Arrow - A Generation of Vipers Read online

Oliver paused in his workout, glancing toward her. Her eyes were locked on his splayed form.

  “Wow, you look good in blue. Brings out your eyes.” She jumped as though she shook herself and coughed. “I mean, I’ve dug through all the files. Not much there. So they must have been wiped from the servers or were never on there to begin with.”

  “Is that normal?” Oliver switched arms and continued to drive himself up and down, barely breathing hard. He relished the burn in his back and shoulders.

  “Scientists can be a paranoid lot, particularly if there was some squabble between Straub and Queen Consolidated. I once knew a guy who kept all his schematics in his head. Sort of like Mozart. Did you know he wrote all his symphonies in his head before he put them down on paper?”

  Oliver held himself up on one straightened arm and glanced at Felicity. He shook his head with a smile. He loved her like this. Felicity’s mind moved at a dizzying pace, full of odd facts and interesting tidbits. He adored watching it race about him. He didn’t understand half of what she said, but it didn’t matter.

  “If he was like Mozart,” she continued, “he may not have put anything on the servers.”

  “That’s not going to help us.”

  “Just because he didn’t put it on company servers doesn’t mean he didn’t put it somewhere.”

  “I guess that means we’re going to explore a mine today.”

  “Yes!” Felicity threw back the covers and leapt to her feet. She opened her closet. “I wonder what you wear to a mine. I need some flats definitely.”

  “You’re not going.” Oliver bounded to his feet, shaking out his arms.

  “What? Of course I am.”

  “Not after what happened in the Glades.”

  “You need me.”

  Felicity stood in front of Oliver, trying to look imposing with her pert little nose and tousled hair. It almost brought a smile to his lips but only because her determined expression released a bit of the tension inside him. The fact she was wearing pink elephant pajamas didn’t help.

  “Yes, I do,” Oliver said. “I need you watching over us, not in the field.”

  “But I’m your technical advisor. I have an idea what we’re looking for.”

  “We’ll have Barry with us. He’s a scientist, and he has superspeed in case a gunfight breaks out.”

  “Oh. Barry’s here?”

  “Yes. He’s downstairs on the sofa. I brought him to continue his training.”

  “How’s that going?”

  “I don’t know.” Oliver gazed off into space.

  “Why not? Aren’t you the one doing the training?”

  “Yes.” He lowered his voice. “I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m trying to come off as some sort of zen master, but I’m not. I got some training back on Lian Yu, and I’ve read a bit since I’ve come back, but I haven’t practiced meditation regularly for years. Now I stand around lecturing him about practice, practice, practice.”

  “You believe what you’re saying to him, don’t you?” Felicity gave him her even stare. “The point is you have a presence of mind that few men can match. Barry knows that and he’s smart enough to tap into it. You get that, right?”

  “Sure.”

  “Then what’s the problem?”

  “I feel like a phony. Like any second I’m going to ask him to snatch a pebble from my hand.”

  “It’s okay to have doubts,” Felicity sighed, “but don’t let Barry know that you have them because he believes in you. I do too. Just do what you can for his mind and his spirit, while we work on the technology.”

  Oliver rested heavily on a table, still not accepting. The muscles of his arms and shoulders bulged with tension.

  “So do you think it’s wise to take him out to the mine? What happens if those mercenaries show up again?”

  “I’m only going to use his big brain. Not his speed. Not if I can help it.”

  “Fine. Let’s call everyone in.”

  Oliver took her arms and brought her closer to him. “Thank you.”

  “Sometimes I really hate staying behind.” Felicity raised her face to his. “I feel isolated and in some sort of gilded cage.”

  “It’s not a cage. It’s a watchtower. Without you overseeing what we do, we’d be working blind.” He put a finger under her chin. “Don’t ever think you’re not with us. You’re always with us.”

  Oliver leaned in to kiss her, but Felicity pulled back. He furrowed his brows at her. She grinned beatifically and lifted her hand. A paperclip rested in the center of her palm.

  “Snatch the pebble from my hand,” she intoned. “Maybe then you will be worthy, my son.”

