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thejusticelounge2012-08-03 07:44 pm
bossymarmalade) wrote in thejusticelounge2012-08-03 07:44 pm
this bird has flown
Increasing his speed, Guy was through the airlock and back in the Watchtower in minutes. When he reached the Monitoring hub, he was relieved it was J’onn J’onzz stationed there. He quickly explained the death threat that had arrived for Dinah, and that he’d convinced her up here for her safety, but now something had drawn her out, back to Earth, alone, and she wasn’t answering her communicator.
“It may be just as well, perhaps,” J’onn replied, sounding concerned as his hands flew over the controls. ”I no longer feel the Watchtower may be a safe refuge, Guy. The children are being evacuated, and I feel we should do the same with the civilians. At least two of the children received a message from an unknown source stating they should remove themselves from the Tower immediately.”
“What about SeRVE members?” Guy asked, “Are they being evacuated?”
It didn’t take a Martian’s telepathic skills to pick up on Guy’s concern for one SeRVE member in particular. ”Go. I will search for Black Canary. If you have somewhere safe to take Jason Todd, then do so. I am sure the others will understand, given the circumstances.”
“Thanks J’onn,” Guy said gratefully, “I’ll get him ready to leave and be back in a few minutes.”
~~~~~
He filled Jason in on what was going on even as Red Hood was packing. “Threats? What sort of threats?” he asked, concerned. It niggled at him, and what Guy was describing sounded oddly familiar. “All the League?”
“Pretty blatant death threats. All of them had notes that included the phrase “Long live the Queen, but not his friends,” and they were signed by a group that calls themselves Eden Corps. They’re some kind of environmental terrorist group or something, but there’s more to it than that. J’onn and Batman are heading up the investigation.”
Jason frowned more at that, and then reached for his laptop. “That sounds really fucked up and strange, and for some reason…” he pulled up the copy of the email he’d received, “I got this.”
MSG: Red Hood – we have watched you for many years and have admired your work in the past. Your position within the pantheon of so-called heroes, especially your connection to the Detective, now affords you a unique opportunity to be a part of a grander life, one not so short sighted as your Justice League’s. Some of us are already there with you. You are not alone. Do not reveal this message. We will contact you again soon…
Guy’s eyes grew wide. “When did you get this?”
“Time stamp was a couple days ago, but I hadn’t checked my email.” Jason watched Guy carefully, biting down his own worry. “It was sent to my private email, and rarely anyone uses it, you know? So that’s creepy as fuck already.”
“We…I need to show this to J’onn. I need to borrow your laptop. Finish grabbing what you need, and wait for me in the Lounge, okay? Just trust me, and do as I ask, okay, kiddo? Don’t talk to anyone about this.”
Jason nodded. ‘I was gonna show it to B, but… you’ll take it to him I guess.” He exhaled. “I’d volunteer to help but I dunno what I can do. I don’t know shit about what’s going on.” He relinquished his hold of his laptop.
Guy gave him a grateful look, “Jay, you just helped out a TON. You may have just saved the lives of everyone on this station. You did the right thing. Wait for me in the Lounge, I’ll be there soon.”
~~~~~~~
J’onn read the e-mail with great concern, and spoke to Guy telepathically, in case they were being monitored even now. They had obviously suffered a terrible breach of Watchtower security. This is indeed troubling. Do you know if Jason was alone in receiving this invitation? Did he respond?
Jason didn’t answer, Guy thought back across the link J’onn had established. He was waiting to show me or Bats. He said it’s timestamped for a few days ago, but he hadn’t checked his e-mail for a while. This is his private e-mail account, he said very few even have it. I don’t know anything about the other SeRVE people, but we’re looking at a huge security breach here.
I just fear that the Eden Corps - dangerous as they can be - are not pulling all the strings on this. I have run into too many members of the League of Assassins lately for it to be a coincidence. I think it is them making a move and using the Eden Corps attacks as cover. I need to speak this over with Batman. And if I am right, we may need to look more closely at Damian. Unfortunately we can not ignore the Eden Corps. Where is Oliver? We need him. We need Hal…
Guy frowned, Last I heard Hal was away on a Corps mission but I can call him in for this.
Be careful down there, Guy. Things are more dangerous than they appear. Tell Jason that we will reach the bottom of this puzzle.
