Chapter 22 - Hot Steaming Soup

Green Arrow:

"Ahh," I scream as something hits my back and I drop back into the mud. 'Ahh! What the hell!"

Reaching behind me, trying to grab whatever it is, I begin to feel something spread from where it hit me. Feeling like some sort of disgusting, wet slime, it quickly covers my whole back before moving to my chest!

Barely having time to see it before it covers my face, I find myself in total darkness, before finding myself back in the swamp, with Poison Ivy standing a few feet away from me.

"What the hell," I say again, getting back up. Only, as I push myself back up, I feel different. All the pain, the burning sensation in my head, the noodle-like legs, the non-stop ringing in my ear, it's all gone.

"What the hell," I say for the third time when I see my hands and legs. Covered in some sort of lighter green, 'plastic-y', fabrics, it is different from the suit I was just wearing. It looks skin-tight, yet still loose enough for me to move around without ripping. My mask had changed too, the eye-holes having lenses in them.

"Hello," a message starts, appearing in the lenses and across my eyes. "This is mine, not yours. This is an excellneno-suit, my own creation, and specifically modified for you. Please do not get it dirty, stains, or torn while trying to figure out how it works. Thank you."

"What in the living hell," I say, my mind feeling like it is a sentence away from exploding. "What the--What-Why---Excell-uh?"

Looking at the bow that just materializes in my hand, I almost didn't see Poison Ivy orders another plant 'thingy' to try and bite my head off. Before it can, however, I take a step back and pull an arrow from my quiver.

"Uh," I say, noticing even my arrows have changed. "What? What happened to my arrow! Where's my ice arrow!"

"Ice arrow," some computerized voice says, the tip of the arrow changing from a pointed tip to a green cylinder with white mist falling from it. Before I can do anything else, I fire it and the arrow hits Ivy's plant thingy, the thingy freezing and shattering in mid-air.

"Son of a bitch," I scream, seeing the frozen bits of it drop onto the ground. "Wow. That's new."

Stun by the changing arrow, I forget about Poison Ivy until she orders a root to wrap itself around my legs. However, as it did, a second message appears in my visor.

"Foreign object in contract with excellneno suit," the message starts, "Mutated biology plant life detected, resembling plants belonging Pamela 'Poison Ivy' Isley. Initializing weed-killing defense mechanisms."

Glowing circles appear all over me, they unleash some sort of green gas that kills the roots wrapping around me in a matter of seconds! Shivering at first, they then die and crumples right off!

"What," Ivy says, stepping back. "What is that!"

"Your guess is mine," I answer, taking the opportunity to load another arrow into my bow. "Uh, computer, net arrow!"

"Net arrow," the computer voice repeats, the tip of my arrow changing again, from a pointed tip to a large green cylinder. As if the weed-killing gas, changing arrow tips, and talking computerized voice weren't enough, now a red crosshair appears before my eyes, Ivy's head right in the center of it.

Black Canary:

The new suit screaming by itself destroys Swamp Thing's arm, the entire limb bursting into shards of timbers!

Screaming and stepping back, Swamp Thing pulls back what is left of his arm, before roots gather around his legs and climb up them. Traveling to his arm, they twist into a new arm.

"What the hell," I say, staring at my hands before some sort of message appears before my eyes.

"Initializing defense mechanism," the message starts, "Sonic shield activate."

Realizing that the message is on some sort of futuristic visor, I also realize that my old jumpsuit is gone, replaced with a new, slick black and gold suit with spikes on the shoulders. Besides the suit itself, there's also the new pair of leather gloves and what looks like knee pads on my legs.

"Hello," a second message appears, "This is an excellneno-suit, my own creation, and specifically modified for you. It comes with a list of special abilities I believe will help you in future fights. If you wish to read the list, then do it later. Right now, I'm guessing you're in a fight!"

The message disappearing, I then see Swamp Thing stomp his new arm against the ground, more sharp roots erupting from beneath! Jumping and rolling out of the way, I manage to avoid the roots, landing on my knees a few feet away.

Taking a deep breath, I then scream at the top of my lungs, my cry sending rocks and mud flying through the air and right at Swamp Thing as he tries to stand his ground! However, my scream seeming more powerful than before rips Swamp Thing from the ground, him too flying through the air before landing with an earth-shaking thud!

Expecting him to shoot back up, I'm a little startled when nothing happened. Running over to him after a few minutes, I see Swamp Thing in the middle of a crater, knock-out and moaning about not letting Superman conquer the swamp.

"The green," he moans, "The green will endure. It will. You will not have it."

"Of course I won't have it," I say, sliding down into the crater with Swamp Thing. "I don't want it. I just want your help."

Thinking of how I could possibly move Swamp Thing, the guy begins almost twice my size, I stop when I see a pair of lights coming from the woods.

Green Arrow:

"I call this my Canary Cry," I scream, firing a sonic arrow past Ivy. Landing a few feet behind her, I then slide onto the mud and kick her right into it! Falling onto my sonic arrow, it activates and screams, Ivy screaming back before falling onto the ground!

"Oh boy," I say, getting back up, a little out of breath. "That was, that was something. Whoo."

Resting a little, my hands on my knees, I then push myself back up, bending back and hearing a few bone cracks before straightening up.

"Oh no," I say, realizing the entire right side of me is covered in mud. Thinking back to the message, the part that said do not get it dirty, stains, or torn, I also remember the man technically kidnapped and forced me to do this mission. So I guess we're even.

Hearing some noise from behind, I turn around and pull an arrow from my quiver.

"Net arrow," I scream, the tip changing just as a pair of light beams shoot out from the woods. Preparing for whatever it is, I relax a little when I see my wife in the driver's seat of a giant, black SUV, the front of the SUV equipped with two large buzzsaws.

The door opening, Dinah runs out to greet me.

"Ollie," she says, giving me a hug. Hugging her back, we pull back.

"This has been a very crazy day," I start, "And I don't know if I'm crazy or not, but wasn't that a car before? Not a massive SUV with saws?"

The:

"Head-up," Cold says, nudging his head as Barry stomps out of his house, slamming the front door and walking down the stairs. Walking only a few feet, Iris then walks out herself. Chasing after him, she grabs his hand and from the looks of it, forces him into a conversation.

"Anyone else feels like they're watching a soap opera," I say, still watching as Bar and Iris scream at each other. Eventually, just walking away, Bar left Iris in tears. Running back to her house, Barry got back into the car with us, slamming the door.

"Hey," I say, turning around. "Does this look like a rental to you, uh? Don't slam the door!"

"Fuck you, you son of a bitch," Barry screams, pointing a finger at me. "Fuck you! I told you I didn't want to see Iris! I fucking told you!"

"And I'm telling you this," I reply, falling back into my seat. "There's a pot of steaming hot soup back at the base. Maybe that will calm you down. Either that or a punch to the face."

Putting my foot to the gas, I turn to Iris's house for a quick second. Seeing her through the window, crying and wiping her eyes, I nod at her.