"I'll need the Unidac merger finalized by the end of the week." She told the men. "We're on something of a clock here."
Suddenly The Arrow crashed through the window. He landed in a roll, coming up to take out one of the guards. He attacked the second bodyguard as the executives fled, knocking him out with a vicious uppercut. The Arrow spun and fired an arrow at the desk lamp, destroying the bulb and sending the office into darkness. He knocked another arrow and held it pointed at Moira's heart.
"Moira Queen, you have failed this city." He said, his voice disguised, as Moira stood, terrified, behind her desk. In desperation, she lunged for the phone, which The Arrow shot off of her desk "DO NOT MOVE!" he demanded.
"Please don't kill me." She pleaded, tears in her eyes.
"Do you know anything about your husband's disappearance?"
"What?!"
"Is Walter Steel still alive?! Answer Me!" he shouted.
"I don't know where my husband is." She told him. "I swear."
"Do you know anything about the Undertaking?" Moira turned and grabbed something off the shelf behind her. "I said DO NOT MOVE!" he shouted.
Moira fell to her knees, holding a picture of himself and Thea in front of her like a shield. "I'm-I'm a mother." She pleaded. "I have a son-Nathan. A daughter, her name is Thea." Nathan stared at her, his face hidden from her view by the mask and hood. "She's just a teenager. Please don't take me from my children. They lost their father and their brother. They can't lose me, too. Please, whoever you are, please."
Nathan let out a slow breath. "Okay." He said, slowly lowering his bow. "I'm not going to hurt you."
That would prove to be a mistake.
Moira dropped the picture and turned, sliding up a panel on the hutch behind her. She grabbed the gun that was in inside and spun again, opening fire. Nathan was taken completely by surprise, making him duck for cover behind the secretaries desk.
The gun emptied, Moira dropped the gun and dug through her purse for her phone. Pulling it out, she dialed Securities number.
"This is Moira Queen, I'm on the 39th floor, I need help." She said breathlessly. "There's an intruder. Please!" Hanging up, Moira rose slowly and peered over the top of the desk-
But the Arrow was already gone. With a small drop of blood on the floor
Dropping through the air, Nate landed in parking lot in a crouch, breaking the pavement underneath him and creating a small crater. He clutched his hand over his eyes in pain. Pulling it away, he saw blood on his hand, and he could only see out of his right eye.
Arrow Lair
Later
Lyla, Helena, and Chien were watching a news report of the attack at Queen Consolidated.
'So far the Police are unwilling to comment, but unsubstantiated eyewitness reports claims that the Starling City vigilante 'The Arrow' attacked Mrs. Queen in her office earlier tonight. She was unharmed in the assault.'
Chien sighed and muted the news, "He really should not have gone after his mother," she turned to Lyla, "You should have talked him down."
"It took me close to a week to get him to admit that there was something going on with his mother. I don't think I would have been able to talk him out of going after her when he thought she was involved in her husband's disappearance and besides, we need to know what this Undertaking is." Lyla admitted.
"He just found out that his mother might be behind the disappearance of his step-dad, and that she is working with the same person who sabotaged the Gambit. He's not going to be thinking clearly." Chien argued.
Hearing a noise from the stares, they all turned around sharply with their weapons ready, only to see it was Nathan with his mask and hood down, staggering in, and bleeding heavily from his left eye, said eye was also missing. "Hey, girls," He breathed, "I need a little help."
"Oh my god! What happened!?" Helena asked, while Lyla wrapped his arm around the back of her neck and held him upright.
"My mother, she...shot me," Nathan said.
"Here, let me see it," Chien as she turned his head to face him. She looked into the bleeding hole where his eye used to be. She could see his flesh trying to heal around the bullet.
"This is not good. His body is trying to heal itself around the bullet. If it still in there when it heals, he'll lose the eye for good. Where are your medical supplies, Nate?" Chien asked.
He pointed to a cabinet by his computer. "It's in the third door."
Helena cleared off a metal table while Chien grabbed a medical scalpel, a flashlight, and a pair of curved hemostat forceceps, while Lyla placed him on the table.
"Alright, I'm going to cut away the healing flesh. Once I do Helena, you need to pull the bullet out. Lyla, he's going to try to move, so you need to hold him down." Chien said as she began cutting and slicing the healing flesh away for a minute while he moved around some, cause it did hurt. After Chien had cut enough, she motioned for Helena to come forward while she shined the flashlight down the hole so Helena could see the bullet.
"This is gonna hurt a bit babe. But you are going to be okay." She whispered in his ear, soothing her boyfriend a bit before she reached in and gripped the bullet with the forceps and began twisting and turning it to lodge it out of place, causing Nate to violently jerk and smash the metal table, denting it, while Lyla held him down as he shouted in pain. After about 30 seconds of this, she managed to get the bullet out and placed it in a metal tray. Lyla cleaned off the blood as his eye began to heal. After all was said and done, Nathan was sound asleep, as Lyla had hit one of his pressure points to make him fall unconscious.
"So, now what?" Helena asked.
"Now, we let him rest. He'll much faster while he's unconscious." Chien said as Nathan mind drifted into the past.
Flashback
Nathan and Slade were sparing in the field around the fuselage. Slade was hurriedly trying to train up Nathan, but wasn't having much luck.
Hand to hand? Barely, kid was more of a brawler.
Fighting with a knife? A little better but still dead in 20 seconds.
Slade was trying him out on escrima sticks, and very soon introduced him to the concept of variable acceleration, sending the young man to the ground. Nathan pounded the ground in frustration, but picked himself back up, holding on to one of the bamboo sticks.
"How did you survive here for six months?" Slade asked. "I know girl scouts who have more fight in them."
"Fighting girl scouts now, Slade, huh?" Nathan jibed. Slade effortlessly smacked the bamboo stick out of his hand. "Oww! What the hell?!" he exclaimed.
