EDITED: October 25th, 2021.
To LittleMissMikaelson1, Dorisangel, Ellixwolf, Ying and Yang - Balance, jackandjacksomo, JadedBark, LucyHeartFeelMeUp, Lala7072, and RyuuRaikou, thank you so much for the follows and favorites! And a very special thanks to Khione Eurus and Ying and Yang - Balance for reviewing. I love hearing your thoughts!
Khione Eurus: You know how Oliver is, so, it may take a while for him to warm up a little. As for Diggle, Karen certainly will depend on him during this wild ride!
Ying and Yang - Balance: Thank you so much for loving the story! I hope it doesn't disappoint. Karen and Barry's relationship is a strange one so far but we get a glimpse of the why in the following chapters. And the man of steel? Well... he's around. Sorta. You know, multiverse stuff and all that.
Now, onto the story! I hope you are safe and sound back at your homes and enjoy this chapter. Reviews are welcomed!
08 - Struck By Lightning
Karen learned many things while at the Arrow Cave.
One—the Arrow was Oliver Queen. She felt she didn't need to be surprised at this, but she was. The police had apprehended this man twice on groundless accusations, with one Officer Lance using personal motives to bring him in. Neither of the charges had stuck.
Two—Queen was in love with Felicity Smoak. A blind man would see that from a mile.
Three—a little side-hacking revealed that the vigilante's other sidekicks were John Diggle, a man with a military background, and Roy Harper, a youth delinquent.
Four—Felicity Smoak had a signature when it came to coding. This was not surprising at all, given Smoak's personality. If Karen had a "Big Sister" complex, the other blonde took it to extremes, leading to fact number five: Smoak had hacked into the C.C.P.D.'s servers.
It should've been an aha! moment. But Smoak's signature code was completely different from Karen's mysterious surveillance stalker. The guy—or girl—was a master at not leaving traces. While Smoak was good, she wasn't that good. And this Karen knew because she found her digital prints all over Karen Starr's child services files. Files that supposedly were under lock, away from prying eyes except those who knew where to look for.
Fileswhich Karen was very much aware General Eiling was keeping tabs on.
She was furious. It was a good thing then that Karen was not the sort to explode, as Smoak's transgressions had to take a backseat when the Arrow returned and informed all she'd been kidnapped alongside her mother. Apparently, in between Karen deriding Team Arrow's equipment and a break for Arrow and Arsenal (AKA Harper) to get into a little hand-to-hand combat, Felicity Smoak had slipped away—not that Karen had noticed, being busy here and there. A thing she was regretting, now that a hunk of a man paced behind her like some caged animal waiting to be let out while she traced the chip she may or may not have dropped so that any member of Team Arrow stepped on it—on this instance, a stroke of good luck, seeing that Felicity had been the one to do so.
Of course, the comment had not pleased Queen.
"Why did you do that?"
Does he ever take off the synthesizer? "You guys kidnapped me, remember? In a public place in plain daylight. Me throwing a tracker on your floor should be the least of your worries." But hours had passed since Smoak's tracer had turned on. Karen's special computer, a piece of technology designed by herself with the input of the brightest minds of Wayne Enterprises, gave them a live feed of its location... which was being blocked. But Karen trusted her tech to jump over that detail. "And her phone's offline, so this is our best bet."
Her laptop started beeping.
"There!" Karen's satisfied smile slipped into a frown. She glanced at her computer and the basement's monitors. "Huh. Someone's used the same algorithm to re-route two armored cars from the Treasury Department. Guess where Smoak is?"
"Where are the trucks headed?" asked Diggle.
Karen clicked fast. "A warehouse on the outskirts of the city. Northeast." She hesitated. "Slade Wilson's last known hideout."
She'd read about Wilson. A terrorist who'd paraded as a philanthropist in Starling, he'd set off an army of drug-enhanced individuals on the Glades, the city's poorest area. Before that, he'd murdered socialite Moira Queen in cold blood. Nobody knew what had happened to Wilson, but she had a feeling the Arrow did.
