Lian Yu
"I'm not sure about this," Laurel said as she carefully aimed the gun, pointing it to where Slade's thigh was. Not near the artery, obviously, a non-lethal spot, but one that would hurt if it struck. "What if we're wrong?"
"Then I'll just be sidelined for a bit," Slade claimed as he prepared himself for the shot. "While we wait for the wound to heal. We've already confirmed I have high-speed regeneration, so it won't be long."
"Not just that, but also super strength and super speed," Shado counted off, smirking. "You're like a real-life superhero."
Realizing she wasn't going to win this argument, Laurel sighed. "Fine. Get ready."
Shado moved out of shooting range while Slade tensed and prepared himself. Laurel pulled the trigger, wincing as the bullet escaped from the gun chamber and hit Slade directly in the leg. The man didn't even flinch. Laurel lowered the gun as Shado darted back to Slade and looked at where the bullet had struck. "Not even so much as a bruise," she declared.
At that, Laurel released another a sigh, this time of relief. "So high-speed regeneration, super strength, super speed, and super durability," she listed out her friend's new abilities. "A super serum. Like Captain America."
"The comic book character?" Slade asked, as Shado stood back up.
The American nodded. "In the comics, he gets his abilities after being injected with some kind of super serum. Though all it did was make him constantly at the peak of physical and mental human condition. You're explicitly superhuman."
Shado arched an eyebrow. "And you know this because…?"
"Tommy's a huge fan of comic books," Laurel admitted, blushing slightly.
Slade exchanged a look with Shado and shrugged, before his expression turned serious. "So what now?"
Laurel's face darkened. "Ivo will come back for us once he realizes the box is filled with fakes. Either to take his revenge or to see if we kept the Mirakuru with us."
"Did we?"
"We did," Shado confirmed, as Laurel took the box where she had stored the drug out of her pack and unlatched it open, revealing the syringes filled with growing green liquid. "We switched them out with the fakes just in case for more leverage. And now that we know it works, we can also use it if we get severely injured like you did."
The ASIS agent seemed memorized as he stared down at the syringes, picking one up and fingering it carefully. He stared for so long that both Laurel and Shado began to get uncomfortable; the latter cleared her throat, catching Slade's attention. Once she had it, she continued speaking. "I suggest that we don't for Ivo to come to us," she told them. "Instead, we should go to Ivo."
"You're saying we should hijack the ship?"
"Yes," Shado confirmed, nodding towards Laurel. "With Slade's abilities, it'll be child's play for us to take out enough of the pirates to bring the rest to heel. Once we kill Ivo, we can claim the ship for ourselves and use it and its crew to sail us back to the mainland."
Meaning, they could finally leave Lian Yu behind them for good. Laurel nearly became giddy at the thought of it. "You up for it?" she asked Slade, knowing they needed to be in agreement if this was going to work.
Her friend gave her a savage grin. "You mean taking it to the man who tried to harm my two favorite girls? Certainly."
And with that final word, they began to plan.
It took them the rest of the day to hatch a solid plan to claim the ship. First, they had to do reconnaissance on where it had been docked, and how to get on it. Once they confirmed the ship's location, they documented the rest of the environment to see if there was any easy way to sneak on. Realizing that there wasn't — and not wanting to risk a full-frontal assault, even with Slade's newfound prowess — they started a brainstorming session, hoping for some out-of-the-box idea instead. Eventually, Shado remembered the old tents and tarps that were still intact from Fyers's camp, and suggested they 'parachute' their way onto the ship, using Lian Yu's strong winds.
They had pilfered everything that could be even remotely useful from Fyers's camp after the man died and they had killed his remaining stragglers. Anything that could help them survive. This included the tents and some thread, so they got to stitching the makeshift parachute together, working through the night and in shifts. The longer they took, the more likely it was Ivo was going to return with his full forces in an attempt to overwhelm them and claim the Mirakuru.
Finally, come morning, they were done. They allowed themselves the rest of the day to gather their things and rest. As night approached, Slade took out something to celebrate — his last bottle of rum. "A toast to us finally getting the hell off this island," he declared, passing Laurel and Shado some shot glasses. He poured each of them a little alcohol, and they clinked their glasses before each taking a sip.