"Listen, kid." Slade growled in his gravelly voice. "We have ten days until the supply plane lands. Ten days to turn you into at least half a soldier. So start taking it seriously."
Nathan attacked again, but soon Slade had completely disarmed him. "What is the point of this?!" he yelled. "These soldiers don't carry bamboo! They have guns! So what am I supposed to do if one of them jams a gun in my face, huh? Threaten them with my fucking stick?!" he shouted mockingly.
Slade glared at him, then dropped his sticks and drew his service pistol. He held it out to Nathan. "Jam this in my face." He told the younger man. At Nathan's hesitation, he gave him a look. "Do it."
Reluctantly, Nathan took the gun. He knew what was coming, but did as he was told anyway and pointed the gun at Slade's face. In an instant, Slade had reached up and grabbed the gun, pushing it up and out. Still holding onto it he spun, driving his elbow into Nathan's spine. He then hooked he arm around Nathan's and flipped him over his back, pulling the gun from his limp hand. Nathan landed hard and Slade stood over him, his recovered firearm in his hands, pointed right at Nathan's head. "I give up!" Nathan exclaimed. "I give up."
Angered, Slade hauled the boy to his feet and held the gun directly in his face. "There is no giving up to these guys!" he shouted. "No crying, or buying your way out of it! You have two choices- live, or die. So choose."
Nathan glared at the man. "I choose to live." He said finally.
Slade let him go. "Then let me show you how not to die." He said. He turned and walked over to the fallen bamboo sticks, holstering his gun as he went. He bent down and picked two up, then tossed one to Nathan. Nathan caught it and they immediately clashed.
Later that night, Slade and Nate were in the fuselage of the plane. Slade pulled out several satellite photos of the island and laid them out on a makeshift desk.
"Lian Yu." Slade said.
"It's the name of the island, I know." Nathan replied. "It's Mandarin for 'Purgatory'."
"It is? Wonderful." Slade said drolly.
"Is this the air strip?" Nathan asked, pointing at the map.
"A.S.I.S. took satellite images of the whole island." Slade explained, pointing to a spot on the map. "This is Fyers' main camp, where I was held for almost a year."
Nathan looked up at the man. "Do-do you think that's where Yao Fei is now? 'Cause we could get a message to him." He said hopefully. "We can tell him we found a way off the island."
"Forget about him." Slade said harshly. He moved over to the airstrip. "This is the airstrip. And these infrared images show there are at last ten soldiers guarding the perimeter at any given time."
"Too many of 'em for you?" Nate said mockingly.
"No." Slade replied with a grin, sobering Nathan's mood fast. "My problem is the guy here in the tower. It's a PATC. A portable air traffic control tower. The U.S. government set up these for disaster zones, like Thailand after the Tsunami."
Nathan looked at him. "So what's the problem?" he asked.
"The glass is bulletproof. I can't take out the tower guard with my sniper rifle." Slade explained. "And if he suspects anything's wrong, he'll radio Fyers and we're cancelled." Slade looked Nathan in the eyes. "It'll be up to you to take him out. Up close and personal. Are you ready for that?" he asked.
"Do you think I'm ready?" Nathan asked in response.
"What I think is there's only one supply plane every 3 months." Slade said. "We leave tomorrow, or we die soon afterwards. I pick leaving." He gave the boy one last look. "So get some sleep. We leave at 0600." The two men moved to opposite ends of the plane. Nathan sat down and pulled out the picture of Laurel, and stared at it.
"Don't worry." Slade called out. "You'll be back with your girlfriend soon enough." The two lay down to sleep.
"She's not my girlfriend." Nathan muttered as he drifted off to sleep.
Dream
Nathan opened his eyes. He was laying in his bed at Queen Manor. Sighing, he rolled over to stare at Sara, who smiled sleepily at him.
"Morning." She said.
"Please don't hate me." Nathan asked softly, his eyes watering.
"Why would I hate you?"
"For failing to keep you safe."
Sara's smile faded, but only a little. "Did it hurt, Nathan?" she asked.
"Did what hurt?"
"When they killed you?" she asked as Nathan lay there, a bullet hole in the heart…
End Dream
Nathan gasped as Slade shook him awake. "Rise and shine." He said, moving off. He grabbed several bags and tossed them to Nathan. He grabbed another bag, then reached into an open crate and withdrew his mask. He stared at it for several moments, then tossed it back into the crate and slammed the lid shut. "Come on. We're moving out." The two men left the downed plane and began the long trek through the woods.
They walked for hours, crossing the rocky terrain and darting between trees. They were crossing a river when Slade motioned for him to stop with a raised fist. He listened hard, but heard no evidence of pursuit. "All clear." He called out and finished crossing the shallow river. Nathan lagged behind.
"Hey, can we, um, can we rest for a second?" he asked.
"You can rest on the plane." Slade growled.
Nathan scoffed, but started walking again. "Damn, well, really looking forward to that in-flight movie-"
Click.
Nate froze in place, his eyes wide like a deer in headlights. "Oh, fuck me." He said. Slade, having heard the click, spun around to face the boy.
"Don't move." He ordered him, dropping his gear and lying on the ground in front of Nathan. Carefully he started digging around Nathan's foot with his hands, exposing the edges of a landmine.
"That's a landmine, isn't it?" Nathan asked in fear.
"Yeah." Slade confirmed.
"Fryers had mines placed all over the fucking island!?"
"No, it's probably Japanese, left over from World War II." Slade explained. "Still active. Impressive, considering how old it is." He commented.
"Can you disarm it?" he asked as Slade rose to his feet.
"Without disarming you? The trigger is rusted over. I couldn't disarm it even with the right equipment." Slade replied. Suddenly his eyes widened as he glimpsed something over Nathan's shoulder. "Soldiers."