"The C.C.P.D. cordoned off the area after Deathstroke's defeat," said Arsenal. "The mayor declared it a hazardous location."
"Set a foot in there, you're bound to get your one-way ticket to hell," Karen agreed.
The teenager frowned at her. "You're pretty grim. I thought the people of Central City were... peppier?"
"I live in Central. I grew up in Gotham."
Understanding dawned. Harper's eyes lit up suddenly.
"Hey, does that mean you've seen the Batman?"
The Arrow manifested between them like a wraith.
"Batman's an urban legend concocted by the G.C.P.D. to scare away the lunatics," he said. "Let's go."
On the monitor's reflection, she saw the Arrow incline his head in her direction, eyes settled on Diggle. Then his piercing gaze was on her. She should've looked away, but she didn't; like him, she wasn't ashamed of being caught. She understood his hesitance to trust her—Karen didn't trust him either, after all. She was a stranger in their operation, a threat. She would treat him the same way if tables were turned.
She and John Diggle ("Call me Dig.") stayed, the man going to stand next to her rather than behind or away as the others had. She thought it was her imagination but soon realized he was purposefully slowing himself down so that she wouldn't fear him, also ensuring to stay within her sight. It was the nicest thing anyone had done for her in the last month... or the second, if David's impromptu trip counted.
"Felicity downplayed your skills a lot," he commented as they watched the vigilantes' trip on screen.
Karen thought before speaking. She didn't want to antagonize the only person who seemed to like her.
"I'm kind of new at this," she admitted. "Hacking's certainly not my forte. But with the right tech, anything's possible. And my tech's nothing short of miraculous."
Diggle chuckled.
"Don't mind Oliver." He smiled at the look she shot him. "If you heard Felicity, then you certainly heard her say his name. He's worried about her personal stake in the matter."
"He's in love with her." He shrugged in agreement. "Speaking about personal, don't you think this is a little too coincidental? It seems the whole operation is targeting her."
He frowned, mulling it. A minute later, he said, "Could you look into a name? Cooper Seldon."
She snorted. "That's so... I bet he blamed his parents for that awful name." She did as he requested though. A file popped up with his information, including a photograph of a young man who was the epitome of repressed anger and greed. His list of crimes followed, making Karen's brow rise. "Wow. They laid it thick on him, didn't they?" The FBI had captured him and sent him straight to Iron Heights with a life sentence. What you got for betraying the good old U.S. of A. It probably explained his pitiable death: suicide just after lunch.
"Can you bring up his death certificate?" As she did, he analyzed the document.
"You think he's alive?"
"Like you said: too many coincidences."
She nodded slowly. Something occurred to her, and she analyzed Smoak's signature and compared it to Seldon's other cyber activities. As she expected, he had his own trademark in coding, less conspicuous than Felicity's and, in Karen's opinion, very telling about his character.
"What are you doing?"
"All hackers tend to be a little arrogant when it comes to their work. Many of them try to come up with a signature code, and though it's subtle, it's still identifiable. I'm trying to see if Seldon's signature is the same as Brother Eye's."
"But the code is Felicity's."
"Yeah, but Felicity wouldn't use the same patterns to employ it, I figure." The results came with a positive ping. "Ha! It's a match. Cooper Seldon didn't die. If he was anywhere near Smoak's level, I'm guessing he was recruited by some shady organization. Believe me, it kind of happens a lot where I come from."
Diggle leaned closer to the monitors. "Arrow, Arsenal—Starr's found out Brother Eye's identity. It's Cooper Seldon."
"The ex?" called Arsenal in surprise. "I thought Felicity said he died?"
Karen's computer and the basement's pinged at the same time.
"What's that?"
