" I'm a reporter, I'm always chasing after good stories. And yours is a fascinating one "
or
In which after leaving Gotham, Cassandra Winter finds herself chasing after another vigilante.
...
"You know, I do realize that it's difficult for you to manage my nightclub, what with there not being an actual nightclub here" Oliver Queen jokingly commented, as he left the basement and went upstairs to the nightclub, where Tommy was already at.
"Yeah, I just took the liberty of yelling at our contractor"Tommy Merlyn sighed, exhausted "I told him if we didn't see any real progress, we were going to bring someone else in to finish the job"
"Good" the Queen man nodded "How's Cassandra's friend doing?" he wondered, making Tommy frown at the sudden interest "The one whose brother was a fireman?"
"She's hanging in there, thanks" he replied "Actually, I have something I wanted to bring up. I was thinking that we could throw a fundraiser for the fire department. Raise some money for the families"
"That's a great idea" Oliver Queen agreed, nodding.
"We could do it here. We could keep the overhead low, make sure we maximize the proceeds to the firemen"
"Who are you? Where's my friend Tommy Merlyn?" the blonde man laughed. The boy he used to know would've never cared enough to do something like that.
"What can I say, I'm a changed man" he replied with a smile. And it was true, and it was all thanks to Cassandra. Even Oliver could see that. The woman had that effect.
_______
Cassandra Winter had a lot of great qualities; but patience wasn't one of them. When she reached out for the vigilante to help, she was just hoping to spark something inside him that would make him comeback, she wasn't joking when she said that the city needed him. However, after not hearing back from him, she decided to take matter in her own hands; she really wanted to help Johanna, she couldn't wait around forever.
That's how she found herself in front of Stagg Chemicals, the building where the same car that was at Danny's crime scene was currently parked. There she was, once again, all dressed in black and with a mask covering her face.
I'm doing this for a friend, she kept repeating to herself, trying to sound convincing. Truth is, she was getting addicted to the rush she felt whenever she put on that suit. She had forgotten that feeling; she had forced herself to, but ever since the Floyd Lawton incident she hasn't been able to scratch that thought out of her mind.
The next couple things happened fairly quickly; and before she could realize it, she was inside the building, a fire breaking loose, a guy fully dressed up as a firefighter, and him.
There he was, the hood, the vigilante. Arrow.
It was him; but Cassandra could tell that something was wrong. She's seen him fight, hell, she fought him herself. And the guy that ambushed her at Floyd Lawton's apartment wasn't the same one that was barely dodging the punches the firefighter was throwing in his direction. The struggle was so strong, that he managed to push him off, straight to the flaming fire.
However, Cassandra was quick to react, and even thought she could've followed the man responsible for starting the fire, she ran towards the vigilante, grabbing his arm just in time to stop him from falling.
With a bit of struggle, Cassandra was able to pull him up, as he coughed due to the amount of fire that was in the room.
"You should've followed him" he managed to let out with his modified voice that Cassandra was already getting used to.
"Yeah, you're welcome" the woman scoffed, with her also robotic voice, helping him up "See, we do make a good team"
________
"Second time we see each other today... Gonna start thinking you may actually like me" Cassandra Winter joked as she, once again, reached the top of the building the Vigilante had requested to meet her at "I like this roof better. Not that many stairs"
"The killer has a scar on his left wrist from a severe burn" the Vigilante was direct. After the incident at Stagg Chemicals and having his superficial wounds treated by John Diggle, he called Cassandra. He wanted to end this quickly "And a tattoo of a firefly"
"You must've had a pretty close look at him then" she casually commented, knowing indeed that he did. "Wait, did you say firefly?"
"Does that mean anything to you?" he wondered, curious.
"There was this unit of firefighters, they used to call themselves fireflies" she started explaining, remembering the case from a few years ago "They were about eight guys" suddenly, it was like it all clicked for her, her eyes widened in realization. The Vigilante noticed this, but didn't say anything as it didn't take long for Cassandra to continue explaining "Four of those guys are now dead. Three in the last few days"
"And the fourth?" he asked, starting to understand where Cassie was going with this.
"Two years ago... or that's what they said" she muttered, taking out her phone. If it would've been any other person, this gesture would've made the guy under hood uncomfortable and alert; but with Cassandra, he knew he didn't have anything to fear.
"You don't think he's really dead?" he voiced her thoughts.
"They never found a body" she replied, verifying after a quick search this fight "He died at the Nodell Tower. It was pretty bad, 34 civilians and six firefighters died"
"Including the guy from the fireflies" he concluded, watching her nod.
"Supposedly" she added, tugging her phone on the back packet of her jeans "Thank you, for helping me"
"What are you gonna do now?" he surprised himself with the question, and it took the woman by surprise too.
"You care about me? Cute" she playfully answered, with a cocky smile and a tilted head, making the man slightly shake his head with an almost inaudible laugh "Don't worry, I'll handle it" she assured, starting to walk away, only for being stopped by him.
"Did you mean what you said earlier?" he asked, and even through his modified voice, Cassandra could hear the genuineness of his question "About this city, needing me"
"Every word" she assured, giving him a little but reassurance smile.
"Then leave it to me. It's my turn"
And so, at Oliver Queen's night club, the Vigilante appeared, putting an end to the murders of the firefighters, and leaving a clear message. He was back.