I will, but keep me updated J’onn, telepathically if you must. I trust you. With what they said to Jason, it made them sound like they’re among us, on the station. But that means we’ve been bringing the ones most threatened UP here…placing them right among the wolves themselves.
A light flashed and an alert sounded on the Monitor station console. That, my friend, is my greatest fear… J’onn answered as his fingers touched a button and brought up the call on the display screen. ”It’s the distress signal from Dinah’s communicator - signal only, no message.”
Guy leaned forward, peering at the screen, “Where?”
“Orofino, Idaho,” J’onn replied calmly, and noted the information coming up that mentioned what current situations were presently occurring there. ”Two incidents…the evacuation of Orofino due to an explosion at the nearby dam, now under control…and a hostage crisis in the mall. Eden Corps is claiming responsibility for both.”
“GOD DAMN IT!” Guy shouted, “Kyle and I were just THERE, at the Dworshak Dam! With SUPERGIRL for fuck’s sakes! They-” he clenched his fists, outraged by the loss of valuable time, and the risk she had put herself in, walking right into their hands. …WHY DIDN’T SHE JUST CALL IT IN?”
“Guy…calm yourself. Dinah needs you clear-headed right now,” J’onn spoke in his ever-present calming tone.
“J’onn…set the Zeta tube to put us down on the roof of the mall, above her signal, and notify the local police two more Leaguers are coming to their aid, so hold their fire and keep the civilians well back…” Guy growled, walking purposefully towards the Lounge.
“Two…?”
“Jason!” Guy called out, his voice echoing down the corridor, “Let’s move, kid! You’re with me!” He looked down at his right hand, and his ring glowed brightly as Guy focussed intently on it. Moments later, Jason rushed around the corner and met him in front of the Zeta tubes.
“You bellowed?” the cocky vigilante asked.
“Put this on, and listen up,” Guy ordered, placing something in the boy’s hand. ”You’re gonna get a crash-course in Ringslingin’ 101.”
Jason gawked at it before he thought to actually put it on: a Green Lantern ring, resembling Guy’s own.
“…Woah…”
~~~~~~
The Zeta beam placed the veteran Lantern and his protégé exactly where Guy had requested: directly above Dinah’s signal, on the roof. Jason had indeed received a crash-course in bearing a Green Lantern ring: do nothing, will nothing. It wasn’t exactly what Jason had expected, and far from what he’d hoped in terms of instructions.
“It’s attuned to you, it won’t work for anyone else now that you’ve put it on,” Guy had quickly briefed him. ”I’ve used my ring to program it: as long as you wear it, you’re shielded from bullets, impact, whatever. That is all you’re doing with the ring right now, is staying shielded. Don’t even try to use it, like construct anything, kid, you could get someone killed, maybe Dinah or yourself. Maybe even an innocent. Are we clear on this?”
Jason had rarely seen Guy look so serious. ”Yeah, totally, I got it, Guy. No making stuff with it,” he confirmed under the Lantern’s stern look before they had stepped into the Zeta tube together.
Now that they were on the mall roof, Guy was scanning below them while Jason loaded his tranquillizer guns. ”I’ve got…looks like six down there with guns…five more unconscious or wounded. Attagirl, Dinah,” he nodded approvingly. He listened to the police update J’onn was now relaying to him telepathically: they believed all the hostages were accounted for, having just escaped after some kind of explosion occurred within the mall. ”She’s right below us, or at least her communicator is. Ventilation exhaust/intake fan is over there,” he pointed out to Jason. You know what to do?”
“Get into the ducts, get a clear bead on whoever is covering Dinah, and take them down,” Jason nodded, ”And you’re bursting through the wall or something and distracting them. What about after that?”
“After that…we improvise. ’No plan survives contact with the enemy’, kid,” Guy quoted. ”We just ensure Dinah’s safety, and get the bad guys. Keep in mind, we wanna question ‘em after.”
He looked at Jason, and gave him a confident nod, “Go. Ya got about 45 seconds before I make my entrance, and wait until I’m in there before you start tranquing anyone.”
Jason nodded; while this wasn’t new to him - playing junior partner to someone else who knew the layout better, was… surprisingly familiar and oddly nostalgic.