Nathan looked over his shoulder as much as he could. "Can they see us?"
"They can only see you." He replied. Slade ripped the bags off of Nathan's shoulder, and then turned and ran back into the forest.
"Wait!" Nathan yelled. "Stop!" Angered by the desertion, Nathan took a second to think of what to do. Seeing only one option, he pulled out his balaclava and put it on just as the three soldiers came upon him.
"What are you doing so far from camp?" the first soldier said as the three surrounded him.
"I was separated from my unit." Nathan lied smoothly.
The soldier grunted. "Come with us."
"I-I can't." Nathan said, gesturing towards his foot and the landmine beneath it. The soldiers all looked down to stare at the device. "I'm kinda stuck, you know?"
With a deafening roar, Slade suddenly leapt out of the trees at the soldiers, his sword drawn. Nathan ducked down as Slade impaled the first, then ripped the sword out and wound in a wide arc, slitting the other two's throats. As the last soldier's body dropped, Nathan lifted his head, looking in astonishment.
Slade kneeled down in front of him. "Be still." He said. Then, grabbing the soldiers body, he yanked it forward with him as he leapt, pushing Nathan off the mine at the same moment the dead weight of the body fell on it, keeping the mine primed but unexploded.
Mercenary Camp
Yao Fei was walking across the main road, nodding to the guards stationed at the command tent before entering. Inside Fyers sat at his desk, going over some paperwork. He looked up and gave him a friendly smile.
"Yao Fei. Come in." he gestured to the chair in front of his desk. "Sit." Fyers rose and turned around, opening a case on the table behind him. "Now the first time I saw you with this contraption I thought you looked utterly ridiculous." He said, taking out a longbow. He turned back to Yao Fei and set the bow down on his desk. "That is, until you took out three of my best men with it." He sat down. "25 compound bows will be arriving on tomorrow's supply plane. I'd like you to train a few of my men on how to use them."
"Archery takes years to master." Yao Fei hedged.
Fyers looked back indifferently. "Well, I trust you'll be a proficient instructor." He said. "That'll be all."
Yao Fei rose to leave just as Wintergreen came into the tent. The two men glared at one another. "I hope you are steadfast in your commitment to our cause, Yao Fei." Fyers said. "For her sake."
Yao Fei glanced over at Fyers. "I am." He said, and then walked out, Wintergreen's eyes never leaving him.
The Forest
That Night
Nathan was rubbing two sticks together, trying to start a fire while Slade was checking and cleaning his sniper scope.
"Obviously you were never a boy scout." Slade remarked at Nathan's lack of success.
"Yeah? What gave me away?" he shot back.
"We better hurry. The wolves come out at night." Slade said, grinning.
Nathan looked up. "There are wolves here?" he asked, then sighed in aggravation and said sarcastically "Right. Of course there are. Because what would the worst place on earth be without bloody wolves?"
"The only thing that will keep them out is fire." Slade said.
"Well, you know, you're more than welcome to help." Nathan said finally, glaring at the other man. Slade calmly reached into his pants pocket and withdrew a Zippo lighter. With a flick, the lid was open and the lighter was lit, and he reached down and lit the kindling on fire as Nathan stared in disbelief. "Seriously?" he deadpanned. "I've been working on this for two hours."
"I know. I was watching you." He said, attaching the scope to his rifle. "Thank you for the entertainment."
Later still, Nathan was sitting at the fire, staring at the picture of Laurel.
"You're going to wear that thing out just by looking at it." Slade noted. "Don't worry. She'll be waiting for flowers when you get back."
"I doubt it." Nathan said. "Remember how I told you I was shipwrecked here?" Slade nodded. "Her sister was with my brother when the boat went down."
"That's funny. I never took you as being 'that guy'." Slade told him.
"I'm not. My brother was the one dating this girl in the picture, and was cheating on her with her sister, who was my best friend." Nathan said emphatically. "I've pined after the girl in the picture for several years now. Her sister was my best friend and I promised myself to always keep her safe. I failed."
"If you really think you could have protected her from a freak accident like how you described… you're dumber than I thought, kid. And believe me when I tell you that is saying something."
"Yeah, well, you don't really strike me as the type of guy who accepts apologies, so." Nathan threw his hands up in defeat.
"Well, everybody is in this life for themselves." Slade said with conviction.
"Learn that at Australian spy school?" Nathan asked mockingly.
"No. I learned that here." He sighed heavily. "Do you remember I told you that I had a partner?"
"Yeah."
"Do you remember the guy who tortured you?" he asked. Nathan thought back to the man in the mask who had tortured him so many months ago.
"That freak show was your partner?!" Nathan exclaimed.
"His name's Billy Wintergreen." Slade explained.
"Oh."
"Our mission was to exfiltrate Yao Fei and to find out why Fyers and his men were so interested in him. But our bird got shot out of the sky before we even saw the airstrip."
"That's where I found you." Nathan said in realization. Slade nodded.
"When Fyers took us prisoner, he asked if we would join him and his men. Billy accepted Fyers' invitation. I declined. He was the godfather to my son, Joe. And yet, he turned his back on me without even thinking twice about it. Everybody is in this life for themselves!" he repeated. Sighing, he got up to do a quick patrol around their small camp, leaving Nathan alone with the fire.
Later that night, Slade and Nathan stealthy approached the airstrip. They stopped at the edge, looking around. Slade pointed to the tower. "If you let him radio camp, we're done." He said. He drew one of his swords and handed it to Nathan.
"What about the others?" Nathan asked.
"You worry about your one. I'll worry about my ten." Nathan nodded, then moved off to the tower, pausing only to pull down his mask.