  “I can never be worthy of you,” Oliver whispered, staring down at her.

  “Oh my God,” Felicity sighed, moon-eyed. “Fine, just take my pebble.”

  7

  A dark opening yawned before the small group in the van. They were all dressed in working gear. John exited on the driver’s side in black leather and his Spartan helmet. He checked his weapons as Speedy and the Flash hopped out of the back, together in red. Speedy’s feet sank into the mud.

  “Well,” she muttered, “this is totally out of my element.”

  Green Arrow walked toward the gaping entrance to the mine, scanning the ground. They appeared to be the first people to walk here in years.

  “Let’s go. Keep your eyes open.”

  They passed through the entrance and into darkness. Green Arrow reached for his flashlight but, as if on cue, a row of faint lights flickered to life along the ceiling of the tunnel. Water dripped from the walls, still weeping even after all this time. Piles of debris blown in over the years lined the tunnel. Decrepit timbers and rusted iron beams looked incapable of holding back the wind, much less the full weight of the mountain above them.

  The team squelched through the wet ground for thirty yards before the tunnel split. One passageway continued on into the dimness, long abandoned and treacherous. The other tunnel only stretched a few yards more and came to a dead end of rock and timber.

  “Overwatch, which way?” Green Arrow asked.

  “The branch on the left is the original mine,” Felicity’s voice crackled in their ears, “but the right has notes on construction from the last few decades. And you’re welcome for the lights, by the way. It’s the best I can do. Most of the systems are shut down.”

  “The tunnel on the right is collapsed.” John laid a hand on a large cross beam that barred their path.

  “From the map I’m looking at,” Felicity said, “that rock fall is covering the elevator to take you down.”

  They got to work.

  An hour later, when enough of the wreckage had been moved, Oliver stepped over the final beam to examine the wall beyond. His hand brushed the left side and found a small square seam. A panel. He pried it open to find a single button. He pressed it. Within a minute, a signal dinged and doors slid open on a modern elevator coated in dirt.

  Green Arrow stepped in and tested the weight. It held with a slight shudder. Barry and John entered next, and the elevator groaned and shimmied.

  “It’s not going to hold all of us,” Speedy said.

  “It will.” Green Arrow motioned her in and she regarded him dubiously.

  “What do you weigh, Speedy? Twenty pounds soaking wet?” Spartan suggested. “I think we’ll be all right.”

  She gingerly stepped inside and closed her eyes in silent prayer, her body tense. The doors closed and Green Arrow hit the down button. The elevator groaned and something clanged loudly before it started to descend. Speedy exhaled. They sank in silence.

  The Flash looked up. “I’m waiting for ‘The Girl from Ipanema’ to start playing.”

  Green Arrow almost smiled until the elevator jolted violently. They grabbed for the sides before being tossed to the floor when the elevator slammed to a halt. John went to the door and jammed his fingers into the seam. Green Arrow joined him. Together they pried the doors apart to find a wall. However, there was a two-foot open gap at the bottom, the top of the open door they should have been in front of.

  Green Arrow slipped through the space and landed on uneven ground. The elevator had come to a sudden rest atop a pile of debris in the bottom of the shaft.

  In the pale light provided by a few bulbs scattered around the vast space, the walls gleamed laboratory-white even though rust or mud dripped from cracks, stirring the illusion that the walls were bleeding. He heard the others climb out of the elevator behind him.

  “Well, it could be worse,” John remarked.

  “No jinxing, please,” Speedy warned.

  “Overwatch, do you read?” Green Arrow fiddled with his comm.

  “Yes.” Static filled his ears, but then Felicity’s voice crackled. “Any sign of the object?”

  “It would help if we knew what it looked like, but I don’t see anything yet.”

  The area was cavernous, industrial in appearance. Numerous doors lined the walls, and above them, a walkway encircled the expansive chamber complete with glass observation rooms.

  “Where do we start?” Speedy swept her gaze over the place.

  “One door at a time,” Oliver told her.

  “I don’t know about you guys –” she stepped up to the nearest door, “– but I want to see what Dad was hiding down here.”