"An S.O.S.! Smoak found a source of wi-fi wherever she is and turned on the GPS function. I'm sending her exact location to you." Her brow furrowed. "Uh oh—she says the whole place is rigged with automated weapons. Just—give me a minute and I can deactivate them."
"Not enough time!" the Arrow growled. "Arsenal, handle incoming; I'm going in."
"Are you crazy?" Karen burst. "You're gonna get yourself shot!"
"Don't worry," said Diggle calmly. "He's got a plan."
"Still!" Her fingers clicked on her keyboard as fast as she could. But it was slow progress. She slammed her hand on the table suddenly. "I'm an idiot! If Smoak found an external source of wi-fi, I can hack it so we can listen in!"
"... Who would've thought that I'd become the grue?"
"Hey! Hey!" a woman yelled. "You wanna wave that gun at me, fine, but don't you dare threaten my daughter."
Seldon, she assumed, laughed.
"Here I thought you were all nails and hair."
"Try single mom who's worked 60-hour weeks for tips to raise that genius child you see right there. I mean, I don't understand all this cyber-whatever, but I know without that gun you wouldn't last 10 seconds against my girl."
"Too bad she doesn't have 10 seconds."
"I disagree," cut the Arrow. Karen held her breath. "Put the gun down."
"You were always good, Felicity. So good. But so am I."
Karen's computer pinged once more. She grinned.
"What?!"
"Nailed him!" Karen yelled, slapping the desk with both hands. Diggle threw her a look.
"It's over, Seldon!"
Arsenal's voice came through, accompanied by the sound of gunshots. "Guys? I've got a guy with a bazooka!"
"Redirect him!" Diggle said, standing up from his chair. He pulled out his phone and started typing a message.
Karen's hands went to her hair. "Is this the time?!"
"I'm calling an ally."
"Arsenal, distract him! I'm on my way."
"It's too late—"
Harper's comm cut off completely, replaced by static. From Oliver's end, Karen heard a loud explosion echoing in the distance.
"Arsenal! Roy!"
A pause.
Diggle said, "Oliver?"
"I don't... he's gone."
Karen covered her mouth with one hand, eyes wide in disbelief. Had Roy Harper died?
Lightning crackled behind her. She jumped a foot in the air, Diggle's hand shooting to steady her as every sheet of paper in the vicinity floated around them.
They had two new companions in the Arrow Cave: a shaken but still alive Arsenal, and a man clad in a dark red full-body suit made of leather—quite literally as, unlike the archers, he wore a helmet that seemed woven into it. The only openings were for his eyes and mouth, which blurred the moment she set eyes on him.
"Oh, my Rao," Karen breathed. "Who the hell is that?"
Diggle was no better. The phone fell from his hand, his pleasant face undecided to express itself as he took in their second guest of the day.
"Unbelievable," he muttered.
"Dig! Starr! What's going on?"
"Arsenal's alive. He's... standing right in front of us." Karen shook her head. "With another dude in red. Who is blurring his face. I've just hit my quota of the weird for today."
"That's impossi—right. Of course. Starr, I need you to self-detonate the place."
She whirled; hand ready on her laptop. But her eyes strayed to the scarlet stranger's reflection on the monitors.
"Are the Smoaks in the clear?"
"Yes. On my word: three, two, one—"
She clicked enter while the other went to cover her ear. Still, her sensitivity allowed her to catch the sound of the explosion—the suctioning of air before everything went boom.
"Arrow?" she called.
"We're fine. We all are."
She exhaled her relief, closing her eyes. "You did it."
Diggle clasped his hand over her shoulder.
"You did it," he repeated with a smile. She returned it, eyes going to him and back to Arsenal—
—who was now maskless and alone.
000•000
Karen would've loved to hightail it when it was over, but things didn't go like that. A young woman—Oliver Queen's sister, Thea, according to Roy—came to check the club (the Arrow Cave was under Verdant, yet another pointer to the Arrow's identity) and had been specifically interested in the basement's entrance. So she, Diggle, and Harper set to work on Harper's wounds, cleaning them and bandaging them as Oliver Queen gently led her out of the club.