"So what are you going to do when you get home?" Laurel asked Shado once they were done.
"Find my sister, and tell her what happened to our father. I'm not sure about what happens after that, but she deserves to know the truth," Shado explained. "What about you? Finally going to law school?"
"Maybe," Laurel said, frowning as she pawed at her pack, where the List still was. "I think that can wait, though. I need to know who sabotaged the Gambit and tried to kill Robert first. Nobody I care about is really safe until the person responsible is found and held accountable for their crimes."
"Making sure all your enemies are eliminated before you even consider letting your guard down," Slade mused. He smiled at Laurel. "We've taught you well."
"Yeah, you have," Laurel agreed, blushing. She looked between Slade and Shado both, setting down her glass to take both of their hands and giving them an affectionate squeeze. "Thank you, both of you. For everything. I know it wasn't easy in the beginning."
Shado shrugged, and smiled back. "Maybe not at first, but you picked up everything quick. I'm sure if my father and Robert were here, they'd be proud of you. I know we are."
The young woman nodded, and turned back to Slade. "What about you Slade? You'll get to see your wife and son soon. I bet you're looking forward to that."
For some reason, this caused Slade to freeze for a moment. He turned to Laurel and gave her a fixed smile. "I am," he admitted. "Though I'm not sure if I'm going to continue working for the ASIS. After the last few years, I'm not really up for black ops work anymore."
"Oh?" Laurel blinked. Next to her, Shado also gave Slade a surprised look. "Then I guess more time for the family then?"
"Yeah, but I think I'm first going to Starling to help you nab whoever sabotaged the Gambit. If you don't mind, of course," he quickly added the last part.
"Really?" Behind Laurel, Shado gave Slade two thumbs up while Laurel herself beamed up at him. "That's kind of you Slade. Thank you."
Slade smiled. "It's nothing, Laurel. Really. After everything we've been through together, we're like family. And like you, there's nothing I won't do for family."
Hearing that, Laurel tugged both of her friends together into another group hug. One more embrace before their time on the island, and soon their time together, was over. It was a bittersweet feeling, but one she welcomed all the same.
Right before they began paragliding towards the ship, Laurel gave a kiss to the medallion hanging around her neck for good luck. Everyone, I'm coming home, she promised in her mind as Shado took aim at a pile of timber dotted with explosives and loosed an arrow. The projectile hit its target perfectly, and an explosion rocked the beach, far from them but close enough for Ivo and his men to hear and check out. They watched quietly as the men began pouring out of the ship, and once the last man was out, they started preparing the parachute.
They (mainly Slade) had jumped from a few tall trees to test the parachute and made sure it work, but this would be the first time they would be using it from such a open area to a far-off location. They had only one chance at this, so they had to make it count. Laurel and Shado both latched onto Slade's side as the man took a running jump off the cliff, the parachute opening up and catching the winds as they slowly descended to the deck of Ivo's freighter.
The very moment they landed on the deck of the ship, Laurel took out her knife while Shado drew out another arrow from her quiver, her eyes shadowed out by her father's hood. Slade himself didn't bother drawing a weapon at all, just going to the nearest attacking pirate and breaking his rib cage while Laurel and Shado guarded his back.
Their plan didn't involve killing all the pirates. After all, they still needed someone to handle sailing and maintaining the ship. None of them had any knowledge or experience in that regard, nor any means of attaining either in a meaningful amount of time. However, the pirates did, and that meant they had to keep enough alive to keep the ship running. Otherwise, they were still stuck on Lian Yu.
The hitch was ensuring the pirates' "loyalty" was turned to them instead of Ivo. And the best way to do that, was to kill him. Normally, Laurel would've been queasy at the idea of a pre-meditated decision to kill another man. All her previous kills had been in self-defense or in the defense of others, after all. Under normal circumstances, what they were planning to do to the doctor was murder.
