Lauriver Chronicles

Chapter 123

In case anyone is wondering, the link I posted in the last chapter of SuperCorp was to a petition to get Tom Cruise cast as the next Batman, since he's perfect for that role in my opinion.

"Well, you were right, there's no hope of salvaging this place." John said as he, Oliver, Rene, Curtis and Jake walked through the ruins of the Barracks, or rather, what they could get through, since the place was pretty well caved in and destroyed. Nothing was intact enough to be worth salvaging.

"Even if it was, we couldn't. Slade's proven that this base is burned, its location is compromised. We'll need to find somewhere to set up shop. Curtis, are your t spheres picking up any survivors?" Oliver asked, since he'd had Curtis deploy them to search for anyone who might've survived the cave in.

"Nope. No one. Just a bunch of dead soldiers Slade left behind. But no trace of him, Tara Markov or that other woman who was with them." Curtis said.

"Isabel Rochev." Jake said.

"The VP of Stellmoore Industries?" Curtis asked, since Stellmoor was a minor competitor of Queen Consolidated.

"And Slade's right hand woman. We saw her assisting Slade's escape." Jake said.

"Why would the VP of a huge company like Stelmoor get in bed with Slade?" Rene asked.

"Who knows. But the question remains on if she's alive or dead, since while Slade clearly got her out, we don't know what condition she's in now." Oliver said.

"So, what now, fearless leader?" Rene asked.

"We make sure the remains of this place are sealed off and then we consider this site abandoned. We're lucky that the community center above wasn't affected by the attack." Oliver said.

"I take it from the looks on your faces that the mission to the Barracks didn't go well?" Thea asked when the guys returned to the Queen Mansion, where she, Laurel, Samantha, Roy, Kase, Helena, Tatsu, Kase, Yolanda, Artemis and Emiko were waiting.

"All we could do is seal it up to make sure that no one ever came across the remnants of that place again. I did have Curtis make sure the computers were completely destroyed to avoid any of our enemies from getting their hands on any intel they could salvage from our computers." Oliver said.

"So, what do we do now? If Slade's on the loose, we need a place to operate from." Helena said.

"Don't worry. Do you really think I didn't suspect that the Barracks were compromised when Slade first surfaced?" Oliver asked.

"You knew he'd attack it?" John asked.

"I knew it was a possibility. One I prepared for and I didn't tell anyone to avoid drawing Slade's attention.

"I'm pretty sure he knows about your backup facilities, like the one you had created under Queen Consolidated." Curtis said.

"I'm not talking about one of those, since of course he knows about that, I'd be disappointed if he didn't. So, with the help of a few friends, I've been working on something different." Oliver said.

"Secrets?" Laurel asked her husband.

"More like a surprise that I wanted to avoid drawing attention too until it was both necessary to reveal its existence and also until it was finished being constructed. And I guess now's as good a time as any." Oliver said as he led the way to the shed out in the mansion's backyard, hidden behind the little playground they'd had built for Jasmine and now the twins to play in.

"What's the big deal about a shed?" Rene asked and Oliver rolled his eyes.

"To most people, nothing. To us, it's this." Oliver said as he opened the shed and walked inside, causing it to reveal a hidden zeta tube, which whirled to life.

"Green Arrow, 05, confirmed, access granted." the AI said as Oliver walked through and Laurel followed next.

"Black Canary, 16, confirmed, Spartan, 17, confirmed, Katana, 18, confirmed, Wild Dog, A-05, confirmed, Kase Adams, A-09, confirmed, Curtis Holt, A-08, confirmed, Arsenal, A-04, confirmed, Tigress, B-08, confirmed, Wildcat, B-11, confirmed, access granted." the AI said as they walked through it.