Arrow The Cat and the Canary

Chapter Eleven

Clambering over the edge of the roof and walking over to the other side, Laurel raised the pair of binoculars to her eyes, adjusting the focus until she had a clear view into the supposedly abandoned building across from them. A rush of excitement ran through her body. After so long she was close to putting the Bertinelli clan behind bars once and for all. They had been a thorn in Star City's side for so long now, she would sleep better at night knowing that they wouldn't be able to flood the streets with drugs anymore, or import weapons or use the docks as a way to traffic humans in and out to be sold as slaves or prostitutes. The thought of delivering justice and finally standing up for people who weren't able to stand up for themselves filled her heart with joy and pumped her veins with adrenaline. Green Arrow walked up behind her, letting her take the lead on this one. Looking through the lenses of the binoculars, she looked across the street to see the dark red of Speedy's costume and the reflective silver of Spartans helmet standing on the building across from them. Speedy gave her a thumbs up, waiting for the go signal. Laurel turned the binoculars, looking over to another rooftop, seeing the off-white of the White Canary's costume. Sara gave her a thumbs up too, ready when the time struck. Laurel lowered the binoculars, leaving them laying on the rooftop. She turned to Oliver, seeing his face cool and calculating. She knew he was working out possibilities and contingencies for if it all went south. He turned to her, a look of determination ignited in his eyes.
"Ready when you are Canary. It's your call." He said, giving her the reigns to take over. Laurel tapped the communications device in her ear, activating all channels.
"Okay guys. Roll in on the count of three."  She tried to give her voice an air of dominance and power. This was her mission. Her call. She was in charge now.
"One... Two... Three!" She called out, running forward and jumping off of the roof of the seven floor building. The heard the crack as an arrow planted itself in the building across the street and felt Olivers strong arm wrap itself around her waist as she wrapped her own around his neck. The two of them swung weightlessly through the air, his heavy black boots colliding with the dirty glass of the buildings window. Landing with a roll, the two of them got to their feet, brushing the small shimmering pieces of broken glass off of them.
"You okay?" Oliver asked her, already making his way to the door.
"I'll be fine once the Bertinelli's are locked away." She responded, pushing past him and walking into the corridor and over to the winding stairwell. Tapping the comms in her ear, she switched to the channel for the Bunker, where Felicity watched everything from CCTV cameras and thermal imaging.
"Overwatch, what floor are they on?" She asked, trying to form a plan in her head.
"As far as I can tell, all eight of them are on the third floor. According to the blueprints for the building, there's only one door in or out of that room. You can block them in. Be careful." She said, the sound of small bursts of typing could be heard as she spoke. Laurel waved Oliver to follow her as she crept down the stairs.
Four flights of stairs later, the two of them met Spartan, Speedy and White Canary on the landing, each with their weapons at the ready. The five of them moved quickly and quietly along the corridor until they came to the door, behind which; eight of the highest, most powerful members of the Bertinelli crew sat. From where they stood they could hear small murmurs of the conversation that was going on inside. Laurel held up three fingers, and began mouthing her countdown, dropping a finger and mouthing 'two', doing the same with 'one', then turning and bashing her boot against the wooden door, sending it flying off of it's hinges and crashing into one of the mobsters. He fell to the ground, crying out in pain and fright. The rest of the men got to their feet and drew guns from holsters hidden under their suit jackets. Laurel rushed in, knocking the pistol out of the hand of one of them with her tonfa, grabbing him by the elbow and swinging him into the back of another one of the men, sending the two of them rolling to the ground. Sara walked in after her, jabbing one of the men in the stomach with her bo staff before disconnecting it into two halves, using one to strike the man across the face and hitting him in the knee with the other, causing him to topple to the floor. Spartan rushed at another one of them, smashing his shoulder into the mans stomach, physically lifting him off of the ground and slamming him into the wall. Green Arrow traded punches with one of the men, while Speedy raced back down the corridor after the one of them who had managed to slip out the door when the fight had broke out. She reached out and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and snatching him backward, causing him to fall to the ground, landing hard on his back. He let out a groan as she planted her knee on his chest before landing several punches directly onto his nose until he drifted into unconsciousness. Laurel looked around the pile of bodies surrounding them, counting up the amount in her head. There was only seven there. They were missing one. She activated her link to Felicity.
"Overwatch, I think we must have missed one of them. There's only seven of them here." She said, looking around for any hiding places they could be. Looking at the men on the ground, she figured out who it was. Christopher Bertinelli, the head of the human trafficking ring was nowhere to be found. He should have been there.
"Hold on and I'll check." The sound of rapid typing could be heard before she spoke again. "Thermal scanners place thirteen in the building. The five of you and the eight of them. Looks like the last of them isn't in the room with you though! He's making his way up to the top floor. And fast." Laurel didn't wait for Felicity to finish talking before she had taken off running down the corridor towards the staircase. She turned back as she ran and shouted to the others who stood confused as to where she was going.
"Restrain them and call SCPD! I'll be back soon!" She bounded up the steps two at a time, panting as she went. She felt the wound on her arm start to heat up, thinking she had probably ripped the few stitches Felicity had put into the cut. That was something she could deal with afterwards. Right now she had to deal with Chris Bertinelli, human trafficker, living scum. She made her way up to the top floor of the building, slowing down and walking along the dark and empty corridor. Several doors led out of the hallway, all of them dark on the inside. She slowly crept her way along, taking her tonfa out of her belt, raising it up, ready to attack. She looked in through each open door, straining her eyes to see in the dark abyss that each room was engulfed in. About half way down the corridor, she felt a large hand wrap around the end of her tonfa, pulling it out of her hand before she had a chance to tighten her grip. She spun around, seeing Christoper Bertinelli standing there, his dark grey suit jacket showing sweat stains under his arms, her tonfa in hand. He swung it back, ready to hit her across the head. Before he had the chance to do so, she felt the fire in her stomach work its way up through her chest and throat before coming to her mouth and flying out her mouth in the form of her Canary Cry. The man in front of her dropped to his knees, letting the tonfa fall out of his ground as he covered his ears. She let the Cry die down and stood over him, looking at her with disgust.
"Who are you?" He asked, his voice trembling in terror. She adjusted her stance, squaring her shoulders.
"I'm the justice you can't run from." She replied, slamming her boot into his jaw, knocking him out.