Back on the island, Slade took down the soldiers with mechanical precision, clearing a path for Nathan to the tower. Nathan ran, reaching the tower and clambering up the steps. He paused at the door, slowly peeking in the window inside and seeing only person working at the radio. Slowly, he reached up and opened the door, and moved inside. He crept up on the soldier, but he spotted Nathan out of the corner of his eye and jumped up. Nathan swung clumsily with the sword; the soldier ducked and sent Nathan sprawling into the equipment. The soldier drew his sidearm and aimed it at Nathan, who tried in vain to disarm the man the same way Slade had disarmed him the day before. The solder contemptuously threw Nathan off of him and back into the equipment and held him there, reaching for his radio to call in the attack.
Nathan watched as the soldier reached for the radio- then flinched back as a sword protruded through the man's chest. Slade pulled out the sword, letting the man's body drop to the floor.
"One job to do, and you manage to screw up even that." Slade said sarcastically. He reached for the radio and hung it back up. "I'm going to go make sure that everything is clear. Stay here, keep the door locked. Do not let anybody in except for me. You got that?"
"Yeah." Nathan replied.
"Here," Slade handed him the soldiers' sidearm. "Keep this. And try not to shoot yourself by mistake."
Slade walked out, leaving Nathan alone in the tower. He looked around, looking at all the equipment- and spotted a military satellite phone. Hesitantly he reached for the receiver. Picking it up, he dialed a familiar number. But he didn't call, so filled with shame at his failure that he was frozen for a moment. Instead of calling Laurel, he set the phone down.
Slade came back in the tower.
"Well, at least you didn't try to call anybody." he quipped. "They might be monitoring the calls."
Nathan sighed, but before he could say anything the radio sounded.
"This is Skyhawk 801 Foxtrot, we are 700 kilometers southeast of your position. ETA, three hours, 22 minutes, over."
Slade took the mic. "Island tower, Skyhawk 801 Foxtrot. Acknowledged." There was silence. Worried, Slade hit the mic again. "Skyhawk 801 Foxtrot. Acknowledged."
"Of all creatures that breath and move upon the earth." was said over the radio.
Slade looked worried, Nathan was just confused. "What is that?" Nathan asked.
"It's a challenge code." Slade explained. "They're trying to verify our identity." He lifted the mic once more. "Skyhawk 801 Foxtrot. Please repeat."
"Of all creatures that breath and move upon the earth." was said again.
"Wait." Nathan said.
"What?" Slade asked.
"Wait, I know this. I know this!" he said. "They picked one of the books that I read in college."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Slade demanded.
"It's a quote, from 'The Odyssey'." He explained, thinking furiously. "Of all creatures that breathe and move upon the earth, nothing-nothing is bred that is weaker than man."
"Are you sure about this? Because if you're wrong, this plane will turn around." Slade said.
"Yes, yes. I'm positive." Nathan assured the man. "Nothing is bred that is weaker than man. Say it."
Slade lifted the mic up and activated it. "Nothing is bred that is weaker than man." He said, staring at Nathan.
"Roger that". The voice on the radio said a moment later. "See you in a few hours. Out."
Slade looked at Nathan, impressed. "'The Odyssey'." He said.
"Yeah! It's, uh, well, it's a story about a guy who's trying to get home, so..." He gave a relieved sigh.
"Well, after a few days at Langstughl Airbase, you'll be on your way home." He assured the boy.
Nathan looked at him in confusion. "But you sound like you're not coming with me." He said.
"I'll be coming with you." Slade replied. "After I radio in an airstrike on this location. I'm going to send Fyers and all his men straight back to hell."
"Wait." Nathan said, stopping the man in his tracks. "You can't blow up the island. Yao Fei is still out there."
"He is not my concern." Slade said.
"Really? He's the only reason you came here." Nathan replied. "Rescuing him was your mission!"
"Well, the mission has changed." Slade seethed. "Edward Fyers is a world-class mercenary and he is not on this island by mistake. He has plans for me and you that involve Yao Fei. And whatever they are, they must end."
"Yao Fei saved my life." Nate said plainly.
"That is your debt to repay, not mine." Slade said simply. Nathan looked at him, then walked past him towards the door. Slade reached out and grabbed his arm, stopping him. "Where are you going?!" he demanded.
Nathan stared back at him. "For most of my life," he began, "all that I've ever thought about was myself. I took my family for granted. I was selfish and thoughtless and I hurt people I loved. And I refuse to be that person anymore." He stood straighter. "I can't leave Yao Fei here to die." He stated. "I won't."
"The plane leaves in three hours." Slade said. "If you and your friend are not on it, I am going to leave without you."
Nathan nodded, then turned back and opened the door. He stepped halfway out, then stopped and turned back to Slade. "If I don't make it back in time, and you get out of here, I want you to call my family." He told him. "Call my family."
Slade stared back, a myriad of emotions playing over his face. "Sure, kid." He said finally.
Nathan went out the door, then ran down the stairs and sprinted across the airfield to the forest, heading for the main camp.
The Camp
Nathan stealthily approached the camp, ducking behind a truck as several soldiers walked past. By chance he spotted Yao Fei entering a tent; once the coast was clear he ran across the road and ducked into the tent.
Yao Fei looked up in surprise. "How did you-"
"Come on, let's go." Nathan said. "I'll explain on the way."
"Stupid boy. You should never have come back here!" he exclaimed.
"I found Slade Wilson and he has a way off the island, but we have to go right now." Nathan said quickly.
"No."
Nathan looked puzzled. "No! What? What do you mean, no? This is our chance. What-what reason could you possibly have for staying here?!" he asked.
"Not what." Yao Fei said. "Who."
Suddenly Fyers entered the tent, followed by Wintergreen. Thinking fast, Yao Fei punched Nathan in the face, sending him to the ground.