  “He wasn’t hiding anything,” Oliver replied quickly. “Merely conducting tests. Better out here than in the city.” Even he didn’t think he sounded convincing.

  The room had been stripped bare to the walls. The next room showed more of the same. Occasionally a table or chair sat abandoned, but that was all. Not even scraps of paper littered the floor.

  “They cleaned up behind themselves.” The Flash looked around the cavern. “I could zip around and—”

  “We’ll do it the old-fashioned way,” Green Arrow said. “May take longer, but at least it won’t cause you to blur.”

  The Flash looked mildly irritated, but waved at Green Arrow and headed across the cavern at a slow walk. Well, slow for the Flash. John followed after him, searching rooms to the Flash’s left.

  Green Arrow and Speedy went high, scouring the catwalk and observation booths. Upstairs turned out to be as clean as down below. To Oliver’s annoyance, thirty minutes of searching turned up nothing.

  “Overwatch, I think this is a wild goose chase.” Green Arrow closed the door to yet another empty room. “Back to the drawing board.”

  “It might not be obvious.” Felicity’s voice sounded faint and scattered. “Particularly if they hid it.”

  “So we’re looking for a safe of some sort or a hidden storage locker?” Green Arrow asked.

  “Or a brick wall instead of a metal wall. Anything out of the ordinary.”

  “Wait,” said the Flash. “She’s right. There was a wall that looked different.” He jogged quickly across the chamber and stopped before a section of wall that was just a bit off color. “Look.”

  “It’s certainly not the same material.” Oliver bent closer and then used an arrow from his quiver to wrench back some of the plaster. A large sheet cracked off to reveal a solid steel door.

  “Jackpot!” the Flash exclaimed.

  “First we have to open the thing, and I’d rather not risk explosives.” Oliver looked around the laboratory. Even though it seemed secure enough, they had no idea of the condition of the supports that held the surrounding rock at bay.

  “I can shatter the bolts.” The Flash held up his hand in expectation of Oliver’s protest.

  Green Arrow’s lips held a hard line, but he nodded. Barry’s expression went from mild surprise to a broad smile. Stepping up to the heavy door, he touched the thick bottom hinge. His arm began to vibrate until his hand was barely visible. Oliver watched in amazement as the Flash pushed his fingers inside the metal like a knife into butter.

  The massive door popped from its hinges. Everyone stepped out of the way. The steel slab shifted and fell to the floor with a massive clang. Air hissed out.

  Green Arrow’s bow lifted as Spartan shined his flashlight inside. Swirling trails of dust filled the beam that played around a small dark room. The only thing inside was an odd contraption sitting atop a table, glinting in the light that brushed across its metal facets.

  It was about the size of an office desk, and appeared solid at first glance, a dense chunk of steel. But on closer inspection, it was actually a system of conduits and tubes and pipes of various sizes and shapes. They twisted into each other to create the illusion of solidity.

  Peering deeper into the construct, the metals were different colors and there also appeared to be spheres of glass suspended inside.

  “Is that it?” Speedy looked over John’s shoulder. “It’s not very big.”

  Green Arrow stepped into the room.

  “Wait!” the Flash called out. “What about booby traps?”

  “This isn’t Raiders of the Lost Ark,” Spartan cracked.

  “What do you think?” Arrow motioned the Flash forward, letting the scientific expert take over.

  Barry bent over the device, peering close to examine the cobwebbed mechanics.

  “Well, will that little thing open up a wormhole or not?” Speedy asked.

  “It is definitely something unusual.” The Flash straightened with a grin of excitement. “It’s not a weird space heater or anything. Parts of it do resemble some of the temporal tech we’ve rigged at S.T.A.R. Labs. I think.”

  “We need to get it back home.” Green Arrow looked at the others.

  “C’mon, Flash, I think we can carry it together.”

  Spartan lifted one end of the device with a straining grunt as Barry grabbed the other. Together they managed to heft it off the table. With shuffling steps under the weight, they lugged it out of the vault into the main chamber.