But that man had long since lost any sympathy Laurel might have had for him. Not only had he tried to murder her and her friends several times, but he had also intended to let his men rape Shado and her after they had given him the 'Mirakuru'. As far as she was concerned, this was another case of self-defense. Terminally ill wife or not, Anthony Ivo was no different from Edward Fyers, and the world would be better off without him.
After clearing the deck, they invaded the insides of the ship, heading towards the brig. When they arrived there, however, they found themselves briefly stopping their rampage in shock at what they found. Laurel nearly dropped her knife as she stared, open-mouthed, at the scene before her.
Cells. Dozens of them. Each filled with a single prisoner, dressed in threadbare clothing and clearly in pain. Most of them looked like they hadn't seen the outside world in months, if not years. Others were just rags and bones, huddling in corners. Some even seemed to be dead, judging by how still they were.
"What the hell…?" Shado trailed off, genuinely horrified.
"What would Ivo want with all these people?" Laurel wondered, aghast.
"Experiments."
The trio turned to one of the cells, where a brunette-haired man of average height but notable girth and bright blue eyes was situated. He had a grim expression on his face. "He scientist, after all," the man continued. He had a Russian accent. "Every scientist needs test subjects."
God. Ivo wasn't just as bad as Fyers, he was worse. Was all of this really for his wife? Or was that just an excuse for him to express his sadism under the guise of scientific advancement? Laurel decided it didn't matter — it was unforgivable either way, and Ivo was going to die regardless. Good riddance.
"Where is he?" Laurel asked the prisoner who had spoken to them. "We're going to kill him and take the ship, use it to get to the mainland. And we're bringing all of you with us."
Her claim didn't inspire any hope in the man. Just skepticism and cynicism. Nonetheless he pointed out a direction for them to follow. "At other end of brig. There's entrance to other side of ship. His office will be there."
"Thank you." She paused. "My name is Laurel, by the way. Laurel Lance."
"…Anatoly. Anatoly Knyazev."
Laurel nodded. "Again, thank you, Anatoly. You won't regret this." She turned to Shado and Slade. "Let's go."
They made a beeline for the entrance Anatoly told them about, Slade wrenching the door open and taking the lead. There were several doors, each one opened in hopes of finding their quarry. To Laurel's disgust, several of them seemed to be 'labs' of some sort, supporting Anatoly's claims that Ivo used them as test subjects. It killed what little regret she had for what they were about to do to the supposed good doctor; truth be told, the moment he died could not come soon enough.
Finally, they found what they believed to be Ivo's office. The man had locked it up tight, probably in a last-ditch effort to keep them out once he realized they were on his ship, but it meant nothing to Slade's Mirakuru-enhanced strength. He wrenched the metal open, slamming the door away, and was welcomed with several bullets to the chest that he dutifully ignored. From behind him, Laurel and Shado waited in the wings, ready to attack at a moment's notice.
Eventually, Ivo ran out of bullets. The moment he did, Slade grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket and slammed his back against the wall. "I've been looking forward to this," the Australian snarled.
"Slade, wait!" Shado exclaimed, Laurel trailing behind her. "Not here. In the brig. That way everyone can see he's dead."
Slade narrowed his eyes, before turning to Shado with a nod. They exited the office and headed towards the direction of the brig, Slade once again taking the lead. Ivo, restrained by rope that Laurel had used to tie his wrists together, was behind him, being constantly prodded by Shado's notched arrow. A reminder that Slade wasn't the only person here that could kill him if necessary.
When they made it to the brig, the rest of the pirates, the ones Ivo had sent out, had returned to the ship. The moment they spotted Slade, they began openly firing at the intruder, each and every single one of them. Slade hardly blinked as the bullets struck him, each failing to make even the slightest amount of damage. Behind him, Laurel and Shado waited quietly with a cowering Ivo. The onslaught would stop eventually; there were only so many bullets, after all.
Finally, the hail of lead ceased. The pirates stared, terrified, when they realized they hadn't managed to make a single scratch at all on the man that had slaughtered most of their crewmates. "You done?" Slade asked, bored.
