collapsed, a bullet hole through the center of his forehead. Vince saw Peter Fleming standing, his arm still outstretched, holding a literally smoking gun.
"TWENTY SECONDS!" the blogger screamed, reminding the hero that, even in death, the Dark Archer could still win. Faraday hurried back to the device and, following Orwell's instructions, yanked a particular wire. The timer froze with ten seconds to spare.
The Cape turned his back on the now harmless machine and saw that Fleming was standing over the body (though carefully avoiding the pool of blood).
"I caught his monologue," the Brit said, still looking down at the corpse. "Losing your wife will do that to you; I reacted similarly when Danielle was murdered. That was when Chess was born," he revealed, referring to his alter ego. "Who knows how far I would have gone if I hadn't had a daughter to raise?"
"What are you doing here?" the masked man asked, drawing the billionaire's attention.
"I followed you when you left the police precinct without speaking with me, Faraday," Peter replied. "Yes," he held up a hand to forestall any denials, "I figured out your identity. I should have figured it out ages ago but, in my defense, for quite some time I believed you were dead."
There had to still be a way out of this, Vince thought to himself. He had an identical twin in town; maybe Ian would help him?
…Yeah, like anyone would believe Ian was the Cape. Damn it.
"What do you want?" he demanded.
"Oh, don't look at me as though I'm going to shoot you next. I did just save your life. A 'thank you' would be appreciated."
"Thank you," Vince spat out between gritted teeth. "Now, what do you want?"
"You think I have some sort of evil master plan, is that it?" the engineer drawled.
"You usually do," the cop pointed out.
"Alright, as it happens, I am currently trying to work out a plan—"
Here it comes, Vince braced himself.
"—to seduce you," Peter finished.
"Come again?" Vince blinked. He obviously hadn't heard that right.
"I know we got off on the wrong foot," the older man continued.
"The wrong foot? You tried to kill me!" Faraday reminded him. "You framed me for your crimes and you threatened to kill my family. You ruined my life!"
"Now be fair—your life isn't over yet. And things have been looking up since I cleared your name, have they not? You've gotten a new job in a new city, a fresh start, as it were. I think we should start over, too. Give me a chance. You may find that I can be charming when I put my mind to it."
"I'm not going to let you charm me!" Vince protested.
"We'll see about that," Peter quirked his lips. Winning someone over wasn't so different from a game of chess, after all. It required strategy, perseverance and patience—all of which he had in abundance.
Meanwhile, at her temporary station in ARK's building, Felicity's cheeks were scarlet.
"I guess it's true that all the good ones are gay, married or taken," she started, once she had hit the button that would stop broadcasting her voice to Detective Lance. She was so grateful they didn't have surveillance cameras in that abandoned tunnel. No need for her to see her recent crush making out with someone else; hearing about it was bad enough. "Or I guess in this case bisexual and taken. That settles it. I really need to move out of Starling City. You said you had a job offer for me? I'll take it. How far away from here can you get me?" the blonde finished.
"Is Palm City far enough?" Jamie inquired.
"That should do it, yes. When do I start?" the younger woman asked.
"Slow down," the brunette raised her hands in a calming gesture. "You can start at ARK as soon as you get settled there, but there is something I would like you to do that isn't going to be part of your official job description, if you're up for it."
"And that would be?" Felicity's brows furrowed. She should have known it wouldn't be that easy.
"You know that I was Orwell," Jamie began.
"I thought you still were," the former Queen Consolidated employee interrupted.
"I haven't really been acting as Orwell since I moved here," the heiress corrected her. "Between getting closer to my father emotionally and moving further away from him geographically, I haven't been in much of a position to use my blog to keep him on the straight and narrow path. And I love him, I've accepted that, but that doesn't mean that I trust him. Someone has to be there in Palm City to expose his deeds to the public or there's no telling what he'll get up to.
"How would you like to be the new Orwell?"
"Are you serious?" Felicity gaped at her. She had not been expecting that. "Wow, that's a huge responsibility. I mean, yes, I'd love to!"
"Good," Jamie smiled. "That's settled. Welcome to ARK Corp."
"How is it," Quentin addressed Vince at the precinct the next day, "that Malcolm Merlyn got shot dead right in front of you and your report doesn't even give a description of the shooter?"