He headed into the ducts - the ring would make him essentially invulnerable, but he wasn’t going to rely on that. He’d just. Get in, and wait.
He was small enough that scrambling through the largish-ducts was easy, going as silently as he could, trying to get into position. Guns at the ready, he was eying the lay of the land, tryign to figure out where Guy would come in. If he was Batman, Jay would KNOW, but Guy thought differently…
“Get her up. I want her to look at me when I blow her head off.” One hand fisted in her hair, tugging her head back while two more of them pulled her up by her arms. Her shoulder burned from the injury, warm blood dripping down to soak her uniform.
The woman stepped forward, holding one hand in the standard Karate pose before bringing it up hard against Dinah’s neck. She coughed, trying to lean forward, but the hand pulling her head back made that impossible. His free hand wound around her throat, keeping enough pressure that it would hurt her to use her cry but not enough to lose oxygen and pass out.
“You know, you were easier to get down here than I thought. A little threat on your boyfriend’s doorstep and he moved you right up to the Watchtower. Such a sweet man, really.”
“What do you mean? Why the Watchtower?” It hurt to speak, the fingers pressing into her neck tightened.
“Those Zeta-tubes of yours, of course. If I’d sent the message to you at your home, you’d have had him fly you out here and I really wanted to get you here alone. In the Watchtower, you were just a teleport away and I knew the big bad Black Canary would come, heart full of gold trying to save a handful of nobodies. But your pride wouldn’t let you ask for help, would it.” The woman took a step forward, taking one hand off the gun to press her gloved thumb into her gunshot wound. Dinah groaned, biting on her lip. “Hurts, doesn’t it?” She flipped the gun around, holding the barrel and sweeping the gun to the side, the butt of it slamming into the side of her head. Her vision flickered but she managed to still glare at the woman.
“You… did all of this?”
“Are you surprised? That a woman could be so cruel? That girl, the Queen one that ran away? I did her a favor. No one wanted her. She would have starved to death on the streets. Now she won’t suffer.”
Dinah thought about playing the good cop card, since she was losing too much blood to fight all of them off, and maybe it would buy her some time. “I don’t think you’re cruel at all. Maybe you did kill those people, but you tried to get the children out of the Watchtower first. No one would do that if they were really as cruel as you’re trying to seem. You can still stop this…”
“Aislinn. And do not think I’m telling you because I agree with you.” She lifted the gun again, pointing it directly at the center of Dinah’s forehead. “I find it polite that one knows the name of the person who killed them.”
“How sweet of you. But I still don’t understand why. Why all of this? Was it just to get Green Arrow’s attention? Because if it is, I can give you a few ways to do that without anyone getting hurt.”
“If you haven’t figured it out yourself already, I’m more disappointed in you than before. Enough chatter. Any last words? Maybe I’ll send them to Oliver Queen, along with that pretty head of yours.”
The ground beneath them quaked, and one of Aislinn’s men muttered fearfully that it must be the dam that they had set explosives on finally giving way. A large green drill came up through the linoleum-covered concrete floor only a few yards from Black Canary and the two that held her, knocking all three of them and their leader off their feet.
“Nah, yer right, enough chatter,” Green Lantern drawled as he shot up behind the drill and encased Dinah’s crumpled form, released from her captors amidst the drill’s chaos, in a protective bubble of green light. ”Sorry I’m late, Gorgeous, but I didn’t want to interrupt the bad guy’s monologuing.”
Bullets rang out from the upper level as, along with two other armed henchmen, the lone remaining sniper who had brought down the melodic martial artist now tried to bring down her boyfriend as well. Staring through his rifle sight, he didn’t see what threatened him now.
Three notes in succession sounded above him in a C chord, and he looked up just before a legless green baby grand piano landed on him in a cacophonous crash of wood and wire.
A second and third were each taken out by their own light construct riot police, who appeared before them in full helmets, vests, shields, and armed with billy clubs and the enthusiasm of one very pissed off Green Lantern. The fourth dropped his gun and fled for the front entrance of the mall, hands over his head to surrender himself to local authorities. Turning back to the remainder nearest the drill, Guy narrowed his eyes as he saw the two that had held Dinah by the throat and hair. They were big bruisers, too. Good, Guy thought.
