I was currently watching a report on the news about how a man on the list who not going to be charged for his crimes. I was also doing some pull-ups on the ceiling. I knew that said maneuver really wasn't that safe, but I felt confident that I wouldn't fall and I was also pretty sure that I would be able to heal even if I did.
"John Nichol is one of the wealthiest real estate developers in Star City. He's also one of the dirtiest." I explained. "That building that burnt down last night, the wiring was not up to code."
"Do we know if knew that?" Courtney asked.
"Even if he didn't, I'm pretty sure that he knows about the 7 people who have frozen to death in his other buildings over the past three years.." I stated.
"He's definitely a man of the people." Iris quipped as I jumped down. The landing was a little rough, but it was nothing I couldn't handle.
"Not for long." I responded. "The DA ignores this and the police can't do anything because this happened in the Glades. Tonight, we're going to cross Mr. Nichol's name off of the list. Are you still not interested in this level of crime?"
"I don't want to personally deal with these guys, but I fully support you taking him down." She responded. I was okay if she only wanted to take down the more dangerous people. If I couldn't convince her, I couldn't convince her and a lot of these people, I didn't need help against anyway.
However, when I got there, I found that something was off. The door was unlocked and I couldn't hear anything that would lead me to believe that anyone was there. He could have just been out at the moment, but it probably wouldn't be wise for him to make any public appearances at the moment. On top of that, it looked like there had been a struggle. There was also a knife on the floor. I headed back to the club. I was having Courtney and Iris check on it while I was away to make sure everything was running smoothly. It was about closing time anyway. I gave them a brief summary of what I found.
"So he wasn't there?" Courtney asked.
"He was there. I'm pretty sure that someone kidnapped him." I declared. I wished that remembered what happened because it would have been easier.
"Well it's not surprising that someone else would want him to pay for what happened." Iris pointed out.
"Well can we find out who did this?" I questioned.
"Do we need to?" Courtney asked. "Shouldn't we count this as a win?"
"We don't know if this person is going to stop at John Nichol." I explained. I remembered the incident, but at the moment, I couldn't remember who the culprit was. "We also don't know if this person is going to be seeking justice. I don't want these people dead unless that is a last resort."
"You know I think you and Courtney need to have your first date." Iris declared. I blushed a little at that.
"It's not a good time for that." I replied.
"I didn't say that you had a choice." She declared.
It was a little bit annoying that I had to rely on her for transportation. The only other option was Courtney's staff and that still scared me. I knew that I didn't really any right to be scared by it, but that didn't mean that I wasn't. I just didn't like things that I didn't understand.
She ended up taking us to Big Belly Burger. It wasn't exactly the best place for a first date and there was also the fact that we were both wearing our work clothes. As such, I was wearing a blue tank top and pink miniskirt.
I ended entirely know what to do with this. It was only 9:00, so it wasn't that late. It did mean that there wouldn't be too many people at Big Belly Burger and it also meant that the people that showed up overnight probably wouldn't be there either. Granted, I had been on dates in less classy places before, but I usually had a general idea how those were going to go. I was currently on my second burger.
"I don't think that I'll ever get used to you eating so much." Courtney declared.
"I really wish that I didn't have to." I admitted. I knew the extra cost wasn't an issue, but it did make me feel a little bit like a freak. I was pretty good at spreading out my meals. I seriously didn't want anyone to think that I had an eating disorder. I knew it would lead to some very uncomfortable conversations.
"So are you concerned at all with how much time you spend being a vigilante?" She questioned.
"I mean I don't think that it's hurting the bottom line and it is important to make this city safer." I pointed out.
"And are you sure that you're not just trying to put these people away so the other archer doesn't get to them first?" She asked. I didn't even know if the other archer cared about the list anymore. He was probably too focused on the Undertaking at this point. I should have been too, but I didn't know where to start with that. I had no suspects and I didn't want to interrogate someone was ultimately innocent.
"I don't even think that's his goal anymore." I replied. "I was pretty sure that was just a tactic to draw me out."
"I'm sorry if I'm not very good at this. I haven't been on a date in a while." She replied.
"You still have me beat." I declared. "When did you go on a date?"