  Green Arrow caught shadows moving across the ceiling. His bow lifted and an arrow flew. One of the shadows plummeted to the floor. Ropes suddenly dropped and dark shapes slid down.

  “Overwatch, we have hostiles.”

  “I didn’t see them up top.” Felicity’s reply crackled with interference. “And I can’t read anything where you are. You’re too far down.”

  “Incoming,” Spartan shouted as a group of commandos rushed toward them. He and Flash set down the machine and Spartan pulled his pistols. Three men fell under his barrage. “Those look like the same guys who jumped us in the Glades.”

  The rest of the commandos charged. They carried guns but didn’t fire.

  The Flash stretched his arms out, spinning them in tight circles. Twin cones of forced air struck the attackers and sent them flying backward.

  Green Arrow and Speedy moved forward on the flanks, the strings of their bows humming as they fired bolt after bolt into more attackers descending from the ventilator shafts in the ceiling. The commandos dropped, unleashing a popping hail of bullets from machine pistols at Green Arrow and Speedy. A red streak zipped in front of the archers and the shells fells harmless to the floor. However, the red streak paused mid-stride.

  Barry was going into a blur.

  “Flash!” Green Arrow shouted, hoping to jar the speedster out of it. Abruptly the Flash moved again at normal speed. A sheen of sweat and a touch of fear graced his features. “You and Spartan get the generator! We’ll handle the gunmen.”

  Green Arrow and Speedy rotated their position. They moved laterally, giving cover to the Flash and Spartan, who started off again for the elevator lugging the generator.

  The commandos wheeled with them. Suitably armed with TEC-9 semi-automatics, and well trained. They wore black assault gear with single lens heads-up displays and no covering on their faces.

  Among the anonymous commandos, a face suddenly stood out. The image kicked Oliver in the gut and his bow lowered.

  “The generator is mine!” the man shouted. “Let it go.”

  “Like hell,” Spartan snapped back.

  The man’s gaze didn’t waver from Green Arrow.

  “It should have all been mine years ago,” he sneered. “Isn’t that right, Oliver?”

  Everyone turned to Green Arrow in surprise. This strange man knew his secret identity.

  8

  “Did he just say your name?” Felicity gasped.

  “Is that who I think it is?” Speedy gaped in shock. “Is that Ghasi?”

  “Keep Spartan and the Flash covered. Don’t get cut off from the elevator.” Oliver kept his eyes locked on the man. It was Ghasi. Older and worn, dark eyes more vicious, but Ghasi without a doubt.

  “Don’t do it!” Speedy shouted but it was too late.

  Green Arrow rushed at the man. His bow lashed out, but didn’t find the target. Ghasi appeared behind Arrow in a flicker of light, his arm slashing with knives that extended from steel bracers and sparked with electricity. Oliver managed to bring his bow up just in time.

  “Don’t stand in my way, Oliver,” Ghasi snarled at the archer.

  “Stop giving me a reason.” Green Arrow kicked the man in the chest, sending him staggering backward. He followed with an immediate shot, but Ghasi flickered like dozens of tiny mirrors catching the light, and vanished. The shaft spun through to hit one of Ghasi’s men.

  Green Arrow backpedaled toward the elevator. Bolt after bolt in quick succession left his bow, each one taking down a target. Speedy joined him, striking commandos on their right. As they drew close to the generator, the commandos lowered their guns; they were clearly afraid of hitting the device.

  A blow struck Oliver from behind and sent him flying. His shoulder went numb. He flipped up to his feet and spun around for his attacker, raising his bow despite the sharp needles pricking his skin.

  Across the chamber, commandos broke toward the elevator where the Flash and Spartan struggled to manhandle the heavy generator through the narrow opening.

  Arrow and Speedy moved as one, back to back, covering ground. They pulled arrows and fired without thinking. Instinctive. Their bowstrings sang as they released bolt after bolt, driving the enemy back again. Wherever the archers’ gazes centered, targets fell.

  The Flash climbed up inside the elevator and dragged the end of the generator after him while Spartan shoved from behind.