Felicity Smoak didn't return, much to Karen's chagrin. Her anger was not forgotten but remembering Smoak's mother's words abated the flames a little. The woman had gone through a traumatizing event. If spending time with her daughter would help her, then so be it.
"Who was the guy?" she asked Diggle after Harper went to the training mats. "The one with—with the lightning." She couldn't believe she was saying that in a hushed tone. It wasn't like he'd return. She'd also read many reports about people with extraordinary abilities before the accelerator had blown up to be this shocked, but still.
Then again, nothing good ever came when Karen saw this kind of being with her own eyes.
"A friend."
"A super friend?"
Diggle only smiled.
He later requested another favor, which was hacking into the city's surveillance cameras to follow an armored tank with the A.R.G.U.S. logo as it picked up and transported Cooper Seldon out of Starling. That alone took an hour, as the driver made a lot of turns to lose the police cars that followed them.
Almost 24 hours later, Karen was out of that place. Diggle drove her to her hotel, and she was greeted with the most lukewarm reception at the front desk, where she was handed the dozen post-it notes of her calls. All from Mattie and David, obviously.
Once she was in her room, Karen was pleased to find she was tired. Ever since she woke up from her three-month coma, she'd been running up and down with no signs of tiring. Her sleeping pattern had drastically changed too, needing only four hours of sleep now. So to feel her body truly worn out meant she would get a deserved rest.
Or at least she thought so, until she saw the shadow in the corner of her room, the moonlight allowing her to see the outline of the Arrow's bow.
"I just want to sleep," she groaned. "It's all I want to do. I helped your girlfriend erase her mistake. What else do you want?"
Queen—rather, the Arrow (it was like he refused to shed that persona aside, like that was all of him there was when he had no allies at his side)—stepped into the light. To her surprise, he reached for his neck, and the background noise she'd been steadily ignoring throughout the day vanished.
"What are you?"
His voice was soft. Incredibly so for a man who spoke in guttural tones. He just had to keep surprising her.
"I'm Karen Starr—"
"You're lying. But that's not what I want to know: are you a metahuman?"
Her eyes shot to him. As far as she was aware, only Barry Allen and S.T.A.R. Labs knew about that term—they had conned it, for Rao's sake. Karen and those in the know called these beings 'enhanced'. Had Queen heard the term from Barry himself? If so, how? What was their relationship?
"I'm not," she said, mentally shelving this information to investigate later.
"The first tranq I used on you was supposed to knock you out for four hours, but it didn't land. The second was for animals of great size—it literally should've knocked you out for a day. But you woke up past one hour."
Instinctively, her hand went for her neck. "You used an elephant tranquilizer on me?!"
Queen continued as if she hadn't spoken. "It barely had any effect on you. I'm thankful for your help, but that was a one-time thing. So I have to ask: what kind of trouble have you brought to my city?"
Karen stood up, offended.
"Me? Me? It was your girlfriend who forced me to come here; she brought the goddamn military to Central and I had to make a run for it!"
"Felicity didn't—"
"She hacked into national security files that have been tagged by certain military and terrorist groups, among them A.R.G.U.S., H.I.V.E., and the man that came knocking on my workplace's door. And all because she wanted to know who Barry Allen's exes were! Do you know how much time it took me to get where I am without being found?"
Do you know how long do the people I care about have? Do you know how much danger has she placed on everyone?
Queen closed his eyes with a soft breath.
"Will they come here?"
"No. According to my source, General Eiling has taken his troops back to base." After killing Beth Sans Souci, a subject from a project not so different from the one Karen had been part of once. She eyed him disdainfully. "Can't say the same for A.R.G.U.S., but I heard that was your fault."
"You're very aware of your enemies. That's good—we happen to share."