.....

Standing in the alley across from the building they had just exited, Laurel and Sara watched as several SCPD squad cars were loaded with the bruised and beaten Bertinelli clan to be carted off to the jail cells that waited for them. A feeling something similar to joy flowed through Laurel's heart. She had really put a spanner in their works now, cutting off one of the heads of the hydra. Black Canary had taken them off the street, and in a few days, assistant Distract Attorney Laurel Lance would put them behind bars for good. She was proud of the work they had done. She couldn't wait to take them to court, to put them away for good, to get justice for the men, women and children that the Bertinelli's had bought, sold, killed and used for profit. She would avenge them, and protect them. Sara placed a reassuring hand on her sisters shoulder, giving it a small squeeze. She turned to look at her sister. The resurrected assassin, Ta-er al-Sahfer - the Canary, the White Canary. She couldn't have been prouder of her sister.
"Laurel, I'm have to go. Rip and the team need me. They think they have a lead on Savage and they need me. I'm really sorry, but I'll come visit as soon as I can, okay?" She could hear the sadness in her sisters voice. She didn't want to have to leave and Laurel didn't want her to go but knew that Sara had a job to do. She pulled her sister into a tight embrace, whispering a thank you in her ear, before letting go and watching her sister disappear into the shadows, off to save the world.
When she was alone, Laurel walked over the the dumpster in the alley, pulling a bag she had hidden behind it earlier out and talking out its contents; a can of spray paint. She gave the can a rattle before taking the llid off and beginning to spray it onto the alley wall. She spent several minutes spraying and respraying, leaving her inky black paint on the side of the building, knowing no one would care enough to take it off. When she was done, she tossed the can into the dumpster and walked away, disappearing into the shadows herself, leaving behind a mark that she knew most would dismiss, but some would see, and some would know:
'BLACK CAT WAS HERE.'
.....
On the ninth floor of a building across the street from Laurel's alley, he watched as she finished painting and dropped the can into the dumpster before turning away and walking into the darkness. He knew that she thought she had won. How wrong she was, he thought to himself. Damian Darkh smirked, knowing the pieces of the puzzle were slowly moving into place.