"Ah, Mr. Queen," he said as his vision dimmed. "I think its past time you left this island. Permanently."
Back at the PATC, Slade was still manning the radio.
"Skyhawk 801 Foxtrot. This is island tower. You're clear to land." Slade said. He checked his watch, then looked up, considering.
Back at the camp, a bound Nathan was thrown into a ring of soldiers, much like the night Yao Fei 'killed' him.
"Simply to satisfy my own curiosity, why aren't you already dead?" Fyers asked. "I saw Yao Fei choke you to death."
"He's not as strong as he looks." Nathan quipped darkly. The surrounding soldiers laughed.
"Still, you return for him." Fyers said. "So you're either a fool, or is it possible you now think yourself a hero?"
"I'm not a hero." Nathan said quietly.
"Of course not." Fyers replied. "It's not possible to be a hero when there's nobody worthy of saving." Fyers turned and walked out of the circle.
"Is this what you want?" he called out to him. "Did you want me to fight him again?!"
Fyers turned around. "Oh, no, Mr. Queen. That's where you're mistaken." He said. "This is not a match. It's an execution."
"I'm sorry." Yao Fei said.
He felt more than heard the man approach, and Nathan turned to see Wintergreen standing there.
"It's Wintergreen, right? Billy Wintergreen?" Nathan asked defiantly. Wintergreen backhanded him hard across the face, staggering the boy. Nathan pulled himself up. "I know all about you. I know you work for the Australian government. Or rather you used to. And that you used to fight for your country. That you used to stand for something!" he shouted. Wintergreen let loose with a devastatingly quick combo of lefts and rights that sent Nathan to his knees.
Wintergreen unsheathed his sword and cut Nathan's bonds, and he managed to push himself back to his feet and he pulled out his knife, managing to use what little skill he had acquired to parry away several strikes. He went for a kill thrust, only to have Wintergreen knock the knife out of his hands. He then sliced each of Nathan's arms 3 times before Wintergreen hit him twice more, sending him back to his knees. Wintergreen reached down and grabbed Nathan by the throat as the soldiers looked on. "Whatever he's paying you, I'll quadruple it." Nathan gasped.
Suddenly, and explosion ripped through the camp. Soldiers in the circle started dropping by sniper fire, even as more explosions rocked the camp. Wintergreen dropped Nathan to the ground and stood there defiantly, even as Fyers and Yao Fei ran for cover.
"How many of them are there?!" Fyers shouted into his radio. Nathan ran off and ducked behind a truck as Slade Wilson walked towards Wintergreen.
"Slade." His old friend said. "Come back to die?"
Slade withdrew his sword and attacked. Nathan watched as his former tormentor battled his new found ally in a fast, brutal fight, while he ripped the sleeves of his outer jacket and used them as a bandage to stop the bleeding from the cuts Billy had given him. Both men hit hard, aiming to maim and appeared to evenly matched for a few moments, but Slades more solid style proved superior to Wintergreen's kick oriented style, as he hit Billy hard in the eye, causing him to stagger.
"Was it really so easy for you to betray me, Billy?" Slade asked through gritted teeth. Wintergreen took a swipe with his sword, but Slade caught his arm, twisting it, then landed several hard punches to Wintergreens head, staggering him. Finally he took his sword and held it up to Wintergreen's throat. "Well Billy, you always had a good kick." He snarled, and then jammed the sword through his eye.
Slade dropped the body and looked over at Nathan, who rose from behind the truck. All of the sudden a shot rang out and Slade went down, hit in the arm. Nathan saw Fyers behind another truck, firing his sidearm, so he ran to Slade, grabbing a Type-95 assault rifle off the ground as he went. He pulled up Slade and returned fire, forcing Fyers to take cover as two of the bullets hit his arm.
"Come on! Come on!" Nathan urged, pulling Slade to cover. He was leading him down the road when suddenly a soldier appeared, jamming his gun in Nathan's face. On pure instinct, Nathan disarmed the soldier exactly as Slade had done to him days earlier, much to Slade's amazement.
Holding the gun on the fallen soldier, he was at the crossroads. If he killed this person, he could never go back to how he used to be. But if he didn't, him and Slade were dead. As the soldier groaned and tried to get up, he growled, pulling the hammer on the gun back and forced himself to pull the trigger, sending a bullet through the soldiers head. Not that any of the merc's could hear it since the sound of the gunshot was drowned out by the roar of the plane passing overhead.
As the body of his first kill fell limp and Slade looked impressed, the sounds of engines roaring overhead caused the men to look up to see the cargo plane abort its landing and takeoff back into the sky.
"There goes our plane." Slade said needlessly.
Later, back at the fuselage, Nathan was digging Fyers bullet out of Slade's arm with a K-Bar knife. Slade screamed through gritted teeth, his arms flexing but unmoving thanks to the ropes that secured his wrists behind his back. Nathan finally managed to get the bullet out, and then stepped back to compose himself.
"Wow." Slade gasped in pain. "I'm impressed. You didn't puke when you shot that guy."
"I swallowed it." Nathan admitted weakly.
"You gonna be okay?" Slade asked.
Nathan looked at the gun and his shaking hands, before turning the safety on it on, and put it in a holster, and holding his hands to try to stop the shaking. "I didn't feel anything. I thought I'd feel something, but I didn't."
"It was self-defense, kid." Slade pointed out.
"I know that. I killed him, cause he was gonna kill us. I think I'll be okay, I just—I thought I'd feel something, you know? Ashamed, disgusted with myself, but no. I don't feel anything." Nathan gasped, kind of put off by how dissociated he was from the kill.
"You can untie me now." Slade said after a minute, which Nathan did.
"Why'd you want me to tie you up in the first place?" he asked.
"A man in pain is unreliable." Slade explained. "I was afraid I might try to kill you." He examined the wound. "Thanks." Suddenly Nathan started chuckling. Slade looked up at the boy. "What?"