"It was when I was 13, before I even knew that I liked girls." She answered. "You're lucky you didn't have to deal with middle school dates. They're always super awkward."
Yes, I remembered that they were and you usually didn't have any sort of substances to make them less awkward.
"Why do you think that Iris was so set-in on doing this tonight?" Courtney asked.
"I don't know. I'm sorry that I seem so nervous. I know what you can do, but it's hard for me to get attached to people." I replied. She probably figured that out a little, but it also wasn't for the reason that she thought that it was. I couldn't tell her about Felicity or William or Mia."
"Well I think that you're doing a really good job. You know maybe you should try to enjoy the club sometime. Take a few minutes and go to the dancefloor. It doesn't even matter if you can't dance. You should just try to let loose in a way that doesn't involve taking out bad guys." She suggested. I wanted to say that I couldn't do that, but honestly it didn't seem like a bad idea. I could probably give it a chance sometime. Maybe it could help with the stress even though I knew that it wouldn't cause the things causing the stress to go away.
"I'll think about it." I promised.
At the moment, I couldn't help but notice that everyone's phones seemed to be going off. Even Courtney's started to go off.
"What is this?" She questioned as she looked at the link one of the girls in the club sent her. It was then that I remembered this part.
"Open it." I instructed. The video started to play with John Nichol being held hostage. I needed to see if I could track it before he was dead. I tried to scan my memories to see if there was anything that could remind me where he was. I continued to watch as I remembered why I didn't remember. I hadn't been able to save him. The person killed him. Also what website would let you livestream a murder like that?
We all went back to the club. I knew that I would need to be home but I wanted to try to find out whatever I could. I was fairly certain that they wouldn't strike again tonight.
"Did you find anything out?" I asked Iris.
"Well I'm not a hacker, so I probably can't figure out who he is. I might be able to find out who the host is and get them to take it down." She replied. I didn't think that simply getting the website taken down would stop him. At then her phone rang. "Hello. Okay. Thank you."
Courtney and I looked at her because we couldn't hear what the call had been about.
"That was my friend at the NSA. This guy hacks into websites under the name The Savior." She explained. I did think that name was pretty lame. I supposed that I was just hoping that I could avoid this type of thing. Part of me thought it would be even worse because this guy could have some sort of stalker shrine dedicated to me or something. "They believe that he's a former resident of the Glades."
"I don't think there's anything former." I pointed out.
"Well they have no idea how to find him." She stated.
At that point, another video started to play and I remembered how to look things up. I knew who the person was, but that didn't exactly help me find him at all.
"So this guy's name is Joseph Falk. His wife was killed but no one has heard from him in a while." I remarked. I couldn't help but wonder if I should try to contact the Bratva to see if they knew anything, but I also didn't want to do any more favors for them.
"You have to stop this." Courtney replied.
"I know but ten minutes isn't exactly the biggest amount of time." I replied. We might have to use the staff because it could fly a lot faster than I could walk. I wished that I had gotten superspeed like Barry. I even knew how to use it after our first run-in with the Monitor.
I didn't know if I would be able to save the attorney, but I needed to do whatever I could to bring him to justice. I hated when I was powerless to save people, even though I recognized that some things were out of my control. It didn't help make things easier, despite all of the times that it had happened. I would also still keep trying because if I could keep one person alive that initially died, I would feel like I made a difference in this world.
Part of me thought that I should try to talk to Dinah to figure how things were going with her mom's quest to find Sara. If things were like how they were where I was from, finding her wouldn't be any help. She would still be a member of the League of Assassins and she wouldn't just be able to come home. I also couldn't help but wonder if she was still in a relationship with Nyssa. I knew that there were no laws on Nanda Parbat, but the thought of Nyssa having a relationship with a teenager did still freak me out. I also knew that the she would be harder to find because even though technology to make her look older existed, there was no guarantee that it would be accurate.
The other thing that I figured that I should be trying to figure out was who ordered the hit on Malcolm, but I was pretty sure that I already knew who that was. I couldn't figure out why or what I was going to do about it though. I was pretty much powerless to stop the other archer until he revealed himself once again and I really didn't like that. The only theory that I had was that Malcolm wanted out of the Undertaking and the hit on him was supposed to be a precaution for everyone else to stay in the game.