He zipped his jacket down and pulled out a manila folder, gently settling it on the bed. Karen made no move toward it.
"It doesn't bite," he said, amused.
"It could always explode."
His eyes narrowed.
"Fine!" She opened it and gazed down at the pictures. Her brow rose. "Why am I looking at pictures of a corpse?"
"Her name was Sara. She was murdered last month by an unknown assailant." He hesitated. "She is—was—a member of the League of Assassins."
Her breath caught.
"No. Whatever you want me to do, I won't. I won't. You can't threaten me into this."
The League of Assassins. She'd heard of them before. She'd been a victim of them as well, though not a direct target. Once upon a time, the League had tried to destroy Gotham by detonating the whole city, not unlike Malcolm Merlyn's Undertaking. It'd started with a fear toxin spreading throughout Gotham, raising chaos—and allowing the leader to step in and continue his nefarious plans.
The Batman had stopped him. Everybody knew that. But it took many years for the information of that case to trickle into the light, and Karen hadn't wasted any time looking into them.
If the military sent Karen scurrying like a rat, the mere idea of dealing with the League terrified her to the bones. Ra's Al Ghul was not kind with the extraordinary; somewhere in his oath, he'd made space to add the prejudiced elimination of any extraordinary being by any means. It was how Karen had found out Clark Kent hadn't been the exception of his kind as they'd initially believed.
"I'm asking," said Queen, and damn him for that slight quiver in his voice. That little tidbit of humanity lay between them. She preferred him to be the heartless archer that struck her down. "Sara was my friend. And the League has come looking for her assassin. Starling City's time is coming near as we speak."
"What can I do that Smoak can't?" It hurt to admit the other blonde was better at something. But Karen knew her limits.
"For one, you don't have my heart."
000•000
It was a dangerous call to trust Karen Starr. But he was running out of time. His city was running out of time.
Oliver had known about Karen since his A.R.G.U.S. days. Not by name, but the wanted pictures of her in the organization's database had been memorable; his younger self had wondered what threat a fifteen-year-old girl could pose to merit such detail to her character file. The many warning labels had had him scoffing in disbelief.
"Do not underestimate her," Maseo Yamashiro had warned him. "There is reason for A.R.G.U.S. to be looking for this girl."
"She's missing?"
"She vanished without a trace. No equipment can pinpoint her location for long."
Oliver, whose gut feeling was always on spot, had noticed a steady trail going to Gotham City. But then he'd had to deal with Tommy's sudden appearance in China and the girl was forgotten.
That had been five years ago. The data had been outdated. Yet Oliver recognized the woman Felicity had shown him on her monitors as the girl in A.R.G.U.S.'s database. His mind had wavered, refusing to make the connection at first, but when he'd seen her in person, he'd known.
Seven years of painful wisdom taught him to err on the side of caution with this one, no matter how desperate Felicity's situation made him feel. How despondent. And when it was all done and dusted, when the Smoaks had gone home and Roy had been checked by the team's personal nurse, he wondered about Starr. Pondered if trusting her with such a thing as Sara Lance's murder was the right thing to do.
But he felt it here like he did with Barry Allen when the young man had come to him beseeching his advice. He didn't know how or why, but Barry and Karen Starr made him feel... hopeful. It made him dare to think that these two individuals would help him have things go his way for once.
He'd also known that, by choosing to trust Starr, the other would come knocking on his door.
In other words, he wasn't surprised when the speedster ran into the lair once Dig, Roy, and Alicia left. He got a good look at what Allen was wearing and burst into laughter, almost dropping the arrow he was sharpening.
"What are you wearing?"
The young man touched the symbol on his chest defensively—a red badge with a golden lightning bolt.
"You said I needed a mask!"
"My friend, you look like you went to a nerdy convention and stole a costume."