Twin Hulks, appropriately green, appeared towering next to each of the men pulling themselves off the ground. In symmetrical poetic justice the men were grabbed by the backs of the collars, flung like rag dolls up and over the heads of the Hulks and brought crashing down onto the uneven flooring, only to be instantly flung back the opposite way, and then back once again.
The Lantern was merciful, stopping at three ‘Hulk-smashes’.
“I think Kyle’s style’s rubbing off on me,” Guy mused to Dinah, still safely shielded next to him.
“ENOUGH!” Aislinn cried out.
Guy rolled his eyes and began turning around to face her, “Lady, take the hint, just shut the fu- uhh…” Guy froze as his eyes rested on the explosives taped to the extremist’s midsection.
Even if he and Dinah were protected by the brunt of the blast, rescue teams might be hours digging them out, and Dinah needed medical attention fast, to say nothing of the fact that they Aislinn appeared to be Eden Corps’ leader. They needed her alive, for questioning, in case there were other cells of the group ready to spring traps like this one. ”Okay,” he continued calmly, raising his hands up, palms splayed towards her, “I’ve stopped. There’s no need for blowing things up today, okay? I’m listening to whatever ya wanna say…”
Jason twitched back automatically when the great green drill started out of the ground, but held himself still, crouched and quiet. He hadn’t seen an opening that wouldn’t alert them to his presence, and now Guy was there, larger than life, a huge ass impervious green target for everyone’s attention. Jason could slip the grill of the vent open, and ease it down, move to try and get a good shot at the posturing leader.
“You are all FOOLS!” the woman said, and Jason could practically HEAR her sneer, as she gestured. “To be defeated so easily. To be so predictable. So much like sheep - cut off one head and everyone’s running around like ants, and heading for the dubious safety of -“
Which was, of course, when Jason shot a tranq at her.
“What-?” she started to say, and then promptly keeled over.
“Pfft,” JAson said, going over to her body, trusting that the ring would do most of the work of keeping him safe from, well, things, and reaching for the bomb-vest. Easy to disarm, if you knew how.
She had never been more grateful to see a lantern construct than when Guy broke through the floor to meet her. Another construct fell over her, protecting her. She tried to relax as he disposed of the remaining assailants, the pain in her shoulder dulling to a burning throb. She tried to keep focused, but the blow to her head made her vision swim if she moved to fast.
Then she heard Aislinn shouting. Dinah focused enough to see the wiring criss-crossing her chest and abdomen. Somewhere in her mind, she knew they’d be okay but they needed Aislinn alive too. “Don’t…” but it came out choked and barely a whisper.
The woman began to look manic, no doubt giving her final words. Then, she just collapsed. Dinah stared at her limp form in confusion until Jason appeared from the ventilation. She looked around. None of the terrorists were left conscious. They had won.
Dinah slumped back against the fountain, closing her eyes against the pain.
Guy was down on one knee next to Dinah’s limp form as Jason disarmed and removed the explosives from her vest. ”Nice work there, kiddo. Thanks for shuttin’ her up. Cuff Sleepin’ Bitchy an’ let the cops in to take care of the rest, while I deal with Dinah here?”
He lowered her protective bubble of light and grasped her gently so she wouldn’t fall against the hard surfaces around her. “I got ya Gorgeous…yer safe now,” he murmured, oh-so-carefully peeling back her jacket to view the bullet wound to her shoulder. He dismissed every one of his constructs to focus on her as the police poured in to gather up the defeated Eden Corps terrorist cell.
He allowed the paramedics to stop the bleeding and get her stabilized, but they weren’t taking her to any hospital. Guy had checked his communicator as they worked on her, and received the message from Manhunter and Hal Jordan. Apparently he and Kyle would be hosting another gathering, only this time it was all business. As long as the bar was in one piece at the end of it…aw, hell, they had insurance. They could probably build TWO bars with the settlement.
Txt: Guy Gardner
Black Canary’s hurt bad, but stable. Red Hood’s with me. Got leader of the Eden Corps for ?’ing. All 4 of us on way to Warriors. Tell J’onn dibs are mine on “bad cop”. ~ Guy
“Okay, my lovely bird,” Guy murmured to Dinah as he picked her up from the ambulance gurney, and laid her down on one of his own construction, strapping her in securely. “Let’s all go meet our friends back at my place, hmm?” Allowing Jason to control his own prisoner, Guy read Aislinn her rights as he surrounded all three of them in a protective sphere, gurney and all, and lifted them out of the mall and into the sky, turning south-west towards L.A.