"It's just… I'm trapped on an island and my only friend is named Wilson."
"So." Nathan moved off, sighing. "What now?" he asked.
"We hope my fireworks show set Fyers back, maybe enough for those who hired him in the first place to call things off." Slade said.
"Hired him?"
"Well, Fyers is a merc. He follows the money. So he's on this island under someone's employ." Slade explained.
"Then what do we do?" Nathan asked.
"We have to make sure that neither of us dies on this godforsaken island." Slade said.
"I thought you said if we didn't get on the plane… we weren't going to make it." He said
Slade looked at Nathan with a genuine smile. "Well, that dumb kid that I trained, he would never have made it. You?" He held out his hand, and Nathan grasped it firmly. "You might just have a chance." Slade declared.
Mercenary Camp
Night
Fyers was talking to employer on his satellite phone.
"Yes, it's Fyers."
"Satellites showed multiple heat blooms on the island". A man's voice said. "What the hell is happening there?"
"There was a complication."
"Slade Wilson"
"I'm handling it."
"Handle it better. I've worked too hard and planned for too long to have complication arise near the end."
"I assure you, it won't happen again."
"And Yao-Fei?"
"I've ensured his cooperation."
"Good. I've paid you a lot of money Fryers. I expect a return on my investment."
The call ended, and Fyers hung up his phone. He looked up to see Yao Fei walking towards him.
"You sent for me." The Asian man said.
"I'm a man of my word." Fyers said. "You made the right call today, turning in your young castaway. And for that, I'll grant you five minutes."
Fyers walked to the command tent, where a young, dark haired Asian woman lay on the ground. She was dressed in a tank top and cargo pants, and her hands were bound in front of her.
"Shado? Shado! Shado!" he exclaimed, running to her and dropping to his knees. He pulled the woman into a hug.
"Father?" She asked in her native language.
"I'm so sorry." He replied in the same language.
"Father, what's happening?" She asked tearfully.
"Shh, shh, shh." He held her close. "It will all be over soon." he assured her. He held her close, his arms tightening around her back.
On her left shoulder was a tattoo of a dragon's head, the same one that now adorned Nate's shoulder.
Flashback End
Nate awoke to find himself shirtless on the cold steel table. He slowly sat up and sat on the edge. "I guess I didn't die." He said weakly as Lyla, Chien and Helena looked down. "Cool." Lyla shook her head, Chien rolled her eyes, and Helena laughed a little.
He moved over to a mirror and looked at his left eye. The eye lid was bright red and his eyeball, while it was still there in the socket, was pure white, no pupil, iris, or sclera. Only the blood vessels in the eye could be seen.
"Your eye hasn't fully healed yet. It's going to need at least a week before it fully regenerates and you can use it again." Chien said.
"Something I've been wondering, Chien. How did you know about how his eye would heal?" Helena asked her harem sister.
"It's not the first time he's been shot in the eye. This happened a few times while we served in Hong Kong's Triad Branch, called the Red Dragons." She said.
"Well," Nathan said walking over to a drawer, and pulling out a black eyepatch, same as the one that Slade now wore, and put it over his left eye, "This gives me an excuse to wear this again."
Helena walked up to him and gave him a passionate kiss which he returned. "I'm glad you're okay." Helena said. Pulling away she said, "I have to go. I won't be able to come by for a while. I'm in the process of taking over my father's construction company. I'll be back once I have it in my grasp. I love you."
"I love you too, Helena." Nate said as she left.
Chien came over and kissed him as well. "Don't worry us like that. I have to go a check on the Triad. Come see me later, my beloved Jīnfā guówáng?" (1)
"I promise I will. I love you, my Bái fà nǚwáng" He whispered in her ear. (2)
Chien left as well and that left him with Lyla.
"I guess I should apologize for not talking you down. If I had, you wouldn't have gotten shot." Lyla said, feeling bad about him almost losing his eye. Nathan merely walked over to her with a smile and hugged her gently, which she slowly returned.
"Don't worry about it. I'm as obstinate as Mount Everest when I want to be. You couldn't have talked me down even if you wanted to." He said as he kissed her on the forehead. She pulled away from him as she was getting just a little bit flustered.
She composed herself and said, "On a brighter note, I hacked the crime lab and had the sample of your blood that they found at the scene destroyed, so you're good there."
"Thanks for that." He said as he started to change into civilian clothes. Lyla turned away so she wouldn't be tempted to jump his bones. After all, she remembered the last time they had sex, which was after he had dealt with Baron Reiter.
"You still planning on recruiting that girl?" she asked.
"What girl?" Nate asked as he put black jeans and his brown biker boots and brown belt on.
"You know, that blonde girl who works in your IT department." Lyla clarified.
"Fuck no." Nathan said as he put on a gray short sleeved T-shirt, and brown leather jacket. He turned to look at Lyla, who was a bit a confused, as he had previously told her he was planning to recruit the girl.
"Yes, I was originally planning on recruiting her, but that was before I had done all my research on her." He went over to his computer and pulled up some files and started reading.
"Felicity was born in 1989, to Donna Smoak and Noah Kuttler, who is also widely considered by ARGUS to be the best hacker in the world. When she was very young, her father abandoned her and her mother. She reportedly lived in Las Vegas with her mother until she went to college at MIT."
"At a young age, Felicity became interested in computers, claiming to have been building them since she was 7. However, she was always fearful that she would wind up as a cocktail waitress like her mother and worked hard to escape from her circumstances. Due to their wildly different personalities, Felicity had a strained relationship with her mother. When she was 19, Felicity was ranked 2nd in the National Information Technology competition."
"So what the problem with her then?" Lyla asked, not getting the point.