One of the pirates gathered up his courage and charged Slade, his arm high as he tried to strike the larger man with his machete. Slade grabbed the machete and flung it away, before taking him by the front of his shirt and lifting him high. He threw the man against the cells with all his strength, causing the metal to dent when his body struck it. The pirate was dead before he even hit the ground.
"Like I said before: are you done?" Slade demanded once more. This time, the pirates wisely stood down, setting their weapons on the floor and holding their hands up in surrender. Satisfied, the Australian turned to his friends and nodded towards them.
With Slade's go ahead, Shado began bullying Ivo to the center of the brig. "Wait, wait," the man began speaking, trembling. He knew he was about to die soon and was trying to find some way out of it. "You don't want to do this. I have money, you know? When we get to the mainland, I can pay you all handsomely, say that you help saved me from these pirates."
Next to Shado, Laurel snorted. "Or, more likely, you'll claim that we kidnapped you and held you hostage or something to that effect in hopes of slandering us and getting us jailed or worse," she said cynically. "After all, you're rich, white and famous. This wouldn't be the first time you've had to buy your way out of a problem. The only difference now is that this time, it won't work."
She would know. Laurel had been around rich people all her life. She had attended a top-tier private school thanks to her mother's trust fund, and her boyfriend was a member of a billionaire family. And while the Queens and the Merlyns were decent enough people, she was well aware they were the exception, not the rule.
"Come on, you've won!" Ivo shouted desperately. "Can't you show me a little bit of mercy? My wife—"
"You were going to have your men rape Laurel and I for 'stress relief'," Shado pointed out, incensed. For all her normally unshakable demeanor, it was clear even she was sick of Ivo. "You weren't going to show us any mercy, so why should we show any to you? And as for your wife, do you honestly think she'll want you back after everything you've supposedly done in her name? If she is any sort of decent person, she'll hate the man you've become. And if she isn't, then she isn't worth saving anyway. Just like you."
The words struck true. But Ivo, worm that he was, refused to give up. "Please—"
He didn't say another word. Slade grabbed him by his shoulders, and squeezed. Laurel closed her eyes and looked away, as Ivo's screams echoed throughout the brig.
After Ivo was dead, they took control of the ship. The pirates swore allegiance to them under the threat of their lives, while the prisoners agreed to cooperate with them out of gratitude. Having killed their tormentor, Laurel, Shado, and Slade might've as well been heroes in their eyes. It made Laurel uncomfortable, but as long as it meant there wouldn't be a possible mutiny down the line, she could learn to live with it.
One of the first things they did after releasing all the prisoners was collecting all the dead bodies. The corpses of Ivo and the pirates would be thrown overboard to feed the fishes, because that was the most they deserved. As for the prisoners, however, Laurel insisted they get proper burials on the island. Unlike the others, those men had been victims of Ivo, just like them.
Then, they began preparing the ship to leave. That included loading in what supplies they could take from the island. The ship's kitchen had a meat locker and a refrigerator, so Shado had gone hunting and foraging with some of the pirates and prisoners, with Slade making a clear threat that if she didn't come back intact, it would be on everyone else's heads.
While Shado was stocking up their food stores and other useful tools, Laurel went about charting out their route. She recruited Anatoly to help her, deeming him to be the most capable and intelligent of their new allies. "I want to go to China," she explained. "Shado is a Chinese citizen — she'll be able to get us through whatever bureaucratic nonsense we'll face when we get there. Then we can all head over to our respective embassies and request for help."
"What about the pirates?" Anatoly asked her. "If we go into Chinese waters, they will be arrested."
"And it wouldn't be anything less than they deserve," Laurel noted.
"They will not like that."
"They don't have a choice." Slade had made it very clear on that front, and Laurel couldn't find it in herself to care. Not after what those men had done under Ivo's direction, not after what they had been meaning to do to her and to Shado. "Besides, at least they'll still have their lives, for however long they last."
Anatoly didn't say any more on the matter. It was clear he wasn't sure this was the right course of action, but he didn't protest. Besides, he didn't care much for the pirates anyway.