“It may be just as well, perhaps,” J’onn replied, sounding concerned as his hands flew over the controls. ”I no longer feel the Watchtower may be a safe refuge, Guy. The children are being evacuated, and I feel we should do the same with the civilians. At least two of the children received a message from an unknown source stating they should remove themselves from the Tower immediately.”
“What about SeRVE members?” Guy asked, “Are they being evacuated?”
It didn’t take a Martian’s telepathic skills to pick up on Guy’s concern for one SeRVE member in particular. ”Go. I will search for Black Canary. If you have somewhere safe to take Jason Todd, then do so. I am sure the others will understand, given the circumstances.”
“Thanks J’onn,” Guy said gratefully, “I’ll get him ready to leave and be back in a few minutes.”
~~~~~
He filled Jason in on what was going on even as Red Hood was packing. “Threats? What sort of threats?” he asked, concerned. It niggled at him, and what Guy was describing sounded oddly familiar. “All the League?”
“Pretty blatant death threats. All of them had notes that included the phrase “Long live the Queen, but not his friends,” and they were signed by a group that calls themselves Eden Corps. They’re some kind of environmental terrorist group or something, but there’s more to it than that. J’onn and Batman are heading up the investigation.”
Jason frowned more at that, and then reached for his laptop. “That sounds really fucked up and strange, and for some reason…” he pulled up the copy of the email he’d received, “I got this.”
MSG: Red Hood – we have watched you for many years and have admired your work in the past. Your position within the pantheon of so-called heroes, especially your connection to the Detective, now affords you a unique opportunity to be a part of a grander life, one not so short sighted as your Justice League’s. Some of us are already there with you. You are not alone. Do not reveal this message. We will contact you again soon…
Guy’s eyes grew wide. “When did you get this?”
“Time stamp was a couple days ago, but I hadn’t checked my email.” Jason watched Guy carefully, biting down his own worry. “It was sent to my private email, and rarely anyone uses it, you know? So that’s creepy as fuck already.”
“We…I need to show this to J’onn. I need to borrow your laptop. Finish grabbing what you need, and wait for me in the Lounge, okay? Just trust me, and do as I ask, okay, kiddo? Don’t talk to anyone about this.”
Jason nodded. ‘I was gonna show it to B, but… you’ll take it to him I guess.” He exhaled. “I’d volunteer to help but I dunno what I can do. I don’t know shit about what’s going on.” He relinquished his hold of his laptop.
Guy gave him a grateful look, “Jay, you just helped out a TON. You may have just saved the lives of everyone on this station. You did the right thing. Wait for me in the Lounge, I’ll be there soon.”
~~~~~~~
J’onn read the e-mail with great concern, and spoke to Guy telepathically, in case they were being monitored even now. They had obviously suffered a terrible breach of Watchtower security. This is indeed troubling. Do you know if Jason was alone in receiving this invitation? Did he respond?
Jason didn’t answer, Guy thought back across the link J’onn had established. He was waiting to show me or Bats. He said it’s timestamped for a few days ago, but he hadn’t checked his e-mail for a while. This is his private e-mail account, he said very few even have it. I don’t know anything about the other SeRVE people, but we’re looking at a huge security breach here.
I just fear that the Eden Corps - dangerous as they can be - are not pulling all the strings on this. I have run into too many members of the League of Assassins lately for it to be a coincidence. I think it is them making a move and using the Eden Corps attacks as cover. I need to speak this over with Batman. And if I am right, we may need to look more closely at Damian. Unfortunately we can not ignore the Eden Corps. Where is Oliver? We need him. We need Hal…
Guy frowned, Last I heard Hal was away on a Corps mission but I can call him in for this.
Be careful down there, Guy. Things are more dangerous than they appear. Tell Jason that we will reach the bottom of this puzzle.
I will, but keep me updated J’onn, telepathically if you must. I trust you. With what they said to Jason, it made them sound like they’re among us, on the station. But that means we’ve been bringing the ones most threatened UP here…placing them right among the wolves themselves.