"So I have an IP address at 23rd and Myra." Iris declared.
"Let's go then." Courtney replied.
The two of us put on our suits rather quickly. I was at least grateful that this hadn't happened while I was at school. I seriously hoped that this wouldn't cause a problem. I couldn't help but wonder if he was trying to draw me out. He wanted to meet his hero or something, but people didn't understand that I wasn't trying to exclusively kill these people. Most of them I hadn't killed.
The two of us got on the staff. I hoped that it would go a lot smoother. It was possible that we would be able to do this and that would be the end of it, but I was pretty sure that we wouldn't have that kind of luck. Even if we could just save the lawyer's life it would be considered a win.
"Do we have any idea which room he's in?" Courtney asked.
"We don't." I replied. I had an idea that might work. "It might be a good idea for us to split up."
"Wait the IP address just moved." She declared. I remembered what happened. This guy was changing his IP address to throw off anyone who could be tracking him.
"Maybe he's not in one of the rooms." I stated.
"We're not going to be able to save him, are we?" Courtney asked. I could hear a bit of defeat in her voice. The worst part was that she was right. She looked like she was going to cry. The only other thing that I could do would be try to remember who else was on his list of victims.
"I have some bad news." Iris said through the comms. At that point, Courtney did start to break down a little bit. Seeing her cry made me want to cry a little myself, but I knew that I had to be strong for her. It was probably too late to do anything else tonight and hopefully the Savior wasn't going to do anything else.
I did know that he seemed to have a flare for the spectacle of the thing, so he probably wasn't going to execute anyone in the middle of the night. I could at least take solace in that. I hoped that I would at least be able to make it through the school day. I did remember someone else that he went after, but I didn't even know if he was around in this universe. The fact that had a girlfriend meant that she wasn't personally interested in Roy and she also hadn't even met him because she needed to get community service because she hadn't committed a crime. I was a bit at a loss. I decided to just go to bed, hoping that I would be able to sleep.
The next day at school, I could tell that Courtney was a little torn up. She wasn't used to people dying on her watch like I was. I wanted to do whatever I could to help her.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
"No." She answered. I was glad that she was being honest about it. "I can't believe that we failed like that. That man died because we weren't able to save him."
"Courtney, you can't blame yourself for something that you don't have any control over." I pointed out. "If we had the right information we could have stopped it, but this guy obviously knows what he is doing. We're going to lose sometimes, as you know. We just have to learn from our mistakes and stop him the next time. All we can do to honor his victims to stop him and make sure that he pays for his crimes."
I tried to think of what happened the last time. I was pretty sure that there was something that I wasn't thinking of. He was moving his signal but how was he doing that? Was it possible that I had been in the right place but I had just been in the wrong building? Was he underground? I just had to find the best way to go about doing that.
"I'm sorry that I'm not the best in keeping track of my emotions." She stated.
"That's part of the reason that I like you. You're not emotionally-damaged like I am. I wish that I was better expressing myself like you are." I admitted. Maybe that was one of the reasons that I was attracted to her. She was like Felicity in that regard. Was it possible that she was a combination of everything that I liked in a woman? Or maybe I just liked her because she had been willing to put up with me when no one else would.
I gave her a hug before we went to class. I wasn't really much of a hugger but I knew that she needed one. There really wasn't that much else I could do for her. All I could do was hope that we would be able to stop him next time. I didn't want anyone else to die because of him and I would do whatever else I could to prevent that.
That night, I was preparing to open up the club when I saw that there was breaking news. It seemed like The Savior had taken another victim. I didn't know if it was going to be Roy or if it was going to be someone else. I would still save them just the same, even if he had somehow captured Zoe Lawton. No one deserved to be publicly executed over a livestream no matter they had done. Courtney was standing next to me as the two of us looked at the screen, ready to figure out who we needed to save. Though I could not have been possibly prepared for what I ended up seeing.
"Oh my god." Courtney declared.
"Meet Pat Dugan." The voice declared. "He may look like an ordinary mechanic but he is hiding something. You see Pat used to be a hero. He was the vigilante known as Stripesy, but he couldn't do very much. He couldn't save his city and he can't save this one either, but I can."