Nathan pointed to another section of his little dossier that he put together about Felicity. "The problem starts here."
"During her senior year at MIT, Felicity dated fellow computer whiz Cooper Seldon. Both of them were members of a hacktivist group on campus, along with Cooper's roommate Myron Forest, as well as part of a cyber-goth subculture. Cooper apparently managed to successfully create a "super virus" which was originally meant for so-called "noble" actions - digitally defacing criminals, exposing government fraud. At one point, Cooper attempted to use the program to hack into the campus' infrastructure to delete all the student loans but he failed. Cooper was later arrested by the FBI for his hack attempt and he went to prison. Felicity tried to get him out by confessing she'd written the virus. However, Cooper had apparently already confessed. When Cooper was about to sentenced, he (allegedly) hung himself to Felicity's devastation. She apparently dyed her hair blonde after that."
"Now I myself know that Cooper is dead because one of my mission's that Waller gave me when I still worked for Argus was to infiltrate the NSA, since they had faked his death to recruit him, and put two bullets in his head. And I did. One of my clones is going to take care of Myron Forest later today. But Felicity Smoak has shown herself to be a very skilled hacker, through my little tests. After finding all that, I am convinced she is the true creator of the Virus."
"So why were you interested in recruiting her, if you already suspected that?" Lyla asked, curious as to what the method to the madness was.
Nate pulled up a name. It read 'Ghost Fox Goddess'. "Because before I killed him, he only gave me an alias, Ghost Fox Goddess. It wasn't until I started researching Felicity more in-depth in the last month that I finally managed to put a face to the alias, though it took my clone nearly 7 days of non-stop researching to do it."
"What does this virus do?" Lyla asked.
"It's called the X-axis bi-numeric algorithm. It's designed to infect every server on a network and give whoever is using it root access to any server infected by it. If you infected, say, FBI servers, with this virus, you could literally go in and take or do whatever the hell you want and they wouldn't even know you were there until it was too late. It's also completely undetectable. Your Argus virus protection software can't protect against this."
"My god." Lyla breathed, realizing the implications of what this virus was. This was basically a nuclear warhead for a hacker.
"Yeah, I spent two years studying this virus before I made my own version of it. I currently have SCPD, City Hall, and CNRI infected with it. I have several algorithms running in conjunction with it to see when anything interesting comes up. It's how I found out who the hell tipped off Cyrus Vanch's girlfriend about the nature of Lance's failed attempt to catch me."
"And how do I know you won't use this to cause chaos and havoc?" Lyla said, uneasy that such a dangerous virus was in anyone's hands.
"Because my version of this virus is only designed to infect one server, instead of spreading to every single one on a network. Plus, only I can utilize it, and it has a kill switch that I can use whenever I want or that will automatically activate whenever someone other than me finds it and tries to use it, making it so no one can ever make a copy of this virus, ensuring it never gets into the wrong hands and threatens national security." Nathan moved to leave. "I gotta go see my mom and sister. Let them know I'm okay."
Later that morning
Nathan finally walked into Queen Manor. As he walked through the foyer, he heard his mother speaking to someone in the sitting room. Walking in he saw Moira, with Thea next to her, talking to Detective Lance.
"… 6'1, and a deep voice." She was describing. She stopped when Nathan entered the room.
"Hey." Nathan said. "What's going on?" he asked, feigning ignorance.
Thea jumped to her feet and stalked towards him. "Where have you been?" she demanded. "I've been calling you all night!"
"Sorry, my phone's dead and I didn't have my charger with me." He told her.
"Well then, maybe it's time you invest in a battery." She said, her arms crossed in annoyance. "Also why are you wearing an eyepatch?"
"I hit my eye around some of the construction, and now my eye is swollen, so I'm letting it heal."
"Thea." Moira chastised lightly.
Lance stood. "Your mother was attacked last night." He said. "By the Arrow."
"What?!" he exclaimed.
"He came after me at the office." Moira said.
"Did he hurt you? Are you ok?"
"Actually, she hurt him." Lance said. "She shot him point blank with a gun hidden in her office."
"That should help with your investigation." Nathan said. "Did you get any evidence, like a blood sample, or..."
Lance cleared his throat uneasily. "There was a screw-up at the lab." He admitted.
"That's too bad." Nathan said, playing along.
"Hmm." Lance replied. He looked over at Moira. "We'll be in touch." he said.
"Thank you." Moira said as Lance walked out. She looked over to Nathan, and then grabbed him in a hug. "Oh, sweetheart. I was so scared."
"I'm just glad you're ok." He told her.
"I thought he was going to kill me." She admitted.
"Hey." Nathan pulled back slightly, but kept his hands on her shoulders. "I promise you, he's never going to bother you again." He told her, and then hugged her once more. He'd leave her alone for now until he figured out more about the Undertaking.
Later that night
Down in the parking garage, Felicity Smoak walked towards her Mini after a long day in the I.T. Department. She got in her car and started it, but it didn't start. She tried several times to start it, but it wouldn't start.
"Great, battery's probably dead." She muttered. She got her phone out and made to call a tow-truck, but a hand broke through the glass and pulled her out of the car, throwing her into the one of the pillars on the parking garage.
"Ahh!" she screamed in pain, as broken glass lay all around her and her left leg was broken. The Arrow dropped onto the top of her car startling her. His costume was the same but this time he was wearing a set of goggles(3).
"Oh, My God!" She said in fright. "You're the Arrow!"
The Arrow said nothing for a minute before saying, "Felicity Smoak," Nate said, aiming an arrow at her chest, "You have failed this city."
"Wha-What!? I'm not one of your one percenters! I haven't done anything!" She pleaded with him.
"I don't limit myself to just the corrupt 1%. I go after all deviants and corruptions in society that reside in my city. Now answer my question. What do you know about the X-axis bi-numeric Algorithm?" He asked, shocking Felicity.