"Alright, alright—I didn't come here to get fashion advice from someone who thinks green camouflages well in urbanity." The young man's lively expression fell into one of seriousness. Oliver had seen it before when Barry had confessed to Team Arrow about his mother's murder. "What was Karen doing here?"
"Your ex?"
Barry blushed brightly under the cowl.
"She's not my ex. We went on a couple of dates but—are you trying to distract me? Dude, not cool." He inhaled deeply. Oliver was reminded of himself the first time he'd asked Laurel out—or was it the time Dr. Ivo had pointed the gun at Sara? Clearly, he hadn't a good memory to contrast the way Barry held himself now. But if he looked with the Arrow's mindset, he'd say the speedster was unsettled.
It appeared Starr had a similar effect on everyone who knew about her.
"Felicity said she needed help. Starr's name came up, a terrorist attacked the city, and the rest is history."
"Felicity said she needed help," Barry repeated skeptically. "Uh-huh. So you had my—my co-worker blow one of your nemesis' old lairs. Was that an initiation of sorts? Is Karen part of Team Arrow now?" His eyes widened. "You didn't shoot a tranq dart at her, did you?"
What can I do that Smoak can't?
You don't have my heart. And when the time comes, I fear Felicity won't make the right call.
"No."
"No? 'No, she's not the Arrow's newest sidekick', or 'No, I didn't shoot her'?"
"Nope." Oliver dropped the arrow into his collection, ignoring the younger man behind him literally vibrating from nervousness. He pointed in his direction vaguely. "That's new."
"Oliver, I really don't want you to involve Karen in your missions. I mean, you barely let me help you and I've got superpowers! This is the first time you've asked for my help and it wasn't even you who called me. Karen's not like us; she can get hurt easily."
"Give her some credit. Not everything about her is as it seems." Barry shifted. "Unless you're speaking from experience?"
The speedster swallowed. Oliver waited patiently.
"I wasn't the type to make the important calls before the lightning struck me." He smiled self-deprecatingly. "I'm still getting used to it. But the one time I did, I got a lot of people hurt... Karen the most. I know it's not the same—hell, you've been at this for years—but I don't want her in the crossfire again. You don't know how impulsive she can get..."
"I've got a lot of experience with that," said Oliver dryly. He eyed Barry pensively.
Barry eyed him back, frowning.
"What?"
Oliver sighed at last. "Oh, Barry. You didn't."
"I didn't what?"
But Oliver shook his head. He didn't want to get involved in Barry's love life—he had enough problems with his own as it was.
000•000
It was her fifth day in Starling City, but this time she was right where she should—on her way to Central City, her duffel lying next to her on the bench as she waited for her train to arrive. It was night-time, so she was technically alone except for the ticket vendor and the homeless person sleeping at the back of the waiting area.
Her eyes were wide and alert, fixed on the rails. When the train finally came, she chose her compartment carefully, sitting at the spot on the back where she had a good view of the space. Her eyes went back to the rails, and this time, she willed her hearing to stretch its range.
She sought foreign sounds. The kind that couldn't be explained. She'd grown accustomed to the light snoring from the vagrant in the corner and the flickering light of the lamppost above the ticket box. Other sudden noises couldn't be helped, but those eventually became background noise too.
Her hands fisted on her lap as the first crackle reached her. It was, she decided, similar to the sound of a drum—you felt the thunder down to your bones because you could feel it from the ground, from the sky, from the very air around you. It demanded your attention one way or another, whether you liked it or not.
She was so still she saw the beginnings of a lightning bolt in the corner of her eye, glowing orange. And then he was there. The scarlet stranger. His body vibrated so fast she couldn't spot any distinguishing features.
It was a good disguise, she noted jealously. What she would give to hide her own features, to have the speed to run into the night and completely vanish. It'd be a handy skill.
"Karen Starr, " he said, and that vibrated too, making his vocals sound high like a teenager's.
She raised an eyebrow. "Well, you took your time, Barry."