I couldn't believe that he would go after Pat. I did know that Pat was a former hero. Also, Stripesy was a really bad name. He had worked with someone named Starman, who I had never heard of, but had been killed in action. Courtney's costume was made from costume. She just cut away a lot of it. I knew that we were going to save him because there was no way that something like this could happen to Courtney. It would also be ironic that she would be the one that would help us stop him. He was going after Starman's sidekick and he was going to be stopped by Stargirl. If poetic justice existed, that would be a perfect example of it.
"Courtney, we're going to do this time." I promised her.
One thing that I was pretty sure was that the Savior would probably make sure that Pat didn't have his cellphone on him because that would make him easy to track. I couldn't believe that he was willing to kill a man with a family, but I supposed that he was so blinded by rage that he couldn't see that. It also made a lot less sense than him going after Roy, but I supposed if Roy was not here, there had to a substitute of some kind.
"Do you know if Pat would have anything on him other than a phone that would help us track him?" I asked Courtney once we were in the basement.
"Not that I know of. Would it even matter because the Savior could just change the signal yet again." She stated.
"Courtney, I think that we might have looking in the wrong place last time." I stated. "I'm pretty sure that the Savior was there but he wasn't in the building or any of the buildings. We were looking around the city when we should have been looking underground for him."
"Where do you think he's hiding underground?" She questioned.
"I don't know but we're going to find him and we're not going to let him kill Pat." I explained. "I promise that nothing is going to happen to him."
"Wait a minute, I think I might have figured it out what all of the locations have in common." Iris declared. "All of those locations are subway stops."
"But Star City doesn't have a subway system." Courtney pointed out.
"They used to though. I never really partook in it but I know it was there. We just need to look through the former subway stations for any kind of signal."
"And Joseph Falk used to work for the Department of Transportation, so that's how he knows all of the old subway stops." Iris added. "Courtney, we're going to get your dad out of this."
"He's more of my stepdad." She declared.
"Your stepdad can just as good as your real dad." I explained. It was something that I had learned from being around Walter where I was from and it was something that I learned from being around Malcolm here. You don't always get to choose your family, but that doesn't mean that what you get can't be really great.
"And we probably couldn't trace the signal because he was in a subway car." I added. He wasn't hacking to move his location, he was literally moving his location. "We need to suit up."
It had been a while since I had fought in a moving vehicle before. I knew that I would be able to stop him and get Pat out of there. I also knew that in the chance that I did kill him, I was going to make sure to take out his camera first. Even if it would be justice for him to die in the same way as his victims, I was not that kind of person.
"It looks like he's on the old crosstown line and if he continues on the same route, he'll be at the Spring St. stop in 15 minutes." Iris explained. I knew that it would be a lot easier to manage since we knew where we going.
The two of us went underground and I knew that Courtney's emotions could possibly be a detriment to us at this point, but that was a risk that I had to take. I couldn't ask her not to come to this when she was the one who had the most to lose.
"What if we can't get him out of there in time?" She asked.
"Courtney, I could really use some of your optimism right now." I told her. "You can't go and think about what could possibly go wrong. You just have to believe that we're going to be able to get him out alive. You are one of the strongest people that I know. We are going to do this. Just keep repeating that to yourself. You probably shouldn't do it out loud, but make sure to repeat it in your head."
At that point, I saw the train go by. We would need to find a way to get onto it. I wanted to see what was happening on the livestream but I knew that I wouldn't be able to do that while I was trying to save him. I wanted to know what Pat had to say, even though I still didn't understand why he had been abducted in the first place. There were probably a lot of worse people that he could have gone after. Even though I didn't want it, Roy would have made a lot more sense.
Getting onto a moving train was not the easiest task. We would have to use the staff because thar was the only way that we would be able to move fast enough. We managed to get on top of it and I was pretty sure that he heard us.
"He seems to have dropped his camera but it's not recording anymore." Iris told me. That would at least solve that part. It also meant that our battle wouldn't be recorded because I knew that the police might be able to get something from that.