"What!? How could you possible know about that!?" Felicity shouted. She had, after all, deleted every piece of information about it from the web.
"How else would I know? I've studied you. How you used to be a part of a hacktivist group in MIT. How you used to date Cooper Seldon. How he 'allegedly' created said virus." Nate listed off.
"What does my ex-boyfriend have to do with this!? He killed himself when the FBI arrested him!" She shouted.
"Yeah….about that. His death was faked. Your former lover was recruited by the NSA to work for them, but he didn't last that long…considering I put two bullets in his head." Nate admitted.
"You killed him?" She said with tears freely running down her eyes, "You monster! He didn't create virus, I did! He took fall for me! I created that virus with the noblest of intentions in mind!"
"You mean stealing government secrets, and putting the national security of the USA at risk? Do you have any idea the number of atrocities that have been committed throughout history by psychopaths who have used that excuse? The road to hell is typically paved with good intentions, Ms. Smoak. You should have thought about that before you created something that could destabilize the civilized world and throw it into chaos. And for the record, I already figured out you were the real creator of the virus, your ex-boyfriend told me your hacker alias right before I killed him." Nate said as he let the arrow fly true, striking Felicity in the heart, "I just wanted you to admit it." A beeping could be heard from the arrow, and then the device on the arrow exploded, delivering an explosive charge, separating Felicity's body into four different pieces. Satisfied with his work, he left, leaving the recording he had made and the four pieces of the body for the police or whoever the hell found the shrieking banshee's corpse.
Later
Nathan came into his loft and was ready to crash for the night. He told his mom and Thea about his plans to move into the loft he had bought, and it took nearly a whole hour to get them to agree, with numerous promises about maintaining contact and making sure he visited often, but eventually both women relented.
He was about to go up the stairs when he realized something was wrong. There was someone uninvited in his home, though it was a familiar heartbeat and scent. He quickly reached for one of the sword racks that he had all over his loft and pulled a katana out of it's sheathe and in the nick of time, blocked a sword strike that would have surely decapitated him. Quickly disarming his assailant, he forced her up against the wall.
"You sure know how to greet someone," Nathan said as he pulled down her veil and hood to reveal the face of his beloved, "Talia." (4)
"Beloved." Talia said with passion and love as she wrapped her arms around his neck and the passionately embraced.
Lemon
Ripping each of their clothes until Nathan was shirtless and Talia was down to her sexy black lingerie, he carried her upstairs to his massive king-sized bed. Nate kissed Talia as she leaned back to lay on the bed with him on top of her. She moaned hotly as he sucked on her neck, one hand on her breast and the other rubbing her soaking pussy.
Raising his head from her neck, he kissed her lips, biting on her lower lip. Talia gave a smile before kissing him fully, enjoying the passion between them as they started grinding against one another.
"Beloved," Talia whispered husky as Nate continued to suck on her neck "Give it to me, I need you inside of me. It's been too long."
Nate stopped what he was doing, looking into her eyes as she smiled softly, before he kissed her on the lips, as Talia pulled his jeans and boxers down and he helped by pulling them off his legs.
Moving her panties out of the way he looked at her glistening pussy and aimed himself at her moist and eager love canal. With a single stroke he sheathed himself inside of her, and she gave a loud moan. Her mouth set into an O, as she wrapped her legs around him and held him close, her hands roaming his perfect muscular back.
Nate moaned before he began to thrust into his beloved/teacher repeatedly, earning loud continuous moaning from her. As he continued to plow into her, the two held each others gaze.
"Harder!" Talia moaned, and Nate was simply happy to oblige, powering his strokes, causing Talia to give gave a moan like grunt when Nate hit her cervix, as the bed began to rock as Nate began to go faster and harder, making her body quiver in pleasure.
With grunts, Nate continued to hit the al Ghul's cervix, as her hot mature pussy began tightening around him and the comfortable heat she was emitting on his mighty sword.
Nate sped up his approach, adding even more power to his movements, wanting to show how much he loved and appreciated Talia.
Talia couldn't even scream out the pleasure she was feeling, as Nate had actually entered her womb causing her to yell out in sheer euphoria as her body began to quiver "I'M CUMMING!" Talia yelled, her eyes rolling back into her head as Nate continued to thrust into her, not stopping when she came all over Nate's monster cock.
The blond super soldier gave an animalistic growl, as he went full Mirakuru and began to suck on her neck.
Talia gave groaning moan, as her beloved continue fucking her with his true size.
Nate began to grunt as he began to truly pound into Talia, who was enjoying it to the fullest, even though she was unable to catch her breath. After close to three full hours of nonstop fucking and managing to get her beloved to cum inside of her once, Talia was a hairs breadth from unconsciousness. She was very experienced but even she had limits.
During the time since they began, they had changed from missionary, to doggy style, to cowgirl, to downward dog, to squat thruster, to reverse cowgirl, and after getting her to cum in those positions Nate was now on his knees on the bed as Talia was suspended in midair as he held her legs and she had her arms wrapped around her beloved's neck.
Talia's body was glistening in sweat, as she held him tightly while screaming into his shoulder before Nate craned his neck over until his face in the crook of her neck.
"Grah! Urgh!" Nate grunted before he gave one final powerful stroke, and released his pent up lust and seed into her awaiting womb. Talia could feel her belly fill with his thick, hot spunk.
After he stopped cumming, Nate smiled before he lay back on the bed and Talia lay at his side and he held her tight and close to his body.
"I love you, Talia. I'm really glad you're here." Nate whispered as Talia gave a soft smile as she snuggled a bit into Nate's chest, enjoying her beloved embrace.
"As I love you, Beloved." Talia said, as Nate pulled the covers over them, allowing the two lovers drifted into blissful sleep.