Frosty Arrow

Chapter 34

"Why do I have to be the bait?" Speedy asked as she let one of Church's thugs chase her, with some kind of stolen tech in his hands.

"You're the one we call Speedy. It implies you can run fast." Khione said cheekily from her hiding place.

"Very funny." Speedy said.

"Quiet. Overwatch, do we have the target?" Green Arrow asked from his perch.

"Headed toward the east exit, closing fast." Overwatch responded over the comms.

"Do we know what he stole?" Khione asked.

"Not yet, but I have a feeling we're about to find out." Overwatch said.

"Only if we snag him in the cordon. Spartan, you in position?" Green Arrow asked.

"Locked and loaded." Spartan said from his sniper position.

"Khione, be ready." Green Arrow said.

"Who gets to take him down?" Khione asked.

"Once Speedy lures him out, Spartan draws his fire and then you stop him in his tracks." Green Arrow responded.

"Sounds like a plan, but why are we going after a low level thug instead after Church directly?" Speedy asked.

"Church knows how to avoid detection. Instead of wasting time going after him, we make him come to us. And part of that means trying to figure out what his plans are." Green explained.

"I'm approaching the site." Speedy said.

"Waiting for visual." Spartan said as he watched Speedy and the thug enter the area.

"Speedy get clear." Green Arrow said.

"Already on it." Speedy said as she fired a cable arrow to get out the way.

"What the hell?" the thug asked as Spartan took his shot and distracted him.

The thug quickly moved to raise his weapon in retaliation, but the moment he did, he felt ice crawl up his leg and before he knew it, he was a trapped in it.

"Well done." Green Arrow said as the team conversed.

"It feels like we do all the work and you get all the credit." Speedy said.

"Relax, I would've helped, but you guys didn't need it. Anyways, Khione, get this guy and his stolen tech to the ACU. We need to know what he stole and why. Something tells me there's a deeper motive at play." Green Arrow said and Khione nodded.

"I'll make sure it gets where it needs to be. Both of them." Khione assured them as she grabbed the guy and used her ice slide to take them both away.

The next morning, Oliver, Thea and Quentin were talking about the ACU's newest present.

"Any luck getting that guy to fold yet?" Oliver asked and Quentin shook his head.

"Nope, but there is something else we've discovered that I think you'd be interested in." Quentin said as he held out some photos to them.

"Photos of corpses?" Thea asked.

"Not just any corpses. We've id'd all of these guys leaders of the various crime syndicates in the city. The Bertinelli's, Triad, Las Halcones." Quentin said.

"Looks like they even got the Bratva." Oliver said as he recognized the tattoo on one of victims.

"So, what do you think happened?" Thea asked.

"My best guess, Church orchestrated a coup to take over this cities criminal element." Quentin said.

"I need to make a call. I know someone else who'd be very interested in this development." Oliver said.

"Who?" Quentin asked.

"The Bratva Pakhan." Oliver said.

"We'll leave you alone then." Thea said as she and Quentin left Oliver alone as he took a deep breath before dialing the number.

"Who is this?" a familiar voice asked when he picked up.

"It's Kapushion." Oliver said.

"Well, well, you have some nerve calling me after what you did to Leonov." Anatoly said.

"That was Slade Wilson, but I'm not here to justify what I did. I'm calling because of an event that I think you might be interested in." Oliver said.

"Go on." Anatoly said.

"Tobias Church is making his move on Star City, starting by bringing all it's criminal enterprises under his thumb. Including the Bratva. The current leader of the Star City chapter was found dead this morning and I'm willing to bet that the rest of the chapter has fallen with him." Oliver said.

"Traitors. But how do i know you are telling truth?" Anatoly asked.

"Because you know I wouldn't lie about this. But I'm guessing you'll be sending someone here to investigate and find out if it's true?" Oliver asked.

"No. I trust you to resolve this Oliver." Anatoly said.

"I'm guessing things are too chaotic in Russia then?" Oliver asked.

"Da. Besides, I cannot make it look like I answer to you. I will provide with some resources, but no more." Anatoly said.

"That will be more than enough. Thank you." Oliver said as he hung up.

I can't remember if Church recruited the Bratva in the show, but in this story, he did.