Lauriver Chronicles

Chapter 122

"Why the hell did you two pull one of Slade's thugs from the wreckage?" Roy asked Thea and Helena after Kase used her magic to change them all into street clothes and put Rose in handcuffs.

"Because unlike the others, she isn't working with them willingly. She's being forced to work for Slade." Helena said and that got Oliver's attention.

"Who are you exactly?" Oliver asked.

"My name is Rose Wilson." Rose said.

"Wilson, as in Slade Wilson." Rene asked.

"He's my father, by blood only. I'm the result of an affair he had about like 20 years ago and until about a year or so ago, I had no idea who he was. He showed up out of the blue and demanded I help him in his crusade against you." Rose said.

"And you just agreed?" Oliver asked.

"Hell no. I told him to go to hell and not to come back until he acted like a father. He responded by threatening to kill my mother if I refused to help him. Though I don't know why he'd go to me when both of his sons are just as crazy as he is and they're both trained killers and lunatics like him. I guess he just had an easier time finding me than them. Lucky me." Rose said sarcastically.

"Kase, can you use your magic to confirm that?" Oliver asked, since while he was getting the vibe that she was telling the truth, considering the fact that she was trained by Slade, or at least had the beginning of training with him, he couldn't just take her word for it.

"I'll just act like I'm not offended you had to ask that." Kase said as her tattoos glowed.

Kase stepped closer, her boots crunching over broken concrete. The cyan glow from her tattoos brightened, crawling up her arms like living ink.

Rose stiffened but didn't look away.

Kase exhaled once, slow and controlled, then murmured a soft incantation under her breath — the kind of word that felt like it didn't belong in the modern world at all.

The glow pulsed.

A faint shimmer rippled through the air around Rose, like heat off asphalt.

Kase's eyes narrowed. "She's telling the truth."

Rose let out a shaky breath she'd clearly been holding.

Oliver nodded once, absorbing that. "Alright. Then we figure out what Slade wants with you."

"Trust me, I wish I knew," Rose said. "It's not like I have much to offer to a bad guy plan." Kase's tattoos dimmed back to their normal ink‑black.

"Wait—back up," Emiko said, eyes narrowing. "Slade has to know by now that we pulled Rose out. Doesn't that put her mother at risk?"

Oliver's expression hardened. "John, the second we're out of this pocket dimension, call Lyla. Have her send ARGUS protection to Rose's mother. Maybe even relocate her until Slade is back in custody."

"On it," John said with a curt nod.

Kase exhaled sharply, the air around her shimmering as the rift behind them flickered. "Speaking of which, I can't hold this portal much longer without time to stabilize it. So unless you all want to get dumped in the middle of nowhere, I suggest we pick a destination."

Oliver didn't hesitate. "Queen Mansion. It's the safest place we can appear now that the Barracks are gone."

Kase nodded once. "Then hold on."

To say Laurel was surprised when her husband and teammates suddenly appeared out of nowhere was an understatement.

"What happened and who's this?" Laurel asked, referring to Rose.

"We lost the Barracks. Slade attacked and completely destroyed it. We'll need to see if there are any Argus facilities we can use in the city until we have time to prepare a new base." Oliver said as his wife walked up to him.

"Are you guys alright?" Laurel asked.

"We'll be fine, but this is Rose Wilson." Oliver said of their extra guest.

"Wait, you brought Slade's daughter here?" Laurel asked.

"She's not like him. She only worked with him because he's threatening her mother." Oliver was quick to calm her.

"Okay then. I take it we're letting her crash here?" Laurel asked.

"Too dangerous for her to stay anywhere else, since Slade doesn't like to leave loose ends. Speaking of which." Oliver said, turning to John.

"I'm on it." John said, grateful that Kase's magic had saved his phone so he could go and call Lyla.

"We're going to need to talk to our superhero tailors to get our suits repaired." Thea said, since all of their suits were trashed in the fight.

"I can repair them with magic." Kase offered.

"No, I think it's time for some upgrades to help deal with the escalating threats." Oliver said.

"Just because my suit wasn't trashed since I wasn't there, doesn't mean I don't want an upgrade either." Laurel said.

"Which means I need to get them for the girls too. Well, the girls whose ages are in the double digits, since there's no way Jasmine is suiting until she's at least in high school." Oliver said.

"And don't even think about having costumes made for the twins until they're that age too, otherwise I'll make sure you never have kids again and I don't mean by leaving you. It'll be more painful than that." Laurel said.

"I can see why Abby likes you." Kase said.

"Speaking of which, we do need to find a replacement for her as team medic." Thea said.

"That's kind of secondary considering that we lost our base and at least 80% of our equipment, the backup site I set up is also likely burned and our suits are trashed. It's a pretty substantial setback and most likely what Slade's intentions were. Not to mention all the intel we lost." Oliver said.

"Not necessary. My t-sphere has a backup of our system programmed into it. I can use it to get our files back." Curtis said as he produced his sphere and Oliver grinned.

"I can see why you think you'd be good in the field. Those will be useful." Oliver admitted.

"But I still need a computer system to upload the data too, especially since when it cloned our system, it also scrubbed it from whatever's left of our computers." Curtis said.

"I'll talk to Bruce about helping us find a new base, since the barracks were compromised, so it doesn't make sense to rebuild the base there. We'll figure out something new." Oliver said.