A light flashed and an alert sounded on the Monitor station console. That, my friend, is my greatest fear… J’onn answered as his fingers touched a button and brought up the call on the display screen. ”It’s the distress signal from Dinah’s communicator - signal only, no message.”
Guy leaned forward, peering at the screen, “Where?”
“Orofino, Idaho,” J’onn replied calmly, and noted the information coming up that mentioned what current situations were presently occurring there. ”Two incidents…the evacuation of Orofino due to an explosion at the nearby dam, now under control…and a hostage crisis in the mall. Eden Corps is claiming responsibility for both.”
“GOD DAMN IT!” Guy shouted, “Kyle and I were just THERE, at the Dworshak Dam! With SUPERGIRL for fuck’s sakes! They-” he clenched his fists, outraged by the loss of valuable time, and the risk she had put herself in, walking right into their hands. …WHY DIDN’T SHE JUST CALL IT IN?”
“Guy…calm yourself. Dinah needs you clear-headed right now,” J’onn spoke in his ever-present calming tone.
“J’onn…set the Zeta tube to put us down on the roof of the mall, above her signal, and notify the local police two more Leaguers are coming to their aid, so hold their fire and keep the civilians well back…” Guy growled, walking purposefully towards the Lounge.
“Two…?”
“Jason!” Guy called out, his voice echoing down the corridor, “Let’s move, kid! You’re with me!” He looked down at his right hand, and his ring glowed brightly as Guy focussed intently on it. Moments later, Jason rushed around the corner and met him in front of the Zeta tubes.
“You bellowed?” the cocky vigilante asked.
“Put this on, and listen up,” Guy ordered, placing something in the boy’s hand. ”You’re gonna get a crash-course in Ringslingin’ 101.”
Jason gawked at it before he thought to actually put it on: a Green Lantern ring, resembling Guy’s own.
“…Woah…”
~~~~~~
The Zeta beam placed the veteran Lantern and his protégé exactly where Guy had requested: directly above Dinah’s signal, on the roof. Jason had indeed received a crash-course in bearing a Green Lantern ring: do nothing, will nothing. It wasn’t exactly what Jason had expected, and far from what he’d hoped in terms of instructions.
“It’s attuned to you, it won’t work for anyone else now that you’ve put it on,” Guy had quickly briefed him. ”I’ve used my ring to program it: as long as you wear it, you’re shielded from bullets, impact, whatever. That is all you’re doing with the ring right now, is staying shielded. Don’t even try to use it, like construct anything, kid, you could get someone killed, maybe Dinah or yourself. Maybe even an innocent. Are we clear on this?”
Jason had rarely seen Guy look so serious. ”Yeah, totally, I got it, Guy. No making stuff with it,” he confirmed under the Lantern’s stern look before they had stepped into the Zeta tube together.
Now that they were on the mall roof, Guy was scanning below them while Jason loaded his tranquillizer guns. ”I’ve got…looks like six down there with guns…five more unconscious or wounded. Attagirl, Dinah,” he nodded approvingly. He listened to the police update J’onn was now relaying to him telepathically: they believed all the hostages were accounted for, having just escaped after some kind of explosion occurred within the mall. ”She’s right below us, or at least her communicator is. Ventilation exhaust/intake fan is over there,” he pointed out to Jason. You know what to do?”
“Get into the ducts, get a clear bead on whoever is covering Dinah, and take them down,” Jason nodded, ”And you’re bursting through the wall or something and distracting them. What about after that?”
“After that…we improvise. ’No plan survives contact with the enemy’, kid,” Guy quoted. ”We just ensure Dinah’s safety, and get the bad guys. Keep in mind, we wanna question ‘em after.”
He looked at Jason, and gave him a confident nod, “Go. Ya got about 45 seconds before I make my entrance, and wait until I’m in there before you start tranquing anyone.”
Jason nodded; while this wasn’t new to him - playing junior partner to someone else who knew the layout better, was… surprisingly familiar and oddly nostalgic.
He headed into the ducts - the ring would make him essentially invulnerable, but he wasn’t going to rely on that. He’d just. Get in, and wait.