"I can explain," Faraday began, though he wasn't sure that he could. He'd wanted to arrest Fleming and, since this was Starling City, not Palm City, and Peter Fleming didn't own the police department here, there wasn't really a reason for him to let Fleming act as though he was above the law. Except "we wouldn't have had a case against him anyway," the blond pointed out. "Like it or not, he was justified in using deadly force to save me and half the citizens that were still in the Glades."
"But who was he? This isn't your call to make. Even if I agree with you and the D.A.'s office agrees with you, you still can't fudge the paperwork—"
"LANCE! Get in my office!" Lieutenant Pike shouted.
"Perfect," Quentin grumbled, as he stood up from his desk. "Don't think that you're going to be off the hook for this just because I won't be in a position to lecture you anymore," he warned Faraday. "Hey, don't look at me like this is the end of my career. So I may get busted down to traffic cop for a while. Big deal; won't be permanent," he assured Vince, though he wasn't sure who he was really trying to convince.
"It's not fair for them to discipline you. You didn't do anything wrong," Faraday called after him as Lance approached Pike's office.
I wish that was your call to make, Quentin reflected as he knocked on Pike's door.
"You wanted to see me, Sir?"
"Shut the door and sit down," Pike ordered. "Now," he continued once Lance was seated, "I've thought about what discipline would be most appropriate in your case and—" his office phone rang, interrupting him. "Damn it, I told them to hold my calls. One second," he picked up the receiver. "Lieutenant Pike speaking… What? When did that happen? …Yes, I understand. Of course… Fine. Goodbye," Pike hung up the phone and looked at Quentin. "You're in luck, Lance. Orders are that no one is to make any personnel decisions without authorization from the new higher ups."
"I don't understand, Sir."
"Go take a look at the local news," the Lieutenant advised him. "We've just been bought."
"Bought?"
Lance left Pike's office confused, and made his way over to the remote for the police station's main TV set.
"What happened, Quentin?" Vince asked.
"Hush," Lance said, as he found a news station and raised the volume.
"Again, we are coming to you LIVE, from City Hall, where in just a few moments the mayor is expected to make an announcement that Starling City's police force has just been privatized. Peter Fleming, the CEO of ARK Corporation, has reportedly just entered a contract that turns full control over the city's law enforcement to ARK, making this the second city in the nation to have a privatized police force—"
"Son of a bitch!" Vince swore. Of course, why was he surprised? Clearly Fleming wasn't taking any chances that any of his actions in Starling City would come back to haunt him. Moving to Starling City wasn't even enough to get him out of the bastard's grasp. He wasn't working for the S.C.P.D. anymore; this deal made him an ARK employee, the one thing he'd been avoiding since he'd revealed to the world that he wasn't dead. Just when he thought that he had a chance to be happy here…
His cell phone rang. He looked at the caller ID before answering.
"Dana?"
"Vince, hi… Listen, I've been rethinking the whole moving to Starling City thing."
"You and me both," he blurted out. What was the point of moving here now that ARK owned the police force?
"Oh, thank god! So we'll both stay in Palm City and we won't have to worry about changing our custody arrangement?"
"Looks like," he agreed. "But what happened to Jack? I thought you were moving here to be with him?"
"I was going to, but I didn't get the job with CNRI. I thought I was going to have to beg Travis for my job back, but he said he hadn't even scheduled any interviews yet."
"Where does that leave you and Jack?" Vince asked, desperately latching on to any topic of conversation that didn't involve ARK Corp., even if that topic was his ex-wife's current boyfriend.
"I don't know. We talked about trying to make a long distance relationship work, but…" she trailed off. The truth was she wasn't that confident that their relationship would survive. "There's always other guys, right?"
"Damn right," Vince assured her. At least one of them should be happy. And he still loved Dana enough to want her to be happy. "I'll see you when I pick up Trip on Friday?"
"Yep, see you then. Bye, Vince," she said before disconnecting the call.
*Patent pending.
**He knew he no longer needed to conceal his voice from Quentin, but one of the assassins had tried strangling him before the Hood had gotten loose.
Author's Note: Chapter title is from Queen's "Ogre Battle."
Disclaimer: Though this fic deals with legal concepts, this does NOT constitute legal advice. If you need legal advice, you should contact a lawyer and see about hiring him/her.
Thank you to TyMatthews for reviewing! And thanks again to those who have added the fic to your list of alerts and/or favorites!
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