The day they were finally about to disembark from Lian Yu, they hit a snag. Hendrik von Arnim, one of the prisoners, was getting rowdy thanks to friction over having to operate the ship with the pirates. He had no love for any of them due to his hatred of Ivo, and while he still willingly obeyed Slade's orders without protest, he always had a sour expression whenever interacting with one of the outlaws. Laurel couldn't exactly blame him, but he needed to swallow his pride for a bit until they could make it to China. For now, they still needed the pirates in order to properly man the ship.
Unfortunately, Hendrik didn't get the memo. She found him accosting one of the pirates, namely the navigator (aka the one person they couldn't afford to lose) in the brig after the man accidentally hit him on the way up to the main deck. "Hey! Stop it!"
She pulled Hendrik off the man and stepped in between them. "I know you're angry, and you have every right to be, but we still need him. Once we get to China, then you can do whatever you want, but for now, just try to keep calm."
Hendrik scowled. "He stood by and let Ivo torture us. That makes him just as guilty as Ivo was."
"But still—"
She didn't get to finish, because Hendrik roughly shoved her aside. Laurel hit the wall with a hiss, rubbing her now-sore shoulder, and moved to intervene again. But before she could, she found Hendrik suddenly taken away from the navigator and into an enraged Slade's hands.
"How dare you touch her!" he roared, squeezing Hendrik's neck.
Laurel stared, surprised and slightly horrified. "Slade! Slade, stop!"
But Slade didn't stop. Instead, he squeezed and squeezed as Hendrik's face turned blue. And then he wrenched the man's neck with all his might, and ripped his head right off his shoulders. Laurel could do nothing but watch, blood spraying all over her face as she stared, wide-eyed.
The body dropped in front of her, followed by the head. And there was Slade, standing above the corpse, complete madness in his eyes.
After Laurel was done vomiting out her lunch over the side of the ship, she headed directly to the bathroom and began scrubbing away at the blood, trying her best to wash it all off her. By the time she was done, Shado had returned and had heard the news. She went to confront Laurel immediately in hopes her friend would be able to deny it, only to have those hopes dashed. The same fear Laurel felt in that moment took root in her eyes, and the other woman was selfishly grateful that she was not alone in her worries.
Then they got word about Slade ordering Hendrik's remains thrown overboard instead of being properly buried like the rest of the prisoners, and got into the first real argument the three of them had in forever. "He tried to hurt you," Slade pointed out, eyes dark.
Laurel shook her head. "No, he didn't. The person he was angry at was the navigator. He just shoved me aside because I tried to stop him from attacking the guy." She swallowed. "You didn't need to kill him, Slade. You could've just… broken his arm or leg or something. That would have been enough to send a message to everyone."
But Slade dismissed her concerns. "Well, this sent an even clearer message. Now nobody will try to harm either of you. Not if they want to end up like him."
"Slade—"
"No, Laurel," Slade cut her off firmly. "It's done. It doesn't matter anymore, beyond us having one less mouth to feed. Now come on — it's almost time to for us to say goodbye to this godforsaken island."
He turned around to leave, not noticing the uneasy looks Laurel and Shado exchanged.
I'm surprised this managed to take up an entire chapter, but I have to be honest, I have been really enjoying writing about the stuff for this year. Despite my notes being relatively short, there's so much I ended up expanding. This includes Laurel and co. taking the Amazo for themselves, and Slade's gradual descent into insanity.
Thus far, Laurel and Shado have been content to ignore Slade's brutality. Part of it is because, even before the Mirakuru, Slade was always the most brutal out of all them. Even the stuff he's doing now isn't quite removed from what he did to Fyers's men. And since all their enemies were vicious pirates that were going to violently ravish them and potentially use them as sex slaves, it's understandable why they wouldn't care. Not to mention Ivo, who lost whatever remaining sympathy they had for him after they found out about his unethical experiments. As far as they were concerned, those people deserved what they got.
A second reason is because Slade isn't quite as insane yet. Laurel is still alive, and Shado didn't 'betray' him. So they're both able to keep him in check for now. But it's a tentative check, as shown here — all it takes is one little push for the madness to come out. And both of them are slowly beginning to realize that, even if they aren't quite sure of the depths Slade is going to yet.
Next Chapter: Oliver meets with the Adachis.