He was small enough that scrambling through the largish-ducts was easy, going as silently as he could, trying to get into position. Guns at the ready, he was eying the lay of the land, tryign to figure out where Guy would come in. If he was Batman, Jay would KNOW, but Guy thought differently…
“Get her up. I want her to look at me when I blow her head off.” One hand fisted in her hair, tugging her head back while two more of them pulled her up by her arms. Her shoulder burned from the injury, warm blood dripping down to soak her uniform.
The woman stepped forward, holding one hand in the standard Karate pose before bringing it up hard against Dinah’s neck. She coughed, trying to lean forward, but the hand pulling her head back made that impossible. His free hand wound around her throat, keeping enough pressure that it would hurt her to use her cry but not enough to lose oxygen and pass out.
“You know, you were easier to get down here than I thought. A little threat on your boyfriend’s doorstep and he moved you right up to the Watchtower. Such a sweet man, really.”
“What do you mean? Why the Watchtower?” It hurt to speak, the fingers pressing into her neck tightened.
“Those Zeta-tubes of yours, of course. If I’d sent the message to you at your home, you’d have had him fly you out here and I really wanted to get you here alone. In the Watchtower, you were just a teleport away and I knew the big bad Black Canary would come, heart full of gold trying to save a handful of nobodies. But your pride wouldn’t let you ask for help, would it.” The woman took a step forward, taking one hand off the gun to press her gloved thumb into her gunshot wound. Dinah groaned, biting on her lip. “Hurts, doesn’t it?” She flipped the gun around, holding the barrel and sweeping the gun to the side, the butt of it slamming into the side of her head. Her vision flickered but she managed to still glare at the woman.
“You… did all of this?”
“Are you surprised? That a woman could be so cruel? That girl, the Queen one that ran away? I did her a favor. No one wanted her. She would have starved to death on the streets. Now she won’t suffer.”
Dinah thought about playing the good cop card, since she was losing too much blood to fight all of them off, and maybe it would buy her some time. “I don’t think you’re cruel at all. Maybe you did kill those people, but you tried to get the children out of the Watchtower first. No one would do that if they were really as cruel as you’re trying to seem. You can still stop this…”
“Aislinn. And do not think I’m telling you because I agree with you.” She lifted the gun again, pointing it directly at the center of Dinah’s forehead. “I find it polite that one knows the name of the person who killed them.”
“How sweet of you. But I still don’t understand why. Why all of this? Was it just to get Green Arrow’s attention? Because if it is, I can give you a few ways to do that without anyone getting hurt.”
“If you haven’t figured it out yourself already, I’m more disappointed in you than before. Enough chatter. Any last words? Maybe I’ll send them to Oliver Queen, along with that pretty head of yours.”
The ground beneath them quaked, and one of Aislinn’s men muttered fearfully that it must be the dam that they had set explosives on finally giving way. A large green drill came up through the linoleum-covered concrete floor only a few yards from Black Canary and the two that held her, knocking all three of them and their leader off their feet.
“Nah, yer right, enough chatter,” Green Lantern drawled as he shot up behind the drill and encased Dinah’s crumpled form, released from her captors amidst the drill’s chaos, in a protective bubble of green light. ”Sorry I’m late, Gorgeous, but I didn’t want to interrupt the bad guy’s monologuing.”
Bullets rang out from the upper level as, along with two other armed henchmen, the lone remaining sniper who had brought down the melodic martial artist now tried to bring down her boyfriend as well. Staring through his rifle sight, he didn’t see what threatened him now.
Three notes in succession sounded above him in a C chord, and he looked up just before a legless green baby grand piano landed on him in a cacophonous crash of wood and wire.
A second and third were each taken out by their own light construct riot police, who appeared before them in full helmets, vests, shields, and armed with billy clubs and the enthusiasm of one very pissed off Green Lantern. The fourth dropped his gun and fled for the front entrance of the mall, hands over his head to surrender himself to local authorities. Turning back to the remainder nearest the drill, Guy narrowed his eyes as he saw the two that had held Dinah by the throat and hair. They were big bruisers, too. Good, Guy thought.
Twin Hulks, appropriately green, appeared towering next to each of the men pulling themselves off the ground. In symmetrical poetic justice the men were grabbed by the backs of the collars, flung like rag dolls up and over the heads of the Hulks and brought crashing down onto the uneven flooring, only to be instantly flung back the opposite way, and then back once again.