We broke in through the window and I found that we were face-to-face with him. Courtney got on the ground as she managed to slip by him. She was focusing on the most important part of the mission, which was saving Pat. We would still have to find a got way to get him off of the train and to safety, but I knew that we would be able to do that.
"Joseph Falk, you have failed this city." I told him.
"You don't need to stop me. I am only trying to save this city like you are." He countered. "You're the one who inspired me to do this."
"Well you seem to have gotten my message wrong. I want these people to change by righting their wrongs. Simply killing them will not give them the chance to do that." I explained. "I am sorry that your wife was killed, but do you really think that she would want you to do this? Would she be proud of you right now?"
He looked a little bit stunned by that question. It was fully possible that he hadn't considered how other people felt about his actions.
"You've killed people for this city. So have I." He tried to argue. I wasn't sure if he knew how flimsy his argument was but it wasn't working.
"That has always been a last resort for me." I pointed out. "You're making it your first and only option and that is why you don't understand who I am."
"My wife never got a second chance." He stated. At that point, I noticed that Courtney had successfully gotten Pat off of the train. Well I knew that we had already succeeded in the most important part of the mission." "You have no idea how lonely it is."
"I understand being alone, but it doesn't give you the right to kill people in cold blood." I stated. I also remembered how this ended the first time and it was beginning to look like it would go the same way.
"It looks like there's no other way out of this." He declared. He grabbed the gun and turned it on himself.
"Don't do it." I ordered as I fired my bow, but he managed to get the shot off. I had to admit that was not a way that I expected things to go. His body fell over onto the ground.
I got out of there and went back to the club. I didn't expect Courtney to be there and she wasn't. I thought that maybe I should go to her house and check on her. I was pretty sure that Pat couldn't be charged with being a vigilante in a different jurisdiction and they would also have to prove whatever crimes he committed, which might have been beyond the statute of limitations. I still was not an expert in the law, even though I had actually been a member of the police.
However, I had to go back and manage my club. Since Courtney had to go home, I would have to cover her shift and be a waitress. I went and grabbed a tray and decided to go out to some customers asking them if they needed anything.
Once we were getting close to closing time, I remembered what Courtney had told me earlier. I needed to let loose at times. I put my tray down and went over to the dancefloor. I started to move with the music, not caring that anyone was looking at me and I had to admit that it made me feel a lot better. The only thing that could have possibly improved it would be if she was there with me.
"Livvy." Dinah interrupted.
"What are you doing here?" I asked her in surprise.
"I heard that your friend's dad got abducted by that savior guy and I just wanted to see if she's alright." She stated.
"Well she's home right now and he's there too, so I imagine that she's feeling a lot better." I stated.
"Why do I have a feeling that you and Courtney are more than just friends right now." She remarked.
"Well…" I answered with a blush. "Are you alright? You seem like you're something other than alright."
"My mom, she showed in town this week because she thought that Sara was alive." She explained. "She was so sure of it that she kind of had me believing it as well, but Sara's gone."
"I'm sorry." I declared.
"I can't believe that she sucked me in like that." She responded.
"You wanted to believe that Sara was still alive and there's nothing wrong with that." I replied. I still hoped that she was. "I know you miss her and I miss her too."
"Thanks for listening." She replied.
When I got home, my phone rang. It was Courtney.
"Hi." I answered.
"So Pat's okay. He says that to tell him thank you." She said.
"Do you mean me or me, the vigilante?" I asked. I probably wouldn't be upset if she told him at this point, even though I would rather she didn't.
"You, the vigilante." She replied. I did breathe a sigh of relief. "I'm not going to tell him your secret. So I heard about what happened. I wasn't expecting him to do that. Are you okay after watching him do that?"
"It's not the first time that I've seen something like that happen." I admitted. "I wish that I had been able to save him as well, but you just can't save everyone."
At that point, I got a text from Iris showing me the same image.
"So I'm pretty sure that we got a breakthrough in the case of the other archer. Everything is connected through the Glades. I think he might want to destroy them."
"How?" She questioned.
"I don't know." I lied because I wasn't supposed to know the answer. "I don't know."
So we're starting to get close to the end. I may end up skipping some chapters in order to get there faster, but all of the important stuff is still going to be there. Please don't forget to review.