The Lantern was merciful, stopping at three ‘Hulk-smashes’.
“I think Kyle’s style’s rubbing off on me,” Guy mused to Dinah, still safely shielded next to him.
“ENOUGH!” Aislinn cried out.
Guy rolled his eyes and began turning around to face her, “Lady, take the hint, just shut the fu- uhh…” Guy froze as his eyes rested on the explosives taped to the extremist’s midsection.
Even if he and Dinah were protected by the brunt of the blast, rescue teams might be hours digging them out, and Dinah needed medical attention fast, to say nothing of the fact that they Aislinn appeared to be Eden Corps’ leader. They needed her alive, for questioning, in case there were other cells of the group ready to spring traps like this one. ”Okay,” he continued calmly, raising his hands up, palms splayed towards her, “I’ve stopped. There’s no need for blowing things up today, okay? I’m listening to whatever ya wanna say…”
Jason twitched back automatically when the great green drill started out of the ground, but held himself still, crouched and quiet. He hadn’t seen an opening that wouldn’t alert them to his presence, and now Guy was there, larger than life, a huge ass impervious green target for everyone’s attention. Jason could slip the grill of the vent open, and ease it down, move to try and get a good shot at the posturing leader.
“You are all FOOLS!” the woman said, and Jason could practically HEAR her sneer, as she gestured. “To be defeated so easily. To be so predictable. So much like sheep - cut off one head and everyone’s running around like ants, and heading for the dubious safety of -“
Which was, of course, when Jason shot a tranq at her.
“What-?” she started to say, and then promptly keeled over.
“Pfft,” JAson said, going over to her body, trusting that the ring would do most of the work of keeping him safe from, well, things, and reaching for the bomb-vest. Easy to disarm, if you knew how.
She had never been more grateful to see a lantern construct than when Guy broke through the floor to meet her. Another construct fell over her, protecting her. She tried to relax as he disposed of the remaining assailants, the pain in her shoulder dulling to a burning throb. She tried to keep focused, but the blow to her head made her vision swim if she moved to fast.
Then she heard Aislinn shouting. Dinah focused enough to see the wiring criss-crossing her chest and abdomen. Somewhere in her mind, she knew they’d be okay but they needed Aislinn alive too. “Don’t…” but it came out choked and barely a whisper.
The woman began to look manic, no doubt giving her final words. Then, she just collapsed. Dinah stared at her limp form in confusion until Jason appeared from the ventilation. She looked around. None of the terrorists were left conscious. They had won.
Dinah slumped back against the fountain, closing her eyes against the pain.
Guy was down on one knee next to Dinah’s limp form as Jason disarmed and removed the explosives from her vest. ”Nice work there, kiddo. Thanks for shuttin’ her up. Cuff Sleepin’ Bitchy an’ let the cops in to take care of the rest, while I deal with Dinah here?”
He lowered her protective bubble of light and grasped her gently so she wouldn’t fall against the hard surfaces around her. “I got ya Gorgeous…yer safe now,” he murmured, oh-so-carefully peeling back her jacket to view the bullet wound to her shoulder. He dismissed every one of his constructs to focus on her as the police poured in to gather up the defeated Eden Corps terrorist cell.
He allowed the paramedics to stop the bleeding and get her stabilized, but they weren’t taking her to any hospital. Guy had checked his communicator as they worked on her, and received the message from Manhunter and Hal Jordan. Apparently he and Kyle would be hosting another gathering, only this time it was all business. As long as the bar was in one piece at the end of it…aw, hell, they had insurance. They could probably build TWO bars with the settlement.
Txt: Guy Gardner
Black Canary’s hurt bad, but stable. Red Hood’s with me. Got leader of the Eden Corps for ?’ing. All 4 of us on way to Warriors. Tell J’onn dibs are mine on “bad cop”. ~ Guy
“Okay, my lovely bird,” Guy murmured to Dinah as he picked her up from the ambulance gurney, and laid her down on one of his own construction, strapping her in securely. “Let’s all go meet our friends back at my place, hmm?” Allowing Jason to control his own prisoner, Guy read Aislinn her rights as he surrounded all three of them in a protective sphere, gurney and all, and lifted them out of the mall and into the sky, turning south-west towards L.A.